I sat outside the court room this week waiting for a clerk to finish up some work for me. As I sat there I engaged in some people watching. What I noticed was disturbing. As the sheriff came to the court room door and called individuals and families to go in to the court room I studied what they were wearing. This day was a family day at the court house. This means that the cases heard dealt with custody, access, and visitation of children as well as child support, spousal support and the division of property. Now you might think that people appearing at the court in front of a judge would you know dress for the occasion. They. Did. Not. Scruffy jeans, tank tops, t-shirts, baseball caps, sweat pants, yes sweat pants. The judge today decides if you are going to have regular access to your children and you are wearing sweat pants?!?
Obviously these people care about the outcome of their court appearance or they would not be here in the first place. So why are they not dressed in a manner that says, "I am taking this seriously"? It is a puzzle to me. There lawyers are wearing suits (the men) and pant suits (the women), the judge is wearing robes, so is the clerk. For most of these people this is not there first time here. I even recognized a couple from previous trips to the court house (hello guy who had a drunk and disorderly and was asking the clerk about his assault charge).
So as a public service to anyone who reads this blog if you are going to court dress up, in fact funeral dress up. If you do not own a suit or a skirt or a pant suit, go down to your local thrift shop and buy one. There are usually like twenty of them on the rack that you can buy for less than fifteen dollars. Make sure it is clean and does not smell weird and buy it. While you are at it buy a nice shirt or blouse these can also be purchased at your local thrift shop for a nominal price. Of course if you want to splurge and go to Mens Wearhouse that is your business but for goodness sake look good. This matters. If you are at court it is becuase something has gone drastically wrong. If you look like a person who the judge would not mind having over for dinner it can only help. If you look like someone the judge would not let mow his lawn you are probably going to have a very long day.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Nerdvana
I loved university. The exchange of ideas, being exposed to new ways of looking at the world, absolutely loved it. Since I left I have missed university a good deal. But I have found the solution!!!! (yes that many exclamation points!) It is called Open Course Ware. A number of universities including, MIT, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan State University and several others have put course materials along with downloadable notes, exam questions, quizes, and youtube videos of lectures for a number of their classes. When I heard about this I was almost giddy. Could it be real? Was this another one of those cruel internet hoaxes?(unlikely) Then I went to the site.
I read in the book Cryptonomicon that the word nirvana could more accurately be pronounced Nerdvana. That is what this is. Nirvana for nerds. Any class or topic that you can imagine. Everything there are classes on Anthropology, Economics, Biological Engineering, Foreign Languages and everything in between. For the past two days I have just been sampling going from one course to another looking at at the online information, reviewing the course notes, checking out the 0nline lectures. It. Is. Amazing. Whoever thought of this should get a Nobel Prize or at least a really nice lapel pin.
I read in the book Cryptonomicon that the word nirvana could more accurately be pronounced Nerdvana. That is what this is. Nirvana for nerds. Any class or topic that you can imagine. Everything there are classes on Anthropology, Economics, Biological Engineering, Foreign Languages and everything in between. For the past two days I have just been sampling going from one course to another looking at at the online information, reviewing the course notes, checking out the 0nline lectures. It. Is. Amazing. Whoever thought of this should get a Nobel Prize or at least a really nice lapel pin.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Travellin Man
So thursday afternoon I am sitting in my office and I call uhaul. We are loading up our house on friday and I want to make sure that we have a truck to load. Yes of course you have a truck they say, it is located in Slave Lake. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of northern Alberta Slave Lake is about 2 1/2 hours north of Whitecourt. I became somewhat irate with the woman from uhaul but I got the sense that I was not the first angry customer she had dealt with that day or even in the last 10 minutes, the truck was in Slave Lake did I want it? Of course I did.
Early friday morning Jen and I set out for Slave Lake. Anyone who is reading this blog know that Jen is smoking hot. What you may not be aware of is that she is also an amazing conversationalist so the trip at least on the way to Slave Lake flew by. We got to Slave Lake we picked up the truck and started driving. Now all of you assume that I drove the truck right? I consider myself a fairly evolved guy. I used to own a pink dress shirt, I try to say firefighter and police officer and I don't call it babysitting when I watch my own kids, so you would think that there would at least be a discussion about who drove the truck but no I just hopped up in to the cab and started driving. Maybe Jenie wanted to drive that 26 foot behemoth down that foul road between Slave Lake and Swan Hills, we will never know because I am the man and apparently that means I drive the gigantic moving truck.
While I was on the the road I had the pleasure of listening to several rural radio stations. Those of you who have not had this pleasure are probably unaware of the sheer variety played on these stations. In an urban setting you have your top 40, rock, classic rock, dance etc. In Slave Lake you have all of those in one. As an example they played Neil Young and then the new one by Miley Cyrus. No. Joke. It was like they sat around at the station with everyone in the break room and said okay what is the most unlikely combination of songs that we can play next to each other. One guy says the beattles and britney spears ( a couple of laughs) the next dude says Nirvana and In Sync (booing mostly for In Sync) then the intern at the back with the faux hawk and the soul tip says Neil Young and Miley Cyrus (everyone leaves the room because it is perfect and seriously a faux hawk?).
Then we loaded the truck up at this point I have to stop and say Jason, Renee, Pierre thanks so much for the lifting and the working and thank you Monique for sitting on the front stoop and directing traffic with that gigantic belly. Without you Gary and I would have been loading that truck for hours. Leaving Whitecourt was much harder than I thought it would be. I mean its Whitecourt I never wanted to go there in the first place. But now I am leaving and I realize that I made some really good friends. That is not something I do a lot. I don't have a tonne (metric) of friends mostly becuase I have a pretty high standard for what I consider friendship. As an example, If I was being held in a Mexican prison on trumped up heroin smuggling charges who would I call? Could I call you? If you are my friend I could. You would come down see if you could bribe a guard, break open a window or at least get me a good lawyer and some decent american food, they are killing me with all these tacos, just killing me. That my friend is friendship and I made some real friends in Whitecourt, I am sad to leave them.
Also thanks to my mom she spent 12 hours on a bus to help pack up my house and clean it. If it was not for her I would be going back to the pig sty I deserve rather than the vision of cleanliness that she has created. You are the best mom. and Dawn you took three of my kids for the past week (the loudest and whiniest three at that) and are letting me live in your house, thank you. I take back all of the terrible things I said to you as teenagers and also the things I just thought and didn't say, you are none of the things that I said or thought, you are a great sister and possibly a saint (but only if you go Catholic, we don't do that.)
Finally to Gary. You are the rain man of packing moving vans, If you had told me we would have fit all of that crap (ya most of its crap but its our crap and its mostly paid for) into that van I would not have believed you. Then you kept me company all the way down south from about 30 feet behind my truck, helped me unload it and now I am currently living in your house. Above and beyond man, above and beyond.
So here we are in Raymond living in my sisters basement. This should be interesting. I probably will not keep you posted.
Early friday morning Jen and I set out for Slave Lake. Anyone who is reading this blog know that Jen is smoking hot. What you may not be aware of is that she is also an amazing conversationalist so the trip at least on the way to Slave Lake flew by. We got to Slave Lake we picked up the truck and started driving. Now all of you assume that I drove the truck right? I consider myself a fairly evolved guy. I used to own a pink dress shirt, I try to say firefighter and police officer and I don't call it babysitting when I watch my own kids, so you would think that there would at least be a discussion about who drove the truck but no I just hopped up in to the cab and started driving. Maybe Jenie wanted to drive that 26 foot behemoth down that foul road between Slave Lake and Swan Hills, we will never know because I am the man and apparently that means I drive the gigantic moving truck.
While I was on the the road I had the pleasure of listening to several rural radio stations. Those of you who have not had this pleasure are probably unaware of the sheer variety played on these stations. In an urban setting you have your top 40, rock, classic rock, dance etc. In Slave Lake you have all of those in one. As an example they played Neil Young and then the new one by Miley Cyrus. No. Joke. It was like they sat around at the station with everyone in the break room and said okay what is the most unlikely combination of songs that we can play next to each other. One guy says the beattles and britney spears ( a couple of laughs) the next dude says Nirvana and In Sync (booing mostly for In Sync) then the intern at the back with the faux hawk and the soul tip says Neil Young and Miley Cyrus (everyone leaves the room because it is perfect and seriously a faux hawk?).
Then we loaded the truck up at this point I have to stop and say Jason, Renee, Pierre thanks so much for the lifting and the working and thank you Monique for sitting on the front stoop and directing traffic with that gigantic belly. Without you Gary and I would have been loading that truck for hours. Leaving Whitecourt was much harder than I thought it would be. I mean its Whitecourt I never wanted to go there in the first place. But now I am leaving and I realize that I made some really good friends. That is not something I do a lot. I don't have a tonne (metric) of friends mostly becuase I have a pretty high standard for what I consider friendship. As an example, If I was being held in a Mexican prison on trumped up heroin smuggling charges who would I call? Could I call you? If you are my friend I could. You would come down see if you could bribe a guard, break open a window or at least get me a good lawyer and some decent american food, they are killing me with all these tacos, just killing me. That my friend is friendship and I made some real friends in Whitecourt, I am sad to leave them.
Also thanks to my mom she spent 12 hours on a bus to help pack up my house and clean it. If it was not for her I would be going back to the pig sty I deserve rather than the vision of cleanliness that she has created. You are the best mom. and Dawn you took three of my kids for the past week (the loudest and whiniest three at that) and are letting me live in your house, thank you. I take back all of the terrible things I said to you as teenagers and also the things I just thought and didn't say, you are none of the things that I said or thought, you are a great sister and possibly a saint (but only if you go Catholic, we don't do that.)
Finally to Gary. You are the rain man of packing moving vans, If you had told me we would have fit all of that crap (ya most of its crap but its our crap and its mostly paid for) into that van I would not have believed you. Then you kept me company all the way down south from about 30 feet behind my truck, helped me unload it and now I am currently living in your house. Above and beyond man, above and beyond.
So here we are in Raymond living in my sisters basement. This should be interesting. I probably will not keep you posted.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Belated Blog Post
When Terina was baptized she asked me to give a talk on baptism. I gave the talk and afterwards my mom asked me to write it out for her and for my grandma and grandpa Bowlby. Well mom better, late than never. Please be aware mom that I don't write out my talks before I give them. This is not word for word what I said. It is simply the closest that I can remember.
Also my mom asked me how I came up with the idea for the talk. When I was considering what I was going to say I was thinking about this scripture in Mosiah. It is one of my favorite descriptions of the covenant we make when we are baptised. I love the idea of standing together and helping each other. When I was thinking of that I started to think of how that would apply to a child of eight. That is when the idea for the talk started to take shape.
In Mosiah chapter 18 verses 8-10 it reads:
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are a willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
You might ask Terina, How can a small girl like me do these things how can I comfort those that stand in need of comfort. That seems like a very big responsibility for a small child. Well Terina you should know that in a town not far from here lived a little girl right about your age. She had brothers and sisters and every sunday she would go to church. One sunday when she went to church there was a new girl there. The new girl was not dressed in the nicest of clothes and she was a little bit shy but the little girl did not worry about any of that. The two little girls became friends.The new girl would sit with her and her family in church, The new girl would come over to her house, she would play with her brothers and sisters. As the two little girls became better friends it became easier for both of them to make good choices. The new girls family did not come to church. The new girl was the only one in her family who ever came. But she kept coming to church because she had a friend. She had a family that supported and loved her.
You should know Terina that because of that little girl you are here today, because of that little girl many of the people in this room are here today. The little girl who was the friend was your aunt Wendy. The new girl was your Grandma Char. The friendship of your aunt Wendy made it easier for your grandma to come to church. The influence of your aunt Wendy and the rest of the Bowlby's made it easier for your grandma to make good decisions.
Because of the kindness and friendship of that one little girl there have been temple marriages, children born in the covenant and children baptised. There have been missionaries out on missions and people taught and baptised all over the world. All because of the friendship of one little girl.
Never underestimate the power of one little girl to change lives. When we keep our covenants and love those around us there is no limit to the good that we can do.
Also my mom asked me how I came up with the idea for the talk. When I was considering what I was going to say I was thinking about this scripture in Mosiah. It is one of my favorite descriptions of the covenant we make when we are baptised. I love the idea of standing together and helping each other. When I was thinking of that I started to think of how that would apply to a child of eight. That is when the idea for the talk started to take shape.
In Mosiah chapter 18 verses 8-10 it reads:
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are a willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
You might ask Terina, How can a small girl like me do these things how can I comfort those that stand in need of comfort. That seems like a very big responsibility for a small child. Well Terina you should know that in a town not far from here lived a little girl right about your age. She had brothers and sisters and every sunday she would go to church. One sunday when she went to church there was a new girl there. The new girl was not dressed in the nicest of clothes and she was a little bit shy but the little girl did not worry about any of that. The two little girls became friends.The new girl would sit with her and her family in church, The new girl would come over to her house, she would play with her brothers and sisters. As the two little girls became better friends it became easier for both of them to make good choices. The new girls family did not come to church. The new girl was the only one in her family who ever came. But she kept coming to church because she had a friend. She had a family that supported and loved her.
You should know Terina that because of that little girl you are here today, because of that little girl many of the people in this room are here today. The little girl who was the friend was your aunt Wendy. The new girl was your Grandma Char. The friendship of your aunt Wendy made it easier for your grandma to come to church. The influence of your aunt Wendy and the rest of the Bowlby's made it easier for your grandma to make good decisions.
Because of the kindness and friendship of that one little girl there have been temple marriages, children born in the covenant and children baptised. There have been missionaries out on missions and people taught and baptised all over the world. All because of the friendship of one little girl.
Never underestimate the power of one little girl to change lives. When we keep our covenants and love those around us there is no limit to the good that we can do.
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