Thank You Loyal Fans!

This post is to say a big thank you to all our great fans that endured the sometimes harsh elements to watch our weekly Tauro soccer games. The fans in this picture were at many of our games this summer and it's great to have people cheering you on! I know there were many others that came out and thank you as well, I just didn't have a picture of you all. We look forward to seeing these same fans and hopefully many more (yes, this means you if you live in or near Saskatoon) cheering us on during this indoor season. Hey, it's warm inside so it's already better than outdoor!! Check out the Tauro FC schedule under Men's Div 3 at http://sdsa.saskatoonsoccer.com

Medical History and New Pictures

I can't seem to post these pictures like I want, so this will have to do. Sorry that it doesn't look very pretty.
This first picture is the lunch they served me in the hospital. It looks uneaten because that is usually how I left it. I brought my own lunch with me since there is no way I would eat their sandwiches. I did eat the soup once and I always drank the juice, but that's about it. By the third day they didn't even bring me a lunch but just asked if I wanted juice.
This is the needle I had in my arm for the 3 days I went to the hospital. They just kept it in my the whole time so they wouldn't have to put it in every day. It worked for me. I asked if I could just hook it up to a Coca Cola IV but they assured me that wouldn't be a good idea. Oh well, doesn't hurt to ask.
And this is me in my hospital bed. I look really sick all bundled up like that but I really felt pretty good. I would just spend the time reading books or playing crib with Shiela.

I decided to look back and take a look at just how my platelet count has been doing. Every Tuesday I go and get my blood tested and then sometimes I'll phone to find out what my count was at. Often I don't phone because I figure if it was bad they would phone me, but every once in a while I get curious (and so does Shiela!) (this chart didn't post real well, but hopefully you can see the trends)

So I've posted a chart that shows my platelet count from the day I found out about this until this last Tuesday. I'm missing a couple near the end of October, but the chart shows almost all of my results. You can clearly see the time where I went in for IV gamma globulin because my platelet count went very high. After that I was reducing my prednisone amount by 5mg every 5 days. Well, you can see what happened with that. The specialist finally stopped me at 15mg around the middle of October and now since my last meeting with him I'm down to 10mg a day. If it gets below 30,000 I'm back in the hospital for some more IV gamma globulin.

This last Monday night in soccer the other team kicked the ball hard right at my face and it nailed me right in the eye. I couldn't see for a few seconds but it started to clear up. Luckily it didn't bruise because that is exactly the type of thing that will send me back to emergency (for some reason bleeding in the head is a bad thing)....but we've watched it closely and nothing has happened with it. I feel God protected me in that encounter.

I Love Poker!

I've been noticing lately just how much I really enjoy playing poker. It is so much fun. Reading people, trying to bluff, having your heart race trying to figure out whether or not to make a call and the highs and lows of winning and losing big pots.

This last weekend I went out to a poker tournament in Waldheim. There was a total of 12 people so it was an ok size group. The top three places paid out $40, $15, and $5 (I know, the payouts are a little out of whack. It should have been $30, $20, $10 or something, but whatever). Myself and 2 other friends I regularly play with drove the 30-40 minutes out there and the ironic part was that when we randomly drew cards for positions we all ended up at the same table right beside everyone. Oh well, no big deal.

The tournament went really well. I had a couple big hands that helped me along. The first one was when I played King and 2 offsuit in the small blind. The flop came out King, Jack, 2 so I had flopped 2 pair. I bet around 300 (we started with about 2000 chip value) and my friend to my left called. It ws just the two of us and I kept making fairly large bets as I figured I had him with 2 pair. He kept calling me and the turn and river cards were just rags. He made a large final bet and I debated for a while whether to call. I did and when I showed my two pair he just about died. He didn't last much longer after that since I had taken a large chunk of his chip stack.

At the final table I had two big hands. The first was up against my landlord who happened to be there too. I was holding Queen 8 and the flop came out 2 Queens and a low card. I checked and my landlord made a bet after debating for quite a while. The turn card was a King. My landlord quickly called all in and I sat there debating for a while. I figured he may have a King, but probably not a full house since he hesitated on the first bet. I finally called him (he had more chips then me so if I lost I was out). He flipped over Ace and something else and I won with my trip Queens. Needless to say my rent will probably go up now! LOL

Anyways, I ended up getting second place and my other friend got first. I felt like a ringer as we left with everyones money, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I can't wait to play again!

If anyone out there wants to join our poker game (we usually play no limit hold em tournament with just a $5 buy in) let me know in the comments section and I'll invite you out.

Oblivious to Fame - Fact or Fiction

Growing up during my high school years in Caronport I worked in the cafeteria in the summertime during different sport camps to earn a little money. It was a great job, especially being the beverage guy. All I had to do was ensure that the beverages were always full. This meant replacing the milk, chocolate milk, waters, making more juice, ensuring the coffee was full, etc. It was a great, coveted job and I loved it.

One morning I was working the breakfast shift as the beverage guy during a hockey camp for young boys. All the boys had gone through the breakfast line and had kept me hopping on my toes as I constantly refilled the chocolate milk (most of the boys took full advantage of drinking as much chocolate milk and pop as they could during this week since their parents weren't there to stop them) and other beverages that these kids constantly drained. As the last couple kids left the cafeteria I decided it was finally time to eat my own breakfast. So I grabbed some french toast, bacon and chocolate milk (yeah, I was still a kid at heart!) and sat down for a good breakfast.

As I sat there eating an older man (I thought he was old since I was only about 15) came in, got his breakfast and came and sat down beside me. I didn't think much of it even though there were about 500 other empty spots for this guy to sit in. But whatever, he was being nice and probably figured he didn't want to eat alone. So we ate and chatted a bit, but being a young high school kid I didn't really have that much to say. The only strange thing I noticed was that I kept feeling that there were people watching me as I talked to this guy. I quickly glanced over my shoulder toward the dishpit entrance and saw a bunch of my friends peaking out the door at us. I didn't think much of it and figured they must just be slacking off.

As I finished my breakfast I said goodbye to this guy and said I had to get back to work. As I brought my dishes into the dishpit my friends were acting excited. Once they realized that I wasn't all that excited, they asked me if I had any idea who I had been eating breakfast with. Having no idea I considered lying so I wouldn't look stupid, however not only would that go against being a Christian I honestly had no idea who he was. They then informed me that I had been eating breakfast with a professional hocky player...Bob Bassen of the St Louis Blues. As I finished cleaning up the beverage counter I pondered this rare meeting and felt special that I had the chance to eat breakfast with a professional hockey player. However, I think this meeting would have had much more impact on someone who actually really enjoyed hockey as I was obviously oblivious to how great this breakfast meeting really was! (I would have preferred David Beckham!)

So...fact or fiction...you decide and let me know in the comments section.

The Tournament Rages On

The Lakewood Kickstart Soccer Tournament continues....

Our 2nd game of the tournament was against SUSC and my team played the best game of their season so far. It was great to watch. We beat them 5-2 which means we scored 11 goals in two games.

Our 3rd game of the round was against Aurora and we lost 3-0. It didn't help that we scored on ourselves for their first goal and their 3rd goal was a misjudgment by our goalie and the ball went through his legs. So I feel they only really beat us 1-0.

We placed 2nd overall after the round robin and so we made it to the final game against top ranked Aurora. Unfortunately we just were outplayed in that game and lost 4-0. The guys tried hard but the truth is that Aurora passes a lot better than we do right now and that made a HUGE difference. At least we now know who our nemesis is for the year! Overall I was very proud of these boys and they worked hard for their silver medal. Way to go Eastside Gold Eagles!

One Down, Two to Go

Yep, I'm talking about the good 'ol Lakewood Kickstart Soccer Tournament here in Saskatoon. I'm coaching the Eastside Gold Eagles U12 boys gold team (that's Div 1). Our team is interesting. In our team practices over the last few weeks basically all we have worked on is team defense and our defensive shape. I'm of the mindset that if the other team can't score on you, you can't lose. The problem is that we are still getting scored on numerous times each game. The funny part is that the boys can score goals like they are going out of style. We have scored 1, 4, 5, and 6 goals in our last 4 games and we really haven't even worked on any offense yet. But when you have 6, 2, 7, and 3 goals scored against you in the last 4 games something is obviously wrong defensively (in case you didn't figure it out our team is currently 2-2 including exhibition, league and tournament games).

So anyways, for me this tournament is all about getting our defensive shape together and defending as a team. The boys are starting to pick it up and I hope that by the time we have our next league game we will be much better defenders. We play again today (Friday) at 5:15pm and then again Saturday at 3:30pm. Hopefully we will be in the final on Sunday at 4:00pm. Feel free to come out and watch some great soccer.

Hey Four Eyes!

Yep, it finally came to this. I now have eye glasses. And actually I'm really pumped. About 3 years ago I went to the eye doctor because I was having trouble seeing things clearly that were far away. She told me that if I wasn't asking for glasses she wouldn't give them to me because my eyes weren't really bad. So I decided to not get any since it would cost a lot and I didn't want to wear them if I didn't have to.

Fast forward 3-4 years and I went to the eye doctor again (yeah I know they are called optometrists) and was told that one of my eyes was below the legal limit, or someting like that. My other eye was still good so she said I don't need glasses to drive, but if I get some it will make everything clearer and will help with driving at night.

The eye glass shopping ordeal was long and tedious. When you have never worn glasses before, everything you try on looks weird. But thanks to my beautiful wife Shiela for her patience as I tried on a million pairs and she helped me pick out ones that looked good. So now I have glasses (which I got 50% off on the frames, lenses and coatings) and they are awesome. I can't believe what I was missing! I keep pulling them up and down to see the difference when looking at things. I can see road signs further away, I can see the writing on the wall at church (during the worship, people...I know what you were thinking) and I can see people a lot clearer. I wasn't planning on wearing them very much, but because I can see so much better I think I will wear them alot! (until someone makes fun of me and calls me four eyes LOL)

Does anyone out there remember their first time with glasses?

*glasses pictured above are not the ones I bought. I don't have a digital camera so I can't show you the real ones.

Things are looking up!

Last night I was up late and perusing through some blogs I like to read and one of them is the www.canadianpoker.com. I was reading through Dave's Poker Log and he asked a question and the first person who emailed him the correct origin of the motto would win a Team Canuck Poker hat. Needless to say I quickly emailed back the answer and found out this morning that I had won the hat! I can't wait to get it and wear it in our next poker game (hopefully it's here for this Friday's game). I'm hoping this luck carries on to the $40,000,000 Lotto 649 draw tomorrow!

The motto, which was used by the Canadian Destroyer Squadron 4, is "Taken at the flood." Does anyone out there know the origin of this motto? Let me know in the comments section.

Oh Oh! I'm Slipping! - Medical Update

Yeah, it's true, I'm slipping again. I went back to visit the specialist again and it looks like my platelet count is going down again. As of last week I was at 40,000. The specialist lowered my prednisone amount to only 10 mg per day because he doesn't want me on them for a long time. But if my platelet count drops below 30,000 then I will have to go back into the hospital for another 3 days of IV therapy. He said I shouldn't be prone to bleeding at 40,000 and I'm pretty ok. I took this to mean that I can still play soccer (but I didn't outright ask him). I played soccer on Sunday and my lungs were burning by the 2nd half since I haven't done much running for about 2 months now.

Today I went for my weekly blood test to check my platelet count. I'm obviously becoming a regular because one of the nurses at the clinic called me by name when I went up to the counter. I'll keep you all posted as things progress and/or digress. Please keep praying for me!

The Indoor Soccer Season Has Begun

Our Tauro FC soccer team has entered the SDSA Men's Division 3 for this indoor soccer season and I am excited about it. We have alot of good players on our team this year and I believe once we start to gel as a team we will do very well.

However, our first game was this last Sunday and we lost 6-1. But, they scored all 6 goals in the first half and after our halftime talk about team defense we won the second half 1-0. Unfortunately, you don't get points in the standings for only winning half a game so we are still 0-1-0 (wins, losses, ties). The problem right now is we don't have a regular goalie. The goalie we had on Sunday was awesome and I wish he would play for us all season, but unfortunately he just doesn't have the time. So if anyone out there knows of a goalie (preferably living in Saskatoon) let me know and we'll sign him up (if he's good LOL)!

I'll be posting the results of our Tauro FC soccer team throughout the season so you can be sure to keep up to date!

I'm not dead yet!

I apologize to the thousands of daily readers that have been wondering why I haven't been updating my blog. And the reason is...well, I don't really have a reason. It started with a couple days, then a couple more, then a week, then I started wondering how long I could go without updating it, then a few more days, and on and on. Well, enough with that! I'm back and will be blogging like mad over the next few weeks to catch up on everything that has happened. Ok, that will only take about 2 minutes, but don't worry, I'll be posting things worthwhile for you to read!! So stay tuned and welcome back loyal readers!

Hurry! Hurry Hard! - Fact or Fiction

I like to consider myself an athlete. And as such, I plan on playing sports well into my older years. The only thing is that the sports may change to more social sports instead of contact sports. This is why I want to get good at curling now...that way when I get older people will want me on their team. If I'm 60 years old and just learning to curl, nobody is going to want me on their team because I'll be no good. It'll be like elementary school all over again when you always get picked last for the team. I vowed that wasn't going to happen to me when I get older.

So to help remedy this I decided a few years ago that I needed to learn to curl. I was too busy to join a league or anything, but as luck would have it a couple friends of ours needed two extra people on their curling team one Sunday afternoon. I was so excited I jumped at the opportunity to get out on the rink and learn this game.

When I got to the rink I was handed a broom along with a "slide" (a slippery thing you put on the bottom of your shoe to slide better) and I was set. The only problem was that the other team didn't show up so we had no one to play. Thinking that my curling day was over I was about to leave when I found out that we were actually going to split up our team onto a couple other teams in a "skins game" (this is where whichever team wins each end gets $1.00 per point scored). I was extremely scared and told the other team that this was my very first time ever to play the game and that I would be terrible. They assured me it wasn't a problem.

So there I was, curling for my first time with a bunch of people I didn't know. I was obviously throwing lead and threw my rocks down to the other end. I didn't do too bad and the people I curled with were very encouraging. The hard part was the sweeping. I had already swept a couple rocks down the rink and thought I was getting the hang of it...but I was obviously just getting cocky. The next time down the rink I was sweeping away at the rock going as fast as I could when suddenly the next thing I remember was looking up at the ceiling and wondering where the rocks, ice and all the people went. The sharp pain in my butt as I landed on the ice brought me back to reality and I realized that I had just completely wiped out. And while wiping out I had kicked the rock we were sweeping eliminating it from the game (it was the first of a few that I would eliminate due to touching it while sweeping). Obviously not a lot of people wipe out a lot there because suddenly practically every person on every rink in the whole building stopped and stared at me while offering shouts of "are you ok?" I struggled and slipped back to my feet, brushing off the snow and assuring everyone that I was just fine (even though it did hurt a bit). Nevertheless, it was a miracle but our team actually managed to win and I walked away $2.00 richer. As I handed back my slide at the end of the day I realized that I still need a lot of practice before I get old. Luckily I have about another 40 years or so until I need to be good!

Let me know if you think this great curling adventure is fact or fiction!

March 22 - What A Great Day

Your Birthdate: March 22

While sometimes employing unorthodox approaches, you are capable of handling large scale undertakings. You assume great responsibility and work long and hard toward completion. Often, especially in the early part of life, there is rigidity or stubbornness, and a tendency to repress feelings. Idealistic, you work for the greater good with a good deal of inner strength and charisma. An extremely capable organizer, but likely to paint with broad strokes rather than detail. You are very aware and intuitive. You are subject to a good deal of nervous tension.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Thanks to Janelle Loewen's blog for the link to this very insightful information about myself based on my birthday. I was skeptical at first and thought this was similar to a horoscope, but now I'm not so sure. I thought it described me pretty well. I always like things that reassure me in my thinking. For example, right now I'm thinking about starting a business and one of my ideas would be quite a large venture. So when this birthday thing tells me I can handle large scale undertakings, I get pumped up to go out and do it!

Take the birthday quiz yourself and then let me know in the comments whether you think it was an accurate description of yourself.

Wake Me When It's Over

Last week I went to the dentist to get some work done (I really need to floss on a more regular basis). I realized again why I don't like going to the dentist...because it hurts! They pry away on your mouth to keep it open, start drilling on your teeth while the little pieces of tooth come flying into your face, and they stick needles in your mouth to numb it (which is a good start!).

What I would like to see is a way for them to knock me out completely during the whole process. I would love to be able to sit down in the dentist chair, say hi to the dentist as they give me a quick needle in the arm that knocks me out, and then just wake up when it's all over. It would be so simple for both the dentist and me:

1) They can just prop my mouth open while I'm sleeping instead of constantly saying "Can you open a little wider?"
2) I don't feel any pain at all
3) The time would go by very quickly

I really think this would make us all like the dentist a whole lot more. Who can argue with a quick 30 - 60 minute power nap while you get your teeth worked on.

What do you think? Do you like my idea or am I just a wimp? Is there any other place you wish you could get knocked out and just wake up when it's over?

The Quizno's Experience - Answer is Below

Well, the answer to the story below is...FACT!

That's right, it was a terrible experience for me and I vowed never to return. After Janelle made the comment in the comments section that I wouldn't actually run to the garbage and spit the food in, but would be more discreet about it, I started to think back through the story. The entire story is true, except that I think I mixed up that part of the story with another McDonalds experience. I rehashed the story over with my wife and she confirmed for me that I did spit it into a napkin first. So sorry for the mistake...the rest of the story is true.

However, this past Sunday my shadow (and me) entered Quiznos once more. The guy I am working for doing soccer clinics asked me if I wanted to get a bite to eat in the 1 hour break we had between the Serious About Soccer clinic and my U12 Gold boys team we were evaluating. So I said sure and he said lets go to Quiznos. Not wanting to cause a ruckus I said sure. As I drove to that forbidden place that I had blocked out of my mind (I couldn't even remember how to get there it was such a tragic experience) I decided I was going to order something and FORCE them to only put on what I wanted.

As we walked into the restaurant I looked up at the menu trying to find something I would like. And there it was...a Meatball Sub. You can't get much closer to a Pizza sub than a Meatball sub. So I ordered the meatball sub on brown bread (did you read that Shiela, healthy brown bread) along with a chocolate milk and sat down. I took a bite of my sub and it was DELICIOUS. It was a wonderful, fulfilling, and tasteful sensation in my mouth. What a great meal!

So, although I still am not a Quiznos "fan", I have decided I will venture back there again and eat another Meatball sub.

The Quiznos Experience - Fact or Fiction

A few years ago Saskatoon got its first Quiznos restaurant. Being a hard core Subway fan since high school I didn't figure I wanted to change to a new place to get my wonderful pizza subs (I always get pizza subs). However, due to the great marketing they were doing, I wanted to get in on this new sub action that was suppose to be so good since Quiznos toasted their buns (big whoop, but it sold me and I'm sure millions of others!)

So one day Shiela, myself and a couple other friends decide to venture to Quiznos to try out these great toasted subs. As we walk up to the counter I take a look at the menu and am completely lost. I looked for a very long time, but finally the realization hit me...THEY DON'T HAVE A PIZZA SUB (at least I couldn't see one on the menu). Shiela smiled at me with that knowing look that says "Ha, now you have to try something new!" I smiled back with my sarcastic "ok, you may win this battle, but the war is far from over baby!" look.

After carefully analyzing the options I finally selected the Angus Steak sub. It looked ok. I mean really, how bad can steak be! And then it happened. I saw my bun go into the toaster and come out the other side. No problem. I moved down the line (just like I always did at Subway) and suddenly I see them putting things on my sub! "Whooooaa Nelly!! Is that my sub?" I quickly asked the lady in a panic. The reply was affirmative. Thoughts ran through my mind as I tried to figure a way out of this situation. "Um...I don't think I want an Angus Steak sub anymore." The look in the girls eyes that was making my sub was not pleasant, but she took the stuff off my sub and went back to the start again. Phew! I realized the problem now...they don't ask you what you want on your sub at Quiznos!!! For a picky eater like myself, this is a living nightmare!

I look back up at the menu again and try to decide what to order. It needs to be something I like since they aren't going to ask me what I want on it. I finally decide on my new sub choice...just a simple steak sub. Yeah, it was basically the same as the one I just had them throw out and the look in the girls eyes behind the counter let me know it. As my sub went through their process I realized that there were mushrooms on this selection of mine. Oh well, I could pick those off...or maybe I won't even taste them. I finally get my sub and go to sit down at the table with everyone else.

As I pick up the sub I'm pretty excited about this new adventure I'm on. I'm at a new eating place, trying out a new type of sub (a toasted steak sub) and I didn't even tell them what I wanted on it. As all this ran through my head something came loose because I suddenly convinced myself that the mushrooms on this sub wouldn't be all that bad and I probably wouldn't even notice them. And with that thought, I took a big bite into my sub.

And it wasn't too bad. Yeah, I could taste a little mushroom but the rest of the sub was not bad and the toasted bun was cool. I slowly munched on that bite contemplating in my head how this new adventure may change me forever. Maybe I will no longer need to analyze every McDonalds burger I order to ensure its plain. Maybe I really do like ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Maybe I should try some potatoe salad (or any salad for that matter) at the next BBQ I go to. With these thoughts going through my head I head into my second big bite of that sub. But this time it wasn't so good. My teeth sunk through that warm toasted bun and sliced through the juicy steak, but suddenly there was a taste that overtook everything...mushrooms. My entire mouth started to rebel! "What did we ever do to you to deserve this," screamed my tastebuds. I couldn't chew it because it was too gross. My mouth was full and the gross taste of the mushrooms was overtaking me. I started to panic. I threw back my chair, jumped up and hurridly looked around for the nearest garbage. I bolted over to it and spit the mouthful of awful tasting sub into the garbage.

After coming out of the bathroom from rinsing my mouth out I went back to my table. I gave the rest of my sub to someone else since I was just going to throw it away. I just wasn't hungry anymore (I can't imagine why) As we walked out of that establishment I took one last look behind me because it was at that moment I decided I would never again set foot inside another Quiznos sub shop.

Do you think this story is fact or fiction? Do you have any Quizno's stories? Let me know in the comments section.

Soccer is Life

Since I don't have a job right now I seem to have a fair bit of free time! Although I spend most of it planning for the future (looking for jobs and planning new businesses) I took a part time job assisting as a soccer coach for a soccer clinic here in Saskatoon called Serious About Soccer (SAS). It runs for 2 weeks for 2 hours a night and is geared towards kids (mainly U11 - U14) that really want to focus on improving their skill. I originally wasn't going to do it since I didn't know if I would be in Sasktoon or not (I had already stepped away from coaching soccer for Bethany College), but since we are I was grateful for the chance to help out with this. Not only because I love soccer, but I also get to work with some other great soccer coaches. And because the timeline was very short I felt I could handle it. I didn't want to be committing to anything long term because I just didn't know what the future had in store.

Unfortunately, today in the SAS clinic as I was working with one of the players who wanted to improve his defense skills I twisted my knee or something. He was practicing block tackles as I held the ball on my right foot. But then he wanted to practice his left foot. No problem. I moved the ball to my left foot, but when he came in for the tackle I didn't brace my leg and foot enough. I could feel my entire leg go back and my knee bend the wrong way. "Ok, time for a water break," I managed to say as I hobbled around the floor seeing how bad it was. It should be ok. I still have 5 weeks or so until the indoor season starts for my Men's team so it should be healed by then. But it will need a little TLC for the next few days/weeks.

But speaking about committments, I agreed to be an assistant coach with Eastside Soccer Association's U12 boys Gold team. I told Tom (the Technical Director of Eastside) that I couldn't commit to being the head coach due to my unknown future, but that I would help out as an assistant. As things have progressed I am now a co-coach along with another person (I haven't met him yet). It's funny how things like this happen to me. I'm still planning on just helping out in the co-coach role, but I have this funny feeling I will be playing a very large role with the team this year. Now don't get me wrong, this is great! I love soccer and coaching and these kids on the team are a great bunch of guys. It's just that I don't want to be filling up my entire schedule with soccer committments as I don't know what will happen with my new job/business venture. I will have to learn French though as one of the kids doesn't speak English! Luckily a few of the other boys are in French immersion so I'll have to use them to translate. I also just found out today that this U12 Gold team will be playing in the new Saskatoon Soccer Complex in an 8 vs 8 game. I'll definately have to start looking over some new strategy as this will be a brand new game.

That's it for now with the soccer news, but I'll leave you with this video link for some Great Soccer Moves . Click it to watch some great soccer dribbling, juggling and 1v1 attacking moves in real games and it will get you pumped to play some soccer!

Stay tuned shortly for another Fact or Fiction story!

MD Ambulance Hires A New EMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SASKATOON - MD Ambulance in Saskatoon is pleased to announce that Shiela Mathies has accepted a position with the company and will commence her new job on October 3rd. "We are very excited to have Shiela on board with our company," a representative from MD Ambulance told reporters. "Throughout the entire hiring competition and on every test Shiela excelled over and over again and we were excited when she accepted our offer of employment."* Shiela was ecstatic as well. "When they phoned to offer me the job I accepted it like a professional, but once I hung up I ran to my husband, hugged and kissed him and told him I had a job," Shiela happily explains as she recalls the occassion.

Shiela graduated from the EMT course at SIAST in Saskatoon at the end of January. Wanting to be hired on by MD ambulance, Shiela decided to work full time for a local company, Philom Bios, in the production area while she waited for MD Ambulance to have another hiring competition. However, when she found out in April that MD Ambulance may not be hiring that spring, Shiela took a full time contract EMT position in Canora, SK. which would extend until the end of September. "I really liked working out in Canora," Shiela said, "but being in Canora for 6 days away from my husband and then coming back to Saskatoon for 5 days was beginning to be difficult and I missed him a lot. I really wanted to be with my husband and the only way to do that was to get a job in Saskatoon."

When Shiela received a letter inviting her to the next hiring competition for MD Ambulance she was excited. "The timing was perfect as my job in Canora was ending at the end of September, but it took a lot of work and driving in order to come into Saskatoon over the last 3 weeks during the competition," Shiela explained. "I had to trade a lot of my shifts in Canora with other people and I just want to say thank you to everyone at Canora EMS for helping me out so much in order to make my dream come true."

Shiela is currently finishing up her last tour in Canora and will be moving back home with her husband in Saskatoon on Wednesday. "I'm excited to have my wife back home with me full time," Shiela's husband Sheldon said. "We've managed to go this long apart, but we are very much ready to be living together again full time." "I'm extremely proud of Shiela," Sheldon continues, "as she has worked and studied extremely hard to be the best EMT she can so that she would be hired by MD Ambulance." Shiela's not exactly sure what the future has in store for her. "I may eventually go back to school to upgrade my training to become a Paramedic," Shiela explained, "but for now I just want to prove to MD Ambulance that they made the right choice in hiring me and work my way into a full time permanent position."

*All quotes by MD Ambulance and Shiela were made up by the writer

Do I really want a job?

I went to Career Expo today at the University of Saskatchewan where they have all these different companies there recruiting people and telling them how great their companies are. I don't really know why I went. Well, for the obvious reason of looking for a job, but the problem was that nagging question..."Do I really want a job?"

Being currently unemployed this debate has been going on in my mind for a while. Now don't get me wrong...I'm not saying I don't want to work. I just don't know if I want to work for someone else. That's right, I think I really want to start my own business.

For any of you that know me you will know that I come up with new business ideas all the time. I'm definately a dreamer. But now it's time to put my money, time, and energy into actually making one of those ideas come true. The problem, I've realized, is that all my business ideas require a large capital investment. This doesn't overly concern me because I feel that with a sound business plan I could attract some investors into making one of my ideas work, but it is definately an obstacle to overcome.

There are definately pros and cons to having your own business. The guaranteed income and benefits of working for another person are really great and I've enjoyed my last 3 years doing that. I just don't know if I can do that forever. With my own business my earning potential is unlimited, but I will be working extremely hard to make it a success. The best part is that at the end of the day I can say "This is mine, I've worked hard for this." (Actually, I should be saying "This is God's", but I'll save that for another post) Deep down I just really feel that I need to start something.

So what about you? Have you ever considered starting you own business? Do you think I should gamble and start something or take a regular job again? Let me know in the comments section!

Medical Update

I went in again to see the Specialist today. Shiela and I had phoned him on Friday to see if it was ok if I played in a soccer tournament on the weekend since my platelet count was in the normal range (160,000 or so) as of last Tuesday. He would not give us his consent to let me play since he said that although the count is high, it is unstable.

Well, not being the doctor type, I figured that as long as my platelet count was in the normal range I'm sure I could play. However, Shiela instructed me that I needed to play the role of a substitute, not a starter, and that I had certain conditions in which I had to follow:

1) No heading the ball
2) No slide tackling
3) I had to wear ankle braces so I wouldn't roll my ankles
4) I could only play 5 minutes at a time before I had to sub off.

I of course agreed to these conditions. And I subsequently broke all of these conditions almost right away. Sort of. I only played in 2 of the 5 games. I headed the ball twice, but not from a really high kick or anything so I figured I was safe. I attempted to slide a tackle a guy (since he was about to score) but I ended up missing and just got a little road rash on my leg from the field. I wore ankle braces for one game, but I then played more than a 5 minute shift in our last game when one of our players got hurt. Needless to say I had no bruising at all from the weekend and my body seemed to handle the soccer pretty well. However, WOW was I ever terrible! After not playing for a month and doing no exercise at all I had almost no energy, no power in my legs, no soccer skill at all, and I was ready to call the fire department because my lungs were burning after my 5 minute shift. I realize I need to get back into shape for indoor soccer.

But back to the appointment. The Specialist explained again why I probably shouldn't be playing soccer yet as the platelet count is unstable (he didn't seem that surprised that I had played some soccer). He said that he has seen it in other people where the count is high and then suddenly it just plummets really low over night, which is why he is being cautious. I can understand that since if he says "Yeah, go play soccer" and then I get really hurt, he could be in a lot of trouble. So safe is good. Since my count is high right now he is going to wean me off of the steroids I'm taking by reducing the amount by 5mg every 5 days. So tomorrow I'll start taking only 25mg of Prednisone, then in 5 days I'll just take 20mg, and so on until I am off of them. Every week I will still go and get my blood tested to ensure the platelet count stays normal and if something changes for some reason he'll probably crank me back up to 50-60 mg again. I hope not because the chest pains they cause are really annoying, but the increased appetite is fun!

So that's the update. It's basically in "wait and see" mode now as we just continue to monitor it for the next couple months. But that's good as it allows me to focus on finding a job now!