Another busy week

Another busy week, arrived in Saskatoon this morning and went for a long walk along the south Saskatchewan river. What a beautiful walk, there trail system along the river is wonderful. We don't have a river in Stony but we do have a creek, what if I got it dug out a little and have all the water from dewatering the aquifers pumped into it. Maybe it will work? I'm here for the Federation of Canadain Municipalities conference (FCM), a few days of networking with other elected officials from Canada, attend the trade show, take in a few sessions and study tours and hear from our national leaders. Yup, that all packed into a few days. Training is going better, been jogging a little with the dog. It's giving him and me a workout. Trying to take advantage of the gym and swimming pool here and get in some training. Better try and get some sleep it's going to be a long few days.

Starting again

Went for my first jog this evening, 2.3km in 13mins. Not bad? I didn't want to over do it. You can tell that I'm out of shape, muscles don't feel it now (tomorrow they will be complaining) but my lungs are a little stressed. Looking forward to increasing my speed and cardio over the next couple of months. Hit a few golf baglls this week. The inactivity over the past few months has also effected my swing. I thought I do a little bit of practice since I have signed up for a couple of golf fundraisers. Don't want to embarrass myself when I'm with other elected officials. I'm starting to plan a raffle for the school, if everything goes well, we will raise awareness of the charities we support and generate some money to support them. Let's hoe everything works out.

Good week

It's been a week since I was officially sworn in as mayor, what a feeling it was last Monday. A big sense of accomplishment and pride with a little be of trepidation. Taking a quote from uncle Ben from the movie Spiderman, "with great power comes great responsibility". As mayor, I don't have any more power then I did as a councillor, I'm only one vote in seven. What I do have is more influence on the direction of the Town. We will still discuss and debate everything in Council and then vote on the best course of action. I'm looking forward to settling into my new leadership role in our community. I have been given the go ahead to resume all activities (YES!) but I have to stop when my eyes gets red or if I fell pain. Time to amp up my Kung fu training and get back on track. On Saturday I went to open training and have now settled on my 5 techniques, (well 4 for sure and still working the kinks out of the 5), if anyone wants to allow me to practice on them, it would be greatly appreciated. Today, after work, we went to the lake to get things opened up and ready for use. The cabin wintered well but the boat shed was used by some cats as a washroom. (yuk) I raked thought the sand to clean most of it out. Next year, I'm going to seal te shed with some boards. Looking forward to warmer weather and spending a few out there with the family.

Here and now

Well it's 12:50am and I can't settle myself down to sleep. A little to excited from tonight's activities. I was officially sworn in at tonight's Council meeting as the Mayor of Stony Plain. Excited and nervous at the same time. It was nice to have my family there to share the experience with, I was also surprised to see of the community there because they wanted to watch me get sworn in. I took over the meeting after I was sworn in and settled down after a few minutes. Looking forward to the challenge, I know this is going to be an amazing journey in my life. I'm just thankful for everything that has happened to me. With the many paths that are in front of me, every step I have taken has taken me to this point in my life. Sometimes I wonder where would I be if I hadn't come to Canada......if I didn't talk to Dara in grade one.......if I.......I don't know where I would be, I only know what I know and humbled to be here and now. Better try to sleep, I have kung fu at 6am, then another busy day.

Another journey branches out

Well the election is all over and I did get elected as the Mayor of Stony Plain. It was a great relief on Tuesday night after the results started coming in. After the results of the third poll was posted, it was clear that I was going to win. I was excited and honored to be given the opportunity to lead our community into the future. We had a little get together with some friends and volunteers and Dara did an awesome job setting up the room and making all the food and desserts. She spent a lot of time getting everything ready. Regardless, if I won or not we where going to have a celebration. The voter turn out was low and that was no surprise, municipal elections tend to have low turn out and by-elections are even lower. With just over 20% of the eliglbe voters voting on Tuesday, they made a definitive choice in choosing me to be the Mayor. I'm still in awe that I was elected. Now the work really starts, I feel another sense of pressure on me now. The pressure of leading a community. I will need a lot of support from my Council, Town Staff, my family and friends. I need to lean on them if I'm going to succeed and make the Town better. My training is slow, looking forward to my appointment with my surgeon on the 15th. Hoping to get the green light to amp it up a little. I find it hard to get mentally engaged with training without being physically invested. It was good to get out during Pandamoniun and it was during grappling and sparring (bonus). Would have loved to really get involved but had to hold myself back. I'm so blessed to be involved with a school that does more than training it's students how to kick and punch. The "spirit" of Kung fu is thriving at Silent River. I wish other organizations get this invested in their communities, their municipalities, their provinces, THEIR WORLD. The world would be a better place for everyone in it.