So Proud

Every year, I together with another teacher, select 2 Grade 7 students to represent our school at the Burnaby Public Speaking Contest. For 2 years in a row, I've had the honour to train these candidates and they have always done well by advancing from the zone finals to the district finals. In fact, our student won 1st place last year. This year was no different in that I helped select and train our 2 candidates. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to hear that BOTH of them were chosen to advance to the district level. This is wonderful to hear because judges never pick 2 candidates from the same school even if they're both very good; yet, this year only our school's 2 students were chosen to move on to the district finals. I am so proud. And, of course, more training to come.

Update as of April 2009

Even happier than before, our 2 students won 1st and 2nd prize at the district finals. Their hard work paid off! Check out parts of their speech and an article about them here.

P & A's kitchen

Part of P. and my New Year's resolution was to make all our own food without my mom's help. (Yes...we were quite dependent on her for a while.) Though it is SO MUCH more work to prepare and cook now, it does feel rewarding when the finished products look and taste good. See if you know which dishes are made by P. and which by me. =)

Asparagus & Vegetarian Chicken Stir-Fry

Fish & Cucumber Stir-Fry; Cream of Corn


Broccoli & Chicken Wings

Tomato & Basil Spaghetti

Blue Nile

I know I had written a post about P and I buying our wedding bands from Blue Nile earlier but I really wanted to praise this company for the great lengths they went between tons of email exchanges to provide me with good service.

First, our quoted price was actually adjusted to become even lower than expected because of fluctuating currency rates. Then, they had changed my shipping date to accommodate my going away in the near future. Next, they went back to the order to add in my special delivery instructions to get in through our front door. In addition, my credit card had actually rejected their billing due to the credit card company's suspicion of fraud or stolen card, but they made it very convenient for me and simply tried to bill again after sending me a detailed email regarding the situation. Moreover, I had read about a 10% discount for Blue Nile as a BCAA member and inquired. Later though, I found out from further research that I didn't actually meet the terms and conditions for the promotion but the Blue Nile representative gave me the discount anyway! All this communication was done through email and never were they delayed in responding to my requests.

It's no wonder they rank tops as an online retailer for jewelry, so if you need to purchase rings or jewelry in the future, try Blue Nile.

Metamorphic Rocks in today's classroom

My Science classes have worked hard in preparing their research PowerPoint presentations on Rocks and minerals. I must admit, the topic is quite dull..but it is in the curriculum; hence 2 days of presentations went by without much excitement...that is until today.

I was very impressed with the efforts some of the struggling students have put into this project, so I together with a whole class of eyes and ears were paying full attention as one boy presented with his group on Metamorphic rocks. We read on the slide that some examples were gneiss, marble, slate, schist, etc. However, when he explained them in his serious manner from his cue card, it came out as...

"Some examples include gneiss, marble, slate, and s*hi*t....uhh...I mean s*hi*ts..."

And then we lost him amongst the parade of laughter.

Needless to say, the presentation was informative and interesting.

Carnaval

Every February at our school, we celebrate Carnaval because we're a French Immersion school (some students attend all subjects in French while others in English from Grades K-7). For those who do not know, it's a big winter celebration in Quebec, where people ice skate, dance, eat maple taffy, etc.

At our school, we invite the Maple Man to come and show us how people celebrate in Quebec through music and dance, and the making of maple syrup as well as try some maple taffy! This was the 1st year I got to participate because I was always teaching during the presentations in previous years. Anyway, I was invited to roll some maple syrup into taffy on sheets of ice with popsicle sticks for students; it was awesome. I felt like a kid again.

It was unfortunate that we were the last session at the school, so he actually ran out of maple taffy for some of us to try! Luckily, he appreciated my help and gave me a bottle of maple syrup instead! I'm very excited to try some of this maple syrup although it's not usually part of my daily diet because its the real thing collected from maple trees. And with global warming, this year's harvesting for maple syrup has actually been poor, so he didn't even bring any to sell this year. This makes my bottle all the more precious.=)

Unexpected

If you have planned your own wedding before, I'm sure you would recall the amount of stress one encounters from engagement to wedding because of the planning of endless things; I'm surely experiencing the process, so is my friend.

When I heard the awful news today that the restaurant she had booked for her upcoming banquet closed down, I was in a state of worry and shock! I'm sure I would've gone crazy if it happened to me. I mean, who would have predicted that such a big and pretty well-known restaurant would suddenly close because of partners arguing over the lease!?!?

To my surprise, my friend was quite calm and is now looking for alternate locations although there might still be a great possiblity that the place would reopen. But really, who can endure waiting with the slight possibility of no restaurant in the end? With unfortunate events like this happening, we do have to expect the unexpected. As for colour themes between restaurant and wedding or restaurant decor? Well, those have to take a back seat; consider lucky to find an acceptable alternative.

"The Bachelor"

So I decided to watch "The Bachelor" tonight. It's actually quite interesting considering it seems so real that these girls can actually possibly fall in love with some guy through a television show. And how can this man supposedly...seemingly fall in love with more than one woman at the same time?!? But really...who are we kidding? I watch only to entertain myself. It's all about money and fame. Don't you agree? Anyway, so as one left with tears while M&M stayed, who would the final bachelorette be? M for Molly or M for Melissa?

Market Price

P and I were shopping around for our wedding bands recently. We both agreed that 2 simple platinum bands would suffice, nothing fancy. I originally had my heart set on a Tiffany one with a dip, so it looks as if it would hold my solitaire diamond engagement ring nicely. We already checked out all the prices last year and finally wanted to make the purchase this Jan. Well, to our surprise, because of the exchange rate or the inflation of gold, the retail price for the same bands we originally wanted went up 40%!!!! When we went to visit about 2 weeks ago, the service agent told us the price would go up again within 5 days.

As a result, we turned to the well-known Blue Nile online retailer, who apparently are 2nd in ring sales behind Tiffany internationally. Anyway, for 2 simple platinum wedding bands (with no dip of course...but totally ok...), the total price for both together was 40% cheaper than my original ONE ring. It actually took us a few weeks of Blue Nile research, inquiries on my extra small finger size, prices, etc. before we made the final purchase. What was interesting was that the quoted price kept getting cheaper as the weeks went by because of exchange rates apparently. Anyway, we are prefectly happy with the price and do not find the need to wait longer for it to go even cheaper.

In the end though, I find it ironic that a wedding band's priceless symbolism of eternal commitment would be treated like seafood with an ever-fluctuating market value.

What have technology done?

I've always been a great advocate of using technology to make our school curriculum more interesting and to prepare students for our technological society. However, two eye-opening incidents are making me think twice about teaching with too much technology as opposed to building and reviewing the basics first:

Incident 1:

My students are exploring the world of letter writing in creative ways and to enhance the appeal of their finished products, I strongly suggested they submit the letter in an envelope as if they were going to mail it. To my utter shock, at least 12 out of my 24 Gr.6/7 students came up to me in a puzzled but serious manner to ask the following question:

"What do we write on the envelope?!?"

"Uh...the address?" I replied wide-eyed with a hint of sarcasm.

"What address? Where?" They continued.

They honestly had no idea. With today's convenience of email, does no child ever write letters anymore?

Incident 2:

With the letter assignment mentioned above, I explained to the class that we show greater sincerity when we hand-write a letter to a friend or relative as long as it's not a formal business letter. As a result, we did not use the laptops to type, edit, and print like we usually do for our writing assignments. Nonetheless, I always tell my students to double space in all writing assignments, so we have enough space for editing and comments. This letter was no different. Upon hearing that we have to double space when writing the letter on lined paper, a boy frowns with his eyebrows and questions with concern in his tone...

"How do we double space with paper?"

What have I helped create?

Things going my way

I'm feeling quite lucky this weekend, so hopefully this would continue. The parking ticket I disputed last week was a success, so I don't have to pay it. However, my uncle who parked in the same lot and also disputed his ticket the same night got his response back and they told him to pay! Perhaps he gave a different reason but I feel pretty lucky.

Another positive thing in my life is Proactiv. This is not an infommercial or anything but I've started to use this line of highly recommended (by my friends) products to treat the mild acne on my forehead since Friday night and I already think it's making a good difference.

Boycott Polygon

So it so happens that I own a Polygon developed home and if you have experience with Polygon in the past years you may know of their redemption coupons. These are coupons with money value they give you, so you get a cheque rebate at the end of the year if you don't require service at your home for any deficiencies during the first year under warranty. And if you do require service, then you use 1 out of your 3 or 4 coupons each time.

Well, I requested service twice in the year, so they deducted 2 coupons. Interesting enough though, they automatically deduct the $100 face value coupon first, instead of the $50 ones. But that's NOT even the issue. I also had to wait for ridiculously long periods of time (over 2 months plus email follow ups from me) before I actually had service each time. But that's NOT the issue either.

The 2nd request was due to an expanding and worrisome crack near the ceiling of my washroom wall. When the drywaller guy finally came around to fixing it (on 3 separate 5 minute visits: remember this costed me the $100 coupon), it only took him 15 minutes in total before he claimed, "ok, I'm all done here" as he quickly walked out the door. So I quickly when in the washroom to quality check just in case. Luckily I did!!! My wall was left in patches of white where he fixed the cracks!!! So I quickly chased out and asked him. It was only then that he told me calmly, as if expectantly, "Oh, you're expected to now paint the wall yourself with the small can of paint we gave you when you first moved in. It's a good idea to @#$%^ (a painting technique that I had no clue about and don't recall the term) first but I guess you don't have the tool to do that...but yeah...so bye." I'm expected to paint my wall after they've FIXED a deficiency? How ironic...the wall looks worse now.

In conclusion, Polygon is @#$%^ing and painting the wall or I'll take my complaint all the way to Better Business Bureau!

"He's Just Not That Into You"

Last night, my friend and I happened to catch the newly released movie, He's Just Not That Into You. Needless to say, it was busy as hell at the theatre but I must say the movie was awesome. I have not seen such a funny and witty but still realistic movie for a long time. I think it's a definitely must see for all the ladies out there. The theatre was filled with laughters throughout the entire 2 hrs or so and I really think no female can possibly be disappointed coming out. There were trails of male existence in the theatre too; I'm sure they were lightly entertained as well.

Acne trouble

For the past month, I've been suffering from a flare up of acne on my forehead. This has only happened once before about 2 1/2 yrs ago and I had to go to a skin specialist to help control it before it eventually healed with medication and my own additional caution in my diet and lifestyle.

I usually feel pretty confident about myself but since this acne trouble, I've become quite self-conscious of how others are reacting towards me. I often question in my head if my acne is noticeable to them...believing it must be, etc. On many occasions, I've actually thought about not going to work, so I won't have to see anyone. And, of course, I wear hats often these days when I go out so I can cover it all up easily. *Sigh* Acne, acne, when will you go away?

Be My Guest

Chinese families are all about eating and gathering together, so P and I have long been thinking of inviting our parents over for dinner. Since it is Chinese New Year and P had a day off, we finally decided to invite our guests to make this dinner happen. As with any dinner involving more than the 2 of us though...it takes a lot of planning, grocery shopping, and then cleaning afterward.

Needless to say, we were exhausted at the end of the night but it was worth it and we truly felt our parents had a good time. Since our inviting people over for dinner is and will be...very rare...we decided to take a photo to remember "the event."

Expensive Chinese New Year

Last Saturday night was when my relatives and family got together to celebrate the new year at a Chinese restaurant. Like many times before, as usual, I parked in a lot next to the restaurant and enjoyed my yummy food. But when I came out...I got a parking ticket!!!??!! It turns out that the empty lot was recently purchased by a private parking company and they now require us to pay to park! Anyway, I'm disputing that one.

Lucky me...another one came this Monday! It was a ticket for running a red light during one of those really snowy nights back in Dec/Jan....It took me a while before remembering what actually happened. I had tried the brakes but it was more dangerous to force a stop than to just keep going slowly across the rest of the intersection. So another dispute.

These two tickets also came along with several other bills in the mail, including utilities and phone. Why is it that everyone else wants my money but nobody is giving me any? If the purpose of issuing traffic tickets is really to promote safety, then why isn't it working?

Long time no see...

I can blame it on the hectic day to day chores of my work and home but I really think I've just been lazy in updating my blog. Now that I'm finished with my course work and the wedding planning is going at a healthy state, I feel like I suddenly have more time to do whatever. Not to mention my recent renewed interest in blogging due to the influence of a few friends and their interesting life stories online.

So I'll make this corny and call it my New Year's resolution: I shall blog regularly from now on!