Hi. I am the sub-steward for Canada in the Travel Channel, as well as the sub-steward in the Planning, Vacations and Adventure Sub-Channels here at Helium. I hope that my years as a technical writer, and my extensive travelling in Canada and abroad, for both pleasure and work, will help in making Helium.com a great place to look for articles espousing the great virtues and geographic beauty of this great country called Canada.

Travel always includes planning and, unless business releated, is, or is part of, a vacation. The adrenaline junkies amongst us, and the more adventurous as well, will hopefully share their adventures with us.

I will also be reading all of the articles in my sub-sections and making suggestions to the writers to help them correct any misleading information, errors, and to help convert unstructured articles into nicely written articles to improve the writers' articles ratings, and in turn help the other writers in my sub-channels to earn even more money.

I hope that if you are having troubles writing to any Travel in Canada, Planning, Vacation and/or Adventure articles, or for any other reasons, you will not hesitate to contact me, and I will do my very best to help you in any way that I can.

Let's get together and make Helium the best writer-based resource website on the Internet!

Personally, I was born in 1962 to a Canadian Air Force family with three siblings. Travel was frequent, moving was rampant. From childhood, with a vivid imagination, I always wanted to be a writer. I went to College (fourth child in a middle-class family), money was tight, and I had to pay my own way (Universities had accepted me, but the cost was out of my league).

So, College called. I took one course, it was obsolete by the time we graduated, then I repeated the process with another high-tech course, but that one, and the third were provided free of charge because of the college's teaching of obsolete programs (just bad timing to the max!). I still got my dream fulfilled though, as I was working as a writer and trainer in the Military and Aerospace industries for roughly 11 years.

I am now disabled, suffering from severe neuropathic pain from a spinal disease, all but a few discs are herniated and I have nerve damage in my spine. I was a Technical Writer for about 11 years, working contract when I was diagnosed. I have worked in the Aerospace and Military medical industries as a technical writer and as a trainer. I have not worked in 8 years, since I started my battle to beat cancer (I am winning at this point!), and now even writing is a hard thing to do, as I am heavily medicated for the pain, and sometimes any movement at all is extremely painful.

I have three college diplomas from Algonquin College in Ottawa (Computer Systems Engineering Technician, Computer Science Engineering Technology and Technical Writing Engineering Technology). The major companies that I have worked full-time for were Atlantis Aerospace and Picker International. I have also done some contract work, mainly in Ottawa, as I moved home to help with and be with my Brother Steven, who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and passed away about 10 years after diagnosis. My Father and Mother have also passed away, leaving just me and my two Sisters.

I have tried writing for other sites, but I find Helium a more enjoyable experience, with a much more family-feel to the atmosphere between writers, until the contests start! And the wealth of professional publishers that look to Helium for well-written articles makes it a great place to showcase your writing abilities, and to improve upon those abilities.

My passion is ...

Animals, writing, fishing, camping and bird watching, walking my dogs.

I know too much about ...

Nothing, and not enough about everything...

My parents always told me ...

to go outside and leave them alone...

My childhood ambition ...

to be an Air Force Pilot like my Dad.

My favorite memory ...

Working at Luke Air Force Base, in the Arizona desert, camping in the Grand Canyon with no tent.

Why I write ...

Its' always been a passion, but I do it to relax (my brain hurts!)

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I read new authors, watch anything that is not a repeat (especially Family Guy), Listen to Bowie and Neil Young, the Who, Allman Brothers etc.

My first job ...

Delivering the Ottawa Journal at age 8

My best moment ...

is yet to come... Hopefully!

My inspiration ...

that I can still be productive

Sports & Recreation > Fishing (Other) Alternate uses for fishing line

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When you are camping in the wilderness, or on a fishing trip, there are always going to be alternate uses for fishing line and duct tape, the two favourite handy-man of the backwoods first-aid and equipment repair materials. There are so many different things that can go wrong when you are away from home, that fishing line will come in handy to fix, at least for a short while. Alternate uses for fishing line can be, but are in no way limited to;

* Stitches. If you experience a large or deep cut that requires stitches, and you are in the backcountry, too far to go to a hospital or cl...

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