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

I discovered that if we'd come here today rather than 10 years ago, we'd have become perpetual renters. Lower Mainland, BC real estate prices have surely gone through the roof!



Yesterday afternoon for about an hour, I played through what if scenarios for the whole country. Halifax, anyone?

My Flickr photos have been viewed over 15,000 times. At first it sounds like a lot but really isn't. After all, as of this morning there are 2,090 of them online. Remember, one is added every day so that's added a sizable portion. There are many more from recent trips. As well, more than 10% of the collection are simply old scanned snapshots.

I am a collector and sorter by heart. Last month I added a fairly large collection of photos taken in 1982 Kuwait. Yet, when I searched my tags for Indonesia I came up with only seven photos and two wall-batik images. We were there for a whole summer so, I figured I might scan another for the online collection. I chose this one:

Labels: Flickr, Indonesia, scanned

Today, my students will take their midterm exams. The day itself will prove to be a breather for me. Then, I'll have to correct the papers which always takes much longer than the three hours it does from them to write the tests.

The present group is a pleasure to teach. I said jokingly to my class yesterday that my current class is always my most hard-working and favourite. To a certain extent that's true; however, I can approach an afternoon with these students with ease. They seem to be on my wavelength and able to understand the reasons for the activities and assignments.

Although things vary from day to day, I still feel lucky. For a majority of the time, I feel that doing what I do is satisfying. I really can't think of a way to earn a few bucks that I'm better suited for. I'm professional, honest, and humourous. My students for the most part agree. No wonder why I like them so much!

I've always been good at knowing directions. I mean from any location I frequent, I have an innate skill at knowing the compass directions. Consequently, I can point to the direction of another known point. I'm sitting at my living room computer right now. So, the Burnaby Campus of BCIT, for example, is about eight miles beyond my bathroom. New York City is about 5,000 kilometers directly behind my left shoulder.

So maybe the following thought is more applicable to me than for others. I cannot help but believe that truth with a capital T is elusive. For example, my perception of downtown Vancouver is based on my geographic location. I tend to think of the city in terms of my approach from the east. I also most always take the SkyTrain, so I also tend to define the city from those stations. My Vancouver, as it exists in my thoughts, is probably entirely different than those who reside on the North Shore. We're contemplating the same physical reality. Yet, we can only filter reality through our experiences.

In the same vein, I am amazed how persistent our perspectives can be. For example, we've been scouring airline fares for an overseas vacation in September. It has dawned on me that my view of the world is still based on my childhood perceptions. I grew up in the north-east of this continent. To me Asia is still on the other side of Europe. Actually, Asia it directly behind this monitor ... just on the other side of the Pacific!

Labels: feelings, Nepal

I frequently capture parts of television broadcasts as mpeg files. It's very easy to burn a bunch of them to a DVD. Of course I generally only work with segments from shows such as Mad TV or sections of the Discovery Channel so I can share with others. For example, I sent a copy from an old analog camcorder tape to a former colleague who still works overseas. He was only in about ten minutes of the original tape. Yet, it'd have been silly to fill less than 10% of a DVD, so I simply included tidbits of Monty Python and television adverts I liked.

Readying an mpeg file for DVD is simple. Trying to prepare video that will stream well over the Internet is more of a struggle. The process reminds me of trying to suck a Dairy Queen Blizzard through a baby straw. This music video was captured from a weekly, half-hour Sinhalese program originating from OMNI2 in Toronto, Canada. Click on the player below to attempt to view a broadband .wmv file.

Labels: Mediaplayer, music, television

I'm writing this on the Gateway notebook right now.

I really only make use of it when I'm away on a break or on occasion in the classroom. First, I love being able to flip open the screen and find WiFi when out of town. Also, the Gateway does work well when plugged into one of BCIT's many portable projectors. The images on the screen look so much brighter than ordinary, plastic transparencies. Unfortunately, I do not have enough material to justify rolling one of the devices from the A/V closet to the classroom. However, many students feel comfortable doing oral presentations with PowerPoint. During presentation days I need to have this notebook available. I also always take it to school on final examination day. I am able to work on an Excel grade spreadsheet as the test is being written.

Because I don't use my notebook daily, I always have a lot of updating to do whenever I turn it on. It seems that the monthly Microsoft Update Tuesday comes quite frequently. McAfee always grabs a lion's share of my wireless connection upon waking up. There's always something or another than needs to be updated. As well, there are times like yesterday, when I chose to do some updating. I installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 and Messenger Live. That sort of thing plus the subsequent drive defragmentation means that I end up doing more PC housekeeping than useful work.

It's perfectly okay; I actually enjoy maintenance chores. People like me would never be happy with devices which run the Mac OS. They are designed for the poor bloke who probably has no idea where the hood latch is on his vehicle and who probably pays someone else to paint his bathroom.

Labels: Hardware, maintenance, opinions

I am not sure if I knew that on Labour Day 2003 I was starting something that would become such a grand addiction. That was 1,440 days ago and I've been writing a blog entry each day since. To put it another way, as of today, I've been stuck in this rut for ...



Am I determined and conscientious or pig-headed and fussy?