One-week: Facebook

I decided today I would not go on Facebook for one week. Since I joined Facebook a few years ago, I've probably been on it every day (even when I went traveling I checked it every few days). This might seem like an easy task for some people, but for me it will be very difficult. I am a full fledged Facebook Addict, and I love it! It's a great place to write down opinions, thoughts or comments. It's a great place to communicate with other people quickly and easily, and send messages if you have a quick thought. I have Facebook on my iPhone as well and it tells me when I have a new message or notification with a quick tap of the screen!

I am going to attempt for the first time to avoid it, for one whole week. Can I do it? I have a few friends that aren't on Facebook so I will get a taste of not being part of the most popular social networking system out there! (sorry Liz and Andrew) I firmly believe you are missing out on something quite unique! I am only doing this week experiment for my Blog, otherwise, I would go on it everyday happily, with no regrets. People who aren't on Facebook these days, often don't get invited to Events because they aren't on people's Friends Lists. Phone/email is not peoples first mode of communication anymore. It's sad, but true. You might as well embrace it! :)  I know my non-Facebook friends will be reading this, and I want you to know that I love you regardless, and want you to know that I do my best to invite you guys to Events, even if you aren't on my Friends List! :) xo

Today, I've been doing other things online to distract myself from Facebook. I've been updating my Website and catching up on old emails but I've found myself, almost without thinking, clicking on the "Facebook" Bookmark I have on my Internet Browser. It's interesting how it's become such a habit in my regular day to day activity and without it, I feel funny. It's only been about 8 hours since I woke up, and already I am missing it.  Wow. 6 more days to go.

Here's some interesting facts about Facebook I found. Yes, I found them on wikipedia. It is my greatest source for information for this Blog.


1. The website currently has more than 400 million active users worldwide.

2. Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran. It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service

3. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade 'best-of' list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?

4. The Facebook iPhone app was launched August 2007 and as of July 2008 over 1.5 million people use it regularly

5. In 2008, Collins English Dictionary declared "Facebook" as their new Word of the Year.

6. It has been reported that more than 3% of all Facebook users are deceased.

Badminton Lesson with Kyle

Today, is the first time I've ever had a "private" badminton lesson. My sister Tara's boyfriend , Kyle is an ex-Canadian national badminton player. He is a badminton coach as well, so agreed to give Matt and I a private lesson at his Racket Club in East Vancouver. We were getting many looks from people but Kyle said, "don't worry , it's just because you are white!" (haha) Most of the people in the facility were of Asian decent, so we stood out a bit. We played near the end of the building, away from everyone which was less intimidating. I felt like I was laughing a bit too much, because most of the people were quite serious.

I have a new appreciation for badminton now, and hope we can go for another lesson as I really enjoyed it! We were only there for about 45 minutes but I noticed we were getting a decent workout; I was sweating pretty good! I imagine I might be a bit sore tomorrow but it was well worth it. Thanks Kyle :)

I googled Kyle, (haha) and found a badminton game he played in, if you want to watch him play! He's the one in the blue :) I can't believe how quickly the birdie and the players move around the court! It's quite amazing. GO KYLE GO!!

Sledge Hockey

Today, my two friends Andrew and Liz, Matt and myself went to watch a Paralympic Sledge Hockey game for the first time! Sledge hockey is a sport that was designed to allow participants who have a physical disability to play the game of ice hockey. Ice sledge hockey was invented in the early 1960s in Stockholm, Sweden at a rehabilitation center. It is currently one of the most popular sports in the Paralympic Games. (wiki)

Two men from Sweden designed the sledge for ice sledge hockey in the 1960s because they wanted to continue to play hockey despite their physical disability. Their design included two skate blades on a metal frame that allowed the puck to pass underneath. They completed the ensemble by including two round poles with bike handles for sticks. Although there are many restrictions to the measurements and weight of the sledges used in the Paralympic Games, little has changed from the original design to the ones that exist today. 

In 1981, Great Britain established their first sledge hockey team, and that was shortly followed by Canada in 1982. It was not until 1990 that the United States developed their first ice sledge hockey team and sledge hockey continued to expand when Estonia and Japan developed their teams in 1993. International ice sledge hockey became an official event in 1994 for the beginning of the Paralympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, with Sweden claiming the first gold medal for ice sledge hockey competition.

We watched the Italy vs. Norway game for the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics!! Since it wasn't Canada, I had to choose a team to cheer for, because it makes it more fun. I chose to support Italy, because I thought they were the underdogs! Sadly, Norway won just before the last period, by one goal. (however, I was glad they didn't go in to overtime, as I was starving for some Brunch!)

Here's a quick video of the game! I definitely recommend you check out a sledge hockey game if you ever get the chance! It was inspiring to see these guys out there, not letting their physical disabilities stopping them from doing something they love! It was very interesting...

Puma Shoes

If you look up the word "Puma" on the Wikipedia site, you'll find all kinds of meanings for the word. Check it out here if you are curious! It can be anything from an Italian dune buggy to a Brazilian sports car, to a German fighting infantry vehicle! This sounds all very exciting, but for this blog, I am going to talk about the Puma athletic shoes. Yes, I know, shoes!!!

I've never been the type to really get excited about shoes. I generally buy shoes for the cheap price, and comfort. I don't care about brand names, and generally stay away from popular brands like this, as they charge more because they are popular.  Guess what? These shoes were 50% off, so naturally I was happy about that. Today is the first time I've purchased a pair of Puma shoes. The price definitely helped me make my decision about buying them!

Even better than this, was Sport Chek had a deal on:  Buy 1 get the Second 50% off. Matt bought a pair of Merrell Shoes, which is his favourite brand. They took the 50% off his shoes, which were normally $130.00. They made a mistake, because they should normally take 50% off the lower priced item, right? When we found this out, we ran far far far away as fast fast fast as we could. Muuuahahhahahah. We used a $100 gift card from my "soon to be" Mother-in-Law and ended up only paying 40$ for both pair of sweet shoes.

YAY!!!

I've done almost 2 1/2 months of firsts!! Wow, only 9 1/2 to go!  If you have any good ideas, please share them with me! I am open to suggestions :)

Robson Skating Rink

* interesting side note* some girl has started a 365 days of firsts idea, and says she got her idea from Julia and Julie as well?! Coincidence? Who knows, but I will check out her ideas, to get some of my own. Ha! * click here

I finally braved the Robson Skating Rink today for the first time, in downtown Vancouver. The revitalization of the ice rink at GE Plaza has brought over 115,000 visitors to Robson Square to enjoy ice skating, concerts, and other special events since it re-opened in late November. Robson Square is the BC’s signature celebration site during the 2010 Winter Games. Live music performances are taking place day and night at this lively centre of activity.

I have been wanting to go check this out for quite some time but, I dare say I probably won't go again. I took 11 kids with me, and two other Staff and it was filled with hundreds of other kids also wanting to skate. It was very busy, to say the least. There was a huge school in line ahead of us, 60 kids to be exact. So, we waited about an hour to "maybe" get in as the Employees kept telling us they may not have enough skates for everyone. We did finally get skates for all the kids, and  got out on the ice but had to leave about 45 minutes later.

They were supposed to open at Noon, and when we got there a Paralympic curling demonstration was going on, so everything had to be post-poned. The employees didn't know this was happening until the day of, so they had quite a few upset parents/groups on their hands. Way to be organized VANOC! The demonstration was obviously a last minute planning idea, and not very well executed or entertaining. I had 11 complaining children on my hands.

Anyways, it wasn't as pleasant experience as I had hoped, but perhaps if we were to go on a non-Olympic day with only a few Adults, it might be a different! I guess I will just have to find out. here's a quick video of the a few of the kids ignoring me, and skating! haha..

Lies Trumps Truth

Unfortunately, because of legal reasons, I decided to delete this post. If you would like to know what it is, I can email it to you privately.

Thanks,

Jenn

HAPPY FIRSTING! --- yes, this is a new word I made up! 

4-slot toaster

Today is the first time Matt and I bought a toaster together. HA! So silly. Am I getting desperate for Blog entries? Perhaps. It's not just a toaster, it's a 4-slot toaster. Woooo. Everyone cheer! We can finally eat our breakfast together. This may not seem exciting to some people, but for us this is a happy thing. If we were to eat at the exact same time, one person would be left with soggy, cold toast. There is nothing worse than soggy, cold toast. Bleah. So, we ventured across the Lions Gate Bridge, to Walmart to get ourselves a new 4-slot toaster.

Once we got there, we realized how funny looking all the toasters were. Some looked like old radios, some looked like robots, some looked like plastic boxes. We chose the one that looked like a robot. Why not, right?

As I came home today, all the lights were off in the house, and our toaster was plugged in. When it's plugged in, there are two blue lights on either side that glow very brightly. It made me laugh as I walked in the door, because it looked like we had a live robot on our counter. If only it could talk, and ask me how my day was! That would be an amazing robot toaster. I will show you photos so you can see what I mean :

The greatest feature of our new toaster, is the bagel button. It actually toasts one side, and leaves one side soft. This is an amazing thing, and we will love our robot toaster every day!