Storing Youth

I'm a little too practical to be poetic; however, one doesn't need to write artsy verses in order to be creative. There are many other avenues. I think I may have been born too early though. I'd have made a great digital kid.

Nothing was digital nor easy forrty or fifty years ago. In grade school, I used to mix caustic chemicals in my room. They allowed me to expose grainy negatives on rolls of B&W Kodak stock. Now children can easily take hundreds of digital pictures. Additionally, one of my favourite toys as a small child was a reel-to-reel tape recorder. I'd run around capturing sounds. In 1969, I sat on the floor in front of the TV around my tenth birthday recording the audio from lunar landing. Now kids can save sound clips in numerous ways. In my very early teens, I would often try to piece together Super8 movie reels and sync them up with cassette audio tapes. Now, there are kiddie camcorders for sale.

How much easier these things would be today! The difference with digital is that files are not only easy to make and share, but easy to save as well. Storage space is cheap enough to keep a lasting record of all the sound, pictures, and video of one's early years. I hope kids today commit to backing up their digital junk, so when they're my age they'll still have some of the artifacts.

Shopping Half Naked

Next week, it'll be time to truly see what happens in Vegas and if it stays there. As I booked on Allegiant Air earlier in the month, each segment of my trip to Vegas was US$ 28.00. All together with taxes and fees it came to US$ 88.50. I do wonder what the 9/11 tax does for the tiny, little Bellingham, WA airport. At last, yesterday, Jay got time off in order to come along. As it was more of a last minute purchase, he had to come up with an additional hundred bucks for the same Monday and Friday flights.

Seconds ago, I booked a car for Wednesday of next week. Although we poked around a bit of the desert on a one-week trip in May, we didn't swing by the Hoover Dam. That's why I just visited the Dollar site. The company offers rentals directly from Circus Circus. That's pretty convenient as it's where we're staying.



We hardly notice how easy many things are nowadays. For example, I didn't think twice about the fact I just chose a rental car company and reserved without lifting a finger, with the exception of my mouse button one. Should I mention I was only wearing my underwear? That's the ultimate of convenience too!

Do-It-Yourself Plastic Surgery

I had to use prior entries in this blog to figure out when I purchased my Sony PlayStation 3. I found that it was on a day which doesn't occur very frequently. In fact, February 29th only shows up on a calendar every four years.

In the nine months since its purchase, I've probably only spent a few hours gaming. I did trade in some titles from my old XBOX and have four games in total: Sonic: The Hedgehog, Lair, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, MotorStorm. A few hours divided by four titles means I'm no addict.

We have spent a great many hours watching Blu-ray titles on the PS3 though. In fact about 70% of the titles currently on our ziplist will arrive in the HD format. That's the primary reason I bought the device. It also is a fairly robust media player and is attached to my home network.

Speaking of home, that's exactly what I wanted to mention today. Sony has been promising free access to PlayStation Home on the PS3 since 2007. There have been a number of missed deadlines. Home is a sort of Second Life interface that promises to provide access to characters and events in a virtual world. It just achieved its closed Beta 1.0 testing phase and for some reason I was chosen to participate.

Simultaneous Streams of Input

I'm thankful for my small Creative Zen mp3 player. Although my commute to the Burnaby Campus of BCIT takes only about twenty minutes, it turns out to be an excellent time to catch up on podcasts. While driivng, I am an ardent listener of CNET`s Buzz Out Loud and I always have the most recent addition of the Global News from the BBC World Service. When I am in the mood, I can always chuckle at Click and Clack on PBS`s Car Talk. Yet today, I am still thinking about a topic from a recent Spark from the CBC.

The show included an interview with Don Tapscott about differences in the Net Generation. He maintains because of growing up with the Net that their brains are different from those of my generation. I'm a teacher so it is of special importance to me. I'm responsible for designing a classroom learning environment for many of these differently-brained folks. Although I surely belong to the generation of late baby-boomers, I don't exactly fit in with the majority. Just trying to get colleagues aware of facebook is a continuing challenge and many are younger than I am.

I am not so sure how well I multitask though. I had parents who used to always yell at me to turn off the radio or TV when I was studying. The noise didn't distract me but I don't really think I was aware of it. My concentration was solely on the material being read. This means, I guess I'm not really like the kids of today. They, apparently, can work on several levels simultaneously.

Size Matters

Every time I'm about to travel, I find myself doing similar things. Now that next week's getaway to Las Vegas is on the horizon, I am searching online electronic retailers again. I've blogged about wanting one of the new, small, portable notebooks sans optical drive at least six different times. Today is the first time I believe the industry has settled on the category defining name of netbook.

I was psychologically set to buy one before this autumn's trip to Italy. I ended up toting along my heavy 14-inch Gateway though. A regular notebook is such an albatross when travelling! I desperately would like something that weighs in at about 2 lbs. I want something just for wireless net activity while away.

I know if I wait, I'll be able to get something better. In even a few months technology always improves and prices stabilize. The Acer One has been at the top of my lists for months now. It has an excellent price point but has a few things which could be improved. For example, at this stage it'd make sense to buy something with wireless N rather than just B/G. I suppose Windows XP would suffice but it'd be nice to have something designed to make use of next year's release of Windows 7. Even the spaciousness of its 160G hard drive seems rather minuscule considering what's happening with 2.5 drives.

All sorts of new entrants seem to be coming. I spotted HP and Toshiba now entering the category. I'm at the point, however, where I can justify anything. After all, I lug my present notebook to every class at BCIT. Something one third lighter would make walking across campus easier. It all depends what deals I see this week. Unfortunately the Canadian dollar has left parity and its value has slid to about 80 cents. I would expect this will mean new shipments will increase proportionally on this side of the long North American border.

It would surely feel good to be able to blog and facebook from Sin City next week.

Sri Lankan Places

It is a dreary morning and I spent it correcting assignments. Yesterday I was a bit lazy in creating an entry and the same goes for today. Rather than a deep philosophical discussion, I will try showing some of my pictures on Flickr. I cannot believe I've still not uploaded half of the September/October trip to Italy. It's okay as there are already over 5,000 other pics there to draw from. The use of tags means different trips can be combined into a single slide show. Here, I'll try to embed all pictures that have the tag, temple. I further refined the search to include 90 taken in Sri Lanka. They are mainly Buddhist places of worship but I noted several Hindu Kovils too.

Nothing Much to Crow About

I have no burning desire to discuss anything today. I have nothing to get off my chest. In a way I suppose that's good. What's the old axiom about no news being good news? That makes a lot of sense when things are bubbling along nicely.

I cannot think of many things about my life that I'd change. I guess that's the true meaning of freedom. If there were something that didn't feel right, I would just fix it anyway. Although much of the world is in tatters just thinking about the financial troubles, I'm simply a curious onlooker. While politics is about change, I'm better off than I was four years ago. Even though others simply dream about achieving a variety of goals in life, I've done much.

These ideas are pretty optimistic for a Monday, eh? They come on a rather jam-packed one too. This week I have twenty hours with my class. It's a rather large chunk when the course totals just eighty-four. It's okay. I calmly say, "Bring it on, babe."

More Than a Little Unexpected

It felt a bit like a small miracle. We were friends so long ago. I should now better understand the term, a long-lost friend. We telephoned when leaving Dubai in 1996. We never had a valid postal address for him. The chances of actually ever being in contact again were next to none.

Then unexpectedly, I got an email yesterday from Saeed. He had googled my name and found my email address. It was an occurrence which really made me feel optimistic about life. It is extraordinary to have a part of a former existence catch up with the present.



I found this clip on old camcorder tape. It was shot on August 20, 1993. We were on a weekend trip from Dubai to Khor Fakkan, Sharjah. Saeed was a new driver and got behind the wheel of my red Firefly on a few more desolate sections of highway. The minute of video was taken at the site of the Al-Bidyah Mosque in Fujairah. It is believed to be one of the first mosques in the area built between 500 and 600 years ago. Since the time time of the video, a large portion may have been rebuilt.

Available from Anywhere

I have been using Google Mail exclusively since May of 2004. The recent additional of colour schemes has brightened things up a bit. In terms of discussing things in the computer environment, my connection with gmail seems almost historical. Regardless of what you think of the Google empire, their clean, unobtrusive online site was my first real embrace of what's come to include, online applications and cloud computing. It just seemed right to move email off my own hard disk and out into the Net.

Early in the millennium I wanted a permanent address after changing once too often. I hated both getting and sending those "I-now-have-a-new-address" notices. It was good to move away from temporary mail solutions from one's ISP de jour. For a while I used my hotmail address. Now I only use it as Passport sign-in for a few places like in MS Money and on Expedia. I still used Outlook Express as a local program. Messages needed to be stored locally as the free account space was very limited. That meant all data had to be moved with the addition of each new computer. The Microsoft site itself was always too bulky, slow, and portal-like to be useful.

So, I picked many old-school habits such as deleting messages with mega attachments. I still find it hard to let those messages simply rest on gmail servers. Perhaps that why after 4 1/2 years I have only managed to use 1% of my allotted space.

(Or, maybe it's that most messaging with friends is starting to occur outside of traditional email altogether. I'm mentioning this to allow me the opportunity vent my frustration with several friends. They mistakenly believe that Facebook is something not useful enough for them to even try! I'd feel sorry for their lack of insight but I'm too annoyed for that.)

Up Your Nose

I was in Walmart this morning. Yes, indeed the Christmas decorations were there and have probably been up for quite some time. I smelled the pine scent that must've been deliberately sprayed near their collection of artificial trees and ornaments. 

Even pre-school children know that smell is one of the five senses. It is probably the least obvious one though. The other four are used almost exclusively during our ordinary days. Surely, the ability to smell rancid meat aided the evolutionary process of humans. The fact odors can be classified as bad probably have to do with ancient survival genes.

Today, of course we can manufacture and disseminate smells to a greater extent than nature does. Therefore, I tend to think that smells deemed as good are most probably products of our learning environments. There's nothing particularly advantageous in believing that pine scent is nice. Of course, a prehistoric man may have taken quiet refuge in forests of them, but I'd venture our love of the smell of conifers probably has more to do with kitchen cleaners and Christmas. The smell of baking bread obviously links to taste and the physical comfort of consumed carbohydrates. Surely, there's nothing intrinsically nice about the smell of bleach but it is associated with nice warm sheets that more directly affect other senses.

These associations, to a great extent, explain why we appreciate specific olfactory moments. Just to prove this point, I have to admit to loving the smell of two-stroke engine exhaust. Ah, surely that has more to do with a little, 100cc Kawasaki I had in high school than with the motorcycle I was on in this photo.

Being Able to Label

Yesterday's entry mentioned how blogging has allowed me to start to document and organize my existence online. The title even mentioned the word, labels. This is the primary way in which some of my daily meanderings obtain a smidgen of cohesion. At my blog, under each entry, there are tiny labels which I enter about the subject when writing. Over time they allow me to capture and organize common thoughts. Even if it is literally years between comments on a particular subject, the labels allow them to appear together on a specific page. The list continually grows and develops.

LISTING REMOVED TO PREVENT REDUNDANT SEARCH RESULTS!

At any time, I may alter these labels, so I can only guarantee that they're valid as of today's date. As well as acting as good flypaper for search engine robots, this list will show up on my facebook wall. Maybe someone will click on one from there!

One for the Labels

I've been blogging for a long time. For over five years, it's been a daily habit. That makes for a fair representation of some of the 'stuff of life'. More and more of my ideas and views are in a searchable, online format. Of course, lots of history prior to the blog's start have crept in as well.

Occasionally, though, I find things, which I consider important, missing from my eJournal and images. Other subjects seem under-represented. For example, I've blogged a lot about the city in which I live. Yet there wasn't too much here about Queen's Park, the crown of our Parks Department. I'm happy founding fathers set aside such a sizable chunk of our little city. The reason for the entry today is I wanted to add an old photo to increase my references to one of my favourite places to walk.

Weather Watch

Don't take pity on me. Resorting to blogging about the weather seems like a waste of media. Or is it a waste of the message? Whichever is correct, there are times when an entry can be a bit banal.

I'm including a picture not only for the sake of ease though. I walked down to the Army Navy Department Store in New Westminster. I appreciate having a it right across Columbia Street. I picked up a few few towels this morning.

The weather made for a perfect morning. It was very clear and warm. On fall and winter days when the clouds dissipate, the sky is so blue it looks fake. Being clear means the temperature will fall tonight. It might get down to 8C (46F) in a few hours. I'm most always quite happy about life and the changes in weather on this coast never depress me nowadays.

I'll Not Even Spend $5 Gambling

I was contemplating it yesterday. I blogged how getting away to Vegas was a deal I could hardly afford to pass up. I thought $29 a night for a king bed on the strip was bargain enough. Then, I noticed Expedia Canada was offering a special promotion for booking through them. They are providing a bonus $50 Petrol Canada gas coupon after the travel is completed. The hitch was the offer expired tonight. So, earlier I entered my credit card and hit enter a few times. I give my final examination on November 28th. That should give me sufficient time to get 'em corrected before heading south. The stay will be from Monday, December 1st until Friday, the 5th. I'm grateful for cheap Allegiant flights from Bellingham.

I was trying to remember when we'd last visited. It was easy to check on the very first visit as I recalled that US Forces entered Afghanistan. It was on the news and it was in October of 2001. The following year we went again. After disruptions due to 9/11, it was considered patriotic to get back into the air. We went that time in November and that's when the following picture was taken. Six years is too long to have stayed away from that fun little city.

What Happens in Vegas ...

Damn. I don't really need to get away on another vacation yet. So far this year, we've been away on a Mexican cruise, a road trip in the US Southwest, and three weeks in Italy. Yet, knowing that I have time off in December goaded me into checking online flights and hotels. It's a hobby, I guess.

It's almost too cheap NOT to go to Las Vegas in December. There's a traditional slow season before the end of the year. There's that plus possible effects from the financial slowdown.

If I pick dates carefully I could go to Las Vegas for four nights. Flying with Allegiant from Bellingham, WA would amount to just $US88.50 round trip. Of course, I'd need to pay $US35 to park at the airport for five days. Circus Circus is not the most prestigious hangout on the strip but I could stay Monday through Friday during the first or second week of December for less than $US28 per night with taxes included. One gross breakfast buffet could fill up me for an entire day.



Jay might not be able to go due to work. He can check. I haven't travelled by myself for decades but with deals like this how can I not, even if alone?

Tricked by Noise

Music can cause near immediate emotions. I am not so sure they can be considered real, though. For the jump in heartbeat or tear in the eye is not really tied to a natural stimulus. Today, I'm not thinking so much of a song's power to take one back to a particular time in one's life; rather, I'm thinking of the instantaneous effect due to the chords and perhaps lyrics.

Perhaps some people are more attuned to this phenomenon than others. I know I am. This makes musical theatre or movie musicals very enjoyable. Anytime that people burst out into song to share a feeling is obviously contrived. In everyday life I cannot carry a tune in a bucket for the life of me. You have to know something about me. In elementary school, old Mrs. Fisher noticed my lack of talent early on. When practicing for the elementary school Christmas play she said, "Just stand in the back, dear, and pretend you're singing the words out loud."

Thankfully because of torrents I have been able to increase the number of times I'm affected by others' music. For example, when I heard that South African singer Miriam Makeba had recently passed away, I had to hunt for an album to see if I knew any of her songs. Indeed, a 2002 remake of her famous Pata Pata song was delightfully familiar. Also, I pumped various other tunes out of the speakers today. Bali Ha'i from the Broadway cast of South Pacific produced a shiver. Even, Under the Sea from Disney's Little Mermaid had me jumping around while vacuuming.

Who can argue with emotions whether contrived or not?

My Little Power Trip

My blog posts are a hell of a lot more interesting when I'm not working. Teaching a course, as is now the case, is emotionally and financially satisfying but it surely does clutter my mind with some extemporaneous nonsense. I guess there are only so many avenues of output I'm capable of. When I spend lots of time with the give and take of the classroom, the content of entries may suffer. The facts during these times drift towards very concrete ideas and simple explanations of duties.

Fortunately, I have a chance to counter this trend a bit today. My class is busy writing a three-hour midterm examination. I'm in the front of the lab on the teachers' console. I have a 45-minute chunk of free time.

I may have chatted about this subject in the past, I'm not sure. I am trying to come to a possible definition of power. I don't mean in the physical sense; rather, I am thinking about social power.

In the past, I've tried to tie the idea of mind-space to possible reasons for salaries. For example, a sports figure deserves the big bucks as he or she is on the lips, or in the heads, of multitudes of people. Hollywood actors pull in gigantic sums as their performances occupy literally millions of hours of viewers' time.

Power is related but a tad different. I think I could easily define it as the ability to screw with others people's lives. It's not just measured in mind-space but also in the influence over the actions of others. Increasing power is the length of the effect times the number of people involved. I think the maximum number of people I can effect is about twenty-four. I can dictate the action of the students in this room until five o'clock today.

Hot Off the Press

My work life is pretty easy. I've been teaching five-week, intensive courses for a number of years now. My classes meet either in the mornings or afternoons. Four hour classes are long but we generally have class from Mondays through Thursdays only.

Tomorrow is unique. We will be in class as we have to make up for the fact Tuesday was a holiday. It'll be fairly easy for me as I've scheduled one hour of computer lab and our three-hour midterm exam. Of course, correcting all the papers will be a struggle. Yet, at the moment, having all the photocopying completed feels pretty good. Tomorrow should be a breeze.

Row, Row, Row Your Desks!

There are so few times I'm sitting when in the classroom. This bodes well for my chances of staying fit provided I can continue to keep portion sizes reasonable at meals. I'm generally jumping between the tables working with students during the afternoons. I nearly never get the chance to relax during classes.

I find it crazy that when we arrive at the room each afternoon, the desks are always lined up in neat little rows. It seems so twentieth, or perhaps even, eighteenth century. The industrial revolution still seems to be with us in the form of classroom arrangement. This is at BCIT, no less. Few offices are arranged in tidy rows nowadays, so why should classes look like that?

It doesn't seem to matter what age group I teach, I have always put students into groups. Okay, there may be some subjects that are just chalk and talk but I teach communication. There's nothing sillier than talking to the back of someone's head. There's also not much sillier than the insistence on putting chairs, desks, and students into straight lines.

Regardless of the set up, my students are working hard on an assignment. This has given me a few minutes to jot down these thoughts during the class. In a four hour class there's certainly a need to change gears once in a while. These few minutes of down time are most welcomed. I'm going to try it more often!

Meat and Greet

It is stormy and grey. It seems as if it's always that way on Remembrance Day. We were both off work today. We went for a ride at about 10:30 this morning. It was quite amazing how many folks had gathered for ceremonies at the New Westminster City Hall. The police had blocked off many streets around the area.

When in the Braid Street Safeway, we observed a minute of silence at 11:00. We did end up walking into an M&M Meat Shop next door. Although we've been looking at the circulars which come in the newspaper for years, we never visited one. They sell specialty frozen foods and their products always look and sound mouthwatering in the advertising. M&M seems a little pricey but the sales seem genuine. We got frozen BBQ chicken breasts and signed up for their loyalty card. I hope it's the beginning of a new, long-term relationship.

Memory Prompt

myhistory.doc

You know how hard it can be to remember the date when something important happened in your life. I suppose one has to acquire a certain age before there's enough in the repertoire. In addition, the more varied the experiences the tougher it becomes. I can surely run into trouble trying to place specific events in proper years.

When I was in my 30's I created a MS Word file which tried to highlight some important events that had occurred. I simply tried creating a line for each month of each year from 1981. Years often go by, but then I again remember that file. It moves from computer to computer with me.

It's interesting for me to review specific things. For example, I bought my first MS-DOS computer in 1986 in Saudi Arabia. I vacationed in the Maldives in April of 1998. I bought my first video camera in February of 1991 when working in Bahrain. I just added a line to show that hamster #6 came to live here this month. None of these things are crucial to know. I could easily live without this information but having it feels comforting.

The file will, hopefully, not be complete for many years to come. I am posting a link to the file as it exists today. This will at least provide an alternative copy to the one on my local hard drives. I wouldn't expect that it will interest any guests of my blog, but it will provide me access to the data from anywhere on the Net. If you're keeping up on the future of computing with Microsoft's move towards Azure, you can think of this as an initial, poor-man's-attempt at stuffing something into my cloud.

Remote Control

The visitors suggested a universal remote. I sort of forgot how much learning is involved in knowing how to operate the equipment. When switching from watching a DVD to watching TV, most of these are necessary.

Forgetting to Snap

It was really nice having the Lynne and Joel up for the weekend. It was strange as we managed to watch 20 year old recorded video of previous times together. That is not, in itself, strange. Yet, the fact I have only taken two photos from the whole weekend is a little weird. I have two cameras and a video camera within reach but get too carried away in conversation to bother to capture images. This one is pretty awful. Please forgive me for publishing it, Lynne!

Growing Up to Be President

My mp3 collection is pretty diverse. I've got an Antonín Dvořák symphony playing which may explain my rather profound thoughts for so early in the morning. We really are products of our environment and time, aren't we? I've often wondered how many geniuses have gone unknown as their gifts went undiscovered or simply weren't fostered. For example, perhaps right now, there is a boy in Aswan, Egypt who possesses sufficient talent to become a professional hockey player. There's nearly zero chance he will ever achieve that distinction without ice and a society that values that sport. Even slightly more frightening, it may be possible to be born at the wrong time to utalize one's talents.

In all artistic, recreational, business, and spiritual endeavors, there might be talented individuals who never get the opportunity of exposure. It's not just a matter of having God-given talents, we must have the right circumstances and encouragement to use them.

News Blues

I generally stay clear of politics. Discussing it seems a no-win situation for a personal blog. My only feeling now that the US presidential race is finally over is one of cautious relief. I do have a few general observations though.

I've been hesitant since becoming a Canadian in referring to just US citizens as Americans. After all, that term should include people to the north and south of the United States. In fact, the Americas stretch right down to Cape Horn. I was a bit taken back by everybody and their brother paying such close attention to the recent American elections. The Canadian Broadcasting Company spent the whole evening on the topic: America Votes.

Well, it did feel that way here too. Of course the world must take an interest in what goes on inside the United States. Policies and behaviours there have a tremendous affect on most every part of the world. Being Canada's biggest trading partner with economies inexorably intertwined, the effects of who is picked for president is critical.

Yet it is with a new found self-righteousness, that I can probably state the way Canada voted less than a month ago in federal elections is completely unknown to a most folks from the United States. An unfortunate thing is that few Canadians really gave much thought to the recent Canadian elections either.

In all honesty, the news and media produced and consumed on this continent shows little respect for anything which happens outside the land where stars and stripes fly. Joe Sixpack would have a hell of a time trying to learn about anyone or anything other than himself.

Service Troubles

Message to Canada's Online Video Rental Company

There are problems and the worst thing a company can do is keep clients or customers in the dark about it. We've been customers for years. For two days the system has supposedly been 'searching' for titles to send. There are plenty there on my ziplist with a mix of new and old, niche and popular titles.

The online help said that account would be sent for support. Well, dear zip give us an idea who this affects and how long it's going to be before things return to 'normal'.

My message
(along with 90 similar in the same
thread of their discussion board.)

---

I am sorry to hear the problems on the site. We have recently made some changes to assignment that has had a great impact on empty slots and as a result yesterday we had our best Tuesday in history. I hope this recent update will have a positive effect on your account. I did a bit of homework though some problem account this morning and all signs are showing improvement. Please do not hesitate to contact customer service if your account is still experiencing issues as they will work on remedying the situation for you.

As an aside: We are also working on some website improvements that will have the availability bar returning to the ZipList (date of launch: TBD). I know many of you have been asking for it, the reason it has taken this long to return is we are not happy with the accuracy of our current availability bar and we have taken some time to work on improving it to better represent availability. This and other upcoming ZipList changes will really improve transparency and thus help with ranking expectations.

Hawleywood
Zip Staff

---

Thoughts About My Work

As an instructor, my job lies halfway between being an administrator and a house painter.

I was in a delightful email conversation with my program administrator last week. As I was away in Italy during the start of the term, I haven't had the chance to meet Wendy in person. However, due to the hectic details surrounding the start of last week's course, we were in a deluge of back and forth emails. In the conversation I mentioned that I'm happy I didn't have her type of job. I would absolutely hate having a position where the tasks were never completed. To me, it seems as if most office work is ongoing, dreadfully so.

I couldn't help compare that to the guy painting our building. When I went to the pool this morning, he was already taping up things in the lobby. He was hired to paint the interior my strata building. He has worked his way down from the 17th floor and it now working on the lobby. He works alone. Imagine the feeling of accomplishment he feels as he looks at his completed work.

My job as a teacher lies somewhere between these two extremes. Although I only have my current intensive courses for 84 hours, there is a clear beginning, middle, and end. I can see the difference the students make during the five weeks we're together. Still, the progress isn't quite as long-lasting as a painters'. I seldom have a chance to return to see how my work is doing after my students leave my class.

I'm No Farmers' Almanac

In yesterday's entry I tried to convince myself that I don't mind winter weather. In the southern mainland of British Columbia that, of course, means months of rain and grey, cloudy skies. I started vitamin D supplements last week. As one approaches fifty one's ability to internally produce it from sunshine declines. I can swear I remember certain Decembers here when I didn't spot the sun once! Of course, that's silly talk. I am sure I was just indoors during those three or so minutes!

As I recollect, last year had a few days when snow actually stayed on the ground. I truly hope it happens this year too. I especially like it when it happens during the last week of December and the first week of January. In this photo Jay is standing on Columbia Street just a few blocks away. It was January but at the end of the month on the 27th. I'd think the trees behind him were a bit upset about being planted in a place where it can snow, even if only occasionally.

Gimme My Blanket!

The rain continues as it apparently will for the week. It's okay as I've now been here long enough to quite enjoy it. It feels like a good Nor-easter in New Hampshire or maybe a good shamal (sandstorm) in the Persian Gulf. So don't think that the following complaint is due to the fact I'm depressed by all the grey.

I just want to buy a blanket. There's one on the bed that immigrated with us here a dozen years go. It's still okay, mind you. Cloth can be quite amazing in its ability to age well, can't it? I'm not simply thinking of royal attire in museums, for even vintage clothing from the 1960's is nearly a half century old.

Back to the blanket situation; I cannot seem to find one. Oh sure, there are duvets and coverlets. There are fleece sheet sets and all sorts of down comforters. Those aren't what I'm looking for. I want something thicker than the throws which I see in the stores. Lest I sound like a spoilt child sucking his thumb, I just want my blanket! About the only things sold under that name are electric. Still, that's not what I want.

So much for the invisble hand of the market providing for my each and every whim.

Connections Continued

I first got high-speed Internet via a cable modem in 1998. At about that time, I had a small collection of email addresses from former high school classmates and some from the years surrounding 1977. I created a web site where individuals had a splash page of their own and could send pictures and tell others what they were up to. The folks at Sugar River Net donated free webspace, so The Virtual Sunapee Reunion site was born.

Before the current millennium, people seemed to switch email addresses often. In order to find out which were no longer valid, I'd send out monthly newsletters. When the email bounced, I'd have to delete the individual's page. I donated a fair amount of time but it is the type of work I enjoyed. It was a hobby.

Two years ago this month, I threw in the towel on the project. An eight year run seemed long enough. I documented it's demise here at the blog.

Now strangely, I yearn to re-initiate something similar. This time around it will be a whole lot less of a headache as it can be reborn as a facebook group. Just last week I tried creating a group and inviting a few people whom I know. I found that lots of members of the former website are already on facebook. With very little prompting, sixteen people have jumped into the group. Click the little graphic to take a look.