30 May 2011

Te He!

I found this image linked from craftgawker but I can't seem to find the original site!! Gah!

Source


It's too good not to share, so I'm going to keep searching for the source. I found it, I found it!! Giving credit where credit is due.

Camping

During my second internship (at a high school this time) I volunteered with an Outdoor Pursuits class and joined the class on a two-day camping trip. This past weekend both Greg and I volunteered for another camping trip. This was just a one-nighter, but it was a hike in and camp rather than car camping like the first adventure.

The camp was on the Kingston Peninsula at a Scout Camp:



The weather was pretty agreeable given how rainy it has been lately (in ALL of the Maritimes!) We only had 1 million black flies to deal with. The benefit to having so many was that I could develop a pretty solid hypothesis: black flies like things that are black in colour more so than other colours. Unfortunately both my rain jacket and lighter-jacket-zippy-shirt were black.

Lesson learned.

We saw lots of different flowering plants and birds. One that I've only seen in the Ontario Trillium Foundation logo:

Source



We set up a tent, but this is the cabin that served as a lovely kitchen for the epic camping cooking that ensued. Not too sure what's with the giant water tank in front of the cabin?


Blowing on the boiling water + spaghetti to hopefully keep the whole thing from overflowing:


Using the top of the pot to warm up the sauce. It was frozen initially, but thankfully melted quite a bit by the time we wanted to have dinner:


Bill, the teacher of the Outdoor Pursuits class, had this crazy tiny wash cloth that when you put it in water it expanded. This is it before, in comparison to my hand:


This is the after, pretty impressive!


I paused later in the day for a good o'l self portrait - it's hard to tell because of my headband and zipped up coat, but I chopped my hair off. Apparently 6 inches were cut from the back, I didn't know I had that much hair to cut off! Better pictures will eventually show up.


Sunday we packed up and headed back out to the main camp:



There was this really wobbly bridge we had to cross...


The bridge crossed this pond which is full of all kinds of birds (there's a giant osprey nest at the top of the centre tree) and a beaver dam far off in the picture. The trees in the surrounding area have definitely felt the impact of the beavers, there were a bunch gnawed on and falling over.

Greg told me a neat fact, that next to humans beaver have the most impact on their environment.

26 May 2011

VROOM!

Greg and I are now proud owners of our very own car:


It turns out that not all used car dealers are sleazy - hooray! In addition to getting me to and from schools in the fall (fingers crossed) it will also provide transportation for summer adventures, camping here we come!

Bust a Move

I love Beyonce, I mean really how can you not? Even if you don't like her music you have to appreciate her dancing AND singing ability.

I didn't initially like her new song, but it's grown on me. Perhaps because I've watched the video a few times to see the choreography alone.

Here is the video for her new song, Run the World (Girls):



And here is an AMAZING preformance at the 2011 Billboard Awards (for the actual music skip to the 3 minute mark):

Making Webpages - Easy as 1,2,3

A classmate informed me of this wonderful program that I already have on my computer called iWeb. It allows you to make websites in the easiest fashion possible. I've fiddled with all kinds of website platforms but iWeb is hands down the most user friendly.

Source


I believe it comes with the iLife package, I have an older version so I'm sure the current version has even more options than what I do. Check out what the apple website has to say about iWeb.

To set yourself up with a free domain name there is a wonderful tutorial delivered by a kid:

19 May 2011

Mumford and Sons

Not that this is news, but Mumford and Sons are an amazing band!

As I'm emerging from my internship bubble I am back to realizing life exists outside of school - crazy, I know!

This has been a band that I have been meaning to really listen to for awhile. Turns out their album Sigh No More is an excellent selection while doing homework. My other favorite homework album is In the Reins by Calexico + Iron and Wine.

If you are unfamiliar with their tunes here are a few to check out (PS. They like swears from time to time)





And for good measure, here is the opening track from In The Reins:

14 May 2011

Talking Dog - C'mon!

Yea I know, It's been awhile and I'm posting about a talking dog. But I LOOOOOOOOVE dogs and this is just a hilarious little waste of your time :



I love the dog voice, so appropriate.

Rapping to Educate

If only I could turn each lesson I teach into a wicked rap! In the meantime here is a rap about climate scientists:

  I'm A Climate Scientist (Clean-RADIO) by DanIlic

Here is the video, but it's not the clean version and has swears:



I actually taught a class this past internship where this COULD have been helpful, except the whole swearing part. So perhaps my best option is to use other people's rapping to supplement when I teach. That could save us all a ton of embarrassment.

The Guardian has an article about the above gives you something to think about, check it out

I thought it was April showers?

The forecast is gloomy for what seems like forever, but at least the trees are budding, grass is growing and flowers blooming like crazy!


I think the ducks like this May weather as well, I'm glad some things are benefitting







A space to better document my days and finds with visual aids and clickable links.