Here are pictures of our god-dogs. There’s Molly and McGyver. We can babysit them for weekends, take them for walks whenever we want, buy them treats, play with them, cuddle, and we don’t have to pay Vet bills and pay for all their food. It’s a great setup!
We had a fun/relaxing weekend babysitting our new goddogs this weekend. Molly and McGyver are the sweetest dogs and it was so fun to look after them. One is an Airedale Terrier and the other is…. smaller. Still have to find out what breed Molly is. They are great walkers and made me run a lot! Anyway, sad to leave them but they live down the street so we can walk them any time!
This is one of the most amazing photo blogs to which I subscribe via RSS. The macros of insects and bugs are absolutely incredible. The color, detail, depth, and size of photos create awe. In different moods, different photo blogs appeal more - today, this one hits the spot. I don’t know if I’ve had much luck loading the webpage, but the RSS feed is surefire.
One major project goes LIVE this week, two in less than a month, another a month later, and then there’s more after that and I don’t even know what role I’ll play. I hope it doesn’t involve cutting back - I think I’m becoming a geek adrenaline junky. But even if it’s not the same speed and scope as now, I’ll have fun doing whatever. As long as I can work in that domain between networking and Meditech systems - the coding/interfacing/optimizing and generally taking applications beyond their standard use and into the functions of the elite. I guess it’s my craving to sometime in my life (as soon as I can) become an industry/international expert in something… basically, a guru. There are a few guys at work who know so much and are so good in their scopes - there’s so much I learn from them, but in some ways I’m still scoping my own domains. I guess I want the opportunities to dive into something that has potential to foster the growth of a guru, and until I find exactly what that is, I’m happy diving into many things.
Why do people offer unsolicited advice and information - often! I really hate eating in front of people because they have to tell you about the calories, fat, chemicals, etc in the food you are eating. They often take an inventory of what you have eaten that week and give their opinion of that too! My biggest pet peeve is the talk of aspartame! Yes, I have heard that it can kill me and I still choose to consume it. It seems that every time I have a diet Coke in hand someone is telling me how bad it is for me! Argh! Anyway, that is my rant for the day.
I now have Brock’s death cold. He hasn’t had it for a while so I’m not sure how he gave it to me but it must live in Acton… I would call in sick but there is too much work to do! I’m just counting down until the weekend.
Ah, another break is coming to an end. I had an interesting and relaxing week … March Break started a day early here so I had last Friday off. I realized I haven’t had much time in my house so hung out here as well as figured out how to drive to Cambridge and back without getting lost. I can only take one road and cannot stop anywhere, but I can get there!
We left on Saturday for Michigan since the weather was supposed to be so nice - we didn’t regret it. My Mom and I shopped the town and enjoyed the sunshine Saturday afternoon. Sunday wasn’t as nice but the rest of the time was pretty good. The water levels were quite high there and saw a huge tree uprooted and floating down the river. I also enjoyed my peanut butter fudge, Cracker Barrell, and my free birthday dinner at Zehnders. Ohh… I also had a Shamrock Shake. Seems they don’t have them here anymore so enjoyed one on my trip.
Hm.. I also bought another pair of Merrell’s - they have so many to choose from! I spent over my limit again but had fun. On a happy note, I saw a robin and a crocus so spring is on its way!!
I bought Doug some insense while I was away - we really don’t like insense but I couldn’t pass it up - it smells like a campfire!
Yeah! Spring is coming on Monday! Can’t wait. My theme when I get back to work next week will be spring so am looking for spring ideas to go with every subject area. So if you have any ideas for crafts, science, language, math, etc. let me know!!
Well, the Wordpress 2.0.2 upgrade is done. The webpage loads and that’s good enough for me now. There are some aesthetic improvements and I know there’s definitely some better security and functionality - I just have to discover it.
I moved around my computers so now I’ve got all 5 monitors on the same plan (albeit one isn’t working yet) but now I don’t have to have the inconvenience of pivoting 200 degrees to see every computer as now they’re all within ~ 90 degrees.
The only question is whether my old monitor will get working with my Ubuntu server. Cross your fingers. Unfortunately I don’t have enough router ports open to wired them all in… gotta get a switch.
Jenn left this morning for Frankenmuth with her mother. I miss her, but it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder and every married couple should have separate vacations at least one through the year - she does March Break, I do my canoeing trips.
After dropping her off, I drove home on country roads, enjoying the fresh spring air, the rolling hills (no rolling hills in Kingston - nice rocky outcroppings, but this is a different sort of pleasure), the flowing water — all while listening to my folk music nice and loud. I tuned up my bike, snacked on some of the food donated by Jenn’s parents for my treat, and headed out on a phenomenal 1 1/2 hour bike ride around Guelph Lake. It was amazing (I’m so out of shape, I almost felt like I’d hurl going up a couple of hills), and my legs had that wonderful sort of tired/weakness when I got home. I surfed a bit, went and ran some errands, came home and read my new book (My Friend Leonard, by James Frey) for a bit, and did some work for work (it’s a great feeling to do work work on your own time, knowing you won’t get paid, but thoroughly enjoying it nonetheless), with the techno/dance/rock music playing really loud. Now I’m making supper (a spicy curry - exactly not what Jenn would like) to loud classical music, and I’ll watch one of my two rented movies. Tomorrow - I’ll have to go for a walk in the balmy 17 degree weather, and some more reading, and some more work, and some cooking, and maybe shopping, do some work on sillyspot (upgrade to Wordpress 2.0.2), call a friend (yes, that’s you Tracey), and have time left over to… I dunno!
I got to hear a great author speak this week. Eric Walters writes books for pre-teens and teens I guess. He is quite a good speaker and had my attention for a full hour (very rare to do). He writes books about real classroom experiences with real kids that have been in his class, etc. The books that I really want to read are his historical fiction (Doug thinks there is no such thing). He had our whole table willing to buy all of his books as we know nothing about Canadian history and we were so intrigued. Doug had to listen to my lame interpretation of the presentation and now you can choose to read or skim - but - did you know there used to be a spy training camp in Whitby? And who knew Laura Secord was so amazing by carrying her injured husband on her back and saving the troops? I also learned more about Terry Fox and about the wars and rumours of wars in the Niagara region. I had read one of his books last year (not knowing that I had) called “Trapped in Ice” about the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913. I LOVED that book. Anyway, I think I will have to get some of these books so I can learn about Canadian history. And yes, there can be historical fiction - it is based on the actual events but is sometimes changed to make the book more interesting. He pointed out that he added things to two books - both turned out to be true and uknown facts… he is just that good. *grin*. He is an engaging speaker and goes to many schools for talks … so check him out or read his books!
8. I’m cheap/dutch.
7. I’m a geek, and proud of it.
6. I like home improvement, gardening, and general yard work - not that good, but I’d rather try to do it on my own and enjoy the process.
5. I collect quotes - weird, funny, intellectual, about the outdoors (not necessarily all in one), but never sappy, inspirational or cliche-ridden.
4. I run Linux (and derivatives of Linux) on most of my PCs. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but heck, I try and I have fun.
3. I can cook (well) and I love it, expanding my horizons, trying fancy things
2. I need isolation/solitude in the outdoors, usually via solo canoe camping trips deep into the interior.
1. I have worms. They are my pets, and they integrate both my kitchen and my gardens.
What got me thinking about this? Blogs usually focus on one’s unique qualities in an effort to differentiate themselves from the mass of teenage conformity that dominates blogs. Each of my unique characteristics may not be all that special, but put them together and I wonder if there is one other person in the world who can identify with all.
There was one blog that struck me as unique - here’s my inspiration: Jason’s Worm Bin Blog.
You know you are stressed when stupid little things keep pestering your mind. The January to March break stretch usually feels like forever - this year it was nice and quick! I think I have been so busy at work that I didn’t stop to see how the mental health was going and it appears that I am very ready for a break. I leave this weekend for my annual trip to Michigan with my Mom. Yeah!! I love breaks at work - I leave with a few bags of books to look through and umm… rarely get to them. I always have such good intentions though!
I learned something about Lent on the weekend. It is something that I didn’t grow up with so find it interesting. It turns out that not everyone gives something up for Lent - that is a Catholic mindset. I met someone who was Lutheran and they take something on during Lent - some could be for self-improvement e.g. exercise or to help others e.g volunteer work. Just thought that was interesting.
Spent the day with the family yesterday. We went to the Mandarin! I can’t believe I don’t go there more often - it’s probably a good thing. It is so yummy and such variety - and the refills keep coming. After a four hour reprieve we had some home made chocolate cake. My favourite. My parents made us bring home the rest of the cake (more than half) so that’s what I’ll have every day for breakfast this week. Yeah!
I spent the last two days at a workshop on how to deal with explosive children. It was really good and stretched your thinking… but looking back, the guy is a great salesman! I’m sure he could tell me anything and get me to believe it. He also had an answer for everything. I did and do buy into his technique but I am also in a classroom situation that can work with teachable moments where in a regular classroom, it would be frustrating to follow his drop everything and deal with the moment type of idea. One thing I took away is that sometimes behaviours are a form of a learning disability - when in crisis, most of us can regulate our feelings but others lose all sense of thought and their IQ goes down. It seems that we are taught to ignore negative behaviour - he put up this cartoon of a man drowning - and the lifeguard ignoring this behaviour. You have someone who is motivated to swim but just can’t - he hasn’t been taught the skill first. So the idea is to teach kids how to deal with a crisis and identify their feelings before crisis happens. If they don’t know how to deal with it, how can you blame them for exploding. Easy to say, hard to implement.