Rants about Spring, Sports and Yoga

Spring time in Melbourne

It’s spring time in Melbourne but for the next 2 days it will feel like summer with mid-20’s temperatures of 24 and 25 degrees Celsius. Today during lunch time I witnessed what the warm weather does to Melbournians. At the state library which is located in the centre of Melbourne and near two tertiary institutions – The University of Melbourne and RMIT University, people of all ages bask in the sun. The majority being young teens and adults, they sit on the grass, steps and benches around the State Library soaking up the sun, eating lunch or just having a conversation with friends.

Regardless of where you live in the world the sun and warmth brings people out to enjoy it.

But the difference between Toronto and Melbourne is that spring temperatures fluctuate more widely so that is can feel like summer.

Also it is interesting living in a country where the seasons are reversed. I am used to September/October cooling down and preparing for 6-8 months of cool/cold weather. But now I preparing for 6-8 months of warm/hot weather. Nice!


Football

This weekend will the see the biggest sporting event in Australia, the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) Grand Finale. This year it is between Geelong Cats and Hawthorn Hawks. Go Cats!


Ten pin Bowling

In the past 2 months I have played a lot of bowling. Well only 3 games, but that is much more than I have played in my entire life. For Lauren and my birthday we decided to have a bowling party. It was a lot of fun. It’s a fun game to play and I will be playing again this Friday for a work social function.


21st Birthday

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that the 21st birthday is considered a big deal here in Australia. I am going to my first 21st party. It’s for a member of Lauren’s family. Another Aussie cultural experience to add to my adventures.


Why I hate yoga but must continue to do it

I have been doing Yoga now for almost a year, except for the 2+ month period when we went away. I never like going to yoga and always have a hard time psyching myself up to go. The reason I don’t like it is because it’s hard and my body is not flexible enough to do it.

But that is the reason I must continue. In my current job and for the past 10 years I sit at a desk for the majority of the day. Leading a sedentary work career has its down sides, such as Repetitive Strain Injury and loss of mobility in your muscles. This can lead to pain, stiffness and tenderness in your body.

I need to do yoga to combat the effects of sitting for living. Also I have read that doing yoga can add 5 years to your life. Hopefully doing this will negate some of things that take away from my life expectancy.

World Views

I haven’t felt the urge lately to write about anything happening in Australia or my life. So I thought I would highlight some recent things that happened in the world recently. I want to use the blog as a timeline of events that took place while in Oz.


Sarah Palin – Republican VP - August 28, 2008

Almost 3 weeks ago Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain’s VP. She has caused a sensation with her beliefs and her demeanour. She is a 44 year old governor of Alaska for almost 2 years. She describes her self as hockey mom with 5 children. Two which have made headlines, one a 17 year old girl who is pregnant and a 19 year old boy who headed off to Iraq, just days ago.

Palin believes in the right to bear arms and is member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). She supports capital punishment and the teachings of creationism in schools. She is pro-life and does not believe in abortion even in rape circumstances. She believes in pre-emptive military action in the face of an imminent threat.

Her beliefs and the straight-forwardness of her speeches have caused an Internet and Media sensation over her. You can see comedy sketches of her on Saturday Night Live, You Tube and on speciality internet sites dealing with politics and comedy.


Financial Collapse in US – September 15 – 18, 2008 and continuing

Wall Street's oldest investment bank, Lehman Brothers filed for Bankruptcy.

This was followed by the sale/merger of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50Billon US

The following day American International Group – AIG, the world’s largest insurers was bailed out by the US government

The next day shares of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley fell so sharply (Morgan Stanley has lost $120 million US in value) that Morgan Stanley was considering a merger with another bank.

All of this financial upheaval, the worse since the Great Depression era is having effects all around the world. The effects are being felt in the UK, Europe and Asia.


Canadian Election – Oct 14, 2008

On September 7, 2008 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a general election. For the past 2+ years he has been the PM but in a minority government. He senses that he may have the numbers to win a majority government. He may be right as the hold of the Bloc Quebecois party on Quebec may be waning and increased competition from the NDP and Green party is eroding Liberal votes to spilt the vote toward the Conservatives.

What do I want?

Ideally a Liberal government or a minority Liberal government, but I don’t think it will happen. So I would prefer another minority government for the Conservatives. If this election shows that Stephane Dion cannot connect with voters, I want a new leader who can. The only way that may happen is if the Liberals lost.

Being healthy is like Climate Change, sort of...

As I embark turning 31 at the end of this week I have started to change my habits, particularly my eating and exercise habits. I have started eating oatmeal for breakfast, sushi for lunch, grilled cheese sandwiches’ with multigrain bread instead of a quarter pounder with cheese.

I am doing yoga weekly and have started a regiment at the gym to go daily and do cardio exercises. I intend to start biking to work once I get my bike tuned up.

I have reduced my consumption of coca-cola to just every now and again as a treat.

Why am I finally doing all this ?

I am over 30 and officially an adult. That means in terms of my body and health it’s all downhill from here. They way I treat my body now is going to have an impact over the next 20-40 years of well being when I will still be relatively young (50-70).

I don’t know what’s in store for me but I have to act now to be able to be healthy in the future. It’s a very hard thing to do because it’s seems like a long time away. I don’t know if it will really make a difference. But I do know that right now I am overweight (I don’t really look it) and that my body is not in the best possible shape it could be.

That got me to thinking about Climate Change!

There is conclusive scientific evidence that “the massive release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution, through the burning of fossil fuels that have been buried under the Earth's surface for hundreds of millions of years, is the main cause of a rise in the global temperature of 0.75° Celsius in recent decades.”

What are the real impacts of Global Warming if not checked - Ice melting and lose of water sources. Increase in water levels can put cities underwater. Melting of glaciers such as the Himalayan glacier would mean 2 billion people would lose their source of water.

This would in turn mean animal and plant species dying out and increase in sever weather conditions like forest fires, heat waves, droughts and acid rain and oceans.

But the problem is that Climate Change is slowly happening and people cannot see it. What you cannot see is hard to believe. This is why there are climate change sceptics or deniers.

This leads me back to why I started making change for my body. I have no idea if the changes I make now will affect me in a positive way. I’m doing it because I want the best outcome in my health and well being. But I won’t know for another 30 – 50 years if it has truly helped. And for it to really work I have to keep doing it year in and year out regardless how easier it would be eat fast food or stay on the couch watching the TV.

Because as everyone knows the easier route is a lot more fun. But the toll it takes can be even worse. In relation to human health it can mean obesity, diabetes, heart problems, liver problems and cancer. For climate change it could mean a world where weather is unpredictable, droughts and changes to environment – erratic and catastrophic conditions.

I have decided to aim to be 10% lighter, leaner and fitter by 2020. And hope the rest of the world can reduce their greenhouse emissions by 2020.