Thanks For Stopping By....

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tyler.  I am a 29-year-old, high school teacher that is living in Calgary, Alberta with my wife Christine and our 4-year-old German Shepherd, Rome.  I was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, but moved to Alberta in late 2006 after accepting a job offer.  I am a teacher employed by the Calgary Board of Education and I work at a wilderness treatment facility (Enviros Base Camp) for youth who are struggling with addiction and trying to overcome it.  If you are interested, you can follow the blog, Wild About Base Camp, that my co-teacher and I created about our school.  It's filled with pictures, videos, and information about where we work and what we are doing with our students.  We just started the blog in June of 2013 so there aren't many posts yet, but there will be a lot more in the near future.  As well, you will likely see a few posts on this blog about trips that I have participated in as part of my job.

I decided to start this blog for a couple of reasons.  I’d been looking for an easy way to share pictures, videos, stories, and experiences with friends and family.  Most of my immediate family still live in Saskatchewan, as does Christine's family and a number of our good friends that we grew up with, so they're a big reason for this blog's creation.  I’m not a big fan of using Facebook as a way of sharing and a number of people who want to see the pictures are not on Facebook, so starting a blog seemed like the right way to go about things.  I am also hoping that it could provide some motivation for people to get up, get active, and get outside.  

Despite the influx of low calorie, low fat, whole-grain, healthy products that have hit the market, obesity rates are still very high in Canada.  According to a 2012 CBC report, 31.5% of five to seventeen-year-olds, or an estimated 1.6 million children and youth, were classified as overweight (19.8%) or obese (11.7%).  Between 2008 and 2012 the adult obesity rate in Canada ranged from 24.2% to 25.3%.  Personally, I feel these numbers are too high and I attribute it to a decrease in physical activity and an increase in sedentary activities such as watching TV or playing video games.  I am not one of those people that does not believe in either of the previous activities, in fact I own both items, but I do believe that there's a time and a place for them and definitely in moderation.  According to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) five to seventeen-year-olds need a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily.  Adults 18+ need a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic physical activity per week.  They also recommend limiting recreational screen time to no more than two hours per day for children and youth aged five to seventeen.  For more information on obesity rates in Canada or recommended physical activity guidelines please visit the links below.

                 

I am not a professional athlete.  I do not have sponsors giving me money to play outside.  I am not getting paid to do this blog.  I am just a regular guy with a passion to be outdoors doing the things I love.  I am a firm believer in the benefits that being active and being outside can have on your body.  As you will see I try to live this belief as much as I can in my personal life as I do on a daily basis in my professional life.  I would much rather be outside hiking, biking, snowboarding, or even just walking my dog, than being stuck at home, indoors, and sitting around.  

I have a keen interest in historical sites (such as coal mines, early explorer cabins, fire lookouts, pictograph locations etc.) and wildlife, so you will see these themes come up again and again in my blog postings.  I also have a passion for taking photos, so some of the posts may have too many photographs and for that I apologize in advance.  I also love to travel, so you might see a couple of posts veering away from the outdoor theme just a bit, so I can share some of my favorite moments abroad.  

Lastly I am not using this blog as an outlet to brag about my outdoor endeavors.  In fact, in the outdoor sports world, my "accomplishments" wouldn't even register a blip on their scales, which is all the more reason to get out there yourself.  You do not have to climb the highest mountains, paddle the biggest water, or ski the gnarliest lines, you just have to be out there, doing something, and enjoying yourself in the process!  

I hope you see something in the upcoming posts that inspires you to get outdoors, to start exploring, or simply get moving!  If not, I hope you enjoy the pictures and stories none the less.

"I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

-John Muir