The Rants of Issachar
Monday, March 13, 2006
Back and gone again...
Okay, this was actually written on Monday, so I'm posting it with the date and time that I wrote it.
I'm back. And I'm leaving again.
New York was a lot of fun, and very different from last year. I'd expected it to be stressful to be reponsible for nine students for a week, and it was. They were excellent and the people at Menno House where we stayed for the week said they were very well behaved as well. Still, it was hard to be "on duty" all the time. The week didn't have a good beginning though. A student dropped a boarding pass in Seattle, and another one managed to leave his bag behind in SeaTec and in JFK. We caught it the first time, but the second time I had to go back through the airport and collect it from security. That delayed us more than a a bit...
The UNIS conference itself was a strange mix of very good and downright lousy. Being in the UN General Assembly Hall was obviously great, and Kofi Annan did close the conference on the last day. I had expected the General Assembly Hall to be larger from watching The Interpreter... The UN Internal School (UNIS) students who put on the conference were an odd mix too. The ones running the show were excellent, but many were there because the conference was mandatory for them. They weren't happy about that and did their best to be as indifferent as possible for the speakers and the subsequent group discussions. The idiot wearing the Slayer T-Shirt to the conference was particularly obvious. I guess they weren't serious when they told us that no one would be admitted to the conference without a jacket & tie. Frankly, I'd expect that when they've got students attending this thing from as far away as Europe & China that they'd remove their own students from the conference for such behaviour. Still, the speakers were interesting. Dr. Epstein knows his stuff, (you might recognize the name from watching The Corporation and one of the anti-Walmart people was quite interesting. (The other one, not so much...) The Time-Warner lawyer was interesting too.
New York itself was a lot of fun. We took the kids on bus tours through downtown & harlem, saw Central Park, the Met, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Ground Zero, the Staten Island Ferry... Going to Christ Church cathedral Sunday morning was a highlight for me. That and the village...
I got back from New York on early Wednesday morning, (my head hit the pillow around 2ish), and woke up for work about four hours later. The rest of the week went well. It's been a bit strange around the house because Ryan put it up for sale. As of Wednesday we've been living in a perfect house where we can't use anything for fear of making a mess. (That and half our stuff is in the garage to make the rest of the house look more open). The house has never looked so good. (And our house looks pretty fantastic most of the time already). It's over though. The house sold on Saturday and we're going to be moving out at the end of the month. We're not breaking up the band though, we're all moving into a house in Walnut Grove.
Which brings me to now. I'm sitting in YVR waiting to fly to Maui. (Via San Francisco). Thank you again to Aaron who woke up at 4am to drive me to the airport. It's odd that I'll barely be home this month. I'll only be back for a week before we have to move out of the house. Still, Maui's looking very nice right about now. It was hailing (briefly), on the drive here.
I'm back. And I'm leaving again.
New York was a lot of fun, and very different from last year. I'd expected it to be stressful to be reponsible for nine students for a week, and it was. They were excellent and the people at Menno House where we stayed for the week said they were very well behaved as well. Still, it was hard to be "on duty" all the time. The week didn't have a good beginning though. A student dropped a boarding pass in Seattle, and another one managed to leave his bag behind in SeaTec and in JFK. We caught it the first time, but the second time I had to go back through the airport and collect it from security. That delayed us more than a a bit...
The UNIS conference itself was a strange mix of very good and downright lousy. Being in the UN General Assembly Hall was obviously great, and Kofi Annan did close the conference on the last day. I had expected the General Assembly Hall to be larger from watching The Interpreter... The UN Internal School (UNIS) students who put on the conference were an odd mix too. The ones running the show were excellent, but many were there because the conference was mandatory for them. They weren't happy about that and did their best to be as indifferent as possible for the speakers and the subsequent group discussions. The idiot wearing the Slayer T-Shirt to the conference was particularly obvious. I guess they weren't serious when they told us that no one would be admitted to the conference without a jacket & tie. Frankly, I'd expect that when they've got students attending this thing from as far away as Europe & China that they'd remove their own students from the conference for such behaviour. Still, the speakers were interesting. Dr. Epstein knows his stuff, (you might recognize the name from watching The Corporation and one of the anti-Walmart people was quite interesting. (The other one, not so much...) The Time-Warner lawyer was interesting too.
New York itself was a lot of fun. We took the kids on bus tours through downtown & harlem, saw Central Park, the Met, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Ground Zero, the Staten Island Ferry... Going to Christ Church cathedral Sunday morning was a highlight for me. That and the village...
I got back from New York on early Wednesday morning, (my head hit the pillow around 2ish), and woke up for work about four hours later. The rest of the week went well. It's been a bit strange around the house because Ryan put it up for sale. As of Wednesday we've been living in a perfect house where we can't use anything for fear of making a mess. (That and half our stuff is in the garage to make the rest of the house look more open). The house has never looked so good. (And our house looks pretty fantastic most of the time already). It's over though. The house sold on Saturday and we're going to be moving out at the end of the month. We're not breaking up the band though, we're all moving into a house in Walnut Grove.
Which brings me to now. I'm sitting in YVR waiting to fly to Maui. (Via San Francisco). Thank you again to Aaron who woke up at 4am to drive me to the airport. It's odd that I'll barely be home this month. I'll only be back for a week before we have to move out of the house. Still, Maui's looking very nice right about now. It was hailing (briefly), on the drive here.
11 Comments:
Posted by: 
PaulWell, I was going to say you could come and be our roommate out in Aldergrove, but I see you've already made arrangements. That, and no one seems to want to live in Aldergrove... Have a great trip!
PaulWell, I was going to say you could come and be our roommate out in Aldergrove, but I see you've already made arrangements. That, and no one seems to want to live in Aldergrove... Have a great trip!
Posted by: GravesGraham, did you just give away my place on the couch?
Gorman, enjoy Maui, relax, tan, have lengthy conversations with attractive women, etc. And when you get back tell me more about UNIS conference.
GravesGraham, did you just give away my place on the couch? Gorman, enjoy Maui, relax, tan, have lengthy conversations with attractive women, etc. And when you get back tell me more about UNIS conference.
Posted by: GravesDude, I have to know, in your xanga pic is there a shadow on your upper lip, or are you sporting a 'stache?
GravesDude, I have to know, in your xanga pic is there a shadow on your upper lip, or are you sporting a 'stache?
Posted by: issacharIt's a shadow.
issacharIt's a shadow.
Posted by: Gravesuh-huh.
Gravesuh-huh.
Posted by: KatinkaSo when's the House-cooling party? *cheeky grn*
KatinkaSo when's the House-cooling party? *cheeky grn*
Posted by: pasivirtahouse cooling!!!!
Hey Andrew, long time no see. have fun in the sun, I am a bit jealous, but I was just in utah, where its hot and...snowy.
peace
pasivirtahouse cooling!!!!Hey Andrew, long time no see. have fun in the sun, I am a bit jealous, but I was just in utah, where its hot and...snowy.
peace
Posted by: 
tell us about your trip
tell us about your trip
Posted by: westcoastloonI was looking at your blog on a widescreen laptop the over the week-end - I had no idea you were in the background photo. You get completely cut out in Firefox or IE. Makes me wonder what else I'm missing. Maybe it's a world wide widescreen web afterall.
westcoastloonI was looking at your blog on a widescreen laptop the over the week-end - I had no idea you were in the background photo. You get completely cut out in Firefox or IE. Makes me wonder what else I'm missing. Maybe it's a world wide widescreen web afterall.
Posted by: issacharWell actually you don't need widescreen. Just use a higher resolution. The photo works for 1280x1024 which is what I'm using...
issacharWell actually you don't need widescreen. Just use a higher resolution. The photo works for 1280x1024 which is what I'm using...
Posted by: westcoastloonSure the photo looks great at 1280 x 1040 but then the text is so tiny...
westcoastloonSure the photo looks great at 1280 x 1040 but then the text is so tiny...
