So I finished teaching my first section of Critical Thinking and finally had a chance to slow down a bit. To celebrate the occasion, we went for a weekend camping trip. We didn’t really rough it, but we had fun nevertheless; we played some games, sat around a fire, went for walks, and slept. Here are some pictures.
It’s been a while since we posted some pictures. Enjoy.
Things have been so busy around here that I’ve completely forgotten to include a little smack talk in my blog. (This post is aimed at someone who lives in Calgary, but the rest of you can listen in if you want to.)
First, a concession. I guess a certain somebody called it right when she said that the Cavaliers would be in the Finals. I never thought they would make it past the Pistons, but here they are. This being said, they have been getting whupped–by my Spurs. Having a one-man team is apparently enough to get you out of the east, but it isn’t enough to compete with anyone out west. In fact, this Cavaliers team is the worst team that the Spurs have faced in the playoffs thus far. I was much more worried about the Nuggets and the Suns (and the Jazz for that matter) than I am about the Cavaliers. The Cavs may get lucky and pull out a win tonight, but if they don’t, they are going to be swept.
Go Spurs!
So we’re back in Manitoba. I’ve changed gears, but it doesn’t seem to be a slower one. I’m teaching a course called Critical Thinking at the University of Manitoba. The course covers some formal and informal logic, teaches students how to recognize and evaluate arguments, and how to avoid errant reasoning. It’s been fun–I think–but it is wearing me out. I decided that I would try to present my lectures with the use of Powerpoint. It makes for a nice finished product, but it adds a significant amount of time to my preparation. The nice thing is that, when I teach the course again in two weeks, I’ll have all of the lectures prepared.
Anyway, we’re enjoying the Manitoba weather and attractions. Just this evening, we went to BDI for ice cream. I think that when we return to Massachusetts, we’ll take BDI with us.
We’re on our way to Manitoba. We’ll see many of you soon.
Pam and I were sitting in our living room chatting after I got home from the office when Pam suddenly exclaimed. I looked out of the window to see what Pam was excited about. This is what we saw. There’s actually a third cub behind mama at the moment. This family of bears is at least a mile to a mile and a half from the nearest edge of town. What are they doing here? Good thing L wasn’t playing outside on his swingset. A UPC truck came into the parking lot just as the picture was taken. The sow and the three cubs climbed over the chainlink fence into the neighbour’s backyard.
On a completely unrelated note, here’s another picture of L.
My (or should I say ‘our’–Pam is as much a fan as I am) Spurs eliminated the Suns in 6 games. (Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Ivy!) There was controversy along the way and I hate for my team’s victory to come against the Canadian Steve Nash, a great player who I have a ton of respect for, but victory is still sweet. We are now one series closer to another championship.
Those of you who check this blog regularly may have noticed that there has been some slowing in the pace of new entries. There are two reasons for this. One, our desktop computer has been in the shop “up on the hoist” for nearly two weeks while we wait on a new motherboard for it. So Pam has no means of accessing the internet while I am out during the day. Two, I’m being squeezed by the end-of-semester clamp. So I don’t have a lot of disposable time to blog.
Unfortunately, the pace of new entries on this blog may not pick up much during the next months. In about 2 weeks, we will be packing up and making the trip to Manitoba to stay for the summer. That means there won’t be quite as much incentive to blog, because many of the people we blog for will be more easily accessible to us. (My apologies in advance to those of you rely on this blog to stay abreast of the developments in our lives. We’ll try to be faithful to you by posting new stuff diligently.)
I’ve blogged, in weeks past, about my Starred Paper. Yesterday I received word that all three of the people on my committee gave the paper a pass. I guess I don’t have to drop out of grad school just yet. Now if only I had the motivation to write my last seminar paper. (Sigh)
I guess I’m attached enough to my homeland to make sure to read Canadian news regularly. Several weeks back, I pointed out some interesting news from Saskatchewan, where some trouble-makers stole some heavy machinery and wreaked havoc on the otherwise peaceful Saskatchewan countryside. Today I draw your attention to a Manitoban story.
A policeman in Killarney was trying to chase down a pickup truck. The truck turned onto a field. The policeman followed. The truck disappeared over the top of a hill. The policeman slowed down, because he didn’t know what was on the other side. Apparently, the escaping miscreants didn’t bother to do the same. When the policeman came over the hill, he saw the truck mired in the middle of a lagoon of hog-manure. The “shit-disturbers” had nowhere to go but back to the waiting officer who then had to transport them back to the station in his cruiser. (The pun was intended–I’m pretty proud of it.) I wonder if anyone was able to get the smell out of the cruiser afterward?
