I’m a book collector. But I like reading my books too, albeit slowly and steadily. I finished three great non-fiction books this fall and if I did New Years Resolutions, I would determine to spend more time reading. These are the books I plan to read in the coming months. VIOLENCE by Slavoj Žižek Popular … [Read more…]
My father initiated my stamp collection when I was in grade 1 or 2. It was modest to be sure, until we met Dr. Pierce in Alberta. Dr. Pierce was a tremendous collector with lots and lots of doubles to which he gave us full access. Our collection grew quickly and broadly during my grades … [Read more…]
It was my third visit to the Royal Tyrell Museum. The first time I went, my aunt was visiting from the U.S. in 1987 and so we took her there. The second time, friends from the U.S. came for a visit in 1997, so we took them to Drumheller. This time, yesterday, we took Blaise … [Read more…]
Richard Grafton, a theatre mastermind and teacher at my school, directed a production of Tolkien’s The Hobbit (play by Kim Selody) for the students back in February. He sent out an all call to the teachers to see if anyone was interested in being Smaug – the dragon. I eagerly volunteered. What a blast to … [Read more…]
2001: Shave my head for the first time, work as a youth pastor at Red Willow Community Church in St Albert AB (Events: Just Shoot Me, Gerta’s Eclipse, and fall retreat in Nordegg), canoe the Mackenzie River in NT, camp at Elk Island National Park, attend plays at the Citadel Theatre, travel to Halifax NS … [Read more…]
As I watched George Bailey dream and then watch his dreams slip away to responsibility over and over again, I was reminded of all the dreams that I have abandoned or watch fade. I was going to be a classical guitarist and then become an orchestra conductor but my hands began to cramp up and … [Read more…]
Yesterday morning, after hearing about Wikileaks in the news for the last few weeks, I thought I should check out the official site at wikileaks.org myself only to discover “Safari can’t find the server ‘www.wikileaks.org’.” Later, I heard on the news that “someone” is jamming the Wikileaks site. I had however found a mirror of … [Read more…]
This year I picked up Math 31 in my teaching assignment. It is an introductory course to calculus that only students with a: high post secondary ambitions b: a love of math c: lots of spare time consider taking. All of my students fit into categories a and b. I’ve loved the challenge and content … [Read more…]
I was privileged to attend a this conference a couple days ago with several of my coworkers. The conference’s purpose is to equip educators to teach/instill character traits to/in their students. The keynote speaker impressed me so much by doing one simple, though I’m sure it required hours of preparation. Michele Borba is an American … [Read more…]
At teacher’s conference a couple days ago, Josh McDowell said “. . . I wish those emergent post-moderns would get that through their thick skulls.”