Break from the ISTE Conference

I took a break from the ISTE conference and wandered down to the SeaPort Village area - with shops and restaurants and a nice walkway along the water.

Lunch - mmmm ;-)

San Diego Bay

Multi-media manglings

So - this post is an attempt to play around with multi-media.

So far, I have been successful with adding an image thus:

Jedi Tim at ISTE 2011 (the force is strong in my family)

 

Not sure if this movie uploaded OK or not - will have to see.

San Diego

I'm in San Diego to attend the ISTE conference, and excited for several reasons. First, it's a great conference with lots of good sessions, networking with friends and colleagues from all over, and spectacular exhibits. Second, I'll be meeting several more of my colleagues from India . Third, it's San Diego !
Had a little break this afternoon to walk around. Had several thoughts.
San Diego has a lot of similarities with Mumbai. Its a big city and has the characteristics of a big city, both the advantages and the challenges. In addition to lots of good restaurants, cultural events, shopping, tourism and general energy, you have traffic and construction issues, environmental issues, and people asking for money.
I felt guilty telling a man that I could not help him with money for a bus ticket. I know I will need to work on my "tough skin".
This restaurant looked pretty good too ;-)
I wrote this blog post on my iPhone.

View from conference center

Several India restaurants in the neighborhood

Gaslamp Quarter - convention center in background

Father's Day

Tim & Taran - about 1996 or 1997

The boy leans easily against his father
Gazing upward
His body relaxes with his head
Resting comfortably upon  his Dad's chest.

The father too looks up
With hands on hips
He leans back
Against the trunk of the supporting tree.

Dappled sunlight filters
Through the surrounding trees
From behind the pair
Shadowing their torsos.

What captures their gaze so?

Could it be just wonder
At the beauty and
Stillness of the woods
Around them ?

Might it be that they both
Dream of the future
When the lad will
Grow and thrive ?

Or perhaps it is just
Quiet contemplation
Of the comfort of being
Together and supported.

Nancy has been co-chairing the writing activities for our ARTS celebration at church. I wrote this a couple of weeks ago at a writing workshop she led where we were using a old photograph as a prompt.

FAQ #4 - Who are you going through? Is it Mission work ?

We often get asked if our going to India is part of some mission program or working through a mission agency etc.  The easy answer is " No, these are our jobs"
We will be working for the American School of Bombay, which is high-end, exclusive private school that caters mainly to embassy and multi-national corporation families.  We will be well paid to teach there (Nancy as a Grade Three Teacher and Tim as Head Librarian).  We are provided housing and travel allowance and good health and insurance benefits. The school has great facilities, supportive parents, and wonderful co-curricular activities for the international students that come from more that 50 countries. Many of our colleagues will be veteran international educators who have chosen this career for the good pay, excellent working environments and a chance to travel and see the world.
It's not at all what most would think of by "Mission Work"

You ain't much ...

The old mill on Windmill Island, Holland Mi

One of the pleasures of living in Holland is the chance to go jogging in the cool early mornings.  I was going around windmill island the other day and I had to stop a use my cell phone to take a couple of pictures.  The sun was just up and the sky was clear and the cool air was invigorating.
Something about the windmill just called out to be photographed.  The windmill is actually and old one that was brought over some years ago from the Netherlands.  It works and you can actually buy stone ground flour from the mill in the little tourist shop there on Windmill Island and a couple of other places in town.  The miller lives in our neighborhood and I've been cornered by her before at historic district events.  She is one of those odd ducks so dedicated to her work that sometimes it's hard to talk about anything beyond that.  She regaled me for ten minutes about how she had to travel all over the midwest to find the correct hard wheat to mill because some of the softer and newer varieties of wheat don't grind as well on her stone - then another ten minutes about how to sharpen the stone by hand.  I tried to be polite .

Anyway - I very much enjoy the cool morning jogs. Not sure I'll have these kinds of opportunities much on a day-to-day basis in Mumbai, so I need to relish them now.

Windmill Island - sun to my back.

About the title of the post - there's an obnoxious saying around here that goes: "You ain't much if you ain't Dutch" I just kinda thought it appropriate to these pictures

Coffee

Stopped at a favorite coffee shop on the way back from mailing a few items at the post office. Living close to downtown as we do, it's always nice to be able to walk places - and stop for coffee. It's a good place: which means around here, of course, that it is a small locally owned, globally aware ( can you say 'fair trade') sort of place. Usually populated, as it is this morning , with a mix of college students and profs, older folks like me taking a break, business people, and a minister or two meeting with a parishioner (this IS a church town).
I think mornings here are quite different from evenings when the high schools kids are around and it's very social. Right now, most of us keep to ourselves, with occasional nods or a brief word exchanged with those you know. Of course, one of things I like to do is sit and watch all the folks and speculate about who they are, what there relationships are and where they're going.
It will be interesting to discover what our favorite places will be when we get to Mumbai. I'm sure it will be local, and the people will be interesting ;-)

Tennis

So I got up early this morning to ride my bike over to the Holland Christian tennis courts to play tennis with Doug.  (Yeah, I know, Sunday morning on the Christian courts !? )
Great time was had by all - we each won a set which felt good because I do not often win a set off him. 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Tennis_Racket_and_Balls.jpg/800px-Tennis_Racket_and_Balls.jpg

But more importantly, it was a beautiful morning in early June here in Michigan. The temperature was in the 50's, the sky was clear, and there was just a light breeze.  It was cold riding the bike, so I had a jacket on and we both wore long sleeve shirts to play in.

I love the cool days here in Michigan in the late spring / early summer.  It's also wonderful when the fall comes in September and we feel the earth cooling off after the heat of August. It will be interested to see how it feels living in Mumbai and not experiencing the same changes.

I also hope to be able to play a lot of tennis in India.  I actually learned how to play tennis back in India in the early 60's on clay courts at the boarding school in Kodaikanal:
http://www.kis.in/