Ongoing Letter - Allan's Place
Allan's journal to the world. (Sounds important, doesn't it?)
Allan The same day I posted my last entry on M & F (students, not Mom & Fl0yd), F quit. He’s gone with another tutor. His schedule has changed, and I can only tutor after 5:30pm, so F is no more.
At the same time, another student started. Students come, students go. This time, however, the student isn’t in Coaldale like F was; he’s in Lethbridge. Good for me. I don’t spend $5 in fuel driving to and returning from a student’s house to make $17 / hour.
My students have been improving considerably. Two in particular, M & F (no, not Mom & Floyd, but another M & another F!), have caught the I-want-to-learn bug.
M has improved his mathematics skills considerably (among other skills). It’s not easy to do ‘mental math’ without guidance and practise. We’re using the practices of 1) using fingers to count, 2) memorization (as in the multiplication table), 3) writing out problems long-hand, and 4) using a calculator for complex calculations or to check one’s work. Because M is in a Montessori program (and, no, it isn’t just for playschool, preschool, and kindergarten – it’s valid all throughout elementary school and beyond), it involves practical life (understanding everyday activities), sensorial (tactility, sound, vision, etc.), academic (mathematics, language arts, histories, the sciences), and societal (creativity, games, group work, social activity). It’s not just reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic anymore, folks. So, part of yesterday’s homework is fractions and their uses. What’s the good in knowing fractions unless you can use them? He’s a creative fellow, so he could go on to use this skill in everyday life.
No, he’s not helping me build the trailer. He’s reading the tape measure in the pictures.
F has improved his reading skills. It started with not knowing the phonics of letters and combinations of letters of the alphabet, having difficulty writing letters in patterns, and knowing sight words. Now he’s sounding out words he doesn’t know and breezing through those he does. It’s about not being intimidated by the written word, I think, and he’s come a long way in this. He says he enjoys writing, so hopefully this will pull him along in the reading thing, too. Plus, I promised him a prize (a notebook from Korea) if he reads really well – something to shoot for.
I am reading a book called You Are a Badass. It’s about having good intentions, good thoughts, good vibes, for lack of better explanation. “The Universe will match whatever vibration you put out. And you can’t fool the Universe.”
“Can I get a name?” Starbucks staff asks when I order an Americano. “Allan.” (Yes, you already knew that – but she didn’t.) Why a name? Because many people might order an Americano. So the woman after me, after being asked her name, said, “No.” … Uh … “Okay, I’ll just leave it here for you.” Is the world this concerned with privacy that she can’t leave a name? Maybe she should say, “Esmeralda” or “Lapodopolis” or even “Steve” or “Jesus”. Sorry, but I have no tolerance for people like that.
By the way – her coffee sat there and waited for her, exactly where the barista said it would be. The woman was miffed. <puff, pant, huff, snort, throat clearing, cough> Good fracking hell.
I met a Canadian in Korea who refused to walk with the crowd. “I’m going this way, not that way. I don’t care if people are on this side of the sidewalk.”
I know – I used to be this person, a million years ago.
Okay, so this isn’t 1990 anymore. Websites are dynamic, not static. No one uses .html (hypertext markup language) anymore. Instead, modern websites use https, .asp, databases, interactivity, splashy advertisements and pictures that fly across the screen, areas of the page that stand still whereas others move around … all that is terribly impressive.
But, after fidgeting around with with WordPress, Moodle, Joomla!, add-ons to those, databases from MySQL and Microsoft SQL, and various other CMS packages made for teachers & students & school admin, I’ve decided they all suck.
Three different versions from different artists of Lonesome and Dry As a Bone.
Dave Leatherman (excellent artist; unfortunately, the song is cut at the end)
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (a well-done version, very polished, with an excellent band)
Joe Diffie (getting back to his roots with a down-home rendition)
Any favourites? Notice they’re all in the same key? What do you mean you don’t like bluegrass?
Congratulations, Tyson Baldrey and Randy Holmberg, on our selection as recipients for ASET’s 2019 Capstone Project of the Year Award! Thank you for your dedication, hard work, and professionalism! I am part of the best team in Alberta!
We were chosen to represent Lethbridge College at Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) for their Capstone Project of the Year Award. Our nomination put us in competition with other institutions across Alberta for this year’s Award.
I’ve been seeking new employment the past few weeks. ISP did not work out. They need someone with more experience who can work without an Engineer, and I need a place with more than just one guy (me), with engineering guidance and mentorship. I think professional development cannot happen on my own, without an Engineer present. The Engineer stamping ISP‘s work left for another company; ISP emailed him my drawings, and he emailed them back; but there was no two-way communication, nobody for me to ask questions. I didn’t meet their learning curve expectations. Yes, a new Engineer was hired, but a) he didn’t have experience in this type of work, and b) he had no authorization to stamp at ISP.
I’ve been seeking other Engineering Technologist / drafting / designing work. There are a few places hiring. I’ve had two offers. Unsure what I will do. Aizlynn believes I should branch out on my own and follow my dreams of simple living architecture (i.e. “tiny homes”, to use a blanket description). This is intriguing, but I still feel I need the mentoring and expertise of professionals.
Once a teacher, always a teacher. I continue to do sideline work in that. Not a lot of money in it though. More just a time-user while I seek other employment. However, all my students show greatness, so I will not give them up.
More as it comes.
Mom asked me to play cards with her and Floyd last night. I haven’t done that in ages. “Sure,” I said. I put on some music, and Floyd dealt the cards.
The object of the game is to get rid of a stack of 21 cards by playing them, each person in turn, on stacks from A to Q in the middle of the table. Sometimes we move one, two, or more cards during our turns, but most times we just take turns around the table and accomplish nothing – take a card to start, try to play, and finally discard a card.
We went around and around for 20 minutes without much action. Mom & Floyd played several cards from their stack of 21. Mine stood still. I couldn’t move any. I pointed this out to them. “You haven’t moved any?” “Not yet,” I replied.
I think Floyd took pity on me and played two As on the table. My turn came around, and I used my first card. Then another. Then two As came up. I used them to start two new stacks and built on them – A, 2, 3 … up to Q. I kept playing. Six or seven stacks were started on the table. The cards just kept lining up, and I played them.
Why make an ongoing letter entry on this? Not only did I win the game when M&F were miles ahead of me, but this is the first time in my life I used up the entire stack of 21 cards in one hand.
It was apparently cleaning day at work today. T moved some desks and debris out of the office as it was a slow work flow day. I got into the kick of it later as well and finally tackled my computer keyboard, which was covered in … whatever the stuff is that collects on keyboards and the bottoms of computer mice. I tipped it up-side-down and gave it a few good whacks. What came out was surprising – not just the volume of grot but something else – a spider! I nudged it with my finger, and, sure enough, it was alive! All this time I’ve been using a keyboard with spiders in it.
It seems my server is getting old. It typically runs Windows 7 64-bit with a non-raid cloned (redundant) OS disc, 1.5TB storage disc (pics, videos, teaching material, etc.), and 3TB redundant backup of everything. Just tonight I switched over to a Solid State Drive (SSD) for the OS. Can you notice any speed difference? Hope so. Been eating up HDDs the past year – 3 in total. So hopefully this will help.