Thankfully my name doesn’t change very often. I mean, I’ve grown quite attached to my personal identity. And with my identity, there are the “water wings” that keep me afloat in an everchanging world.
posted in education | Comments Off on That number is mine | 274 words
While you’re up, could you check the thermostat? I worry that we’re overheating the back yard and beyond. Unseasonable weather and all that; already the middle-past of the month and we haven’t had a serious blast from winter. My parka is still “parked”.
posted in education | Comments Off on Good, better, best, etc. | 265 words
I shouldn’t take things for granted. I mean, just because you’ve pumped gas into the car, it doesn’t mean that you can “make it work” every time. Life isn’t supposed to be easy.
posted in education | Comments Off on Instructions would have been nice | 314 words
In the movies, a remake can spawn disaster, or dismal disappointment. This, however, is not a rule.
Back about three decades ago, I joined some friends for an evening at the Confederation Centre Theatre.
posted in education, music | Comments Off on One place, many lives | 253 words
The conversation over lunch today turned to summer jobs. A little unexpected, given that we’re all permanent, full time employees, safely installed at the teat of the civil service. Think of it as a subject that was more personal than the endless rounds of who did what when and where with whom which fuels most office chit chat.
posted in education | Comments Off on How I spent my summer (by others) | 268 words
There’s something about watching other people play a musical instrument; they make the process seem much easier than it IS. Lately, I’ve been doing my exercises (in futility) on a standard acoustic guitar. The usual: chord sheets, and finger movements and a whole lot of wincing from virgin calluses.
posted in education | Comments Off on My fingers are sore and his are backwards | 256 words
About twenty years ago, I fell in love with a piece of software that created fractal images. Finally, I said to myself (and anyone else who would listen), a practical use for higher mathematics. The designs were decidedly non-random, but they provided a visual tool for exploring certain facets of chaos theory (the reason why even wrong answers to mathematics questions have a place in the imaginary universe). I zoomed and I colour-cycled and had a good time in two-dimensional space. EGA was so much cooler than CGA for such efforts. My 13 inch monitor was a window into a world that had nothing to do with WordStar.
posted in education | Comments Off on More than random images | 259 words
The photograph was carefully posed; staged, really. How else could you explain an image that preceded the real event by months of effort. Obviously, there were hundreds of others, and years of historical record, but this photograph was special.
posted in education | Comments Off on A proof of performance | 271 words
My friends will tell you that my own path to getting a driver’s licence was a little scary for all concerned. Still, that was years ago; we’ve changed generations. Tonight was MY first trip as a passenger with one of my children in control.
posted in education | Comments Off on Beside rather than behind the wheel | 288 words
I stopped at the corner of my street, looked both ways and waited. Even though we have a four way stop, pedestrians either learn to be cautious or they die. Simple rules of the road. To my dismay, the motorist to my right held his stationary position, giving me time to cross without stress or the need to run.
posted in education | Comments Off on A visual impairment, or reminder | 264 words
