Well...I'm turning 24 this Friday. Friday the 13th.
Talked to my sponsor teachers today at Kelly Road. Looks like I'll be teaching Computers 9 and 11, and core math 9 for the 10 weeks. It should be fun....but I'm sure it'll be a challenge. I guess I'll know for sure if I want to be a teacher at the end of this practicum. The dilemma in my mind is whether I'll be happy as a teacher...I've already established that I can do it...but the question is whether I would be happier doing something else. We'll see.
I just found a replacement motherboard for my old laptop on ebay. Imagine that! You really can find anything on ebay. So it will be shipped to me tomorrow and hopefully arrive next week. If everything goes according to plan, I will be able to resurrect my laptop before the end of this month. I'm a little depressed that I didn't look on ebay earlier, but I'm still pretty happy with my new laptop....and maybe now I can sell my old one and use the money to make payments on my new one.
So I was in class the other day...actually it was before class, and decided to fire up msn to see who was online. Then I realized that I had my mini webcam in my bag which clips on my laptop screen, so I hooked it up. I started chatting with Jane and got to show her my classroom and the view that I had of the admin building. It was cool to be sitting in class...connected to the internet wirelessly...and chatting on msn. I don't know...maybe only other computer geeks can understand why I think it's so cool.
Adios for now,
Andrew
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Many things to be said....
OK, so even though I've had lots of free time in the last little while I still haven't updated my blog. But why you say? Well...a lot of things have been happening and I've been filling all my free time with things that don't have to do with computers or sitting at desks....there will be plenty of that to come over the next month.
First, I want to talk about my new laptop. I am really enjoying it. I actually got it on December 18th which was a really great early Christmas present. I'm loving the wide screen....it makes me feel so free....there's so much room....I don't fee cramped like I used to on a square monitor. Now, granted this machine is not much faster (1.8GHz instead of 1.6GHz) than my last laptop, it has a substantial upgrade on RAM (1 GB) and hard disk space (100 GB). I think that it will last me a long time. I've already installed Battlefield 2 on it and it runs like a dream. Also, during the break when I was out at Camp Morice Pete and I got a chance to play some Warcraft II using our wireless cards and setting them up to run ad hoc (with out a base station for all you non geeks out there). It was tons of fun and I managed to wallop him twice and Matt once. It was lots of fun.
Second, I'd like to tell you about my (not relaxing at all) month off. I finished classes on December 1st and didn't have to come back until January 3rd. It was nice, but I didn't relax very much....I filled all my time with decorating, buying gifts, playing hockey, organizing Warcraft tournaments, cleaning the house, and hanging out with friends. I'm actually surprised at the small amount of time I spent on the computer during the holidays. I espessially am surprised at how little I've used my laptop. But, now that I'm in school I'm sure that I'll be using it lots. Anyways, the days surrounding Christmas were filled with marathon after marathon of eating. Big dinner at my house, turkey dinner at the Parrish house, a ham dinner at our house, plenty of food at the retreat at Camp Morice, and another ham dinner at Camp. I loved it. Food is my second favourite part of Christmas....the first being the birth of Jesus (of course). For Christmas, I got a new pair of hiking boots that look like they are more than adequate to climb Everest....they are pretty skookem.
Third, I'd like to tell you how much fun I had after the retreat at Camp Morice. The Daigles, Bagnalls and myself stayed out at camp for new years and had lots of fun. The best part was when Pete, Matt, and myself went out on the lake and cleanned off a full sized hockey rink on the ice. Later that day we all played hockey out on the rink until it was so dark that we couldn't see the puck....it was a blast! To bring in the new year, we took a whole lot of wood out to the sand on the beach and started a huge bon fire which was lit about 10 minutes before midnight. We stacked the kinling about 2 feet high and then pilled on the regular firewood after that. It was a pretty sweet fire.
Lastly, the start of another university semester....and acutally my last university semester. I'll be finished at the end of this April. When all is said and done, I'll have been at UNBC for 6 years which is 12 semesters which translates into $24,000 in tuition and about $6,000 in books for my university career. That's a whole lot of money! That's about 40 different professors, 50 different classrooms, 66 different courses, and over $400 spent on hashbrowns for breakfast. It sure adds up when you think about it. This semester I'll be in classes until the end of the month of January, and then I begin teaching in February at Kelly Road Senior Secondary. I'll be teaching 2 computer classes and one math class for about 10 weeks. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Adios for now,
Andrew
First, I want to talk about my new laptop. I am really enjoying it. I actually got it on December 18th which was a really great early Christmas present. I'm loving the wide screen....it makes me feel so free....there's so much room....I don't fee cramped like I used to on a square monitor. Now, granted this machine is not much faster (1.8GHz instead of 1.6GHz) than my last laptop, it has a substantial upgrade on RAM (1 GB) and hard disk space (100 GB). I think that it will last me a long time. I've already installed Battlefield 2 on it and it runs like a dream. Also, during the break when I was out at Camp Morice Pete and I got a chance to play some Warcraft II using our wireless cards and setting them up to run ad hoc (with out a base station for all you non geeks out there). It was tons of fun and I managed to wallop him twice and Matt once. It was lots of fun.
Second, I'd like to tell you about my (not relaxing at all) month off. I finished classes on December 1st and didn't have to come back until January 3rd. It was nice, but I didn't relax very much....I filled all my time with decorating, buying gifts, playing hockey, organizing Warcraft tournaments, cleaning the house, and hanging out with friends. I'm actually surprised at the small amount of time I spent on the computer during the holidays. I espessially am surprised at how little I've used my laptop. But, now that I'm in school I'm sure that I'll be using it lots. Anyways, the days surrounding Christmas were filled with marathon after marathon of eating. Big dinner at my house, turkey dinner at the Parrish house, a ham dinner at our house, plenty of food at the retreat at Camp Morice, and another ham dinner at Camp. I loved it. Food is my second favourite part of Christmas....the first being the birth of Jesus (of course). For Christmas, I got a new pair of hiking boots that look like they are more than adequate to climb Everest....they are pretty skookem.
Third, I'd like to tell you how much fun I had after the retreat at Camp Morice. The Daigles, Bagnalls and myself stayed out at camp for new years and had lots of fun. The best part was when Pete, Matt, and myself went out on the lake and cleanned off a full sized hockey rink on the ice. Later that day we all played hockey out on the rink until it was so dark that we couldn't see the puck....it was a blast! To bring in the new year, we took a whole lot of wood out to the sand on the beach and started a huge bon fire which was lit about 10 minutes before midnight. We stacked the kinling about 2 feet high and then pilled on the regular firewood after that. It was a pretty sweet fire.
Lastly, the start of another university semester....and acutally my last university semester. I'll be finished at the end of this April. When all is said and done, I'll have been at UNBC for 6 years which is 12 semesters which translates into $24,000 in tuition and about $6,000 in books for my university career. That's a whole lot of money! That's about 40 different professors, 50 different classrooms, 66 different courses, and over $400 spent on hashbrowns for breakfast. It sure adds up when you think about it. This semester I'll be in classes until the end of the month of January, and then I begin teaching in February at Kelly Road Senior Secondary. I'll be teaching 2 computer classes and one math class for about 10 weeks. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Adios for now,
Andrew
Saturday, December 10, 2005
It's on the way!
YESSSS!
My new Dell Inspiron 6000 is on the way! I have to put myself into debt to get it, but it's done now so who cares. I didn't want to get a $700 laptop that I'd be dissapointed with, so I went a little further and got something that is equivalent to my old laptop....but a few upgrades (mostly just the ram and the hard drive). The estimated arrival date (on my doorstep) is Dec 20th...so I'll have a new laptop for Christmas! And....at least I can have the satisfaction of getting Airmiles for the purchase that I made. Maybe I can use the points to get some gift certificates for Coast Mountain or something.
I'm excited about making a video of my Shuswap houseboating adventures in the summer. I've been working on it a bit and it's turning out pretty good. I've been making the video in high definition widescreen...so it should look pretty amazing on my projector! I picked a Fatboy Slim song to go in the background...and it is turning out nicely.
Anyways, that's just a quick update. I'm not in the mood for typing a whole lot...this keyboard sucks and the spacebar doesn't work very well. When I'm typing it sounds like I'm using an old typewritter....everyone in the house can hear me!
Cheers!
My new Dell Inspiron 6000 is on the way! I have to put myself into debt to get it, but it's done now so who cares. I didn't want to get a $700 laptop that I'd be dissapointed with, so I went a little further and got something that is equivalent to my old laptop....but a few upgrades (mostly just the ram and the hard drive). The estimated arrival date (on my doorstep) is Dec 20th...so I'll have a new laptop for Christmas! And....at least I can have the satisfaction of getting Airmiles for the purchase that I made. Maybe I can use the points to get some gift certificates for Coast Mountain or something.
I'm excited about making a video of my Shuswap houseboating adventures in the summer. I've been working on it a bit and it's turning out pretty good. I've been making the video in high definition widescreen...so it should look pretty amazing on my projector! I picked a Fatboy Slim song to go in the background...and it is turning out nicely.
Anyways, that's just a quick update. I'm not in the mood for typing a whole lot...this keyboard sucks and the spacebar doesn't work very well. When I'm typing it sounds like I'm using an old typewritter....everyone in the house can hear me!
Cheers!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
What am I going to do now?
Well...I feel terrible. The world is coming down around me and I don't know what to do. A terrible thing has happenned. I feel lost and alone. Everywhere I go I feel confused and incoherent...I've lost what makes me happy. Yes...the unthinkable has happenned....the worst thing imaginable. It's so terrible that I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning.
My laptop has died.
It's unrepairable. Dell doesn't make the parts anymore.
Bye,
Andrew
My laptop has died.
It's unrepairable. Dell doesn't make the parts anymore.
Bye,
Andrew
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
I Have Returned
I know...I'm a loser. It's taken me forever to actually update my blog. I figured that today was the 8th, so I should probably update my blog before the 11th because if I didn't, it would mean that I hadn't updated it for an entire month. Anyways, I'm back from my short 8 day practicum at PGSS and it was a riot! I had a really good time teaching and my sponsor teacher was great. I still don't know how I did (marks wise) on the practicum, but I'm pretty sure I did well. I should find out this Thursday. I was lucky enough to get to teach combinatorics which is one of my favourite subjects in math, so I had a fun time. This week, I'm back to UNBC classes and my teachers are making us feel the pain by loading on a hundred assignments for us to do before the end of the semester. Speaking of that, it was pointed out that I've only got 7 weeks of university classes left and 10 weeks of practicum. How sweet is that? Another Bachelor degree!
Tomorrow is going to be a good time. I don't have any classes, so I'm off to Camp Morice with Jane, Andy, and Berta for most of the day. I hope it's nice weather. It will be good to be out there and to bring Jackie some calendars. That's right! The Camp Morice calendars are done! If you want one send me an email or go to the website and order one. We'll even ship it to you if you're too lazy.
Anyways, that's enough for now (start slow and taper off...and all that stuff).
Andrew
Tomorrow is going to be a good time. I don't have any classes, so I'm off to Camp Morice with Jane, Andy, and Berta for most of the day. I hope it's nice weather. It will be good to be out there and to bring Jackie some calendars. That's right! The Camp Morice calendars are done! If you want one send me an email or go to the website and order one. We'll even ship it to you if you're too lazy.
Anyways, that's enough for now (start slow and taper off...and all that stuff).
Andrew
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Thanksgiving...and thanks to be safe
So I went caving yesterday. It was a really good time.
But, the excitement comes at the end of the day. We came to the exit of the cave and looked to see that it was snowing like crazy. We were thinking…it 3:30…we’ve got lots of time. We’ll start to get out (a 30 foot climb), and then start down the mountain right away. But, once we started down the mountain we realized that it was going to take a lot longer. Let me tell you…snow covered, wet, and cold rocks are not that easy to climb down on. We got to the car at about 5:30 and headed to town thinking that we’d be back by 7:30 (only about 1.5 hrs late). So we were driving down the 39km road (going about 60km/hr). After about 19km I started to feel my car really pulling to the right. I knew what it was right away…a flat tire. 20km from a highway or paved road. So, luckily, I had the little donut tire for a spare….but there is a problem with that…you can only go 80km/hr at maximum. After the slooooowwww driving on the dirt road we got to the paved road and started home. Most of the paved road was free of traffic until we got to the highway. On the highway, there were a bunch of vehicles flying past us the whole way…probably a little annoyed that we were going 80 when they were all wanting to go 110 or faster. At one point a black Jimmy pulled up behind me and was flashing his highbeams, swerving back and forth on the road, and honking his horn. I was thinking, “Who is this A$$hole? And why doesn’t he just pass me?” After a few seconds he passes me and there are people waving their arms and making gestures in the window as they pass. He pulls right in front of me and starts slamming on the brakes, putting on his signal (to pull over right), and waiving his arm out the window. By now, just about anyone would be thinking “what is going on and what is this guys problem?”, but I knew better. I told Rachael to roll down the window so I could give them an earful as we drove by…I knew there was something familiar about that black Jimmy, and now looking into the window I could see that it’s my new cousin Marcio, his friend Chris, and my dad in the vehicle. They’d been looking for us for a while…they were worried because we were more than 3 hours late from when we said we might be home. I learned later that one of the vehicles that had passed us earlier had my brother, Tim, Jonathan, and Nolan in it…they were also looking for us. Anyways, I pulled over and talked to my dad for a minute and told him things were fine but we were just late. So we continued on home and had a nice warm shower to clean off the excessive amounts of dirt that had accumulated on our bodies.
Not a bad story hey?
It was cool to see that so many people cared about us and were worried about us. Thanks everyone.
But, the excitement comes at the end of the day. We came to the exit of the cave and looked to see that it was snowing like crazy. We were thinking…it 3:30…we’ve got lots of time. We’ll start to get out (a 30 foot climb), and then start down the mountain right away. But, once we started down the mountain we realized that it was going to take a lot longer. Let me tell you…snow covered, wet, and cold rocks are not that easy to climb down on. We got to the car at about 5:30 and headed to town thinking that we’d be back by 7:30 (only about 1.5 hrs late). So we were driving down the 39km road (going about 60km/hr). After about 19km I started to feel my car really pulling to the right. I knew what it was right away…a flat tire. 20km from a highway or paved road. So, luckily, I had the little donut tire for a spare….but there is a problem with that…you can only go 80km/hr at maximum. After the slooooowwww driving on the dirt road we got to the paved road and started home. Most of the paved road was free of traffic until we got to the highway. On the highway, there were a bunch of vehicles flying past us the whole way…probably a little annoyed that we were going 80 when they were all wanting to go 110 or faster. At one point a black Jimmy pulled up behind me and was flashing his highbeams, swerving back and forth on the road, and honking his horn. I was thinking, “Who is this A$$hole? And why doesn’t he just pass me?” After a few seconds he passes me and there are people waving their arms and making gestures in the window as they pass. He pulls right in front of me and starts slamming on the brakes, putting on his signal (to pull over right), and waiving his arm out the window. By now, just about anyone would be thinking “what is going on and what is this guys problem?”, but I knew better. I told Rachael to roll down the window so I could give them an earful as we drove by…I knew there was something familiar about that black Jimmy, and now looking into the window I could see that it’s my new cousin Marcio, his friend Chris, and my dad in the vehicle. They’d been looking for us for a while…they were worried because we were more than 3 hours late from when we said we might be home. I learned later that one of the vehicles that had passed us earlier had my brother, Tim, Jonathan, and Nolan in it…they were also looking for us. Anyways, I pulled over and talked to my dad for a minute and told him things were fine but we were just late. So we continued on home and had a nice warm shower to clean off the excessive amounts of dirt that had accumulated on our bodies.
Not a bad story hey?
It was cool to see that so many people cared about us and were worried about us. Thanks everyone.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
I'm a Professional
Well, I have been avoiding the question and giving vague answers all week...the question was "when is your drivers test for your bus license?"
I didn't say because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass and I didn't want a bunch of people calling me asking how I did and then I would have to tell them that I failed. After all, I did only take 4 hours worth of lessons when the driving school thought I should take 11. But, who cares now!
That's right...if you haven't already guessed...I got my license! That's right...my class 2...umhuh! I'm so happy to have it over with. It was a big stress for me and I'm so happy that I passed. I feel like patting myself on the back and saying "Andrew, you have what it takes!...Well done!" It's a great feeling to be able to follow through on something when you decide that it's important.
Anyways, that is my big triumph for today. I'm excited about the new Lost episode which is playing on TV as we speak (or as I type), but I'm not watching it because I am at work right now. I'll have to watch it later in the week.
Au revoir,
Andrew
I didn't say because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass and I didn't want a bunch of people calling me asking how I did and then I would have to tell them that I failed. After all, I did only take 4 hours worth of lessons when the driving school thought I should take 11. But, who cares now!
That's right...if you haven't already guessed...I got my license! That's right...my class 2...umhuh! I'm so happy to have it over with. It was a big stress for me and I'm so happy that I passed. I feel like patting myself on the back and saying "Andrew, you have what it takes!...Well done!" It's a great feeling to be able to follow through on something when you decide that it's important.
Anyways, that is my big triumph for today. I'm excited about the new Lost episode which is playing on TV as we speak (or as I type), but I'm not watching it because I am at work right now. I'll have to watch it later in the week.
Au revoir,
Andrew
Friday, September 30, 2005
What a long week…
Well, just when you think you’ve got things under control…the whole world falls apart in front of your eyes. I’ve put my head down and been running hard all week and I just can‘t seem to get ahead. Even when I finish assignments in record time, I still can’t get it all done. It’s been pretty frustrating. And now, here I am sitting at a desk at the end of a long week, and what am I doing?…I’m working. I’d like to think that soon it will be over, that soon I will have some free time and soon I will have a regular job with regular hours….but I don’t think it will happen. I have the uncanny ability to fill every moment of free time up with something. Why do I keep doing this to myself?
Anyways, I can at least look at things on a brighter side for right now. I’m sitting at work getting paid $10/hr to do nothing but wait for people to return equipment. This weekend will be a lot of fun…my cousin Saveria is getting married and a whole bunch of family is in town…it’s going to be one big party.
I’m going to go now because I’ve nothing interesting to say…maybe I’ll think of something later and add another post.
AJ
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Busy...busy...busy
OK, so I haven't updated enought lately...I know. I've been pretty busy and I just haven't got around to typing.
For now, I have a good animation to post....I love it.
For now, I have a good animation to post....I love it.
I'll try and post some more tomorrow.
Andrew
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Back in the Game
Well, I’ve been thinking for a while about what I should write for a post, but nothing substantial has come to mind. At first I wanted to post a big message complaining about how busy I am and how crappy my school schedule is, but it seems like a waist of time to be thinking and typing about that. I think the problem is that I’ve been thinking about posting too much instead of just typing. Anyways, here is what’s happened lately.
School has started and I’ve already handed in an 8 page report on my observations at PGSS during the first week of high school. Don’t let the number of pages make you think that I put a lot of work in…my only real strength is that I can type really fast and I got good at writing my thoughts from my trip to Europe. My observation report was just a whole lot of things I noticed and then a quick story or reflection on what it meant to me. It’s was exactly what they wanted though.
It seems like I always take on too much. I’m getting my bus license, making a video for the hospital, going to school, working three nights a week, going to youth group, going to young adults group, and trying to stay in touch with friends who do not live in PG. Last week was crazy for me…I felt like everything was out of control and that I was just stuck on the ride. It’s kinda like those stupid ‘virtual adventure’ rides that you can go on…I hate those things mostly because I get so sick on them. You get inside, sit down, strap yourself in, and the attendant closes the door and you hear a big thud as the door is locked. And then you’re trapped for the duration of the ride. Some weeks feel like that for me. But, this week was a bit different. On Thursday I stayed home for most of the day and just sat at my computer or in a chair and read some books, replied to some emails and printed off some homework. It was a very relaxing day. Jane came over to borrow my internet connection for a while (so that she could download some Stargate episodes). It was interesting…we sat across the table from one another while working on various things and we didn’t say more than a few words to each other, but looking back I enjoyed having her company even though we didn’t really say anything….I don’t know…maybe it’s a guy thing. At any rate, I’m going to have to try and fit one of those ‘catch-up’ days into my schedule every week…it was very therapeutic.
The coming weeks should be pretty fun. I have some assignments for class that might be a bit interesting, but mostly I’m excited about making up a series of lessons for a unit in math 12 called Combinatorics. I’m hoping that I can find some good examples and real world applications of Combinatorics so that I can make my classes a little bit more interesting. I was thinking about why I want to work so hard at making it interesting…it’s not because I want to outdo the teacher that I’m taking over for…it’s because I want to outdo myself. Last February when I was teaching at Kelly Road I had a bunch of cool stories and real world applications that seemed to really help me to get the students to buy into what I was teaching…they actually though what I was teaching them might be useful. Anyways, I hope to give it my all for this unit and see what happens.
Well, that’s about enough for this post…I have turned over a new leaf and I plan to post a bit more often. My motto ‘Start slow and taper off ‘ is taking a back seat to my new motto ‘ Go BIG or go home ‘
Adios for now,
Andrew
PS: Here is the answer to a math question...keep in mind that the answer does not nessesarily reflect my views.
School has started and I’ve already handed in an 8 page report on my observations at PGSS during the first week of high school. Don’t let the number of pages make you think that I put a lot of work in…my only real strength is that I can type really fast and I got good at writing my thoughts from my trip to Europe. My observation report was just a whole lot of things I noticed and then a quick story or reflection on what it meant to me. It’s was exactly what they wanted though.
It seems like I always take on too much. I’m getting my bus license, making a video for the hospital, going to school, working three nights a week, going to youth group, going to young adults group, and trying to stay in touch with friends who do not live in PG. Last week was crazy for me…I felt like everything was out of control and that I was just stuck on the ride. It’s kinda like those stupid ‘virtual adventure’ rides that you can go on…I hate those things mostly because I get so sick on them. You get inside, sit down, strap yourself in, and the attendant closes the door and you hear a big thud as the door is locked. And then you’re trapped for the duration of the ride. Some weeks feel like that for me. But, this week was a bit different. On Thursday I stayed home for most of the day and just sat at my computer or in a chair and read some books, replied to some emails and printed off some homework. It was a very relaxing day. Jane came over to borrow my internet connection for a while (so that she could download some Stargate episodes). It was interesting…we sat across the table from one another while working on various things and we didn’t say more than a few words to each other, but looking back I enjoyed having her company even though we didn’t really say anything….I don’t know…maybe it’s a guy thing. At any rate, I’m going to have to try and fit one of those ‘catch-up’ days into my schedule every week…it was very therapeutic.
The coming weeks should be pretty fun. I have some assignments for class that might be a bit interesting, but mostly I’m excited about making up a series of lessons for a unit in math 12 called Combinatorics. I’m hoping that I can find some good examples and real world applications of Combinatorics so that I can make my classes a little bit more interesting. I was thinking about why I want to work so hard at making it interesting…it’s not because I want to outdo the teacher that I’m taking over for…it’s because I want to outdo myself. Last February when I was teaching at Kelly Road I had a bunch of cool stories and real world applications that seemed to really help me to get the students to buy into what I was teaching…they actually though what I was teaching them might be useful. Anyways, I hope to give it my all for this unit and see what happens.
Well, that’s about enough for this post…I have turned over a new leaf and I plan to post a bit more often. My motto ‘Start slow and taper off ‘ is taking a back seat to my new motto ‘ Go BIG or go home ‘
Adios for now,
Andrew
PS: Here is the answer to a math question...keep in mind that the answer does not nessesarily reflect my views.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
TA DA!
Hey everyone!
I just finished the WYD video, so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. Pete got a preview of it the other day and he gave it the thumbs up. Speaking of Pete, man that guy is awesome at making flash animations. His photoweb is super cool!
Anyways, here is the link to the WYD Video
(I recommend that you right click and choose ‘Save Target As…’ and save it to your computer before playing it – it’s over 90MB so it might take a little while to download)
Adios!
Andrew
I just finished the WYD video, so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. Pete got a preview of it the other day and he gave it the thumbs up. Speaking of Pete, man that guy is awesome at making flash animations. His photoweb is super cool!
Anyways, here is the link to the WYD Video
(I recommend that you right click and choose ‘Save Target As…’ and save it to your computer before playing it – it’s over 90MB so it might take a little while to download)
Adios!
Andrew
Monday, September 05, 2005
Grizly Den Video
Here is the link to the Grizly Den video. I think it's pretty good...
The quality isn't very high because I wanted to keep the file size small, but I have a high quality version on my laptop.
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/LOTR_video.wmv
Enjoy and crank up the sound!
The quality isn't very high because I wanted to keep the file size small, but I have a high quality version on my laptop.
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/LOTR_video.wmv
Enjoy and crank up the sound!
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Hiking at Grizly Den
Well...I had a really good time Friday and Saturday. Rachael, Erin, Jane, and I went to the Grizly Den cabin for one night. It was a ton of fun! I have some pictures and video that I will post later. AND, we managed to miss the huge storm that hit Prince George as well. We would have been very miserable if that storm had hit us while we were hiking.
Anyways, just thought I'd post a short comment on my last adventure before school starts. The video that I'm making should be pretty funny...I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I get it done.
Bye for now,
Andrew
Anyways, just thought I'd post a short comment on my last adventure before school starts. The video that I'm making should be pretty funny...I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I get it done.
Bye for now,
Andrew
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
It's good to be home...sort of
It’s good to be home…sort of
Well, naturlich (of course) I’m home now and well rested. It’s nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed, but it’s also very sad that the adventure is over. I am having a hard time motivating myself to get ready to go back to school next week. I’m not looking forward to it. But, I guess I should just enjoy the remaining few days that I still have and be happy that I made so many friends and had so many good experiences. I have absolutely no regrets about the entire trip (except for the fact that I got on the plane to come home). I realized on the plane ride home that I could have stayed in Europe until about Christmas if I decided to take a year off before finishing getting my education degree. But, there is a part of me that wants to get it done. I hate having loose ends, and not finishing my degree on time would be a huge loose end. Anyways, I’m here now and will be ready to put in one more year of classes until I can finally get the piece of paper that I will have paid over $10,000 for.
I weighed myself when I came back and sadly I lost 2 pounds. To most people that would be a great thing…to lose weight, but I honestly wanted to gain a bit of weight while I was gone. I was hoping that all the trekking with my 80 pounds of luggage would have helped my bulk up a bit…and I definitely ate as much as I could. Oh, well…I guess there’s always next time.
That’s right! There will be a next time…and by then who knows…maybe I’ll have some new gadget that will let me post pictures and text without a laptop. I can see myself having a cool gadget like that around this time next year.
Anyways, I’ll leave it at that for now. There is talk of one more adventure before the school year starts…We’ll see how things shape up.
Andrew
Well, naturlich (of course) I’m home now and well rested. It’s nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed, but it’s also very sad that the adventure is over. I am having a hard time motivating myself to get ready to go back to school next week. I’m not looking forward to it. But, I guess I should just enjoy the remaining few days that I still have and be happy that I made so many friends and had so many good experiences. I have absolutely no regrets about the entire trip (except for the fact that I got on the plane to come home). I realized on the plane ride home that I could have stayed in Europe until about Christmas if I decided to take a year off before finishing getting my education degree. But, there is a part of me that wants to get it done. I hate having loose ends, and not finishing my degree on time would be a huge loose end. Anyways, I’m here now and will be ready to put in one more year of classes until I can finally get the piece of paper that I will have paid over $10,000 for.
I weighed myself when I came back and sadly I lost 2 pounds. To most people that would be a great thing…to lose weight, but I honestly wanted to gain a bit of weight while I was gone. I was hoping that all the trekking with my 80 pounds of luggage would have helped my bulk up a bit…and I definitely ate as much as I could. Oh, well…I guess there’s always next time.
That’s right! There will be a next time…and by then who knows…maybe I’ll have some new gadget that will let me post pictures and text without a laptop. I can see myself having a cool gadget like that around this time next year.
Anyways, I’ll leave it at that for now. There is talk of one more adventure before the school year starts…We’ll see how things shape up.
Andrew
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
4:30 AM
Well, you never know what will happen at 4:30 in the morning...
I was just sitting here typing emails and looking for songs on the net when a Turkish family came and sat near me. After a few minutes of them discussing amongst themselves, they asked me where I was from. After a few minutes the were offering me food and telling me a bit about Turkey (the Turkish pizza that they had was really good). I remembered that I still had a postcard of the Canadian Rockies, so I pulled it out and gave it to them. I also showed them a few picture from world youth day because I told them I was here for it. The next thing I know we are exchanging emails and they leave for their flight. The seemed like really nice people. It was pretty cool.
When they left, they each grabbed a push cart with a bunch of bags on it, and the dad accidently took mine (without looking at which cart he was pushing). They all laughed pretty hard when I said "Hey....that's mine..."
I was just sitting here typing emails and looking for songs on the net when a Turkish family came and sat near me. After a few minutes of them discussing amongst themselves, they asked me where I was from. After a few minutes the were offering me food and telling me a bit about Turkey (the Turkish pizza that they had was really good). I remembered that I still had a postcard of the Canadian Rockies, so I pulled it out and gave it to them. I also showed them a few picture from world youth day because I told them I was here for it. The next thing I know we are exchanging emails and they leave for their flight. The seemed like really nice people. It was pretty cool.
When they left, they each grabbed a push cart with a bunch of bags on it, and the dad accidently took mine (without looking at which cart he was pushing). They all laughed pretty hard when I said "Hey....that's mine..."
The hottest day yet
Without question, today was the hottest day yet for Spain. Today was the day...the day that I would test my resilience...the day that I would finally know if I could go a whole day without sunscreen....(except for on my face...I heard that too much sun on your face makes you look old sooner). After I got up I went up on the terrace to check my email and sweat in the sun a little. I decided to get ready for a relaxing day before I start my long journey home. My flight is to leave Malaga at 9:50pm and arrive at 12:35am in Cologne. Then I wait until 9:35am when my flight leaves for Canada. There isn't enought time to find a hotel and get a good nights sleep, so I'm just going to stay in the airport. I've decided that I'm not going to sleep so that I can start getting my body back into the BC sleep cycle. If I have a snooze on my flight to Canada (at about 10am...which is 1am BC time) then it should start me off on getting used to Pacific time. Then I can stay up for the rest of my flight until I get to Prince George where I can sleep at the normal time (9 or 10pm).
Anyways, in the afternoon I got a chance to go shopping for a bit and look (yet again) for the Spanish patch. I still didn't find one. At 2:15 we went down to the outdoor pool to go for a swim. Wow was that ever refreshing...they must have had that pool at the perfect temperature for a 34 C day. I dove in head first swam for a bit and then dried off in the sun in about 5 minutes. It was great. After that we went out for supper to a nice little restaurant. There was a meal for two which had a huge selection of things to share. Paella, Chorizo, Blood sussage, stuffed peppers, eggs potatoes and peppers, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. The bad thing was that Peter is alergic to potatoes and about half of the stuff had potatoes in it...he got stuck eating a bunch of bread. And on top of that, the Paella must have been cooked next to some potatoes because Peter didn't feel very well after eating it.
After that we jumped in the car and started on the winedy road to Malaga. The road to get there is actually pretty good. The highway has 3 or 4 lanes and the speed limit is 100-120km/hr...the only problem is that there are toll booths every 25km or so; some cost more than others, but I guess it's the price you pay for being able to get somewhere fast. When we arrived at the airport I quickly found the line where I could check my bags and then said my goodbyes to Pete and Bob. I won't be seeing Pete until Christmas because he is going to Toronto to do his Masters degree. He decided it would be easier if he went from Spain straight to Toronto and then just had the rest of his stuff shipped on the bus.
My plane to leave Spain was a bit delayed, but it didn't matter that much to me since I don't have anywhere to go once I get to Cologne. When we drove into Malaga it was 37'C and when I landed in Cologne it was 10'C. It took me a few seconds to adjust.Now I'm just waiting in the airport...I might make a phone call or two, check my email, post this message, and try to download some of the music from World Youth Day.
God Bless,
Andrew
Anyways, in the afternoon I got a chance to go shopping for a bit and look (yet again) for the Spanish patch. I still didn't find one. At 2:15 we went down to the outdoor pool to go for a swim. Wow was that ever refreshing...they must have had that pool at the perfect temperature for a 34 C day. I dove in head first swam for a bit and then dried off in the sun in about 5 minutes. It was great. After that we went out for supper to a nice little restaurant. There was a meal for two which had a huge selection of things to share. Paella, Chorizo, Blood sussage, stuffed peppers, eggs potatoes and peppers, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. The bad thing was that Peter is alergic to potatoes and about half of the stuff had potatoes in it...he got stuck eating a bunch of bread. And on top of that, the Paella must have been cooked next to some potatoes because Peter didn't feel very well after eating it.
After that we jumped in the car and started on the winedy road to Malaga. The road to get there is actually pretty good. The highway has 3 or 4 lanes and the speed limit is 100-120km/hr...the only problem is that there are toll booths every 25km or so; some cost more than others, but I guess it's the price you pay for being able to get somewhere fast. When we arrived at the airport I quickly found the line where I could check my bags and then said my goodbyes to Pete and Bob. I won't be seeing Pete until Christmas because he is going to Toronto to do his Masters degree. He decided it would be easier if he went from Spain straight to Toronto and then just had the rest of his stuff shipped on the bus.
My plane to leave Spain was a bit delayed, but it didn't matter that much to me since I don't have anywhere to go once I get to Cologne. When we drove into Malaga it was 37'C and when I landed in Cologne it was 10'C. It took me a few seconds to adjust.Now I'm just waiting in the airport...I might make a phone call or two, check my email, post this message, and try to download some of the music from World Youth Day.
God Bless,
Andrew
My Quest for a patch
I slept in today (again) and then enjoyed two very strong cups of coffee from my friend the French Press. I think I'm going to start using the cappuccino machine when I get home. These europeans have things figured out. I decided I wanted to go out in the sun for the morning, but I didn't really feel like just lying there...after all I just woke up, so I decided to mop the terrace. I just about burned the soles of my feet it was so hot. Later that morning Bob and I went for a walk around town to see some of the sights. There are Ronda was an inpenitrable fortrace. It is set on a cliff with two walls around the perimiter of the base of the cliffs. The only way that anyone would have a chance at getting into Ronda would be to attack it with siege weapons and almost completely destroy it. Anyways, the remains of the walls were pretty cool and we got to scope out a public outdoor pool that looked really nice. When we got back to the appartment we told everybody else about it and it was decided that we'd head over there tomorrow.Pete, Bob, and I had lunch and the girls went to Seville for the day. After lunch my quest to find a patch from Spain began. I think I must have gone into every souvenir shop in the area (at least 20 of them) and I didn't find anything. I even went to the tourist information center and asked if they would know where one would be; they sent me to a store but alas there was none. I even looked up the word for patch so that I could ask in Spanish instead of looking around in each store. No luck. I did manage to find a few other things that will be good, but not the patch that I wanted. In the evening, we had a late supper and then yet another episode of Lost on the TV. A couple of nights ago I figured out how to hook my laptop up to the TV. Normally this would be easy, but since we are in Europe, the video system is slightly different. When I hooked it up at first, we got a good picture but there was no color. Anyways, watching Lost on a nice TV with no commercials is a nice experience. Tonight is my night to sleep on the couch instead of the floor so I'm pretty excited about another good sleep.
The Quest continues....
Andrew
The Quest continues....
Andrew
Thursday, August 25, 2005
More Pics
Here is an archway in Ronda with the city in the background. It was quite a nice day.
This is the last group photo that we took before the 4 of us left Marienfield leaving the rest of the crew behind.
This is a shot of one of the streets near where we are staying. I took the picture from the terrace that is on the roof.Some more pictures
We found this sign in Dusseldorf and had to take a picture. I thought it was hilarious!
Here is a picture of the train station platform where all the Italians did the Shamo...Shamo thing. You can't afford to be clostrophobic in this situation.
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