This afternoon, it being Tuesday and me not having to be at school, we went to the movies. We saw “The Other Boleyn Girl”.
I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.
Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.
We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!
Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Another (beautiful) wedding
On Saturday we (Laetitia and I) were official photographers at the wedding of one of my fellow teachers. It was a morning wedding up at Eungella (at the top of the range an hour's drive west of Mackay). As part of our “fee” we got to stay the night up there, at Broken River Resort. (This saved us from an otherwise very early start on Saturday morning!)It was a lovely day. The bride had done a great job; everything was very well organised. It is always a pleasure to attend weddings of committed Christians, and these two are both from strongly Christian families. God provided the beautiful weather. But we still didn't see a platypus. (Apparently they're seen frequently in the river there.)
The ceremony and reception were both held in the park there at Broken River. A string trio played at the wedding, which was interesting for me: pieces I'm used to playing at weddings myself, only this time that wasn't my job. After the service, family photos at the edge of the clearing, then we went away with the wedding party for formal photos in three other locations nearby. Back to the park for the reception, which was a full-on picnic: blankets, umbrellas, fancy baskets full of food.
I took over 700 photos, Laetitia over 400; as I think I've said before, I've decided I like shooting weddings with a digital camera. You can see a few of my favourites on Flickr.
End of Term 1
*Phew*! Made it to the end of term 1. Much easier than last year, but still hard work.
The last day of term 1 was the cross country. I enjoyed running the course; the plan was I'd run just a quarter, in a relay of teachers in my house, but by the end I'd done the whole course. (They even gave me a point for my house!)
Now I get two weeks without students. I have three main jobs to do in that time, to prepare for what's ahead. One of those things is to get ready for my maths enrichment classes. Yes, I've volunteered for more work—because nobody else around here is doing it, and it really does need to be done. I will have weekly after-school meetings with half a dozen of our best maths students from years 8, 9 and 10. I will be introducing them to some interesting ideas from the rich history of mathematics, and challenging them with some tricky problem solving activities.
The last day of term 1 was the cross country. I enjoyed running the course; the plan was I'd run just a quarter, in a relay of teachers in my house, but by the end I'd done the whole course. (They even gave me a point for my house!)
Now I get two weeks without students. I have three main jobs to do in that time, to prepare for what's ahead. One of those things is to get ready for my maths enrichment classes. Yes, I've volunteered for more work—because nobody else around here is doing it, and it really does need to be done. I will have weekly after-school meetings with half a dozen of our best maths students from years 8, 9 and 10. I will be introducing them to some interesting ideas from the rich history of mathematics, and challenging them with some tricky problem solving activities.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Computers and board games
Yesterday morning Laetitia's computer died. It failed to load a stack of drivers, including for the trackpad and USB ports, which made working out what was wrong painful (no mouse). In the end we booted into Linux off a CD to copy off what had been changed since her most recent backup, then reinstalled from the “Recovery” DVDs. I really wonder about that term; somehow “recovery” has come to mean “wipe the slate clean and start again”.
Over the weekend I also did some programming. It was good fun to get back into “the zone”. I used Microsoft's Visual C#, their new(ish, in programming language terms) language based loosely on C++. I'm actually impressed: already knowing C++, C# made it quite easy to build a functional and usable GUI-based tool. Indeed, contrary to what I expected before I started, the hardest part was not the GUI at all, but rather the all-pairs-shortest-paths algorithm, for which I had to go back to one of my old programming textbooks.
What I created was a ticket generator for one of our favourite board games, Ticket to Ride: Europe. I was so impressed with the “1910” expansion for the USA board that I wanted to do something similar for the Europe board. And besides, playing with the same set of tickets every time gets predictable, and personally I prefer more variety.
So now I can print off a new set of tickets for every game. I get to choose a standard game, a “Big Cities” game or a “Mega-Game” (you'll understand those terms if you have the 1910 expansion), for the Europe board. Yippee!
Over the weekend I also did some programming. It was good fun to get back into “the zone”. I used Microsoft's Visual C#, their new(ish, in programming language terms) language based loosely on C++. I'm actually impressed: already knowing C++, C# made it quite easy to build a functional and usable GUI-based tool. Indeed, contrary to what I expected before I started, the hardest part was not the GUI at all, but rather the all-pairs-shortest-paths algorithm, for which I had to go back to one of my old programming textbooks.
What I created was a ticket generator for one of our favourite board games, Ticket to Ride: Europe. I was so impressed with the “1910” expansion for the USA board that I wanted to do something similar for the Europe board. And besides, playing with the same set of tickets every time gets predictable, and personally I prefer more variety.
So now I can print off a new set of tickets for every game. I get to choose a standard game, a “Big Cities” game or a “Mega-Game” (you'll understand those terms if you have the 1910 expansion), for the Europe board. Yippee!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Rowena and Håkan
This weekend our old friend Rowena and her Swedish partner Håkan came to Mackay to visit us. They drove down from Cairns on Friday, and drove on towards Brisbane on Saturday afternoon. Here they are having a cup of tea at our home in the morning:
We took them up to the city lookout …
… and then out to Eimeo. The view from the pub over Eimeo Beach is fantastic:
We had a drink together up there, in the warm sun and cool breeze …
… before they headed off towards Rockhampton.
(And when we got home we discovered they'd left their toothbrushes behind in our bathroom. Oh well.)
We took them up to the city lookout …
… and then out to Eimeo. The view from the pub over Eimeo Beach is fantastic:
We had a drink together up there, in the warm sun and cool breeze …
… before they headed off towards Rockhampton.
(And when we got home we discovered they'd left their toothbrushes behind in our bathroom. Oh well.)
New washing machine
Okay, so it's been a while. Sorry. I've been pretty busy at school.
Our new washing machine finally arrived yesterday. Our old one, a Simpson Riviera 429, has been playing up for about 18 months. It has a problem with agitating during the wash cycle. On a good day, it would do one load just fine, but get sullen and refuse to move at the start of the second. Occasionally it could be provoked into agitating if we tricked it by moving the dial into the deep rinse part of the cycle. But on a bad day, nothing worked, not even unplugging the thing and leaving it sit for half an hour, nor giving it a good talking to.
So two weeks ago we ordered a new washing machine, a Fisher & Paykel AquaSmart WL70T60CW1, from the Good Guys. Unfortunately, due to delivery issues, although we believe there are some -CW1s in Mackay, they're not at the Good Guys. So yesterday they gave us a call and offered us a WL70T60DW1 instead. This is almost exactly the same, but with the older LED panel instead of the new LCD one.
We decided it would do just fine. It was delivered yesterday around lunch time. Here it is connected up in our laundry:
It has a “low profile agitator”. It's designed to work like a front-loader: with a little bit of water in the bottom, rolling and flopping the clothes into the water, rather than immersing them deep in a full tub. (It has a “low efficiency mode” which does a deep wash and rinse, though—using more than double the amount of water.)
Now all we need is for the rain to stop long enough for the sheets and towels to dry…
Our new washing machine finally arrived yesterday. Our old one, a Simpson Riviera 429, has been playing up for about 18 months. It has a problem with agitating during the wash cycle. On a good day, it would do one load just fine, but get sullen and refuse to move at the start of the second. Occasionally it could be provoked into agitating if we tricked it by moving the dial into the deep rinse part of the cycle. But on a bad day, nothing worked, not even unplugging the thing and leaving it sit for half an hour, nor giving it a good talking to.
So two weeks ago we ordered a new washing machine, a Fisher & Paykel AquaSmart WL70T60CW1, from the Good Guys. Unfortunately, due to delivery issues, although we believe there are some -CW1s in Mackay, they're not at the Good Guys. So yesterday they gave us a call and offered us a WL70T60DW1 instead. This is almost exactly the same, but with the older LED panel instead of the new LCD one.
We decided it would do just fine. It was delivered yesterday around lunch time. Here it is connected up in our laundry:
It has a “low profile agitator”. It's designed to work like a front-loader: with a little bit of water in the bottom, rolling and flopping the clothes into the water, rather than immersing them deep in a full tub. (It has a “low efficiency mode” which does a deep wash and rinse, though—using more than double the amount of water.)
Now all we need is for the rain to stop long enough for the sheets and towels to dry…
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Transport providers in Mackay
What is it with the transport companies around here?
Last year when I took my year 12 maths class ten-pin bowling, the maxi-taxi didn't show up—well, actually, they did, after we'd already waited almost an hour, given up and made other arrangements. (They have a reputation for being late, apparently.)
Yesterday when I had 25 students at Slade Point for a chess competition, our bus home didn't arrive. Eventually, after a couple of phone calls, they sent us another bus. The replacement bus arrived at 3pm (and we're supposed to be back at school well before 3pm!), and the driver tells me they “had some trouble with the other driver”.
Last year when I took my year 12 maths class ten-pin bowling, the maxi-taxi didn't show up—well, actually, they did, after we'd already waited almost an hour, given up and made other arrangements. (They have a reputation for being late, apparently.)
Yesterday when I had 25 students at Slade Point for a chess competition, our bus home didn't arrive. Eventually, after a couple of phone calls, they sent us another bus. The replacement bus arrived at 3pm (and we're supposed to be back at school well before 3pm!), and the driver tells me they “had some trouble with the other driver”.
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