Well, it's been two years, so that means it's time for another federal election! Because the ruling party doesn't have a majority of the seats, the oppostion parties decided to vote down a "confidence motion". Basically, the oppostion parties voted against a bill, this one was the federal budget, and this bill is considered essential for government to run. That means the Parliment has "lost confidence" in the government, the Prime Minister took a stroll over to the Governor General's house and asked for the government to be disolved and that the party leaders faces should be painted on buses.

Anyway, we're off! Six weeks of calling each other's policies ridiculous and appealing for our vote. I do agree that promising a tax cut for families AFTER the budget is balanced (scheduled for 2015 under the ruling Conservatives) while giving corporations tax cuts is assinign, but hey maybe people stopped listening as soon as they heard tax cut!

CBC, the network that brought us Little Mosque on the Prairie and Hockey Night in Canada, in conjuntion with the University of Toronto has put together a neat little tool to help us vote. Vote Compass gets you to answer some questions and pops up which party you agree with most (there's five main parties, although only four in my riding). Have a browse and see where your inner Canadian would mark the "X".

Tough Mudder

Adam called me about three weeks ago with this great idea. Tough Mudder 2012. "You're totally on my team." Straight out of the '90s, but that was my decade too, so I understood his Friends/Seinfeld dialect and I'm signing up.

Let's see, who's on the team:

Adam - graduated with a degree in modern dance, averaged over 5 hours of dancing a day while in school.
His boyfriend - Adam doesn't date slobs, so.....
His trainer - From the sounds of it, a guy who should actually be a trainer, not some guy who read a couple of articles in Men's Health.
Me - a firefighter who hasn't realy worried about cardio since the early part of the century (not that long ago really, but it adds to the dramatic effect)

I know I could power through the obstacles, that's kind of what firefighters do. The twelve and a half miles though, through mud with some swimming, not really my forte. (No Kia jokes, I promise.)

If you search a little bit through the Tough Mudder link, you'll find a set of reccomended exercises. A crazy tough run, followed by fifteen core sapping, sweat dripping, mentally wearing exercises done for a minute each with about a thirty second rest in between. I've split the run and exercises up between different days, but I'm loving it.

It's old school army type stuff. It's almost as much a mental challange as it is physical. By the end (and I've only been able to complete all fifteen the last two times), I'm sore, dripping, tired, and frankly a little unstable when I stand. But, it's awesome. I'm planning on being in the best shape of my life by the time the Tough Mudder rolls around, (I'd better be) so stay tuned.

Here's this post's song.

The Cave - Mumford and Sons