A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

I had put various seeds in an empty glass on the microwave. They sat
long enough to dry out well, so I put several pumpkin seeds into a tiny
little pot and put it on the balcony. These are false blossoms but I really
don't want to be a farmer anyway.

Labels: balcony, flora and fauna

After reading yesterday's entry, I thought I
should include a song. First, 'spreading
tiny wings and flying away' made me think
of Ann Murray. But we'll not be leaving
snow on this trip, so I settled on, this
Steve Miller Band classic.

Labels: music

In all our years of flying, I don't think we've ever booked more than a month in advance. Yet today, we pulled out some plastic for air tickets to Sri Lanka in the autumn. The departure date is not until August 30th. It's possible to fly either direction -- through the Middle East -- or Asia to get to Colombo. As it's so far, we figure on staying for a couple of months. We're taking Singapore Airlines and we'll do a stopover on our return at the end of October.

Labels: flying, travel planning

There was a time when I used an orange-hued, monochrome monitor. In those days, an unmoving image, if left on for many hours, would burn the tube's phosphors. To prevent this, screensavers were born.

Today, there is absolutely no reason for a screensaver on my LCD. I haven't really collected that type of program since the days of Windows 3.0 and Berkley System's Afterdark with Flying Toasters.



Yet I just downloaded this! I'd been checking to see if my Air Canada airmiles would be accepted on Singapore Airlines. They are, in fact, both Star Alliance Partner members. The screenshot above is a screen saver which tracks the one-thousand partner flights that are in the air at any moment. It shows the earth and parts currently in light and in darkness. Little swarms of aircraft flow across the globe. I'll probably never actually keep it running, but it is interesting.

Labels: flying, software

We finally went to the new, epic film yesterday. Perhaps Rome wasn't built in a day, but it sure felt like one while watching 'em destroy Troy.

Labels: movies

Being a student and instructor for so many years, I find there is more of a September to June orientation to years than a typical January to December. Until living in Vancouver and working by contract, the month of June had always been a time of change or travel. I thought I should return to a Microsoft Word file called myhistory.doc and I was able to put together a listing of previous Junes.

1980 - End of junior year at Keene State College. Worked at Harbor Gameroom.
1981 - Finished Bachelors at Keene. Worked at Dorr Woolen Mill and HGR.
1982 - Completed first year of Teaching in Kuwait and flew home through Amsterdam.
1983 - Finished at Al-Bayan. Spent summer as waiter at Indian Cave Lodge, Sunapee NH.
1984 - Flew home from U of WA and returned to Indian Cave as Front Desk Person.
1985 - Working in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Took a land vacation to Kobar and Bahrain.
1986 - Was playing with first IBM compatible computer at Taif Ordnanace Corp.
1987 - Flew to NH / WA for a vacaction from Taif.
1988 - Now at Saudi Navy in Dammam. Getting ready for a trip to Sri Lanka / Maldives.
1989 - Moved from first apartment in Bahrain to a compound at Al-Hamala Beach.
1990 - Still at the Bahrain Defense Force and had recently moved to Juffair flat.
1991 - Heard from HCT in Dubai. Worked part-time at Pitman Language School, Manama.
1992 - Completed 1st year at Higher Colleges of Tech. Ready for summer in Indonesia.
1993 - Got college's Teacher of Year. To NH to attend my father’s wedding to step mom.
1994 - Finished 3rd year at HCT. Getting ready to tour India for the summer.
1995 - I have no record of what happened in June of this year!
1996 - Quit at the Higher Colleges and arrived in Canada.
1997 - Working at Pitman Business College in Vancouver, BC.
1998 - 3rd Class at BC Institute of Technology. Moving to newly purchased apartment.
1999 - Teaching 7th Class at BCIT.
2000 - Took at BC Road trip for 12 days and 3000 miles.
2001 - Left for a 7-week road trip from Vancouver to St. John, Newfoundland and back.
2002 - Another local road trip: Vancouver Island / Sunshine Coast.
2003 - Teaching 18th Class at BCIT
2004 - Blogging this!

Labels: lists, The Harbor Gameroom

Trains ... trains ... trains. One disadvantage of living downtown,
is the nightly trains that rumble through with whistles blaring.

Labels: New Westminster, SkyTrain, transit

Is this already the fourth week of COMM 0004 classes? My current BCIT class is with international students. They have worked hard so far. Since this is a 120 hour class it will run until the middle of August.

Labels: BCIT

Yesterday's Hayak Festival parade was close to 2 hours long!

Labels: Hayack, New Westminster

Is your Outlook or Outlook Express contact list up-to-date?

I cannot say enough about this software. I handle a fair number of contacts for the email directory mentioned last Friday. This tool works wonderfully in prompting automated email updates directly from the horses' mouths.

Click here ----> Plaxo Online

Labels: software