What to take?

We’ve been going through our teaching materials for the last few days, trying to figure out what to take. Surprisingly, much of our best material is not in digital form. Well perhaps it is not so surprising when you remember that I haven’t actually taught since 1997 and we have been through several computer systems since then. Brenda is in a similar situation having changed from Mac to Windows in her last year or so of teaching. It is interesting to think that we still have good paper copies but many of the digital files have disappeared. I did come across a lot of 3.5 inch floppies and even some 5.25 inch ones! I didn’t even bother to try to use them. I was surprised - pleasantly - at what good materials I had in some areas and how well organized they were. Anyone want a good set of Maritime Studies materials? How about Journalism?! Unfortunately they are no good to me.

Beyond the teaching materials, we have to think about what to take for a whole year. We have had lots of good advice from those who have been there - don’t bother taking too many clothes, you can get those cheaply; take some personal items, pictures and things from home etc. Remember we can take 2 bags weighing no more than 50 pounds each and 2 carry-ons weighing no more than 22 pounds each. So basically that is 144 pounds each. It sounds like a lot but it doesn’t take long to add up. Just think about shoes alone and all the paper and tech gear and gifts and Canadian souvenirs! I may have to wear the same shirt for a week!

The other wrinkle is the new airline scare from all the arrests in Great Britain. I am afraid we will not be able to take electronic devices in our carry-ons. I hate to give my laptop and cameras to the tender mercies of the baggage handlers on 2 continents. I have seen how they ‘handle bags’! Yikes!

Anyway, we have got the bags out and have been piling stuff into Les’s room (now sans bed courtesy of Gill’s latest move). I’d like to try packing the bags and do a test run to the airport to get them weighed early next week. Then we’ll know where we stand with our packing.

I’ve been doing some more testing for my blog. I was surprised at how quickly the files sizes were mounting up on the .Mac site. I only have a 50 MB test site now and it is about 1/4 gone. I can buy 1 GB of space but that costs $139 a year. So I am testing using my own web space for www.ronbadger.com. It seems to work reasonably well and I’ve got lots of space. So that may be my choice. I still am not totally satisfied with the iWeb software on the Mac. I want to see if I can get it to do more. For instance,I like the libraries, but I don’t want a whole lot of them linked from the top of the main page. I may have to do some tweaking. Standby for the final URL!
First posted August 12, 2006