Star Trek Red Shirt Ninja Dolls and Squirrel Vandalism

Woohoo, my Star Trek Red Shirt Ninja Doll arrived! You can adopt your own Ninja Doll for just $20 and no shipping fee within North America. Ryan Couldrey also takes commissions.

Red Shirt Ninja Doll was -alive- when he first arrived in my mailbox, according to Ryan, so clearly the Evil Neighbourhood Squirrels got to him while Jeff and I were at the cottage.




The squirrels have also been chewing through the METAL cover of our Squirrelbuster feeder. Not only that, but they also chewed the tops off ALL my baby carrot seedlings....GRRR.

But the most shocking fact of all: they somehow managed to infiltrate my basement office while we were at the cottage! Check out the note that was left on my office door:



And here are just a few of the vandalistic post-it notes left around my office:



But the war is not yet over, oh no, not by a long shot....



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Memorabilia follow-up

Now that we're well into summer, my Blatherposting schedule is likely to be sporadic; this goes for my time online as well. Will Write For Chocolate has been updated, but there likely won't be another new strip until mid-July.

Thanks so much for the yoga tips and DVD recommendations in LJ. Several of you strongly recommended taking some classes first, to make sure I have the proper technique before getting a DVD. This makes sense, but my schedule is more hectic these days; I think I'll probably postpone trying yoga for now.



I enjoyed reading your posts about my childhood memorabilia Blathering. Thanks to djbp for pointing out that Cyborg was a text adventure game. I'm sure I must have played it at some point, therefore, but confess I have no recollection. Ah, I miss those brain cells.

And thanks to jhayman for identifying my Mom's old travel sewing box. "That Murray's Erinmore Flake tobacco tin that your mom kept stuff in brought back memories for me. My dad smoked that brand of pipe tobacco. He's been gone just over 22 years. It's never any easier."

msminlr suggested I use family fabric scraps for quilting. Funny you should mention that, Margaret...I've actually been reading some books about quilting. Plus I found a partly finished quilt that my sister put together many years ago, from some of Mom's leftover fabric. After talking to Ruth, I've decided to finish it and we're going to give it to my father.



poslfit suggested that I rework the story about Mom's buttons and send it to the the Globe's Facts and Arguments page. I think I might just do that. John's suggestion also started me thinking that I need to go over old Blatherposts and try turning some of them into personal essay pieces that I could possibly sell to magazines and newspapers.

I also appreciated some of you sharing your own stories about childhood memorabilia. Here's one from aunty-marion:

"When Grandma Beet died, she didn't leave a will, so the house had to be cleared to be sold in order to settle the estate. We all got bits and pieces from her stuff (known in the family as 'Thank you Grandma's), and one of the things I got was most of her sewing stuff.

It included an old glass bottle which had originally contained senna tablets - full of hooks and eyes (and alas I gave it to Mum and Dad to put sweetener tablets in, and Dad dropped it... ;-( ); some buttons, embroidery floss probably older than I am, a silver thimble, and various reels of sewing cotton, including one labelled in French - that one's actually been very useful, as despite the top few layers having aged to the point where they almost rotted, the inner parts were perfectly OK and exactly the right colour to sew the braid onto the edges of the nMC banners we have for our music stands!

Thank you, Grandma..."




What I didn't mention in my post yesterday: whenever I go through stuff in Dad's basement, I always hope to come across something of Jim's as well as my Mom's. It's hard to describe exactly why.

It gives me a certain amount of comfort, touching and holding something that once had significance to them. I especially enjoy finding something that gives me a chance to find out more (even just a little) about them, getting to know them better, helping to keep their memory close.

I still have a shirt of Jim's in my closet. It gives me comfort knowing it's there, even if I rarely look at it.

The newspaper clipping above was one of things I came across in my Dad's basement. I assume parents kept it because Jim was voted the game's most valuable player in that particular hockey game. The article itself isn't that exciting but I can read so much more between the dry lists of names and stats: Jim's flushed and excited face, the piles of hockey equipment, my brother looking so small out there on the ice, the echoes of the cheering crowd in the arena, my parents' beaming pride.

I put the clipping carefully into a plastic slipcase and left it in my father's basement.



Looking forward to seeing my friend Helen and her husband Dan today!

The hummingbird photos were taken at the cottage.


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Teachers and teaching (a follow-up) & B5 update

A while back I posted about teaching and teachers, and posted a survey asking people to name a teacher who had the greatest positive impact on your life.

My blog seems to get decent Google juice, so I also mentioned that I was going to compile your answers in one Blatherpost on the off-chance that one or more of your teachers ever Googles for their name. If I've missed any, please let me know!

Here's what you wrote...

From bigbumble:

My 5th grade teacher. Our school had a nifty science cart and he would regularly bring it to our class. Now I help a local fifth grade teacher every year do model rockets in his class. Or as G. Harry Stine used to say, "You can never pay back, you can only pay forward."

From technoshaman:

Hafta say two. My fifth grade teacher, now Dr. Brenda Gulledge... she fed my love of books with a 2000-volume personal library she amassed over the years with the bonus books from the Scholastic program and other donations... and gus. William Augustus Baird was my advisor and mentor at Georgia Tech... taught a bazillion of us frosh right from wrong when it came to computers... the last thing gus ever did was teach us how funerals ought to be. When he passed there was a brief memorial service, and then we all went out back and told gus stories to each other... and after that we found a proper Irish pub and toasted him neat, "the way God intended," as he would've said.

I still miss him.


From smallship1:

John Ellerton. He was a young English teacher who arrived when I was a couple of years into grammar school, and he let me write stories and marked them for me. Unfortunately I don't think I paid any attention to anything he said, because I was a self-absorbed little monster, but the fact of an impartial non-family audience for my writing was important, I think.

From kyrielle:

Jackie Buisman. She was the teacher who ran the Talented & Gifted program at Sherwood during some of the years I was there. I think she was involved in the testing that determined (sort of as a side effect) that I ought to go to the eye doctor, but I'm not sure of that. I know she taught me a lot of interesting, unusual stuff, and taught me to use my brain...and taught me that I wasn't All That or better than anyone else just 'cause I was in the T&G program. Jackie rocked.

From unkbar:

John Rosato, Problems of American Democracy, 1967, Conestoga Senior High School, Grade 12.

Mr. Rosato taught because he loved teaching. He also owned a construction contracting business which is where he made his real money. After school, he'd hop into his pickup truck with the big toolbox in back and head out to see how his construction guys were doing.

At the beginning of the school year (unlike Ontario, our high school ended at grade 12.) he told us, "For a lot of you, this is your last year of school. I'm going to teach you what you need to know to survive."


This was not your ordinary Senior social studies class. We began the year by reading Voltaire's "Candide", and discussing the philosophy of Candide's philosopher companion, Dr. Pangloss, that "All is for the best, in this best of all possible worlds".

Then he taught us about money. A lot of us thought that when our parents needed money, they "just wrote a check". He taught us how banks work, and what credit is all about, with examples from his construction business. "I borrow money to pay my carpenters, and then pay it back when the homeowner pays me.' 'If they dont pay me, I file a lien against their property", and so on.

When income tax time came around, he got piles of tax forms and taught us how to fill them out.

He got subscriptions to Newsweek, and every week we discussed the news of the world.

The greatest thing he taught us was his own philosophy: "Only work". Do what you love, and you'll be happy. If you're an artist at heart, you'll be happier even as a starving artist than as a yuppie banker who hates her job.

I had many teachers in my life, but Mr. Rosato is the one who taught me the lessons that mean the most to me.




From allisona:

The first teacher that came to mind when I read your question was Mr. DiGregorio, my high school music teacher for four years. He taught in a portable in the back of the school and I trooped out there several times a week to learn clarinet in class and also for band practices. In my third and fourth years when I had class spares I'd go to the music portable and sit in on the younger classes and play instruments I hadn't tried before like saxophone and oboe. Being in that music portable with Mr. DiGregorio teaching was one of my favorite places.

From judifilksign:

Dr. Peterson, Talented and Gifted "TAG" program, a red-headed English teacher in high school who taught me it was more than okay for women to be smart.



From smoooom:

I wish that I had a teacher that stood out somehow. A teacher that inspired me, or even noticed me. In many ways I feel like I was just a space filler, and in High School I was nothing. Someday I really hope that a student I have worked with remembers me in a positive way. I've gotten positive things from some students I've worked with. Including a Purple Teddy bear from a young lady who wanted to "be just like you" someday. will she remember me in 30 years? Who knows.

I do remember some really negative teachers, mostly in England, who had a fairly negative effect on how I felt about me for along time. But eventually you have to take control of your own self worth and not worry about ancient teachers who had no idea what an LD was, let alone that O had one (or two)



From merryb-esq

I've actually been fortunate enough to have many wonderful teachers.

Mr. Stewart who, in the 4th grade when I was in a crisis, said "Time takes care of everything," and was so kind. I loved him for it.

The 7th grade teacher - what was his name??!! -- that let all the sci fi geeks stay in his room at lunch and talk about Star Trek so we wouldn't get beat up.

The 6th grade algebra teacher - can't remember his name, but see his face as clear as day -- who would deal with my math phobia with humor. Once I giggled, I could solve anything.


Mr. Burns - science teacher 6th grade. I was devastated when we were discussing "ectomorphs, mesomorphs, and endomorphs" and some kid said I was clearly the latter, because I was "built like a horse." Mr. Burns took me aside to tell me that Sophia Loren was an endomorph, too.

And so many more, including EVERY Spanish and German teacher I ever had, and some professors at the graduate level who were the most gentle, wise, and kind mentors, ever, including especially, Dr. Broderick at USC.

From damedini:



Mrs Strong, kindergarten. She took a kid who came into kindergarten reading well and doing basic math and not only helped me not stick out, she nurtured me. Even though it made her job harder to give me different work and to make it so I wasn't neither bored nor ostracised. Too bad the first first-grade teacher wasn't as wise.

Mrs. Palmer Schumann, grades 4,5,6. She talked to me like I had a clue and explained why I needed to do even the work that bored me, why I couldn't self-direct my learning (by simply ignoring what I didn't care about). She took me from angry, bored and frustrated non-performer (direct result of the first first-grade teacher) to a very good student.


From starmalachite:

Linda Engle Ruff, high school English, who convinced me that yes, I really was smart enough to go to college, and that if I wanted to go, the student grants and loans were out there somewhere. Her exact words were "If you don't go to college, I'll haunt you!" You have, ma'am.

From mdlbear:

I think the only teacher I really appreciated from kindergarten through 12th grade was the Latin teacher in high school who hosted the chess club, and let the bright kids hang out in his room before school. Never had him for a class, and don't remember his name.

My 10th(?) grade history teacher left me with a lasting hatred of the subject.

Had some great professors in college, though.


From patoadam:

My eighth-grade math teacher, Mr. Suber (Arthur G. Suber, I think) inspired me to love math. You know how a teacher is supposed to teach to the middle of the class? Mr. Suber taught to the top of the class. Before Mr. Suber, math was boring, because I can't recall learning anything in math class that I didn't find obvious. In Mr. Suber's class, I listened raptly, not wanting to miss a word. He didn't get into algebra, but he taught us cool stuff like how to extract square and cube roots by hand, how to do arithmetic in arbitrary bases, and how to do proofs in Euclidean geometry.

He once asked the class to simplify the expression

3^x + 3^x + 3^x

I remember this vividly. Obviously it's 3*3^x, but he said that wasn't simple enough.

As I sat there pondering the expression 3*3^x, the exponent 1 appeared in my mind's eye of its own volition above the first 3, at which point the answer 3^(x+1) became obvious.


Of all the computer science professors I took courses from or otherwise got to know, Donald Knuth was the one I revered, for the clarity and accuracy of his textbooks.

Many textbooks in math and theoretical computer science state and prove theorems without attempting to explain how the person who first proved the theorem might have figured out how to prove it. Knuth does a beautiful job of motivating everything, so that in addition to learning proofs of known theorems, and learning about known algorithms in computer programming, you learn how you, too, might prove new theorems or invent better algorithms.

If you are the first person to find any error in Knuth's multi-volume series The Art of Computer Programming, he will pay you $2.56. He doesn't lose much money that way, because people who receive those checks usually frame them.

From debmats:

Mrs. Cleo Lekas - I had her for first and second grade. She taught me how to read and write. =)

Other favorites would be Dr. Gates who taught high school ancient history and Mr. Wagner who taught high school anthropology.



From peteralway:

Dr Marvin Switzer was a veterinarian who taught 9th grade Biology at West Junior high back in, uh, 1975-ish or so. It was my first science class that wasn't just "science." Mr Switzer really appreciated his brighter students, and he really cared about the subject matter in a way that got us chatting about biology after class. I was fascinated by protozoans, and he ordered me some Paramecium caudatum that I took home and cultured over the summer.

From ccrazy:

I'm going to cheat a little here and name a teacher and school librarian.

The Teacher: Miss Mandell, my 11th grade Chemistry teacher, not just because she was an excellent teacher, but also because she helped keep me sane through some of the usual family conflicts that crop up at that age. When you here someone who is 20 or so years older than you are complaining about her mother doing the same things that your mother is doing to make you crazy, it kind of puts things in a little perspective.


As a teacher, if a student came to learn, she'd do everything she could to try and help that student succeed. She also saw her mission as teaching in general, not just teaching her subject. One of the assignment was to read a non-fiction book and do a book report. The book needed to be from a list of 100 or so books she'd vetted as good reads. They were mostly science related, but very few of them had anything to do with Chemistry. Why this assignment? Because the English department focused on fiction and she felt every one should read at least one good non-fiction book before they got out of high school. For the report everyone else in the class has a 3 page minimum and could type or handwrite the report, I had a 3 page maximum and had to type -- she knew me too well, I could easily squeeze a standard 5 page report onto 3 pages in those days and still have it be legible. As will not surprise anyone who knows me, I not only read a book for my report, but I also ready every book on the list.


Miss Mandell was part of one of my favorite high school moments: First day of school my senior year, I was hanging around the teacher's workroom to say hi to various teachers as they came in. When Miss Mandell came in, the two of us walked together from the workroom to her classroom. About 1/2 way to the class room, we passed a group of 5 of my female classmates leaning up against their lockers, all dressed in the same outfit -- blouse (identical), skirt (same cut different colors), 3" heels (identical save the color) -- who were having a loud conversation about the importance of individuality. Well, I looked at Miss Mandell, her eyes met mine, and we both started running for her classroom -- after all, it would be very bad form to start the school year by laughing at the students. We did manage to get the door closed before we completely lost it.

The librarian: Mrs. Meirer, who was the librarian the the elementary school I attended for 4th - 6th grades. She was of the opinion that of there was one kid in the school who could read the book, the book belonged in an elementary school library. She also was an SF fan and happily pointed me at all the SF in the library. She also was an animal lover who in 6th grade was willing to let me hide in the library with the classroom's boa constrictor whenever we had a substitute teacher. This made me and most of the substitutes very happy, the substitutes because they didn't have to cope with having the snake in the classroom and me because I didn't have to cope with my classmates behavior when there was a sub.



From basykes:

Oh that's easy. Sister Mary William was my English and singing teacher in high school. She snagged me at the end of my Freshman year to ask if I would serve as the Sophomore year book editor. She also got me involved in the school newspaper and set in motion a lifetime of writing and graphic design. I often think about what a huge impact she had on my life.

From mbumby:

My 6th grade teacher, for sure. I'll post about her in my own journal once I find what I wrote up a few years ago. Don't want to try to re-create it .

Babylon Five Virgin Update

SPOILER WARNING: The blog below focuses on my reports while watching Babylon Five for the first time. An LJ feed is also available. If you haven't seen B5 yet and don't want spoilers, please DO NOT click below.

Season 4, Episode 71: The Long Night
Season 4, Episode 72: Into The Fire
Episodes 73, 74 and 75: Epiphanies, The Illusion Of Truth, and Atonement
Season 4, Episode 76: Racing Mars

Plus I've posted summary of Babylon Five songs that people have posted about so far. I know I've missed some (Terence has mentioned at least one, for instance), so please do go over and post if you notice missing info, thanks! Please post on the blog instead of in LJ, to ensure that people reading my B5 blog will see it...thanks!



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Niagara-on-the-Lake trip

Every year for the past 14 years, Ginny has treated Jeff and me to a Niagara-on-the-Lake trip that includes a play at the Shawfest in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We always stay at the same bed and breakfast, a lovely house with a gorgeous back garden, run by an older couple. Sadly, the husband passed away since our last visit but his wife was just as gracious as hostess as always.



This year we saw "Getting Married" by Bernard Shaw. I enjoyed the play, though not as much as some of the others we've seen in the past. The production has some clever and fast-pasted dialogue, I especially liked a vibrant and fascinating character played by Laurie Paton.

There's something about live plays that can't be duplicated by watching a movie. It's not just the play itself, but intimacy of the whole experience...the sets and costumes (with no help from computer graphics!) and live actors performing right in front of you, knowing there's no chance to re-do a scene or fix a flubbed line after the fact.



I wore the new butterfly top that I made recently, with the beads sewn in by hand. I ended up adding some black bias tape to the neckline and armholes for a neater finish, and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I wish I had remembered to ask Ginny or Jeff to take a photo. :-(

After the play, we strolled down the main street and peeked into some of the shops. I found myself fingering some of the clothes to try to figure out how they were made, examining the seams and stitching. I'm such a sewing nerd.



For dinner, Ginny took us to Peller Estates, where we all decided to have the Red Wine Tasting meal. Six courses, with five of them paired with a different wine. Each course consisted of a small but exquisitely presented portion:



1. Baco Noir Cured Elk Bresaola: Pear, Endive and Chevre Noir Salad. Wine: Baco Noir "Private Reserve" 2006. Really liked this wine!

2. Smoked Char on Rye: Smoked Arctic Char, Cured Bacon, Asparagus Tarar with Toasted Rye. Wine: Gamay Noir "Private Reserve" 2006.

3. Slow Roasted Magret Duck Breast: Grape Mustard, Mushroom Ravioli and Glazed Savagine. Wine: Merlot "Andrew Peller" 2002.

4. Frost (a delicious and refreshing crushed ice flavoured with a type of ice wine whose name I forget plus cardamom -- supposed to clear the palate)

5. Cabernet Braised Beef: Niagara Spring Vegetable Meritage, Bone Marrow Jus. Wine: Cabernet Savignon "Andrew Peller" 2002. My favourite course, though the duck was a close second. The beef was soooooo tender!

6. Chocolate Cherry "Potsticker": Chocolate soup, Pastry Pops. Wine: Cabernet Franc Icewine "Andrew Peller" 2006. The Pastry Pops were actually pop rocks (!) that we were supposed to sprinkle into the small cup of chilled chocolate soup before drinking it. Great fun. :-D We all -loved- the icewine; Jeff and I ended up buying two bottles as well as a bottle of the Baco Noir from the first course, and some Chardonnay.

It was an excellent meal with fantastic service, and Chef Jason Parsons graciously agreed to sign a copy of the menu for me afterward.

Thanks so much for a wonderful trip, Ginny!





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Rainjoy

Yay for rain! Hopefully it'll take the edge off the recent heat wave. I went out yesterday in the fiercest part of the downpour, on the way to the subway station. I had an umbrella but a few minutes later I was soaked anyway; a car speeding through a nearby puddle sent a big sheet of water that hit me full on. I gasped...then started laughing; I'm sure the people huddled in a nearby bus shelter must have thought I was crazy.

But at that point I figured, what's the point of getting mad? The water was warm and actually quite refreshing after the damp mugginess earlier in the day. With an extra change of clothes in my backpack (which was covered by a waterproof cover recently given to me by my Dad from Japan), I figured I might as well enjoy the experience.

So I didn't bother trying to find a way around the huge rushing streams of water as I crossed the road; I just waded through it all in my sandals. It was a tad damp sitting in the subway car, but I was wearing my camping shorts from Mountain Co-op and they were almost dry by the time I got downtown and met Jeff. I had on the top I wore in Urban Tapestry's concert at Balticon, which is actually a quick-dry sports top that my sister bought me for my birthday. I -love- clothes that are comfortable and practical as they are nice-looking.

Jeff's dad and our friend Harry hadn't arrived at Starfish yet, so I took a few minutes to change into a swirly black skirt I had rolled up in my backpack, and drag a comb through my hair. Ta-dah! Ready for an evening out. I am so not a normal Girly-Girl. My sandals were still damp but an appetizer plate of oysters distracted me. Mmmm.



Note for non-writer types: SASE - "Self Addressed Stamped Envelope"



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