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

Please keep an eye on my goldfish for me. I'm sure the hamster will be fine for a week.

Today we're off to Los Angeles. It's nice not to have to rush to the airport early. We can leisurely hop aboard a SkyTrain to 22nd Station and take Bus #100 to the airport between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning. Our flight on Air Canada doesn't leave until 1:55 pm but it's a direct one. I'm glad we bought tickets a few months back as they were recently selling for twice as much as we paid on Expedia.

For the past few years, the beginning of May has generally included vacations. A year ago, we were also heading south to San Diego to hitch a ride on a coastal cruise heading back here. Then two years back, we went to New York City. It was three years ago when I went for a short break to meet up with high school buds who now live near Seattle. Unfortunately, I cannot quickly scan earlier than that as I didn't start blogging until September of 2003.

Labels: pets

The afternoon started off with a rather ordinary-looking, summary activity. Yet now, I've spent the better part of the last two and a half hours correcting and entering my students' scores from the last assignment into my electronic gradebook. I also spent this time checking through the online message board and evaluating the topics they answered this term. That mark, too, went right into the online form.

My students are busy writing the final exam right now. I can almost smell the burning ink from their pens as they are hectically trying to finish before 5:00 pm. So, the combination of today's data plus the previous numbers will allow me to enter the online grades later this evening. I delight in the knowledge that even if I don't get them in tonight, I could finish up from Los Angeles tomorrow night. This is just another reason to love the Internet.

Labels: BCIT, travel planning

There was a moment during yesterday evening's course when I was struck by how much teaching had changed since I started doing it in the early 80's.

This realization came as students in a computer lab at BCIT were recording audio files. The students are members of a course called, Oral Fluency for Business and Technical Communication. All twenty-one students were speaking into their headsets. They were summarizing their English-learning experiences and stating what they hoped to get out of the 50-hour course.

At first watching them, apparently talking to themselves, seemed a little bizarre. Yet today, from any computer with Net access, we can access the files via a secure connection to the Institutes's network storage server. So, any analogy to old skool cassette tapes is entirely inappropriate.

Labels: BCIT, computer lab

I've only a second today for an entry. I'm on break on my laptop. After my COMM 0004, I will head over to the office to eat and do a little prep for my evening COMM 0030/31 evening class. Wait, I forgot to bring along my salad from the refrigerator! I'll have to grab something from the cafeteria. The problem is it's much too tempting to pick out something greasy.

Labels: BCIT, food

We had heard it's better to have reservations. Oh well, forget the price! It seems like something that one would have to do when in the LA area. We booked for next Tuesday.

Labels: Los Angeles, Warner Bros

My regular class finishes up this week. I will give the final exam on Friday. Then on Saturday, we fly to Los Angeles for a week of vacation.

I am not quite sure why I accepted to teach a new evening class too. My supervisor called on the weekend in an effort to find an instructor willing to take it on. I am not really sure why I agreed other than it seemed like it was a way to help out the PELD department. My COMM 0030/31 class starts tonight! It will run from 6:30 to 9:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'll need a substitute next week, but will be back working this extra schedule until mid-July.

I love the rush of getting a new class. Yet, as it is a new class for me to teach, I am feeling a little more stress than usual. I don't even have the course outlines printed out yet!

Labels: BCIT

Although this top photo is fourteen years old, it has existed in scanned form for a year and a half. It has been quietly sitting on Flickr.

In the photo Jay is talking with a monk when we climbed Swayambhu.

We only spent a short, winter vacation in Nepal; however, this blog already boasts a fair number of references to the trip. We, of course, flew into Kathmandu. After spending some time there we took an express bus about 200 kilometers to the city Pokhara. After that, we visited the birthplace of the Buddha near Bhairahawa.

This media content comes right from the Kathmandu valley though. Initially, I was determined not to get carried away inserting YouTube clips here. Yet, as I've been converting old 8mm camcorder video, I keep wanting to reference some of the recently uploaded clips. This reminds me of the days I first became enamoured with Flickr's photo-sharing site. I'm a little late to the YouTube party, but at least they let me in!

I think a little background is needed for this photo and clip. It comes from www.multinepal.com, a site which mentions the whole valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Swayambhunath, one of the most important cultural and historical place of Kingdom of Nepal and listed as one of the World Heritage Sites from 1978, is located about 2 km. to the West of Kathmandu. The vehicular access is available up to the saddle between Swayambhu and Manjushri hills. Stone steps lead to Swayambhu and Manjushri hill tops. the Swayambhu hill top is known for massive Buddhist stupa, Haratimata temple and a number of other temples and monastries. The Manjushri hill contains well known Manjushri Gumba and the image of Saraswati goddess. A peripheral road exists at the base of the hill."

Labels: Nepal, temple, world, YouTube