It was great to spend a week at home over the Christmas holiday with family and friends. My cousin asked me at Christmas dinner how long I would be in town for. “I am programmed to do everything for only one week,” I said.

My first job of the New Year will be working at a Family Chiropractic Office in Banff, Alberta. The town of Banff is surrounded by huge mountains all around and is located in a National Park so there is a lot of protected wild life roaming around. It is a beautiful area and the clinic has large windows on both sides with a great view of the snow covered mountains.

This week I will be accompanying Dr. Shawna Biegel as she treats clients, and helping with client exercises, paperwork, reception, and learning about the philosophy of rehabilitation. At the clinic she also provides acupuncture, physio, and massage therapy… Looks like I am going to be in good hands this week!

Here’s Sean’s week as a Photographer in Manhattan with James Carman. Be sure to visit his website!

Thanks to some Chinese ointment that Robert gave me, my legs recovered rather quickly from my week spent at Dojang Studios. Most weeks I find myself in somewhat intimidating positions; continually learning something new and taking on a profession in which I have had no prior experience. It’s rather humbling, and I must say that I was humbled yet again this week.

One example came in the form of a nine year old girl when I was mock sparring with her. She had me continually backing up in circles around the studio attempting to avoid her high side kicks directed at my face. It was Kate, daughter of Dojang Co-founder and Owners, Robert & Emma Lynds. The whole family participates in the sport and their son Aidan, age 14, just put out his first DVD designed for kids. This is one house that you wouldn’t want to be caught breaking into.

This week I have seen how Dojang is a great way to stay in shape, both physically and mentally. When you enter the studio and begin your practice, you tend to leave everything else outside and focus entirely on what you are doing. We talked a bit about building up your core energy, your chi, and how this is channeled into your movements. It is a topic that came up in my week as a Yoga Instructor in Week 7 and is something that I would like to learn more about.

In the interview with Robert we talked about the importance of goal setting and planning. He described a very cool idea that he and his family uses. Every year, they will take a bunch of magazines and make a collage of different words, images, pictures that grab their attention. He was saying that if you want to see your goal realized, it must first be conceptualized and showed us his previous collage pointing out different things that he had now achieved or obtained.

I had a feeling that I would be sore after this week, though I guess I didn’t expect to be quite this sore only after a couple days.

I suppose that I am beginning to feel the result of having been on the road for some time now and not been exercising. Robert, the co-owner and founder of Dojang, took me through the routine warm-up that they do at the start of each class. Half way through I was thinking to myself, “this is only the warm-up?”

One hour later I was up in front of the kids class leading their warm-up and assisting with the class. After introducing myself and telling them about what I was doing there, I asked if anyone knew what they wanted to be when they grow up. Listening to a group of nine year olds able to definitively answer that question made me feel like I really need to hurry up and get my act together.

I love working with kids. There is a strong focus at Dojang Studios on making sure the kids have fun. I am pretty sure we accomplished that, especially when it was time for me to put on a the protective sumo suit and have the kids punching, kicking me, and then all at once trying to take me to the ground.

There was a guest instructor in that night, Fatih Turan, from Germany. He is in Vancouver studying acting and so is also working at the studio. He spent over a year in China training every single day, eight hours a day in Wudang Kung Fu… now that’s passion!

Yesterday I was introduced to self-defense techniques, pressure points, how to roll, how to get out of holds. We also spent some time in the park learning techniques of the bo staff and then Ian and I had a chance to do some sparring back at the studio. I punched Ian in the face by accident, though luckily his nose is still in place.

It is a really great environment at the studio. They have developed a strong sense of community with small personable classes, focusing more on relationships with the students and their families. They have done a great job in creating this and it’s reflective in the supportive environment.

This week I will be working as a Martial Arts Instructor at Dojang Studios in Vancouver, BC.

Dojang combines numerous forms and styles from the traditional and modern combative arts and is defined as ‘a place to study the way.’ The founders of Dojang are Robert & Emma Lynds and they opened up the studio in February 2004. They offer adult and personal training programs, kids programs, youth programs, kids camps as well as women’s only classes.

I will be participating/assisting in classes throughout the week; learning about the practice of Dojang, teaching techniques, how to train someone one on one, what it takes to run a martial arts studio… (there was some mention of a sumo wrestling suit, involving me acting as a punching bag, so that could get interesting).

I have been involved in sports throughout my life, though martial arts was something that I never gave a try so I am excited to learn more about the practice! Though I have a feeling I might be a little sore after this week.

-Sean

It was a tonne of information to absorb this week, though my liver handled it quite well.

It’s amazing how easily Pat and Matt at Two Mountain Winery can distinguish between different varieties and vintages. There is definitely a lingo that is associated with the wine world and the ability to articulate even the slightest of flavors. I am still at the, “That ones good, but I don’t like the other one” stage in my tasting development.

The winery is located out in the country and the vineyard is beautiful. I would love to come back during summer when everything is green. We were able to take the 4 wheelers for a ride through the vineyard which was a lot of fun and I learned how to properly prune. It is a lot of work being a Winemaker and I think I got off pretty easy this week; Matt was telling me that during harvest time it is not unusual for them to be working 18 hour days!

On Saturday, John with the Yakima Visitors Bureau took me out to other wineries in the region so that I could see the spectrum ranging from big corporate wineries to small independent family run operations. There are around 60 wineries in the Yakima Valley so it was great to go for a tour and get a “taste.”

I love small towns. The couple of times when I ventured into the small town of Zillah for lunch with Pat, I got many interesting looks. One woman looked at me with a smile and said, “You’re not from round here are ya?” Not sure what gave it away.

Before I knew it, it was time to leave. John and Katie were so nice to meet me at the airport with a beautiful gift basket and some Yakima post cards. Everyone was so kind and welcoming to me which helped make it a really fun week.

A special thanks to Bellair Charters who provided me with a complimentary ride on The Airporter Shuttle from Yakima to Seattle, WA and then North to the Canadian border where my parents were waiting to pick me up.

I will be working in Vancouver this week so that I can be home for the holidays. It has been a while since I have been home and so I am really looking forward to spending some time with my family.

-Sean

The long wait is over! Here’s Sean’s week as a Fashion Buyer in Manhattan. Sorry it took a while to complete this episode; there was quite a lot of information and footage from this week, so it was definitely a challenge. But hopefully, at over 11 minutes of goodness, it was worth the wait!

Thanks again to everyone who made it a great job: Global Purchasing Companies, Vacation Vocations, Stylesight Trend Reporting, Iceberg Army and Navy, Clementine Vintage Clothing, and everyone else we missed.

Note about future episodes: given the amount of time and effort it takes to craft each episode, from now on, I’ll be releasing shorter vignettes instead of longer clips. This way, I can have the video updates out sooner and it gives me time to organize and collect all the footage from each week.

In case you missed it, here’s Sean’s segment from Good Morning America broadcast on November 23. Enjoy!

I arrived in the Yakima Valley region two nights ago. On the plane, they warned us that due to weather conditions we might have to turn around and head back to Seattle, WA, though fortunately we made it.

I was also advised on the plane by a Yakima local that the wines of the Yakima Valley are going to overtake the wines of France in the next century. “They will be recognized as the best wines of the world,” he said. As I sipped my complimentary glass of wine I thought to myself, “I am in for a treat.”

I like airports. What makes them even more enjoyable is when you arrive at your destination and somebody is there waiting for you with a sign. Makes you feel important. Well, I am happy to report, that Wendy and Katie from the Yakima Visitors Bureau were there to pick me up, sign in hand. Very cool.

I had my first day on the vineyard yesterday and I learned so much. I am trying to soak in as much as I possible can about wine making, wine terminology, what to look for in a good wine, what makes a good wine…

The two owners of Two Mountain Winery, Matthew and Patrick, had a lot of patience with me as I continually asked questions throughout the day about pretty much everything. They have been really great and I am happy to be here.

Also, turns out I came at a good time of year. It is the time when they taste the previous vintages to compare them and see how they are aging. I was able to taste different varieties over the past 4 years. It takes a practiced palate to identify all the various flavors that different varieties contain. So, I have decided that I will commit more time to studying over the holidays!

-Sean

I received an email last week from John Cooper of the Yakima Valley Visitors Bureau who was excited to bring me out to the region to learn the craft of making wines.

I always wanted to learn more about the wine making process. So, this week I find myself in Yakima, WA where I will be a Vintner (Winemaker) working with Patrick and Matthew Rawn at Two Mountain Winery out in the Rattlesnake Hills area of Yakima Valley.

I will be trained in the various duties of a small winery such as, managing the ‘topping’ process, testing the sulfite levels in the wine, taste testing to figure out blends for this years fresh pick…

Should be good times!

-Sean