Nursing Reception, Critical Mass May

It's been a pretty busy couple days on this end. I'll start most recently and go backwards.

Had yet another nursing event last night. It was pretty good, but was lacking the "je ne sais-quoi" of the nursing ball I had about 2 or so months ago. The music was also sub par for the evening, with a few exceptions. Nevertheless, it was fun to get to hangout with everyone again for another night before we all splinter off.

Just to follow up, I think I am getting hired by a placement company that will send me all around HRM. Although it's sort of nice to have a job, I was hoping for something a little more permanent with a more predictable patient population.

It was also a stellar day yesterday, and despite my wine-induced hangover, I was able to take a walk with my ex-roommate and her boyfriend around downtown Halifax. Although I absolutely abhor walking, our little trip through the parks and around the hospitals were nice.

Finally on Friday night, we had our May Critical Mass bike ride. What made this one super special was some HRM folks, along with myself, mediated access to the MacDonald Bridge road/deck for cyclists to take to get to Alderny Landing. It was an amazing experience. What really left me feeling pretty low was the behaviour and general attitude of some of the bikers that took part in the ride this month. After having gone on this ride, more than any, I understand why a lot of cyclists don't agree with or participate in Critical Mass, and I have to say that I think I'm going to join the growing trend of staying away from the rides.

Regardless, it was still enjoyable, and riding across the bridge, epic! The hipsters once again strapped a speaker to a trailer and has music the whole way. This lead to an impromptu dance party on the pier when we got to Alderny.

Graduation is next on Monday. Jesus... I'm becoming an adult I guess.

Bike Commercials

Just in case I haven't mentioned it, the little bike group I've been with for the past two years has produced a series of biking advertisements for Halifax! This has been a project two years in the making, and I'm hoping it will encourage people to get off their behinds and start living more actively. Because hey... when I'm 40 years old and nursing, I really don't want to see a bunch of overweight/obese folks with like 20 comorbidities. It's not something that our healthcare system can afford right now.

I just thought I'd throw a couple photos of our shoot days. The videos themselves should be embedded further down in the post.

{{Just to let you guys know: The videos on this page are cut off on the right, so you're not getting the whole impact factor of each one. Please visit www.cyclehalifax.ca to link to the actual vids!}}

Other than that, nothing new to report. I've been slowly studying for my Canadian RN Exams, but my motivation is not as high as it should be for this. Nice to know that I will have something of a job when I get out though.

Also, next week is Bike Week! This usually goes down at the same place all over the world... so if you live in the UK, look into it! (hint) HRM Bike Week should be pretty phenomenal this year! I can't wait to actually be able to enjoy this years events!

Bike Summit 2010, Bike Commercials and a Rogues Roost Trivia Win!

So I've had a busy couple of weeks there. First off, I have to apologize for not posting in so long. Especially to my one and only official subscriber.

Sorry folks, sorry!

Went to the Nova Scotia Bike Summit a couple weeks ago. This gave a bunch of groups and municipalities all over the province the opportunity to come together and share what they've been doing, what has been working and what hasn't been working to get more people on bikes, or to maintain and expand the little infrastructure we do have.

In all there was about 60 people there from all over the province! It was great to put names to faces and great to see what major projects have been in the works for everyone over the past couple years. I had to present about a couple things we have been working on. FUN!

After the summit, everyone got together to do a smooth 25k ride out to the Habitation, which is a historic site not far from our meeting place at Annapolis Royal. The ride itself was nice, but I was the only person on a mountain-bike, which made it pretty tough to keep up with everyone.

Apparently, when I was passing people, the knobby tires I had on made me sound like a truck.

Right after the summit, I had to switch gears and work on a project that I've been developing over the past two years. I'm essentially making biking commercials that I hope will encourage more people to start cycling as a mode of transportation. The shot below is from Idealbikes (one of Halifax's best bike shops) while we were in there shooting some footage at their shop. I actually just saw the post-edited versions of these commercials and they look pretty incredible!

Finally, I finally won a round of trivia at the Rogues Roost! I've been going on and off for about 3 years and have never won. However, me and my friend Sarah (and two of her co-workers) went the other night, we tied another team, and I had to win a game of rock-paper-scissors in order to get our trophy (gift certificates). So essentially a double-win for me that night!

Biking is going to be really cool this summer! Get your helmet on and that 10-Speed dusted off tout-suite! Bike Week 2010 starts with a Critical Mass ride on the 28th, with a route that I don't think anyone will see coming! HOLLA!!!!