Olive was awarded the most improved player on both her volleyball and basketball teams this season. Different coaches, different sports, yet the same award, highlighted one of her most valuable traits, ‘coachability’. For multiple seasons I’ve listened to Olive explain techniques and tricks that her many great coaches have shared for her to improve different aspects of performance. A common theme has been watching Olive fervently try to implement these suggestions, trusting

Watching Olive head off on a 6 am run filled me with pride. It was her first day of her thirteenth year, and the first time she was joining Karina on a morning run. For the past six month’s, Olive has worked out each morning before school, her discipline and maturity out-pacing most adults. The secret to her success relates directly to one of James Clear’s principles: Instead of focusing on the outcome, adopt the identity first. ‘Olive is a person who exercises daily.’ An

Hazel ran in her school’s final track meet today. The fastest grade four, five and six athletes got to compete for ribbons at the high school track. The goal for these young athletes was to give them a taste of what track and field is like at the high school level, where not all participants get ribbons. Before competing in her race Hazel was visibly upset, nervous to race in front of a hundred cheering fans. Fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of sickness (400 meters).

This week I attended an AI conference where thousands of participants were simultaneously listening to multiple speakers within the same room. The secret; everyone was provided headphones that were colour-matched to each stage, thus allowing you to select the presenter of your choice, with the click of a button. This was a unique experience for many reasons. There were basically zero distractions, side conversations or distracting noises. In fact if you took off the headphone

A short Instagram clip that Hazel and I recently created for the grade five class lesson on flight just passed 107,000 views, with 3,300 likes. During this ten second clip we dove our Cessna at exactly the same time as we dropped a pen. As our plane matched the decent rate of the pen, we created the illusion of the pen floating in mid-air. Very cool. Karina sharing this clip on her Instagram taught us all a lot about the reach of social media, and how a simple, amateur recor

I recently found out from a client regarding the plans for their estate upon passing, and I was quite surprised. A family friend of the testator, close but somewhat disconnected, was in line to receive over 2 million worth of farmland. The interesting thing about the situation was that it was unbeknownst to the beneficiary, who had been somewhat unplugged from their relationship over the past few years. Like many aging people without children, the discussion about estate plan

Last weekend, April 24 brought such a blizzard to our farm that Hazel had to dig Wizard out of her dog house. A true test of Murphy’s law in action as I had conveniently changed our winter tires back to summer, only one day earlier. Despite the temporary hardships and poor road conditions, with May only one week away, the cold was obviously going to be short-lived. Sure enough seven days later on my aerial ‘farm-tour’ I observed the fields once again free of snow, and a nine

Warm weather over the weekend gave us the opportunity to break out our two wheeled-vehicles after a long winter. Six months of sitting brings out the worst in batteries and carburetors, making spring a season of tinkering, cleaning, and charging. That long period of hibernation makes everything a challenge to start. With a few hours of labour, I was able to get a scooter and a couple of motorcycles operational, and watching Olive and Hazel zooming around the farm made the eff

Last week we had a breakthrough solving a pervasive odour that had been habitually invading our office reception area. A strong smell of sewer would waft through the lobby, every couple of days, usually around mid-morning. This irritating smell would trigger a circuit of filling floor drains throughout the building, assuming one of the P-traps was drying up and letting sewer gas up through the floor. And so the cycle continued, until last week. We had to shut our meeting room

I learned something new yesterday. While discussing learning long division with Maryna, my Ukrainian colleague, she informed me the way they were taught long division in Ukraine was different than here. “Show me”, I demanded. As someone who has taught junior high math, I was intrigued to learn about an alternate method. I sketched a problem on a page, which she proceeded to solve. True understanding of concepts is often reflected in the ability to get to correct results no

Anyone familiar with EVs (electric vehicles) likely understands the plethora of advantages that they possess. Lightning quick acceleration Low operating costs (charge and go) No oil changes, warm ups, or fluid issues Silent and smooth driving experience Etc. Unfortunately there is one fear that prevents many people from purchasing one, range anxiety. The idea of being halfway along a road trip, with dwindling power reserves, and uncertainty around charging station location,

The sound of smashing glass at 1am last night got me out of bed at lightning speed. I woke Karina telling her “A window just broke…!”, as I started my careful advance through the house envisioning a few ‘take-down’ options, lest I stumble on to an unwanted visitor. Karina went to check on the girls in the bedroom next door, who were also waking from the loud disturbance. “A glass fell mom”, Olive told Karina, yet the kitchen inspection revealed no such incident. After clear

We had a milestone event this week as Karina ‘vibe-coded’ her first (of many) ios apps. DreamMe is a social network for dreams, it lets you record your dreams, and more importantly it allows you to share who is showing up in their dreams (if they choose). Claude.ai has turned the process of app creation from a $20,000 multiple month endeavour, into a few hours and a $30 monthly subscription to Claude. Rather than simply talking about the magic of AI, we have living proof

I tend to struggle with unwanted surprises or changes to my structured routine, but I’ve started using the mantra, “Yes, thank you”, to help me overcome this weakness. The goal is to accept circumstances as they arise, use them as learning and growth, without playing the victim. Yes, thank you, forces the recognition that life is happening exactly how it is supposed to be at this moment, and hardships today are teaching me the lessons I will need to become better. Yes, than

The challenge: One full week free of all complaints. Allegedly the average person complains once per minute during regular conversation. Yikes. Proponents of ‘complaint fasting’ claim that it creates a neurological re-wiring which lowers cortisol, reduces stress, improves sleep, strengthens relationships, and clears thinking. The human on the other side embodies agency and optimism. I see only upside. The Tim Ferriss suggestion is to simply move a band from one wrist to the

I keep two pictures of Olive and Hazel on my night stand, and make time to look at them each night. After challenging days of hormone-fueled interactions, gazing upon them, from a younger era, reminds of how sweet they once were. I’ve spent years observing students, growing into participating members of society, and one theme is consistent. No matter how much maturity, knowledge or experiences people get, they always keep their core nature. The insecurities, the need to be s

I taught Hazel’s grade five class for the first time this year. It was awesome. I re-met all of her classmates, started a unit on mixed fractions, led an intense ‘swat ball’ game in the gym, and even customized a lesson on aviation. It forced Hazel and I to bond the week before as we created a custom Youtube video , and some 3-D prizes for our ‘flight’ lesson. The fully immersive, father and daughter learning experience concluded with coaching basketball for her grade five

I pulled out my coin collection this week. It had been safely tucked beneath our stairs for the past few years, out of site and out of mind. Despite the laundry list of chores that needed completing, I took a few minutes to open the sets, check some Ebay prices, and enjoy the beauty of these treasures. I showed the girls all the coolest coins, and I was surprised that they didn't even know the collection existed. Thousands of dollars of coins, hidden away and forgotten, one

Everytime Karina and I have a ‘date day’ in Edmonton we enjoy a simple ritual. At noon we begin at our favorite restaurant, Sugarbowl, indulge in a premium craft cocktail, split a delicious brunch spread, and hang for an hour. Once we are satiated, and feeling happy, we amble next door to Redbike, my favorite niche bike shop, where I spend the next half hour drooling over a variety of unique, ‘hipster’ bicycles, while daydreaming about my next purchase. Despite having a full

I listened to Andrew Huberman explain how near-infrared light (NIR), specifically at 850nm, has the ability to penetrate our tissue, and ‘recharge’ the mitochondria of our cells. These ‘powerhouse’ organelles, provide the energy (ATP) for all of our life functions, so more ATP means better health. The best time to absorb NIR is directly from the sun near sunrise or sunset, at a time when there is less direct infrared to burn your skin. For us here in the north, where real s