Kim Siever’s Blog

Five years ago, the Vancouver Organizing Committee announced the “Own the Podium” programme, designed to create world-class olympians ready to compete in Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics, a process that normally takes a decade.

The idea was that if we create many such athletes, we could dominate the olympics in total medal count, which would of course been a record-breaking event for Canada.

The bad news is we didn’t succeed.

But wait. There’s good news.

It was still a record-breaking olympics for Canada:

• The first time we won a gold medal as host country
• The first country to reach double-digit gold medals in these games
• The highest number of gold medals in these games
• The highest number of gold medals of any country in any Winter Olympics
• The first time we have had a three-gold-medal day
• The first time in nearly 50 years we beat the Russians at men’s hockey at the Olympics
• The highest number of total medals we have ever won at any Winter Olympics

In addition, of the top 10 countries these games, Canada was one of only 2 countries to have more than half of their medals as golds.

Well done, Team Canada.

My regular readers probably know that ever since reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It, I have been trying to figure out what my passion is. And I think I have finally done it.

It actually happened a few weeks ago, but I forgot to blog about it. I was contemplating all the things I do and where I spend all my time, when I had an epiphany.

My passion is my family.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. My journey is complete. But that is only half of the epiphany.

What I also realized is that, frankly, it doesn’t matter much what I do for a living. What does matter is that it enables me to focus on my passion.

I need a job that pays me enough to meet their needs and at least some of their wants. I need a job that allows me to take time off to spend extra time with my family. I need a job that allows me to take better care of their health.

What I do in that job really doesn’t matter. I am no longer interested in being happy with my job, just as long as it keeps me busy and relatively content, and that it allows me to focus on my passion.

My familly.

Pronouns and Antecedents

Regan and his cub pack joined another cub pack for the Kub Kar Rally tonight. This was Regan’s first Kub Kar rally, and I did not help him with his car at all.

They split the cubs into three groups according to year (first, second and third).

Because of the numbers and the variability in the surface between the 6 lanes, each group had several runs, and then their overall placement was averaged out.

Regan’s group had several rounds, seven of which Regan was in.

Here is how he placed:

1. Second
2. Third
3. Second
4. Second
5. Third
6. Third
7. Fourth

We’re not sure what place he hit overall because they announced only the top three, but we think he did pretty well for having designed the car entirely on his own.

One of the great things about living in Lethbridge is the variable weather. A common saying in Southern Alberta is, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes”. While that may be hyperbolic, it does aptly illustrate our very volatile weather pattern.

What this means is that we get a variety of weather; it never stays the same too long. We don’t get a lot of rain, our summers aren’t too hot, and our winters aren’t too cold.

While we do get cold weather in winter, it doesn’t last more than a week or two before we get a reprieve.

That being said, I love winter in Lethbridge. I love the hoarfrost; I love sledding in the Sugar Bowl; I love walking through the river valley on my way to work. Winter here makes for some unique photos.

Here are a few I took:

You can see more of my winter shots here.

Between Versus Among