Christmas 2009 in Pictures

Well, I took a week off of writing over Xmas because it was so busy! Now, I feel guilty because I have not missed a week since I started this blog thing, so here is a quickie. They say a picture's worth a thousand words. I hope so!


We had the annual Gingerbread construction challenge. This year there were 4 generations working at the table together--pretty cool when you think about it. Grandpa David and Grandma Margaret helped my grandson. It was great to see experience meet enthusiasm!


My youngest son and daughter each tackled their own houses and yards. This year, it seems that the yards got all the attention. (Perhaps that is my influence, switching as I did, to the school of Horticulture?) Two very different themes came out in the houses this year: a curling rink complete with broom-pushing curler and a farm scene with the first ever Christmas llama. My grandson did not want to be left out, so he added a Christmas pig the the chimney of his house. Oh, to be 4 again!


Christmas morning was supposed to start later this year since there were only teenagers and old people in the house, but by 4:20 I was wide awake. By 6:30 the Christmas braid was in the oven, and the kids were awake and ready to go.


Wrappings flew, smiles radiated, and the plastic package opener was put to good use. After some phone calls and a Skype or two, we packed up to go to Jenni and Gareth's for Christmas dinner.



The grandkids were in full Christmas-mode with toys and paper everywhere--just like it should be. No meltdowns and lots of smiles. A bit of fighting over whose car was whose but very good behaviour for all the chaos Christmas morning brings.



Gareth cooked the meal, and we all ate way too much--again, as it should be. More visiting, eating, and playing with the grandkids followed dinner, then it was home to digest and get some much-needed sleep.

I am training my family and friends well. I am happy to tell you that on Christmas day alone, I received 4 donations for students in India! This brings the total sponsored-student count from my family and friends to 10 just for Christmas! Thank you so much! Merry Christmas to all! And Happy New Year!

For the complete set of Christmas 2009 photos, click on this link.

Now This is AutoCAD!

Reality just took a giant leap sideways in my world! I took my son and daughter to see Avatar in 3D today, OMG! I saw some extended previews and a bunch of the behind the scenes stuff when movie producer Jon Landau spoke at the Autodesk University conference the first week of December. The movie uses a bunch of Autodesk software to create the final product. I knew it was going to be good, but it wasn't just good, it was incredible!



The story is not extraordinary, no one ever walked out of Star Wars and said "What a unique story line, I didn't see that coming", but like Star Wars, this movie changes cinematography forever! CG and reality are indistinguishable in this movie, I just can't get over how incredibly real the world looks that was created.



The Avatar characters are so lifelike, the facial expressions so real, I never thought of the leading lady as a CG character, but as a real humanoid. So real, I think she might have to go on my card! (See old Friends episode with Isabella Rossellini) I mean this girl is hot, even in blue!



This is the dawn of a new age in blurring reality, I can't wait to see where this leads. For the first time ever I am going to go back to the theater to see this movie again, this time in 2D. I found the 3D a bit distracting at times, so I want to compare the 2 technologies. I am betting that the movie will be just as impressive in 2D. Now my mind is racing with the possibilities that this technology will bring. What an awesome Christmas present!

'Tis the Season

The winter weather broke today, so our Christmas plans changed to meet the Chinook winds. My son checked out potential Christmas trees in the laneway while walking down the hill from the bus. Every year since we moved to the farm, we have cut a Christmas tree from the lane, and every year we say, "Well, this might be the last year we can cut a tree in the lane."



We grabbed a saw and headed back to the tree he picked. He had to climb the tree to take the top 10 feet. Doing it this way means that the tree doesn't die, and it turns out that this is not the first year we have cut our Christmas tree from this stem. This is the first year the my son cut the tree down all by himself, however, and in a few minutes it was toppling down and he climbed out of the tree.



Last Saturday, my youngest son and daughter (with a little help from me) started to make Christmas decorations for the tree. We worked away all one afternoon under my daughters skillful tutelage. We decided that this year for the first week the tree was up, we would only put on decorations that we made. Then, the next week, we would add those special decorations from Christmases past.



I love L.E.D. lights because they use very little energy and generate almost no heat. After my son and I put the tree up, my daughter came over and we strung lights all over the tree and all over the room, too! We added the homemade decorations to the tree and then listened to Christmas carols on YouTube. Some things stay the same; some things change.



This is a good start for Christmas 2009 with another annual event on Sunday: the gingerbread house party. This year we will have four generations constructing at the same time! Watch for pictures in next weeks blog! You can also follow the 2009 Christmas pictures as they happen by clicking on this link.

A Billion to One

Two weeks ago I was in India surrounded by more than one billion people. I have been in India's largest cities--Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad--where millions of people live and work. There are people everywhere. The busses are full. The streets are crowded at all times of day. Business is happening all around. There is no question that I stand out on the city streets there, but I don't feel threatened or in danger. I do feel out of place.

In the smaller urban centers like Aizawl, Champai, Narsapur, and Guntur I often had a guide or colleague to assist me. These places are just as crowded and just as busy. Traffic is heavy, and, again, business happens everywhere. I have always felt safe, and time and time again people have gone out of their way to help me, but I still feel out of place.

Today, I am alone in a huge house with my nearest neighbour about a mile away. I feel very alone. Even the renters next door left while I was away. Even here, I feel out of place. It was hard to have a simple conversation in India because of the language barrier. Now I have to call someone or just listen to myself talk. I know from experience that it takes a while to adjust to whereever I find my feet, but there is a difference between adjusting and feeling comfortable.

My son will be home soon, and there is no shortage of things to do today, but the trip from a billion to one has taken a lot out of me. The jet lag I can deal with. It is the culture shift I find harder and harder to take. Remember to count your blessings, whatever you consider them to be, because no matter how bad you think you have it right now, there is someone much worse off. Keep looking for that silver lining; I'll bet it is there.

Change - Again!

I am in the middle of a technology orgy where the norm is to be on the edge of the edge, where change is not just accepted but expected, where being static is considered equivalent to full-speed in reverse. I am overwhelmed, exhilarated, and exactly where I want to be. This is the world I want to live in, and, as I said last year, this is the herd I want to run with. I am currently at Autodesk University (AU), my annual pilgrimage to my Mecca. The only constant here year to year is Change.

My first year attending AU was 2001, and the push that year was solid modeling (building 3D models of the object being designed.) Surface modeling had been around for years, but solid modeling took 3D from a graphic to a virtual part. The part could be assigned a material--steel, wood , or plastic, for instance--and the computer would calculate properties such as center of gravity. I came back from the convention that year convinced the future of CAD would include 3D solid modeling. I even designed a model plane using the technique and was able to plan the all-important center of gravity virtually before entering the shop. Today, the question is whether or not there is any value in teaching 2D drawing at all.Every industry has examples of technological changes that radically altered the workplace. In my short time at Olds College, I can think of a few with which I have personally been involved, like using pneumatic tools for wood framed construction. The dealing and scheming it took to get a framing nailer incorporated into our carpentry class was unbelievable. Now, however, you would be a fool to try and make a living hand-nailing a wood framed structure.

I don’t want to argue the merits of specific changes, but of change itself. It has never ceased to amaze me the number of people in learning institutions who are afraid of learning. I am talking about administrators, service workers, and everyone in between. We say we are too busy or don’t have the resources or haven’t been able to sign up for the seminar yet, but the real reason we don't change is that change is scary. I don't understand this mentality myself but recognize that it is very real for many people. I hasten to add that there are many staff who do an amazing job of changing. Murray T. is the classic example of a self-learner who embraced change. He didn't make a lot of noise about it; he just quietly went into his office and did it. Murray was learning new things on his last day of work at Olds College. Goes to show that we are all capable of moving past our fear and into some real learning and changing, we just don’t. Why don’t we? What is the consequence of not learning and changing?

Often, it is as simply because we just don’t know were to start. For me this conference is not about how to use the new tools. I can learn that on a webinar or YouTube video. Rather, this conference is about connecting with the people who will help you get started. I can think of few weeks when I have not been in contact with someone from this conference getting help with a problem, asking about the industry application of a product, or even helping with a problem. We get the relationship going here because once it has been established, it will grow in a virtual arena. Another reason we don’t change is because it is a lot of work. I can always find someone in industry to agree with what I am teaching, anyway, so why bother changing? I believe that it is important to give the student skills that industry is using but that it is equally as important to give the student skills that industry will be using. Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, gave a great presentation on change from industry's perspective. In a nutshell, he Identified 5 stages of change:

1. 
   
   Impossible


2. 
   
   Impractical


3. 
   
   Possible


4. 
   
   Expected


5. 
   
   Required

The sweet spot for the competitive advantage is to be in the are of the possible. Adopt a technology too soon and it costs you money, too late and your competitors are ahead of you. In education, we need to be reviewing the impractical options on the radar. It is impossible to teach everything a student needs to know to be successful and even if we could, the knowledge would stale date in a few years, so...

The most important thing we must teach our students is how to learn. If, as a college community, we cannot implement an effective and timely change strategy, if we ourselves cannot learn to change, how will we ever give our students the skills to handle change effectively in the workplace?

What if we don’t change? Simple. In time, Olds College will go out of business. But, we are changing. We change every day of every year. The troubling part is the rate of change. If you are in a river and you wish to stay in the same place relative the shore, you need to swim upstream. Swim at the same rate as the current and you hold your position. Continue to swim at the same rate when the river flows faster and you slowly lose ground. We must change at the same rate as industry changes or we lose ground. To better your position relative to the shore, you must swim faster than the current.

If this conference has shown me anything year after year it is that the rate of change is not constant, it is exponential. If a new piece of software once took 5 years to adopt and 7 or 8 years to become industry standard, it now takes 2 years to adopt and 4 to become the norm. Even the phrase “the norm” is losing its place in the work vocabulary.

There are two types of people at this conference: those who complain they can’t keep up and those who tell you what they are going to try as soon as they get home. Who has time to keep up with change? Who can possibly stay on top of all of this? The answer is simple--NO ONE, but the professionals are the people who find a solution for the unique problem confronting them. They don’t stay on top of everything, they learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it. They investigate what is new, then they pick a solution and learn it.

Here is the rub: our students are changing. I know you have heard that a thousand times and have seen little evidence of it in the classroom. But why would student behavior change if the environment and expectations we put them in don’t change? Ask yourself this: who in your family figures out how to use the new cell phone? Who figured out how to get Star Wars to play on that cell phone? Who got the TiVO working?

Our children deal with a rate of change unparalleled in history. There is a new gaming system out every 2 years and a new version of their favorite game annually. I took Typing 10 at school; my kids learned to text under the table without breaking eye contact or conversation with me. Our kids learned to use Facebook without ever taking a training session.

We have gotten wrapped up in conversations about the best Learning Management System or what training courses we should offer our staff, but the change that really needs to take place is a shift in andragogy. If the learner changes, so must the teaching method. Don’t get me wrong, we still need time to learn, help getting started, and resources to get us through. But we, as the institution, need to see the learning environment through the eyes of our clients, our students. I will continue to have students do poorly in my class if I teach with methods they don’t understand and can‘t relate to. Their life experience prior to coming to college, the way they solve their everyday problems are different than what we had as youth. We need to change how we do business or it is only a matter of time before we go out of business.

The successful business professionals presenting here this week have all adopted a philosophy of continuous change to become the leaders in their industries,. Why would we be granted the luxury of remaining static or changing slowly and still expect to be in the business of education in the future?

One Cranky Geek

I am really pissed off right now!

Life has been difficult lately. I have been very busy and have had to try to fit into many cultures. This week brings me yet another one. I am in Las Vegas at the AutoDESK University 2009 Convention. My mind has not much been on teaching lately, and, although I really love this convention, I didn't expect this year to fill any needs I have been feeling.

I long ago chose my workshops and haven't looked at my choices since, so I was surprised to see my first class was on Raster Design. This product has not changed much in the last three years according to the blogs I have been reading, but the course was taught by an excellent presenter so I thought I would give her until my coffee was done before I wandered into a different course. So...piss me off!...90 minutes and a cold, forgotten coffee later, I have a bunch of new tricks in a program I thought I knew!

So, okay, they got lucky with the first course, but next is the general keynote address. That should be a bunch of uninspiring autoDESK advertising like last year. But, no! They have a great speaker who talks on holistic design and green engineering. Piss me off again!! I was really hoping to be disappointed just to justify my dark mood.

Lunch is next, and the food was crap last year. There is hope! Yeah, it was excellent today, so now I am contentedly full to boot, but I am not giving up on being disappointed. Next is the educational keynote. This always digresses into a bitchfest about how much the software costs and why can't autoDESK tell us what we should teach. This always leaves me in the mood to throttle most of my fellow colleagues while yelling at them not to click the "skip" button on the "What Is New In This Release" dialog box. Much to my chagrin, the guest speaker talked about changing pedagogy to create a well-rounded, problem solving, creative learner who learns by doing. Damn!

Three for 3 now, how am I supposed to be disgruntled and maintain my bad mood? To add insult to injury, I have had 3 great hallway encounters--learned from 2 and taught in 1. The best I can do is be pissed off about not being pissed off! Well, I give up. The enthusiastic geek in me just bitchslapped the moody pessimist right out of me. Just to prove to you that the geek has won, let me tell you that I wrote this blog on my smartphone and am now going to bootleg a signal to send it to my editor (thanks!) because I have classes until 10 tonight and will not have time to publish it myself. Remember, the geek shall inherit the earth!

McFreakinDonalds!

Last night Pastor Sagar’s wife made me a great meal, the best I have had in India. I think Carole broke them in for me because he actually knew what “no spice” meant. She made me an omelet with boiled potatoes and raw carrots. For dessert I had lady finger bananas and apples slices, it was heaven! The only problem is that, as a guest, I had to eat first, not something that ever happened in our house growing up. When I was young you had to get in there and fight for the food or go hungry. Feeding 5 kids on a ministers salary ensured that mom didn’t have to deal with leftovers much. Then to add to my guilt, they gave me their bed! That is the kind of hospitality I encountered all over India and I am grateful to all.

Today we left at 8:30 for Hyderabad, traffic was light, but I saw two very bad accidents. We made very good time and ended up at the airport at 3:30 for an 8:00 flight (which was 45 minutes late) but that is ok, because the Hyderabad airport has a McDonalds! Well it sort of has a McDonald's, it has a McDonalds that serves no beef, I know, I know, how is that different than McDonald's in Canada, very funny! This “no Beef” policy really shortens the menu, but they still have fries! A chicken burger and fries later and I was a happy boy. I don’t particularly like McDonald's, but I love that it is exactly the same everywhere in the world. After two weeks of different food, there is comfort in the familiar even if it's not that good.

After going through customs for my 4 hour wait I discovered my next surprise, a Pizza Hut! My initial enthusiasm waned when I saw that everything was “spicy” this and “smoking hot” that. In small print I found “Hawaiian Chicken” that turned out to be very nice, no heat. In Delhi I found a Subway, this did not taste like home, and I don’t care for it much in Canada, so it was a bit of a letdown. I am well on my way to my goal of eating myself into a junk food comma for the 9 hour flight to Amsterdam.

Well it worked, I got 5 hours sleep on the flight and now I sit at the McDonalds in Amsterdam, I will be sitting here all day, so if you are reading this it means I found both a plug in and an internet connection. I even found a place to have a shower, but it is $30 bucks! I might be too cheap much to the chagrin of my seatmates on the next leg. Come to think lf it, I haven’t had a real shower since Aizawl!

A Shower of Flowers

I arrived in Guntur today to meet Pastor Sagar. Carol Perrin spent three months with the children at the orphanage Pastor Sagar and his congregations look after. I arrived during the church service and was ushered to the front and introduced to everyone. I was asked to pray with them and to bless them. Oh my! I am not used to having people ask me to bless them, that is for sure!

During the service, a young family brought their 6-month-old child forward to receive her first food. This is a tradition, I was told, and the mother looked very happy. The baby was not so much. Pastor Sagar then asked if I would give the child her first rice. My first thought was, “When did I wash my hands last?” As a grandpa, I have experience in these things, you know. It was quite an honor, albeit misguided, to be asked to do this.

After the service, we got into the car and drove to a nearby city to have another service. It was very interesting because the service was in a very plain room literally overflowing with people. There were no chairs, just mats on the floor that was covered—every square inch—with people. The men spilled out onto the road outside the church hall listening through the windows. I know many a church in Canada that would love to have that kind of problem.

At the end of the service, the children lined up for me to place my hand on their heads and bless each of them. Go figure--no lightning! Your name carries a lot of weight around here, Carol. I hope I did you justice.

After the service and some food at an elders house, we drove out to the orphanage. The amount of new development is amazing! There are 5000 squatters in makeshift shelters around the orphanage now and a college being built on the other side. We were met by the children and the teachers at the gate. I know that all children are cute, but the Indian children are sooooo very adorable! I was met by big eyes and smiling faces. After a tour of the place, we were given two chairs and the children went back to playing: boys with the ball, girls with the skipping rope. The two teachers watched over them with obvious love and care in their eyes. These children don’t have much but more than they would have on the street; a loving caregiver is a great start. Everything else they need can be fixed with money. Let’s make this Christmas a global giving Christmas. Please! Sorry, I will get off my soapbox now.

At one point the children wanted to honour me (For all I might do for them, apparently. Now I know how Obama feels.) in a traditional Indian way. They placed a flower lei around my leg, lined up, and showered me with flower petals! Quite an experience! (Again Carol, your name carries a lot of weight around here! I hope I can live up to the standard you set, but don’t hold your breath.)

Off to the airport in Hyderabad tomorrow. Back on those roads for another 8 hours. Pray for me; I’ll need it!

Bay of Bengal, Baby!

(I don’t know exactly where my blog is right now, as I have only a very poor connection, if any at all. I have enough connection to send a rough copy to my editor, but I haven’t actually seen my blog in a while, so if you like them, great, but it's all in the editing. Thanks to my editor! I also need to thank Carol Perrin and Pastor Sagar without whom I would still be in Hyderabad and would never have met up with Pat and the gang. With the right contacts--and enough money!--you can do anything in India!)

After touring the orphanage and having some very productive meetings yesterday, I retired to my room for a sound sleep. I was fortunate to have a room; there was a very large wedding in town that was eating up all the space.

This morning I took my taxi for a tour of Narsapur. This is a pretty big place by Canadian standards but barely makes the map by Indian standards. As with all Indian towns, there is non-stop shopping--little stores everywhere! The town is divided into districts, so all the tailors are in the same area, and all the plumbing supply stores are in another area. This makes for quite a bit of travel if you want a skirt tailored for your sink.

Narsapur is on a large river near the coast of Bengal, and it sports quite a fishing industry. Fish are caught in both the river and at sea, with the boats coming up the river to a little tributary to unload.

Small boats filled with sand used in concrete for construction in the area also come up the tributary. I asked Pastor Chand about the beach and swimming the day before, but he said it wasn’t safe.

After touring the town, I decided to see if we could find the coast. We went to the guest house to see if Pat and Sisay wanted to come along (much to Pastor Chand's chagrin). Google Earth shows mile upon mile of sand beach. Thirty minutes later, we drove past a beautiful Catholic church looking out on an amazing sand beach! There was a little park where one could eat lunch and some stalls selling drinks and snacks. We walked on the beach for 10 minutes until I couldn’t take it any more! There were great surf waves: one break, 3 foot swells rolling on shore at about 15 degrees.

There were little kids wading in the break--no evidence of a riptide. How bad could it be? I didn’t have my trunks, but I was wearing brand new underwear. I asked Pat if she would mind if I went in for a dip, and she said it would be fine, but I don’t think she was ready for the bright white streak across the sand, and I am not just talking about the new underwear! The water was like a bathtub, the waves were just right for playing in, and there was almost no rip at all. Besides, worst case scenario: I get to see Sri Lanka again! I am sure Pastor Chand was worried the whole time I was in the waves but perhaps was more worried that at some point I would have to get out! Pat averted her eyes as I rolled up on the beach like Moby Dick gone wrong and dashed up the beach to a little hut to change.

I didn’t go to the beach just for my own entertainment; I was checking it out as a possible point of interest for when I bring a group over in February. It would be a great activity to bring the kids to the beach to build sand castles, eat a picnic lunch, and play in the water. One adult to every 4 kids just like a family day at the beach. I didn’t mention this to Pastor Chand. I think I need to pick the right moment and make many promises to bring my swim suit this time.

Pastor Chand treated us like VIPs. It is obvious how important Pat is to him and the orphanage. He has a big job there, trying, as someone must, to meet the need where there is no shortage of need! Tomorrow, I brave the roads again to go to Guntur and meet Pastor Sagar and visit the orphanage where Carol Perrin worked last year. I feel safer in an ocean full of sharks than on the roads. Until then, it is "bye" from the Bay of Bengal, Baby!

Now THIS is India!

I made it out! The ATR-72 (a new plane for my list) found it’s way through the clouds, and I left Aizawl for a three-legged trip to Hyderabad. At each stop, I was the only person carrying on, it seemed. One of the stops required the plane to be refueled which meant I had to get off, but I wasn’t allowed into the airport, so I just stood on the runways visiting with the pilot and ground crew. We were delayed because they didn’t have enough fuel at the airport. The fuel truck took fuel from one plane and put it into ours.

Thanks to Carol P. and her contacts, there was a car waiting when I landed, and we left Hyderabad at 11 p.m. for the 11-hour drive to Narsapur. The scenery was what I thought India would be like: flat and wet, dotted with water buffalo and beautiful colorful temples.

We stopped for breakfast on the road. I had a Coke.

I met up with Pat, and Sisay and Pastor Chand took us out to the orphanage. The greeting--complete with a banner and signs and flowers--overwhelmed Pat. We had a short program of welcome with speeches and some action songs from the children.

We toured the orphanage. The building is good, but it is very small for 40 kids. Every night they pull the mats onto the floor to sleep but must stack them up again in the morning to have a place on the floor to sit and eat . Each child has a small tin locker for their clothes.

We had a long and productive meeting with Pastor Chand in the afternoon. He has been looking after us very well: providing good food and making sure we have what we need. Thank you for that!