Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Film critic Roger Ebert has battled thyroid and salivary gland cancer and, in the process, has lost his ability to drink, eat and speak. He now communicates like I do: using text-to-speech software.

Watching Oprah interview Ebert on Tuesday, I witnessed what I have often felt while using text-to-speech technology. Because it’s difficult to have spontaneous communication with this technology, the interview was more of a Q&A session – Oprah asked the question and Ebert responded with his prepared responses – rather than it being a two-way conversation.

Ebert was given the question prior to the interview, giving him time to prepare his responses. I appreciate how difficult preparing response ahead of time is. What makes sense when writing them at home may not fit the flow of the situation when it comes time to actually respond.

However – and, in my mind, this is a big however – when Ebert was responding, Oprah was completely quiet and listened. She did not interrupt, interject or take the conversation in another direction, like she typically does. In that moment, Ebert was in control; the one without the voice had the power and I find that very empowering!

It took watching someone else communicating in the same manner that I do to see how empowering this form of communication can be. Thanks Ebert.

Bookmark to:

Do you know how many times I’ve heard, “’You’re so lucky! I have always wanted to <fill in the blank>”? That blank may be write a book, visit Harpo Studios (or home base of another idol), watch the RCMP Musical Ride and countless other aspirations.

Luck?

Luck has nothing to do with it! Living life to its fullest means living without regrets; that means stepping out of one’s comfort zone, taking risks, making sacrifices, following through and many other clichés.

All of this is not always easy; for example, my solo trip to Chicago for last year’s SOBCon: Biz School for Bloggers. A few weeks before I was due to fly most of the way across the continent, alone, I was in bed, in the fetal position, bawling out my eyes. I was terrified! All of the “what ifs” were flooding my mind. I desperately wanted to abort the trip.

Once I was cried out and dried my eyes, I ran through getting from Vancouver to Chicago step by step in my mind:

1. Take a taxi from home to the airport – I’ve done that before; the toughest is saying goodbye to Darrell.
2. Check in at the airline counter – I’ve done that several times before, fairly straightforward.
3. Get through security – Somewhat hairy with my possessions beyond my reach and even out of my sight, but…deep breath…survivable.
4. Board the plane – I’ve have also done that many times before; getting me onboard is in the hands of staff, I know the drill.
5. Fly umpteen thousand miles – Nothing for me to do.
6. Be without free access to a washroom – Causes trepidation in any middle-aged woman, but I did my research and was prepared with precautions, just in case.
7. Deplane – Again, something I’ve done before.
8. Find the nearest accessible washroom – I’m getting good at that!
9. Take a taxi to the hotel – Beth Rosen was kindly pre-arranging a taxi and might even meet me (which she did!).
10. Check into the hotel – Hell, if I fly alone across the continent, then I could surely check in at a hotel!

Suddenly what laid ahead wasn’t terrifying! A few weeks later I flew to Chicago without a single glitch.

Had I given into my fears, I would have missed out on my  trek to Harpo Studios, rocking SOBCon with my presentation and meeting the wonderful people who I met. I would have missed out on saying “I did it!” And that’s what living life to its fullest is all about!

Bookmark to:

Yesterday afternoon, amidst a wintery downpour, Darrell and I headed back to Surrey’s Celebration Site; this time to meet Mom in line in hopes of getting tickets to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Musical Ride. We succeeded! We enjoyed!

Thanks to Surrey’s Mayor Diane Watts, our Holland Park will have hosted 21 showings of this Canadian heritage experience during Olympics. Without Mayor Watts extending an invitation to the RCMP Musical Ride, this internationally-recognized piece of Canadian identity would not have been present in the area during the 2010 Winter Games. Go figure!

Also praiseworthy are the measures taken to make the entire park accessible to individuals using wheelchairs and walkers. The tent arena, used for the RCMP Musical Ride and the Agility Dog shows, has a wheelchair seating section with plywood sheets covering the ground, preventing wheels from getting bogged down in the thick sand. Sitting in this section, we had an unobstructed view and couldn’t be much closer without being atop the horse, to which I would not have objected!

The rest of the park has been covered with rubber tiles – no mucky dirty or grass fields with unexpected dips to navigate. The hard surface makes for easy wheeling!

Raised platforms – both in front of the main stage and inside Surrey House – provide wheelchair users with an improved vantage point for enjoying the many performances.

Overall, I am very impressed with our Holland Park and the work put forth by the City of Surrey in organizing and hosting this 13-day event, giving Surrey and Fraser Valley residents an alternative to dealing with the crowds in downtown Vancouver to celebrate the Olympics and Canada’s outstanding athletes!

Bookmark to:

Wow, what an incredible night for Canada! Figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir made history by winning the first ever gold medal in ice dance for Canada, for North America!

I held my breath during their amazing program; more nervous than they were. Watching them skate their flawless performance, I wondered what music kept them motivated on their journey to the Olympic Gold? Which songs repeatedly got them out of bed and kept them practicing when their bodies didn’t want to go any further?

I then thought of the songs that keep me going, striving for my gold. and came up with this list:

1. Never Give Up On Dream by my fav Rod Stewart

2. John Parr’s St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)

3. Tina Turner’s Simply the Best – who isn’t reenergized after this one?!

4. Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time

5. Peter O’Toole’s The Impossible Dream (The video’s audio isn’t the greatest quality.)

Which songs keep you striving for your Olympic gold – whatever that may be? What is your Olympic soundtrack?

Bookmark to:

Saturday afternoon – yet another beautiful day during the first ever Spring Olympics! – found us back at Holland Park. This time we went to see the Kee-Gigg K9 Agility Team.

I shot this rough video to share the experience with you, my readers. These dogs (and their owners) were definitely having fun!

We then grabbed a quick bite at the Jamaican food booth; Jamaican patties are flat meat pies with a spicy kick! Good though.

We headed home before the expected 20,000 arrived for the evening concert. I’m impressed with our small park in Whalley!

Bookmark to:

Wednesday afternoon – a spring-like day here on the west coast, not unusual for this time of year – I ditched watching Oprah in exchange for going back to Holland Park, currently Surrey’s Olympic Celebration Site, with my husband Darrell.

I’m loving being able to capture moments, from my eye level. I haven’t used a stock image for a blog post since my hubby gave me a Nikon Coolpix for Christmas ‘08. Me, a photojournalist – who would have thought it? But, that’s what blogging is all about!

Unlike LiveCity Downtown on Saturday, there was no lineup to wait in. Darrell and I wheeled right on through.

The first noteworthy sight was the long row of pot-a-potties, including two wheelchair accessible ones. These facilities aren’t the most pleasant to use, unless absolutely necessary, then they’re such an relieving experience!

The Surrey site has a winter carnival atmosphere, complete with cotton candy, pizza and hot dogs. The mini doughnuts were calling me! I’m still munching while I type, which means I’m twice as long on the bike while watching Oprah tomorrow. Oh well. We live once, so live it!

Unfortunately, tickets for the evening’s RCMP Musical Ride were already gone. However, the horse stable was open to the public. I introduce my current scooter to the inside of a barn! It has been a while since I’ve seen tack boxes, mucking outs and horse blankets. Seeing the city kids holding their noses was quite amusing; such woosies! I even got horse goober on my coat – yes!

I’d be ecstatic if the barn and the riding arena became permanent fixtures of Holland Park as an Olympic Legacy! Imagine being to ride again only five or six blocks from home. That would be so cool!

An outdoor ice rink allows for some good old-fashioned family fun time! Kids, young and old, don skates for the first time is entertaining to watch.

A clear day meant a clear night sky. I captured the moon for the first time. A beautiful sliver of the moon.

Inside Surrey House is where I’ll likely be should Canada play in the men’s hockey gold medal game on the 28th! Hockey and Randy Bachman – it doesn’t get any more Canadian than that!

Bookmark to:

Saturday Darrell and I met up with my aunt and cousin and went to LiveCity Downtown – one of the many ways to experience the Olympics for free! Yes, it was raining, but, being Vancouverites, we were well prepared while waiting in line. At the CentrePlace Manitoba, we learned about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights being built in Winnipeg. I’d love to be there for the opening in 2012!

With all of the road closures, the streets are almost eerie! I’ve never seen West Hastings so quiet! The streets, that is; the sidewalks are another story! I kinda like it though. What are the chances it’ll stay this way?

My man in a toque! He’s still handsome!

I love how most store fronts have got their “Canada” on! We can show our patriotic colours when we choose to!

Down in front of Waterfront Station, the sidewalks were like I’ve never seen them: jam packed with people from everywhere! Welcome.

The Olympic Rings floating on Coal Harbour. So cool when seen at night!

Disappointedly, the Olympic Cauldron is behind a chain-linked fence; no doubt for security reasons – for both the visitors and the cauldron. After wandering around the waterfront, I finally got a half decent photo.

Amazing to think that this flame traveled all of the way from Greece and then across Canada, viewed by millions of Canadians during the longest Olympic Torch Relay in history.

Sunday I enjoyed the Olympics from the comforts of the couch, with my Faith kitty curled up in her spot behind my knees. I had my red jammies on though!

(This party has been a long time coming and I’m going to make the most of it. Please bear with me! Regular posts will resume shortly.)

Bookmark to:

Thursday evening my wonderful husband Darrell surprised me with free tickets to the dress rehearsal of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Musical Ride here at Holland Park – Surrey’s Olympic Celebration Site!

I have often seen the RCMP Musical Ride on television, but never live. For someone who rode for years many moons ago, this was an exciting opportunity! Wheeling into the tent arena, the distinctive smell of leather and horse instantly hit me, bringing back a flood of memories. I was in heaven!

I shot this video (until my camera card filled), raw and uncaptioned. Please excuse the few headless horsemen!

I will definitely return for a second show and, possibly, a third, if I can get away with it! You are welcome to join me.

Bookmark to:

In creating a buzz about SOBCon2010 – Business School for Bloggers, conference founders Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker are holding the “Blog It, Earn It!” Discount. Essentially, “write a blog post about a person (or people) online who has (or have) made a difference in your life” and earn a 25% discount off of the registration fee, plus a chance to win a free ticket and airfare and hotel (up to $1105). Given how outrageously priced the hotel is, writing one blog post could be like winning the lottery!

My challenge is narrowing the list to one person or even a few people online who have made a difference in my life. Most people may not appreciate how much blogging has changed my life; how when I hit “publish” for the first time on June 1, 2005 my life changed forever. Blogging has given me a voice and a way to connect with people from around the world.

In those early days, Andy Wibbels’ “just start and then learn as you go” attitude got me blogging. I learned much from him. Watching and learning from my virtual sister Pam Slim also kept me going as a newbie blogger.

Since then, countless others online have kindly helped me in my blogging career; some teaching me valuable life lessons, like Liz teaching me how to graciously accept the words “You’re such an inspiration.” There’s also Becky McCray and her no-bs approach to business (she is definitely a rising star to watch!); social media chaplain Jon Swanson who gets me thinking deeper; Ricky Buchanan who has made me see accessibility from another position; Law of Attraction coach Suzie Cheel and her encouragement to think BIG; and many, many other. (Man, this feels like the Oscars and I’m forgetting important names! Please don’t feel slighted!)

However, when I sat down to write this post, two names clearly rose to the forefront: Chris Garrett and Darren Rowse, authors of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. After having an employment counsellor tell me blogging was a passing fad, not an income source, I had goose bumps while reading Darren’s and Chris’s stories. They were proof that living off of blogging could be done. They are what I want to be when I become a grown up blogger! Finally here was something I could do to earn an income!

I shared in an earlier post:

With blogging as an income source, it erases all of the barriers I, a person with a physical disability, faced when searching for a job. With blogging, my typing speed and inability to answer phones – requirements for many jobs I applied for – don’t matter. With blogging, I don’t need to deal will transportation or the accessibility (lack thereof) of the workplace. I can work from the comforts of home, on my own schedule, doing what I love to do: writing and connecting with people from around the world. With blogging, technology has finally caught up to me and given me something else I can do, and with stories like Darren’s and Chris’s, I now have a goal to strive for.

Chris and Darren gave me a career goal that employment programs and counsellors could not. For that, I am appreciative and grateful.

What happens online and virtually definitely impact, change and improve the concrete, real-life world.

Bookmark to:

After patiently waiting 101 days, Surrey’s turn to celebrate the Olympic Torch Relay finally came to Holland Park on Monday night. Twenty thousand people meant twenty thousands bums. Even though Darrell and I were close to the front, we could see nothing, not even the large screen. Well, nothing except for bums.

People didn’t move to let us through in our wheelchairs. I even tapped a cop on his arm and asked for help, but he brushed me off.

I was very disappointed, having wanted to see the torch live. In the last moment I did stand up to see whatever I could. But I felt guilty because my husband could not stand up; he saw nothing, except bums.

In my eyes, the only redeeming aspect of the evening was gold medalist wrestler Daniel Igali lit the community cauldron. Daniel also attended my alma mater Simon Fraser University; I felt that connection.

Not too often in life do we get a second chance, an opportunity for a redo. However, Tuesday morning I had such an opportunity – and I snatched it without second consideration!

The Olympic Torch Relay continued through Surrey, a few blocks from home, on its way to New Westminster. I took my place on the street corner, like millions of other Canadians have during the longest Olympic Torch Relay in history. This time I actually saw the torch!

And even managed to shoot this video on my little Nikon Coolpix:

Bookmark to: