Bonnyville RCMP

PRESS RELEASE FROM BONNYVILLE RCMP:

Over the past several weeks, Bonnyville RCMP received numerous break and enter complaints from various locations within the MD of Bonnyville. In all cases these crime scenes were investigated thoroughly, and leads were followed up on. I am very pleased to report that following the execution of a search warrant in the Town of Bonnyville, we have laid charges i

n connection to 8 of these break and enters and recovered stolen property of a value estimated to be greater then $75,000. Recovered items included several TV's, tools, small appliances, sporting goods, clothing, and numerous other types of items.

This warrant was executed with the assistance of Cold Lake Detachment and demonstrates another example of integrated policing and cooperation between two neighboring detachments.

Julia Cardinal, AGE: 45 of Bonnyville stands charged with the following offences:

- Possession of property obtained by a crime greater then $5000
- Possession of property obtained by a crime less then $5000
- Possession of break and enter tools
- Possession of a weapon
- Two counts of failing to comply with a probation order
- Two counts of careless transportation of a firearm
- Two counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking

There are 4 other co-accused individuals who are also charged with two counts each of possession of property obtained by a crime. Their names are being withheld.

Remembrance Day Ceremonies

Remembrance Day

If you can get out to a Remembrance Day ceremony this Sunday, make sure you do. I always do my best to get out to a ceremony to pay respects to the veterans who have fought for my freedoms as a Canadian. It's really amazing to think that a complete stranger fought to keep me safe and free. Wear a poppy and never forget.

In Bonnyville there is a ceremony at the Centennial Centre. It is set to start at 10:15. Everyone is asked to be seated at 10:00. Afterwards, the public is invited to a lunch at the New Legion Hall located on the corner of 52nd and 52nd in Bonnyville.

In Cold Lake there are two ceremonies this Sunday

1.  If you're attending the Energy Centre ceremony, you're asked to be seated at 10:30 and following the ceremony everyone is invited to the Cold Lake Legion
2. If you're attending the ceremony at the JJ Parr on base, you're asked to be seated at 10:15 

Local Sports

Local Sports

If you're a sports fan, there is so much going on locally this weekend that it's almost a good thing there is no NHL so these events can get the attention they deserve!

I'm sure we can all agree that tomorrow is an amazing day for football...right? A high of -12 with a chance of snow...awesome! If the kids can play in the cold, why can't we watch? Exactly.

1 o'clock at Walsh Field in Bonnyville on Saturday, November 10th the bantam Bonnyville Bandits will be hosting the St. Albert 49ers in the Tier III semi-finals. The winner will be off to play the winner of the Olds Bulldogs and Calgary Wildcats game. That'll go down next Saturday!

1 o'clock at Soholt Field in Cold Lake on Saturday, November 10th the Cold Lake Royals high school football team will be hosting the West Central Rebels in the Tier IV semi-finals. The winner will be off to play the winner of the Ardrossan Bisons and Sexsmith Sabres game. We'll get to that game next Saturday too.

As for the WFL Champion St. Paul Lions? They're in the Tier III semi-finals against the Stettler Wildcats this weekend!

In the NEAJBHL, the Cold Lake Ice are in Vermilion to play the Tigers tonight and home to the Vegreville Rangers tomorrow night. 8 o'clock puck drop at Imperial Oil Place.

The St. Paul Canadiens are in Vegreville tonight to battle the Rangers.

Finally, in the AJHL the Bonnyville Pontiacs look to break the tie in the standings with the Grande Prairie Storm. They have two games against them this weekend with a 7 o'clock puck drop for both today and tomorrow at the RJ Lalonde Arena in Bonnyville.

Friends

Is it me or are friends both the best thing you can have and the worst thing you can have while working on a new healthy lifestyle?



I don't have any friends that want to munch on carrot sticks and suck green tea all day. They'd rather eat chicken wings and drink beer all night and I have an extremely tough time saying "no" when it comes to these outings so I end up getting sucked into it. It's really difficult not to hit up the bar on a Thursday and crush a bunch of wings. Maybe that's got to be my treat night to keep me honest? I'm not sure. Then again, your friends will always be there to say how good you're looking with the weight loss. It's a double-edged sword.



Two weeks ago I said I'd return to the gym but I never did. However, last Tuesday I hit the gym and have been going ever since. I've picked up right where I left off and didn't gain much, if any of my weight back. The way I look at it is I'm starting (again) at a much better position than I did in January. Things are going well and I still haven't went back to my old habit of a litre and a half of Coke a day. Still sucking back the water!



As far as the weight loss goes, obviously it has been slowing down a little bit with me hitting the town more and more but I'm still around the 20-25 pounds down mark. By summer, I should look awesome! Just gotta keep trucking.

Wagon Crash

I would love to come on here and talk about how well I'm doing with my new lifestyle but then I would have to lie and I'm not really good at that. It's funny how things can change in two weeks, eh?



It's not like I'm living on fast food and sitting on my couch while munching on chips and drinking pop. I've still been able to keep the diet under control and keep drinking the water. I seem to have maintained what I've lost without gaining any weight back and I attribute that to keeping up with the water intake. I've really found out how important water is. So simple but effective.



I have, however, not been to the gym for about two weeks. Things have really picked up at work as of late so when people say "they have no time for the gym", it's probably in your best interest to believe them. I always wondered how someone couldn't have time for it but when you're working a lot, you just want to go home for the day. On top of that...and I'm not trying to make excuses but last weekend, I had a little bit of a slip on ice and I messed up my hamstring. I couldn't really do much cardio activities because of it so I just walked around the block every night with my iPod to keep up the activity.



I plan on hitting the gym again tonight to get into a regular routine again. It was cool to come into work today and get compliments on how I've been looking lately as some co-workers scrolled through some pictures taken of me over the weekend. I'm still well on my way to being a champion.

February 15th, 2012

Goals within Goals

I've still been trucking away with the gym and with eating better. I'll admit that I'm still having a difficult time getting into a constant routine. Maybe I just find that life will get boring if I wake up the same time every day and go to the gym at the same time every single day. I've been treating myself a little more than I'd like to admit lately but I haven't had a big bottle of Coke though I will tell you that I had a few rye and gingers at the Lakeland Humane Society gala on Saturday night! I'm proud of drinking so much water.



Even though I've been treating myself a little bit and not being so strict on myself, I'm making sure to get an extra portion of vegetables or fruit in before bed.



I kind of wanted to talk about "goals within goals" now too. For example, my ultimate goal is to lose weight and get healthy. I set goals while on the stationary bike! When I first started, I had a goal to go 10 miles in half an hour and burn 200 calories in that time. Now I want to be able to burn 300 calories in half an hour because I'm able to burn 200 in about 23 minutes! I am able to do 10 miles in half an hour on occasion but because I like to train for heart rate I have to up the resistance on the bike so I can get there so it's hard to go as fast so that's out of the question now (maybe).



I think it's really important to set yourself mini goals! I love seeing my fitness rate go up being able to push myself. I'm now able to finish half an hour relatively pain free in my back. I'd like to get that up to 45 minutes before the end of the year and I think things are well on their way!

January

I had the full intention of coming on here on Tuesday and pretty much admitting defeat and deciding that I couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't go to the gym all last week due to being really sick. I just had this terrible cold and couldn't push myself to do cardio when it's hard to breathe before exerting any energy. I was able to keep up with the new diet though...mainly no fast food and no soft drinks. I STILL haven't had myself a Coca-Cola and I'm so proud of that. Monday, I was just finally getting over my cold and I didn't really feel like going to the gym. So I didn't.



Then I decided to read through my blog posts and realized that this is what has happened every time in the past. I get sick, stop going to the gym, and never go back. In the past though, I didn't change my diet to go along with the new routine. I decided that I would have to push through this roadblock and keep going.



I walked into the gym on Tuesday feeling like it was the first time all over again. I have no idea why I was so nervous! I have this routine where I weigh in every Friday but for some reason, I decided to step on the scale at the gym before I started to see the damage I had done in the past week and a bit without going.



I lost 15 pounds.



I was honestly astonished. I couldn't believe it. Instantly, I felt like getting on that stationary bike and getting back to work. It was something to see the results in the mirror but another to see them on the scale. It's an awesome feeling. I've now gone to the gym three nights in a row.



Here I am...still going. My next goal is to be below 300 pounds for the first time in a long time. At this pace, that should happen sometime in May. I will renew my gym membership tomorrow.

Weekends Suck

Weekends are incredibly difficult for me on this road to getting healthy. I'm so used to sleeping in until noon and sitting on the couch watching sports. In the past year, I never really thought much of drinking my Friday and Saturday nights away at all. This year though...it's not exactly easy to wake up the next day to eat breakfast, go for a walk and hit the gym later in the day.



I did reward myself this weekend though. I decided I have earned myself a weekend off from the gym as I went Monday through Friday. On top of that, my ankle injury has recently flared up and I have a sore hamstring. I don't mean to whine on here but I think I deserved a weekend of moderate rest. I may have taken that a little bit for granted though!



Saturday night was just a little too much fun if you know what I mean. It was K-Rock Adult Night out as Kinosoo Ridge and I was presented with a bottle of tequila in a fine gesture...knowing that mixing alcohol with sugar-ridden drinks is not really the goal of being healthy, I just drank the stuff straight. A lot of it. Kind of an ironic and hypocritical statement, I know but it leads to a funny story. The night ended up with my supper on the floor and me losing my cell phone. I was supposed to meet my mom in Lloydminster for dinner the next day but I had no phone to make plans. I ended up calling on a pay phone and setting up a time and place but I misheard and ended up sitting at the wrong restaurant for an hour so I munched on their brunch buffet. I was proud for only drinking water and having some salad while my parents worried if I made it from Cold Lake to Lloydminster.



Point is...I lose every ounce of routine that I establish during the week. I have trouble waking up and kickstarting my metabolism with breakfast. I have trouble not ordering a pizza or munching on some chips as I watch sports.



Over the weekend, I seemed to develop a terrible cold as well. I'll admit, I didn't make it to the gym today or yesterday but I went sick a few weeks ago and figured it was best that I just rest this cold away. I have a sore throat, I've lost my voice and my nose is like Niagra Falls. This is another roadblock because, in the past, I have struggled with going back to the gym after a cold or something similar knocked me off the track. I NEED to get back in the gym as soon as my immune system does its job. This whole thing is actually getting kind of discouraging...

Results

One of the biggest things I can say right now is that I'm proud of myself. I really didn't think I could do what I have already accomplished and I only started living my new healthy lifestyle a little over two weeks ago.



I was reminded of how far I've come when I was riding the stationary bike at the gym late last week. When I hurt my back in 2004, I was unable to control anything below my waist directly after the incident. My entire left leg and foot was especially bad. I began rehabbing and part of the process was riding the stationary bike. I had problems keeping my foot on the pedals if it didn't have those straps that most bikes have. We actually had to tie my feet to the pedals with those tensor bands. In my ride last week, I rode for half an hour with my left foot falling off once. It's such a little success but it has already made me so proud of myself.



As far as eating healthy and losing weight goes so far, I couldn't be happier with myself. I've been able to pack a lunch most days including a turkey sandwich, an apple, and some vegetables. I find that snacking on some almonds in the afternoon holds me over until supper quite well. I also haven't had a drink of COKE. This is a massive step for me...in the first few weeks I'd honestly get head aches and feel cranky because I didn't have my daily Coke going into my radio show at 2 o'clock. Those have since gone away and I thought I would reward myself after last weekend but I haven't really felt like having one, to be honest. I felt like I needed that extra dose of caffeine to keep me awake throughout the day but even this week when I was covering the morning show for Chris, I didn't have an ounce of caffeine. Not even a coffee. All I had was water and I had no problems waking up...maybe eating breakfast attributes to that.



I've hit the gym at least five times every week since I've started and late last week, something weird happened. I kind of felt like going if that makes any sense. I didn't even have a hard time pushing myself while I was there. I find the best way for me to work out is by target heart rate. Once I get to 150 range, I really start to sweat and feel like I'm accomplishing something. It's cool!



The number one thing I find that keeps me going is compliments I get from people. When I'm out and about and someone asks if I have been working out, it makes me want to go directly to the gym and keep going. My jeans I got for Christmas (the first pair I've owned in 10 years) are actually already falling down. I'm glad I didn't use my own money to buy them!



P.S. - I promised myself that I would weigh in every Friday buttttt...I weighed in two Fridays ago at 314 pounds and then the next Friday at 344 pounds. I can assure you I didn't gain 30 pounds in seven days, haha. I'll see what number I get this week or maybe I'll just get a new scale.

Still Truckin'..

I'm going to go on record saying that I'm very surprised with myself thus far. Tomorrow will be the seventh day of my new lifestyle and I still haven't had a Coca-Cola. Have I thought about it? Absolutely. I feel like if I get off to a rocky start, then it will be an even tougher road.



Friday was really hard...I felt like I had nothing in the tank so instead of going to the gym right after work, I went home and tried to motivate myself. I struggled and struggled and finally went to the gym at around 8:45 (they're open until 10:00) and actually had one of the better work-outs of the past week. I ended up rewarding myself with a few beers that night.



I woke up on Saturday, feeling very refreshed, and decided I'd get a morning work-out in. That did NOT fly so well. I honestly thought I could just go seven days a week but I guess I'm not ready for that. I was completely out of gas and couldn't give the best effort I could have. Maybe it was the lack of recovery time. Maybe it was the beer. Regardless, it was at that moment that I decided that I needed to take Sunday off.



I was really worried about the weekend because that's usually when I'm at my worst when it comes to eating. I controlled myself very well. I went to a sport bar to watch the Detroit Lions/New Orleans Saints game on Saturday night and ended up ordering a buffalo chicken wrap with a salad. I am SO PROUD of myself for ordering that instead of the alternatives that you usually order at a sports bar. It was nice to get out of the house.



For the Sunday football games? Munched on cauliflower and carrots instead of chips and chocolate. Had a hearty roast beef meal (hold the gravy) to finish off the week.



Today I'm going through exactly what I was worried about when this whole change started. I have a nasty cough that just won't go away. I know if I don't go to the gym then I'll fall out of this good routine that I've developed so far. I feel if I go to the gym than I may slow down my recovery from this darn cold. I might have to take a light walk instead of heavy bike ride. I'll consider this my first road-block of my "journey".

Whoa

There's something that people always tell me that I'll never believe.

"Working out will give you more energy" - Insane people

Really? Expending energy is going to give me more? Is it wrong for me not to believe that because it makes absolutely no sense to me. As of right now, I don't have any extra energy at all. Maybe that will change. I've been actually been falling asleep around midnight instead of 3 AM. Apparently people get "high" from sweating. I get angry, haha!

On that note, it seems like I can get to the gym much faster if I have something to be angry about. I'd rather have a burger if I'm happy. So instead of thinking "happy thoughts" I think "angry thoughts" and get my frustration out on the stationary bike. Got a good sweat on and IT REALLY HELPED that they had the ROCK station on. Rock music inspires me...then again, pop music angers me and I'm able to work out to that too.

I've been eating whole wheat spaghetti and going for walks after supper and the spaghetti isn't actually that bad. I can deal with it. I haven't had any other fluids other than water and it seems to be cleaning me out. I'll do a weigh-in tomorrow at the gym and plan to do it at the end of every week.

One Day Down

I'm getting the feeling that a lot think I'm being an "attention whore" for posting my last blog post but there's a lot that has happened to me over that past 48 hours that have made me really not care. There has been a number of people that have called or written to let me know that I said a lot of things they wish they could say so I guess I'm the leader of some sort of movement, haha. I feel that by writing my feelings here, I am holding myself accountable. I CAN'T fail after putting it here.

 

The first day of the "lifestyle" change went relatively smooth. The toughest thing was not having a bottle of Coke. Oh how I want one of those. I think if I am able to make it through the weekend, I'll treat myself with one of those mini-glass bottles. It gives me something to look forward to! I also noticed that after I ate breakfast (for the first time in a long time) I felt a lot better a lot sooner. I am not a morning person at all but the simple breakfast of a poached egg on a piece of toast sure got me going.

 

I WALKED to work with an iPod rather than getting a double double before driving to work. I don't know about the nutritional value of a double double but I imagine it's not all that good and it denies me the opportunity to walk to work. Who would want to go get a coffee, park at home, and then walk with it? Not me. I'm glad I walked too because I found a $20 bill on the sidewalk on the way!

 

I knew the hardest part would be heading to gym after my show and it was. I really didn't want to go. That's $50 a month that can go toward something else. I didn't even know what shoes I would wear but I found my pair of Saskatchewan Roughriders running shoes and thought that would inspire me. It did! I rode the stationary bike the best I could for half an hour, got a good sweat on and felt good for going.

 

I do think the culture in gyms needs to change though. I walked in there and totally felt like I didn't belong and that's exactly what I was afraid of. Maybe it's me being self-concious but it felt like the whole damn gym was looking at me as I was walking in. I just wanted to do my thing and get out...it really didn't look like there were other people like me at the gym. They were probably getting ready for Canada vs. Russia and I don't blame them. What a waste of time though, eh?

 

Day two starts now but I worry about the weekend and all the temptations that come with it.

Bring on 2012

Warning: This is not going to be the most inspiring "weight loss blog" you'll ever read but it's real and from the heart. I've got a lot to get off my chest.



I'm fat. There's no way around it (no pun intended). There's nothing more frustrating than having someone tell me, "Nah! You're just big boned". Stop lying to me because I'm not stupid.



2011 was a year that I'm extremely happy to see go. I can think of eight good days in total that happened last year. Two were in Los Angeles in August, three were in Vancouver for the Grey Cup in November, one was Christmas Day, one was New Year's Eve and one was June 15th when the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup. Everything else was pretty much garbage. 2012 represents a fresh start for me and I'm taking it very seriously.



I ended up breaking up with my first girlfriend ever of five and a half years in April and I blame it on my weight one hundred per cent. If she wasn't no longer physically attracted to me, then my weight was affecting my head and preventing me from being the partner I should and can be. Really, it's been affecting my head for a long time but I've really just failed myself by doing nothing about it.



The thing that bothers me the most is when girls or guys come up to me at the bar or anywhere and grab my "man boobs". It is certainly the most embarrassing in the entire world. If you think "bullying" stops after elementary school, you're sadly mistaken. Yeah...sticks and stones, right?



Maybe it's more important to get those people out of my life than a slice of cake.



I grow a beard every few months not only to keep warm but to hide my extremely round jaw line and double chin. I like to wear a giant Saskatchewan Roughriders jacket to give me a sense of protection and pride.



Eight years ago, I blew two discs in my back and had to learn how to walk all over again. For some reason, that wasn't enough to scare me into losing the weight. 2012 is the year when I finally make the change. I have never been thin so I don't really know how it feels, to be honest. I've always been a big guy but then I could actually move around...after hurting my back, that all changed and I pretty much gave up on myself.



I am NOT excited for the journey. I AM excited for the results. This will not be fun and it will never be. Maybe that's why I've never went through with losing weight. I am not going to count calories, try and get sponsors out of this, or run a marathon. I am doing it to add years to my life.



I honestly don't believe I can do it. If I can get ONE person other than my mother to believe in me, then I won't be so damn nervous about this goal. The K-Rock listeners are probably my best friends right now. They're there to call me a jerk when I'm being an ass, there to compliment me on a good song they haven't heard for a long time, and willing to call me up to talk about something more than just winning a prize. I appreciate that.



I know a lot of people that want to lose weight but think they can't. They're afraid. This year, I'm facing my fear and crushing it.







Waist: 48

Status: Embarrassing



Let's shave 8 numbers off of that by next year. No. I'm not going to shave my chest.