This week will mark my fourth week of working 40+ hours/week. This wouldn't be so bad if it were the same hours every day but it's wearing me out to go from morning shifts to evening shifts and then to overnight shifts all within a few days.

Last week Scott and I went to a film festival type thing supporting the "Keep Jumbo Wild" movement. Here's a little blurb if you don't know what the Jumbo debate is.

The Jumbo debate is centered around a proposed ski resort/village being built in an environmentally sensitive area in the Purcell Mountain range located near Invermere. There are several reasons that local residents and goverment officials are objecting this proposal.
-The main reason to build this resort in this area is to provide year-round skiing on the Jumbo Glacier. Environmental predictions state that this glacier will be entirely melted in about 40 years.
-Within a three hour radius from Invermere there are 13 existing ski resorts, none of which operate at full capacity.
-The resort would be in the style of a European village, including shopping malls, night clubs, restaraunts, and over 6,000 beds. This village would be larger than Invermere in area size and population. The village would not have it's own services though, so waste management, police, hospital etc..would come from Invermere with no added spending for this increase.

So, from this viewpoint it doesn't really make sense to build a ski resort on a melting glacier when there 13 half empty resorts operating within three hours. On friday the Regional District had a vote whether to keep the decision regarding this proposal moved to the provincial government or to keep the decision a local one. They voted in favour of keeping it local. Please visit http://www.jumbowild.com for more info.

So, I've been planning a new bike trip for this summer, and it looks like it will be a trip from Cranbrook to Oliver (where my grandma lives). After I completed my last trip, several people asked if I had considered fundraising for charity while on the trip. I thought about it and I came up with what I thought would be a fairly simple yet effective fundraising oppurtunity. I would try and get a $1 pledge for each kilometer. If the trip was 650km, I would hope to raise $650. I e-mailed the local Cancer Society representative and received a response that actually puzzled me.

They do not endorse cross-country runs or bike rides.

Now, in a way I can see that there might be hesitation because it's a large organization and if something went wrong, their name would be associated, but really. Terry Fox, one of Canada's true heroes raised and continues to raise (through the Terry Fox Foundation) millions of dollars for the Cancer Society. They even sponsored him, supplying him with food, hotels, and water. I wonder if they don't support runs and bike rides now because they want to keep the Terry Fox legacy alive. Either way it's a little frustrating. Should I attempt to find another charity or should I just ignore the oppurtunity to raise money?