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

Yesterday, I picked up my new eye glasses. The optician asked if I'd ever worn progressives before and I answered that I hadn't. She warned about driving before getting used to them, but I jumped right in the truck and managed to get home and later drive to BCIT to give a final examination.

However as stated in an earlier entry, it's not as if I haven't had my fair share of experience with spectacles. I think I was in Grade 4, with Mrs. Duke, when I got my very first pair. In subsequent years, I managed to run through quite a few pairs because of changes in prescription and the fact I generally sat on, smashed, or otherwise destroyed many.

I've worn eye glasses long enough to have run the gambit of frame styles. I started with plastic (fake tortoise, was it?), went to wire, and this time I moved all the way up to titanium. In the old days, as witnessed by my high school graduation photo, frames were huge. Ye gads, there was enough glass there to make a patio sliding door! My most recent set were so small that I needed to learn how to look straight ahead to keep from seeing an edge. Yet, today's size, as Golidlocks would attest, seems . . . just right.

Wearing glasses has been a part of my life for thirty-five years. I would never consider laser surgery.

Labels: glasses, New Hampshire

I can check to see how visitors find their way to this page. I find it interesting that so many people come in through Google searches. Hundreds of visitors have made it to the blog because of this song which was first available last December.



Click the player to hear the 2:48-minute song. It is Santa Baby sung by Eartha Kitt. (This Windows Media Player file requires a 56K modem connection, at minimum.)

Labels: Google, Mediaplayer

Kaldi. Does this name mean anything to you? Although I�m a big consumer and supporter, I was unaware of the legend of the man who made an important discovery. Until very recently I hadn't heard about Kaldi and his great find. This week, I read a listening exercise to my class about him and then one of my students gave an oral presentation on a topic that made mention of him. I want to retell the tale for you. It goes something like this:

"Years and years ago, Kaldi was a Ethiopian goat herder. He minded his charges well taking them to higher ground weather permitting. When walking them through the steep hills, he noted that, on occasion, they got quite playful and frisky. As walking in mountains is difficult work for both man and beast, he wondered how they maintained such vigour. Eventually after investigation, Kaldi supposed the berries the goats were munching were the cause of their sustained bursts of energy. These reddish 'fruit' were growing on small bushes along the pathways.

Kalid picked a few and tried them and he, too, noticed the stimulating effect. So as to ensure that his fellow villagers trusted his find, he picked a few more and returned the lowlands.

His find was a near instant hit. Ordinary people soon discovered that the beans could be dried. Yet, after the water evaporated, the beans were quite hard. Religous teachers of the area, in order to best make use of them, crushed and added them to hot water. This brew kept the pious from getting sleepy during lengthy prayers."

And, that�s how coffee was discovered, or so the story goes.

Labels: sharing

It�s already December! I still have a complete month, however, before I have to launch into that 'time-goes-so-quickly-as-one-gets-older' blog entry. You know what I'm talking about - - - that mandatory auld langsyne view that'll be voiced by me and et al at the end of the current year.

I do want to spend a little time talking about time though.

I started teaching a new class at the beginning of the month and now I suddenly find myself preparing for the final examination this Friday. These short courses offer a variety which I've really come to appreciate. Whereas my initial reaction to teaching on a contract basis was disappointment, now I cannot image living life any other way. The flexibility in hours and schedule is a dream come true.

Very soon, I'll be off for a month. Shame on me; after so recently getting back from a two month overseas vacation, I'm excitedly thinking about how to spend some quality time off. Wait! I deserve every minute of it, don't I? At minimum a few, short road trips will prove possible, right?

I work on an email directory for my high school. From the most recent dispatch, I received the following message which I promptly forwarded to the other members. Bill graduated a year before I did. General blog readers may be interested in the content, so I'll post a copy here too.

---

Dennis,

Great to hear from you, and hope all is well with you and your loved ones.

I am still in Iraq, going on 17 months now. We are doing good things over here. Destroying tons of munitions captured by coalition forces.

The political situation is very hot at the moment and the day to day operations are dangerous and extremely nerve racking.

We are "locked down" in our camps due to the terrorist threat and of course can not do any type of sight seeing other than our convoy/work areas. We are working long days sometimes 7 days a week, but mostly 6 out of 7.

I am in Arlington camp just north of Tikrit.

If you know anyone who would like to send items to the camp for the benefit of all here, military and US contractors you/they may use the address below.

We all miss our families and friends back home and we love hearing from them and from anyone who supports our efforts in helping to rid this area of terrorist related tools.
The amount of ordnance items here is beyond belief. I'm not going to get into a lot of the quantities, but we are destroying 100s of tons of it per day.

The danger is very real and personal. We have been attacked numerous times, but our casualties have been light. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are an every day occurrence in the area, and the suicidal Vehicle Bombs are here as well.

Things that are greatly appreciated here are #1, letters of heart felt appreciation, simple words of encouragement and wishes of well being. The other things that are greatly appreciated are old DVD movies that can be played on a computer or DVD player. We do have movie night here and we are continually looking for new material... from Godzilla to new runs if possible. I'm not asking anyone to go out of their way, or spend a lot of money on anything, but if they have a few items they don't need it is a great boost to moral.

Other items that are appreciated: Bars of soap, shampoo, handy wipes (water is not always available for bathing), toothpaste and brushes, dental floss, boot/shoe sole inserts, general grooming items, books, computer games.

I'm uncertain as to your own feelings towards us for being here, but having been here and living and working closely with the Iraqi people I can honestly, truthfully tell you that we need to be here and the majority of the people in this country want our help.

I also encourage people to email me at this email address.

Thanks for everything.

Bill Boyce
wboyce2409@aol.com
USA Environmental
FOB Summerall
APO AE 09392-0000

Labels: sharing

Thankfully, hard drive technology has developed faster than my pack-rat tendencies. My hard drive is like a big barn full of junk. It was recently proven when I installed Picasa. Just how many hundreds of photos do I have?

A few people incorrectly assume that the entire county of Canada stays frozen from August until May. Of course, out on the west coast, Vancouver is affected by the same weather patterns as the US Pacific Northwest. In the Lower Mainland, most winters pass without snow on the ground. Actually, it rarely even freezies due to cloud cover and frequent pineapple expresses. Those are wet weather systems which originate near Hawaii and pump warm, wet weather to our coast.

Last night was clear and cool. It was a degree or so below freezing. I just had to run to the balcony this morning and snap this picture which shows frost!

Labels: balcony, Hawaii

If you have the required theatre near you, go and see The Polar Express: An IMAX 3-D Experience. It ain't your traditional, claymation-type-Rudolph, Christmas flick.

Here is an earlier blog entry on the same topic.

Labels: Christmas