Don't speak too soon

Just when I thought I had cleared my plate just a little bit here comes an e-mail saying I have another class coming, "School Law", I just hope its not as dull as it sounds. I've had pretty good teachers so far, nice and undrestanding, I'd hate to break my streak. Oh well, hopefully I will not procrastinate this time. I'll wait until tomorrow to make that decision

Bringing back the past

About 8 years ago was the last time my community had a family day picnic. The family day picnic was held in the woods near our lake, alcohol and drug free, a true family day. What was the reason it stopped? Different answers from different people. With the help of technology and using the social gathering site, Facebook, all I had to do was make a group called ,"Qospem, Family Day" and just like that Family Day has ressurected, and through a community effort, things are going well

Procrastinating

With the help of technology, today I can procrastinate tomorrow.
I usually go into things with the best of intentions, but my darker side (procrastination) usually rears its ugly head. I'm not sure why I put things off, but I do. Sure I have a busy life, but I do get things done, time just keeps on creeping up on me. With technology, for instance I can pass in all of my blogs, too bad about the date stamp.

Election Time

Election season seemed to have started a little earlier this time, thanks to technology. The election date this year is June 7th, but with the help of Facebook the campaigning started in March, when it usually starts about a month before the election. Facebook has helped the candidates spread their information to the masses without costing a cent.

Multi-tasking and technology?

Technology helps me get things done faster, sending an email instead of a visit, and so on and so on. But what do I do with the time I save? I can bank the time and use it later. So with the time I save I take on another task, using technology to help me once again, I take on another task. So instead of doing my one task and having a good night's sleep, I'm using technology to do more tasks and getting a short night's sleep. Technology can help me do several things quicker, but it can't put more hours in the day.

The art of communication

For the past couple of months I have been a member of a winter madness committee ( organizing activities during the March break). We planned several activities during the break, and just in case of bad weather, I suggested to my fellow members that we reserve the school gym for two days of activities, they were all for it. My fellow members did give me a warning however, " The janitors will not let us use the gym." This is my first year working with the Medical center, and most of the committee members have tries to reserve the gym in the past, all with the same result, the janitors are too busy cleaning the gym. I told the committee that I didn't think it should take two weeks to clean one gym, so I went ahead with my plans. I contacted the school principle and he said, "No Problem, I'll just instruct the janitors to clean the gym in the last few days of the March break." I brought the news back to the other members and it was a relief, piece of mind, we can schedule the gym for indoor activities.
I arrived at the school to prepare for the day's activities, as I was walking towars the school's doors I noticed a big sign ,"GYM CLOSED FOR CLEANING." I went in and asked what was going on, "I had activities planned," I went into the gym and saw scaffolding set up and large pieces of dust on the ground, but no janitors in the gym. I talked to the janitor, and he told me, "Nobody told me" I went back and told the other members, they told me, "We told you so, the janitors run the school"

New era of campaigning

"The elections are coming", "The elections are coming" Usually big news to any reserve.
Today with the technology that is easily accessible to the masses, it has never been so easy and affordable to reach the entire community and then some. In Listuguj , in my opinion, Facebook has become a favored site to reach out to the public. Two groups have emerged quickly, each group supporting their favored for Chief, with a few groups popping up to support general discussions about Listuguj and the elections. With such easy access to the community little or no councilors have thrown in their two cents worth, maybe they're not fans of technology.

What types of risky behaviors are you seeing with our young people?

Being a father of four children, two are teenage boys, I don't really notice any behavior that is any riskier than what I did as a youth. Sure they have instant access to watch other " Jackass" type behavior, but they have yet to try and duplicate those actions. They wear a helmet when they snowboard, something I never did, they wear helmets when they are on their bikes, skateboards and ski-doo, when I was younger a helmet never touched my head. Sure they should be made aware of a potential wild world , but you can't always be there to show them the safe way, it's justt something they will have to learn on their own, sadly most times by trial and error.
Maybe thats why kids take longer to grow up and stay with their parents until way into their twenties, parents put the fear of the world into them.

Is on-line even a real place?

For some people being on-line is the reality they want to be in. When they are on-line the world is at their fingertips and at their control, they can be who they want to be.If they are moderators in a chat room, they are the president for life , in that room they decide who can stay and who leaves, they can lead the conversation to where they want to go.On-line is their social community, the place where they meet their cyber friends with their cyber handles. On-line is a place that cannot be touched but is a place where people can escaped to.

Technology around Me

One of the things I like about the technology is the convenience. Just look at the class I am taking, I do not have to leave my family, rent a new place, move my stuff and so on and so on. Just looking at the size of the class I am in now I think others feel the same way. Last time I took a shot at university life I was miserable, so I left. Now I leave my job at the end of the day and go home, twice a week I go to class, pretty good scenario for me. Now I pay my bills online, have my pay directly deposited into my account, find items on ebay I thought I would never see again, and several other conveniences.
Technology helps me help my sons. My five year old uses the computer to help him learn his Mi'gmaq language by using an excelerated language program, which was mainly developed by the Listuguj Mi'gmaq Education Directorate and made readily available. My two older sons use the computer almost more than the television, except while using their game consoles. But technology did not help much when I was shoveling my driveway this morning, after my snowblower broke. Technology is great, just have to be prepared to go on without it.

What do I think about technology

Technology is great. As I watch my five year old son play his Guitar Hero III , on his Wii, last year's must have gift, I see his little fingers rocking out to Kiss and realize how far and accessable technology has come since I was his age. I played with a bulky joystick with one red button, and now, wireless and motion sensitive controllers brings the gaming industry to an all time high, surpassing the movie industry in profits. Then about two weeks age I watched Prince Charles attend a conference, as a life sized hologram, its only a matter of time when this technology becomes readily available and merges with other mediums. Technology is great