Leap Day

It's leap day today!  A day that only comes once every four years!  This is a really unique day!

Christmas, birthdays, Easter, Canada Day, etc, all come every year, but leap day...leap day is like the Olympics, or the World Cup.  And because it's such a special and unique day, I think it needs to be marked in a special and unique way.  So this morning for the duration of All New Breakfast Club, Todd drank tea (usually my drink), and I drank coffee...horrible coffee (usually Todd's drink).  But I took it a step further and decided to dress backwards (this is a homage to my camp days as a kid, where we had "backwards day"...good times!):


           


Weird, yes, but I just wanted to do something different and fun.  So, what are you going to do today to mark Leap Day?


(Here's one more that a friend sent me):

"A day to do things you ordinarily wouldn't do, to take chances!"

Vacation

My wife and I were on vacation last week, and many people will say that we did something a bit crazy.  We went camping with two young kids - a 2.5 year old and an 11 month old....and with my wife being pregnant.  Now, it was car camping, much lighter than what we were considering (hiking for an hour into the deep bush), but that was a good decision because yep, it was a bit crazy...a lot of fun, but a lot of work.  For those considering something like this, know that while it is a 'vacation', it's not really a vacation.  It was fun, but not relaxing...

It was fun.  It was awesome to see our two boys out in nature.  They LOVE being outside.  They love playing together.  No iPads, laptops, or TV.  Just having fun outside.  We brought a bunch of toys and they had fun playing, chasing balls, swimming, playing in the sand, and getting horribly dirty.  It was fun creating memories together.  It was fun watching my 2.5 year old play with his new 'Thomas' flashlight that he got specifically for camping, and that he loved.  It was fun spending time as a family with no agenda.  It was fun taking on a new challenge, something that we knew would be difficult, but that would be worth it in the end.  And it was.

But not relaxing...  Kids can be a handful.  Little boys never seem to run out of energy.  There was never a down moment, which is a bit of the opposite of what camping is supposed to be, lol.  We were always on the go chasing after one or both of the boys.  Nap times were difficult, and night time...well that was a write-off.  Getting them to bed was quite the challenge, then keeping them asleep through the night was next to impossible.  There was very little sleep.

But despite the craziness, we would do it all over again.  We love camping, and we want to pass that down to our boys at a young age.  Next year when we have three kids, we will do it again (Lord-willing).  It's a cheap, fun vacation, away from all distractions and technology.  It's a great way to reconnect with God and be reminded of his incredible creation of nature...do you know how many deer we saw??  We lost count after the second day!

Yep, we'd do it all over again.

Can't complain

Today...today was a good day.  It started out with a lot of laughs this morning between Todd and I on the All New Breakfast Club, both on and off the air.  We joked around about funny videos on the internet (which of course meant we that had to watch them...and laugh more).

We had a wager with Steve Jones on what our Promotions Coordinator Pip Lucas would be wearing today (I lost, I thought he'd be in a tie).

We took a silly video on a selfie stick (you can check it out on our LIFE Facebook page - it's inspiration from Shia Labeouf).

And we got a call about a Batmobile sighting on Highway 400.  Seriously.

About midway through the show and after lots of laughing, I said to Todd, "We're having too much fun this morning."  And it hit me...I'm pretty lucky.  How many people get to say that, that they're having too much fun at work?  I get to do something I love.  I get to laugh and joke around on the air, and I get paid for it.  I get to work with a really fun guy who usually gets my day off to a great start.  I get to hear from people all across Central Ontario about their lives. I get to encourage those same people - and thousands more - to start their day off with Christ.  I get to work for some pretty great bosses who genuinely care about their staff.  Most importantly, I get to do something I believe in.  It's not just a job to us.  We work at LIFE because we get to spread Jesus.

After jumping off the air, I went to the Georgian College Auto Show with the LIFE Street Team, and it turns out the Batmobile rumour was true!

(He told me to stick my chest out and keep my head up.  I tried, but it's still not worthy of a Batman pose)

I not trying to brag.  I'm not that guy.  The truth is, radio can be a lot of work sometimes.  You are always working to perfect your craft.  You are always "on" because you're a personality.  You sometimes work long hours, and often on weekends.  But that's just part of the gig.  You know that going in, and you take the good with the bad.  And in the end, the good easily wins.

I don't like to write posts like this because they can be take the wrong way...oh look, my life is so much better than yours...  That's not my intention here at all.  I'm just taking an honest look at my life and reflecting on the fact that I'm a pretty blessed guy (and I haven't even touched on my family - I'd brag about that though!).

Thanks Scott and LIFE staff.  Thanks Todd Gale.  Thanks God.

It's been a fun week!

I like weeks like this on the internet.  All the neat and weird stories that have popped up, it's fun!  It's a nice break from the heavy (and often negative) stuff that can often be in the news, and that can sadly make up our world today.

But this week was different.  I've smiled and laughed a lot the past few days, and my curiosity has been peaked.  It started off with the mystery bunker found in Toronto.  What is this bunker, who built it, what was it for, when was it built, etc...so many questions and no answers.  Crazy!  (It's too bad it's been filled in now...)

Then it was the story of the llamas on the loose in Arizona.  Police, bystanders, people in their cars - no one could catch these for about 20 minutes!  A fun video to watch (here's the shortened version):

Then there came the story of the giant catfish.  Dino Ferrari reeled in this monster - 280 lbs, almost 9 feet long! (He released it.)

And then of course, the one that has completely boggled my mind - "The Dress".  The dress that has polarized the internet.  Some see it as white and gold, others and blue and black.  For me, it so CLEARLY was white and gold all morning, and I emphasized that on the air and to all callers today...and then five hours later I looked at it again and now all I see is blue and black...  It's messing with my brain!

I can see both variations now (it's all the lighting and the angle).

Hopefully one or all of these stories made you laugh too!  If not, look one of them up and enjoy!

Bed pan race!

I had the opportunity to do the bedpan race at Mash Bash again this year.  This is the second time I've done it.  It's a lot of fun!

Let me give you the run down in case you don't know what this is.  Mash Bash is a big event put on by Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, and it happens every year at Snow Valley in Barrie.  It's a huge fundraiser for the hospital and a lot of fun.  And every year, they have bed pan races, where you sit on a bed pan and see who can get down the hill the fastest.  It's very difficult.  VERY.  Bedpans are small!  I compete in the media race against other radio personalities from the Simcoe County area.  Both times I've done it, I've ended up wiping out.  This time though, I got a lot farther down the hill!  I ended up with a lot of snow down the back of my pants though...it was a cold few hours afterward...

I also had a GoPro strapped to my chest, I'll upload that video as soon as I get it downloaded onto my computer.  You'll see just how hard it is!

Fun Christian music

I have to say, I'm impressed with the calibre of Christian music coming out these days.  Specifically, new styles of Christian music.

We've always been good at the worship music.  That's a given.  And the music that you wouldn't quite classify as 'worship' (as in, you likely wouldn't sing it on Sunday morning), but you can just tell by the style that it's Christian - Casting Crowns is a good example.

But this new 'fun' style of Christian music that's coming out, I'm loving it!  It's...well, it's just that - fun!  It gets you dancing!  Forgive this description, I'm not trying to sound negative here at all, I'm just not sure how else to describe it other than...it's music that you might hear on a secular radio station if it didn't have lyrics about God and Jesus.  Not because other Christian music is bad or poorly done, but simply because of the style.  These songs have a fun sound.  A bit like Mumford and Sons, but the Christian version.  Songs like:

Tim Neufeld, I'm Free

Mercyme, Greater

Rend Collective, My Lighthouse

Chris Tomlin, God's Great Dance Floor

One more Mercyme tune...Shake!!

This is not by any means a knock against any other style of Christian music.  I like lots of artists that don't fall into this style.  But it's just nice to see this newer, upbeat, fun music.  Often Christian music is serene, worshipful, melodic, soul-searching, which is fine.  But it's great to dance, move and shake to music with good lyrics that praise God!  In fact, Mercyme said that in creating their last album, their goal was make music that you couldn't sit down to while listening - it was just too much fun :).  What a great goal!

Alright, get your dance on!  Have fun!