Friday, December 15, 2006
Hmmm....
So has anyone else noticed Babylon 5: The Complete First Five Seasons" on Amazon? Does the use of the phrase "first five seasons" mean that Amazon knows something that we don't, or just that the clerk doing the webpage doesn't know enough that there were only five seasons?
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Playing with one's food
My 8 year old daughter, Tigana, finished the orange I'd given her for bedtime snack, and then sat playing with the peel as I told her her nightly bedtime story. This is the result.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
A grassroots petition has been started to get the government to reconsider the $4.6 million they cut from the museum assistance program of Canada Heritage.
The money is a small amount of the overall $1 billion package, and many museums were pinching pennies before the cuts, and the cuts will force them to reduce programs, cut collections, and delay renovations.
Then of course, there's the effect on students who will be woefully ignorant of local, regional and national history and culture.
Read the petition over, sign it if you want, pass it on to people you know.
I've signed it.
Here's the link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MapCuts/petition.html
The money is a small amount of the overall $1 billion package, and many museums were pinching pennies before the cuts, and the cuts will force them to reduce programs, cut collections, and delay renovations.
Then of course, there's the effect on students who will be woefully ignorant of local, regional and national history and culture.
Read the petition over, sign it if you want, pass it on to people you know.
I've signed it.
Here's the link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MapCuts/petition.html
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Penny, the Frisky Tardis
We've bought a new car.
This is, in fact, my first actual NEW car, never having had the cash before for anything other than hand-me downs. My last two cars were from my Father-In-Law, and the one before that was purchased for $800 from a sympathetic co-worker. (Okay, the word "cash" may be a bit inaccurate here since we are buying entirely on credit, but you get the idea.)
The car is a Honda Fit, which is new to the North American market, but has been selling in Japan and Europe as the Jazz for several years. The "Fit" name is undoutbably to emphasize that it has a roomy interior, even though it is a subcompact. I confess myself surprised when I actually fit into it, since whenever we have rented cars, I've had to specify the high end models because at six feet, 250lbs there was never any possibility of my getting into the compacts. But damned if there isn't more head room in this new Honda than in the wagon we were driving before. It feels as roomy as our Van, for crying out loud.
Luggage space appeared to be a problem, but as a test we gathered up all the suitcases we'd actually used on our last trip to Edmonton down to the dealership to see how many we would have to give up, and darned if they didn't all fit in okay. Miracle of design engineering, because you would swear this car is bigger on the inside then the outside.
I hadn't wanted to buy a new car, but our current vehicle is on its last wheels. The transmission bumps with every change of gears, so probably only has a month or two left in it, and the cost of replacing that far exceeds the $1000 the insurance company tells us our car is now worth. And there are a myrid other problems, like the passenger door falling apart, something leaking out the front end, etc. etc. etc. Even so, I had wanted to wait until February to buy a new car, since I've always heard you get a better deal in Feb, but the deterioration on our current ride had reached the point where I was only putting in half a tank of gas at a time because I wasn't convinced it would last another full tank.
I love our new car. It handles like a sports car, it has a kicking stereo, and it parks unbelievably easily. Suddenly, driving is fun again.
So then the first order of business, according to the wife and kids, was to name it. Mary nominated "Frisky" because it is the same color as her late Aunt's old Colt, a car with very fond memories for both of us; Penny was an obvious alternative because it is copper color (officially Blaze Orange, but it matches the new penny in my pocket); and of course I suggested and Tigana seconded "Tardis" because it is, did I mention, larger on the inside than the outside. Thus we get today's column title, and the compromise long form, though Tigana and I like the idea of just going with Tardis -- as in, "Hey, Tigana and I are just going to hop in the Tardis to go down to Starbucks for a couple of Chai, but we'll be back before we leave!"
The other thing that has struck us, is how much we do drive. One doesn't normally pay much attention to the odometer, but one can't help noticing when you put the first 50K or 200K or etc on the car, and these milestones (kilometerocks?) have been coming a lot faster than we would have expected since we are only a couple of K from work. But driving the kids to daycare/school, going shopping, etc, apparently takes a lot of driving in a week. But at least for the time being all that driving is FUN.
This is, in fact, my first actual NEW car, never having had the cash before for anything other than hand-me downs. My last two cars were from my Father-In-Law, and the one before that was purchased for $800 from a sympathetic co-worker. (Okay, the word "cash" may be a bit inaccurate here since we are buying entirely on credit, but you get the idea.)
The car is a Honda Fit, which is new to the North American market, but has been selling in Japan and Europe as the Jazz for several years. The "Fit" name is undoutbably to emphasize that it has a roomy interior, even though it is a subcompact. I confess myself surprised when I actually fit into it, since whenever we have rented cars, I've had to specify the high end models because at six feet, 250lbs there was never any possibility of my getting into the compacts. But damned if there isn't more head room in this new Honda than in the wagon we were driving before. It feels as roomy as our Van, for crying out loud.
Luggage space appeared to be a problem, but as a test we gathered up all the suitcases we'd actually used on our last trip to Edmonton down to the dealership to see how many we would have to give up, and darned if they didn't all fit in okay. Miracle of design engineering, because you would swear this car is bigger on the inside then the outside.
I hadn't wanted to buy a new car, but our current vehicle is on its last wheels. The transmission bumps with every change of gears, so probably only has a month or two left in it, and the cost of replacing that far exceeds the $1000 the insurance company tells us our car is now worth. And there are a myrid other problems, like the passenger door falling apart, something leaking out the front end, etc. etc. etc. Even so, I had wanted to wait until February to buy a new car, since I've always heard you get a better deal in Feb, but the deterioration on our current ride had reached the point where I was only putting in half a tank of gas at a time because I wasn't convinced it would last another full tank.
I love our new car. It handles like a sports car, it has a kicking stereo, and it parks unbelievably easily. Suddenly, driving is fun again.
So then the first order of business, according to the wife and kids, was to name it. Mary nominated "Frisky" because it is the same color as her late Aunt's old Colt, a car with very fond memories for both of us; Penny was an obvious alternative because it is copper color (officially Blaze Orange, but it matches the new penny in my pocket); and of course I suggested and Tigana seconded "Tardis" because it is, did I mention, larger on the inside than the outside. Thus we get today's column title, and the compromise long form, though Tigana and I like the idea of just going with Tardis -- as in, "Hey, Tigana and I are just going to hop in the Tardis to go down to Starbucks for a couple of Chai, but we'll be back before we leave!"
The other thing that has struck us, is how much we do drive. One doesn't normally pay much attention to the odometer, but one can't help noticing when you put the first 50K or 200K or etc on the car, and these milestones (kilometerocks?) have been coming a lot faster than we would have expected since we are only a couple of K from work. But driving the kids to daycare/school, going shopping, etc, apparently takes a lot of driving in a week. But at least for the time being all that driving is FUN.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Tigana and Robert Munsch
Took Tigana to see Robert Munsch reading tonight at the Yates Theater. This was our third Munsch reading, having previously seen him in Halifax and at the University in Lethbridge. I thought he ws strating to look older and bit tired at the strt of the reading, but he gathered momentum as the show progressed, and I always enjoy hearing the stories about how the stories came about.
Munsch, as is his standard procedure, invited kids from the first few rows to either offer their names to be substituted into this or tht story, or occasionally to join him on stage while he told the story. Tigana inevitably put up her hand to be chosen, but I pointed out to her that since we were way back in row H, she might as well not bother. "No problem," she says, and calmly walks down, and then onto the stage. "Tigana, get back here!" I whisper shout, as Munsch, says, "Who would like to volunteer for...?" He turns and sees Tigana walking onto the stage. "Ah", he says, "Perhaps this young lady who is already on stage -- which I have to say is a bit pushy, but apprently effective."
And so Tigana got to sit on stage next to Robert Munsch and to say "No!" on cue to the story Johnathan's Snowsuit, magically transformed into the story of Tigana's Snowsuit.
The phtoto isn't very clear, but then I took it with my cell phone from row H and it had to cope with the too bright lighting of the stage enviornment.
And I must say I was impressed that Munsch got the pronunciation of Tigana's name first try. So either he is very good with names (well he'd have to be to pull off that aspect of his show day after day) or he recognized the title....
But that's my daughter... Not a lot of stage fright....
Munsch, as is his standard procedure, invited kids from the first few rows to either offer their names to be substituted into this or tht story, or occasionally to join him on stage while he told the story. Tigana inevitably put up her hand to be chosen, but I pointed out to her that since we were way back in row H, she might as well not bother. "No problem," she says, and calmly walks down, and then onto the stage. "Tigana, get back here!" I whisper shout, as Munsch, says, "Who would like to volunteer for...?" He turns and sees Tigana walking onto the stage. "Ah", he says, "Perhaps this young lady who is already on stage -- which I have to say is a bit pushy, but apprently effective."
And so Tigana got to sit on stage next to Robert Munsch and to say "No!" on cue to the story Johnathan's Snowsuit, magically transformed into the story of Tigana's Snowsuit.
The phtoto isn't very clear, but then I took it with my cell phone from row H and it had to cope with the too bright lighting of the stage enviornment.
And I must say I was impressed that Munsch got the pronunciation of Tigana's name first try. So either he is very good with names (well he'd have to be to pull off that aspect of his show day after day) or he recognized the title....
But that's my daughter... Not a lot of stage fright....
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Grant McCracken on China
Quote of the day, from Grant McCracken, first rate anthropolist and pop culture commentator.
"China is now finished with catch-up and will someday begin to pull away. This is a country moving at time-lapse speed. It won't be long, perhaps, before it passes us and disappears into the future."
"China is now finished with catch-up and will someday begin to pull away. This is a country moving at time-lapse speed. It won't be long, perhaps, before it passes us and disappears into the future."
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Kasia Lyrics
The title will probably frustrate googlers looking for that Polish singer, but I wanted to jot down about Kasia's singing to me last night before I forget... I find that my blog misses too many of the big events in our lives because we are too busy going through said events, and then I miss the trivial stuff because I feel I ought to write up the big stuff first, which I never get around to, so everything gets missed.....
Anyway, while putting Kasia, our 2.5 year old, to bed last night, she started singing to me -- largely to forestall my signing to her, I suspect, but that is another story -- I was vastly entertained to hear her rendition of that old classic:
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Have you any fluff?
This was followed by a rousing rendition of
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I know I know I know
which either indicates that she is a child with a high degree of certainty, or an odd attraction to existentialism.
Later in the evening, when I was trying to get her to lie down and actually go to sleep, as opposed to merely being in bed, I told her, "Kasia, you can't go to sleep if you keep talking to yourself like that!" to which she replied, "I'm sorry Daddy," and then proceeded to continue her self dialog in a whisper so as not to disturb herself by talking too loudly....
Which all goes to show that we say and what our kids hear may not have a lot of overlap.
But Kasia's speech has exploded since she had her tonsils out July 20th. Kasia spoke very little before that, to the point that I was becoming a bit concerned, especially in comparison to Tigana who was taking legal briefs at the same age. But we had a lot of trouble understanding Kasia, and it now appears that after saying the same thing four or five times without our getting it, she simply gave up and went back to pointing and speaking in monosyllabic grunts. Turns out there was nothing wrong with her speech, just that her adnoids etc were making her too nasal to understand, and once removed, her speech is suddenly significantly clearer, so that she now considers it worth her while to speak in 600 word monologue. It's like a switch has been thrown and all that speech that was trapped insider her is now able to flow out. Almost worth the operation alone, even if it doesn't completely cure the apnia...
Anyway, while putting Kasia, our 2.5 year old, to bed last night, she started singing to me -- largely to forestall my signing to her, I suspect, but that is another story -- I was vastly entertained to hear her rendition of that old classic:
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Bad sheep,
Have you any fluff?
This was followed by a rousing rendition of
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I know I know I know
which either indicates that she is a child with a high degree of certainty, or an odd attraction to existentialism.
Later in the evening, when I was trying to get her to lie down and actually go to sleep, as opposed to merely being in bed, I told her, "Kasia, you can't go to sleep if you keep talking to yourself like that!" to which she replied, "I'm sorry Daddy," and then proceeded to continue her self dialog in a whisper so as not to disturb herself by talking too loudly....
Which all goes to show that we say and what our kids hear may not have a lot of overlap.
But Kasia's speech has exploded since she had her tonsils out July 20th. Kasia spoke very little before that, to the point that I was becoming a bit concerned, especially in comparison to Tigana who was taking legal briefs at the same age. But we had a lot of trouble understanding Kasia, and it now appears that after saying the same thing four or five times without our getting it, she simply gave up and went back to pointing and speaking in monosyllabic grunts. Turns out there was nothing wrong with her speech, just that her adnoids etc were making her too nasal to understand, and once removed, her speech is suddenly significantly clearer, so that she now considers it worth her while to speak in 600 word monologue. It's like a switch has been thrown and all that speech that was trapped insider her is now able to flow out. Almost worth the operation alone, even if it doesn't completely cure the apnia...
Monday, July 17, 2006
Tigana learns about Meteghan
has shown up in Google already, but ranked quite low -- page 11 for "Meteghan" and page 13 for "Meteghan Nova Scotia" and page 8 for "Acadians". I'm not sure teachers will persevere through pages of houses for sale listings or classified ad pages to find my curriculum resource.
It does a little better on Yahoo --Page 5 (#41) for "Meteghan"; but then only #70 for "Acadians".
Hopefully, the site will rise as social studies sites start to list it and teachers click on it enough to increase traffic so Google and Yahoo promote it, so that more teachers find it, and so allowing the site to slowly spiral up. But feel free to link to it in your blogs etc to strt driving it up now....
It does a little better on Yahoo --Page 5 (#41) for "Meteghan"; but then only #70 for "Acadians".
Hopefully, the site will rise as social studies sites start to list it and teachers click on it enough to increase traffic so Google and Yahoo promote it, so that more teachers find it, and so allowing the site to slowly spiral up. But feel free to link to it in your blogs etc to strt driving it up now....
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Mary's article in Human Relations
And in other news, Mary's article "Cold War, chilly climate: Exploring the roots of gendered discourse in organization and management theory" in volume 59 #5 of Human Relations, pages 695-720 is available on the web from Sage. It is essentially one chapter from her dissertation, so gives one a good feel for what she has been doing with her life these last couple of years. (I mean, besides raising a family and holding down a full time teaching position here at the UofL.)
How I spent my summer vacation
As mentioned earlier, Mary's graduation from St. Mary's took us to Halifax in May, which meant taking Tigana out of school. So Mary came up with the brilliant idea that as long as we were in Nova Scotia, we could visit the town of Meteghan, which is one focus of the Grade 2 Social Studies Curriculum, thus enriching Tigana's school experience and at least partially compensating for the fact that she was missing a week of school. Being the Runte Family, we sometimes get carried away, and the following website was the curriculum resource that resulted from our visit. (Meteghan was just added to the provincial curriculum last year and a lot of Grade 2 teachers were left scrambling trying to find resources. Well, hope this helps!)
Tigana learns about the Acadians
I'd be keen to hear your feedback and or suggestions for improvement. Feel free to link to it in your own blogs so that I can drive it up in the Google listings under "Meteghan" or "Acadians".
Tigana learns about the Acadians
I'd be keen to hear your feedback and or suggestions for improvement. Feel free to link to it in your own blogs so that I can drive it up in the Google listings under "Meteghan" or "Acadians".
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Quote of the day
"People tell you what you want to hear, long before you hear what they want to say." (Keith Fenske, May 2005)
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Ten Commandments
Here is a great little video clip exposing hypocrisy of American religious right.....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=veIU0Jwu54w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=veIU0Jwu54w
Friday, June 16, 2006
Speaking of Airports
I'm writing a trip report on our journeys to Montreal, Halifax, Meteghan, Calgary and Banff over the past month or so, but it has to wait until I can get my Garageband files to work. In the meantime, however, I would like to relate one minor incident that pretty well sums up life with a 2 and a half year old:
We are in Halifax airport. Mary and Tigana have gone off in search of Star Bucks; Kasia and I have settled into one of the three play areas thoughtfully provided by the airport authority in the departure lounge. Kasia climbs to the top of the Fisher-Price treehouse, looks out at the vast crowd awaiting for their various flights to be announced, and cries out at the top of her lungs, "F***, Dad! F***, F*** F***."
Somewhat taken aback to discover Kasia has added the F*** word to her vocabulary, I sweep her into my arms and ask what is the matter.
"F***, Dad, F***!
"Yes, well, um, can you use another word and tell Daddy what is wrong?"
"F***, Dad! Put me down!"
Um, Kasia, I can't see that there is anything wrong, and you keep using that word--"
"F***! Put me down! I want Mommy! F***! Mommy, help! F***!"
It begins to occur to me, that to the crowd of onlookers now starring in our direction, it looks very much like some white-haired guy (clearly too old to be this child's parent) is attempting to carry off a toddler who is swearing and calling for its Mommy, and that this could easily be misconstrued; at a minimum, I am a bad parent who has taught his kid how to swear colourfully and very loudly. I put Kasia down.
She immediately treks back to the Fisher-Price Treehouse and points at its plastic roots. "F***, Daddy, F***!"
I bend over, and detect, molded into the giant plastic roots of the giant plastic tree, a plastic frog.
"Oh, FROG!" You're trying to say, FROG!" I explain to Kasia -- and every passanger within a hundred foot radius --"the word is FROG!"
"That's right Daddy, F***!"
Next time I hit my thumb with the hammer, or otherwise require an expletive, I think I'll yell out "Frooooggggy!"
We are in Halifax airport. Mary and Tigana have gone off in search of Star Bucks; Kasia and I have settled into one of the three play areas thoughtfully provided by the airport authority in the departure lounge. Kasia climbs to the top of the Fisher-Price treehouse, looks out at the vast crowd awaiting for their various flights to be announced, and cries out at the top of her lungs, "F***, Dad! F***, F*** F***."
Somewhat taken aback to discover Kasia has added the F*** word to her vocabulary, I sweep her into my arms and ask what is the matter.
"F***, Dad, F***!
"Yes, well, um, can you use another word and tell Daddy what is wrong?"
"F***, Dad! Put me down!"
Um, Kasia, I can't see that there is anything wrong, and you keep using that word--"
"F***! Put me down! I want Mommy! F***! Mommy, help! F***!"
It begins to occur to me, that to the crowd of onlookers now starring in our direction, it looks very much like some white-haired guy (clearly too old to be this child's parent) is attempting to carry off a toddler who is swearing and calling for its Mommy, and that this could easily be misconstrued; at a minimum, I am a bad parent who has taught his kid how to swear colourfully and very loudly. I put Kasia down.
She immediately treks back to the Fisher-Price Treehouse and points at its plastic roots. "F***, Daddy, F***!"
I bend over, and detect, molded into the giant plastic roots of the giant plastic tree, a plastic frog.
"Oh, FROG!" You're trying to say, FROG!" I explain to Kasia -- and every passanger within a hundred foot radius --"the word is FROG!"
"That's right Daddy, F***!"
Next time I hit my thumb with the hammer, or otherwise require an expletive, I think I'll yell out "Frooooggggy!"
Drunk Pilots
Okay, this is very funny....in a completely scary kind of way.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/115499/drunk_airline_pilots/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/115499/drunk_airline_pilots/
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