There is a new book by Douglas Coupland coming out in April called “Terry”. It is a bunch of photographs and ??? about Terry Fox. I saw the calendar today and it looks great. The photos brought another human side to Terry Fox…. there is a picture of a Canadian Atlas, a sock filled with holes, a racing number… It’s great that Terry is being brought to the forefront again and in a new way.
I finally read “The Da Vinci Code”. I had it on hold from the library for several (4-5 months) and it finally came in. I also had the audio book (mp3) but without a portable mp3 player (yeah, Jenn bought me one for Christmas and I traded it in, thinking I wouldn’t use it) it’s just not as feasible. So here’s my analysis (don’t worry - no spoilers): it’s a simply written (kinda like the Left Behind series), fast read but without any intellectual hold, with frequent predictabilities but an underlying interesting premise. I was a bit disappointed in it, as I was hoping for something that would challenge me a bit more, but it was comparable to watching a silly but entertaining movie - sufficient for what it was made.
This afternoon we went cross country skiing with the skis that Jenn’s parents gave us. We went to Lemoine Point and Jenn did so well, worked hard, hardly complained in spite of blisters on each heel. It was beautiful weather, perfect temperature, clear skies, and not very busy. We miss skiing with our friends who are probably not doing much skiing in Ethiopia. Ah well, next winter. Until then we get to establish our own skiing skills. I’m so happy to have found something to do when I can’t canoe. I could go biking - that’d be fun. And now that the temperature is just barely under zero Celcius, it’s the lovable part of Canadian winters.
The last 48 hours I have been a real porker…. we have been to two potlucks this weekend. The first was at our house and of course, some nice people left some food behind. I have discovered a love for fresh French Bread… yumm… And then at last nights potluck at a friends house, someone brought this warm cheese and bacon dip you put on bread. That filled me up alone! I woke up quite full this morning…. and didn’t quite like that feeling but really did love that dip. I can’t stop thinking about it. I was trying to compare the student potluck to the adult potluck I went to last night… but in some ways, the adult one was more student like ie. someone brought Jello shooters…. There was a bonfire last night which was awesome. The temperature was perfect and there was no wind.
Well, I surived my first adult potluck… er, student potluck. I will definitely feel comfortable hosting another one. I had a nice time, it wasn’t anything too exciting but just nice to get together outside of class with people. No major disasters either….
I want to hear a dance mix of sneezes. I’ve heard a mix of laughs, but sneezes would be better.
If you enjoyed the bridge riddle below, you can try out some other ones at Mind Trap Games.
Out of 12 City Councillors in Kingston, 3 have the first name and 2 have the last name of “George”. Isn’t that weird?
I have started music class this semester and guess what? We get two guitar lessons! My fingers are so sore from yesterdays class but I can see already that I have a future in Rock and Roll! I can also get a brand new guitar for the low Queen’s price of $120…. so tempting. I can play “There Was an Old Woman All Skin and Bones” as well as “I like to Eat Eat Eat Eat Apples and Banana’s”…
So today was the Logical-Mathematical presentation in Multiple Intelligences class. It was lots of math puzzles and riddles. This was the riddle that I don’t think I would have ever guessed. What are your guesses?
Picture a bridge four kilometers long and strong enough to hold ten thousand kilograms, but no more. A loaded transport truck weighing exactly ten thousand kilograms drives onto the bridge. At the halfway point, a sparrow weighing 30 grams lands on the truck, yet the bridge doesn’t collapse. How could this be?
So my wish has come true! I get to play kids games in gym class for three hours each week! When I was teaching gym last placement I was thinking that I would be more active if I could play dodge ball, tag, etc. Well, I just started my phys. ed. class this week and that’s what we get to do. There is a different theme each week and then there are presentations from our classmates (who teach us games on that theme) as well as the prof teaching us stuff as well. Yesterday we got to play dodgeball, different cooperative games, parachute games (which I have never played before and loved!), Elvis tag…. it was all great. I must admit that I’m a little sore today but it was worth it! Can’t wait until next Monday!
Mail can be a silly thing sometimes. I mailed my parents a letter on Monday… they got it Wednesday. I mailed my parents a card at the beginning of January… they got it Friday. Weird.
Oh how I wish we got the WB here… They get it half hour either way… just not here. Why, you ask, do I want the WB? Well, tomorrow, Lucy has her baby!! Yeah!! It looks like a good episode too! I will have to find somewhere to download it from now that Supernova is gone!
Nothing much to blog about so will just fill you in on the comings and goings. Yesterday was my outdoor ed. workshop which turned out to not be outdoors too much which was fine with me. Even with my four layers on, it was still chilly. We played a few games outside and then did the rest in the gym. We played a cool game with Milkbones…. Yumm!
Doug and I took a walk over to Wal-Mart… it’s second last day in operation. So sad. So bare. Funny to see all the wear on the carpets though.
I got a lot of work done on my paper that is due in a week. Phew! It’s not a ‘real’ paper… I mean, how can a real paper have a minimum length of 6 pages? I am definitely not complaining as it has made my job easier. I am just fine tuning and finding extra resources to meet my minimum resource requirements. So, that project is pretty much done. We have a science fair next Saturday and my group meets to finish our stuff on Tuesday… I still have to do my lesson plan for that though… So I have a bit of a busy week ahead in terms of assignments. Our Math prof. has no real deadlines for projects so I haven’t started those so will embark on my Math journey once these things are done.
As for now, off to return my plethora of library books… then to see if there are some sales out there… and perhaps grab a peppermint hot chocolate along the way.
Too often I bitch and whine, and probably too often I provide negative feedback out of vengeance and spite. If it’s really bad I just tell friends and coworkers to stay away. I’ve made a commitment to write as many letters (or ask to see the manager) providing positive feedback as I do negative. And sometimes I can do both! Usually it’s unsolicited, and rarely do I get a response. At work we have a feedback form, and in the year that we’ve been giving them out to dozens of patients a month, we average ~ 2 responses, and they are always (well, 98%) excellent, excellent, excellent throughout. This makes us feel good, but doesn’t help to make many improvements. I wonder if others feel the same way. I’d imagine if all you get is negative, you’d probably fail to see the value in that either. So balance it is. When did you last have a positive or negative experience and communicate it to the powers that be? continue reading »
So I signed up for an outdoor education workshop. It is tomorrow. High of -18. Windchill -30. Brrrr. Luckily I bought some wicked snowpants this summer at the Kodiak outlet sale! Woohoo! It’s still going to be cold. Brrrr.. I get a free book though…
Oh this is fun: WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language /
I conformed and did the Multiple Intelligences quiz. No surprises, except for the polarity of the outcome:
Linguistic: 3
Logical-Mathematical: 11
Spatial: 2
Bodily-Kinesthetic: 4
Musical: 1
Interpersonal: 0
Intrapersonal: 4A Short Definition of your Highest Score
Logical-Mathematical - the ability to use numbers to compute and describe, to use mathematical concepts to make conjectures, to apply mathematics in personal daily life, to apply mathematics to data and construct arguments, to be sensitive to the patterns, symmetry, logic, and aesthetics of mathematics, and to solve problems in design and modeling. Possible vocations that use the logical-mathematics intelligence include accountant, bookkeeper, statistician, tradesperson, homemaker, computer programmer, scientist, composer, engineer, inventor, or designer.
The organization of the quiz probably lends itself to a bias towards a certain categorization, except for people like Brock who probably should’ve just unchecked the ones that didn’t apply. 
I started a new course this week on Multiple Intelligence. There are 8 intelligences… the 8th, Naturalist, has been added more recently. I just noticed that this online quiz doesn’t assess naturalist. Oh well. Anyway, take this little quiz to find out your intelligence. Here is how I did.
The Seven Intelligence Areas
Linguistic: 4
Logical-Mathematical: 2
Spatial: 4
Bodily-Kinesthetic: 4
Musical: 11
Interpersonal: 0
Intrapersonal: 8
A Short Definition of your Highest Score
Musical - the ability to understand and develop musical technique, to respond emotionally to music and to work together to use music to meet the needs of others, to interpret musical forms and ideas, and to create imaginative and expressive performances and compositions. Possible vocations that use the musical intelligence include technician, music teacher, instrument maker, choral, band, and orchestral performer or conductor, music critic, aficionado, music collector, composer, conductor, and individual or small group performer.
I am doing something completely out of character…. I am having a potluck. And not just any little piddly potluck… there are about 35 people invited. Okay, most of you bloggers out there have never been to my house. Well, it’s small. So, it should be interesting. Most of the people in my class all live in student housing of sorts so since I have a house close to campus, I thought I would host the potluck people have wanted to have. So, we’ll see how that goes and it will probably help me decide if I ever want to entertain ever again! Luckily I have a dishwasher… but also environmentally conscious classmates as they don’t want paper plates and will bring their own plates! Yeah! Less work for me.