Broadway Musical Tonight

Wednesday until Saturday, Taylors presents a Broadway Musical where students from CPU present their singing and dancing talents to the community. Last year was the first edition of this show and from what I hear, this group is even better. Shelley and I procrastinated getting our tickets and are going tonight (Thursday) when we would have preferred Friday or Saturday night.

There are now 20 classes left in this semeter. The next two weeks will be tiring as I keep the computer lab open 4 days a week until 8 pm next week and 9 pm the following week. We are well into our exam review.

TTYL,

Jim

TGIF

I do miss my TGIFs, TGITs, TGIW (thank goodness it's whatever) from Ottawa. It was always fun to meet at East Side Marios for a beer (or many beer - Larry) and rehash and laugh about the week that had just passed. That does not really happen much here as the staff is quite transient with 1/3 of them turning over each year. We get another 5 newbe's this January and wejust got 6 in July. Sometimes it would be fun to run a pool to see how long some of them will last :-)

Shelley and I do not have much planned this weekend. We have a workout tonight and probably once more on the weekend. Other than that it may be lounging by the pool, a little marking and planning, as well as some grocery shopping. Oh, what would I do to have my Yamaha FZ1 here in Malaysia :-)

TTYL,

Jim

Dinner at Tarbush

Jim Leonard, the principal of CPU is back from Canada so some of the staff got together for a welcome back dinner at Tarbush last night. Some of the new staff members that arrived in July came and were very happy to be introduced to Tarbush because of the quality of the food and the ambiance.

After dinner, which lasted about 2 hours, Jim gave us a lift home and it was an early night for both Shelley and I.

Shelley has a former Mother Teresa student staying with us on Monday night as she passes through the airport at KL with a one night stop over.

Other than that, not much happening. We are still trying to book our return flight home at Christmas. I have started my review for the final exam (couple of questions per day) and there are 25 classes left to teach.


TTYL,

Jim

27 Classes Remaining

The countdown to graduation continues. There only 27 classes left to complete the CPT - Game project, teach the remaining topics and review for the exam. It will be tight.

This week I am keeping the lab open on Tuesday and Thursday until 7 pm. Next week, it will be Tues, Wed, and Thursday, and the following week it will be Mon-Thurs. This extra lab time enables the students to put the finishing touches on their projects, get them documented, and get ready to present.

Other than that, not much going on. We look forward to our Vietnam trip in early November, and being home with the family for Christmas.

TTYL,

Jim

Another Sunny Day in Subang Jaya

Actually it is rather beautiful today. About 33 degrees but very little humidity. We will be exiting the rainy season shortly and we will get more of these dry days. However, you can often count on the weather changing 2-3 times a day. A weather front comes in and out very quickly, in terms of hours rather than days in Ottawa.

There are now 31 days left of classes. The game projects are coming along quite nicely now. These students are actually surprising me. There performance on the CPT is much better than their classroom performance. Go figure. Maybe it is the group work or the game design. :-)

Shelley gets back from her conference tonight so maybe we will head off to our favourite coffee shop to get caught up.  TTYL,

Jim

33 More Classes

Wow, the second part of this semester is flying by. There are only 33 classes left. This past weekend was busy. On Saturday I attended the 2010 MotoGP motorcycle races and on Sunday Shelley and I went into KL. Shelley is attending a 3 day educational conference in KL and staying in at the Seri Pacific Hotel. We checked her in and then went to the KLCC shopping mall where I visited my favourite bookstore and Shelley visited the Jewelry show that was in the convention centre.  I then headed back to Subang Jaya for my workout and Shelley returned to her hotel for the conference opening night dinner (10 course). Shelley got to sleep late as it takes quite some time to work your way through 10 courses. Malaysians love to eat :-)

TTYL,

Jim

Next Trip - Vietnam

The next trip Shelley and I have planned is Vietnam. We leave on November 4th and are gone for 5 nights and 4 days. It's a bit of a whirlwind trip with 2 cities in the 4 days. Apparently Ho Chi Minh city is quite a busy city. We fly in there the first night and then travel to ? and then return their on the last day. It used to be called Saigon.

Apparently crossing the street in Ho Chi Minh City is even more of an experience than Cambodia. It will indeed be interesting if that is the case. I heard you just close your eyes and go and the traffic will part like the Red Sea. Maybe if I invest in a white cane :-)

jaime had some clothes made up by a tailor here so apparently we are getting some more clothes made for her and will bring them back at Christmas.

TTYL,

Jim

Tuesday is Tuna Sub Day

There is a Subway restaurant 2 minutes from campus that I usually go to on Tuesday. Tuesday's sub is Tuna, my favourite. I usually go at 3:30 and I get a toasted 6" Tuna on parmesan and a coke for 10 ringgit. You can tell I am a little bored at this point as I am talking about a sub. Could be worse, those that know me well, know I could be talking about my breakfast of a coffee and peanut butter toast :-)

There are 37 classes left in the school year and the students are fully engaged in their game CPT. Academically it is a good time for me. The Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle races are this weekend and I am thinking of going.

TTYL,

Jim

Saturday PD Session

The Taylor's teaching staff is engaged in a Saturday morning PD session. I can imagine that happening back home in Canada with federations, etc. We originally had it scheduled for a Monday but we decided to take a long weekend and move the PD day to a Saturday instead. We are done at 12:30 and then we will go for lunch as a staff for an hour or so. Then the weekend begins.

I think I need a trip into KL to search for some good science fantasy to read. I think I have mentioned before that the best bookstore in KL is in the Petronas Towers shopping mall, level 5.  Definitely recommended. It also has the best selection of IT books that I have found anywhere in my travels.

The next session just started and it is on Google Docs so I better say TTYL and pay attention. You never know, I may learn something.

TTYL,

Jim