Gaps

Once again there has been a huge gap in my blogging.  Not to be confused with a huge gap in a pair of jeans (I wish), or a huge gap in the road - wait isn't that called a pot hole? -  and in that case it's a good excuse for cities to dig up even bigger chunks of roads creating even bigger gaps.  This of course creates a huge gap in time which swallows up any you might think of saving by leaving at the last minute and taking the fastest route to work, or home, or wherever.  It invariably holds that a small gap in time, roads and travelling will result in a bigger gap somewhere along the way.  This gap is not to be confused by the gap between a rapid transit train and the platform as any traveller on a subway can tell you.  It's interesting to listen to the subway announcements when trains arrive, stop, disgorge passengers, then swallow a large bunch more.  In England they are constantly reminding passengers to "mind the gap" as if anyone could ignore it in the first place.  I haven't ridden the subway system in the U.S. for a very long time, but expect there is a similar announcement now.  I think, though I tend to ignore it,  that Vancouver might announce it as well to remind us.  Either that or they've figured out how to put the ALRT and the platform closer together so we don't have to mind it.
Which brings me to the use of the word "mind".  Why should I mind it?  Is that the same as minding the baby?  What about my mind?  Should I be concerned and why or why not?  I don't mind the rain, though maybe I should. Does this then mean I have to babysit it?  What about if there is a gap in the weather, my travelling this summer or the road going to or from wherever I need to get to.  Never know when it might infiltrate my mind and cause a huge gap.  So until next time when I'll work hard at not creating another huge gap (though that might be incredibly difficult considering I'll be moving) and mind this blog.

Techno Thingies

No, I'm not talking about me.  Well, ok, I am, but not directly about me.  More about technology and learning new and interesting things.  I'll start with my mother.  Always a good place to begin.  She has her own laptop (courtesy of my sister and niece) and has learned how to Facebook and Skype, which, given her age is really pretty spectacular, and very thrilling for her.  Now she can keep in touch with all her children and grandchildren with a push of a button.  Then I had an email not long ago from an elderly cousin.  She learned how to do email, etc. some time ago, but preferred not to until her children gave her an Ipad for Christmas.  Now she's having fun because she can email, etc. anywhere instead of having to use their desktop computer.  My best friend and her husband have also joined us in the 21st century thanks to their daughter.  Their daughter moved to another city in another province and to cut down on costs for long distance calls, she uploaded Skype for her parents.  Now we can chat any time we are both on and free.  Kind of nice because it means we can keep in touch even better than before.
So what does this have to do with techno thingies.  Well, let's think for a minute.  In terms of technology we can twitter, facebook, email, skype, SMS, text and do any one of a number of tasks all on line.  Nice.  On the other hand it means that as a teacher I need to bring myself up to speed on all the new and fun techno thingies, like Moodle, Wiki and Podcasts.  Sound like something out of a Heinlein story, but isn't.  Today I learned how to record, save and upload a podcast.  What is a podcast you ask (unless you already know and then you are light years ahead of where I was yesterday - space time travelling again).  Apparently it's a way to record and broadcast information - assuming you have a voice you want everyone to hear and information you need to pass on.  Why would I need to learn how to do this?  It's like this.  I'm taking a class and one of the assignments is to upload a podcast.  Sooooo.  I had to learn how to do it.  In the end it was really quite painless, but not without it's moments of "well crap!"  Since I had to do it, I thought it would be a good idea to inflict it on my students.  As a result, instead of giving speeches, my Grade 8s will now have to do a five minute podcast on a topic of their choice.  Nice part is the tech teacher has agreed to give them credit for the technical skills they use, and I'll give them credit for the oral.  Kind of killing two techno birds with one stone - if such a thing is possible.  Until next time, I'm going to play with my new toy.

Cats

Cats do funny things some times.  I don't necessarily mean funny ha ha, though they do those as well.  I mean funny as in odd, weird or just plain strange.  Take my cat for instance.  He has definite dog tendencies, though he would thoroughly deny such - if in deed he could talk.  Lately he's taken to walking with me down to the security guard post (small building for mail, guards and soft drinks which I do not need.  Soft drinks, not the mail.)  Then he waits until I'm done and walks back with me.  Which would be fine if it was a weekend or holiday and I was only walking down and back, but lately he's been going for a walk with me on a work day, which isn't so great.  Today he not only came with me, and hung around, but waited until I got on the school bus for work, then looked as if his feelings were hurt because I was leaving.  When I got home on said school bus, he was waiting under one of the vehicles parked inside our complex, for me to get off the bus and come home.  This is not cat behavior.  This is definitely dog behavior.  A dog will follow/walk with his/her human and wait patiently all day for his/her human to return.  A normal cat might follow the same human to see what's happening, and then wander off to do his/her own thing, not hang around waiting for the human to return. 
I think I need to take my cat to a kitty shrink to make sure he's not delusional or is being overtaken by the spirit of some chihuahau or something, in which case maybe a kitty exorcism might be more in tune with the situation.  Until next time he follows me and/or gets on the bus with me. 

Irony

I've been thinking about the idea of irony.  Often I have to explain it to my students, which is tricky because they don't get the irony of my explaining irony to them, but there you go.  Anyway, the reason I am thinking about irony is because of an article I read in a magazine.  You know how that goes, you're merrily reading away and then a seemingly random thought creeps in and doesn't let go, then your enjoyment of the article is gone because, like bad elevator music, the thought won't go away.  So there I was thinking (yes I know, I really should be careful when I do that, it could be dangerous to self and others).  The thought was how ironic it was that my ancestors left their homeland, and my ex's ancestors left the same homeland, neither knowing each other, and over a hundred years later my youngest son returns to live in the country his ancestors fled.  Thus the irony.  Weird how that works, huh.  To think that people who left a country would have a relative in the future return to the same country.  Hmmmm.  Time travel maybe?  Time shrinking and/or expanding?  Did they have any idea that one day, centuries later a relative would be returning?  Did they care?  Probably not when trying to figure out what to do with your life in a new place would be top priority.  Which brings me to moving and how I'll be trying to figure out how to manage in yet a new place as a person who is going to a country I've never been to either.  My ancestors and I have a lot in common that way - you know, adjusting to new and strange places, well strange to me, not to the people who live there, though I'm sure they'll think I'm a little strange.  That's ok.  What fun would there be in being the same?  Until next time I have a thought, I think I'll go and lay down and maybe it will go away.

Measuring Cats

Why one would want to measure a cat is one question. Why a cat would be willing to be measured is quite another.  As we all know, cats do what cats do and don't really care about what any other species wants, or needs, done.  So back to the first question.  Why would one want to measure a cat.  There may be many reasons for this.  To check said cat's growth rate, much like we measure a child - how big has he/she grown?  Why hasn't he/she grown as much as he/she should?  Is this normal for a child - I mean cat, and how would one know?  I'm sure there must be growth tables some place for a cat based on age and normal growth rates, but how would a person know.  Better yet, why would a person need to know this - unless said person has a pedigree cat that must meet requirements for a cat show.  Not, of course to be confused with a fashion show, though both strut along a cat walk to show off their fur, or clothes, or whatever it is they are modelling. 
However, since none of the above are important to this little tale (not to be confused with a tail, of which cats are very proud).  What is important is why a CAT would want to be measured and how would one go about doing so.  There are a number of methods that could be used for this particular event.  A person could wait until the cat is sleeping and stretched out across the bed, couch or whatever space this particular cat is stretched out on.  However, cat's are not pleased when woken from a perfectly good nap to find his/her human with a tape measure trying to get a semi-accurate reading, and so will either curl into a ball or walk off with the human in pursuit in order to complete the task.
So what should one measure on a cat.  Length is of course, important, but which length?  Nose to tip of tail?  Head and body but not tail?  What about height?  How high does your cat stand?  How would one know if said cat is on the move?  Does a person wait until the cat is standing next to that human, and then human mark where the cat comes up to on the persons leg?  Again, should one wait until said cat is sleeping without being curled in order to try to gain the measurement, and how accurate would it be?  What about width?  Does one measure a cat across the front, back or someplace in the middle?  What exactly does one need such measurements for?  Is the cat being fitted for a suit and therefore the measurements are important?  Perhaps the cat is traveling (with or without the human) and the airlines need to know what size the cat is.  If this is the case, depending on if the cat is traveling first class or economy, is it so that the cat can sit on the seat with an appropriately sized seat belt?  Or maybe it's so that said cat can be stuffed in a soft carrier and shoved under the seat in front, much like a purse or backpack.  That being the case, how happy would the cat be over this kind of indignity? To be sure, said cat would certainly make his/her displeasure known in a most vociferous manner on the level of a screaming baby, entertaining all other passengers with its pitiful wailing.  If the cat is traveling as cargo, wouldn't it make more sense to need to know the size of the crate it would be in?
I have no idea what the answers to any of these questions would be.  So until next time I have to measure my cat, I'll leave it at that.

Energy

Wouldn't it be grand if we could bottle a good portion of the energy we have as children and save it for when we are much more - mature.  I used to have lots of energy - once upon a time, not so terribly long ago (well, ok maybe if you count doing 30 for the second time a long time ago).  Now there are days when getting up enough steam to make coffee seems like an effort.  I think sloths have it right.  Sleep 90% of the time and move 10%, but not all ten at the same time.  You know, a little here, a little there and enough to find something to eat.  Cats are a close second to sloths for energy conservation.  They nap a lot, pretty much anywhere they can, often on the keyboard of a laptop or on the consol if you own a desk top computer.  In fact, they'll nap pretty much any place that has enough room to curl up on, including a squishy lap.  Which is fine especially if the squishy lap happens to be in front of a computer.  Then a decision needs to be made.  Squishy lap or laptop.  Hmmmm.  Decisions, decisions.  When the choice is too great to contemplate, the solution is to simply lay down wherever the cat happens to be and nap there.
I mention energy and naps in conjunction with each other because I happened to have a nap today.  Not the nice refreshing kind.  More the kind that when you wake up you feel even more tired than when you went to sleep, leaving you wondering why you bothered in the first place.  Which means that a person needs to have a second nap just to make up for the first one that was even more draining than if no nap had been had.  Having a second nap, while it might be enjoyable is also a drain on time, which as we all know shrinks and expands expotentially depending on what you happen to be doing.  Napping shrinks time, though in reality no more than most of the time that it has shrunk.  Or at least that's the way it seems when one wakes up from a nap leaving us wondering where all the time went.  Didn't we just lay down?  What do you mean it's been two hours.  I only slept for - oh.  Never mind.
Until next time when I have both time and energy to blog and I'm not napping.

It seems like forever

And I guess it has been.  Almost a full year's worth of forever.  I have been up to my ears in alligators (way past my butt) and am doing a dog paddle as fast as I can for the shore.  Almost there, but not quite, and can only hope I make it before the alligators get me.  It's been a strange year, full of power plays, melodrama and drama queens, but not in an actory good sense.  On the positive side, I've started my graduate degree in Literary Studies through an online university in Canada (no, not one of those pay some money and get a piece of paper kinds - wellll, not really, I do have to work for this degree and it is a real university, and I do have to pay money, soooo ...).  I've also been working on writing a new novel which is on hold at the moment because I'm taking more classes to upgrade teaching qualifications that have nothing to do with my brand new shiney yet to finish earning Masters. 
Which brings me to moving - again.  Yes, I am.  I can hear all your little intakes of breath and mutterings under it that say, "does she ever stay in one place?"  So where in the world am I going next?  How about Africa if we are going to play spin the globe.  At least that's where mine has stopped this time around.  I'm moving to Ghana, and while I'll be able to make myself understood (I hope.  One never knows with English), I'll be a definite visible minority, which will make life interesting to say the least.
In the mean time I have lots to do, just not at the moment.  I've decided to add a new twist to this blog to keep me on track.  I've decided to post my novel on here in installments, just because I can.  AND I've got a web page for work because I felt really adventurous and decided to give it a try - just to see if I could.  I am becoming so technified it's almost scary!  Until next time.