dimanche 22 février 2009
Un mélange des choses
In light of the 25 things craze that is hitting Facebook, here's a much-shorter list about what's been happening in my life lately:
1. I celebrated Valentine's Day this year by going to a wedding at a funeral home. I'm not sure if/how I'll beat that in the future.
2. I finally had my first taste of Devonshire cream over a week ago and naturally fell in love with it. Good thing I can't make it myself or I'd be eating it all the time.
3. I just discovered that my Myers-Briggs has changed from being an ENFP to an ISFJ. Again, I don't take that much stock in these things but that's quite a drastic shift.
4. "With the economy the way it is", I am finding incredible clothing sales - which is great as I keep putting off having to buy work clothes.
5. The same follows with sales on books, although I've cleared over fifty titles from my bookshelves and am not that eager yet to fill them again.
6. Another good thing is that airfare has gone down; I just purchased tickets for a round trip at the cost of what I would have paid around three or four years ago!
7. I'm developing an aversion to eating out, and with the number of health inspection scares that are escalating, I'm glad I'll be mostly eating at home.
8. Wow, I'm one of the uninsured young adults this article speaks of, although my reason has to do with once again, "the economy" and its impact on my workplace.
9. I'm wondering if my constant and unexplainable fatigue can be attributed to a sleeping disorder. See above point about self-diagnosis :)
10. The one-year Bible reading plan I'm on is driving me nuts as it seems to jump from place to place without much reason or rhyme; I'll have to use a different plan next year.
Libellés : everyday life, news
samedi 27 septembre 2008
Prayer rally
Here is a helpful post on Praying for Iran that Josh Harris wrote, which caught my attention because it coincides with the Alberta-wide prayer rally taking place today at Airdrie Alliance Church.
Libellés : news
dimanche 17 août 2008
Free speech
I came across something really interesting in the paper yesterday and thought I'd post it rather than having to save the article itself for a couple of paragraphs:
"Reading up on how the Anglo-American tradition of free speech came about, I came across many examples of one-man proprietorships in the early days: The fellow who owned the Gutenberg was also reporter, editor, publisher, printer, delivery boy and business manager.
No surprise, these people did what they did because they had a point to make.
Generally, it was a religious one and parenthetically, one of the things least understood now is how large is the blood-debt owed by the secular right of free speech to stubborn Protestant printers of the 16th and 17th centuries, who fought authorities to present truth as they saw it."
- excerpt from "Why newspapers beat the Internet for accuracy" by Nigel Hannaford, Calgary Herald, The Editorial Page, A26, August 16, 2008
Libellés : news
samedi 8 mars 2008
Printemps
I love taking strolls on days like this - it's so bright, refreshing, and cheery! I'm glad that I got to enjoy the sunniest reading break ever (okay, it's been my only reading break ever) and I'd have to say it was nice not to have to face all the snowstorms in Montreal. And now, the gorgeous weather seems to be continuing; what a nice start to March!
I've been plugging away on my course projects and it's been great to get a few things done. This week was a little impossible in terms of getting everything finished since it was pretty full but it was lovely to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. All in all, I have had a church meeting, three academic meetings, four restaurant outings with former professors and classmates, and four meetings at peoples' houses in the past five days. I had to cancel a few other plans unfortunately but no wonder I'm feeling a little run-down! I hope I can catch up with a lot of things this weekend :)
In non-school news, I'm really excited to hear that there will be a Canadian "Do Not Call" registry that will be up and running this fall. For some reason, I have been bombarded with an excessive amount of telemarketing calls over the last few months and it's been driving me nuts! Of all the calls I receive, maybe 2 out of 10 calls are actually legitimate; the rest fall into the category of hurried-speaking-indicating-some-marketing-pitch call. I usually end up ignoring them but really, when they keep calling during the evenings when I am trying to do my homework, it's somewhat frustrating. It'll be nice if this registry does become one step closer toward eliminating these pesky calls!
Libellés : news
lundi 21 mai 2007
Old news
This happened a few weeks ago but I just came across it today on William Crawley's blog. According to this statement from the Evangelical Theological Society, former president Francis Beckwith has converted from evangelicalism back to Catholicism. Christianity Today interviewed him about this decision shortly afterwards. I found this to be an interesting statement: "I still consider myself an evangelical, but no longer a Protestant." I've heard of evangelical Catholics before, mostly within the context of some Quebecois churches, but I'm afraid I haven't heard much else. Anyways, this will certainly bring about more dialogue concerning Protestant-Catholic theology and relations.
Libellés : news
vendredi 18 mai 2007
Customer service
I always thought it was terrible having to deal with customer service what with all that waiting for who knows how long and talking to sometimes overly-grumpy individuals, but I never would have imagined such a painful experience could result from a simple mathematical misunderstanding. This extremely exasperating phone call demonstrates how the concept of 100fold should make a huge difference in payment charges, only to be glossed over by two customer service representatives. The story behind this incident is quite incredible as well. The man is so patient in trying to describe his dilemma for almost half an hour but to no avail; the good news is he does eventually receive a refund, although without a proper explanation from the company. Maybe metricization wouldn't be such a bad idea after all? Wow, this makes me wonder how I sound on the phone when I'm trying to explain to telemarketers (yes, different scenario I know) that I'm not interested in their products/services. I'm just grateful I haven't had to endure such a trying situation with any company to this man's extent!
Favourite line: Something to the effect of dollars versus cents being a matter of opinion... what?!
Libellés : news
mercredi 22 mars 2006
One action needed
Libellés : news
jeudi 1 septembre 2005
Happy birthday!
Alberta turned 100 today! I just finished watching Alberta Spirit, something about the party of the century which showed clips of 11 cities throughout the province. It was neat to see the new Jubilee Auditorium on the show, but I'll have to see it in person sometime. There were also a ton of fireworks, both from Olympic Plaza and from Elliston Park. Well, it may be September now but I still enjoy the Centennial commercials that they air on television and hope they don't go away just yet. As well, I think I may just have to bring some of Paul Brandt's music with me to Montréal next year :)
Libellés : news
mardi 28 juin 2005
Short term memory
Apparently, this little hiccup of space in my layout is being caused by Blogger Images. There is a proposed solution but it doesn't seem to be working on mine, maybe it will on yours if you have the same problem.
So, Bill C-38 was passed today (same sex marriage). Or by pass, had a reading in the House of Commons and was voted upon by the MPs - oh boy, I fear I've lost all of my Social Studies knowledge now. I'm wondering why the Prime Minister felt that this could not wait until the fall session, but instead had to be rushed for the summer. I guess issues like this take precedence over... I don't know, everything else. I'll have to wait to hear what the government will say about protecting religious rights.
Calgary's in for the third flood watch of the month. I suppose we're all getting weary of rain now. And I finally saw the flooding pictures that Laura was talking about from China. Water's probably not feeling too popular at this point.
I listened to a sermon last night that was from the beginning of this year. The speaker was talking about the tsunami that happened half a year ago now. I'll be honest; I haven't thought about that in a long time. I hope the restoration of those countries and recovery of their people are going well, since I haven't heard about it lately on the news.
Onto less important news, I am going to rent some movies and put my brain on hold this week. I decided a while ago that I never wanted to go to a theatre again, so there should be a nice backlog of movies that are actually worth watching. I will also have to start my research this weekend, and go through the twenty books I have (for starters) but I still have a few days left.
Libellés : news
jeudi 16 juin 2005
Sigh of relief
So, there was a point to all of those achievement tests and diploma exams I had to take throughout elementary school, junior high and high school. Apparently, the Malaysian Star has an article about how Alberta has the best schools in Canada. Here's an excerpt:
Alberta is one of the few provinces in Canada to administer standardised assessment tests for all students in the core subjects – reading, writing and mathematics – in Grades Three, Six and Nine. Alberta students scored the highest marks in reading and were among the top three in science and mathematics for the 2000 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests. In the 2003 PISA they were number one in reading, second in mathematics and fourth in science.
I guess all I can say is, yay. Thirteen years of my life were spent very well :)
- Link via The Calgary Observer
Libellés : news
lundi 14 mars 2005
Spare a Terry?
Someone told me this story today and I thought it was an urban legend, or at the very least, one of those gullibility tests (I seem to fall for those). I guess I was wrong. It wasn't so much that I didn't think Terry Fox would be commemorated on a Canadian coin, but this part:
"Usually the coin is called the loonie, but Fox suggests perhaps Canadians should call this coin the 'Terry.'"
I suppose it makes sense; you wouldn't want to call somebody a loonie. But Queen Elizabeth is on the coin too... along with the loon on the other side.
vendredi 29 octobre 2004
It can't come soon enough
Before I write anything else, I am going to rant on one thing: I can't wait until the American presidential election is over. Campaigning should not last this long (look at the Canadians). That's not all. If you're American, please just go and vote. Although I am against voter apathy, that's not my motive for writing this. Rather, it's about why celebrities need to go around telling people to vote. That is a simple act that should be ingrained in you as a byproduct of living in a democratic nation. Why would you need Hollywood stars to inspire you to go and cast your vote? Also, I'm waiting for the mud-slinging commercials about opposing candidates to go away. It's caused me to watch a lot less American television which is great for studying, but it's ruined some of the shows I do watch.
Anyways, it's the middle of midterms for me right now. I ended up writing one of the worst tests I've ever had, but the good news is that everyone else in the class felt the same way. I think we're getting compensated for it quite well though thanks to our prof. I miss the days of scaling. I took a math honours class a while back and partway through, I lost any hope of doing well in the class. I had a discouraging teacher, horrible help during tutor sessions and no time to do three times the amount of homework assigned. I pretty much gave up and stopped doing any work, but because we were scaled I passed the class and aced it for someone who didn't even open the textbook. I'm not saying it was fair but I didn't mind it at all ;) On a related note, I'm thinking of taking a math class at the university. Not sure how it's going to work out but I will try to fit it into my schedule somehow.
Libellés : news
samedi 14 août 2004
Summer Olympics
The earliest I actually remember watching was the one in Barcelona in 1992. I vaguely remember Seoul but I wasn't too concerned with that one. And I have no memory of Los Angeles. I thought that was really neat when the opening events showed a runner going around the track announcing the past Olympic years and cities. Eerie when he fell down at WWI and stopped at WWII.
Anyways, I was happy that the show today was being announced in both Greek and French. I'm learning both of those right now, so this gives me more incentive to get through the material!
For some reason, my sidebar is now at the bottom of the page. That's what I get for writing long posts! At least, I think that's the reason why it's been bumped.
Libellés : news
dimanche 31 août 2003
In retrospect
I realize my rant on not getting along with my relatives was really immature. Now I regret not spending more time with them and possibly telling them of my faith. All I can do now is pray that God will bring friendlier Christians into their lives back in E-town. Argh, I feel like an idiot for not taking more chances to talk to them. But thanks to Sharon for leaving me a comment with tips on how to make visits better next time.
I'm just in a cruddy mood right now. I learned another lesson this morning. Maybe the Word can explain it:
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
- Psalm 146:3-4
Do not trust a neighbor;
put no confidence in a friend.
Even with her who lies in your embrace
be careful of your words....
But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD ,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
- Micah 7:5, 7
At least it's a good lesson to learn. And to top my mood today: news that the government will be eliminating smiling and frowning on passport pictures. Gosh, there goes my horror of a picture. Or maybe it'll fit into their standards! Anyways, I start school in three days. Tuesday is orientation day and I get to take pictures for the yearbook of the new students. Hmm, I guess summer really is over. Happy Labour Day tomorrow!
Libellés : Bible, Christian life, news
