Happy Easter Everyone!

I am spending a couple of days in Victoria with friends.  We will have a little Easter egg hunt shortly. Can't let the day pass without that.  Nothing outstanding - Lindt and Cadbury is all that the bunny bought this year. But no chocolate bunnies. Probably top it off with a g&t.

Rain Forests and Umbrellas

I live in a rain forest. I have a couple of cute little umbrellas that are big enough to keep the top of your head dry as long as there is no wind.  I am not sure how smart I am, even though the university decided I fit in the top level for marks.  However, I have left scattered around the globe umbrellas that could cover an entire community.  I had several golf umbrellas that were given out when I was in various tournaments, umbrellas of the same size that I bought when caught in a monsoon, and umbrellas given to me from the PPD - which is the acronym for the District office of the local school division in Malaysia.  Do I have any of these now? Of course not. I always seem to think I can get another.  But I don't.
Maybe the solution is to enter a local golf tournament to get another.  Yes, that is wise. Pay $200 entry fee and receive a $15 umbrella.  Now that is critical thinking skills not in action.

All A's

Finally.  I have received marks for the first four courses I took in my MEd degree. I wrote those exams the first week in January. For some reason it takes nearly 4 months to post the results. But I cannot complain. Straight A's so far.  Now I feel better going into the homestretch and writing the last 5 exams.  It has definitely given me incentive to keep the records at that level.  I have been studying and preparing, so can only hope I know the material.

It is a great feeling of being acknowledged for one's work.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

For those who follow me here, it is again Jennifer's birthday.  This one is a milestone for her. A Jack Benny birthday year.  I had to explain the concept to her. She is far too young to understand that one. For the rest of you youngsters you will have to google it to understand.

I find it amazing when I check the stats here. The most popular posts are always Happy Birthday Jennifer posts. I am not really sure why, but that is what is constantly read and reread.  Anyway, besides her birthday today, I am also contemplating some kind of work since I am back in my homeland.  What keeps coming across my desktop is constant job offers to teach online.  That is beginning to appeal to me. I can be all over the world with a click of my mousepad and never leave the house where I am living.  Intercultural experiences can be mine without having to take a jet across multiple time zones.  I have had a number of Skype interviews for various Skype teaching opportunities but each of them just does not feel quite right. I get close, then think that my time and skills are worthy of a better compensation.  I have discovered that online teaching - just like offshore English teaching is extremely underpaid.  I have come to the realization that we are not valued because firstly, the vetting of teachers is lax, and secondly, because of the poor vetting, they end up with less than adequate teachers doing the job which reflects in fairly insignificant changes in the learner's skills.  Some of us take this work seriously. Some of us do make a difference, but for the major part, young westerners take the job as an opportunity to travel the world and live in a constant vacation mode, showing up occasionally to work with a fake degree and little ability to do the job.  Many of them cannot even string a good sentence together themselves.  Anyway, I have had enough online job offers to now realize that I can do that job, and as each one comes to me I also realize which ones I want to do.  Pay does keep increasing, format keeps improving, and organizations offering the work keep getting more organized, professional, and supportive.  I think I have chosen the right one to work with.
While looking at these options, I received a job outline that I knew I could do. I scrutinized all the required skills and background and realized that I had every one of them.  It was made for me.  Only problem was the compensation.  If I was planning on becoming wealthy doing that job I was going to be rather disappointed.  But is money everything?  Take a look; I am sure many of you can also do this one with your eyes closed.

Can You Do This Job?

BTW: Happy Mother's Day May 11th

Statistics is Making Me Sad

As I continue to prepare for the 5 final exams left to write I get a knot in my stomach each time I open the statistics course.  I have yet to meet anyone who can help me with it. Those with PhD's can't even help. They tell me that they never understood it themselves and by the seat of their pants passed the course.  Why?  Why me?  I just really dislike this one.
Well, I guess it is time to go back to the trenches and pray that I will somehow pass this one and then file the information on a shelf like everyone else has.

YOU CAN BET THAT I WOULD NEVER SAY THIS!

Popcorn Again

I am probably the best consumer with regards to purchasing popcorn poppers worldwide.  I even left my mark in SE Asia by having Singapore bring in the electric magic machine that would work on that voltage.  Now back on home soil, and once again without a popper, I often checked appliance aisles to buy another popper.  Oddly, they are not as available as they were in the past.  I think Canadians are generally lazy and prefer the microwave bags over the pop your own variety.  I cannot tolerate those bagged ones - they are full of chemicals simulating butter flavours and loaded with salt.  There was one brand I formerly bought that was plain popcorn without the chemicals.  But I can no longer find it.  Interestingly, in the grand metropolis of Duncan I searched SuperStore looking for an electric popcorn popper.  None.  Just when I gave up, there was this little plastic bowl with an ill-fitting lid.  A banner wrapped around it told me that it was a microwave popcorn popper. Yay!  I took it home, read all about it, and learned that it is not made of BPA (some nasty chemical composition that will kill a mule in it's tracks), nor melamine, which I think does the same as the BPA.  For now, whatever the product composition is, I will believe it will not harm me.  And the thing makes incredible popcorn.  A tidy little bowlful, personal size.  At least I consider it personal size.  It was my lunch for the past two days in a row.  munch, chomp, crunch!