My name is Mike, and NO!!! I AM NOT FROM CANMORE!!!! lol! I have a few nicknames like Ooster, Oosterbalaken, Ooster-bin-laden, Speedy, Mike from Canmore, and of course Mike.

I was born in Barrie, Ontario on Dec. 18, 1982. When I was 9 years old (1992), my family moved from Glen Meyer, Ontario to Harris, Saskatchewan. It was the longest trip I remember and it took us 4 days to get out to our new home. That is the year we got our dog, Rocky. But a year later we had to do the same thing over again as we moved again to Biggar, Saskatchewan. This wasn't a big move though only 60 km but still I didn't want to go. After a while in Biggar I found I liked it there. I would spend the next 7 years of my life in that little town of 2500 people.

I really love sports. My favorites are soccer, track and cross country and hockey. I played 2 years of rec hockey before I started running in Grade 10. I have enjoy running and pushing myself. I am going to be making a new page with all my track results and my personal bests.

I graduated from high school in June 2000. During Grade 12 I was deciding between Bible School or the U of S. I am working towards a physics degree with a minor in math and astronomy. I plan to go into education. Right now I am currently taking a year off and am at Bethany College in Hepburn, SK. It is a bible college.

One significant thing that happened to me this past year was I met the greatest girl in the world. Her name is Chelsea. She is more than I could have asked for in a girlfriend. She is always there to talk to, she is so much fun, she can play the piano. We have been dating for 10.5 months now and I love her more than ever.