Sweet little Rhoda

This little girl was found along Highway 63, about 70 km north of Boyle and 180 km south of Fort McMurray.

She weighs about 40 pounds and didn't have tags, a collar or any kind of tattoo.

If you know someone who took their dog hunting and lost her, or was stopped at the rest stop and had a dog run off, then please get in touch with me. I really hope we can return this sweet pup to her home.

Rescued from Hwy sixty three

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

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Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

House number!

We've had this backboard and the numbers for well over six months now and finally got around to putting it together!

Next step: erect above garage.

New goals needed

Last year, I decided to set a few short-term goals for myself. Just today I decided to revisit them to see how I was doing. To my surprise, I was able to put a nice big check mark beside each and every one of them.

- Run a 10k in 2009 (already checked)

- Run a half marathon in 2010 (new check mark as of yesterday!)

- Be promoted (check)

- Shoot under 100 (checked three times since I wrote this goal down last summer)

For me, goal setting doesn't always have to be a formal process. Sometimes I just keep the goals inside my little mind and work toward them subconsciously. For instance, ever since I was in grade school, I pictured myself working downtown in a big city in some giant high rise tower. Now, I know this isn't necessarily the most fascinating or even an ideal vision for one's future, but for me that vision symbolized getting a degree and starting a real career.

I can now probably say that every experience and ounce of hard work that went into getting me into that downtown office building could probably be attributed to that single vision.

My aunt even tells me that when I was two or three, my mom took me downtown Calgary for a visit. While my aunt went to a meeting, my mom put me in her big leather office chair. When my aunt came back into the office, Mom said "One day, this is where she'll be." My aunt agreed.

And while I might not have some swanky corner office with a giant leather office chair, I still feel like some little piece of that vision has helped push me along the career path I find myself on today.

But, this post isn't about tooting horns. It's about goal setting. I am a firm believer that everyone needs a few goals to help them navigate this crazy world. We don't always need to follow a set path, but having a vision of the destination can help us choose which way to turn when we come to the inevitable fork in the road.

I hope each of you can think of one or two things right now that you want to achieve in the next year or two. And, in the next five or 10. You don't need to cut out pictures and put them on some fancy vision board and you don't need to write them down in a journal or tell five friends who will hold you accountable. All you need to do is think about what your life will be like when you achieve them. What will success feel like? Look like?

Here's hoping there's a leather office chair in your future.

The place I (proudly) call home

They will tell you this place is riddled with drugs. They will show you the scantily clad chicks raking their bodies across a baron stage at Showgirls. They will show you the hooker on the corner of the 7-11, across from the bus stop, thumbing cars as she waits for her next customer.

That's how the rest of the world sees Fort Mcmurray.

But, for those of us who have been here and seen the good of this city, those of us who have the sense and the ambition to look past the bad and see the opportunity, we think this is a great place to work. And, we think it's a great place to live.

Where else can you head to a gorgeous 18-hole golf course for your 6 p.m. tee time and play a full round? Where else can you play double-headers at the beginning of the softball season without having lights on the diamond? Where else do you jolt awake at 5 a.m. thinking you'd slept in well past your alarm clock because it's broad daylight outside? Where else do you go to work and within eight hours have meetings with people from South Africa, Pakistan, Venezuala and Australia? Where else would you possibly find such a large group of 20somethings who have more ambition, hefty savings accounts, charitable donations and beautiful homes? Nowhere.

This, my friends, is the Fort McMurray I know.

Have I seen drug deals outside of the local casino? Check. Have I seen homeless people with their dogs sitting outside the mall with their hats out? Check. Have I seen juice monkeys driving giant trucks? Double check.

But who hasn't? I can find every single one of those things in Kelowna, Vancouver, Toronto, and every small town and big city in between.

For once I want a reporter to come here and interview those who are up here for the career opportunities. For the great dinner parties we throw. For the post-baseball-game parties. For the evening golf games.

For once, I want people to see this city through a different pair of eyes.