My new resolution is to cease looking outside and wishing that the rain would go away. I don’t really want that to happen. Today has been a parade of efforts to remind me about how important that rain is.
posted in education | Comments Off on From on high, the whole world looks wet | 277 words
Blind faith. Great rock band, terrible social concept.
The local school system is slowly giving up on the idea of making religion a cornerstone of curriculum, and the foundations are rocking. This province never does anything quickly, so we’ve been a decade in the process, with gradual deconfessionalization (what a word) and the introduction of a course that paints a stick figure portrayal of what IS religion. This week, the provincial council of bishops spoke out (yet again) with the demand that the course be revised and revamped.
posted in economy, education | Comments Off on My boots are ready for the storm | 332 words
I’m not as patient as I think I should be. This afternoon and evening, my domain host had a outage in the email wing, and for about eight hours, I couldn’t access any of my accounts. Stressful! At first, I put it down to bad karma. Then, I tried going in through the control system and resetting passwords. Ever more desperate, I toggled between SSL and insecure. Nothing. Finally, I called; after thirty-eight minutes in one of those queues that invites you to go play in the traffic (that is what I understand when an automated attendant tells me that all support personnel are currently busy serving other customers), I sent off an email message to support services, with another valid address as the place to let me know WHY OH WHY.
posted in education | Comments Off on All support personnel are currently busy | 304 words
Hard to believe that the laundry room has been in service all afternoon. Where do all these dirty socks come from? How many shirts does it take to get someone through a week at school and play? Even with the “cold water cycle” that the major soap manufacturers are now recommending, I figure my carbon footprint is big as a Sasquatch right now. Good thing I don’t have to stand down by the riverbank, beating cloth on the rocks.
posted in education | Comments Off on Dirty socks and an day of monologues | 271 words
A couple of days ago, I happened into a discussion involving the word fonds. Not one of the common words, learned from my Dick and Jane reader. In retrospect, I’d never heard the term before a couple of years ago, but that shows my lack of contact with the archival mentality.
posted in education, genealogy | Comments Off on The value grows, day by day | 285 words
Be reassured. Nothing is forever (except death). Especially, remember that an appointment to the Canadian Senate does have an end date (death or 75, first to arrive). No matter how many people get the nod, it really won’t matter. Go ahead – name ten senators from the last 140 years, without recourse to Wiki. See?
posted in education, humour | Comments Off on Stiffs aren’t, really | 307 words
Ever see a taxi sitting by the side of the road, waiting? Ever wonder what the driver might be doing? How about the proverbial “parental taxi”? From personal experience, and as a rank amateur, the taxi parent may not be as on task as the professional. In my case, I find myself listening to whatever CBC may be offering up, without attention to the hour or the day.
posted in education | Comments Off on My dog doesn’t make excuses | 265 words
With our faithful dog at home, taking care of business, there’s been a certain void in our lives. Happily, Bill the Spaniel has stepped in as a loaner pet, and the morning now comess with a wiggler that has personality to boot.Only a temporary measure, but even smaller canines have a right to scratching behind the ears and over the tailfin.
posted in education, travel | Comments Off on The calm after the storm | 280 words
I went to school today. Looking at your calendar, you might assume that the student and teacher class of our society are all out and about having unrestrained fun. Not so; there are still those who are in class in spite of it all.
posted in education | Comments Off on Show this scene to the winter crowd | 336 words
Forty days and nights; in Judeo-Christian context it often defines a period of waiting or wandering. In my world, it defines the length of a summer on the Island. My latest project involves researching (and perhaps writing about) fifteen different summers. No sense taking on something small, right?
posted in education, history | Comments Off on Putting the story in order | 303 words
