I'm Not Boring You Am I?I'm Not Boring You Am I?Dr. Robert Runté on popular culture, education, and life. Articles
Upcoming Book Tour - April 4th, 2007
2007-03-19 15:52:00 From 28 March to 11 April , M. D. Benoit will be going on a virtual book tour to promote her upcoming alternate reality novel, Synergy. During that period, ten people (myself included) will host her on their blog for one day. There will be discussions on the book, interviews with the author, and so on. Every day during this period, on her own blog, Life?s Weirder than Fiction (http://mdbenoit.com/blog), she will announce where she will be that day, as well as talk a bit about her host.Synergy?s Virtual Book Tour will culminate with a Virtual Book Launch, on 14-15 April (http://mdbenoit.com/synergy). M. D. can be contacted at mdbenoit (at) gmail (dot) com.I'll be hosting the Benoit Virtual Book Tour April 4th. Please be sure to come by the blog on that day, as she will attempt to respond to whatever comments you leave on my blog that day. More About: Upcoming , Ming
Infestation
2007-03-16 03:51:00 photo of our roof, showing replaced cedar shakesRegular readers know that we have had problems on a couple of occasions with field mice; we've also had to deal with ants on an ongoing basis. But our current infestation is completely different. As we came home one evening, I happened to look up at the roof of the house as we drove into the garage, and saw that about 10% of the roof tiles were gone. Not just gone, but replaced with new cedar shakes. I stopped the car, got out, pointed up to the roof, and announced to Mary and the family the only possible conclusion: "Oh my, we have elves!"Yes, hard though it may be to comprehend, we have an infestation of elves. This isn't the first time they've shown up either, On a previous occasion, we'd returned from summer holidays to find the garage doors re-painted, and the doors to the garbage bin replaced. And about half the time during the winter, my sidewalks are shoveled before I even get home, and the garbage put out on garbage day be... More About: Home , Station , Fest , Stat , Festa
Kasia Sings the Blues
2007-03-14 04:53:00 (Again, apologies to Googlers looking for that Polish singer....)Kasia has started to sing original compositions about her life -- commentary on events as they unfold. For example, on the way to day care in the morning, we often get this:Oh, I don't wanna go to school,Don't wanna go to schoolDon't wanna go to school,Oh, don't wanna go to school today.The thing is, it comes across as the Blues , not as whinning or complaining, or as an actual request not to go to school. (She actually seems okay with day care when she gets there and enjoys being with her friends.) She just sings her stream of consciousness, and it often has this rythmic repetition and slight melancoly, as if she's been listening and preforming the Blues for years. But once out of her car seat, it's all smiles and and three year-old giggles.What's fascinating to me is that Kasia's Blues style is developing in contrast to Tigana 's more musical theater and country tendencies -- perhaps reminiscent of Carrie Unde... More About: Sings
Some clips
2007-03-13 16:55:00 This one forwarded by Chartlon Barreto is pretty funny:Apple's iRackAnd this one posted on Central Ganglion by Bernie Klassen is also hilarious:British shopping channel More About: Clips , Lips , Some
Wind
2007-03-13 03:32:00 Tigana and Kasia inside their tent, enjoying being blown across the yard.We're all sleep deprived today, because in addition to switching to daylight saving time early this year (insert standard commentary on American cultural imperialism) there have been exceptionally high winds last couple of nights, which in Lethbridge is really saying something. The noise of the wind buffetting our house was bad enough, but of course it also woke up the kids and drove them up to our room, to ensure that no one slept soundly.I took the kids into the backyard after work to pick up our castiron garden furniture, which had been tossed about the place, and watched tiny Kasia trying to walk against the wind. It brought back the memory of Tigana at this age, playing in the playground at Montessori, when the wind literally picked her up and deposited her a couple of feet away. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I might not have believed it. But as Mary and I rushed over to see if she was okay, Tiga... More About: Wind
Two Launches
2007-03-07 18:46:00 On Sunday, we took the family to the Helen Schuler Nature Center for their 2PM nature walk program, but found that this week's program was instead sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency, and dealt with the sky. The talk was perfect for Tigana, bit old for Kasia, but the highlight was the launch of a model rocket -- read, 2 liter plastic pop bottle and pint of water. The speaker had the kids draw pictures, and then taped them to the rocket as payload. They launched the rocket from a safe distance, and its explosive take off ripped all the payload off in flight. To Kasia's great delight, her drawing drifted through the sky back from the distant launch site right into her waiting hands. It was way cool.In other news, M.D. Benoit (author of Jack Meter mystery novels) is launching a new SF title in April, and will be conducting a national book tour -- and "I'M Not Boring You Am I?" is scheduled as one of her stops! Stay tuned for further details as they are finalized.
Ned, Still Under the Bed
2007-01-08 07:08:00 Well, we had been interested to see if Tigana 's love of the stage would survive 9 performances of the same play, but she came through as enthusiastic as ever. Indeed, she was a little depressed it was over. Most interesting point for Tigana was a performance we weren't at, where one of the lead actors fell ill and had to be replaced at the last second...Jeremy, who plays the head bed bug, stepped in to the title role, and the stage manager stepped in as head bed bug... but there were apparently a couple of spots where in the ensuing confusion, that the villain ended up playing off bed bug Tigana rather than the stage manager, who was still running the lights and sound cues.... Friends of ours in the audience later told us, "I had no idea from what you'd said that Tigana had such a major role." News to us too!But the whole experience was great for Tigana...second time in front of a paying audience, but first time for an actual "run", of which she was in 9 performances; first time... More About: Stil , Still , Under
Ned, What's Under Your Bed?
2006-12-27 05:29:00 ...is a play for children by Jeremy Mason which had its premiere performance today. I enjoyed the performance immensely, which I say quite aside from the obvious bias that Tigana was cast as one of the bedbugs. I was already impressed with Mason (and fellow actors Andy Jenkins and Jamie Dunsdon) as instructors at the Empire Theater summer drama camps, and as writers/actors in the Empire Theater's summer series plays. I had been struck by how much more effective this camp had been for Tigana than some of the others she had attended. Part of that was the camp's structure, which incorporated the children's performances into a Vaudville night along with skits and musical numbers by adult performers -- so that kids got to perform in front of a real paying audience, rather than just a room full of relatives, as is the usual conclusion of these sorts of summer camps. Furthermore, Tigana had the opportunity of going to the Empire Theater's summer plays and seeing her instructors actuall... More About: Under
The Skating Party
2006-12-24 06:55:00 My daughter's school organized a skating party during school hours in the run up to Christmas break. I volunteered as one of several parent drivers for this field trip, a short car ride to the nearby rink. My daughter, and others, had to borrow skates from parents who loaned pairs their own children had outgrown, or not yet grown into; the school promised to provide hockey helmets for those who did not have them, which included our daughter. (School Board regulations required that every student have a hockey helmet; bicycle helmets were deemed insufficient.) My daughter had had skates, but outgrown them and had chosen to do drama and gymnastics this term, rather than skating lessons, so we hadn't gotten around to replacing them.When we arrived at the rink, I helped my daughter and another girl into their borrowed skates, then went in search of helmets. The rink staff pointed out that they did not have a key to the school locker that contained the helmets; the schools staff had ass... More About: Party , Tigana , Skat , Part , Skating
Santa and Imaginary Friends
2006-12-15 19:41:00 Kasia has developed an imaginary friend this week named Doe-go. Doego seems to be a minature toy car, which is kind of an odd avatar for an imaginary friend, but its hard to tell if I have this right, since we are dealing with an invisible object. Tigana never developed an imaginary friend, so its been kind of fascinating watching the emergence of this character out of nowhere over the last four days to become a central focus of Kasia?s attention. We?re keen to see how this develops.Meanwhile, Kasia is impatiently awaiting the arrival of Sant a . Having a three-year old around the house makes Christmas magical in a way it hasn?t been since, well, since Tigana was three. I love seeing the season through three year old eyes. But I have to confess that when Kasia was still awake at 10:00 on Tuesday, after two hours of various unsuccessful bedtime strategies, ending with a round of pathetic sobbing/begging on my part, I kind of lost it, and said (Lord forgive me!) ?KASIA! If Santa sees y... More About: Friends , Ends
A grassroots petition has been started to get the ...
2006-12-09 15:29:07 A grassroots petition has been started to get the government to reconsider the $4.6 million they cut from the museum assistance program of Canada Heritage. The money is a small amount of the overall $1 billion package, and many museums were pinching pennies before the cuts, and the cuts will force them to reduce programs, cut collections, and delay renovations. Then of course, there's the effect on students who will be woefully ignorant of local, regional and national history and culture.Read the petition over, sign it if you want, pass it on to people you know.I've signed it.Here's the link:http://www.petitiononline.com/MapCut s/petition.html More About: Arte , Start , Star , Grassroots , Petition
Penny, the Frisky Tardis
2006-12-09 15:29:07 We've bought a new car. This is, in fact, my first actual NEW car, never having had the cash before for anything other than hand-me downs. My last two cars were from my Father-In-Law, and the one before that was purchased for $800 from a sympathetic co-worker. (Okay, the word "cash" may be a bit inaccurate here since we are buying entirely on credit, but you get the idea.)The car is a Honda Fit, which is new to the North American market, but has been selling in Japan and Europe as the Jazz for several years. The "Fit" name is undoutbably to emphasize that it has a roomy interior, even though it is a subcompact. I confess myself surprised when I actually fit into it, since whenever we have rented cars, I've had to specify the high end models because at six feet, 250lbs there was never any possibility of my getting into the compacts. But damned if there isn't more head room in this new Honda than in the wagon we were driving before. It feels as roomy as our Van, for crying out lo... More About: Risk , Penn , Penny , Tardis
Kasia Lyrics
2006-12-09 15:29:07 The title will probably frustrate googlers looking for that Polish singer, but I wanted to jot down about Kasia's singing to me last night before I forget... I find that my blog misses too many of the big events in our lives because we are too busy going through said events, and then I miss the trivial stuff because I feel I ought to write up the big stuff first, which I never get around to, so everything gets missed.....Anyway, while putting Kasia, our 2.5 year old, to bed last night, she started singing to me -- largely to forestall my signing to her, I suspect, but that is another story -- I was vastly entertained to hear her rendition of that old classic:Bad sheep,Bad sheep,Bad sheep,Bad sheep,Have you any fluff?This was followed by a rousing rendition ofTwinkle twinkle little starHow I know I know I knowwhich either indicates that she is a child with a high degree of certainty, or an odd attraction to existentialism.Later in the evening, when I was trying to get her to lie dow... More About: Asia , Lyrics
Grant McCracken on China
2006-12-09 15:29:07 Quote of the day, from Grant McCrack en, first rate anthropolist and pop culture commentator."China is now finished with catch-up and will someday begin to pull away. This is a country moving at time-lapse speed. It won't be long, perhaps, before it passes us and disappears into the future." More About: Rant , Rack
Tigana learns about Meteghan
2006-12-09 15:29:07 has shown up in Google already, but ranked quite low -- page 11 for "Meteghan" and page 13 for "Meteghan Nova Scotia" and page 8 for "Acadians". I'm not sure teachers will persevere through pages of houses for sale listings or classified ad pages to find my curriculum resource. It does a little better on Yahoo --Page 5 (#41) for "Meteghan"; but then only #70 for "Acadians". Hopefully, the site will rise as social studies sites start to list it and teachers click on it enough to increase traffic so Google and Yahoo promote it, so that more teachers find it, and so allowing the site to slowly spiral up. But feel free to link to it in your blogs etc to strt driving it up now.... More About: Tigana , Earn , About , Learn , Gana
Tigana and Robert Munsch
2006-12-09 15:29:07 Took Tiga na to see Robe rt Munsch reading tonight at the Yates Theater. This was our third Munsch reading, having previously seen him in Halifax and at the University in Lethbridge. I thought he ws strating to look older and bit tired at the strt of the reading, but he gathered momentum as the show progressed, and I always enjoy hearing the stories about how the stories came about. Munsch, as is his standard procedure, invited kids from the first few rows to either offer their names to be substituted into this or tht story, or occasionally to join him on stage while he told the story. Tigana inevitably put up her hand to be chosen, but I pointed out to her that since we were way back in row H, she might as well not bother. "No problem," she says, and calmly walks down, and then onto the stage. "Tigana, get back here!" I whisper shout, as Munsch, says, "Who would like to volunteer for...?" He turns and sees Tigana walking onto the stage. "Ah", he says, "Perhaps this young lady who is... More About: Gana
Mary's article in Human Relations
2006-12-09 15:29:07 And in other news, Mary 's article "Cold War, chilly climate: Exploring the roots of gendered discourse in organization and management theory" in volume 59 #5 of Human Relations , pages 695-720 is available on the web from Sage. It is essentially one chapter from her dissertation, so gives one a good feel for what she has been doing with her life these last couple of years. (I mean, besides raising a family and holding down a full time teaching position here at the UofL.) More About: Article , Uman
Quote of the day
2006-12-09 15:29:07 "People tell you what you want to hear, long before you hear what they want to say." (Keith Fenske, May 2005) More About: Quote Of The Day , Quote , The D
Speaking of Airports
2006-12-09 15:29:07 I'm writing a trip report on our journeys to Montreal, Halifax, Meteghan, Calgary and Banff over the past month or so, but it has to wait until I can get my Garageband files to work. In the meantime, however, I would like to relate one minor incident that pretty well sums up life with a 2 and a half year old:We are in Halifax airport. Mary and Tigana have gone off in search of Star Bucks; Kasia and I have settled into one of the three play areas thoughtfully provided by the airport authority in the departure lounge. Kasia climbs to the top of the Fisher-Price treehouse, looks out at the vast crowd awaiting for their various flights to be announced, and cries out at the top of her lungs, "F***, Dad! F***, F*** F***." Somewhat taken aback to discover Kasia has added the F*** word to her vocabulary, I sweep her into my arms and ask what is the matter. "F***, Dad, F***! "Yes, well, um, can you use another word and tell Daddy what is wrong?""F***, Dad! Put me down!"Um, Kasia, I can't s... More About: Airport , Port , Airports , King , Speak
Ten Commandments
2006-12-09 15:29:07 Here is a great little video clip exposing hypocrisy of American religious right.....http://youtube.com/watch?v=veIU 0Jwu54w More About: Men , Comm , Command , Ten Commandments , Commandments
Drunk Pilots
2006-12-09 15:29:07 Okay, this is very funny....in a completely scary kind of way.http://www.metacafe.com/watch/115499/ drunk_airline_pilots/ More About: Pilots , Drunk , Pilot
V for Vendetta Satire
2006-12-09 15:29:07 I have to admit that I found this movie trailer pretty funny... More About: Satire , Vend , Sati , Tire
Playing with one's food
2006-12-09 15:29:07 My 8 year old daughter, Tigana, finished the orange I'd given her for bedtime snack, and then sat playing with the peel as I told her her nightly bedtime story. This is the result. More About: Food , Play , With
How I spent my summer vacation
More articles from this author:2006-12-09 15:29:07 As mentioned earlier, Mary's graduation from St. Mary's took us to Halifax in May, which meant taking Tigana out of school. So Mary came up with the brilliant idea that as long as we were in Nova Scotia, we could visit the town of Meteghan, which is one focus of the Grade 2 Social Studies Curriculum, thus enriching Tigana's school experience and at least partially compensating for the fact that she was missing a week of school. Being the Runte Family, we sometimes get carried away, and the following website was the curriculum resource that resulted from our visit. (Meteghan was just added to the provincial curriculum last year and a lot of Grade 2 teachers were left scrambling trying to find resources. Well, hope this helps!)Tigana learns about the AcadiansI'd be keen to hear your feedback and or suggestions for improvement. Feel free to link to it in your own blogs so that I can drive it up in the Google listings under "Meteghan" or "Acadians". More About: Cat , Summer , Vacation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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