51. Ride A Mechanical Bull (Or Moustache)

Riding a mechanical bull has been a goal of mine for a couple years.  I knew there were a couple country clubs in my area that each had one, so I made a goal to ride one last weekend.  Technically, I did not ride a bull...but a moustache.  At Knoxville Tavern there is a mechanical moustache; it still counts because it is just like a bull, but instead of having a bull's head, the edges curve up in the shape of a moustache. After paying five dollars I climbed over the inflatable arena to the big moustache and jumped on.

I had no clue what to expect; I sat up on the huge saddle with the rope in one hand, and the other hand above my head.  The ladies on the sidelines screamed and cheered, and I heard my boyfriend yell out my name in encouragement.  Soon the machine started to move and jerk, I only lasted about four or five seconds because one quick movement tipped me over.  The first photo shows me on the bull, the second is when I fell onto the mat.  The quality of the photos is horrible, because of the lighting in the club, and the quick moving bull; I wish I had a better picture.  I will definitely try this again, preferably on a true mechanical bull.  I will know more about how it works and feels, so I will hopefully beat my record of four seconds!

A Day On The Mountain

Living in Alberta gives many opportunity to go snowboarding to many beautiful ski hills.  Last weekend I drove three hours to Banff and stayed in a hotel, then went snowboarding at Lake Louis the next day.  It was an awesome day of spring snowboarding.  Like every time on the hill there are many painful falls, but every time I evolve into a better snowboarder.  I have improved greatly since my post 13. Master Heal And Toe Edge On My Snowboard.  The snowboarding in the center of the bellow picture is me!

I had a fantastic day at Lake Louis.   The conditions at the hill were the best I had experienced all year.  It was a great way to end the winter and begin spring.  I am looking forward to start completing spring and summer bucket list items!

67. Make A List Of 100 Books, And Read Them

I have finally made a list of 100 books I want to read (Reading List).   I started the list with books I always wanted to read, then went online to find others that interested me.  Creating a list of 100 books took a while, but finally I can start reading.  I left the last five as random choices, incase I go to the library and see a book on the shelf that I want to read, that is not on my list.

After making my list I went to the library, and bought a library card. Getting a card was only $15, and is valid for a year; I could never afford to buy all these books from the store.  While I was at the library I check out my first book Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  I have decided not to write a post about each book (thats not what I want my blog to be about-), I will simply rate each book out of five, where five is the best and one is the worst, once I have finished it.  I am excited to start reading all theses awesome books!

My Green Onions Grew!!!!!!!!

As I showed in Grow Green Onions I started growing green onions like I had seen on the internet.  I had my doubts about whether or not it would work, but it did!  I left them suspended in water, in my residence room when I went home for spring break.  A week later I came back to discover they had grown to the size that I bought originally in the store.  They continue to grow rapidly, reaching over 40 cm long.

At that point I realized I don't eat many green onions...ever.  It was really cool that it worked, but this plant was growing too quick. Because it was taking up room on my desk, I ended up chucking them.  This would be an awesome idea for people who don't live in tiny residence rooms, and like to eat lots of green onions.

Get An External Hard Drive...NO EXCEPTIONS

I got my first laptop a year and a half ago, and honestly it's one of my most valuable possessions.  Everything important to me is on it: my photos, my music, and my schoolwork.  I don't know what I would do if I lost it...that's why I'm so glad that a guy at the Apple store recommended I get an external hard drive, and I listened.  An external hard drive is a must!!!  A week ago when I was working on my laptop, and a can of hairspray from the shelf above me, fell hitting me on the top of my head, and then hitting the laptop.  Creating a large dent right above where the hard drive sits.  After I turned it off, the laptop would not get past the loading phase.

After opening up my laptop I found that the dent made by the hairspray protruded into the hard drive, along with wrecking the wire over the hard drive.  I believe people should not be scared to open up their laptop when it have a problem, just be careful not to void the warranty.  In my Macbook Pro the warranty can be void by removing the battery; other laptops are different.  All you need is small phillips screwdriver.  My screw driver has a size #0 and #00 phillips bit and 1.5mm and 3mm flat head bit; for $2.00 this screwdriver fits all my computer needs.

After deciding what the problem was, and doing research on replacement parts, I booked an appointment into the genius bar.  They confirmed that the hard drive, and the cord above it were wrecked.  I had Apple replace the cord for $16.73 plus $39.00 for labor.  I did not have them replace the hard drive because that would cost over $150 for 300 GB.  Instead I waited, and went to Memory Express, where I bought a 1 TB hard drive (1 terabyte = 1000 gigabytes) for $90.  After spending over a thousand dollars for my Mac, I wish Apple didn't rip off the customers when it comes to repairs, and parts.

I took the hard drive home, to install it myself.  It's not as hard as it sounds; I removed ten screws from the back to remove the cover, then two more screws to free the damaged hard drive.  I disconnected the cord from the old hard drive, and connected the new one.  After everything was all closed up, I was good to go!

A video I referred to while installing my hard drive, it is very good for Mac users:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uptvZsYd97U

Now that my computer is ready to go, I put in the disks that contain the operating system in. After the operating system has been install I plugged in my external hard drive, and transferred everything that was on my old hard drive to my new.

One of the bonuses of my Macbook Pro is Time Machine (I don't know if there is something similar for windows).  When I plugged in my external hard drive it made the computer the same as before it crashed; all my apps, files, and settings were restored.  Above is my 500 GB hard drive; I got it a year ago at Apple for $130.  Today you can by them cheeper, and bigger; I recommend looking at Costco.  I am very grateful I have an external hard drive, and I think everyone who has a computer should have one too!

P.S.  Sorry, I know this post is long...

Grow Green Onions

On the internet one day I came across a photo of someone growing green onions.  I'm not going to make this a bucket list item, just something I want to try.  I am very interested in whether it will work.

I've had some green onions in my fridge for a couple weeks, and only the outside layer is dry so I hope these onions will work.  I cleaned them off, and cut most of the green end off of them, leaving only the white, and the roots.  Then took the onions and wrapped a couple elastics around them to hold them together.  I slid a couple chopsticks I had laying around through the green onions so they made a X, so the roots could be suspended over a bowl into the water.

It seems that people have had great success growing their own green onions.  Sometimes the green grows quick enough that it looks like a store bought onion within a week.  I'll will be so excited if I can successfully grow green onions!

Back To Yaha Tinda

I live quite close to the Canadian Rockies, yet I rarely visit them.  I go skiing a few times each winter, and some years I go to Banff, but besides that I only see the majestic mountains on the western horizon.  People travel great distances to see them, and living so close, I often forget how amazingly beautiful they are, and how lucky I am that I live here in Alberta.  Over my Christmas break my boyfriend, and I took a trip out west for a hot dog roast, and to hike to the Bighorn Falls.  I have gone camping at the Bighorn Campground before on a school trip a couple years ago (84. Go Camping).

In the morning a few days I headed out west, and hiked out to find the Bighorn Falls.  It is not a long hike from the Bighorn Campground, within fifteen minutes the falls were in our sights.  The frozen waterfall was beautiful; the water hung in icicles, under the ice we could see the water flowing like it was in a tube.  I wish I could see a video in fast motion of the water freezing, it amazes me that such a powerful waterfall has been drawn to a halt.

It was fun taking pictures by the base of the falls, and then climbing up the cliffs beside it to take photos beside the waterfall.  It was a little scary climbing back down to the ground. 

Yaha Tinda is beautiful; I am so lucky I live close enough to drive to see it.  In the summer I hope to go camping out there, and explore the area when it's warm.  One of my favorite parts is that there is no cell service, so everyone turns off their phones, and enjoys spending time focused on the people around them.

P.S. Ben Stewart, I've been trying to find your blog lately, and it seems to have disappeared.  I have been out of the blog world, because of final exams, but your's is one I always enjoy checking.  Well I guess I will have to keep looking for it!

Time For More Elastics

So, completing bucket list items is at a low, because life has been extremely busy.  A few weeks ago I used up my two half pound bags of elastics on my rubber band ball.  Finally last weekend I was able to by more.  I bought twice as many elastics; sadly these ones aren't colored (bigger elastics where only available in tan).  As you can see bellow my elastic ball is going quite well, I have found working on it to be a great stress reliever, so I think everyone should start one!

Circumference:         26.2cm

Diameter:              8.33cm

Surface Area:          54.6cm^2

I'm excited to continue working on my elastic ball; I am quickly seeing progress as it grows before my eyes with each elastic added.  I'm pretty sure my roommate thought I was crazy, when she saw me working on it!  Now the lovely colourful sphere is going to become dull, and tan.  I wonder how many bags till I'll reach ten pounds...?

P.S.  I apologize for the lack of posts lately, I will work on making my posts much more frequent!

My New Fishy...Named Fishy

Throughout my childhood I've had may fish, and well I guess that means I've also killed many fish.  Before moving away from home for university, I decided I would want to get a fish to keep me company (since it's the only type of pet allowed) while I'm away from my family. I unpacked my fish bowl, and a few weeks later I found a pet store.  When I first bought 'Sergeant McShineysides' he was a very lively blue beta, who would always eat his food.  All was great till I took him back home with me for thanksgiving.  I'm not sure if it was the stress of the car trips, but he stopped eating, and soon after getting back from home he died.

Yesterday I bought fish number two.  His name is 'Fishy', and he is a little cutie.  Fishy is much smaller than Sergeant McShineysides, so he eats less, but he is still very active; fishy never stops swimming around his little fish bowl.  While in the bag before I put him in the bowl, Fishy fell off of a five foot tall T.V. stand.  It scared me, and I'm so glad the bag didn't pop.  I feel bad for setting him on the T.V. stand, but Fishy seems to be doing great, so hopefully the fall won't affect his life span!

F.Y.I. Taking photos of a fish is hard!

4. Learn To Juggle

One day I walked into my physics class, and on my teachers desk sat a bunch of potatoes.  I can't remember the purpose of the potatoes, but one of my friends and I decided to 'juggle' a few of the potatoes back, and forth a few meters apart.  My teacher then came in, and yelled for us to stop, and I replied, "But I was learning to juggle!"  That evening when I went home I googled how to juggle and in a few days bucket list item number four was accomplished.

*Sorry!  Picture would be here, but I don't have one, and don't feel like taking one, but later I will, and insert it here!

Juggling isn't as difficult as it seems.  I found simple instructions, and after that all I needed was to practice.  I used golf balls, I didn't have anything else the right size.  These were probably not the best for learning, because they are rather heavy, and I dropped them on my toes many times.  After I got the hang of juggling I practiced with random things around the house, from juice boxes, to oranges, anything that came in packs of at lest three.  Though it was not hard to learn, it's funny to see peoples expressions when I tell them I can juggle.