Some miscellaneous links: the Anisa model of education (courtesy of Melanie), a funny lawyer story (courtesy of Christian), commercial Arabic tutorial materials (courtesy of Google), some information about teaching people the Baha’i Faith on the Internet (courtesy of Charlie).
This morning was painful. I went to return my rental to Budget. On the way to the airport, there was an accident which slowed traffic to a crawl. And I forgot to fill up the gas which cost $25. Then on the way back, there was another accident which fully stopped traffic for about 40 minutes!!! Suffice it to say I didn’t get in to work as early as I would have liked.
This evening was great tho. I had my second Ruhi study circle session. Afterwards, the facilitator and I had a great conversation about “Breath not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.” (Baha’u’llah). We discussed how this doesn’t mean that one cannot talk about other people, only that one cannot discuss a person’s faults. As well, this quote doesn’t give any sort of exceptions regarding children, spouses, siblings, or even when you are telling a person directly about their faults. All of it is prohibited! Perhaps there are exceptions specifically made elsewhere in the Baha’i writings… if anyone knows of them, please let me know!
Now I’m back home building more of my Ikea furniture 🙂
By the way, anyone have experience with any of these Arabic-language products? Yet again, let me know!
Today (actually yesterday since it is 1:00am) I had a very large day. Melanie and I woke up at 5:30am to do the Baha’i fast together. We made two kinds of maki sushi, one with crab meat and one with canned tuna meat. Both rolls had avocado and cucumber. Then we said some prayers together and I went to the airport. At the airport I met a nice young man in line at customs. He works in the automotive industry as a project manager. My flight was good and then I went to get a rental car. I ended up with an Nissan Xterra. It’s okay, but it feels a little wobbly on bumps. You will see in a few moments why I got a rental (since I ususally don’t). I went to my apartment. This was my first time driving myself and it went very well – I remembered all the right turns etc. that I had only viewed as a passenger in cabs. I went in to work right away (which meant 12:30). Work went very well. It was a productive day and I felt like things went well with my manager and one of the people on the business side of the organization. I left early though. I walked to the grocery store and got my dinner. I also stopped at Business Depot and bought a wireless keyboard and mouse which I am using at this moment (Logitech). I came home, ate blueberry pancakes and felt the worse for it – serves me right! After eating I finally got to my big thing for the day: I took the SUV and went to Ikea!!! At Ikea I purchased a large number of things including a desk, futon sofa/bed, dinner table and chairs, office chair, lamp, side tables, cushions, clothes hangers, cutlery (12 place settings), and some energy efficient light bulbs. Getting it all into the SUV and then up to my apartment was quite a task! So far I have built the desk, the lamp, the office chair and the dinner table. I have also unwrapped the futon mattress and I will sleep on it tonight 🙂 Good-night!
There is an extremely interesting article up on kuro5hin called Temporal Symbolism in Human Communication. I recommend it particularly to any writers and to those interested in the Baha’i principle of an international auxiliary language.
Thanks to those who emailed me about language learning materials (namely, Ross… do you have a homepage I can link to?)!!!
This past Christmas/New Year’s break, while visiting my family in Fort McMurray, my dad had an insight about my character. He noticed how much I enjoy food. He noted that, in essense, this pleasure is a very sensual delight. Finally, he suggested that if I was concerned about how much I was eating, I might try including more of the arts in my life. So. I have made a small effort in that regard. Particularly with music. I have started to listen to music a little more, I have set up my piano and I regularly sit down at it, and I have started composing with buzz. In the meantime, I have continued to think on this insight. It turns out that it is a little more dark an issue than just a natural inclination to the sensual… I believe I use food as psychological respite, similar in perhaps a small way to the drinking of an alcoholic. Now due to my fantastic metabolism, I am not having a serious weight problem. Nevertheless, I realized that I “use” food when I am lonely or otherwise feeling down. It is something that I turn to instead of to a real solution. At the very least, I should seriously consider saying more prayers. And writing here helps too 🙂
My mom got me a great present for my birthday. I forgot to mention it because it was sent by mail and arrived quite late. She got me “The Idiot” (US$, CA$) by Dostoevsky (google search). I’m now serveral chapters into it and enjoying it very much. The main significance of this work to me is that it is the source of my name. The main character, Prince Mishkin, is the one after whom I am named.
Last Tuesday night I started with a Ruhi book 1 study circle in Jersey City. I am quite happy about it. I last did book 1 back in 1993 or so in a retreat with four other young guys. We became known as the Five Boy Institute. Alexei, Sky Glabush, Dean Kalyan and Cory April were the other attendees. There were three notable aspects of that winter weekend retreat at a cabin. The first, that the water, or some food was bad and we all ended up with multiple trips to the outhouse the one night we stayed over. The second, we didn’t really know how to use the enormous wood-burning stove and we ended up with an indoor temperature of somewhere around 45C (113F). And finally, we had one seriously spiritual weekend with many rounds of the “Fire Tablet” and serious study of the writings.
Gack. Long time no write. Here’s a few quick notes:
Went to Sudbury for a night to visit with Mom, Rob and Cal. Helped them get a phone jack working so they could get internet. Lots of gifts exchanged. Justice got really sick with a cold. Drove back with Alexei. Melanie and I talked about her starting an education business related to homeschooling.
Here’s some misc links: persisting objects, synthetic sapphire, and systems programming in c.
This week I have worked really hard. It is 5:30 am and I just finished at the office! I have a demo tomorrow afternoon and a plane to catch in the evening so I’ve still got lots to do before the “day” is done.
Today was a pretty good day. The second day of Ayyam-i-Ha, we had Melanie’s sister, Kristine, their dad, Benny, and his girlfriend, Linda, over for dinner. Melanie made an absolutely fantastic dinner including home-made bread, a great salad, her amazing squash and apple soup, and bruschetta (sp?). The meal was vegitarian, partly for Linda’s benefit. We opened some gifts. Melanie got me the Strictly Ballroom DVD (US$, CA$), one of my all-time favorites. I first watched it at Cory April’s mom’s house in Saskatoon. I’ll have to watch it again very soon 🙂
The other cool thing today was getting together with a bunch of friends from InSystems. I worked there back a little over a year ago from Oct. 2001 to Feb. 2002. Primarily I was working as the software architect for what became their eXterity products. In particular, I worked on their “Magic” authoring product (due to be released at the end of this month). Aparently it has continued to do very well as a project. Anyway, today a bunch of InSystems people came to have lunch with me at an Indian restaurant called Motimahal. The food was good and the company was excellent. It was so heartwarming to see my friends again. A big “THANKS!” to all of you!
Melanie has been reading “The Absorbent Mind” (US$, CA$) by Maria Montessori. She is incredibly inspired by it. I haven’t read it myself, but I certainly hope to!
I have been researching teaching the kids foreign languages. Two nights ago I did a big search for Arabic and Chinese online tutorials. I didn’t find anything amazing, but I did find some beginner material and some source material that I can use to make better stuff. As well, I’ve got to research some language learning methods. In particular, I want to find out more about “The Silent Method” and the “Power-Glide” materials – anyone have any experience with these, please email me. We are planning on teaching French (because Melanie and I know it fairly well), Chinese (because it is part of Melanie’s heritage and we expect our kids will go to China), and Arabic (so that they can read a substantial portion of the Baha’i writings in their original language, e.g. The Hidden Words). As well, the diversity in these languages we hope will improve their thinking skills.
It’s almost 6am and I’m still up. Today has been odd. I won’t get into all the details, but there’s been some good stuff (including getting lots of good work done), and some bad stuff (including struggles with some spiritual disciplines that I am working on). I watched the Matrix (US$, CA$) again. Amazing movie!! Anyway, for anyone who reads this, please send some “assistance with tests” prayers my way!
Here’s a site with a good selection of Baha’i Prayers.
It’s the wee hours of the morning and I just got a phone call. Two weeks ago, I found out that today is “President’s Day” in the USA. Unfortunately, I had already booked my tickets to leave from Toronto very early in the morning. I would spend a day in Jersey City without being able to go into work. Ick. Particularly when I could spend that time at home… So the woman on the phone informs me that my flight (in 5 hours) is cancelled due to bad weather, would I please consider taking another flight? I would be delighted to fly tomorrow instead and at 9:30am instead of the unfortunate 7:10am I normally book myself for! So there it is.
I’ve started to work with PovRay and Moray which are a very powerful combination for doing 3D modelling and rendering. Moray has a similar style interface to 3D Studio Max. I intend to use the two to model and render some of my custom home designs. Melanie and I share a strong interest in architecture and home design. Someday we hope to design and build our own custom home. Some of the things we want in our home: radiant floor heating, large lot preferrably with natural woodland on it, raised bungalow plan, hardwood and stone floors, high quality and detail and moderate square footage, built in bookshelves, energy efficient and extremely environmentally friendly… and more! I’m sure I will write more about this subject in the future.
Today Melanie and I spent most of the day unpacking boxes. I focussed on boxes of books and papers. Wow!!! We have a lot of books! I’m trying to get rid of papers so I thought I should put a link to this important paper about the internet as a publicly supported utility.
Today, tucked away in a shelf in a little-visited part of a toy store, I found Lego set #8002 – the “Destroyer Droid”. The box was partially crushed, and opened, but all the little packets of pieces seemed to be in place. On enquiry, I was told that the set was priced at $29.00US. I asked if, given the condition of the box, I might get a discount and a decent 20% was quickly offered. I am now the proud owner of this fabulous model. Over five hundred pieces for only twenty-six dollars (including tax). That’s five cents per piece!
An old aquaintance of mine, Bettina Grassman, has a web site. She’s going to India soon.
I’ve been keeping an eye out for a Valentine’s day present for Melanie, but everything is either really expensive or really cheesy. I suspect that I will have to give her something I have made 🙂