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

This is how it's supposed to work. Having the rainy days during the work week is fine as long as the weekend has bright sunshine!

I was wondering, should we eventually decide to spend winters away during retirement, which months that would include. Although Vancouver cannot be classed as the frozen north, even for a veteran of the area, the gray cloudy days can get a might depressing. The wet weather doesn't really begin in earnest until November though. Then things start turning the corner in March.

May, as it turns out, is generally my favourite month for the weather and watching everything flower and green up. Maybe this is fresh on my mind as the garden shop at the Superstore this morning looked busy, indeed!

Labels: weather

Today's weather looks as if it should have occurred at the end of February even though it's two months past that. I don't mind. I have today off and the dark wet day is perfect for sitting inside. I am in the process of copying more old 8mm camcorder tapes to DVD.

Changing the media is important if I want to make it accessible. If video is on a jumble of 2-hour tapes sitting in a drawer they are seldom, if ever, viewed. After getting them on a disc that can be easily dropped into the DVD player, I'm more likely to show visitors. Additionally, it's much better to have data in file format for the following reasons:

One need not get out the aging camcorder with the hassles of setting up in order to share the footage. The DVD player is always ready.

On DVD it's possible to record in 10-minute chapters which, along with FF and REV, allows for quick scanning for specific material.

Portability is ensured as just about everybody has a DVD player and the lightweight discs ship easily through the post.

The files are also easy to edit on an ordinary computer.

It's the last reason that is most appealing to me today. Just as the scanner allowed me to showcase photos from my past on this blog, digital video files now allow me to do the same with both movement and sound. For example, I will let you look at a fifty-second clip from more than sixteen years ago.

These were students from my first teaching year in the United Arab Emirates. I taught at the Higher Colleges of Technology and these nationals were in the Foundations program that year. They arranged for a class trip. I believe it was to a hobby family farm in southern Sharjah. We spent a whole day some of which we 4-wheeled through the mountains and wadis.

Labels: Dubai, YouTube

I'm in the computer lab with my class again. I would never give up this type of work for another. I'm having one of those days where my job seems like a piece of cake. Don't misunderstand me; it's not easy. Today, however, class has been well organized and my students responsive. I feel more like I'm sharing expertise than teaching content.

If you ask me, I'll generally say that whichever class I'm currently teaching is the best one I've ever taught. Realistically, classes differ wildly in motivation, cohesion, and aptitude. So, to always believe I'm working with my favourites sounds a bit whorish. This profession, perhaps the second oldest, does all really boil down to personal interaction though. As I'm intensively involved with students for sixteen hours a week, I think the world of them. Or rather, for the duration of the course, they become part of my world. This probably explains why I always favour my present group over past ones.

Labels: BCIT, computer lab, feelings

My fingers are crossed in hopes of seeing this upstart thrive. Click the screen below to visit the site.



Here's what their site says ...

"Our fares are so much lower than other airlines because we keep our costs lower. For example, we book our flights only through the Internet, so there’s no expensive call center or 800 number to operate. We fly new, fuel-efficient jets so our fuel costs are lower. And we fly into smaller, regional airports where it’s less expensive (and more convenient) to land. We also allow each passenger to pick and choose the options he or she wants, making fares lower for those who don’t need the “extras”. These and other factors make it possible for us to give you great service at a price you’re sure to appreciate."

Labels: travel planning

This evening we watched a DVD we purchased in Sri Lanka during last year's trip but we'd not broken the seal. It was a smart film. It dealt with the topic of the war as some other Sinhalese award-winning movies have.

I especially enjoyed the concept which involved three independent characters from very different, but ordinary backgrounds. The Moslem boy has to leave his dog behind when his village is forced to uproot. A woman, with the help of foreign national, searches for her lost partner who she suspects is a POW. Finally, a soldier on R and R visits a brothel and discovers his sister working there.

The war affects them all but in vastly different way. But twice in the film circumstance puts them all in the same frame. They didn't know each other but we knew them all.

This sure made Singhala teledrama topics look pretty lame.

Labels: movies, Sri Lanka 2006

I sometimes find myself repeating myself! I'd rather think it's not a sign of age. After blogging for so long, I'm bound to occasionally say the same thing twice, or thrice. The times when I do say the same thing, it may be because I'm trying to include a quick entry. Or stating the same thing over could be a result of writer's block.

Today's a great example. The weather this morning was lovely but I found myself finishing my correction of midterm exams. I drove to campus in the afternoon and had a good, abet tiring class. So, here it is evening already without so much as a word in my blog.

So, when I talk about fine weather and how spring is here, I will repeat concepts mentioned herein in the past. I love living here for many reasons but one is simply the marked change of seasons. Time spent overseas in places without four, unique sections of the year, made me appreciate getting back to them all the more.

Labels: blogging, weather

Since the very first days spent exploring the Internet, I was convinced of its usefulness for travel planning. In fact, some of the initial class projects in the 1990's were geographically organized. It was a real thrill to spin the hard disk of a server in a county a half a world away. Tourist boards were some of the first non-academic sites online.

Now, travel planning on the Net is less of a novelty and more of a necessity. A good guidebook might be useful during the trip but a lot of pre-trip exploration occurs right in one's living room. The actual reservations and purchases can be done from the same chair. While in most every way this is a blessing, it can lead to less spontaneity on the road. I used to be happier letting the wind take me as it might. Now, I can learn almost too much.



For example, we spent the better part of the morning at the schedule for Euroline Bus passes. The timings don't easily fit exactly what we want to do in the fall. We ended up playing what-if scenario after scenario. In the good old days, I was happy enough to set the initial segment and then let fate take care of the rest.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning