If I was put on trial for being a Christian,
would there be enough evidence to convict me?
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Printing Presses (and the woes of getting lost)
I'm in this English class -- Book History. That sounds really boring. But it's NOT. I have a great Prof, and he decided to take us on a field trip to a printing press.
I didn't know this, but there is, in Edmonton, a real printing press, where you have to hand set the words, and actually turn out the prints.
SO, yesterday night, I got in my truck, and proceded to drive down to 10309 97st. I looked at my map, but I wasn't totally sure where I should park, or what I was specifically looking for. Someone should have told me that it was next to Uncle Ed's Pawn Shop in the ghetto.....
To make a long story short, I had some problems turning left. And then, before I knew it, I was down the hill, and going across the low-level bridge. (ooops... the low-level bridge is nowhere near where I wanted to be) SO, I decided to turn around and go down 98th ave. Except there's that funny exit you have to make if you want to go west instead of east....
Yeah. I forgot that.
So here I am, at about 5:52 (I'm supposed to be there at 6:00), freaking out on my cell to Robbyn, and driving AWAY from downtown.
Anyway. I pulled a u-turn, went back the way I came, and ended up at the right spot, only a couple of minutes late.
I was excited for this "field trip", but I was not expecting it to be this cool. The lady who helped us, Theresa, (http://www.snapartists.com) told us the general gist of it, and then we got to try
it.
We picked a tray of letters in a certain font, and had to set them. Now, this is harder than you think, because the letters are upside-down, and backwards. You actually have to think.
(If you look at the picture to the right, that's a composing stick. The top of the page starts at the bottom left hand corner.) You can only compose three or four lines at a time, depending on how big your font is.
It took an hour or more for each of us to write 2 or 3 lines, and get it all in order and ready to print.
I have to say that I have a much bigger appreciation for old books, and how hard it used to be to acquire them. I can't imagine printing books, upside-down, backwards, 3 lines at a time, and then turning the press by hand for 100 copies.
It was a very cool experience.
~~
pictures.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_type
I didn't know this, but there is, in Edmonton, a real printing press, where you have to hand set the words, and actually turn out the prints.
SO, yesterday night, I got in my truck, and proceded to drive down to 10309 97st. I looked at my map, but I wasn't totally sure where I should park, or what I was specifically looking for. Someone should have told me that it was next to Uncle Ed's Pawn Shop in the ghetto.....
To make a long story short, I had some problems turning left. And then, before I knew it, I was down the hill, and going across the low-level bridge. (ooops... the low-level bridge is nowhere near where I wanted to be) SO, I decided to turn around and go down 98th ave. Except there's that funny exit you have to make if you want to go west instead of east....
Yeah. I forgot that.
So here I am, at about 5:52 (I'm supposed to be there at 6:00), freaking out on my cell to Robbyn, and driving AWAY from downtown.
Anyway. I pulled a u-turn, went back the way I came, and ended up at the right spot, only a couple of minutes late.
I was excited for this "field trip", but I was not expecting it to be this cool. The lady who helped us, Theresa, (http://www.snapartists.com) told us the general gist of it, and then we got to try
it.We picked a tray of letters in a certain font, and had to set them. Now, this is harder than you think, because the letters are upside-down, and backwards. You actually have to think.
(If you look at the picture to the right, that's a composing stick. The top of the page starts at the bottom left hand corner.) You can only compose three or four lines at a time, depending on how big your font is.
It took an hour or more for each of us to write 2 or 3 lines, and get it all in order and ready to print.
I have to say that I have a much bigger appreciation for old books, and how hard it used to be to acquire them. I can't imagine printing books, upside-down, backwards, 3 lines at a time, and then turning the press by hand for 100 copies.
It was a very cool experience.
~~
pictures.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_type
Monday, January 22, 2007
Surprise
I opened a "letter" this morning from official people who give out money. I thought it was some sort of "confirm your attentance at this institution" form.
But it was money. Yup. It was a scholarship. A nice cheque.
What a wonderful Monday surprise. It just goes to show that God takes care of me, even when I'm not watching. A great balance to the stresses of last week & the weekend.
I love how God encourages me, even when other parts of life are hard.
SURPRISE!
But it was money. Yup. It was a scholarship. A nice cheque.
What a wonderful Monday surprise. It just goes to show that God takes care of me, even when I'm not watching. A great balance to the stresses of last week & the weekend.
I love how God encourages me, even when other parts of life are hard.
SURPRISE!
Monday, January 15, 2007
the woes of monday
Mondays are not cool for me. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I HATE them, but it might be close. Especially at 6:30am, when my alarm goes off so I can come to school for a class that's been cancelled.
I've now been up for 3 hours, had coffee, and gotten over the fact that I have to wait 3 hours for my next class. BUT, let me tell you another woe of Monday:
Fun stuff.
I've now been up for 3 hours, had coffee, and gotten over the fact that I have to wait 3 hours for my next class. BUT, let me tell you another woe of Monday:
As I got to the LRT station today, I realized (once again) how much I dislike people who can't PARK THEIR CAR.
When parking in a parking lot, one needs to make sure there isn't half a car width between you and the next guy. This will make sure that there is room for everyone. It also helps if you're straight, instead of crooked.
I really dislike driving around, and around, and around, and around, looking for a spot, just because some people are too "special" to park properly. Just because the lines are covered with snow, that DOESN'T MEAN that the lines are GONE.
On a completely unrelated note: it was a very beautiful morning this morning. As I was driving, the sun was coming up, and coloring the sky amazing shades of pink and gold, and the smoke from the houses was hanging in the sky.
How pretty.
Such a good reminder to let that other stuff, the stuff that doesn't matter, go.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
a blizzard, i think
I looked up the word blizzard at dictionary.com, and this is what I got:
bliz.zard – noun 1. Meteorology. a. a storm with dry, driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold. b. a heavy and prolonged snowstorm covering a wide area. 2. A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.
When I left the house this morning, Eric told me that the wind was gusting between 60 and 80 km/h, and it was -35 with the windchill.
I am not sure what the visibility is here, but according to all the other criteria, this is a blizzard. There's driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold. It's covering a wide area. It's been WAY MORE than three hours.
This is a blizzard. Which brings me to my next question:
When I woke up this morning, I looked outside, and the weather didn't look that bad... I showered and got ready, and went downstairs, and the weather still didn't look that bad... Eric was there, sitting on the couch watching tv and drinking coffee (as it is too cold fo him to work). He told me that he wasn't going go outside at all if he could help it.
This left me with a dilemma: go to school? or stay home?
Well, being the studious, university student that I am, I decided to come. But I decided to take the bus, which I've never done before. (and probably never will again....) (ok, that's not true. I'll be smarter about it next time.)
So I put on enough clothes to confuse me with either a walking snowman or the Michelin Man, and stood out at the bus stop. I stood there with a woman and her three ill-dressed, loud 10 year old girls.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but winter generally means that kids should be wearing these things: a touque, proper mittens, and snow pants. ESPECIALLY in the presence of their parents. But, apparently, I'm wrong.
I'm getting distracted. Sorry. Back to the story.
Once I was on the bus, it took almost an hour to get to the Government Transit Station. This would have been ok, except that once I got off the bus, I realized that I had absolutely NO IDEA where the LRT station was.
It's not very well posted.
So I asked the underground-parking-lot-attendant-man. He looked rather amused, but gave me general directions. Which were mostly correct. Then I asked another lady.
When I got to class, an hour and a half had gone by since I had left my house. There were only 20 minutes left of class.
1hr 30mins. 90 minutes spent in transit.
No wonder I drive. It takes 45 or 50 minutes then.
Next time I take the bus, I'm getting off at the Winspeare. Maybe that will cut down on the time. But now that I'm here, I'm finding it hard to find an excuse to skip my last two classes and go home.
It took so long to get here.... maybe because this is a blizzard.
bliz.zard – noun 1. Meteorology. a. a storm with dry, driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold. b. a heavy and prolonged snowstorm covering a wide area. 2. A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.
When I left the house this morning, Eric told me that the wind was gusting between 60 and 80 km/h, and it was -35 with the windchill.
I am not sure what the visibility is here, but according to all the other criteria, this is a blizzard. There's driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold. It's covering a wide area. It's been WAY MORE than three hours.
This is a blizzard. Which brings me to my next question:
WHY DID I COME TO SCHOOL TODAY??
When I woke up this morning, I looked outside, and the weather didn't look that bad... I showered and got ready, and went downstairs, and the weather still didn't look that bad... Eric was there, sitting on the couch watching tv and drinking coffee (as it is too cold fo him to work). He told me that he wasn't going go outside at all if he could help it.
This left me with a dilemma: go to school? or stay home?
Well, being the studious, university student that I am, I decided to come. But I decided to take the bus, which I've never done before. (and probably never will again....) (ok, that's not true. I'll be smarter about it next time.)
So I put on enough clothes to confuse me with either a walking snowman or the Michelin Man, and stood out at the bus stop. I stood there with a woman and her three ill-dressed, loud 10 year old girls.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but winter generally means that kids should be wearing these things: a touque, proper mittens, and snow pants. ESPECIALLY in the presence of their parents. But, apparently, I'm wrong.
I'm getting distracted. Sorry. Back to the story.
Once I was on the bus, it took almost an hour to get to the Government Transit Station. This would have been ok, except that once I got off the bus, I realized that I had absolutely NO IDEA where the LRT station was.
It's not very well posted.
So I asked the underground-parking-lot-attendant-man. He looked rather amused, but gave me general directions. Which were mostly correct. Then I asked another lady.
When I got to class, an hour and a half had gone by since I had left my house. There were only 20 minutes left of class.
1hr 30mins. 90 minutes spent in transit.
No wonder I drive. It takes 45 or 50 minutes then.
Next time I take the bus, I'm getting off at the Winspeare. Maybe that will cut down on the time. But now that I'm here, I'm finding it hard to find an excuse to skip my last two classes and go home.
It took so long to get here.... maybe because this is a blizzard.
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