Negligent blogging in the first degree...

So I'm a blogger that lacks a plan, which also means that I typically lack posts as well.

I'm hoping to change that. I just finished reading a 30 days to a better blog challenge over at teach42.com (thanks for all the hard work Steve!), and I learned some good things I think will help me to be better prepared to blog more faithfully.

I know that I need to have some topics to stick to as a guideline, to give my blog some backbone and substance.

I think I would also like to try out some vlog action as well. I'm not saying I'm going to be Ze Frank or anything, but I do hope to put some stuff out into the vlogosphere worth viewing and responding to.

So, if you are actually someone who used to read my blog but has abandoned me because I'm a loosey-goosey poster, check me out over the next month. I am developing (like Blackadder always did) a cunning plan...

Go for it sister!

Ever since I started running, one of the things I began doing was cheering on other runners I saw while I was out doing things, driving in my car, on the bus, etc. Regardless of how speedy or efficient they looked, whether male or female, young, old, skinny, fat, slow, fast, I took to waving and calling out "go for it brother/sister!" (depending on the gender of the runner, of course...)

Funny how habits stick with you. Years later, I'm still doing it, and now the tradition has passed on to my son, Jonah. At 4 and a half years old, he hollers out "go for it sister!" every time he sees a runner out doing their thing. (Still have to work on the gender appropriate cheer with him- even boys get the "go for it sister!"- hilarious!)

I love it. One of my fave scriptures is Hebrews 12:1-2:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NKJV

That image of there being a huge crowd cheering each of us on as we pursue our faith with God always overwhelms me. I always visualized those voices calling out and urging me on, but now those voices have a human sound- Jonah in the back seat cheering on runners of every description and size as they go for it.

Thank God for kids. I know Jonah's cheers give me juice to push through my flabby cramps to make the distance, and the cheers from heaven still give me the push I need to keep going forward toward the prize.

Ricardo is going down...

Last night I ran 7.5 km without pause. Tonight, I nailed a 5K tempo run. Ricardo says he doesn't need to train because "there's no quit in [him]."

He better hope there isn't. Because I'm not letting up until I cross the finish.

Guess I'm a betting man...

So the school I teach at engages populations of students from two very different yet challenging communities. About half the students hail from North Preston, which is the largest indigenous community of black people in Canada.

I've enjoyed my year at the school, and one of the brightest spots is how I've been able to forge really positive and warm relationships with many of the students from North Preston. There are many students from this community who arrive with the expectation that things will not go well due to negative past experiences. I haven't been perfect, by any stretch, but the hard work to build a shared normal has even paid off with students who may not be the most academically engaged but have come to appreciate the structure and support I provide.

One kid (who we'll call Ricardo, for anonymity's sake) has been talking smack all year long about how he can beat me at whatever we happen to be talking about in class. Until a little while ago, that was generally basketball (which he is pretty good at), hockey or football.

But about 10 days ago he told me how old I was and that he'd cream me in a running race.

Now I haven't REALLY run in years- I go for a run every once in a while, but I'm not dedicated like I used to be when I trained for half-marathons in Montreal. But I couldn't help myself. He bet me that he could beat me straight up in a race. So I agreed to race him if I could pick the distance. He grinned and said sure.

I told him we'd run 10km the last day of school for bragging rights once and for all. He shook on it, and I have been training since.

Tonight I went for the longest run in ages, the longest since training for the demi-marathon de Montreal in 2002 with my friend Matt. I ripped off a 7.5K in just over 42 minutes at an average heartrate of 180 BPM.

Here's the route I ran:


Be afraid Ricardo. Be very afraid. I'm going to run you into the ground... :) And this old man will get to call you a loser AND get back on track with running.

Who knew petty competition could be such a great motivator? LOL...

U for useless?

This picture sums up just about everything wrong with the NSTU.

Once again the faces at the negotiating table lack two critical things:
1. Real qualifications as negotiators (none of these people is a lawyer, or someone who specializes in negotiating collective agreements as their sole vocation and has a proven track record of winning outstanding gains in collective bargaining)
2. Real perspective that matters to huge portions of the teaching population in Nova Scotia (old, old, old, old, old... Good mix of teaching experience and career status to ensure values and priorities are balanced, no?)

I'm not here to argue that there isn't experience in participating in negotiations at the table- some of this crew has done the dance before, and several times, at that.

But let's be honest- teachers have had their contractual backsides handed to them since 1993 when we got served, and the government of Nova Scotia was successful in dividing and conquering the membership of the NSTU.

The then sitting president concocted a deal that gave him and his close-to-retirement cronies a golden parachute achieved by selling out substitutes and early career teachers that laid the foundation for what remains an ongoing tension in values and priorities between permanent and early career teachers.

One only needs to revisit the maelstrom that was the pension debacle of 2006, where 45% of teachers who voted spoiled their ballots in protest over the single-dimensional options presented by the NSTU leadership to select from. We could choose between unpalatable option 1 or unpalatable option 2. The deal that appealed to the long term interests of early career teachers trumped the interests of teachers close to retirement, and now Nova Scotia teachers pay more of their salary towards their pension than anyone else in the province OR country.

That has translated into many people close to retirement staying on long past their eligible to retire dates out of fears that their pension will not be indexed, and may not be indexed, for years to come. Believing that they need to max out their pensions means the wave of retirements that was supposed to usher in a prolonged window of opportunity for younger teachers was much abbreviated, that mythical window called a "teaching shortage" is shut, with numbers of permanent hire positions available during the first two rounds to date down sharply compared to last year.

The last two contracts I have been in Nova Scotia for were a farce- the NSTU trumpeted yearly salary increases of 2.9% for the life of the contracts won as major victories, while refusing to put any significant items in our asking packages (let alone collective bargaining) to address the abysmal state of affairs for substitutes and early career teachers. 2.9% hasn't covered the cost of living increases for anyone in 6 years, and our braintrust at the beige fortress on Joe Howe Drive would have us believe that we've really put it to the government.

Gains by other Labour unions in NS have clearly outpaced those of teachers, and while our leadership love to stroke their overpaid egos with the notion that the NSTU is the most feared union in the province, teachers on the ground level see the lack of vision and strength in our paid staff and elected leaders and recognize that we are a ship stuck on a path for status quo, a status quo guaranteed to leave us on the perpetual short end of the stick.

If the candidates running for NSTU president (Alexis Allen, Eric Boutilier, Simon Wilkin, Jack Toomey, Russell Comeau- the latter two don't even have a website...) are any indication, that's not about to change any time soon.

The negotiations underway are pretty much guaranteed to result in farcical gains as well- the salary increases we asked for are so low that we're banking on getting 2.9% annually again. There is no discernible effort or priority to win bigger gains to offset the wage freezes of the 90's.
The bottom line is that these negotiators get paid their 6 figures and expenses whether they make gains or not.

I'd feel much better if our dues were spent on a ringer of a negotiator who got paid according to the gains won.

The other thing that bothers me is that not one of the faces on the team represents younger or early career teachers in current or recent experience.

This is troublesome because you always fall back on what you know best, and for a good portion of this team, that's what teaching was like a decade ago, either because they're professional Union workers who haven't been in a classroom or they're principals.

Equally problematic is that this aspect of union business is not being carried out with any vision to equipping and enabling a new generation to take things to a higher level. We are relying on old war horses with an incremental approach that has proven to be slower to win gains than the rate of increases in cost of living. We continue to do things the same way and expect different gains. I think someone once called that insanity...

I look to the steel nerved leadership teachers in British Columbia got from their union a few short years ago when the provincial government tried to legislate teachers' ability to represent themselves effectively in collective bargaining away and threatened wage garnishing and legal consequences.

Our leadership flinched at that rumour in 1993 and sold out its most vulnerable members to make sure those who were already entrenched and taken care of stayed that way.

In BC, the union pulled its membership together, stared the government down and told them they weren't going to have any of it, and stuck to an agenda that aggressively pursued important wins for teachers across the board, especially for supply and early career teachers.

Last time Nova Scotia's teachers were negotiating, we had a 96% strike mandate because teachers were sick of the low pay and strained working conditions, and the core of the team working on our behalf today parlayed that show of strength in 2.9% annually over 4 years with no significant changes for substitute and early career teachers, far and away the population that needs the strongest advocacy in contract negotiations, and passed it off as a big fat win.

Forgive me if I don't stand up and cheer for that same core now as they present a deal which almost ensures either status quo or gains that are so minimal as to be hardly noticeable at all. Mary Lou Donnelly has advised teachers at every turn to take whatever deal is on the table yet. Don't expect her very-close-to-retirement perspective and cohort of negotiators, many of whom are long removed from the classroom, to change and encourage teachers to stand up for what matters to them and win the gains that we should be after.

I can't believe I pay almost $700 a year for leadership like this...

The fiddle...

...HAS to be Erik's new moniker after the the absolute worst play in Survivor history for how he was played like Itzhak Perlman dealing Beethoven's 9th by the four women left in the game.

How anyone gives up individual immunity with a shot at the final four after dominating all immunity challenges since Ozzie and Jason left the game is infinitesimally foolish.

Ultimately, the ice cream boy remained an ice cream boy, and one who doesn't appear to be much adept at scooping or not squishing cones. Schooled, bamboozled, burned, dominated, bluffed- none of these are too superlative to describe the successful snow job perpetrated by Natalie and Cirie.

If you're Erik, and the plain common sense of NOT giving immunity up doesn't hit you like a schoolyard bully right off the bat, doesn't the headshaking and body-shaking attempts of every single jury member to not howl out in uncontrollable laughter tip you off that what you are considering is lunacy?

Erik, despite being a walking encyclopedia of all things Survivor, loves the game, but he doesn't GET the game. You win by having a plan and executing yours better than your competitors and by selling that execution to the jury, not by shouting your errors, begging for forgiveness that he didn't need from the four bags of lies and deception that reamed him out at tribal council and giving away the only sure thing in the game.

Erik got what he came for- a chance to be awed by Survivor celebs and worship at their living sides.

On the other hand, you have to give credit to Natalie and Cirie for making an insane option seem plausible and necessary to stay in the game in the face of the reality of the immunity necklace dangling from his neck. The sheer audacity of it was impressive- that they pulled it off borders on genius, although time will temper the magnitude of the achievement, because it wasn't like they had much of an obstacle to overcome in dealing with Erik's complete inability to read anything accurately.

Here's where it gets ugly. Watch the knives come out and see everyone gun for the others now. The last challenge is always about endurance, so the odds have to favour Amanda and Parvati. Beyond that, these women could care less about relationship- they want the money, and I can guarantee that there is a jury full of people ready to set the record straight if anyone attempts to sell the notion that relationships matter- only Alexis wasn't toilet paper when it comes down to it.

Stunned. And they won't let Canadians play this game?

NST BOOOOOOOOOO!

So the NSTU held its first ever presidential candidate forum via webcast last night. I applaud the effort to make the forum accessible across the province. I watched out of curiousity to see how the technology would pan out as much as interest in what candidates would present.

And what the candidates presented was pretty much what I expected, with one exception.

Alexis Allen talked about how hard she's worked, that she has taught for 30 years, yada, yada, yada. There was no vision or freshness to her ideas or presentations, which means if she's elected, we'll continue to have a union that's driven by highly overpaid teachers pretending to be lawyers and negotiators under the guide of executive staff officers (who actually have their own union and contract with the NSTU).

Jack Toomey said pretty much the same thing as Alexis. His moneyball comment came when he said we should be spending more money to communicate with the public. I was curious to know if he, as first vice president this past year, was one of the brain trust who signed off on the horribly irrelevant holiday add this year where the main message was that Mary Lou Donnelly sure knows how to kiss babies. If he thinks that's effective communication, we're in for raised dues to pay for his media campaign and a boatload of dollars wasted on tacky and pointless TV ads.

Simon Wilkin gave some focus to new teachers and getting people involved, but he didn't say anything to show me that he has any new ideas for reform to make the kind of changes that will shake our union out of complacency and into effectiveness and innovation. He wore the nicest suit and looked the best on the screen, but I'm not excited about the prospect of him driving the boat.

Eric Boutilier at least seems genuine, but there's so little of his platform that reflects anything other than the priorities of permanent teachers that I just can't see how he's the person to get the union to finally leverage its influence to deal with the biggest issues facing its most vulnerable constituents- substitutes and early career teachers. While his points are valid, who doesn't know or believe that a salary increase in our contract that matches the true cost of living increase we're all facing isn't important, or an article that ensures classes are composed with a clear, entrenched framework for funding and support?

The candidate who took it home for me was Russell Comeau. He was the candidate I knew the least about, but he hit the nail on the head a bunch of times. The most significant point he raised was the critical need to rework the language of our contract to escape the problem we have now- that we negotiate for permanent, probationary, term and substitute teachers almost separately, and consequently have gains that apply to one group but not others- he clearly laid out as a priority the need to have language that ensures gains apply to all when won so we don't have entrenched layers of inequality that grow tension and discord between different groups.

With the proposed articles of our asking package distributed recently, it's obvious that those who are leading our union are getting paid a ton and delivering little. Our asking items are mamby pamby to begin with, ensuring that we whatever we win will be less than lukewarm. The vast bulk of items requested really only impact permanent teachers, and changes proposed for subs seem significant, but only if you didn't hear the deputy minister of education scoff at how poorly paid subs are in both major newspapers earlier this year. If you can't win gains this year, when can you? If I hear the NSTU thumping its chest over these gains, I will be quick to point out the lack of substitute teacher issues in asking packages, annual council business and presence on the provincial executive have been the three biggest factors in the abysmal and near poverty stricken state of affairs for NS subs.

Here's hoping Russell can overcome the popularity contest this election has been too often, and the archaic regional politics that can ruin the best candidates chances simply because of where they live and work.

Clueless

It's official. The men of Survivor Micronesia are inept. They are daft, and they will surely go down in history as the epitome of lambs to the slaughter.

Let's review. Jason believes a rudely carved stick is the immunity idol. Jason wins immunity, staving off elimination. On the next show, he GIVES UP immunity so his competitors can EAT on their "promise" not to vote for him. What saves him is some brilliant skullduggery on the part of Cirie and Parvati to whack Ozzie. So he finds the hidden immunity idol AND DOESN'T play it.

Further to this indescribable lack of the ability to read or discern what could be going on (even hear of talking to MORE THAN ONE PERSON?), his male colleagues, whilst sitting in on a "how dumb is Jason" session, where the women openly state their plan to draw out the immunity idol or send him packing, NEGLECT to tell him or leverage the suddenly vulnerable Amanda, who could well have been enticed to pay Parvati back for the knife in the ribs.

But what happens? James goes solo against Parvati. Jason votes for James, and Erik votes for Jason.

Shameful... What game are these guys playing, and when will thinking about the numbers and looking at the dynamics of the female five enter their minds and compel them to do something before they all are sitting bitterly on the jury licking their wounds?

I don't like any of the women, but they are playing cold, hard killer games right now, and that's what wins it. I just wonder if Cirie will be smart enough to engineer the whacking of Parvati and Amanda so that she takes the two female fans to the final three. She was sweet the first time around, but she's slithering now... How low can she go? I think she's prepared to tell the whole world "I whacked them all, and that's why I'm sitting here with these two fans who went along with plans but never hatched them, and you're not. Hate me, but I beat you, and you can't argue with that."

PS. Is it just me, or does Natalie look a lot like the Grinch with that buff on her head?

Brett Favre Retires...

I don't intend to get too worked up about all the heresay that will fly around about how bringing in FA X/Y/Z or trading for quantity A/B/C would have kept Brett in the game.

If you read the article on Favre as SI Sportsman of the Year, you get a picture of the enormous emotional and mental toll playing pro ball has taken on Brett. If you really loved the guy and found out about him, you knew he was a regular guy who just happened to have an incredible gift to play quarterback. Mowing the lawn is a joy to the man- he's everyman.

Brett has said that getting up mentally to play the game is just too costly for him. We all know he can still play- heck, he knows it too- the point is that he's decided that he's done all he can do and playing beyond this point lacks purpose, especially if it means anything besides a second Lombardi trophy is abject failure.

I hope that fans take this time to savour one of the greatest players ever to play the game while his plays, hilights and lowlights are still fresh in our minds instead of pontificating about whose fault it is that Brett is going to enjoy life at home.

We all knew the day would come. It's here today. He gave us EVERYTHING for 17 years, and he needs us to give him his freedom and not keep tugging at him to come back or make him feel like he still needs to give us something.

All I have to say is well done Brett. You did yourself proud. You played like a legend every game (whether it was good or bad), and you became a legend. No one can talk about all time greats without mentioning your name, and no packer fan will ever forget how you transformed this team.

Enjoy the fruits of your labour as fully as you enjoyed playing the game.

The end is in sight...

Wow. It's been a long time since I last posted- I even lost Survivor steam. (BTW, was that not the most riveting final tribal council ever? totally stunned by what happened there...).

In any case, I am about four days from wrapping up my final project for the John Paul II Media Institute, a short film entitled Why I Don't Go to Church. It's an interview based documentary that explores the reasons why three genXers disengaged from regular church attendance as part of their practice of faith.

For any of you that can make it, it will be screened at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at the church hall at St. Thomas Aquinas (corner of Jubilee and Oxford in Halifax, NS).

One other short is scheduled to air as well.

I'm both relieved and excited. This project has been awesome, and I have learned so much about both media production and, more importantly, what it will take to reach a generation that has so little connection to the Church. The three guys who I was able to interview were amazing, and they really impacted my life and outlook on outreach.

If and when I post this to youtube or the like, I'll let you know. Otherwise, you'll have to pop by in a week and half to see it. Hope to see you there!

Episode 8: The Leaning/Wavering mind of Lisi

Once again, I breathed a deep sigh of relief at the end of a second straight episode. Last week, it was out of thanks to not have to hear Rocky gripe and macho-preach at everything and everyone.

This week? The emotional roller coaster that was Lisi got sent packing. To sum up her exit from the game, we go back to the merge when Lisi was the odd survivor standing after the teams were picked and had to go to Exile Island and she had a pouting fit, threatening to leave the game then and there.

Upon her return to the all-male Ravu, Lisi somehow wiggled her way back into the good graces of Edgardo and Alex (who was particularly perturbed with her for her elitist and condescending attitude towards Dreamz and Cassandra as recently as the day before the merge). She helped whack Rocky, and then proceeded to "just be honest" and confess her wavering commitment to the game in front of the entire tribe.

Thereafter, she recanted, only to reiterate her loss of will and inconstant drive to win AGAIN. The dagger in Lisi's future? Trying to convince Alex and Edgardo ten minutes before leaving for tribal council to get rid of Dreamz in a third total about face.

What followed the spasms of decision and another Ravu loss in an immunity challenge was one of the best tribal councils in a long time. Lisi danced around the issue and tried to minimize her waffling, and Probst was just about willing to let it go when Dreamz put the question to her straight and crystallized who had to go: do you want to be here?

To a man, the rest of Ravu answered without hesitation and left Lisi looking like the wishy-washy player she was. I also loved how Dreamz put Lisi on the defensive even when she was trying to come aboard him and make him look like a quitter- his question was simple: when have you ever seen me quit or give up? Give me a specific example, and if you don't have one, then you're done talking.

Early on, I wondered if Dreamz, like Rocky, was a little too extroverted to go far in the game, but he has showed great game lately, and he has a clear picture or what's going on and what he needs to do to win, and he is willing to consider shaking the game up to get it done. Dreamz is a factor, and I won't be surprised to see him get a lot further in the game if he makes the merge and can reconnect with Cassandra and a couple other key players like Yao Man and Earl.

I wonder if this is Probst's last season with the show. I remember the look on his face when Osten quit and the absolute disdain he showed when Osten walked down the path. Now he almost takes it in stride when people talk about quitting. I was glad to see Dreamz press Lisi for the real story, because Probst should have been the guy doing that. He has hammered on other players for a lot less than Lisi's lack of desire to even play the game.

And who knew that Earl could shake his groove thang like that? He rocked the Fijian dance like a pro. You also had to take your hat off to Yao Man, who picked his spots perfectly, sitting out the dance and killing the projectile challenge. Moto just has some winning mojo right now- I think it will be tough for Ravu to break the cycle of losing- Moto just has a huge head of steam and great luck to go with it.

As for next week, I think that if there's one more immunity challenges before both tribes merge and Ravu loses, I think Dreamz might be the guy that gets whacked. Ed and Alex are rightfully worried about Dreamz jilting them after the merge to work out an allegiance with Cassandra and whoever else suits his purpose, and with Mookie disposable at any time should there be no more merge for two more tribal councils and the immunity idol in hand, Dreamz needs a big immunity win this week or a merge to stay in the game.

If it's Moto going to tribal, I hope that Earl has the good sense to get rid of Boo now. Moto is not a cohesive tribe right now, and Earl needs to shift the balance of power between the two original tribes in case of a merge. If they're silly and shortsighted, then Michelle finds a way to get the guys to vote Stacy out.

Now that Rocky and Lisi can't fill the air with silliness, I hope to see some improved gamesmanship all the way around, especially if someone can get some of the alliances to soften up in anticipation of a merge...

Until next time....

Episode 7: Rocky Gets Knocked Out

I surmise I am not the only person grateful that Rocky's shtick wore too thin with the gang at Ravu. I don't know that I have ever seen a player with such a poor sense of the relational aspect of this game as the megalo-Bostonian did. I don't doubt that he was being himself- that he was not well suited to subtlety was apparent from the start. At least he was consistent... But to treat everyone as you would a lifelong friend come adopted brother out of Southie and berate everyone that moved as if you were recovering from a street war and due to fight another in minutes? Perhaps the most incongruous statement in recent Survivor history was when Rocky dressed Anthony down in tribal council for having no social skills, and then informing Anthony that he acted like a little girl and he needed to "take off his skirt a little."

Perhaps these shortcomings would have been overlooked had Rocky actually been a factor in challenges. Reminiscent of Adam last season, Rocky didn't even do anything to win even ONE challenge. He was a total O-fer, no wins, all losses, and losses he was highly unimpressive in. You can't be a mouthpiece non-stop and not deliver the goods, and Rocky was all talk (negative, insulting, sexist, macho, self-absorbed) and no action.

Lisi managed to navigate the debacle at the shuffle fairly well, though it helps to have someone like Rocky grating on everyone's nerves at all times to accomplish rebuilding your image. She did manage not to be bossy and condescending, something she was often enough at Moto to motivate Alex to consider the value of continued alliance with. I will be interested long term to see if she can survive if Ravu loses again. Dreamz has not forgotten his treatment by the old Moto, and in Mookie, Dreamz has someone who is playing the game with his eyes open.

Gotta say that Earl and Yao Man's strategy to combine for the immunity idol gives the game a new wrinkle, though it's readily apparent that Yao Man will need to play it long before Earl does. It will be interesting to see if Earl can unearth the discontent that Cassandra felt in the old Moto and leverage that to gain the swing vote if the new Moto heads to tribal soon.

The new Moto continues to impress. Clearly nowhere close to the new Ravu in physical prowess, the tribe makes up for in glue, teamwork and guts. Had to love the silenced look on Mookie's face when Yao Man made the reward challenge too close for comfort- Yao Man is a competitor, and resourceful. The ability of Moto to think a couple steps ahead may be the difference in getting to the merge ahead in numbers. Only Alex and Edgardo are really scheming for Ravu, and it will take something big for Dreamz and Mookie to break the three now.

Good challenges this week as well- loved the skull bashing immunity challenge. Did you laugh as hard as Lori and I did when Michelle went head over heels off the platform while shouting directions? Awful, I know, but it was classic slapstick...

I wonder if we're not in for a wrinkle next week. With the way this season started so slow and the tribes still so close, I have a hunch that the merge might come sooner rather than later and make the immunity idol that much more important and critical earlier in the game.

I also suspect that the merged tribe will reside at Ravu beach. I'll be disappointed to see the merge-makers living it up in luxury- it's Survivor. Let's see who can go the distance, carry their weight at a camp where nothing comes easy and still keep their wits about them.

Who's next? If it's Ravu, don't be surprised to see Mookie walk at the hands of the ex-Moto crew. If it's Moto, I hope Earl and Yao Man do the smart thing and make Boo the target with the immunity idol in play...

Episode 6: The Whiner and the Jerk

OK. Thankfully, the tribes got shuffled. This was shaping up as the most lopsided season in Survivor history. Analysis of the team selections you say? For now the new Moto looks great because they won the first challenge, but at the time of the picking you had to wonder what Boo was thinking taking Michelle instead of Rocky. With Edgardo, Mookie and Alex staring from the Ravu mat, representing three of the most powerful physical players in a game where strength has dictated victory, you pick the smallest girl in the game? Michelle picks Cassandra next, and the new Ravu gets Dreamz AND Rocky.

While I think team chemistry will be better with Moto, the ex-Moto members of Ravu will not be sitting back at camp whining about how hard it is like Rocky and the Ravu Tear Droppers did. They already showed they could get food, and they showed that they will be competitive in challenges, which the old Ravu rarely was. The new Ravu won't be content to me an emaciate, emotionally beaten group.

The big question is how much of a factor is the luxury camp now for the new and much less physically competitive Moto? Does it even the field? Time will tell.

I have to say that I was praying for a second glass bottle to emerge for the new Ravu when they lost the challenge- I wanted desperately for them to need to get rid of Anthony AND Rocky.

Anthony was unbelievably timid and passive, and his constant sighing and anxiety monologues were wearing. You don't go to play Survivor with a mindset to be everyone's whipping boy or anyone's easy to pick on nerd/geek/dweeb (as he described himself). To do so is to walk around an easy target and a sure thing to get whacked early, and that's what happened.

There have been lots of players who have demonstrated emotional depth coupled with incredible guts. You can be sensitive and tough, but Anthony showed up convinced that he could only be one or the other and let past experiences dictate that it was going to be sensitive. It's a shame, because I think he could have won a lot of respect by at least holding some boundaries and being clear about things. He tried at tribal, but it was too late for him.

Rocky is an obtuse and self-righteous megalomaniac. He's not able to look in the mirror. His rant, while containing some good tips for Anthony, wandered way too far into buffoon territory (like Donald Trump has in standing up to Rosie O'Donnell- make your point- you don't need to assassinate people while you're at it. Outbullying the bully isn't right or going to win you points with anyone, except the meathead crowd.) Calling him effeminate, saying that he should take his skirt off- WOW. Anthony missed a golden opportunity to ask Rocky how many challenges he had won single handedly yet. Rocky has been a big a disappointment as anyone on Ravu for all his he-man braggadocio, and should be the last to point out weak gamesmanship relative to competition.

He's not even remotely playing the game beyond a physical competition standpoint, and the only way I can see him lasting longer in the game is if the new Ravu goes on a streak and makes it intact to the merge, or if someone wise, like Alex and Edgardo, realize that Rocky is a perfect take along and throw away alliance member at the jury stage. Everyone would understand getting rid of the guy because he's just so arrogant and abrasive, and no one would bother listening to him rant at a final tribal because everything that comes out of his mouth is a sexist, macho caricature of men on steroids and too much beer.

I don't think anyone can stomach carrying him that far in the game though, and they would have to carry him, because he's not someone who scares anyone in straight up physical competition.

One thing I would like to say about tribal council- Probst is losing his ability to point out flaws in games equitably. Piling onto Anthony and letting Rocky's rant, which CLEARLY made everyone in the tribe kick the dirt and cover their eyes, go without challenge was awful. I like that he used to point-counterpoint with clashes at council, giving to each opponent equally, but far too often over the last few seasons he seems to be happy to shape the game so that loudmouths stay around and make big stink (Adam vs. Jonathan last season comes to mind- Jonathan got it from everyone, including Probst, where Adam, save for one immunity win, was as competitive as a coconut husk). I don't like that he is becoming a bigger factor in the flow of the game- there was value in interjecting some objectivity into tribal council discussions, but it's shifted to making one player squint under the glare of the spotlight.

Finally, how dippy did Lisi look in pouting over not being chosen and getting sent to exile? Any player I have ever seen cop to giving quitting and going home serious consideration has never recovered in the game (remember nurse Stephanie last season?). She, like Rocky, is abrasive an know-it-all, and has yet to demonstrate any subtlety to her game, with her faith for victory firmly based on her impression that she and Stacey could she-pout and manipulate their ex-Moto male alliance members to do whatever she wanted. Now that she has left the impression that she could care less about the game and would be better off at home, don't be surprised to see her take the long walk without a torch very shortly.

I have to give Dreamz props for being able to do more than just hype and gripe. Where Rocky just assumes everyone will worship at his shrine, Dreamz gets that relationships are built and alliances earned and developed cooperatively. At one point I questioned if he would be able to reign in some of his extrovert tendencies to be able to navigate the finer points of the game, but he is impressing recently. He's also a guy who won't be afraid to make big moves to shake the game- he knows who he's there to play for, and that gives him a focus not many others seem to be showing right now.

Glad to see the game shifted. That was close- this season was one more boring week away from being banished to my exile island of shows not worth watching. Here's hoping the new Moto stays undefeated one more week and we get to see Rocky either dance for his dinner or go phony-Boston apey after getting blindsided by the rest of the Ravu men...

working through it...

One of my biggest wrestlings in life is with the call I have felt to ministry without the call to full-time ministry. I have always identified with the model of the Apostles who went about building the church yet having a marketplace trade or skill they regularly used and practiced.

Though I was never able to articulate it, I was always perturbed with the unspoken statement at youth camps, retreats and conventions that the really anointed or gifted people were destined to go to bible college and be pastors. The only youth you saw on the stage or esteemed by leaders were those who were clearly on the track to attending bible college. It was like if you weren't like them, you didn't matter as much and that you intrinsically had less to offer in building Jesus' church.

This same feeling hits me when I see how little space there is within the church to hear and learn from people whose calling isn't to full time ministry yet have a clear anointing and impact on the church, especially within their local church community. I admit that I shake my head whenever I look at brochures or publicity for church conferences and see that the only voices and perspectives represented are paid clergy.

My Dad is a minister, and being a minister is the only thing I have ever seen him do in terms of vocation in my life. I have a profound respect for those that give their lives in full-time service, so the issue isn't that clergy don't really have something valuable to say, because they clearly do.

What I fight with is that it seems the only voices Christianity is willing to provide air time to are paid clergy. We spend all of our time hearing from the temple and next to none hearing from those building the church in the market. Check the list of speakers at your favourite conference next time and see if there are any lay people or anyone who isn't the pastor of some large church or highly visible ministry.

It leaves me in a position wondering where the room is in ministry for lay people who have a calling to speak to the church, and whose lives and testimonies are lined with riches bestowed by God to be a blessing and source of wealth to the body.

One of my Dad's peeves is how little esteem there is in the public eye for clergy people- they often rank with used car salesmen or politicians in polls when it comes to trustworthiness. I wonder, though, if we haven't created such an insular culture within the church that we have developed a worship of pastors and devalued the voice and lives of laypeople to the place that the body has forgotten to hear the voice of lay leaders and tuned out the only other voice it hears- the clergy.

One of the other consequences of the way we overburden clergy and underburden lay leaders is that clergy burn out far too often and experience much harder falls when they do fall morally or otherwise. Does Jimmy Swaggart's fall from grace do as much damage if the load of leading, shepherding and teaching within that congregation is shared according to the principal of the priesthood of all believers?

This paradigm has also contributed to the delinquency and non-engagement of the rank and file believer. Because the expectations on clergy are so steep and they do so much more than they should be and the expectations on believers who should be growing and maturing and shouldering a much more significant responsibility for the work of the church are so lax, we have generations of believers who are used to doing nothing other than showing up to be entertained on Sundays.

So, what I am seeking? Speaking engagements? A TV ministry? Not at all. Nor am I suggesting that we devalue the role of clergy- we do that at our peril. Somehow there has to come a shift within the church where clergy shift the focus of running the work of the church to empowering believers to carry out their reasonable service with the giftings and talents God has entrusted them with.

I really believe that the western church will not realize the growth and potential it has in our culture until this dynamic tension comes back into calibration. Until that time, losing clergy in churches will have a far more devastating effect than it should and legions of overfed and underengaged believers will languish in immaturity and inaction.

I am believing for a time when conferences in a city or a region will feature homegrown leaders whose life message will carry weight every bit as significant as the most known international church leader, a time where pastors can be relieved of the burden of having to make the whole church move and grow and believers at all stages of growth can mature knowing that they are critical partners in building the church and accomplishing Jesus' dream on earth and that they will find every opportunity to use their God given talents and abilities to maximum fruitfulness to contribute to a kingdom that knows no end.

I believe it's coming, and I will continue to serve and do my part in my local church in partnership with my pastor and fellow believers. I will look for opportunities to use the things God has put in my life and take up my responsbility and call so that no one else carries a weight that God intends for me to shoulder and steward. I'll be at my place on the wall until the gap is closed and the breach repaired. Looking forward to visiting your spot when it's all done...

Loads of love from Halifax...

Homework Complete

This week's homework asked us to create a clip or sequence (I did both) and use and modify at least one LiveType template, to save the titles created and import the LiveType project files into the Final Cut Pro sequence for use instead of rendering out each title individually.

This project uses three different NTSC titling templates from LiveType. All fonts were changed, with some resized.

March Break! Hooray!

Today is the first day of March break here in the Halifax Regional School Board. I kicked mine off with an extended Saturday morning snooze with my wife, Lori, the most fabulous woman on the face of the planet.

Next on the agenda was some online jigsaw puzzling with Jonah (found some VERY cool jigsaws of trains, which he is particularly jazzed about) before we ate some breakfast and dined with Lois, who was ravishing in her white terry sleeper and smelled like a million wearing her pink Johnson's baby lotion.

Jonah and I played a rowdy game of troll under the blanket (read: wrestling with lots of noise and tickling while pretending to be trolls...), and made bacon and eggs for the family. He's quite a chef. I used to worry that he would be keen to explore the laws of thermal dynamics being so close to the stove, but he's a tremendous listener when I show him how to stir things and where not to put our hands so we don't get burned. I like our chances in a scrambled egg making combination against any duo in the world....

I have some homework to do for my film class this afternoon, and we have a date to enjoy some tourtiere Lac St. Jean courtesy with my folks courtesy of our friends from Lennoxville, the Cheals, this evening.

I am looking forward to a visit with my sister in Summerside for a couple of days to get out of town and spend some time with her. Rumor has it that there is a large John Deere dealership not too far from her house, so a visit of the showroom is a very real possibility for Jonah and I....

Other than that, I'm hoping to sleep in once (ok, maybe twice), catch a movie and spend some time in the editing suite at JP2MI doing some Final Cut Pro tutorials. Mostly, I'm just excited to be at home with my wife and kids and enjoy every minute.

How do you March break at your house? If you've had yours already, hope it was awesome. If you haven't, hope you've planned for some R&R and quality time with the ones you love.

No Survivor next week, so depending on what happens, I might have some neat pics to share instead.

Gotta figure out how to get this blog on track and give it some form and rhythm so it's not so boom or bust. Any ideas the blog gallery has about resources to help build a better blog would be appreciated.

Check you all later.

Episo.....Snore....

Somebody please wake me when this season gets interesting. Ravu is awash in loser-vibes- they are possible the very worst tribe in all of Survivor history. They don't do anything well- physically they can't compete, and mentally they are about as shadow cast on a wall 50 feet away from a candle.

I thought maybe there might be some compelling moments what with the faceoff between Dreamz and Rocky being included in the upcoming hilites last week, but even that was a total wash.

I thought Adam was a total flub last season, but at least he won one challenge. Ravu just isn't even in the game.

HOPEFULLY with the scenes from the next episode including a tribe shake up things will get moving and we'll see some real action in the game. Watching so far has been like watching grist go through the mill as far as excitement goes.

That said, I think Alex and Edgardo are the two brightest minds in the game to date. The Moto woman-twins are just obnoxious, and I have never seen a tribe so arrogant follow a plan through its execution (see the demise of the 5 women vs. Chris a few seasons back- they had it in the bag, and then they got paranoid and forget about the man in the game...). Not that I believe in karma, but the law of sowing and reaping is immutable- those two rude and exclusionary women will pay the price for mistreating Dreamz and Cassandra AND for ignoring Alex' counsel that it was far too early in the game to act like it was all over.

Can't wait for the merge. If it doesn't get interesting soon, I might have to watch the hypefest known as Grey's Anatomy instead. yikes....

Episode 4: Breaking the Cardinal Rule

Stunned. That's what I am about Moto's decision to forego immunity and keep the fatcat luxury digs over keeping the hammer and forcing Ravu to jettison yet another member.

Mark my words- this is HUGE shift in the momentum of the game, because despite being undefeated, Moto stands equal with Ravu now. Moto needs to look over its shoulder and see that the difference between winning and losing the last challenge was one or two fortuitous key selections on Michelle's part for Ravu.

With Gary gone and Lilliana, clearly the most physical woman for Moto, ousted bitterly and secretively, Moto is about to enter the next phase of the game a divided tribe. Whoever didn't know about Lilliana going will be on the warpath to break up the five who did at first chance, and don't think that Alex won't be looking for reasons to harpoon members of his alliance given their awful decision making in getting rid of her.

I have never seen a tribe OPT to vote someone out and live to tell about it in all the years of watching this game. In the team section of this game, numbers are everything, and you NEVER let up- you mow through the competition and keep the hammer so that when you hit the merge you have the luxury of sticking to the stragglers or wooing people desperate for some safety in numbers.

Ravu isn't losing because they're hungry- they're losing because their team is weak. Rocky is one rant from going supernova, and you saw the beginnings of his exit in the way Earl talked about Anthony being a good guy and wondering how he could keep him around. Ravu won't tolerate Rocky's sanctimonious speeches about mailing it in if he continues to be hard on every and deliver next to nothing in challenges.

For Moto not to see how close they are to putting the nail in Ravu's coffin so that they can sleep in a nice bed is folly, and now they are out Gary (who would have been simple to vote off at any time because he posed no physical threat at all and showed no drive to navigate the interpersonal politics that are part of the game) and stuck with Cassandra (who is mainly a candidate to sit out one of every two challenges so long as there was a numbers advantage) and Lisi, who will drive the team to distraction with her controlling tendencies with an explosion about what bothers her (because just about everything does, if you listen to her asides).

If I am Ravu, I am totally re-energized by the shift in the game. Our tribe barely lost the last challenge, which is reason for optimism, because only two challenges ago, we were getting HAMMERED every time we competeced.

All you have to do is look at last season and the way that Aitu, small and badly outnumbered, found some unity and cohesion and stuck it to Raro, dominating the rest the way to a final three of all Aitu members.

Momentum is key- if Ravu can steal a win and send Moto reeling, this game could look very different in two weeks.

On another note, you have to love the message in a bottle. Twice it has been the catalyst for huge shifts in the momentum of the game. For Raro, it cost them TWO members. For Moto, it cost them one and brought things back to even. Nice touch by the show's planners to add wrinkles season after season. I can tell you this- given the detriment the bottle has been to the two tribes that have won it in challenges so far, I might be tempted to tank a challenge where winning meant getting it.... (Then again, that would be the season the bottle gives the winning tribe the right to vote off someone from the opposing tribe instead of the tribe voting off one of its own. Are you reading this Probst? You can have that one for free....)

Looking forward to the Rocky vs. Dreamz tilt next week. Have to admit I'm hoping the cheerleading coach hands it to the former Bostonian Balboa wanna be. I'm a little weary of the whiny bartender...

Episode 3: Going downhill fast....

Wow. Has any tribe been this bad at challenges since the Andrew Savage led Morgan tribe back in Survivor Pearl Islands? Ravu just doesn't have a game face.

The slip and slide challenge was a joke- complete domination by Moto, and then the immunity challenge was embarrassing. This is a tribe headed nowhere fast, and if they don't get it together and win something, this could be the first tribe eradicated and the first survivor where a merge isn't even necessary...

A couple of things I did like about the show. Hats off to Ravu for taking into account the possibility of the immunity idol when figuring out how to vote this time around. Good thinking overall- make your priorities and vote decision ahead of time to make sure you get one of your top two stragglers off.

Secondly, hats off to Mookie for voicing what everyone else was thinking about Anthony's abysmal effort and showing in the eating challenge against Gary. When players dominate they get credit. When they don't, everyone dances and talks about how valuable they are, when the truth is that they are usually killing the tribe. Anthony isn't doing anything to help the tribe, and you have to be accountable for what you do or don't deliver. I at least give Sylvia credit for owning her awful performance in the slip and slide and making that clear to Ravu.

Anthony's snipe about not questioning someone's will to win was weak and petty. When you get annihilated in an eating challenge (as in you didn't swallow ANYTHING by the time your competitor finished their plate), be prepared for questions about your guts and desire... If Ravu tanks it again, look for Anthony, who apparently gets emotional and paranoid next episode, to walk the long trail by himself at the end of tribal next week.

Here's hoping we see more head-to-head competition. If we're going to see more puzzles, I hope we see them where you have to beat someone one-on-one to help your tribe win. At least there would be high drama with puzzles....

Jesus has a big hand...

One of the things I pray over my son every night is that God holds his life in His hand, and sends big angels to watch over him all through the night to keep him safe.

The other day we were driving in the car on our way to do some errand as a family rocking out to a little Raffi when Jonah pipes up and says "Mommy?" (which is not an uncommon precursor to any number of discussion starters).

Turning down the music to hear what he has to say, Lori kindly asks what's on his mind, to which Jonah says: "Mommy, Jesus has a big hand." Not quite sure that she heard him correctly, Lori asked him to say it again and he did. Still not making it out, I filled her in, and then Jonah continued to tell her that Jesus keeps him safe in His big hand.

What was amazing about Jonah saying all of this was the smile on his face and the calm with which he said it- on some really important level to him, the reality of Jesus' big hands holding him tight and keeping him safe really mattered. It reminded me never to underestimate the ability of little people to understand really profound spiritual things.

So this past Monday morning, when I sat in the emergency room of the Cobequid Communicty Health Centre hearing that the results of the catscan and EKG done to figure out if I had either fractured my skull or concussed my brain after fainting in my bathroom twice within 3 minutes and smashing my head on the corner of the counter and the lip of the bathtub respectively were BOTH negative for anything signficant, I closed my eyes and thanked God for his protection. And quietly, Jonah's words came back to me in a smile I enjoyed with my eyes closed.

28 years his senior (and well over 200 pounds heavier), the reality of Jesus big hands holding me and keeping me safe meant every bit as much to me on that gurney as it did to Jonah in the back of the family Hyundai... For a minute I was tempted to worry about how badly I could have been hurt, but then I realized that God does watch over me, and that my life was spared undue harm.

David had it right:
Psalm 63 (New Living Translation)

1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

3 Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you! 4 I will honor you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5 You satisfy me more than the richest of foods. I will praise you with songs of joy. 6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

7 I think how much you have helped me; I sing for joy in the shadow of your protecting wings. 8 I follow close behind you; your strong right hand holds me securely.

Love that big hand, Jesus...