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

I've always felt that happiness must reside internally. It doesn't quite seem right to me that external circumstances should affect one's emotional state. Of course, that is a blatant oversimplification for our interaction with the world is how we experience it.

External forces affect our habits. For example, the weather is great today just as it was yesterday. I was extremely happy to not have to go into work. I walked uptown soaking up the extra sunshine along we way. Being out with no obligations seemed joyful. I will always have a hard time understanding people who get bored when they've time off from their jobs. Life without a schedule is the way it was intended to be, I believe.

Furthermore, many people have trouble being in the moment nowadays. Technology has made it easy to exist in a constant somewhere else. Take all the people immersed in some other reality as they go about life. If I were to pull out the iPods' earbuds and switch off the cell phones, two thirds of the people on public transit would immediately go into a panic. Rather than attempting to be in some other zone, maybe it would be healthier just to look around and experience the here there.

Labels: feelings, relaxing, SkyTrain, technology

Quick, name something you've done every one of the last seven hundred days! Okay, there are the obvious things like brushing one's teeth and eating lunch. I can, however, add something different to that list of basic trivialities.

I've taken photographs to document my most recent 700 days. They may not be stunning, but they're a hell of a way for me to remember things I've done.

Labels: briefcase, Daily Picture Parade, Flickr

There was a time when I used to catch up on some reading while giving an exam. Today, I'm in the lab and my students have an additional 25 minutes to work on their midterm examinations. This type of intense writing can make anyone tired and I can see by their expressions that the work is taking its toll.

Today, while they've been busy I've been creating some teaching materials. Actually, I've been viewing segments from How It's Made and making a short comprehension worksheet to go with each one. If you look at the sample, you'll see it doesn't look as if it'd be taxing to create. After doing a few though, I'm wondering what expression is on my face.

Labels: BCIT

On rare occasions, I face this screen with a touch of writer's block. It's not that I don't have anything to say, as I have an opinion on just about everything. It's also not as if I have run out of personal experiences; I don't plan on doing that for quite some time.

Some days, I am truly too occupied with other things. For example, I spent the morning correcting assignments, the afternoon with one class, and will spend the evening with another. All the while, the best weather of the year occurred outside the buildings in which I was holed up.

Many regular classes at BCIT are finished. I think I've only run across one other group in the entire NE 1 building. It's a bit spooky seeing empty corridors. It's weird hearing one's footstep echo down the halls. It's nice to know, however, that some people are probably out there enjoying the balmy temperatures and abundant sunshine.

Labels: BCIT, blogging

There's hardly a thing that feels better: I'm sitting with my notebook on my lap in the recliner and the balcony sliding door is wide open.

I have been very aware of spring's arrival this year. I charted the progress by what I had to wear when going out the door. The thick jacket changed to a thinner one several weeks ago. Then a week or so back, the jacket stayed in the closet. For a few days, I wore both a t-shirt and a short-sleeved shirt. Last week, I once skipped the t-shirt. Although, I've not left the house without any shirt, it promises to be that type of weather tomorrow.

It was so nice today, it's ironic, if not a little criminal, that I taught in a windowless classroom all afternoon. On the way home, however, as if a sign of consolation, I was aware of the many birds singing in the trees. I was driving with the side window down. I sort of wonder why they're all so silent all winter. They truly seemed happy and that made me feel the same way.


Everything looks better with a little green to cover up things around
the edges.

Labels: New Westminster, SkyTrain, weather

Today was one of those days with 6.5 hours in the classroom. That gives little time to formulate a good entry for the blog. I thought I just might add an idea of how using technology while teaching may affect copyright.

I'd suggest that good teachers have always brought the real world into their classrooms. Photocopiers made it easy to carry in a relevant snippet from the day's newspaper. Using authentic materials is not only easy but often quite effective.

Now, I am able to copy segments from science programs while watching them on TV. The capture card in my PC is directly connected to an output on the satellite receiver. After getting a number of clips, I have copied to various DVDs for quick, in-class listening comprehension exercises. Now, with our robust computer network at BCIT, I can easily post streaming video segments to the class storage. These could be made available in the Institute's labs or even from a home computer.

There are many educationally sound things I can do. What I'm unsure of is the legality of many of those actions.

Labels: BCIT

I really like living in downtown New Westminster. We can't imagine being happier in any other suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. We feel the sense of community and are sitting in the exact geographical center of the Lower Mainland. Things seem as if they're growing and moving.



On Flickr I created a group named, New Westminster, BC (The Royal City). Apparently other people have digital photos that highlight the subject. Sixty-three others have joined me in uploading photos of New West. In fact, all combined there are now over a thousand of them!

Labels: Flickr, Hayack, New Westminster, parade