"I feel I'm incredibly fascinating and this blog bears witness to that simple fact. Friends, from far and wide, are often pestered to keep abreast of my life and opinions. I offer my most sincere greetings to random visitors as well."
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- New Westminster,
- British Columbia, CANADA
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Saturday, December 08, 2007
Writing Final Exams
I always feel a little sad at the end of a class. There's a natural bond created during these short, intensive PELD (Professional English Lanugage Development) courses. We're obligated to spend a lot of time together in a relatively short period of time.
Today, we completed the weekend course I've been with since the end of October. I will miss this group. They were clever and memorable. I should be accustomed to these feelings by now but they still catch me by surprise. It shouldn't happen though. I've taught seven intensive courses as well as a few different classes in 2007.
Remind me to take on a bit less next year.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Dear Santa ...
These two forces have the power to unite in a dangerous combination. The final catalyst added is the ease and power of the Internet.My morning started when I received my email from www.ncix.com and discovered a camera I like is on sale. Perhaps the SP-560UZ would make a nice replacement camera. After all, my present camera is two years old. I spent hours reading reviews and doing comparisons.
Then, in the afternoon, I spent time researching to see if the Blu-ray or HD-DVD camp is winning the battle for the chance to connect to my TV. With the Canadian dollar at around a US dollar, web site comparisons are simple. A trip to Bellingham, Washington would be quick and easy. The power of Wal-mart and its sub-$200 HD player and the deals on Toshiba models at Circuit City may tip the balance in favour of the HD-DVD format. If there was no format war raging, high-definition disc adoption would be substantially greater.
I did a lot of planning today but no actual buying.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
A Natural Treadmill
When a nice winter day comes along in Metro-Vancouver, one can't help but appreciate it. The sky was such a deep blue that if seen in a sci-fi movie, it'd be panned for being unrealistic. It was a perfect day to be off. I'm still losing weight and I know that exercise proves useful. Actually though, I've been relying on a reduction of calories to shed about a kilogram a month since October of 1996. Just getting out of the house in New Westminster can be a healthy plus. If I walk uptown, it's only about a mile but the incline helps make it feel as if it were a workout.
Today, I walked up 4th and back via 7th Streets. The path took me straight through some lovely neighbourhoods. I always enjoy seeing all the houses between Royal and 6th Avenue and there's such a variety! Knowing that I'll never be an owner of a single-family dwelling isn't sad. I really can't imagine anything other than life in a condo building. Still, seeing all the shapes and designs makes me smile. There's something nice about looking at real estate, even if it's already owned by others.
You too can take a look at some other New Westminster dwellings by visiting a slideshow from my Flickr account. It may take a second or two to load.
Labels: Flickr, New Westminster, weight loss
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Taking P2P for a Spin
Frankly, I never saw much need for using peer-to-peer downloading.Firstly, I cannot think why I really would need to spend a whole day downloading the copy of a poor-quality movie from a far corner of the world. After all, I subsribe to an all-you-can-eat DVD subscription via regular mail. That gives me the original 8-gig discs with all the extras. Secondly, I've got a large enough collection of music already in .mp3 or .wma format and generally find myself not having enough time to even listen to the podcasts which I aggregate for my little Zen. It'd hardly be worth my effort trying to find a whole album at a good bitrate with files following my naming conventions. It just does not seem worth it.
Knowing that I am not up to date with the technology finally forced to download BitComet. I can certainly appreciate the concept of using torrents. It'd surely be of benefit to organizations with sizeable amounts of data for distribution. I suppose when I have some extra time, I'll probably have to set up a torrent. What shall I share?
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A Happy Gray Day
What a great day! Perhaps it's not so fine weather-wise. Also, it doesn't seem to be that hot for Canadian dollar which has dipped to .98 US. The day, however, still seems fine to me because I haven't had to drive in to campus.November was pretty tough. From October 27 til yesterday, I had gone to the BCIT campus nearly every day. I had off one Friday a few weeks ago and there were two free days around Remembrance Day. That was an usually long slough made even more prominent by the fact I generally keep my teaching to a minimum. Still, I think I did a remarkable job of it all, if I do say so myself! I need to go in tomorrow evening and twice next week. In addition, there's a final exam to administer on Saturday. After that, I'll be really free until the second week of January.
So, today's lounging around was a nice harbinger. I did some grocery shopping and dropped some used clothes off at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. I'll take the stale bread up to the ducks in Tipperary Park later. I love just chillin'.
Labels: errands
Monday, December 03, 2007
Four Months Ago
It doesn't seem that long ago that I took this picture at George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, in Delta. This is the area where part of the Fraser River joins the Pacific.
Labels: Fraser River, weather
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Neither Snow nor Sleet ...
I'd like to thank those who braved the snow today in order to meet. I appreciate your determination. I hope everybody I saw today arrived home safely. By the time I left, it was turning to rain near BCIT, but when I made my way to New Westminster, the roads were in very poor condition.
It seems that three students were unable to make it to their oral presentations. I will expect we can listen to them next Saturday as we'll be in the computer lab. I will schedule the presentations for AFTER the final exam.
Remember, your final exam takes only three hours. We will be doing review work and course evaluations in the morning. (I am sure you have already checked the files area and have seen the daily schedules, right?)
It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to review for the final exams by re-reading the entire modules. There are important pages in most of the modules that did include the 'special sentence structures' though. You might find it useful to review those. Also, you should review your returned assignments. Did you fill in the error-correction sheet which held all errors for Assignments 1 to 5?
I want you to remember to write clearly and concisely on your final examination. Give examples and clarifications. Also don't forget to showcase the things we learned in the COMM 0004 course. Don't translate phrases from your language but keep your plans and sentence structures in English only. Lastly, finish very early, so you'll have time for useful review. If I need to grab the paper from you at the end of the time, you will not have had the chance to read through and locate your errors. I'd rather you find them and fix them, before I see your papers!
Good luck. Have a good week.
==Dennis
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