Duke CIT Presentation

Evan found a box with all of my old Dungeons and Dragons stuff in it, including the dice and pewter characters, and several player sheets and maps we created as kids. Man, was I a dorky kid…

a fresh batch of baby duckies is taking to the pond near campus. as I approached to take some photos, I was surprised to be warned off by one of the geese - I thought the mama duck might be upset, but a goose?

I headed downtown to visit MEC so I could grab some more expensive crap for my bike. I’m not a fan of downtown, but there’s something about the reflections on the glass shrines to petroleum culture that are strangely compelling.

Craig rides to the top of the hill coming out of Cochrane on the way back to Calgary. What a beautiful day for a ride!

a bench along the pathway at one end of the duck pond near campus. this pond is now the home to nearly a dozen resident ducks, and many other birds have moved back into the trees surrounding it. campus sounds alive again.

Evan hunts for fossils behind our house - he got lucky on this expedition, returning with a back plate from a stegosaurus, and several tyrannosaurus teeth.

I’m not sure what these are (cinquefoil?) but they just blossommed en masse on the bluffs overlooking the Bow River. Lots of bright yellow spread along the pathway.

at the west end of the Bowmont pathway system, in Silver Springs.

I’m trying the Manfrotto Super Clamp on the handlebars again, this time with my little Fujifilm point and shoot camera - I’m not sure that camera will survive much vibration though…

if you look very closely, you can see the ghosts of some of the YYC Photo Book project members. or at least their feet.

Evan, with his hair all spiked up for his cousin’s first communion.

we went for an epic 11km ride around our community today, and wound up taking a break at the far southwest corner of Tuscany, on a bluff overlooking the Bow River valley.

I stopped at the duck pond near campus to cool down, and wound up spending a few minutes enjoying the calmness of the pond, with ducks and songbirds moving into the area.

the community of bowness, and canada olympic park, obscured by the first real fog of the season.

I stopped at The Bench™ for a few minutes on the ride home this evening. Definitely my favourite thinking spot (in #yyc, anyway)

Canada Olympic Park, with the last remnants of the snow still hanging on. Note the angle of the flag on top of the hill. That was headwind, the whole way to campus…

I rode out to Cochrane again today to take on The Hill™ - it almost won this time.

This is the lumber mill on the east end of Cochrane. Little Known Fact About D’Arcy #231: I briefly worked for one of the housing construction companies that built some of the giant houses along the river - the same company that built our own much-less-giant house.

Evan and I explored the ravine behind our house, and stumbled across this mallard swimming in the shrinking pond at the bottom.

a creek runs along the bottom of the ravine behind our house - cutting a deep gash that is often completely overgrown by grass and brush.

Me, presenting the “Identity in the Open Classroom” session for the From Courses to Dis/course: Exploring the Future of Courses online conference. I picked a topic that I’ve been thinking about, but hadn’t done much with, so it gave me a chance to pour through research and writing on the subject and put together a presentation. I think it went OK, and there was great discussion.

the amur bing choke cherry tree in front of our house is finally budding. spring? hopefully.

I’m 2 weeks ahead of my pace from 2008, but I still need to pour it on to build up endurance for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.

I finally filled up my old Moleskine - after working in it for over 2 years. Time to start a fresh one, and put the old one on the shelf next to the others…

I spent Mother’s Day volunteering to help with the Shrine Circus as a Marshal - sitting next to an emergency exit to make sure it’s safe to run the show.

Evan watches the circus, enjoying the clowns and acrobats. The Batman facepaint was probably his favourite part of the circus - didn’t want to wash it off before bed.

it’s trying to rain again today, but the battle for the skies will not be easily won.

a decent sustained rainfall today means everything will be turning neon green very quickly. green week is coming to calgary…

passed the 1500km mark in silver springs, along the bowmont area, overlooking the bow river valley and the rocky mountains.

the first rain of the year! w00t!

I’m in the first orientation session for the GDER program, rebooting my MSc after a several year hiatus.

an automous robot seeks unexploded bombs in a simulated town as part of the IEEE Robot Games hosted at the University of Calgary. IIRC, this one used ultrasonic rangefinders to build its map.

I’ve been brainstorming for a series of presentations I’m doing, throwing ideas on a whiteboard to help flesh out the concepts a bit more. The aroma of whiteboard markers can get pretty strong in the office…

a stretch of the Bowmont Natural Pathway system, along Silver Springs. The grass is starting to turn green, and buds are forming on the brush. Spring is going to happen quickly.

a small pond beside the “bike path” through the construction zone at Stoney Trail and Tuscany Boulevard, with concentric rings visible through the ice.

the hallway in Math Sciences.

This is all that was left of the mountain of rain barrels at the City of Calgary Rain Barrel Sale. Hundreds of barrels were sold at Brentwood C-Train station, hopefully conserving thousands of liters of water (more?) during the summer.

I hit 1200km while I was on the short path beside VRRI, between the research park and main campus.

the canyonero, covered with snow and ice after yesterday’s spring storm. the roads are covered with a thick layer of ice this morning, which means I left the bike at home to take the bus. yay.

I had to stop here to de-ice my bike. The ice was several mm thick all over the cables, gears, chain, pedals, tires, spokes, me, my shoes, my glasses, my helmet, handlebars, hands… I was down to 1 gear, and no brakes. But I made it home

a strong chinook wind formed a distinctive arch over western Calgary, with the Rocky Mountains visible behind it.

the room for our course design workshop, after a morning of activity and discussion.

Silver Springs Beavers at Kamp Kiwanis in April 2009. Pirates. Arrrr!

clap 3 times, and the wood elf will come and start a campfire for you. Silver Springs Beavers at Kamp Kiwanis in April 2009. Pirates. Arrrr!

I took a ride out through Bearspaw after work today. Google’s map is wrong - the road it claims to go north across 1A was never built. So I settled for exploring the roads on the south side of 1A, overlooking the river and bearspaw dam.

George’s hibiscus was nearly dead when we took it home from his condo. Janice nursed it back to health over the next couple of months, and this morning it blossomed its first flower.