Internet Blackout

Inspired by this post (I know I'm talking about her again it's not creepy I swear) last week me and my cousin/roommate Keri went on internet blackout.  At 7:00PM we turned off our phones and closed down our computers and nothing bad happened? If you asked either of my parents they would tell you that I am addicted to my phone/computer and they bug me about it constantly when we're together.  Even when I'm watching TV I'm on my phone or computer for the entire time just repeatedly checking all my social networks for absolutely no reason.

I might have a small problem...

We didn't limit ourselves to no TV because I think we might have actually lost our minds (maybe we'll work up to it?) and about 13 minutes into blackout we honestly questioned how long we were going to make it.  Luckily I had prepared accordingly and had copied down my favourite mug brownie recipe in advance so we microwaved some brownies, popped 24 into the DVD player and sucked it up.  It took about a half hour to adjust but after that it honestly wasn't that bad.  Instead of being constantly stimulated by the phone or the computer I felt like I was able to relax a bit more and even though we were only watching TV we were more engaged in what we were doing and interacted with each other more.  There was a moment after our episode ended where I was lying face down on the floor and Keri was bouncing a tennis ball off my back but hey at least we were interacting with each other instead of on our phones right?

I honestly think that not being on my phone/computer all night up until I went to bed allowed me to fall asleep faster which was nice because I have been struggling with sleep lately.  I've even started trying (though not always succeeding) to limit my phone use even when we're not doing blackout to see what kind of effect that would have on my sleep schedule especially on nights where I work late and need to wind down quickly to try to get enough sleep.  We've done blackout a few more times since that first night and I'm thinking of making it a more regular thing (maybe just on weekdays or nights where we're both home), with that much time off the internet think of how many books I could read!

Canada Day

It's been a while since I've actually done something for Canada Day.  When you're from Ottawa Canada Day is a pretty big deal, there's always something going on and downtown basically shuts down for a big party and fireworks.  I always thought that Canada Day was a big deal everywhere but apparently it's not so my first few Canada Days in Calgary were disappointing; no one wanted to do anything special and just treated it like it was any other day.

This year my cousin/roommate's friend was visiting so we decided to make an effort to do something fun so we went and explored some of the things going on downtown in Calgary.

Me, friend, and the cousin

Our first stop there was a band playing.  I have no idea who they were, they're probably in town for stampede, but they were playing Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) so we stopped until that song was done.

There were a lot of tents set up when we first arrived selling clothes, and bags, and scarves and things and then also a whole bunch of tents selling art.

One of the first things I said after we got off the train was "I should have brought my camera." It was such a nice day (honestly one of the nicest ones I've experienced since moving to Calgary) and it was fun to explore parts of the city that we hadn't spent a lot of time in before and I wish I'd had something other than my iPhone with me to take pictures. 

Olympic Plaza an the Calgary Tower

There were lots of buskers out.  We stopped to watch this guy for a little bit and he was really cute and funny with this little kid while he was waiting for a crowd to form but then once he actually started juggling he dropped some balls on his first trick so we moved along.

We walked all the way along the riverfront and just enjoyed the sunshine occasionally stopping to check out different things that were going on and checked out the Peace Bridge for the first time. 

Peace Bridge - a very fancy pedestrian bridge

Shot of the river from the bridge

We then ended the day with some dinner and drinks on a patio but unfortunately we were home before fireworks because we had to get up for training the next day #athleteprobs.

Better Days

Hello friends, do not fear I am alive and have not completely spiraled downwards to the point where I can't get out of bed (although I was heading there for a bit).  My last post was kind of bleak but here's the thing: I am a complainer.  I love to complain.  If there were prizes for complaining and procrastinating I would at least be in the running if not walking away with a trophy.  I complain about little things; some of my favourites are "I'm tired," "my hip hurts," "I'm cold," "I don't want to leave the couch," "my back hurts," "I'm tired."  But I don't complain about bigger things so instead I wrote a supes dramatic blog post about it.

After I had a complete meltdown at practice last week my coach pointed out that I tend to focus on what's going badly at practice instead of what I'm doing well so I feel like I'm doing terribly while a coach might see something completely different.  In the spirit of trying to focus more on the positive on ice today's blog post is also going to focus on the positive.

This morning we had a brutally long program on ice, I'll spare you the specifics because you don't care about that but we ended up being on the ice for over two hours.  I will admit that I often have a lot of trouble psyching myself up for long programs but today ... I kind of killed it.  I did more laps than I have in a single program in a long time and because I was thinking more "I can do this" instead of "OMG I'm dying so hard I'm not going to make it" I was able to do it and I was in a better mental space and not on the verge of tears for half the practice.  It wasn't any easier than any other long practice but I was just in a better mental state to actually complete it which is somewhere I haven't been probably since before I started having all my issues with being healthy last season.  Basically I'm just feeling pretty good about myself today and wanted to give me a pat on the back.