Volunteer Opportunities - Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

Living in Vancouver and knowing the Olympics are coming to the city in a couple years is pretty cool. On February 12th, the Volunteer Opportunities website is going live so you can sign up for some 25,000 jobs.

...from the Vancouver Province:

"We have a shift of people making sure that the flame doesn't go out," said Donna Wilson, 2010's boss of human resources. "We fondly know of them as 'flamewatchers.' "

I'm going to submit an application maybe I'll get to be a flame watcher! :)

The process for becoming a volunteer sounds lengthy with phone screens and a 5 hour security screening and training session. You will be able to apply at www.vancouver2010.com.

I leave for Toronto next week and will be blogging daily once there.

2008 B.C. Airgun Championships - February 29 - March 2

The Joe Elkin Memorial - 2008 BC Airgun Championships are being held once again in Richmond, BC on February 29 - March 2nd. The BC Target Sports Association website has been updated with PDF downloads of the Regulations and Registration forms.

That will be an extremely busy week for me as I'll be in Toronto from February 21 - 26 and then will only have a couple days before the BC Airgun Championships.

Less than 4 weeks to go until the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix. Exciting! :)

"Ban handguns says Toronto mayor"... uuuhhh yeah okay.

From : National Post

"Mayor David Miller called for a total ban on handgun ownership after the fatal shooting this weekend of a passer-by outside a club on one of the busiest stretches of Yonge Street."

I haven't blogged about the negative perception handguns have by some people. It's truly unfortunate how tragic some violent crimes are. It's also unfortunate that more often than not a gun is used during the crime. If all guns were banned some other weapon would be used. It won't prevent crime, it would just reduce crime with handguns, something else would take it's place. Tasers? I welcome any comments about where you stand on this issue.

I worry about what all the negative news means for my sport. I primarily compete with air pistols but would like to be competing in the 50m pistol events this coming year. Both are Olympic events. Hopefully getting all of my paperwork in order won't be difficult.

Now for the good news...

My hotel and flight are all booked and confirmed. I'll be in Toronto February 21 - 26, 2008. I'm looking forward to this match, being an Olympic year I suspect a lot of national teams from other countries will be attending. The event has room for 300 competitors so it is definitely going to be interesting to see how I do.

If you're going to the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month (especially anyone from British Columbia) let me know (email me: al [ @ ] allanharding.com), I want to make sure we get our teams registered and to see if we can get a BC Team dinner or something going one night.

2008 is MY year... everyone's actually!

Happy New Year!

Well I was going to spend some time over the Holidays to clean up my blog a bit but instead I got sidetracked building a little Facebook application which I just finished the first version of tonight. It's called 2008 is MY year and lets you enter goals for 2008 and track your progress to achieving them. The nice thing is starts to show you where you're investing your time which can lead to some clarity in your personal work / life balance.

I found myself keeping notes on Post-Its, note books, sometimes in text files on my PC or laptop but I needed something a bit more concrete to help me accomplish them. Now I've got them right in Facebook (and soon outside of Facebook). If you have a Facebook account do me a favour and try it out and offer up any feedback you can. Thanks!

As for shooting... vacation is over. I'm back in training mode and getting ready for my 1st big match of the year -- The 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month in Toronto.

Wishing everyone all the best this year! This is YOUR year! Go!

Confirmed registration for 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix in February

I received confirmation that I am registered for the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix being held in Toronto, Canada next February. This is the largest airgun competition in North America and usually attracts teams from Japan, China, Europe, and the USA.

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Lots of changes happening in my life these days. Good changes. Positive changes. I've been getting my work / life balance shuffled around a lot, changing diet, sleeping a lot better. Good stuff.

This past weekend I ran the 5km Santa Shuffle run in Stanley Park. I ran this last year and got a time of 42:00 and this year I beat my time by about 9 minutes and finished it in 33:10. I usually don't run a lot due to the impact on my foot and leg -- I have a metal plate and 7 pins in my left leg thanks to a break a couple of years ago. I'm happy with my new time and will target 30 minutes next year.

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I still haven't found much time to update the look of allanharding.com but I think I'll get around to some updates over the holidays. :)