Bird Bonanza

It was only 2 short summers ago when I was rolling my eyes at the bird-fascinated folks at the volunteer events I attend/run as part of my job.  There we'd be, butterfly nets in hand... catching butterflies.. counting butterflies.. today is about BUTTERFLIES, people!!!... and an Upland Sandpiper would start singing on a fencepost down the road - and that's all it took for 7 butterfly hunters to turn simultaneously, drop their nets, grab their binocs and start exclaiming over the bird.  I remember Jeff and I rolling our eyes at each other and nodding, fake-smiling at the bird crazies.  I remember saying to him "I'm just never going to be able to get excited about birds".  I also can distinctly hear myself saying "I'll never be a birder - they have to get up too early.  Give me plants any day.  Plants let you sleep in."

Alas... 2 years later.. I'd freaking kill to see that sandpiper singing away on the fencepost in Carden. A grassland bird whose population is in decline in Ontario, who sings the sweeest little song and has the cutest little face... I'm all in!

Seriously.. could he be more cute?

Last spring I decided that I better up the ante when it came to my species identification skills if I wanted to be the bomb at my job.  It was the middle of March.. there wasn't anything around to study.. except a few wintery birds in my backyard.  So I started there.  It takes a lifetime to become a bird expert - just this past week one of Carden's greatest field naturalists told me "give it 20 years".  Oh.. ok. So I'm doing what I can!  2 years down, 18 to go!  Becoming a bird nerd entails a lot of weird stuff... like listening to bird call "albums" for the duration of 2 hour flights/car rides and forcing yourself to learn the crazy mnemonic devices that birders over the years have attributed to different bird calls.  A White-throated Sparrow calls "Oh sweet canada, canada, canada" (ok), whereas a Red-winged Blackbird has the classic "conk-la-deeeee!" (my dad argues that's NOT what it says and I sound like a crazy person describing it like that).  Nothing better than the Barred Owl's "Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for youuuuu allll?".  In person.. they sound like birds.  But with 300 or so species here in Ontario, I've gotta figure out a way to tell them apart, so it seems like it's worth a try. 

I recently purchased this sassy harness for my binoculars.  Now rather than having my amazing binocs (a gift, of course, I can't afford "amazing") hanging like a mafia rock around my neck all day, I can comfortably distribute the weight across my back and shoulders, all the while looking THIS hot:

Ohhhh ya....

 After my recent trip to Carden Alvar (for good friends, you will hear me say Carden about 1000 times this summer - after which most of you stare blankly, to which I reply "it's about half an hour east of Orillia"... if you're reading this, and take a moment to remember where Carden is and I'll give you a hug the next time I see you and you are listening to one of my inane stories about my fieldwork) I decided it was time to tally it all up and see how I was doing in terms of my "life list" of birds.  I haven't birded anywhere but Ontario, so I'm working my way up to an eventual goal of around 300 (hey isn't that how many classic novels I wanted to read in my lifetime?  interesting!).  And it turns out I'm at 88!  Some of my more interesting sightings include birds that are rare in Canada and/or Ontario such as:

- Golden-winged Warbler (heard singing.. well, buzzing, for the first time in my life last Thursday on the edge of a forest habitat overlooking an alvar)
- American White Pelican (rare in Ontario, like gulls on Lake of the Woods - but I still can't get enough of them!!!)
- Bobolink (a chatty little grassland bird that's flight reminds me of pedalling a bike in a low gear - lots of effort and not much forward movement!)
- Gray Jay (rare in southern Ontario, found in a disjunct population in.. you guessed it.. Carden!)

Golden-winged Warbler

American White Pelican

Bobolink

I've had the pleasure and luck of birding with some of the best birders in Ontario, and they have been a tremendous help in powering me along in my learning.  I still have a long way to go from 88, but I'm getting there! This past week I had a super cool few days in Carden which involved seeing some "lifers" like the Sora (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/sora/sounds - listen to the call, like a ghost horse! and check out that creepy eye), and American Bittern ("gloonk-a-doonk" - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_bittern/sounds) in a "famous" marsh area, not to mention the GW Warbler and Bobolink (above).  Once you hear/see a species you'll pretty much remember it for life, so that's great! Too bad there are 13 species of gulls that are virtually identical, 5 species of terns that vaguely looks like the gulls and all look like each other, and 29 warblers that all seem to have some yellow on them.  Sigh.  Going to be a long 18 years, but I'll get there.. I know it.  At least now I have the passion in me, which is really what sustaining any hobby/interest is all about.  Jeff and I invested in an awesome lens for our camera, so once we get the backyard in good shape and can leave the gardens and return to nature we'll have lots of awesome bird photos to share.  He may still sigh when I drop my butterfly net (or whatever else I may be holding) and make a run for the bird I'm hearing/seeing, but he'll probably catch up and take a picture eventually, which is a good compromise!! :)  I'm working to get the life list to 100 before the 2012 field season comes to a close - stay tuned!  Too bad I can't count Rainbow Lorikeets... ;)  (sidenote: why can't Ontario birds do this to me in the field?  would be so much easier to ID!!!)

 

June 4, 2012 UPDATE: Life list is up to 96 after 3 days in Carden.  Added a Nashville Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Marsh Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Virginia Rail, Clay-coloured Sparrow, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Northern Waterthrush. Ya!

Long Weekend Owls

This past Thursday night I had the opportunity to participate in a volunteer owl survey.  Bird Studies Canada maps out routes that they require data for, and volunteers sign up to monitor them each spring and track target species (in this case owls).  Last summer, while working away at removing invasive species from one of our properties, elbow-deep in Dog-strangling Vine, my volunteer helper Ginny asked in a cleverly-timed manner “hey Kristyn, will you volunteer with me next spring to count some owls?”.  How could I say no to this woman who was quite literally tangled in this horrible invasive vine!  Besides, she had me at “owls”.  I love owls!!  My obsession was triggered by a random encounter with a Barred Owl last spring.  I had visited one of our properties (back when April was snowy..) and been disappointed for a solid two days about the lack of wildlife around.  Mouse poop here, deer tracks there, a lone Wood Thrush singing deep in the forest – and not much else. Until I was walking down a trail, staring at my GPS when I FELT something looking at me.  I slowly turned my head to the right and found a big brown-eyed owl staring at me.  Assuming it would startle easily, like most birds, I didn’t dare reach for my camera.. instead I tried to engage with it by asking “who cooks for you?” in my owliest voice (that’s what their call sounds like, I’m not just crazy!.. hmm..).  It freaked out, its head turning 180 degrees, and then flew up silently into the trees. I know now that Barred Owls are a little braver than most – too bad I never snapped a pic! Anyways, from that moment on – I was hooked.  Owls, owls, owls.  Yet I went all of last summer without seeing or hearing one! The owl-crazy bio who has never heard an owl calling in her life – life is unjust, cruel and cold (tiny violin plays). So I was definitely ready to start the field season this Thursday – owling is to be done on a cold (3C or less), low wind night during the first two weeks of April.  We checked the forecast daily, saw the temp dropping to 0C Thursday and made the call… bring it!

I drove up to meet my volunteer/friend/nature enthusiast Ginny after work on Thursday – an odd way to start a long weekend for most, I realize.  For me, so exciting.  I pulled on my long johns, toque and scarf (odd field gear, surely) and we drove up to Minden where the pre-determined route was.  Ginny told me about her first year volunteering in 2011 when she’d heard several Barred Owls and a couple of Saw-whet Owls – that’s what we were expecting to hear this night, but she was nervous with the early start to spring we might not get lucky.  The survey starts at km 0 – you set up speakers on the back of your car and broadcast a tape that plays for 15 minutes – intervals of silence, and owl calls.  During the silences you simply listen. You drive to a total of 10 stops spaced about 2 km apart.

Ginny setting up broadcast

Our first stop was just after sunset – by stop 2 we were in the dark, and 10 stops later it was 11:30 p.m., frickin freezing, but freaking awesome!  We heard a total of 9 Barred Owls and 5 Northern Saw-whet Owls. In addition to HEARING the Barreds, at stop 4 we had a close encounter with them!  We thought the stop might be a ‘dud’ after a couple of silences on the tape that yielded only silence.  Then all of a sudden we heard it in the distance “who cooks for you?  Who cooks for you allllll?”  We punched each other excitedly (Ginny, like me, is not so girly!).  As the tape’s calls and silences progressed the owls got closer and closer – there were definitely two distinct calls going on – Mr. and Mrs.!!!  The inky night was punctuated with a giant white moon which cast a glow down over us. Suddenly, gliding through the moonlight, I saw the wide wings and heard a near-silent “whoosh”, then the clip of talons gripping the bark of the tree above me.  The owl had LANDED on the TREE ABOVE ME!!!!  Wow!  Then, as if on some cue, the pair of owls began to repeat their call over each other, and as they grew louder they began to “duet”, meaning the call becomes warped until it basically turns into raucous barking as the owls sing together.  Amazing!!  I aimed my headlamp up at the dark form in the tree and saw the whitish body of a huge owl above me – it’s eyes caught my light and flashed yellow and then it curiously tilted its head to the side and peered DOWN AT ME – locking eyes with me, just like last spring all over again!!!  It absolutely made my night.  The rest of the stops were anticlimactic after the close encounter at Stop 4 – the quiet, clear “hoo hoo hoo” of a Saw-whet about 500m away, and some distant Barred calls.  As my toes turned to ice during Stop 10, Ginny declared that we had to end the night on a high note.  So we wound our way back 12 km to Stop 4 and played the tape again – just for fun.  On cue, our owl pair came closer and closer until they were on the trees above us, beside us, surrounding us, peering at us curiously.  Absolutely fabulous! (vid or it didn't happen evidence can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G3mjYVPKs8)

Barred Owl



Northern Saw-whet Owl (omg.. too cute)

I was full of adrenaline, freezing cold, exhausted and grinning when we got back to Ginny’s on Thursday night close to 1 a.m..  The next morning, Ginny joined me for a lovely morning of early spring field work where we triumphantly added a couple of new species to the list for one of our properties, including a small family of Gray Jays, a species at the extreme southern part of its range.  To me they looked like stuffed animals you’d try to win at Wonderland – so BIG and cute and soft and goofy!  That was great – the whole morning was great.  Heard some early Kinglets and Snipes back for the season – saw my first Hairy Woodpecker – actin’ a fool pecking away at a birch tree.  However, I couldn’t get over the owls.  On my drive home I called all my favourite people to tell them about my close encounter with the owls!!!  I was drunk on owls, hoots ringing in my ears, like an addict wanting to stretch the high and already excited to revisit it next year!

Gray Jay

I was happy to get home on Friday and enjoy a cozy much-needed long sleep after the late night with owls and early morning with jays.  I woke up at 5 a.m. and thought “I hear music”.  My next instinct was “what the EFF are my neighbours doing NOW?!” (my trailer park neighbours are notorious for blaring music well into the night and keeping me up).  This was weird though.. melodic.. slower.  Then as the fuzz cleared from my sleepy head, I distinctly heard a question, asked in hoots – “who’s awake? Meee… tooo….”.  WHAT THE HELL?!  Again.. the girl who never heard an owl was accosted by Barred Owls on Thursday and now was being serenaded by Great Horned Owls (“hoo-hoo-hoo! Hooo…hoooooo” aka. “who’s awake? Me too…”) outside her bedroom window the very next day.  I don’t know what about Farmer Joe’s property (my back door neighbor - he has a small farm with a pocket of willows and a small wetland behind our house) suddenly became appealing for these two Great Horned Owls who haven’t been around before – but I was thrilled.  I seriously considered cracking the window and taking a voicenote with my phone so Jeff would believe me the next day, but my feet were suffering PTSD from being so cold on Thursday night and didn’t want to risk going into deep freeze again.  So I lay there, grinning, in the dark, for 20 minutes, listening to these silly owls having a hoot outside my window.  I was so excited after that that it took me an hour to fall back asleep, long after the owls had moved on.

Great Horned Owl

It has been an owl-tastic weekend!  The warmer temps today likely mean the froggies will rule the night tonight.. but maybe my GHOs will pay me another visit at 5 in the morning.  They’re certainly welcome to – I am in lowlve!!!!

Hooo hoo hoo!  Hoooo.. hooooooooo…..

b) Pull the Intestines out of the Casualty

How's THAT for a title?!

Just had to share a few of my favourite highlights from my First Aid training renewal course today.  It's a requirement at my job which involves a lot of outdoor fieldwork as well as working with volunteers - luckily to date have only had to use my skills once: dressing an arm wound on a woman who cut herself with loppers.  I am, frankly, terrified of actually having to use it FOR REAL sometime! Anyway - what an enthralling Tuesday it was. Here's the highlight reel:

- taking the end of the day quiz I'm presented with a multiple choice question: "A casualty has an open abdominal wound and the intestines are exposed.  You should: a) force the intestines back into the casualty b) pull the intestines out of the casualty c) cover the dressings with a dry cloth d) cover the dressings with a moist cloth."  Needless to say the answer is d.  Needless to say I BURST out laughing when I read the first two and pictured the absurdity of both facing a situation in which intestines were exposed, AND the craziness of the idea of either shoving them back in ("there!  all back together!") or yanking them out ("there!  problem gone!").  WHO WOULD DO EITHER!?!

- the thumb amputation video in which a guy is operating a chop saw and you see his finger getting CLOSER.. and CLOSER... and CLLLOOOSSSERRRR to the blade, until he CHOPS his thumb off!! (fabulous acting/angles to simulate lack of thumb i.e. thumb tucked against palm :P).  If anyone knew me in 2008 when Jeff "attempted to cut off his hand" (as I describe it.. he doesn't like that) with his chop saw, you can imagine how much I was squirming during this one!  The detailed removal of the thumb from the bloody glove, placing on ice and labelling the baggie filled with ice "John Doe, thumb, 4:30 p.m." at least distracted me from wondering how Jeff might hurt himself in the future ;)  GROSS!

- the terrifying mannequins for CPR that were strewn across the room - their blank eyes and blow up doll mouths staring at me all day long.  I really enjoyed the blowing of breaths into their plastic-lined mouths while they stare up at me with their dead eyes.  I wanted to take a picture of the floor so many times - it looked like robot carnage.

- the even scarier mannequins for infant CPR practice that revealed themselves as standing in two terrifying single file lines inside a giant cooler bag type contraption.  You never want to see a cooler bag unzipped to realize it's filled with ten tall, gray, dead-eyed fake babies.

- a weird skew in the quiz answers so that it seemed like every other question had a reference to "back blows" (a fun term for whaling on someone with the heel of your hand between their shoulder blades when they're choking).  I like the incongruity of where some of these references appeared: "you find a casualty with symptoms of a stroke - you should: a) give 5 back blows" or "a casualty tells you that they are diabetic and haven't eaten in 5 hours - you should: a) give 5 back blows".  I couldn't help giggling at the idea of finding a poor diabetic or stroke victim and just suddenly whipping them over your knee and beating them on the back.  Ouch!

- getting to "act out" scenarios with a partner who is a stranger, within 10 minutes of arriving in class.  Always fun.  I love having my ass and sides patted down by someone I don't know, as much as I love them tenderly wiping my hair off my neck to tie a knot in my arm sling, as much as I love putting my hand on their stomach (while sitting across from them, staring at them... holy awkward) to assess number of breaths per minute.  I didn't even know this girl's name and we were freaking all over each other all day long in a variety of positions that resembled massage, hugging and kissing.

- when I was told to act out a scenario of being unconscious with a suspected spine injury, and then randomly barfing all over my 2 rescuers.. ok.. that one was kind of fun ;)  I also liked the one where I had low blood sugar and got to be really belligerent and yelly - very fitting at 3:30 p.m. after a day of tying bandages, touching strangers and trying to stay awake for 8 hours of first aid chat in a room with no windows

- have to just give a special shout out to the St. John's Ambulance volunteers acting in those video segments - obviously not hired/trained actors just doing their best... which at times made the entire class laugh out loud.  The effects were killer too - like when the lady fell down the stairs and smashed her head on a railing, and a delayed two seconds later the sound effect of a puck off a goal post played - beautifully mastered.  Again we all burst out laughing - which got me to thinking about the innate sympathy (or lack thereof?!) of human beings.  What is it about people getting hurt that makes us laugh?!  I'm prepared to recognize we're all a little bit evil. ;)

In conclusion, I passed my quiz, I'm recertified for another three years and will continue to hope I never have to use ANY of those skills in the field for real!

I'll end with the words I said today more times than I can count (my anthem):
"MY NAME IS KRISTYN! I KNOW FIRST AID! CAN I HELP YOU!?!?"

2 Kristyns

I've had a couple of weeks relatively free of my usual hijinx.  I'd say it's been nice and relaxing, but work has been mega stressful and it really helps to be able to laugh at myself to take the edge off!  I DID trip up the stairs at work today while balancing an untrustworthy tupperware full of yogurt (with a smaller tupperware full of granola perched precariously atop it) in one hand, while the other hand was in my purse.  Somehow managed to avoid smashing my face into the steps which was a blessing.  However, being as mega stressed as I was today, my reaction was closer to crying than laughing.  Le sigh!  So when you can't laugh at yourself to blow off steam, what's the next best thing?

EXERCISE!!

I had a wonderful 1 hour workout tonight (20 mins sprints on the treadmill, 30 mins weights, 10 mins stretching - learning to love stretching slowly but surely).  It definitely helped put life in perspective and take my mind off things.  And that brings me (eventually) to my point.. I was being Kristyn1 tonight.  And man did I love it.

Kristyn1 is one active lady.  Sometimes working out up to 5-6 times a week, doing a variety of things from marathon cardio sessions to intense interval work (elliptical, bike, treadmill - she's not picky!), as well as tons of strength training (Kristyn1 does her research and knows that muscle burns more calories just sitting there than flabby fat ever will!) - she likes bodyweight strength exercises (squats, lunges, push-ups) and is a fan of free weights (though only owns up to 20 lbs - which Jeff often does fake bicep curls with, faking intense effort.. what a meanie! :)).  She makes a point to walk up and down the halls at work throughout the day and walk to the mailbox instead of stopping her car in front of it (yup, I def do that).  She signs up for 5ks and actually trains for them.  More than just exercise, Kristyn1 is a super cook!  Trying all sorts of new, interesting recipes, and falling in love with a different new ingredient a week.  On any given day her nightstand is littered with healthy recipes ripped out of the 2-3 health/well-being mags she reads per month.  She precuts veggies and fruit and places them at eye level on the fridge so they're handy and accessible.  She barely spends a cent as the week goes by because she makes every meal at home.  She researches calorie info at restaurants before going to them so she knows what to order (and what NOT to order!).  Kristyn1 sounds like the kind of girl I want to be!!  Too bad she only ever shows up for 2 weeks, 1 month, maybe 2 months at a time.  Inevitably she is always intermittently, reliably, unexpectedly, ruefully replaced with Kristyn2.

Ahh Kristyn2.  She's all sorts of wrong, but I sure do love being her.  She's been known to spend entire nights on the couch after a tough day at work.  Seriously like 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., maybe getting up for a shower and to grab a snack.  The couch is COM-FY.  She LOVES fast food, including McDonalds.  Ice cream and desserts are her weakness.  Don't LET Kristyn2 near the chocolate!!  She will order a medium pizza and eat half for dinner and half for lunch the next day.  She snacks mostly on processed foods - nothing too terrible (she doesn't keep it in the house - Kristyn1 doesn't let her), but granola bars are a main "grab and go" staple for her.  Admittedly, days will go by without her eating a vegetable...  oopsies.  She takes a multivitamin to counteract these low times.. but knows how many phytochemicals she's missing out on, and feels badly about it.. but ignores the little voice in her head (I think the voice is Kristyn1).  The voice is active during dinners out, weekly dates with friends where bad food is often available, when her husband suggests a "Friday night special" (don't be misled.. this is poutine). She is very good at ignoring the voice, yelling "free day!" and eating like it's a sport. Her wardrobe staple is yoga pants.  Funny - when I started writing this I was thinking about how much I love (and currently miss Kristyn2) and her lazy ways, but seeing it all written down I kind of see how she's a seriously WORSE version of myself.  But she does have a lot of fun, especially with bad influence friends..... :D

Since I was 15 years old I have fluctuated between these two Kristyns and haven't really been super at finding a balance.  At 15, at the end of summer before grade 10 it was pointed out to me that I was at the "heavy end of normal".  Ouch - that stung!  I actually blushed while writing that - not a very nice thing to say to someone, and probably the root of my back and forth weight and alternating personas throughout history since!! I lost about 7 lbs in 2 weeks when I added exercise to my life and experimented with monitoring my calories.  Haha - what I wouldn't do to get that teenage metabolism back!  My high school girls and I (who we later found out had been dubbed "the blonde bitches"?!  wtf lol. we were pretty nice!!!) ended up naming ourselves "The Fat Parade" after getting our licenses in grade 12 and driving our parents' car to a different fast food joint or restuarnt every single day.  We all gained about 10 lbs that year!  My mom was trying to lose 10 lbs herself and bet me $200 that she could beat me to it.  I GRABBED on to the opportunity for competition (surprised?) and once again worked out, watched calories and only drank vodka (no beer!) that summer - 10 lbs in 6 weeks.. boom!  But history sure does always repeat itself! I was up again by the end of high school. I lost weight unintentionally when I left my job at M&M Meat Shops and went away to university.  Being a picky eater meant I was eating relatively small meals and not snacking much - coupled with no longer standing over top of the dessert samples all day long at my job, I lost 5 lbs without even trying!  Let me be clear.. this has never happened again!  By the end of first year those and a few more had come back and I challenged my mom to the same bet that summer.  And beat her again. :P  10 lbs gone again.  Holy yo-yo eh?  This cycle would perpetuate itself over the next several years, and still is!  My motivation has changed from betting my mom to wanting to stay a certain size and at a certain level of fitness and health (and not wanting to have to buy all new jeans..).  But I obviously still have tons of issues to work through.

I lost 15 for my wedding last year and came back from Ireland, sure that it would be showing in the shape of beer and fried food pasted across my hips and stomach.  But, must have been all the walking, I was somehow at the same weight.  So for the first time in my life I made the goal of "maintaining my weight".  And I was awesome!  Working out a normal-like 3-4x/week, eating well without counting calories.  And it worked.  No big shock there.  The only problem was....

Kristyn2.  Like the villain in a horror film, she came back for my birthday and stuck around for Christmas!  I couldn't even get rid of her come the new year, the usual time for Kristyn1 to shine!  Kristyn1 has popped in on and off since the start of 2012 to try to get me/keep me on track.  I'm happy to say I'm only up about 4 lbs since the wedding and working towards a goal of dropping those again and then moving on to maintenance to get it to work this time.  My current motivation is finally being HOME for a few days (have been travelling for work most of this month) and also boomerang-ing after being so sick I could barely move for about 9 days at the beginning of March.  That was Kristyn3 - immobile, yet annoyed about it!  The past week has been lovely - hikes and walks outside, delish dinners, yummy protein packed lunches and snacks.  When I'm on a high like this I wonder why my whole life can't be maintained with fitness, health and good eating habits.  I have more questions than I do answers about the K1/K2 dichotomy.  I can feel K2 lurking in the background.  I'd be lying (and all my friends would be LAUGHING) if I said I'd never eat McDonalds again.  But can there be a Kristyn 1.5 who eats the McDs but goes for a run that night and doesn't let it throw her off track?? 

I was reading a Val Frankel memoir (Thin is the New Happy - ironic title) over Christmas and she said the one thing I've read, the only thing I've ever identified with, that actually stuck with me as she has also yo-yo'd with her weight and healthy lifestyle over the years - paraphrased, she asked why when at her goal weight she felt totally unmotivated to keep going, maintain it, or even lose more.  She pondered whether it was the loss of the challenge - without having a "goal weight" to work towards, what fun was there to it?  She was a lot like me - REALLY GOOD for stretches of time - TERRIBLY BAD for others.  With an end result of no real changes and not something you could define as "a healthy lifestyle". I'm happy that at the end of the book she had found a "no diet" diet that worked for her - eat, stop eating when you're full. Exercise when you can without overdoing it.  That sounded amazing to me.  So working towards THAT goal (aka. no goal) is my current goal.. if that makes any sense. :)

Kristyn2 is sorta messed up - it was cathartic writing about her.  Kristyn1 can be a bit of a no-nonsense nutjob.. I think she could take it down a notch.  So here's to finding the newly dubbed Kristyn1.5 - it's my goal for this year.  To find her, become her, and stay her.  No more yo-yo, but no reason I can't occasionally "fall off the wagon" of a healthy lifestyle, knowing it is pretty wonderful to get back on.

Maybe this rang a bell with some people - maybe not.  Sometimes I wish I wasn't so tuned in to it all - I probably WOULD just eat, stop when I was full, and work out occasionally.  Cheers to those who have figured it out - I hope to get there myself some day!  To long and healthy life... and finding a Kristyn who can be at peace with it all. :)

Oh TO

Just a little blog entry about my trip to Toronto this week.  I can't remember a trip to Toronto for work that wasn't laden with mishap and this one was actually relatively calm in comparison - only one ridiculous story (I think.. my brain is pretty blurry. I was in TO conducting interviews for our summer internship program.  9 positions = 19 interviews = 2 very tired conservation biologists at the end of day 3!).

I thought I'd start with a roundup of some of my fond memories from my Toronto work trips over the past year or two.  Ahh, memories.

- The time I walked into the parking garage stairwell at Yonge and Dundas to retrieve Jetta from it's $36/day parking spot, only to think "hmm.. something doesn't smell right".  My eyes were treated to a sight as equally lovely as the smell wafting up the stairwell when I saw the guy passed out in a pile of his own vomit on the landing of the next level down.  In true Toronto fashion, 2% of the other ppl in the stairwell gawked and covered their noses - 98% of the people walked by as if nothing was happening

- The time I was walking to dinner with Dawn and Melanie and we passed a dude muttering to himself as he walked down the street in the opposite direction.  His eyes then locked on Dawn and without warning, he suddenly took a huge swing at her head, which she narrowly (but impressively) ducked.  He continued on his way.  The girls behind us asked mildly "did that guy try to hit you?" and 98% of the other people on the street just walked on by.  Dawn, a TO native and returnee, recovered from the incident within seconds.  I am still traumatized

- The time Dawn was showing me how to take the subway to get to our Toronto office.  (Yes, this is embarassing to admit as a once-native of Toronto myself, but frig.. you get out of the habit of taking the thing and you can't remember which direction Yonge St. goes in! ;))  Dawn, taking a different route from her normal morning commute, directed us onto a subway car, only at the last minute to realize she had us going in the wrong direction.  She deftly hopped off the train, just as the ominous "ding.. ding.. ding.." sounded.  I scurried after her, saving myself from being crushed only by lifting my arms to stop the doors from closing on me - while wearing my pretty, just-cleaned white spring trench coat.  It was no longer white after that..

- How about when I sneezed (into my sleeve, not grossly or anything) on the GO train near Union in 1' proximity to my 4 seatmates and 2 people standing in the aisle and not one person even flinched, nor bothered to say bless you.  Toronto.. you so sweeeet....

So this week's trip was a pretty alright one.  I took the GO in early Monday morning and watched the sun rise over Mississauga, the sky slowly changing from black to dusky to deep red to pink to orange to blue - fabulous!  10 minute delay getting into Union.  Ok.. cutting it a bit close, but I should be ok.  Then I got on the subway.  I was comfortable in my seat by the window (I'm not so good with the planting my body weight in various directions to prevent toppling over, and I never seem to get to hold the pole when it's busy!) and having that weird feeling I forgot something at home.  I started crafting my next door neighbour a text message to send when I was off the subway and had service, asking her to check if I'd closed the garage door and instructing her how to do so if I hadn't.  I felt like I was still pretty far away from Eglinton (my stop) and wasn't 100% paying attention when I looked up, noticed the subway had stopped and saw "glinton" on the wall out the window.  EFF!!!!  I very gracefully yelled "OH SHIT! CAN I MAKE IT?" (who I was talking to I'm not sure).  While tripping over my seatmate and trying to grab my bulging bags (can someone invent a system where you can simply press a button and have your bags travel through the space time continuum to arrive at your destination when you do?  IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!) I heard my favourite noise.. "ding... ding... ding", and, traumatized from the white coat incident of 2010, didn't try to make a mad dash through the doors. :(  Ok fine.. I'll just go up to Lawrence, then hop back on the car going south.  (Note: it's 8:13 and my first interview is at 8:30 and I have nothing set up and have all the interview materials in my bag.. my coworker is at the office with only his smile and a vague idea that we need to hire some people..).  UMM the distance between Eglinton and Lawrence is ridiculously long compared to every other stop!!!  I had a panicked three minutes (it's now 8:16), burst off the train onto the platform at Lawrence only to see the southbound car's doors closing.  Ding... ding... ding.... FRRRRRIGGG!!!  I waited completely impatiently.. another 3 minutes gone (it's now 8:19). The train pulls up, resembling nothing but a cattle car on the way to the slaughter house.  Needing desperaely to find a handle so I didn't plunge into my fellow cows with every sway of the train, I went on my tippy toes and grabbed the bar above my head, snuggling up next to several strangers, one of whom breathed in my face for the next three minutes while I lost all feeling in my arm.  Very cozy. Ride the train for another 3 mins (it's now 8:22...).  Shuffle my way to the office which is luckily quite close to the stop - en route I send my neighbour the text (turns out the garage door was closed but the feeling was coming from having left the heat on for three days - my house helpfully warming and cooling itself for no one.. GREAT!).  Burst into the office in a frenzy - so much of a frenzy that during the interview the candidate, describing a difficult time says "sometimes you just have those days - Kristyn knows what I mean". HAHA - HILARIOUS.  No j/k, it was me who was making fun of myself and encouraging others to join me (but I'm still not hiring her ;)).

Only today did I remember my absolute favourite thing that happened whilst on the hectic subway ride Monday morning.  We were at a stop, still pretty far downtown, and before my personal mayhem began I sat in my seat looking out the window at all the fancy people strolling by in their business formal best.  I saw a lone pigeon on the bench on the platform.  What are you doing in the underground subway, Mr. Pigeon!?  Probably a common thing but he just looked so out of place to me.  Then he hopped down off the bench just as a few people bustled past - I guess this freaked him out because he flew up midair in a flapping, winged frenzy.  He wasn't actually going anywhere though, just sort of staying in one spot flapping, ironically right in the face of a fancy businessman.  The businessman kept trying to walk around the flapping mess, trying to look unfazed.  The pigeon seemed intent on staying right in front of his face.  The whole thing probably only lasted 5 seconds, but that's an unbelievably long time to have a pigeon quite literally on your face.  My only reaction was to laugh (trying to keep it quiet, not so good at that!) and once the business man freed himself from the pigeon's wings and continued on his way, our eyes locked and I'm sure he saw me laughing at his expense.  But, in true Toronto style, he continued calmly on his way.  I'm pretty sure my reaction in that situation would have been to turn in disbelief to the strangers around me and yell "DID YOU SEE THAT FREAKING BIRD?!".  I am definitely not Toronto material anymore.....

I had decided to break in my new shoes on this trip.  Some practical looking leather loafer type things for my many fancy meetings over the coming weeks.  I didn't bring back-up shoes because my backpack and shoulder bag were already stuffed beyond the regulatory limits for public transit travel.  By the time I reached the office Monday morning I had three blisters (including one blister through the preventative bandage I'd put on my heel - it was in the shape of the padded bandaid square.. that was a first!).  By the time Monday evening rolled around and I'd walked the 10 mins to my hotel, I thought my feet were going to detach from my ankles and make a run for it.  So instead of the nice dinner out I'd promised Dawn (which was NOT do-able with these feets) I asked if she would come to my hotel room so we could order pizza in bed.  Very romantic!  I'm not sure what was wrong with us, but we ate an entire medium pizza, the whole order of cinnastix and had to make a commercial-break trip to the vending machine for chocolate.  The line of the night was "no judgement".  No judgement!!!

Tuesday night was another delightful night with another delightful Dawn (coworker from previous job and simply wonderful lady). She was dear enough to find a restaurant between my office and hotel, so my feet didn't have to do too much extra walking!  After 1 beer I was wasted and I can't even remember what we were talking about but I was laughing so hard I could hardly talk.  Why I love DL!  My brain was already into the garbled mush phase that accompanies too many interviews, so I was asleep within maybe 1 hour of the Biggest Loser ending last night.. what a loser I am!  But it was a good solid 9 hours of sleep which I desperately needed.  Packed up this morning, slipped my feet into my torture devices (now my big toenails were hurting and my little toes had turned entirely into blisters to match all the others decorating my feet), and repeated to myself "don't forget your coat, don't forget your coat".  This was tricky because the 8C mornings and 17C afternoons were not exactly calling for my fall-weight new Danier leather coat with fur collar.  Elevator down 6 floors.  Check out. Walk outside.  Think "hmm it's a bit nippy out here".  Sigh. Turn around and ask the lady at the front desk if she can make me another room key.... urrrrgggghhhh........  Up 6 floors.  Coat on.  Good to go.  My goodness.

The weather was so unbelievable - as I witnessed from the 6 cumulative minutes outside today.  Too bad we didn't get to enjoy it a bit more, but hey we got some good candidates out of the process.  One note about the interviews.. if someone is interviewing you and says "THIS IS A FUN QUESTION!" - get creative and have some fun!  I asked my non-scientist husband the q: if he was the mascot at an invasive species event and he could dress up as any invasive species what would he be? After a moment of whining, he quickly described how he would create Dog-strangling Vine (my most hated) by maknig a dog costume then wrapping green vines around him and around his neck.  I gave him full marks.  I'll be PC and not say much more about some of the answers I heard to those questions, but I'll say that Jeff's was the best and I asked it 19 times in three days......... :S

All in all another silly but fun trip to TO.  Montreal next week, so likely more Kristyn's-a-moron stories, maybe with a slight Quebecois accent this time! And hopefully more rebel birds - Pigeon Power!

Minnesota Wild Times

This week I had the interesting experience of heading to International Falls, Minnesota for a conference on Lake of the Woods - an amazing and beautiful lake and surrounding wildnerness my organization is committed to helping conserve.  My personal favourite lake ever because American White Pelicans are as abundant as gulls are on the lakes in southwestern Ontario.  I was excited to learn about some of the latest scientific research being done on the lake and signed up for the conference within minutes of receiving the notification.  Trying to plan the logistics of the trip ($700 flights to I-Falls with Bearskin.. ummm), and realizing I'd just agreed to go to northy middle of nowhere in late winter, I gave a bit of a gulp - but whatever!  I can handle anything!  This is the girl who drives 500 km without blinking an eye or taking a break up and down the TransCanada where cell phone reception becomes a thing of the civilized world and I'm left alone with nothing but eagles and solitude.  Done and done! I'm in!  I found the least-weird flight times to Thunder Bay (10 p.m. Tuesday night and 4 p.m. Friday.. k) and booked a rental car for the drive to Fort Frances, ON where I'd cross the border to International Falls.
My flight left Toronto on Tuesday night at 9:50.  Anyone who knows me knows that I basically never land flights which actually take off when scheduled - I carry the curse of the delay! And I fly at least 6-8x a year, so it gets old pretty fast.  I ended up in the seat beside the woman who held up our plane running from her connection - and she was very nice - and Jeff and I recently held up a plane in England running to make our connection (http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.com/2012/01/ireland-first-12-hours.html) so what am I going to say!  Thankfully my good friend Pam had recommended a good read, so equipped with my Kobo and some teenage angst (you have to guess what book ;)) we flew through the evening sky to Thunder Bay and I was there before I knew it.  And tucked into bed by 12:30 - knowing I had to get up at 7.  So of course I didn't fall asleep until almost 2 (is there any other way?) and woke up freezing at 6 as my rad had turned off in the middle of the night.. and I never truly fell back asleep.. so with 4 hours of sleep under my belt I was ready to face the 350 km drive from Thunder Bay to Fort Frances.  The conference began at 12 so there was definitely no time to spare!  Of course I didn't tell that to the room service guy who showed up late with my breakfast (I ate a Belgian waffle with my hands.. very classy.. plastic knife and fork were taking too long).. and I didn't think it as I scraped the thick layer of "hey it's actually winter here" ice off my rental car.  Question: why do rental companies provide basically a wooden toothbrush and call it your "snow brush"?  After scraping some fine lines over and over again in some key areas on my windshield - off I went!

And it was a lovely drive.  A cinnamon coloured American Mink scampered across my path on Hwy 11 (which runs straight west from Thunder Bay passing through Quetico Prov Park - see map).  Go buddy go!  I saw the unmistakable flash of white above me and craned my neck to observe a gorgeous Bald Eagle soaring overhead.  Frantic groupings of what I think were Common Redpolls consistently swept their tiny bodies just in front of my windshield, darting up at the last minute.  I was in wildlife-lover's paradise as I drove. Good tunes.. sun shining.. making great time.. cruise control in my brand new VW Passat rental.. alright!!!

My Journey by Car

Then Northwestern Ontario remembered it was.. Northwestern Ontario.  There was the snow.  At first just a few flakes, making me think it might be a fluke.  Nope.  Full on blizzard for the last 1.5 hours of my drive which caused whiteouts, had me squinting to see, and as I drove over Rainy Lake for the first time ever, I turned my head to see an unmistakable blank white canvas - couldn't make out the lake from the sky from the land.  SIGH!  Bummer for sure. 

In no time I reached the Canada/ U.S. border.  Which is going down in my books as the weirdest border crossing ever.  There were multitudes of train tracks criss-crossing the area just beyond the bridge to the customs booth, and more train tracks on the other side of the booth.  And a smell... an unmistakable majorly stinky smell that made me actually recoil when I rolled down my window to talk to the border guard.  Rental car NOT taken apart as seems to be protocol when crossing at Rainy River/Baudette, MN so that was a nice surprise.  Later I googled "international falls stinks" and this was the first thing that popped up on the screen: "International Falls smells like poo though. Seriously. There is some plant in town that makes the entire town smell like an aging armpit with BO sauce all over."  Well put. I almost felt sorry for the border guards.  Well, when I wasn't dodging 3-4 car tiny remote controlled trains randomly running across the tracks that could easily crash into a car lined up to go through the border.. who designed this place?!

I won't linger on the conference details (I'm sure no one else finds Spiny Waterflea (aquatic invasive species) and Lake of the Woods water control causing nest failure for loons interesting.. I did!  was fun being a science geek again instead of a property manager, for a few days anyways :)).  My ass hurt incredibly from 2 straight days of doing nothing but sitting.  Met tons of really nice ppl.  And I ate.  Omg did I eat.  First day lunch was make your own sandwiches on pieces of bread literally (yes literally) the size of my head - about 3x the size of a normal sandwich.  Delish!!  Cookies at the break.  And dinner, when I wasn't even hungry for it, was fried chicken, chicken satay, and fresh rolls with whipped butter.  Oddest meal ever.  So delicious!  Next morning's breakfast was FRESH BAKED HOME MADE cinnamon buns, once again nearing the size of my face.  It was hard not to eat 2!  And donuts, coffee, and fruit and yogurt to make you feel bad about not making the healthy choice. ;)  Lunch was battered Walleye (as long as my forearm!  maybe not literally..), homefries, more of the crazy yum rolls and whipped butter, and then a selection of desserts that made me want to cry with joy.  Moist brownies dripping with chocolate frosting.. peanut butter rice krispie squares, heavy on the pb and iced with chocolate.. I may have had 3.  Obviously I'm my own worst enemy at conferences.  Dinner plate sized cookies on break, and a hit of coffee to keep me awake through the late afternoon modeling session (models are dull.. there I said it!).  I was STUFFED when I returned to my super weird hotel room, but still managed to decide it was a better idea to order pizza to my hotel room than brave the blizzard outside that had been raging now on and off for 2 straight days to find healthy fare.  Dominoes in the U.S. is broken.  Has anyone HAD the thin crust pizza?  It sounded like the lighter option ("thin" crust :P) so I went for it.  First of all, the "small" pizza was the size of one of my hotel pillows.  Second of all the crust tasted like it had been made entirely of lard, baked in oil, with a side of shortening.  I ended up throwing out half the giant pizza and feeling massively sick the rest of the night.  Lesson learned for being a lazy bum!  But really, the weather and the design of where I was staying made any outdoor exercise next to impossible.  The conference was held at the college right across the "highway" (big street) from my hotel.  But, being the U.S., as I've found, it was not conducive to walking.  No sidewalks.. no crosswalk.. basically if you wanted to cross the street you had to scrape your car (with your Avis-appointed jumbo toothbrush) of a 1" thick layer of frosty ice in -16C temps, and then climb into the car, drive the 27 seconds to the college, and repeat at the end of the day after eventually locating your snow-buried vehicle.  Very environmentally friendly, good for the heart.. all of that. ;) Though scraping the ice was like a cardio workout.  And just getting over an insanely bad cough, my lungs expressed their gratitude with sharp burning and painful coughing: "thanks Kristyn, you biotch!  p.s. it's 12C at home today!" they yelled at me.

By Friday morning, I was ready to GO.  My icky hotel room had gotten the better of me (stench of pizza - my own fault, slimy bathtub - not my fault, world's loudest radiator that did nothing to warm the room - not my fault, tantalizing window view of the roof of the hotel and a dingy utility door - again not my fault).  I huffed down a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the lobby (yum!) and then was on my way home!!  No, who am I kidding.  I was scraping my car for 5-7 minutes, then climbing in the freeze-mobile and slowly making my way back up the highway to the stinky border.  Window frozen shut.  Toll lady and border man appreciated that I'm sure (toll lady almost fell out of her booth trying to get me my change).  In Fort Frances I knew I had to stop for gas, having noted no gas stations for 3 hours along the highway.  Full serve - ya!  Chip card - go inside to pay - boo!  What is the point of full serve if I have to get out of my car!?!?

Drive home was gorgeous, sunny, uneventful - perfect!  Saw Rainy Lake.  Ice covered, but gorgeous as I imagined it.  Saw FIVE bald eagles.  Did not almost get run off the road by any logging trucks.  Wondered about the people walking along the side of the desolate highway in the middle of nowhere.. but they seemed content enough.  No moose :( - NWO owes me moose.  Made it to my fave restaurant in T-Bay for my fave chicken wrap before returning my filthy but best-rental-car-ever.  And now onto the real journey home, which was to culminate with dinner with my hubby in the airport, as he was flying out of Pearson on a business trip about 3 hours after I landed.  Or was supposed to land...

Because my flight was delayed.  I actually laughed when I heard it I'm getting so used to it.  And because the WestJet lady said "..sorry to have to keep you that much longer in Thunder Bay".  Poor T-Bay gets no love!  We took off almost 45 mins late, but made good time otherwise and then I burst off the plane and ran through the airport to the bag carousel, on the phone with Jeff while we tried to track each other down.  Of course the carousel was not moving.  And didn't start moving for 15 mins.  I felt like running around it in circles I was so eager to get out of there and see Jeff.  One day I may do this for real.. stay tuned.  Just looks like it would be a fun adventure.  FINALLY get the bag.  Ok where is Jeff? Jeff is still learning about airports, obviously, and was eagerly standing outside of the "international arrivals" baggage claim waiting for me. :P  After 5 minutes of frantic walking and talking, we found each other.. embraced.. had a romantic (truncated) dinner at Terminal 1 Subway and said a somewhat teary goodbye.  I was ready for an easy journey home where I could stretch out my legs, wallow over my missing hubs, and catch up on my tv watching.

On the link train, travelling from Terminal 1 to long term parking, I am juggling my three exploding bags in the stuffed train car and trying to keep my wheely bag from falling over when I hear my phone ringing.  Expecting it to be my mushy man calling for one last goodbye, I pick it up - it's my dad, trying to plan a get together this weekend.  I tell him "I really can't talk right now!".  After finally explaining where I am (through a series of call waiting beeps - it was mushy Jeff on the other line, and text message "dings!" - it was Dawn, wanting to talk about the Bachelor), I get rid of everyone.  One more "ding" to indicate a voicemail from mushy Jeff.  I call him back and say "LET ME CALL YOU IN 10 MINS" as the train lurches to a stop. Dawn's last text says ominously "welcome home to arctic conditions".  I think "please - I was just in northern Minnesota, I'm unfazed by Toronto 'winter'".  I exit the train station to be basically be blown over by the freezing cold essentially arctic winds.  At least I was better off than the guy I walked with who had just flown in from Atlanta and I think was actually crying as he described the 75F temps that afternoon.  Get the ticket.  Pay the paystation. Get in the car. Get the heck out of there and onto the 407 where I can fly home, traffic and hassle free.

OF COURSE IT STARTS TO SNOW.  Exiting the 401 at Guelph Line all of a sudden I'm in a frigging white out where I can't see anything and am driving well under the speed limit along with other tentative drivers.. for half an hour... ok.. Hwy 7.. almost there.. wow that's a lot of blowing snow.. GET ME HOME!  Jones Baseline, a small back country road I have to drive on for literally (literally) 3 mins is completely white with no other tire tracks on the road and intermittent whiteouts from the surrounding fields.  When I finally pulled into my garage the sense of "AHHHH I'm home" was the most tangible I've experienced to date.  A fine trip, a great trip, but man oh man there is nothing like a night in your pjs watching pvr'd TV and dozing off in a quiet, warm, cozy place to make you never want to leave again.

Too bad I have a business trip out of town basically every week for the rest of spring.  Ah well.  What would I write about otherwise? :)

One Woman's Quest for a Bodybugg

Well, if the weird title didn't catch your eye, the story of my quest may keep your attention.  Because, as usual, it's full of hijinx, starring our ridiculous heroine Kristyn.  What is she the hero of?  That part I'm not sure.. maybe hijinx..

So what the hell is a bodybugg?  If anyone watches the Biggest Loser, they already know!  It's that armband you see strapped to all the contestants (though I think they switched technology this season) that estimates the number of calories burned each day - the same thing you used to see on the Jenny Craig Metabolic Max Commericals.  It's the neatest little device!  When I was on my quest to lose weight before my wedding (a shockingly unique concept, I realize) I downed Biggest Loser episodes like a replacement for my beloved cookies.  After hearing Jillian and Bob say enough times "did you reach your burn?" (referencing the contestant's bodybuggs which were linked to watches they wore to show ongoing calorie output) I decided I must get in on this technology.  Research proved that there was science behind it - it measures moisture, temperature, heat flux, movement, and has something in it called an accelerometer (yes!) and in scientific studies it had been proven to estimate calories burned within 90% accuracy, as it also knows a bunch of stuff about you like your height, weight, age, etc.  If you're not on the Biggest Loser and can't afford the watch technology (though I think it also will output to fancier smartphones) then at the end of the day you just plug it into a computer and it tells you the (hopefully) happy news - you burned 2500 calories today - that equals another 1/4" off your butt! :)  Further research proved that it was only affordably available in the states - the cheapest one I could grab in ONLY Toronto was about $400 - ahh!  At the U.S. Costco website I found it was on sale for an incredible $129.  With a week off in the middle of March last year, determined to have a Biggest Loser Week (where I too would exercise 6 hrs a day and eat 1200 calories.. thereby dropping at least 5 lbs.. ah.. hahahahaha... let my laughter be the report on how that went!), I needed a bodybugg!  I became obsessed.  Where was the closest Costco if I crossed over in NY - no, the gas price would blow my margins.. hmmm... then wait.. a visit was planned to see Jeff's mom in Watford, near Sarnia.. perfect!  We could go early, I could pop across the border at the Bluewater Bridge, hoof it over to Costco (in some Michigan town which I swear was called Shelbyville..), and be back in time for dinner that night, bodybugg in hand!  I packed a decoy gym bag which I could stash in it.. I was ready!

Apparently an innocent looking blonde lady sitting all by herself in the huge Saturday border line up was a bit suspicious looking.  I noticed the border guards staring at me.  They had a drug-sniffing dog with them, which was an adorable German Shepherd that I couldn't help smiling at - cute doggy!!!  That was the last straw.  Next thing I knew they were knocking on my window.  "Ma'am... what's your purpose of going to the states today?"  Ok so I'm a terrible liar.. so I went MOST of the truth.. "just grabbing a bite and doing a little shopping" (both true).  "Alone?" "Well.. my fiance is with the in-laws and we have dinner plans with them.. didn't want to... you know.. spend 6 hours with the in-laws.." (mostly untrue..).  The border guard's face was stoic.  "Ma'am, can you open your trunk please.  And put the car in PARK."  Eep.  Next thing I know the cute doggy is in my trunk, sniffing around.  And the border guard began 21 questions: "Where are you from?" "Why are you going to the states again?" "How long are you staying?" "Do you have any prescription medication in the car?" (awkward answer: "uhh.. birth control..." followed by him awkwardly blushing.. I never know how to answer this and am constantly asked at the border, esp up in Minnesota when I cross for work.. am I supposed to lie to the consistently male guards!?!?) "Where is your fiance from?" (answer: "Watford, which I'm sure you, like most of the world has never heard of") "Are you meeting anyone on the other side of the border?" "What do you do for a living?" "Are you carrying any tobacco, alcohol, or recreational drugs in the car?" .. honestly.. this just went on FOREVER.  Finally my trunk shut, the guy gave me an approving "thanks, you can go" and I was off.  My awkward honesty never fails at getting me out of sticky spots!  Plus the fact that I wasn't doing anything wrong yet.. actually being innocent helps.

Ok.  I'm across. Time to get on the highway.  Woohoo!  Immediately a car passes me, loaded to the brim with a rickety jenga tower worth of furniture - in the open back of a pick up truck.  I remember the huge brown armchair, wobbling in the wind, very clearly.  I immediately moved into the right lane and let this speedy makeshift moving truck maniac past me.  Bungee cords and tarps are out of the question in Michigan!  Get me away from this guy.  10 minutes later I'm driving along doing about 100 km/hr in the left lane, presumably singing and chuckling about my drug dog incident, when the guy in front of me brakes wildly and swerves into the right lane.  Now, coming up quickly to the front of my car is.. you guessed it.. one large, stationary brown chair, sitting in the middle of the highway!  AHHH!!  Check my right blind spot - not clear.. AHHH!!!  Chair getting closer.. my brakes are squealing.  Luckily blind spot man speeds up enough to clear a space behind him so I can quickly get over without horrendously cutting anyone off.  The car behind me sees the chair a moment late and ends up squealing off the road into the grassy shoulder on the left.  HOLY SH*T.  A moment later, I pass the pulled over truck o' idiots and unleashed a barrage of what, to them, must have looked like the climax of a silent movie with lots of motioning and mouth moving but no noise coming out (my window was up).  There were middle fingers, a flurry of four letter words spouting from my lips and an enraged, demon-like look in my eyes.  It was two 20 something girls who actually did look horrified and regretful.  Lesson learned for them for next time: bungee cords are your friend when moving.

Back on my merry way, I navigated to where I needed to be. Shelbyville (?) Costco was PACKED!  I started panicking in the electronics section - where was the BUGG!?  I'd even called in advance to make sure they had some in stock that morning.  AH! Found it.  Line up was, no joke, 20 people.  At each cash.  WTF was going on in Shelbyville.  Lucky for me it wasn't a run on bodybuggs.  I paid with my credit card, bought some granola bars as a decoy (I really do love the reduced sugar peanut butter chip Chewy bars they only sell in the states - a Cedar Point staple!) on a separate bill, ate my extra greasy McDonalds, ditched the packaging on my bugg, stuck it in the gym bag, and headed back on my way across the border.

I usually love the Canadian border, epecially in Sarnia.  Too bad this guy was a bit grumpy.  I guess I was feeling "what else could go wrong" and had a bit of trouble convincing him I'd crossed the border for lunch, shopping and come back with only a jumbo-sized pack of granola bars.  But after only a minute (nothing compared to my morning..), I was free to go.

Status update on the bugg: it's an amazing tool!  It was the angel on my shoulder during that Biggest Loser Week, pushing me to go harder and faster on the treadmill, or bang out a few extra reps - because I'd have to answer to THE BUGG that night.  It was a great learning experience to see which of my regular exercises were calorie torchers (treadmill sprints - pictured below @ 8:45 p.m.; elliptical at medium resistance) and which were a bit weaker (rowing machine, power yoga).  I lost a total of only 1.5 lbs that week, but more importantly had a ton of fun with my week off, being active outdoors and at the gym.  Love the Bugg!  My free year-long subscription to the online service is about to run out, but truth be told I don't use it that much anymore.  I mostly just know that walking around while at work can double the amount of calories my stationary ass usually burns during the winter months; to hop on the elliptical for 40 mins if I had a free day that lasted a week; and to not expect much from power yoga except stretching and mindful breathing!!



I called this screen cap "what Jeff did to me" when I used his personal training prowess to force me through some treadmill sprints at 10 mph! I sent it to my dad, who replied, "don't let him kill you".

 I'm sure the technology has come down in price since last year, so definitely a fun tool for anyone looking to be more mindful about calories in/calories out (the scientific equation that equals weight loss :)). I lost 16 lbs last year, much thanks to my little friend to opening my eyes to efficient exercises!  I just hope you don't have to go through what I did to get it! ;)  Border tip: bring a friend and don't smile at the doggy.  Highway tip: listen to your gut to avoid certain vehicles (and don't FORGET you're avoiding them when a good song comes on the radio...).