Even though the NHL players and owners are having trouble figuring out how to divide up an incredibly large cake, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be hockey this fall. My own recreational hockey (or is that wreck hockey) begins next Thursday in Hazelridge, and I know many others are either already on the ice themselves or taking the kids to the rink.

About a year ago I began hunting around for some good tutorials to improve my own game, as I haven’t been in a formal hockey practice for nearly 25 years, and even then, my fundamentals weren’t that hot.  As it turns out, there’s a ton of great material on the web (surprise!) be it Youtube videos or websites dedictated to the coaching / training side of the sport.

One particularly good site is How to Hockey.com which features training videos and articles on things like improving your shot, stickhandling, skating and coaching. There’s a lot of material to check out, and more importantly to practice and use in a game. So have a look and let me know what you find interesting (or better yet, create your own post on the topic).

My main goal this year is improving my shot, which is inconsistent to say the least.  In a fast paced game, the chances to score a goal can be few and far between – so it’s important to make the most of your opportunities. So to start with, I found this advice on taking a good snap shot.

Bonus Feature:

Here’s a great little video of Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capital displaying his shooting prowess. Funny guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpUVJYJQ9dI

Keep your head up, your stick on the ice, and have some fun.

OK, I’m starting to feel like solo-blogger here. Where is everybody?

I have good news, and I have bad news.

Let’s start with the bad. Rebel Rider Michael Whalen who has has been with the team almost every year since 2004 has had to drop out due to other commitments. Michael and has raised a lot for MS in that time and he’ll be missed. Sure hope he can come back next year. It just won’t be the same without him at the front of the pack.

Now for the good. Four sleeps to the MS Riding Mountain Challenge on September 8-9 and your RR Rebel Riders have a new member, Gurdeesh Ghuman from NDC Security! Not only that, we’ve topped $3,000 and are #4 on the top-fundraising-team list for the event! Thank you RRC!

So this will likely be the last bio before the big ride, partly because I don’t yet have one for Roxanne or Gurdeesh. But I do have one for Mike!

Yes, Mike is man enough!

This will be ride #4 for Mike Poitras, and it all started when I emailed him a link to the sign up page with a single comment:“Are you man enough?”. The rest is history.

As Mike says, “I have enjoyed every year that we bike as a team. Great company, scenery and a worthwhile cause!”

But Mike was cycling long before the MS Ride. Like most of us, he cycled daily as a kid, first with Dad holding the back of the seat, moving after many skinned knees to a 3-speed with a banana seat (remember those?), and finally to a 10-speed road bike. But a driver’s license at 16 resulted in the bike slowly collecting dust.

It was his wife to be (Vi) that got him back onto the saddle, encouraging him to try a mountain bike and to commute. Since then he’s used a ‘cross’ bike that is light enough to help him ‘keep that edge’, but sturdy enough to commute with heavy saddle bags. They have been having friendly challenges every year since to see who can put on more kilometres (last year he put on 5,000!). They regularly bike together and plan their holidays with cycling in mind. Now, Mike can’t imagine a life without biking.

“Every spring when I hop on, I am reminded of how much I enjoy it. It reminds me of my youth and that feeling of being ALIVE! I have met some wonderful people. I have discovered that there is a bond amongst those that bike. My personal hero is a fellow in his 70’s who still will regularly ride on 100 kilometre trips.” (I wonder who that is?) “I can’t keep up with him! One of my dreams is to be able to still ride when I’m in my 70’s. My second dream is to bike to Montreal!”

And so Mike and the team are just about ready to go again. You still have time to push us higher in the standings and to help your Red River Rebel Riders top $3,500 for 2012. All your donations, 100%, go directly to MS research and to helping those suffering with MS. Your rrrr… Riders must each pay a registration fee and raise a minimum of $250 to be able to ride, and though  we are graciously allowed the use of College vans to get us to Dauphin and back, we pay for our own accommodation in both Dauphin and Clear Lake. We do our bit, but we rely on you to make it all worthwhile with a tax deductible donation. No donation is too small. Pledge securely online today at the RR Rebel Riders team page and help us to wipe out MS!

Thanks everybody!

Where does the time go? My last post was almost two months ago, yet it seems like yesterday. So what better time to start thinking about wellness again as the College is humming anew with instructors and students returning from an amazing summer that just won’t quit? And with only 12 more sleeps before the MS Riding Mountain Challenge on September 8-9, what better segue to your RR Rebel Riders?

Our newest Red River Rebel Rider

Your rrrr… are a rider stronger since my last post. The exuberant Dayna Graham from our Exchange District Campus jumped on board August 9th, and she has already exceeded her $250 pledge goal! Talk about get-up-and-go! So why did she join?

“The inspirational wellness blogs…, the opportunity to contribute to a charitable cause…, and my love for outdoor activity… I am continually gratified by the incredible support by Red River College toward staff development. RRC creates and encourages a plethora of opportunities which foster staff development in wellness and intellectual capacity. All of these opportunities not only aide in individual growth, they serve as a catalyst for connecting with other staff/faculty members.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Check out Dayna’s profile, and even better still, support her with a secure online donation.

August Red River Rebel Rider, Wayne

And returning to the team after a 3-year hiatus is Wayne Ferguson, eager to raise money again for the important work the MS Society sponsors. So what motivated Wayne to join rrrr…?

“As a young boy, during the last interglacial period, I stood in complete awe of the cyclists riding through town completing their Jasper to Banff cycling adventure. These adventurous souls didn’t have light-weight carbon or titanium bikes, but much heavier steel frames. They didn’t have 30 gear Shimano or Campagnolo drive trains to help with the climbs up Wilcox Pass or Bow Summit; they had state-of-the-art  Sturmey-Archer 3-speed bikes.  Had their feats not been chronicled in the Crag and Canyon, I wouldn’t have believed their achievement. The Banff-Jasper Highway they rode was not the current route completed in the late 1950s, but rather the narrower,  less cyclist-friendly, road built as a make-work project prior to World War 2. “

“Forty or so years later, I took up cycling, as a result of a friend’s encouragement, as a way of getting exercise in a knee-friendlier way than running. One day I saw a poster for the MS 150 and the images reminded me of the achievements of the cyclists conquering the Banff-Jasper Highway on their primitive (by current standards) 3-speed bicycles. Entering the MS ride struck me as being as good a substitute for the Rockies as could be found in Manitoba; moreover, it would have the added benefit of raising money for an important cause. The hills on the Riding Mountain Challenge are much like those on the Banff-Jasper Highway; although there are no glaciers in the background.”

So, there you have it. Dayna and Wayne (and the rest of rrrr…) are quivering with anticipation, soon to hit the Dauphin to Wasagaming trail. Please help us put an end to MS with a secure online donation today. You can pledge the team, or any individual rrrr… rider.

Fellow Rebel Rider Wayne Ferguson started me a few years ago on what has become a Canada Day ritual of sorts (some would say insanity): a patriotic fitness ride totaling the same number of kilometers as the years since Confederation. Old St. Peter’s Church just over the bridge north of Selkirk is about 70 km from my front door, so I figured that a few short detours along the way would make it the perfect 145 km round trip. Unfortunately, with Wayne out of town, my 2012 patriotic ride would be a solo cycle. Bare spots suitably coated in sunscreen (forecasted high was 31 degrees), my 7:30 start was relatively cool, but I had not expected to be barreling through so many patriotic flying insects. My Badger SPF 30+ cream turned me into human fly-paper on wheels.

It turned out to be a perfect Canada Day route. I made pretty good time, reaching St. Peter’s around 10 am. Leaning my bike against a tree, I explored the large cemetery surrounding the church on the banks of the Red. Fascinating! I had not realized that the stone church, built in 1853, was on the site of the first Peguis Reserve. Ever wondered after whom the Chief Peguis Trail was named? Then read on. My Canada Day cycle was about to transport me back 200 years to the very foundations of Winnipeg and Manitoba.

St. Peter’s Reserve.

I’ve been hearing a lot this year about the war of 1812, but nothing about the 200^th anniversary of the arrival of the first Red River settlers. And I certainly knew next to nothing about Chief Peguis (born about 1774) who had settled with his band near Netley Creek in the 1790s. Often known as “Chief Cut-Nose” because his nose had been bitten off in a fight around 1802, Peguis welcomed the first Red River settlers in 1812, exactly 200 years ago, and is credited with aiding and defending them during their first difficult years. He guided them to hunt buffalo in 1814, helped bury their dead after the Seven Oaks Massacre in 1816, and even rescued Marie-Anne Gaboury, the first white woman in the West and future grandmother of Louis Riel. And it was a treaty through Peguis on July 20^th, 1817, that granted Lord Selkirk’s settlers use of Red River lands that included the future settlements of Selkirk, Lockport, and Winnipeg.

And here I was, right in the middle of what would become known as St. Peter’s Indian Reserve, the first successful Indian agricultural settlement in Western Canada. Peguis had been persuaded in 1832 to settle here, just north of present day Selkirk. When Peguis converted to Christianity in 1840, giving up three of his four wives in the process, he adopted the name William King and gave his children the last name of Prince. The names of many of the original settlers, including some of the Princes, can still be read on headstones in the cemetery. The largest is the monument over the grave of Peguis himself, who died only three years before confederation in 1864.

On my cycle back through the town of Selkirk I stopped at the Marine Museum of Manitoba, then St. Clement’s Anglican Church (1861) with its large cemetery containing the graves of many of the founding families of Selkirk. Being Sunday morning, there was a service going on and, to my surprise, I hit the churchyard just as the choir broke in to O Canada! Next stop was the “Stone Fort” of Lower Fort Garry where, on August 3, 1871, Peguis’s youngest son, Henry “Red Eagle” Prince, signed Treaty No. 1 with the new country of Canada, formally transferring lands that are now part of modern Manitoba. On the road again and passing the Lockport Inn at midday struck me as a most appropriate time to stop for a nice cold Molson Canadian! I am after all neither a mad dog nor an Englishman. Well revived and my water-bottle refilled, I continued on to Winnipeg, back over the Chief Peguis Trail, the Raleigh Greenway, and the Louise Bridge (first bridge in Winnipeg and the one over which the first Canadian Pacific through passenger train crossed on July 1, 1886!), under a Canadian National train crossing the CN bridge over the Stephen Juba Park trail, a short stop at the Forks to gawk at the Canada Day crowd and some obliging Canada geese, and a final 20 km home. Whew! A lot of history for one day!

As I soaked in a nice hot tub some eight sweaty hours after my Badger coated launch, I couldn’t help but wonder where the wheels had fallen off in the 200 years since first contact with Peguis, friend of the settlers. All that is left of the first Peguis Reserve is a dirt road leading to the old stone church where he is buried, surrounded by crumbling headstones and a few forgotten monuments. Successive waves of settlers and the new government of Canada pushed the Peguis band off prime agricultural land that was considered too good for Indians and onto reserves farther north. You may have heard of Peguis’s great-great-grandson, Sgt. Tommy Prince, Canada’s most decorated Aboriginal war veteran. Though a hero in the mold of his great-great-grandfather, like too many of our First Nations brothers and sisters he died penniless in a homeless shelter and is virtually as forgotten as Peguis himself.

Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for, but my 2012 Canada Day memory will be of Peguis and his legacy, and of a province and country sorely in need of a wellness plan. I am afraid that for too many of us ignorance is bliss.

Tommy Prince (1915-1977)

Maritime Museum

Hello everyone! Watermelon is the perfect food to eat in summer time. After hanging with people from all over the world, I learned that watermelon can be sometimes eaten with salt or it can be seasoned many different ways. You can ask my Mexican, Indonesian, and Indian friends. I came across this salad that I am going to give it a try. You might enjoy it as well.

Watermelon Salad with Jalapeño and Lime

Serves 4

30 minutes or fewer

Thanks to farmers in Texas and Arizona, sweet flavor-packed watermelons are now available year-round. Black sesame seeds add a nice color contrast to this dish, but if you can’t find them, white sesame seeds work just as well.

• 3 Tbs. lime juice
• 2 Tbs. olive or avocado oil
• ⅛ tsp. lime zest
• 2 cups seedless watermelon, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and sliced
• ¼ cup basil or Thai basil, cut into thin strips
• 1 tsp. black sesame seeds
• ½ tsp. sea salt

1. Whisk together lime juice, oil and lime zest. Set aside.

2. Place watermelon cubes in single layer in large shallow dish. Pour lime juice mixture over watermelon, and gently toss to combine. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. Place 5 jalapeño rings each in 4 shallow serving bowls. Mound 1/2 cup watermelon in center of each bowl. Divide marinade among bowls. Sprinkle with basil, sesame seeds and salt, and serve.

I attended a workshop at the Manitoba Tourism Education Council called Managing Workplace Stress– A Survival Guide. I wanted to share some of the ideas and tips I learned with you.

We can allow stress to manage us or we can choose to manage stress. There are many different methods out there and just like the causes of stress are individual, so are the solutions. Finding the ones that work for you is a matter of trial and error. Some suggestions are listed below.

1. Think positively: the idea is to try to avoid negative thinking and over-analyzing what co-workers have said or done, as this increases your stress levels. If we allow the negative self-talk to start, it can spiral out of control.

2. Be realistic: As much as you may want to be Superman or Superwoman, you can’t be. Be realistic about what you can and cannot accomplish. There is no point in trying to complete a two hour task in 45 minutes.

3. Set Goals: Being realistic doesn’t mean that you should not have goals. Absolutely do so. Goals help you move from negative situations to positive situations; goals provide motivation and direction. Just remember to prioritize your goals and focus on the most important ones first. Recognize that you may need to give something up in order to achieve your goal and break large goals into smaller goals, so that they are more manageable.

4. Stop procrastinating: When you procrastinate or delay a challenging or difficult task, you increase your stress level. Instead of doing it, you think about, you stew about and you worry about it. Getting into the habit of attacking your to do list, instead of pushing it to the side, will reduce your stress level.

5. Learn to say “no”: We sometimes put additional stress on ourselves when we agree to take on more than we can handle. When someone asks you to do something, even if it is something we would like to do but simply don’t have the time for, it can be very difficult to say no. Examples:

Clarify your reason, without making excuses, for being unable to help.  ” I can’t right now because I have another project that is due by 5 p.m. today.” or ” I don’t have time today, but I could schedule it in for tomorrow morning.” or “Yes, I can help you by filing this paperwork and will get that done for you tomorrow morning.”

6. Find the Funny: Humor is another great stress reliever. It has been scientifically proven that a good belly laugh lowers blood pressure, reduces hormones created by stress, gives the immune system a boost, and creates a sense of well-being and happiness.

7. Get organized: Look around. If you would rather work around your clutter than deal with it, you could be inviting more stress into your life than necessary. Eliminate clutter, set up an effective filing system, gather essential tools, and manage workflow, and you will be on your way to creating an effective, less stressful workplace.

8. Assess yourself: Sometimes we are the cause of stress in the workplace.  Take a moment to honestly consider how you treat those around you.  Are you in any way contributing to the stressful environment in your workplace? If you are in a supervisory/management position, are you recognizing and rewarding your team members for their efforts? Are you being overly demanding? Are you providing the training and support that they need in order to succeed? Remember, your success depends on their success.

I hope you find the suggestions useful.

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them.” Denis Waitley

For the last two weeks my morning ritual has been to walk up the narrow lane from our rented house in the French port town of Marseillan to the bakery, sometimes first strolling to the harbor to catch the sun rising over the Mediterranean. A short walk back home, I fill the French press with coffee and wait for the others to get up, the bread still warm. Next is a leisurely breakfast of goat cheese Brie (75% butter fat!) and confiture d’abricots (apricot jam) or mousse au canard (incredibly smooth duck liver pate) on a baguette or pavé au lin (artisanal flax bread), or perhaps a croissant or pain aux raisins,. And whether we settle on a medieval walled town, a twelfth-century abbey, or a trendy shopping district as our main destination, no French itinerary is complete without a lunch or dinner adventure. France is food country, and enjoying it is de rigueur.

Yet I was reading yesterday that despite a diet stuffed with cream, butter, cheese, wine, and foie gras (literally, fat liver), only 11% of French adults are obese (compared with 33% of us). The French also live longer and have lower death rates from coronary heart disease. They don’t diet and they don’t spend hours panting round the gym. Go figure!

So how do those alcohol-guzzling, croissant-munching gourmands manage to stay slim and healthy while we health-obsessed North Americans are comparatively fat and coronarilly challenged? Simple:

1. Food for pleasure
   Not surprisingly, a recent study revealed that France is the country where food is the most associated with pleasure and the least with health (the US was the opposite). The French take their pleasures very seriously. Research confirms that they eat more slowly and enjoy their food more than we do. The French are in fact not gourmands (gluttons) but gourmets.
2. Red wine
   Did you know that moderate alcohol drinkers live longer than abstainers or heavy drinkers? For the French, a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine. Flavonoids, natural antioxidants found in red wine, are thought to promote health of the heart and blood vessels. As Louis Pasteur (the Frenchman we can thank for pasteurization) put it: “Wine is the healthiest and most hygienic of drinks.” King’s Head anyone?
3. Smaller portions
   People tend to eat as much as is put in front of them, even when only mildly palatable. Research has shown that French portions are notably smaller than ours and that, although the French enjoy a wide variety of very rich foods, they still consume fewer calories. I can’t imagine finding a 32-oz (about a kilo) steak on a French menu like I did at a steak house in Dallas (I opted for the 9-oz “Lady’s Fillet”, with red wine, of course.).
4. Eat fresh
   Granted, the 100-mile diet (167 km?) may be  a little easier to swing in the south of France than in Winnipeg. Not only can they grow just about anything down here, even the smallest French town will have an open-air market, a fromagerie for cheese, a boulangerie for bread, a boucherie for meat, a lingerie for lingering (ok, just kidding on the last one). Sure, markets and speciality food shops may be more time consuming and expensive, but what you get is usually far fresher and of better quality. I remember one restaurateur in Provence beaming as he explained that he didn’t even own a freezer.
5. Real food
   Ever seen that old TV commercial: “This is soup just like my mother used to make. My mother used to make Campbell’s.”? The French eat fewer processed foods and cook (not just reheat) at home more than we do, taking the time to choose the right ingredients. Home cooking is the best way to reduce your intake of preservatives, salt, sugar, additives, artificial colours & flavours, trans-fats, and who-knows-what else. Our over-processing even spoils otherwise healthful choices. Take peanut butter, for example. Most commercial brands suck out all the peanut oil, substitute cheaper hydrogenated oils, add salt and sugar or other refined sweeteners, and then homogenize the lot so it won’t separate. Holy cacahuètes!
6. No snacking
   The French tend to snack much less than we do. Instead, they try to eat more regularly. More substantial, richer foods have been shown to keep you satisfied longer, reducing that urge to snack. And less snacking on sweets and refined carbohydrates reduces our glycemic load and the risk of heart disease.
7. Une carafe d’eau, svp!
   Research confirms that drinking a good amount of water daily suppresses appetite, is good for the heart (one study showed that increasing from 2 to 5 glasses per day reduced by 41% the likelihood of dying from a heart attack), boosts energy (even mild dehydration of as little as 1-2% of your body weight makes you feel tired), has good effects on your skin, aids digestion (and with fiber, cures constipation), helps the body flush out toxins and waste, and can reduce the risk of colon cancer by 45% and bladder cancer by 50%. One study showed that the French drink over three times the water that we do.
8. Naturally active life
   Daily walking is part of the French lifestyle. Their streets are much more walker friendly and full of pedestrians. Higher population densities and the number of multi-storey old buildings with no elevator also make for a lot more stair climbing. The French, especially in cities, walk, cycle (like your rrrr…), or use public transportation much more than we do.
9. Self-discipline
   It is true; the French deny themselves very little when it comes to food. But they also tend to eat very little of it: like a piece of dark chocolate after a meal rather than a big piece (or two) of cake. They know that denial isn’t healthy and favour moderation. And if they do slip into excess one day, they are more careful the next.

So, after my flight from Paris reaches Toronto and I am asked by a Canada Customs’ agent if I have anything to declare, I am tempted to say, “Why yes! I am going to adopt a more French lifestyle when I get back to Winnipeg and thoroughly enjoy my food!”

We want you to be part of the movement, literally!

In the name of physical health and to beat the lunchtime-eat-at-desk-blues, Red River College has started a Run Club.

The concept is simple. Meet at the Notre Dame Campus North Gym doors at 12:05 dressed and ready to go. Head out with the group to run/ walk the 5 kilometer ‘out-and-back’ route. Faster runners or those looking to add some distance can complete an additional jaunt through the cemetery at the turn-around point.

Run Club will meet come rain or shine, because as running enthusiast Dayna Graham (Learning Assistance Centre) says, “this is run club, not sugar club!”

• No need to register.
• No need to be an experienced runner.
• The only thing you need to do is give it a try.

And judging by these smiling faces, it sure looks like fun!

Inaugural Run Club runners (left – right): Michael, Judy, Brian, James, Sara, Jackie, Alison, Chau.

When I was six years old, I wanted to be a jewelry designer. I made earrings, pendants, you name it out of wire and beads. When I told my mother that I want to be a designer, she said that I will not be able to make it in Bulgaria creating jewelry. So my childhood dream to be a designer was out of the picture. I focused on my studies.

In college, after I finished the Community College of Southern Nevada, I transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I went to see an Academic Advisor to discuss two career options I had in mind–Nursing and Elementary Education. The advisor said that it would take longer for me to finish a degree if I pursue either of these two careers. Well, I went home to discuss my options with my sponsors (my host family at that time). They said that I will have to pick something else, something which will take less time to finish. I end up taking…….International Business. What a disaster! Somehow I finished my degree, but any free minute I had, I read books on psychology and spent time with my friends from all over the world.

Who said that I can’t be a designer? The designer in me is still there. I can still do what I consider beautiful. I can create beauty around me—with the food I cook, in my home, in my interactions with people. After all, I am the designer of my life.

Why not being a teacher? Now that I am a mother, I can teach my son so many things. I will encourage him to do what he loves, because only then he will enjoy life and be successful. I will also share with him that what I learned is that the purpose of our lives is to be happy. Of course, one day he can verify my theories experientially.

Here I am trying to teach my son something, but meanwhile he is teaching me so much about love, patience, and being in the moment.

“Live your life in the manner that you would like your kids to live theirs.” Michael Levine

Now this puts my life into perspective……

Okay, summer is here! How exciting! With summer comes the need to have more liquids, ice creams, gelato, popsicles, pops, anything cold, refreshing, and thirst-quenching.

I am one of those people who like to make my own food from scratch. So, with that I found a Triple Berry Pops recipe on Vegetarian Times newsletter I get every week. I hope you like the pops. I know I am going to make them for my son:

Makes 8 pops

Berries are excellent sources of anthocyanin, potent antioxidants that fight disease and are best preserved when frozen.

• 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed
• ½ to 1 cup frozen white grape juice concentrate

1. Purée all ingredients in blender 1 to 2 minutes, or until smooth.
2. Strain through fine sieve into bowl to remove seeds. Ladle into ice pop molds, and freeze at least 4 hours.