The Olympics were an interesting time for me. On one hand it was amazing to see Vancouver take the world’s centre stage for 2 weeks. To see all these places I used to call part of my “home” and listen to my friends’ stories about how awesome the Heineken House was, or any number of amazing experiences they were able to have.

On the other hand, while I was super excited for my friends to be experiencing such an amazing event first-hand, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t an element of pain associated with all the things I just mentioned as well. A sort of “I’m supposed to be there!” kind of feeling that tainted the Olympic experience for me… or at least it did at first.

Thankfully that painful feeling got less and less intense as the days wore on and I enjoyed the Olympics, both on TV and vicariously through my friends, more and more. But it was the Closing Ceremonies when they did the spot on how Canada will own you that something finally hit me… I belong to Canada.

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So there’s some things that I’m confined to not being able to do in my city because of lack of transport. One is going to Grouse whenever I want (a lot of planning and carpooling are required). The other major thing is not being able to go to local wineries. As much as I would love to think I’m going to make it up to the Okanagan and do the Naramata this summer, my schedule’s starting to look a little full for the year now that I’m back in Vancouver and employed again.

Fortunately though, my friend Faye needed some help delivering a gigantic dismantled Ikea shelf on Tuesday. It was being delivered to Walnut Grove, and when I showed up at her house without a coffee (I still feel bad), I saw in hand, a little map with some places to go and have a drink. The shelf was delivered easily enough and in record time, and without even looking at the map, we found ourselves following easy to follow signs into cow tippin’ territory, where The Fort Winery is located.

For those of you that don’t know this local gem, YOU SHOULD. The Fort, located in Fort Langley is a delicious treat. They don’t make wine from grapes. They make amazing fruit wine from locally sourced fruit. And not dessert wine as some of you might have thought automatically. These are dinner and sipping wines, ready to pop with meals. The tasting and retail room feels like the comfiest country cabin you can imagine, and the team itself is so hospitable and RELAXED. I’ve been to a few staunchy tastings in my life, and these people are the real deal and make you feel at home. Try to be there when Blodwyn is there because she’s amazeballs.

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Tuesday Feb 9^th

Yesterday was crazy. I actually didn’t even realize how hard I worked until I got home at 11:30 and laid down and crashed. I woke up early on Monday and did my run which was great. Then I went to work which is always kind of a wahh wahh because when I go into the office I end up sitting pretty much for 7ish hours at a desk. Now if you don’t do that, you don’t actually realize how bad it is for you. I just know that sitting down constantly and not really moving really doesn’t help. I mean that’s how a lot of people get out of shape. I know my mother is like that. Funny enough shes at the heaviest she’s weighed right now, and it’s because she gets up goes to work. Sits on her ass for 10-12 hours working, then goes home and is so tired and ends up sitting on her ass on the couch and falls asleep. Everyday for like the past 20 years. Mind you my mother still looks fucking FANTASTIC for 55 years old. She doesn’t look a day over 40ish. But she’s getting rounder. I gave her the same speech my roommate gave me.

“Right now, you’re at the point where you can either say fuck it all and just become obese, or you start doing something to get back on track.”

And the thing is when someone tells you that, you’re not really surprised. I wasn’t. I told myself every morning when I woke up and looked in the mirror, “Come on just do SOMETHING”.

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On July 2, 2003, Vancouver was informed they had won the Olympic bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. On Friday, Vancouver welcomed the world to the 2010 Winter Olympics Games with a fantastic show, orchestrated by David Atkins Enterprises, and I (along with Dan) had the privilege of being a part of it. After auditioning, Dan and I had the privilege of being selected to participate with hundreds of others in performing in the Opening Ceremonies. Now that everyone one has seen the show, we can finally openly talk about a show we’ve had to keep our lips sealed about for so long. We helped officially welcome the world to our beautiful city….to Vancouver, Canada. Countless hours of rehearsals and long days were all worth it when we performed on Friday. We were part of the Rhythms of the Fall portion of the Cultural Segment of the ceremonies.

We, the builders, come out carrying leaves, and actually I was one of the four people that carried in the big tap board that was brought to the center of the field of play. This is wear the hero tapper Brock Jellison performed his solo, and other well known musicians, including Ashley MacIsaac performed their solos. Shivers went through my body as we walked out to a lively crowd of 60,000 people and an estimated 3 billion people watching. I was surprisingly not that nervous, just extremely excited and in awe at being a part of it.

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Monday, February 1^st, 2010

I really gotta be careful with my cheat days. I think instead of cheat days I should just do a cheat meal. Like I get one meal on Sunday that I can eat as badly as I want. It used to be the whole day, but three shitty meals on a Sunday, makes for a really sluggish day on a Monday.

Tuesday, February 2^nd, 2010

In my everlasting quest to figure out what the hell is going to fit the best for me, I went to check out this trainer who has a private gym…which I like. Completely private, no judging eyes, no nothing. It was a great session and Bryan is a fabulous trainer. It was fun. I’m got a couple other options to try out and really see exactly what I want to do.

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Here’s a little glimpse into a rainy Saturday with me and my dog, Dani. Having gone out the previous night for a few drinks with friends, Dani and I wake up at around noon. I really look forward to the weekends when I can sleep in and don’t have to wake up at 7am like I have to during the week. I’m sure Dani doesn’t mind staying in bed a little longer… he loves to snuggle under the duvet.

Noon - Breakfasts are in order. I just recently switched Dani’s food from Innova to FROMM’s Whitefish & Potato. He loves the new food and wants to eat first thing as soon as he’s up. So he gets a bowl of Whitefish & Potato and I have coffee & a cinnamon roll. Yummy!

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Tuesday, January 26^th 2010
I had my first breakdown of this new project of mine. So my friend Mia walks into the kitchen, and tells me that my roomate Kyle said I was eating bacon when I wasn’t supposed to. Which, for the record, was a complete lie. So I got a bit annoyed. Then I get a message from another friend saying a little birdie told me you ate bacon…and I snapped. Oh my god I snapped to hard and I don’t know why? Bacon shouldn’t be making me upset right? I mean, it’s the candy of meat!

I think the whole reason I was getting upset with it was because it was like I was getting in trouble with the principal or whatever, I was guilty until I proved myself to be innocent. The fucked up thing was that I’ve ACTUALLLY been doing somewhat OK. I’ve actually been getting up super early to go for a walk/run (I almost am running half of it now…that’s a big deal for me) around the lagoon. I’ve been trying to stay away from candy, and junk food, and bacon when I’m not allowed to eat it…so why did I snap?

Then, as soon as that was done, ANOTHER person sent me a message saying “So I hear you’re on a diet!” and I almost freaked…until I realised I posted last week that I was on a diet. Nice one Tommy.

Wednesday, January 27^th, 2010
214.4 pounds. Going in the right direction. I keep hearing it’s all about diet and I get that, so I’m trying as hard as I can to not eat the stuff I usually eat, but god I am hungry all the time. I’m sure I’m getting hungrier and hungrier because my physical activity has increased, but how the fuck can you live on leaves? A salad is the most unfilling thing ever, and vegetables or a potobello are not good substitues for a steak or a burger. I would KILL for a burger right now, with bacon, and cheese.

see “before” pictures after the jump

Over the course of the last few years the notion of “home” has really changed for me. Being that I’m originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, I always sort of considered it my “home” since I spent my formative years there, and most of my family still lives there.

Five years ago I uprooted my life and moved to Vancouver and then just last August I did it again when I moved to Toronto. Both of these experiences have challenged the concept of “home” that I’ve held for so long. What really constitutes “home”?

When I moved to Vancouver back at the end of 2004, Salt Lake City was still “home” to me. I held on to that notion for a good 4 of the 5 years that I was living there and for some reason, I was just never truly happy during that time. It wasn’t until I realized it was THAT that was making me so unhappy. Actively choosing to live in a place while maintaining the idea that my “home” was elsewhere prevented me from putting down any roots. I didn’t get involved with any hobbies, I wouldn’t let myself really connect with people that I dated and ultimately I felt very transient for that whole period of time.

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So I have three more weeks in sunny Queensland, with a brief stop in New Zealand, before i venture home with hopefully a little perspective gained and most likely a whole load of responsibility to pick back up on. My time in Australia has been stellar and the only major downside has been my lack of internet, meaning zero internet, the last three and a half weeks.

One major thing I’ve re-learned about this country is that everyone lacks a sense of immediacy. No one’s out to do anything quickly, ever, and this truly reflects more than anything in business here. Our service provider has told us flat out that because our lack of internet is their fault, that we’re going to kept being put at the bottom of the priority list, right under the customers actually paying for their problem. Would this happen back home? No way. Every business’ fear where I come from is losing customers. Customer first focus is priority one. Here? Seems like they’ll get to it when they get to it.

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