• Work abroad

    Work abroad

    Working overseas has many advantages. It looks great on a résumé. It lets you really immerse yourself in the day-to-day life of another country and culture. It’s a great way to make overseas travel affordable. It gets you out of your comfort zone and helps you grow as a person. It broadens your perspective and…

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  • Perform a human art show

    Perform a human art show

    On October 15th I celebrated my 4-year bone marrow transplant anniversary. Or, “transplantiversary”, as my friend Tina calls it. Four years! Holy crap! In many ways it seems like yesterday I was undergoing treatment for leukemia. In other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. Either way, I have to pinch myself sometimes to remind…

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  • Play Tri-Pong

    Rainy days are the mothers of invention. While visiting my friend Rob’s cottage, he taught us how to play a simple, yet exhausting version of ping pong. This is Tri-Pong. A big difference from your average ping pong game is that the players are working together, not against each other. Another big difference is that…

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  • Take a soak in the Banff Hot Springs, Alberta, Canada

    Take a soak in the Banff Hot Springs, Alberta, Canada

    I’ve never had much of a fashion sense. Most of my clothes are unfit for a blind hobo. Despite this complete ineptitude and disinterest in anything to do with fashion, I knew the moment I laid eyes on that old fashioned bathing suit in the display case at the Canadian Rockies Hot Springs in Alberta,…

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  • Yarnstorm the streets: Graffiti Knitting

    Yarnstorm the streets: Graffiti Knitting

    When I think of knitting, my 86-year-old grandma comes to mind. When I think of graffiti, an angry youth who wasn’t hugged enough as a child comes to mind. When I think of combining knitting and graffiti, my mind explodes from the ensuing awesomeness.

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  • Go Geocaching

    Ever wanted to be a pirate and search for buried treasure? Is your favourite part about Easter the egg hunt? Do you pride yourself in your ability to find lost car keys? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then geocaching just may be for you. I’ve wanted to go geocaching for years…

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  • Visit the Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand

    Visit the Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand

    Tina Coghlan submitted this photo into the “That’s Awesome” Photo Contest of the Moeraki Boulders in New Zealand. I thought they were so cool they deserved their own Badge of Awesome post.

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  • Host a pasta dinner fundraiser for your birthday

    Host a pasta dinner fundraiser for your birthday

    Last week I introduced you to Nicole Smith, who completed the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk to end breast cancer. Well apparently the apple doesn’t fall too far the tree. Because this week’s Badge of Awesome goes to her son, Keagan, who recently celebrated his 10th birthday in a very awesome way.

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  • Play Spoons (with vigour)

    Spoons was a very popular card game in the Martin household growing up. I’ve played a few variations of it over the years but the general idea remains the same. Click here for the full rules. Some people play that when you get a set of four, you don’t actually yell out SPOONS! This adds…

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  • Have a beer at Oktoberfest, Germany

    Have a beer at Oktoberfest, Germany

    Prost. Schnitzel. Lederhosen. Oompah. Ziggy zaggy ziggy zaggy, oy oy oy. If these words confuse you, odds are you’ve never been to Oktoberfest. As a resident of the Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario for many years, I’ve attended my fair share of Oktoberfest events. If you do go, prepare to have your fill of sausage, sauerkraut,…

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  • Walk to end breast cancer: The Susan G. Komen 3-Day

    Walk to end breast cancer: The Susan G. Komen 3-Day

    Today’s post is dedicated to my friend and mentor, Myrta Rivera, who passed away of cancer earlier this week. One of the best people I’ve ever known. Cancer sucks. Fighting cancer is awesome. As a cancer survivor myself, I know all too well how important family, friends and community are to the journey. One of…

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  • Chase some cheese: Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling, Gloucestershire England

    Chase some cheese: Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling, Gloucestershire England

    I spent a lot of time this past summer watching the London 2012 Olympics on TV. And while England put on a good show, there’s one sport I was disappointed didn’t get any coverage at all. A sport from their own backyard no less: Cheese-rolling.

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  • [Blog] Hanging with Fred Penner photo: That’s awesome

    [Blog] Hanging with Fred Penner photo: That’s awesome

    Voting is now open for the “That’s Awesome” Photo Contest. Check out the entries and vote for your favourite! I don’t typically “geek out” and I’ve never really been into following/stalking celebrities. But let me tell you: when I saw Fred Penner–my favourite and cherished childhood musician and TV personality–perform at the Dawson City Music…

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  • Go WWOOF’ing: World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms

    Go WWOOF’ing: World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms

    A couple weeks ago I talked about my experience volunteering on a refugee camp in Ghana. Keeping up with the theme of volunteer travel, this week’s Buddha Belly Badge is all about WWOOF’ing. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opprtunities On Organic Farms. It pairs willing workers (affectionately known as WWOOFers) with organic farmers looking for…

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  • Pipe down the sun: Port Albert, Ontario

    Pipe down the sun: Port Albert, Ontario

    If you blink you could very well miss Port Albert. You’ll find this tiny speck on the map on the shores of Lake Huron in Southwestern Ontario. Home to such famous landmarks as the Port Albert General Store, the Inn at the Port and a fish ladder at the “old bridge,” you won’t find much…

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  • Perform a random act of kindness

    Perform a random act of kindness

    It’s often the little things that have the biggest impact on our days. Whether it’s that stranger holding the door for you, your friend sending you flowers “just because,” or your fellow commuter waving you in when you’re trying to change lanes, little acts of kindness are just plain awesome.

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  • Sleep in a cave: Cappadocia, Turkey

    Sleep in a cave: Cappadocia, Turkey

    I’ve slept in a lot of different places in my day. Couches, tents, floors, laundry rooms. At the foot of a volcano, in a village on stilts, on a beach, on a mountain, in a farmer’s field. Train stations, bus stations, airports. But I’ve never slept in a cave. And after seeing photos like this…

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  • Get your boots dirty: Volunteer overseas

    Get your boots dirty: Volunteer overseas

    Travel is awesome. Travel that helps other people is even better. Volunteer travel, or “Voluntourism“, is a great way to learn about another part of the world, learn more about yourself and the discover firsthand the joys of lending a hand. I recently wrote an article for BootsnAll magazine about a volunteer experience I had…

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  • Go tubing through the Elora Gorge, Ontario

    Go tubing through the Elora Gorge, Ontario

    Tubing through rapids at the Elora Gorge is awesome. Located within the Elora Gorge Conservation Area, about a half hour drive from Waterloo or Guelph, Ontario (an hour or so from Toronto), this activity offers visitors a chance to travel down the Grand River in a very cool way.

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  • Put your old milk bags to good use: Weaving mats for families in developing countries

    Put your old milk bags to good use: Weaving mats for families in developing countries

    “One person’s trash is another’s treasure.” Weaving old milk bags into sleeping mats for people living in poverty may be one of the coolest examples of this. For several years now, my Step-Mom and Dad have been turning bags of milk into Bags of Awesome.

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  • Play Extreme Croquet

    Croquet: The Gentleman’s Game? Not where I come from. Growing up, my brothers and sisters used to play this backyard game in very un-gentlemanly ways. We’d send our opponents’ balls flying into the bush, down our long driveway and into the little creek that ran next to our house. Out-of-bounds was for babies, and sending…

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  • Go “Glamping”: Long Point Eco-Adventures, Ontario, Canada

    Go “Glamping”: Long Point Eco-Adventures, Ontario, Canada

    Luxury camping, zip-lining, star-gazing, mountain-biking, hiking and more make Long Point Eco-Adventures a Mecca for outdoor awesomeness.

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  • [Blog] 20 awesome activities involving 1 item or less

    [Blog] 20 awesome activities involving 1 item or less

    Editor’s note: This post was originally published on my Josh Martin Ink blog. In an age of iPads, Xboxes and $200 shoes, our sources of entertainment and activity require increasingly sophisticated technology, equipment and infrastructure. But there’s something to be said for the simpler activities. Activities that nurture creativity, ingenuity and imagination. In 2005 the…

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  • Have a pillow fight for a good cause

    Have a pillow fight for a good cause

    This week’s Buddha Belly Badge of Awesome goes to Jon Webster and his youth group in Streetsville, Ontario. Though perhaps not as violent as the KO Cancer event I told you about last week, as the video below shows, this kick-ass pillow fight from a few years ago still packs a great punch.

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  • Play Desert Island Dream Team

    Who would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island? How useless would you or your friends be in a post-apocalyptic world? Desert Island Dream Team is a great game that aims to answer these questions. Here’s how it works: Some qualities you might want to look for when building your…

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