10 Creative Things To Do At Home To Beat The Cabin Fever

I don’t know if it is the same for everyone reading this but the lack of socializing and the amount of TV that has been watched over the last two weeks has driven us all a little crazy. If you’re sick of that “are you still watching” screen and find yourself un-enthused by reading further into the current pandemic, you may get a kick out of some of these 10 things to get creative at home.

No, we are not trying to sell you anything

Change up the vibe in your living room or bedroom

Take a look at your furniture, then take a piece of paper and draw out a few different floor plans for your living room or bedroom. Say if you have five new floor plans for your living room, pick one and try it out. Fresh vibes feel great!

Listen to one album start to finish every morning

We all have those artists we love and some we “kinda” like. Take the opportunity to play a full album and really appreciate the artist’s style. You may find a lot of songs that you personally like but didn’t have the highest plays or reach the top 100 in the country.

Start a blog or write for open forums

There are a lot of people out there writing blogs and creating content everyday in different ways. Keep in mind a lot of people have social media as their blog, such as a fashion stylist using Instagram to keep her followers aware of what she is up to on her journey. Whether or not you enjoy writing on paper, typing into a word document, enjoy taking photos or love editing videos, it’s never a bad time to keep friends updated on what you’re up to.

Open forums have received a bad rap in recent years from a small minority of insecure fools thinking that freedom to write anything means they can bash and insult. A large majority of the open forums these days have consistent moderation that track conversations closely. Thus providing higher quality discussion and opinions. One of my favorites is Quora. It allows you to ask and answer questions within a network of hundreds of thousands educated professionals.

Try out new clothing styles

Have you ever thought or even care about how you look in your current “looks”? Has it ever ran through your mind in the past that you can inspire others to be more creative in how they want to look? Going through what you like to wear and what looks good can be a nice boost of confidence.

Can’t hurt to take the time to go through your current wardrobe and lay some outfits out on your bed to see what could work differently. Make a list of your favorite brands and have a flick through their website or Lookbooks for upcoming seasons. Try matching colors, patterns, brands or even see how that denim suit looks on you.

Change up your diet

Let’s take a second to remember that this is not easy, especially when we are faced with boredom among an array of daily distractions. Adding a light structure to your day working from home or even how you manage your weekend will feel awesome after a week of consistency.

Whether or not you have an education in nutrition, have a personal training certification or just care about your weight, trying something new will give you that extra drive to reap the benefits. Crash juice diets, keto friendly food or going down the vegan route, why not give it a try for even one week! Take on the challenge and do right by yourself to tell your friends how your experience was from real practice.

Make a stretching routine to do every morning

We are talking about within the first 30 minutes of getting out of bed. Stretching can release endorphins, increase blood flow and give your body that extra boost for the day. Why not check out some stretching routines on Youtube and take from them what works for you? There is an endless amount of videos with experts demonstrating multiple movements. Here is a great article if you would like to learn more about the benefits of stretching in the morning.

An average electric kettle and even most Keurig brand coffee makers take approximately 2-3 minutes to boil and thus make a cup of coffee. Take that 2-3 minutes and see how many stretches you can fit in. Here’s an example of what you can get done in that amount of time – “3 Minute Stretch Routine”.

Find awesome podcasts, or start one

Most of us are aware of this new trend in digital content to consume. The crazy part is that this industry continues to grow. You can find a podcast relating to almost anything these days, whether or not you are trying to grow your skills in sales, learn about science, struggling with mental health, seeking out travel advice, want to hear some jokes…you name it, there is something out there. Were you aware that a lot of famous comedians have podcasts?

Podcasts have also been added to our music streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Why not have a flick through the categories and jump into some topics you are curious about, you may get hooked. Youtube is another great platform for podcasts listeners who preview a visual to keep their interest. One of my favorites is Joe Rogan’s podcast “PowerfulJRE” who has interviewed hundreds of guests with some well known names like Elon Musk and Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Physically write out your bucket list

Here is one that can prove difficult if you’re stuck standing there with two things on a page and scratching your head thinking they’re not crazy enough. A tip to getting a full list is not caring about the level of severity, how minuscule or how aspirational things can be to be on your bucket list.

Ever high fived a clown? Have you ever wanted to float down the bow river? Have you ever created a pyramid of cards? Have you ever wanted to drive a Lamborghini around Las Vegas? How hard is it to book a trip on a hot air balloon?

Dive deep and think about what you would like to have completed in your mind. Once that is done then having it physically written will begin that journey to making them all real.

Make a real itinerary for a trip for later in the year or next year

I personally enjoy doing this, taking a look at routes for road trips and exploring the options for hotels and campsites along the way. Why not get together with your other half or friends and bounce some ideas off each other for what types of places and trips interest you.

Then once you’ve made some clear direction then why not have some fun with building a travel itinerary together? Look at cities, flights, accommodation, prices, transportation, monuments, tourist attractions and travel advice. It can be very exciting once you start to zero in on a real plan. Make a budget, start saving and look forward to something that you feel confident in.

Go through old photos

There has to be a treasure trove of old photographs of you somewhere, maybe it’s a dusty box at your parents house or maybe you still have all your photos on Facebook from the last decade. Regardless it is always good to reflect on who you were in the past and who you have become to date.

If anything it will most likely give you a good laugh and a reason to reach out to some lost connections from your past. Nothing says “it’s been so long” then an embarrassing photo of you both together.

For more stories visit – Todayville Calgary

Scott McGinn

www.scottmcginn.ca

Follow Author

Looking for a Resilient Career for the Future? Keep an Eye Out for the Lighthouse

Calgary / 4 years ago

Forget the Horizon, Downtown Calgary is in Big Trouble Right Now

Business / 4 years ago

Immersive technologies are the future, so how do they benefit industry?

Alberta

Alberta awash in corporate welfare

Published on July 26, 2024

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

To understand Ottawa’s negative impact on Alberta’s economy and living standards, juxtapose two recent pieces of data.

First, in July the Trudeau government made three separate “economic development” spending announcements in Alberta, totalling more than $80 million and affecting 37 different projects related to the “green economy,” clean technology and agriculture. And second, as noted in a new essay by Fraser Institute senior fellow Kenneth Green, inflation-adjusted business investment (excluding residential structures) in Canada’s extraction sector (mining, quarrying, oil and gas) fell 51.2 per cent from 2014 to 2022.

The productivity gains that raise living standards and improve economic conditions rely on business investment. But business investment in Canada has declined over the past decade and total economic growth per person (inflation-adjusted) from Q3-2015 through to Q1-2024 has been less than 1 per cent versus robust growth of nearly 16 per cent in the United States over the same period.

For Canada’s extraction sector, as Green documents, federal policies—new fuel regulations, extended review processes on major infrastructure projects, an effective ban on oil shipments on British Columbia’s northern coast, a hard greenhouse gas emissions cap targeting oil and gas, and other regulatory initiatives—are largely to blame for the massive decline in investment.

Meanwhile, as Ottawa impedes private investment, its latest bundle of economic development announcements underscores its strategy to have government take the lead in allocating economic resources, whether for infrastructure and public institutions or for corporate welfare to private companies.

Consider these federally-subsidized projects.

A gas cloud imaging company received $4.1 million from taxpayers to expand marketing, operations and product development. The Battery Metals Association of Canada received $850,000 to “support growth of the battery metals sector in Western Canada by enhancing collaboration and education stakeholders.” A food manufacturer in Lethbridge received $5.2 million to increase production of plant-based protein products. Ermineskin Cree Nation received nearly $400,000 for a feasibility study for a new solar farm. The Town of Coronation received almost $900,000 to renovate and retrofit two buildings into a business incubator. The Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada received $400,000 for marketing and other support to help boost clean technology product exports. And so on.

When the Trudeau government announced all this corporate welfare and spending, it naturally claimed it create economic growth and good jobs. But corporate welfare doesn’t create growth and good jobs, it only directs resources (including labour) to subsidized sectors and businesses and away from sectors and businesses that must be more heavily taxed to support the subsidies. The effect of government initiatives that reduce private investment and replace it with government spending is a net economic loss.

As 20th-century business and economics journalist Henry Hazlitt put it, the case for government directing investment (instead of the private sector) relies on politicians and bureaucrats—who did not earn the money and to whom the money does not belong—investing that money wisely and with almost perfect foresight. Of course, that’s preposterous.

Alas, this replacement of private-sector investment with public spending is happening not only in Alberta but across Canada today due to the Trudeau government’s fiscal policies. Lower productivity and lower living standards, the data show, are the unhappy results.

Author:

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute

Alberta

‘Fireworks’ As Defence Opens Case In Coutts Two Trial

Published on July 25, 2024

Todayville

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Ray McGinnis

Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert are on trial for conspiracy to commit murder and firearms charges in relation to the Coutts Blockade into mid-February 2022. In opening her case before a Lethbridge, AB, jury on July 11, Olienick’s lawyer, Marilyn Burns stated “This is a political, criminal trial that is un Canadian.” She told the jury, “You will be shocked, and at the very least, disappointed with how Canada’s own RCMP conducted themselves during and after the Coutts protest,” as she summarized officers’ testimony during presentation of the Crown’s case. Burns also contended that “the conduct of Alberta’s provincial government and Canada’s federal government are entwined with the RCMP.” The arrests of the Coutts Four on the night of February 13 and noon hour of February 14, were key events in a decision by the Clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette, and the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jody Thomas, to advise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act. Chief Justice Paul Rouleau, in submitting his Public Order Emergency Commission Report to Parliament on February 17, 2023, also cited events at the Coutts Blockade as key to his conclusion that the government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act.

Justice David Labrenz cautioned attorney Burns regarding her language, after Crown prosecutor Stephen Johnson objected to some of the language in the opening statement of Olienick’s counsel. Futher discussion about the appropriateness of attorney Burns’ statement to the jury is behind a publication ban, as discussions occurred without the jury present.

Justice Labrenz told the jury on July 12, “I would remind you that the presumption of innocence means that both the accused are cloaked with that presumption, unless the Crown proves beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of the charge(s).” He further clarified what should result if the jurors were uncertain about which narrative to believe: the account by the Crown, or the account from the accused lawyers. Labrenz stated that such ambivalence must lead to an acquittal; As such a degree of uncertainty regarding which case to trust in does not meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” threshold for a conviction.”

On July 15, 2024, a Lethbridge jury heard evidence from a former employer of Olienicks’ named Brian Lambert. He stated that he had tasked Olienick run his sandstone quarry and mining business. He was a business partner with Olienick. In that capacity, Olienick made use of what Lambert referred to as “little firecrackers,” to quarry the sandstone and reduce it in size. Reducing the size of the stone renders it manageable to get refined and repurposed so it could be sold to buyers of stone for other uses (building construction, patio stones, etc.) Lambert explained that the “firecrackers” were “explosive devices” packaged within tubing and pipes that could also be used for plumbing. He detailed how “You make them out of ordinary plumbing pipe and use some kind of propellant like shotgun powder…” Lambert explained that the length of the pipe “…depended on how big a hole or how large a piece of stone you were going to crack. The one I saw was about six inches long … maybe an inch in diameter.”

One of Olienick’s charges is “unlawful possession of an explosive device for a dangerous purpose.” The principal evidence offered up by RCMP to the Crown is what the officers depicted as “pipe bombs” which they obtained at the residence of Anthony Olienick in Claresholm, Alberta, about a two-hour drive from Coutts. Officers entered his home after he was arrested the night of February 13, 2022. Lambert’s testimony offers a plausible common use for the “firecrackers” the RCMP referred to as “pipe bombs.” Lambert added, these “firecrackers” have a firecracker fuse, and in the world of “explosive” they are “no big deal.”

Fellow accused, Chris Carbert, is does not face the additional charge of unlawful possession of explosives for a dangerous purpose. This is the first full week of the case for the defence. The trial began on June 6 when the Crown began presenting its case.

Ray McGinnis is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who recently attended several days of testimony at the Coutts Two trial.