Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!

Today is a special day.  Not only I am writing two blogs, but also it is my father's 60th birthday.  In doing a bit of research, I have learned that many things happened in 1952:

• Elizabeth II became the Queen of England and the Commonwealth.
• The world saw the arrival of microwave ovens in homes and seat belts in cars.
• Construction of the Canso Causeway began, to be finished in 1955.
• The average house cost $9050 while the average yearly salary was $3850.
• A new car cost $1700 while a gallon of fuel cost 20 cents.
• Roll-on deordorant was invented.
• The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in four games straight against the Montréal Canadiens.  Detroit beat Toronto to get to the finals.
• and in 1952, Superman Christopher Reeve, David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne, and Patrick Swayze were born...as well as.....

Patrick Joseph Burke of Little Lorraine, NS on January 26, 1952.  What a year!

Over the next sixty years, Dad has seen and lived many moments - some happy, some sad, some glorious, some challenging.  But, he has definitely lived.  Never afraid to take on what life has handed him, Dad has shown that no matter what the world hands you, you have to keep moving while helping yourself and others along.  If there is one thing that this lady has learned from her father it is that when a challenge presents itself in your path, you go through it, around it, under it, or over it, but don't let it stand in your way.

On this special birthday - 60 (which is half of 120) - I would like to wish my father a very happy birthday.  Happy Birthday, Dad.  We love you.

Now, keep your head up and your stick on the ice.

Dad and me - NS Power Christmas Party, circa 1980

Oprah asked "How do you show your gratitude?" and I answered....

Every night after my four year old son's bath, we read a story book and we say our “remerciements” and our “pensées speciales” – we send out three "thank yous" and any “special thoughts” that came from the day.  To model this for our son, my husband and myself share our thank-yous.  These thank-yous could be for a coworker who unplugged the photocopier for me, for the snowplow driver who cleaned the road for us so we could go safely to school, or simply for one of our cats coming to cuddle with us to make us feel better.  Our son then follows suit.  His thank-yous have been overwhelming.  Sometimes he says something as simple as "Thanks, Mammy, for playing trains with me" or "Thanks to (a friend) for jumping in the snow with me".  We do the same for our special thoughts.  These thoughts are for people who we are thinking of for whatever reason; it is us asking to bless and help them.  Often my son's special thoughts are for his Dad who travels a lot or for a little boy (who he does not know) suffering from cancer to whom he gave some of his toys to have with him at the region's children's hospital.  I wondered if this would work when we started doing this with our son.  And then on one evening, he ran back into my room after we put him to bed to tell me he forgot to thank someone.  He wanted to thank his uncle for making him a Cars 2 book with his name in it.  However, this nightly routine has also made me more thankful because I am acknowledging these actions out loud.  I initially thought, "Wow!  Three thank-yous that are not repetitive every night.  This could be a challenge".  However, it has not been.  We have truly seen how many people help us along our daily journey.  Also, we have seen how many people we care about and how many people, whether we know them or not, we are thinking about in our daily lives.  I am so happy and privileged to share this part of my day with my son and my husband.

One of my new favourite things....iMindMap

Any tips or tools that can make my life more efficient and easier (while still having fun!) are greatly appreciated.  During the Colloquia in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I lived a wonderful session on concept mapping with Dr. Czelusniak.  During this session, we learned about different software to help us create (and save) electronic concept maps.  However, for the life of me, do you think I could remember the name of these technological products when I sat down to create a concept map for my internship project this week....NO!  After a frantic search of Google using a plethora of different word combinations of “mind map”, “concept map”, and “free software”, I happened upon one of my new favourite things....iMindMap.  Woot!  Woot! and Snaps are given to this fun, free (limited options) software that has made mind mapping fun AND, most importantly for me, pretty.  I would hand draw my mindmaps because I did not like the linearity of computer mind maps.   I would then take a picture and save a copy – a picture of the mindmap did not do it justice (a bit of bragging here!)  However, I wasted a lot of time drawing and erasing with my “hardcopy” mindmap.  My iMindMaps are continually a work in progress that I am adding to and adjusting as I continue to learn and reflect in my internship.  And, it is a lot easier to carry around all my mind maps in my laptop than in my book bag.  Over the next few months, I will share some of these mind maps.

Link to iMindMap:   http://www.thinkbuzan.com/en_ca/index/welcome

Destination: June 2012

A map to June 2012.....

I would be willing to bet that there are few people that love to make a list more than me.  In fact, at our wedding supper, most of the speeches included some reference to my making lists for my lists.  My lists keep me, somewhat, on the ball.  And, they let me keep me track of what is going on and what I (and some other important folks in my life) have on deck.  However, for the next couple of months, there are going to be some significant events and changes.  The columns of my faithful green agenda were neither long nor wide enough for the lists that have ensued.  What to do - how do I cope without lists?  An 11"x 17" concept map....with list headings....that's the stuff!  Color-coded....not only organized, but pretty.  I shall call it "Brain of a multi-tasker".

The Journey Begins

A Capstone Course - that is what this internship is called.  This is when the rubber hits the road, the feet follow the words, the walk follows the talk....you get the drift.  Capstone sounds a little to me like a national park that I would like to visit where animals run free, the mountains scrape the sky and the waters are as blue as my son's eyes.  Hanging on to this pristine image of "Capstone" may just keep me focused throughout this internship voyage.

I am doing my internship at my former second home away from home - my old school board.  It is fun to be here and see former colleagues.  I worked in this school board as a teacher and not as an employee at the school board office.  I feel like I am watching the machine work from the inside observing all the administrators, consultants and directors work diligently to support the teachers and students of their schools.  Ironically, I can see the school where I taught high school English and Social Studies from the school board office. It feels (pardon the warm, geeky feeling) like I have come back to the old homestead.

These past two weeks of the internship have been about making a plan - identifying its objectives and its procedure.  What will I be doing while I am here?  What is my role?  What will I be producing?  What are the objectives of my project and of this internship?  In essence, these past two weeks have been an experience in establishing where I am in the internship, where I want and need to go, and how I am to get there.  At the same time, it has been about placing this internship with my personal and professional responsibilities and creating a map of how to be in each place - personal, internship, professional - without going off the metaphorical road or getting lost.