I had to leave a meeting early yesterday, which made me feel awkward, because I'm sure that it wasn't a big deal, but it was really my first meeting with Tex, and I really did not want to upset him during my first week. Hopefully, I didn't. Guess I'll find out Monday. I had to leave early because I had an appointment with Seattle Apartment Finder to look at some places. I found one! It's on North Mercer Island, essentially half way between work and downtown Seattle. It's a pretty good size, and the rent is one of the lower rates of all of the places I looked at. I get the keys on August 1st, so there should be some moving excitement soon.

Tout d'abord le site de l'ANPE possède un important répertoire métier appelé ROME. ROME est une base de donnée descriptive des métiers et emplois existants en France. C'est le Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des emplois. Il contient 100 000 appellations au travers de 466 fiches réparties dans 22 catégories professionnelles. Chaque métier est identifié par un numéro à 5 chiffres que l'on retrouve dans les offres d'emplois de l'ANPE.

http://www.anpe.fr/espacecandidat/romeligne/RliIndex.do

D'autre part le site web de l'ANPE, dispose d'une webTV, qui dispose en outre d'une rubrique catalogue métier avec 200 fiches métiers.

http://webtv.anpe.net/

Il existe également la commission nationale de la certification professionnelle (RNCP). Ce réperoire de métier référence les certifications professionnelles reconnues par l'état, en créant un base de données sur les titres, diplôme et certificats reconnus.

http://cncp.gouv.fr/

Le ministère a d'autre part mis en place un portail sur les métiers de l'internet. Ce répertoire référence les compétences de chaque métier internet. Les métiers sont accessibles par compétences, par famille de métier internet et par niveaux de certification CNCP. Le portail référenceaussi les compétences exercées par entreprises ou par organismes de formation.

http://www.metiers.internet.gouv.fr

Le référentiel métier de l'ONISEP. Il répertorie les métiers par ordre alphabétique, par centre d'intérêts, par domaines ou en images

http://www.onisep.fr

Les métiers de la recherche et de l'enseignement sont référencées sur le site REFERENS, par branches d'activités, par mots clés.

http://referens.univ-poitiers.fr

Certains métiers des arts graphiques sont également référencés dans  l'encycolpédie des métiers du site GraphiSearch.com l'annuaire des arts graphiques.

http://www.graphisearch.com/graphisearch/encyclopedie.php?idencyclopedie=5

Connaître un métier c'est aussi connaître un référentiel de compétences. A ce titre, le site de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche publie un ensemble de référentiel des BTS.

http://www.sup.adc.education.fr/btslst/index.htm#

Des référentiels sur les métiers. C'est un portail d'information sur les métiers, réalisé par le centre d'information jeunesse de l'Essonne. Ce site rassemble des ressources sur les métiers de provenances diverses : services de l'état, collectivités territoriales, grands éditeurs, fédérations professionnelles. Il référence 3000 métiers. La recherche se fait par nom, par référence ou par vidéos.

http://www.metiers.info

Pour les métiers de fonction publique territoriale, le site www.cnfpt.fr donne des renseignement sur tous les concours et leurs formations :

http://www.cnfpt.fr

Le répertoire nationale des métiers de direction de la fonction publique territoriale et le répertoire des métiers territoriaux sont également accessibles à partir de ce site :

http://www.rned.cnfpt.fr/portails/public/page.php

http://www.cnfpt.org/fr/particuliers/contenu.php?id=42&action=vis

Je continuerais cet article lorsque j'aurais d'autres ressources

This week has been really busy. For those of you that do not know, as of August 1, I will be accepting a new post at CMU, working as an Academic Advisor in South Campus. My primary responsibility will be working with the students in Merrill and other freshmen in the quad. I am super excited and sad at the same time. Leaving the Leadership Institute will definitely be a change. I am ready to move on, however not the relationships in which I have built along the way.

I saw pictures today of Jenna Mate’s (French) wedding. I am so sorry Jenna for missing it. You look beautiful and I hope you had a good time. Miss you guys (You and Mama Slurps).

Home addresses and phone numbers of University of Michigan employees do not need to be released under the Freedom of Information Act, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The Ann Arbor News reported that the court ruled that the information fell under exemptions in the state law for material that is personal in nature and that could represent an invasion of privacy. Organizers of a union drive for clerical workers had sought the information. I wonder when my private data will be cleared off of the CMU web-site…

Have a great weekend. - N

I don't remember much from that weekend, and what I do remember is fuzzy and vague: Jumping off a 20-foot pole to grab a ring hanging from a tree, riding a horse, eating s'mores, throwing a frisbee, playing foosball and ping pong.  I remember some of the faces, though; a few of my classmates who seemed amicable would later prove to be diffident and obnoxious; however, I did not meet any of my best friends that weekend.  In fact, I didn't get to know my best friends until the summer before second year.

プリオリエンテーションのこと、成功だったと思う。みんな元気だし、いろいろな活動は去年のより面白いし。でも、俺の観測は、お嬢さんたちがたいてい一党として、キャンプの人々も。そりゃいけないと思う。だから、このままじゃ、オリエンテーションのときはどうなるの。

そうそう、ケンホック先輩はダンスに興味あるかどうかって俺に聞いた。実に、俺は興味があるけど…ところで、新生のときは参加した、知ってるの？でも、リハーサルは何か具体的なことなんてもしなかったし、それで時間の無駄だったって思う。それから、やる気もなくなった。まあ、多分ある日見学に行ってみろ。

Dans un passé lointain, c'est à dire environ une trentaine d'années, une partie de ce tronçon de l'A-55 s'est déjà nommé A-51. La désertion de tous les chantiers autoroutiers, au profit du transport en commun, entreprise par le gouvernement péquiste de René Lévesque, a donc signé un arrêt de mort à l'A-51, ainsi qu'au tracé original que devait suivre l'A-55. Une partie de celui-ci, de l'A-20 jusqu'au village de Saint-Albert-de-Warwick, fut d'ailleurs recyclé en A-955. Mais aujourd'hui, je vais m'attarder sur le tronçon qui relie Drummondville à Sherbrooke.

Quand on roule sur l'A-20, en direction ouest, on arrive à ce point, juste à la sortie vers l'A-55 sud.

Les trois photos suivantes furent prises en mouvement, et les images peuvent sembler déformées. C'est normal.

L'échangeur A-20/A-55 sud n'est pas complet; à preuve, le viaduc, qui passe au-dessus de l'A-20, n'a qu'une seule voie par direction, ce qui est plutôt rare, pour un échangeur autoroutier.

Je me dirige lentement vers la "séparation" des chaussées. On sait que l'autoroute fut construite en super-2, entre 1971 et 1980 pour l'ensemble de la première chaussée, puis elle fut doublée au fur et à mesure des budgets, et des pressions politiques.

Si l'on regarde dans l'autre sens, on voit bien que les haut-mâts, pour l'éclairage, qui sont normalement au centre, entre les deux chaussées, sont à droite de la chaussée. C'est pas vraiment normal, pour une autoroute.

Ici, nous sommes en plein vis-à-vis de la chaussée nord, qui vient s'aligner le long du muret, pour l'échangeur.

Regardant à nouveau en direction nord (je suis en train de vous étourdir, avouez!), on voit bien le passage de l'autre chaussée, là où les arbres sont abattus.

Le kilomètre 126, en direction nord, là où va bientôt commencer ce que j'appelle "l'entonnoir", c'est à dire l'endroit où l'on perd une voie, passant de deux à une seule.

Cette photo montre une vue sur presque deux kilomètres. Prise du viaduc de la rue Saint-Pierre (sortie 125), c'est la finale de l'autoroute, en direction nord.

Comme le disait Edward Rémy, à l'époque où il faisait les actualités artistiques, à Télé-Métropole (ça ne me rajeunit pas!), "c'est officiel, c'est confirmé", l'A-55, à cet endroit, s'appelle "Autoroute Joseph-Armand-Bombardier". Photo prise en direction sud, dans la courbe vers la sortie 122 (boulevard Jean-de-Brébeuf).

La chaussée sud de l'ancienne A-51 fut la première des deux à être ouverte; elle fut donc celle où la circulation se faisait à contresens. À preuve, cette petite tache jaune, sous la ligne blanche actuelle.

Voici un autre vestige de l'ancienne A-51, devenue A-55, quelque part dans les années 1970. À l'époque de la super-2, on avait construit les viaducs, mais on n'avait fait que des mini-bretelles, afin d'accéder à l'autoroute, ou d'en sortir. On voit ici une ligne restante de la mini-bretelle qui menait à la route Ployart (sortie 103). De nos jours, cette route, comme toutes les autres routes desservies, d'ailleurs, l'est par un échangeur plus moderne, et plus sécuritaire.

Depuis le kilomètre 97, on voit la sortie de la halte routière qui mène au moulin à laine d'Ulverton. Comme on peut le voir, cette sortie ne comporte aucune indication. Pourtant, en direction nord, la sortie 98 est bien indiquée; elle mène à la route Mooney, qui va vers le village d'Ulverton.

À l'époque de la super-2, quand on roulait vers le nord, on pouvait accéder à la halte routière du moulin à laine d'Ulverton par une intersection à niveau. Maintenant que l'on peut sortir au chemin Mooney, l'intersection a été démantelée, et le petit bout de chemin menant à la halte fût fermé.

Dernière sortie avant d'atteindre les limites territoriales de la nouvelle ville de Sherbrooke, la sortie 71 mène vers la jolie ville de Windsor, ville avec laquelle a fusionné la municipalité de Saint-Grégoire-de-Greenlay, dont le nom fut enlevé du panneau.

Malgré ce que certains prétendent, je persiste à croire que le point de raccordement prévu de l'A-55 et de l'ancienne A-51 se trouve à Windsor, et non pas à Richmond. Ce qui me permet de croire à cette théorie est l'emplacement, et l'orientation, du boulevard du Conseil, à Asbestos. Vous allez me demander "c'est quoi, le rapport?" Et je vais vous l'expliquer.

D'abord, le boulevard du Conseil date de 1977, soit plus ou moins un an après la prise du pouvoir par le gouvernement péquiste. Ce boulevard est composé de deux chaussées distinctes, et constitue une voie de contournement de la ville. De plus, il ne comporte aucun point d'accès, mis à part les intersections des rues qui le croisent. Il est donc possible de croire que ce soit une partie de l'A-55 originale, mais comme le nouveau gouvernement a fait cesser les travaux de l'autoroute, la ville a probablement dû demander au MTQ de lui remettre l'emprise, afin d'en faire un boulevard. Il faudra enquêter afin d'avoir le fin mot de l'histoire.

Ensuite, si vous regardez une carte montrant le relief de la région située entre Asbestos, Richmond, et Windsor, comme celle disponible sur Google Maps, par exemple, vous vous rendrez compte que le relief entre Asbestos et Windsor est beaucoup moins accentué que celui entre Asbestos et Richmond. De plus, le passage par Windsor représente une ligne plus directe pour relier Asbestos et Sherbrooke. Mais tout cela demeure également de la théorie, parce que le gouvernement actuel n'a aucun projet, dans ses cartons, pour remettre en circuit le tracé original de l'A-55.

Bon, voyons voir ce qui me reste de photos. J'ai en réserve celles des divers chantiers de l'A-15, dans la région des basses Laurentides, ainsi que, tenez-vous bien, les premières images de la blogue-mobile!

C'est donc à suivre...

We have been hard at work planning the student orientation week activities for the 2008/2009 school year. Fresh Fest is the product of our labors and my goodness it's going to be huge! A 3 day extravaganza of friends, events, and parties, Fresh Fest is going to be the best way to start the year at the U of L.

Keep a look out for more news and details to be released over the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Eric
VP Internal

The foetus makes most of the testosterone itself. In males, it comes from the testes and adrenal glands; in females from the adrenals alone. Only a small amount will comes from the mother. In women this results in the ring finger and index finger being about the same length. However in men the index finger will usually be the shorter of the two digits.

"It has been known for some time that there is a direct correlation between finger lengths and the amount of the male sex hormone testosterone that a baby is exposed to in the womb.
In women, the two fingers are usually almost equal in length, as measured from the crease nearest the palm to the fingertip. A longer index finger is associated with higher levels of oestrogen and luteinising hormone, both of which are known to play critical roles in egg production. In men, the ring finger tends to be much longer than the index."¹

Elevated or high levels of testosterone in the womb have been linked to several brain-related phenomena, including aggression, fertility, left-handedness, autism, dyslexia and controversially male and female sexual orientation.

Aggression
The shorter the index finger of a man is compared to the ring finger, the more boisterous he is. This doesn't true for verbal aggression or hostile behaviours.² "No such connection was found in women."

However a different study found a correlation for women exposed to higher levels of testosterone in the womb, they had a more 'male' pattern of finger length. And they displayed more frustrated behaviour when answering challenging telephone calls than other women, to the point of smashing down the phone after the conversation.

Fertility
A long ring finger in men and symmetrical hands are an indication of fertility. Men with mirror-image hands are more likely to have a high sperm count than those with two asymmetrical hands. Twelve of the least fertile men in the study, who were producing almost no sperm, had the least symmetrical hands. Women are more likely to be fertile if they have a longer index finger.

Experimentation on mice found that the gene Hox affects digits as well as the ovaries and testes, although a similar genetic link in humans has yet to be found.³

Autism
Autistic children had extremely long ring fingers compared with their index fingers, whereas children with Asperger's also had abnormal index-to-ring finger ratios, though less so than full-blown autistics. It's possible that families with autistic children may have a genetic predisposed for the production of high levels of testosterone during early development, as even the unaffected siblings and parents of the autistic children had ratios that differed significantly from the normal controls.⁴

Sexual Orientation
The length of the fingers could also be an indication of sexual orientation, although the study is controversial.⁵ In both lesbian women and homosexual males with several older brothers (I don't do the tests) have a greater difference in length between their ring and index fingers than their straight counterparts.⁶

Other
Excess testosterone has also been implicated in the origins of migraine, stuttering, schizophrenia and depression.⁷

1. Finger length 'key to aggression'
2. Finger Length Predicts Aggression in Men
3. Fingers point to fertility levels
4. Finger Length Ratios
5. A finger on sexuality
6. Finger-length ratios and sexual orientation
7. Hidden significance of a man's ring finger

• Finger length heart attack clue
• Finger length helps predict SAT exam results, study shows
• Digit Ratio (Wikipedia)

technorati tags: nationalgeographic, bbc, university, study, finger, autism, migraine, stuttering, schizophrenia, depression, aggression, fertility, left-handedness, dyslexia, sexual, orientation, homosexuality

Phy : NOTRE NOUVEL ENVIRONNEMENT

Nous avons la chance de loger dans  une maison typique de Montréal, une maison sur 3 niveaux avec des escaliers extérieurs, comme je les aime. Par soucis de discrétion, je vais juste vous donner des exemples de maisons similaires.  

Nous avons bien sûr tout le confort nécessaire, tout comme chez nous. La maison est très agréable et les enfants s’y sentent à leur aise (beaucoup mieux que si on avait été enfermé dans une chambre d’hôtel ou dans une location sommairement meublée). On a même un grand frigo américain, ce qui nous change quelque peu de notre frigo miniature à la maison.

Le quartier est calme et les voisins sont aimables et serviables. Sur les portes et parfois sur des panneaux dans la rue, on affiche ceci :

C'est tout de même mieux que "attention chien méchant"

Nous avons une cour extérieure à l’arrière où nous pouvons faire des BBQ et manger à l’ombre d’un arbre, chose que nous ne manquons pas de faire en ce moment où il fait entre 25 et 30 degrés. Cela peut paraître étonnant à Montréal quand on pense que l’hivers, la température peut descendre jusqu’à  -40 (record observé en janvier 1957).

Non loin de notre rue se trouve la rue Sherbrook où s’égrennent une multitude de commerces et restaurants, majoritairement des fast food. 

Il y a aussi pas mal de magasins à 1 dollar, comme dollarmax, dollarrama,  dollarthèque...

Conséquences sans doute de la longueur des hivers,  de nombreux magasins de location de vidéos affichent pignon sur rue comme  vidéotron, Blockbuster video.

Sans oublier les célèbres “dépanneurs” et “couche-tard”. 

Un dépanneur est une petite épicerie qui fournit de tout, ouvert de 7 h à  23 h. Le couche-tard  fournit aussi de tout mais est généralement plus grand. On peut même y prendre son café. Il fait partie d’une chaîne et est certainement mieux  achalandé. Mais il en est ,de ce fait, moins personnalisé ou humanisé. Il est tenu par des salariés alors que les dépanneurs en général sont tenus par des propriétaires, souvent étrangers. 

Le principe du mélange des genres dans les commerces est d'ailleurs assez  déroutant pour un esprit français plus habitué à des magasins “spécialisés”.

                               Boulangerie/pâtisserie/charcuterie/fromage

TITOU ET LES "PIGEONS" DE MONTRÉAL

Si les Montréalais ne s'émeuvent plus de la présence familière des écureuils, il n'en est pas de même des Français. Derrière la maison, il y en a un ou deux qui viennent régulièrement chercher leurs nourritures et nous enchantent ainsi de leur vive agilité.

Titou : " Pour l'écureuil j'ai mis du pain sur la table dehors. L'écureuil est venu et il a mangé. C'était très long. Il se cachait et il revenait. Il se régalait. Il était très mignon.

HUG : TELEVISION

C'est à peu près pareil que chez nous sauf qu'ils ont l'accent. Ils ne passent que 6 ou 7 pubs (toujours les mêmes) donc à la fin, on les connaît par coeur. Certains dessins animés passent aussi en France.

Bref, il n'y a pas de grandes différences. 

Les copains de l'arrière cour : Félix, , Marco et Mégane. Difficile de se comprendre (beaucoup de "comment ? ", "hein ? ", "répète") mais c'est sympa.

BRN : Note de bonne conduite

Ce qui me change dans la conduite à Montréal :

Les feux (lumières comme on dit ici) sont positionnés de l'autre côté de la rue. Idem pour les panneaux de direction "faire attention"

Aux carrefour, il y a presque toujours un stop. Il faut marquer l'arrêt. Pas de priorité à droite, le premier arrivé passe avant les autres.

Très peu de panneaux de code de la route et de panneaux de direction. Donc pas très évident pour s'orienter. Il faut se guider avec les numéro de voies et les directions (est/ouest/nord/sud). 

Les revêtements de route sont effectivement très abîmés comme nous l'avait dit GNL. Il faut donner des coups de volants pour éviter fissures et nids de poule.

Par contre les automobilistes sont très courtois et prudents, bien plus qu'en France. Et quand on roule à vélo, on nous laisse facilement passer. 

Voilà pourquoi au final, tout se passe très bien.

Although I already worked for Disneyland in 2006 most of the information was knew to me, basically because for some reason they were completely unprepared for my arrival two years ago and so my formation took eight instead of three days and was way less informative than this year's (not without a reason is efficiency only the last standard of Disneyland, behind security, courteousness, and spectacle).

On the first day (Tradition) after a presentation at the Disney Hotel Cheyenne all new cast members have been given a free ticket for the park (price for a visitor: EUR 59) as well as a voucher for a menu in one of Disneyland's many restaurants. Most people went into the park, had their meal, and left the park again. But I wanted to keep my ticket and so I convinced Antje and Julia from Germany and Johanna from Sweden not to go into the park but instead into the village which is free and so to save our tickets and have our lunch there. Back at the Hotel Cheyenne a member of the Hotel staff asked me to collect the ticket which I told him I had already thrown away (because otherwise all the trouble would've been for nothing). So I kept my ticket with which I can let one of my friends into the park for free. When the Tradition was finished they handed some tickets back to those people who intended to visit the park again that day. Since the tickets were for the whole day they could be used until the closure of the park at 11pm. In addition they had some tickets to give away for those people who want to collect the tickets with the different Disney motives on the back. I had a quick look on these ones and saw two tickets which weren't used yet and took them together with the one I saved before. So I went home that day with tickets worth EUR 177 plus free dinner plus payment of the day which must be around EUR 68 (if Disneyland pays the French minimum wage of EUR 8.50 an hour).

On my second day of the DIsney Orientation we learnt many things I already knew such as where to find the costuming and how to oppen the lockers. After a visit of the park we had the chance to go to our new (and my old) workplace to present ourselves to our new (and my old??) colleagues. I was very excited to meet some old colleagues again even though I had no idea who would still be working for the Steam Train - and who of those would recognise me. I had seen two or three cast members in my dress in the backstage area but I didn't know any of them and so I hoped just to find a few familiar faces. The first two people I saw I recognised but I didn't remember their names because I didn't really got to know them in 2006. And then I saw Charlotte who was chef du gare at the station that moment and who recognised me the moment I recognised her. Charlotte was one of the colleagues I had the most fun with two years ago - we were singing on the train and fighting each other with water pistols in front of the guests. I was very happy to see her, and when I saw quite a lot of more of my old colleagues I knew that I would have a great time again at the Steam Train.

My old team-leader [pronounced: team(l)eadeure] Jose showed me my timetable and explained me the changes and also told me that he was happy that I was back in the team - they had already planned with me in their rotations, apparently the communication between the different departments once again didn't work as it should've.

Today I had my last day of orientation. After only three hours of sleep (which is average when you're living in one of the Disney residences) I got up and had to realise that I forgot about the weekend and the completely different bus timetables. Filippo and I tried to catch the 7.44 bus (when we got up we planned to take the 8.14 bus) but we missed it and thus, had to wait for the next bus at 8.36. While we were waiting - and while I was brushing my teeth at the bus station because I had no time left to that when we ran out of our flat - nine Italian cast members who also did the formation with us arrived, without even knowing that there was a different timetable. So we tried to call someone at Batiment Baloo where we were supposed to meet at 8.40. But we didn't reach anyone and when we eventually arrived at the building, at 9.07, everyone already left without leaving a note. Our group - we met three others on the way and were fourteen people by that time - went back to the cast member entrance to ask the staff there where our group could be. After half an hour of making phone calls they could tell us that the rest was at Hotel New York. We arrived there at 10.30, almost two hours late, and missed the first of two security formations.

After lunch we had to meet for a visite medicale at 1.30pm. Since we finished at 5pm today we all should have gone to our workplace after the doctor's examination. However, this all took much longer than I thought. I was the last one to go to the doctor and when I left there it was already after 5pm - I spent almost four hours there!!! When I realised that I wouldn't work anymore anyway I thought if there was a reason - except of the obligatory examination - to see the doctor and I asked the doctor if he could give me something about the wounds on my feet which started bleeding again every night and which already start suppurating ... they treated my feet and gave me lots of stuff (compresses etc) to treat them at home. When they asked, visibly disgusted, for the reasons of my wounds I gave them the same censored explanation I'm giving you: a stone fell on my left foot ten minutes before I slipped with the same foot between the tyre and the fender of my bycicle. The next day while helping a Frenchman to lift his catamaran on his car roof the catamaran fell on guess which foot. And to occupy my other foot I stumbled over a step I didn't see in a restaurant and fell on my right knee and foot.

With my maltreated feet I then had to run into the park to get my next week's timetable and also get the next bus - I really didn't feel like waiting another quarter of an hour at a bus stop. Very luckily I caught the bus and now I'm glad to have nothing planned until tomorrow afternoon when I finally can work for the first time since 2006. And to that I'm really looking forward.

The plot, as I remember it, went something like this: A teenage girl was uprooted and planted on a new continent, Australia I believe, where she proceeded to write pretty constantly in her diary about how unhappy she was to be in a place where she knew no one (and of course, how irritating she found her parents.  Rather realistic portrayal, in a lot of ways.)  Eventually, she met a young boy who completely won her over, and a rather hearteaning intimacy developed between them.  I have a vague image of them riding the same motorbike and another of him playing piano to accompany her singing...  Eventually, somehow, -- the details have escaped me, -- she discovered quite unexpectedly that this boy was actually a bio-girl, not a term I knew at the time and not one she was aware of either.  (The extent to which this was a portrayal of an FTM character is blurred significantly by my obliviousness to such things back in the day, but to some extent, the boy-character did fall under the broader use of "transgender" as an umbrella term, and for the sake of clarity, I'll continue to use "boy" and male pronouns and such in my explanation here.)  Since the story was told from the girl's perspective (her diary entries, I think), its themes ran less along issue of trans identity (largely tragic scene of Boy playing piano for a recital wearing a dress, aside) and more around the girl's discernment process. Understanding that her boy was not recognized as a boy (and that she would not, if she hadn't been more-or-less misled, have recognized him that way herself), she began to ask the question: if he is a girl, or even partially a girl, and I'm straight, does this change the way I feel about him? Does this change the relationship we have or the relationship we can potentially have?

At the time, this story completely changed the way I thought about relationships.  It coincided nicely with a sense I had around that time that in reality everyone must be bisexual, and that any other orientation was basically prejudice on our parts, sex being as irrelevant a reason to discriminate against potential partners as race or eye color.  The object of the girl's affection in this story had managed to bypass the girl's "orientational sexism" by presenting himself as a boy, and thus they had both had a chance for intimacy on a level they would have missed out on otherwise.  Interestingly, while experience dismantled that ("hetero or homo = prejudice") notion for me over time -- (I still conceive of orientation as a spectrum, but I believe some people, myself included, are close enough to one [homo] end or the [hetero] other, that it feels completely bizarre for us to identify as bi, and I don't consider that prejudice on our parts; I consider it reality) -- the content of the story stayed with me, and lately (obviously) I've been remembering it again.

I've been remembering it as I consider the notion of orientation and how it affects intimacy.  I remember, listening to Carol Queen the other day, she said something about how orientation (whether you label it a sexual orientation or a romantic/ affectional one)  speaks to the people you're drawn to and the way they energize you (regardless of the acts you wish to engage in with them).  Basically, then, orientation serves as a discriminator, not necessarily in the negative way that I mentioned conceiving of it earlier, but in the sense that those of us who wish to find partners need to be able to discriminate between potentially compatible people and people who wouldn't work so well.  Obviously, we use factors other than sex/gender to do this as well -- like how well we know the person, their age, their politics, etc -- but for whatever reason (because it's so common, because there's a heteronormative bias about the sex/ gender we're supposed to find attractive, because orientation and gender are so married in our social thinking anyway) -- there's a great deal more emphasis on our preferences for our partner's sex or gender than the other aspects.  For instance, while I may identify for myself that I'm largely attracted to progressives, if I told people that I was a progressiveromantic or a progressivesexual, the best response I could probably hope for is a rather amused giggle; if I tell them I'm homoromantic or homosexual (moreso the second one, given the tendency of people outside the ase community to not know the terminology), I'm more likely to have the statement understood and even taken seriously, (although quite frankly, the term progressiveromantic prompts an amused giggle on my part as well.)

So, why does a person's biosex or their gender matter?  Does it?  On the one hand, I can totally see that it does, and I can answer (for myself at least) that it matters because, to the extent that your body is what I find attractive, I am about 900 times more likely to be attracted to a female body than a male one.  Or, -- and maybe this is a better articulation of the same thing, -- if I am attracted to you-beyond-your-body, to your identity and your personality and the all-but-the-body of who you are, that attraction is somewhat more likely to attach to your body (as well) and make your body an entity with which I wish to do things, if you are a girl.  However, just as the discussions between the asexual and sexual communities are challenging notions about what sexuality is and means, they're also challenging the definitions and boundaries of intimacy, not only for society-at-large (or semi-large, given the relatively small number of people who are aware this discourse is happening) but for me personally.  Because if I identify as lesbian, which basically means female homosexual (as much as I despise that term) and the asexual community is redefining intimacy around or without or beyond sexual relations -- (by their most hard-boundaried, "sexuality = sex" definition), -- doesn't that have something to say to how I, as a lesbian, could potentially have intimate relationships with men?  Isn't that (nonsexual intimacy with the men I adore) something I aspire toward, something I want?

I think it's a major problem in our society that intimacy is a euphemism for sex, something we use in our more sex-negative moods to avoid a straight-up discussion of fucking.  Because it's possible that if I were the fictional Australian emigrant in the story that started this post, my discernment process around my partner's transgender identity would not lead me to the conclusion that gender doesn't matter, that rather (perhaps to my own devastation) I would recognize, particularly if I were someone aspiring toward a sexual partnerhood, that this did change things for me and was not something I could dismiss (my desire to do so aside.)  Even still, I think I would be grateful for the opportunity to have that relationship as long as I did, for the fact that this intimacy with this person had existed and had meant something to me.  Given that as the case, I'm more than a little excited about the idea of expanding my sense of intimacy so that, while "sexually" (to whatever extent I do anything sexually) I may continue to "discriminate," I wouldn't have to in terms of intimacy.  I have no desire to ignore my orientation; I worked too hard years ago to sort it out to make a false claim at bisexuality now.  But I also wonder, thinking of and holding in my heart the handful of really marvelous boys and men I've lucked into over the years, why I don't spend more energy seeking out male people and relating to them.  It has me thinking that maybe one of the things asexuality can potentially teach me, personally is how to have intimacy all the way around, the boundaries of who-can-share-my-bed aside.

Pentru a ma incadra in tipar (sau nu!), voi oferi, pentru un plus de claritate, o definitie operationala a acestui termen. Asadar, integrarea angajatilor se refera la asimilarea unei persoane in mediul profesional si adaptarea acesteia la grupul (departamentul) din care face parte.

Din aceasta definitie de lucru rezulta unul dintre aspectele esentiale ale integrarii, si anume integrarea multinivelara: la nivel organizational ( insusirea valorilor, eticii si culturii organizationale), la nivel colectiv (relationare interindividuala, norme de grup), dar si integrarea pe post ( responsabilitati, cerinte, conditii de lucru).

Integrarea angajatilor incepe, putem spune, din momentul recrutarii si selectiei de personal, cand potentialii viitori angajati isi formeaza o imagine despre organizatie, aceasta imagine – pozitiva sau negativa, buna sau rea, realista sau nu – influentand integrarea profesionala ulterioara.

Activitatea de orientare reprezinta, de asemenea, o etapa-cheie in demersul activ de integrare a noilor angajati. “Manualul personalului”(mapa de intampinare, ghidul angajatului), turul organizatiei, “Mentorul”( indrumatorul) reprezinta modalitati de orientare prin care adaptarea la mediul organizational devine mai eficienta si mai rapida.

O conditie sine qua non in procesul integrarii (profesionale!) se refera la instruirea angajatilor. Se pot distinge, aici, diferite modalitati: instruirea directa pe post de catre un supervizor ( training on the job), trecerea angajatului prin toate departamentele in decurs de 2-3 luni ( job rotation), consultanta externa (programe de training din afara companiei).

Evaluarea performantelor obtinute de noul angajat si a satisfactiei acestuia fata de locul de munca permit evaluarea procesului de integrare, ale carui avantaje pot duce la cresterea productivitatii si eficientei muncii ( formarea unui personal competent profesional, reducerea fluctuatiei de personal si a dificultatii de adaptare in organizatie, atitudine pozitiva a angajatului fata de conducere, crearea unei atmosfere de siguranta, de apartenenta).

So how to momentarily sort this out?  Do the setting of the page orientation in your handler for WritingPrintTicketRequired as well.

I am actually a bit psyched to be going to school again.  It sounds like GMU has a pretty good business school, so hopefully my diploma will carry a little clout.

Classes start August 25th!

All - Here is where you can search for everything within Second Life, where you pick any category.

Classifieds - This is where you search for in-world services like shopping, products, wanted, personal things.

Events - This is where you can view previous, current and even upcoming events happening in-world, you can get a reminder too and a landmark to that event location with details.

Showcase - The new search where it shows you a replacement of popular places and shows the most popular areas but has no traffic stats.

Land Sales - This is where you can view the land in Second Life, rent land, see whats up for sale and can be auction off if need be.

Places - This is where you can search for a place called a landmark and teleport to it.

People - This is where you can search for many residents in Second Life or you can search for Lindens too

Groups - This is where you can join many free and pay for groups in Second Life

How to I activate or use Search in Second Life/Teen Second Life?

Firstly to activate the search menu window, you will need to locate where it says Search then click on the tab button on the bottom of your screen. you can go to Edit > Search, or hit CTRL+F on your keyboard).

Friday, September 19th

8:15 - 4:00 in the Hall of Honors

So, here's how it's gonna go. If you're a newbie or a lurker, this is your chance to come out and introduce yourself to the class. If you've been around since day one, this is your chance to introduce yourself to the newbies. This is gonna be an interactive experience, so we expect everyone to participate. So don't be shy, y'all. And if you wish to remain Anonymous but still wanna express your love of the Js, then you now have the option to comment as such. ;) Also, we're introducing Student ID's this year. So make sure you have yours by September. Cuz everyone knows that having a Student ID will get you discounts...at the porn store.

Here are a couple of Samples:

Get yours today! ;)

Ok, back to business. For anyone who's unfamiliar with the Roll Call format, it goes a little something like this:

Alright, now that we're all up to speed, let's get this party started...

MT and I will start us off...

The School of Jensen and Jared, Roll Call
The School of Jensen and Jared, Roll Call

My name’s A-Jizzle (yeah)
Hot to the core (yeah)
And Jensen wants me (yeah)
Cuz I’m a whore.

ROLL CALL!

The School of Jensen and Jared, Roll Call

My name's M-Tizzle (yeah)
And I'm a slut (yeah)
Cuz I'd let Jared (yeah)
Do it in my butt.

ROLL CALL!

The School of Jensen and Jared, Roll Call...

NEXT!!!

*cue the cheering, weeping, fainting crowds--Charity and Beau wave in a presidential way*

You're thrilled. We can tell.

Many of you have asked and we have graciously obliged to bring you our lives in living color here on the world wide web.

If you're new here we welcome you. Please don't leave. It'll be a good time. We promise.

We're here to keep you updated on the assorted goings on of our time in Bangalore, India (Bengaluru for you post-colonialist types), including (but not limited to) our life as ex-pats on the Asian subcontinent, Beau's life as visiting professor of theology, and Charity's life as an Indian housewife--not to mention mom-to-be.

Yes, we are all anxiously awaiting the birth of Asher Samuel. He is expected to arrive at the end of September. He has made his presence known, kicking daddy in the back one morning, and assaulting mommy's internal organs with what could only be an advanced form of Wing Chun. We can't wait. Baby isn't even born yet and we've already become THOSE parents. "Oh he's so CUTE! You'll never believe what he did today!"

So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. We're sure it'll be all kinds of fun . . .

NOTE: We're going to keep the details (names, locations, etc.) to a minimum so as not to cause trouble for our friends. We're perfectly legit but there's a strain of Hindu nationalism that has a pretty small view of what's "legit" and would like to make "legit" something even more constricted. We would ask that you do the same in the comments and with the forwarding of updates, etc. Bangalore is relatively immune to the more egregious examples of xenophobia but why cause trouble?

Homework
The concept of providing new employees with information prior to their start date was also suggested during a roundtable discussion with Judy Mackenzie of TEVO Consulting Inc., when she said in reference to the new employee, “Don’t wait for your first day to start asking for information”.

Jensen provides a list of example material that could be provided as homework prior to the employees start date and suggests that the material be relevant to the job. Some examples could include:
· department’s past three month goals and performance
· department’s goals and objectives for the next three months
· company’s current strategic plan
· customer satisfaction reports

Twenty Names
Providing a list of specific names would ensure that the new employee is making the right contacts to help him or her be successful. Mackenzie confirms this during her round table presentation, when she describes how being isolated is one of the traps new employees fall in. To overcome this challenge, new employees need to establish new working relationships.

Again Jenson provides examples of the types of people that might be provided to the new employee. These names include:
· key decision-makers whom influence your work
· day-to-day hubs: those who everybody seems to turn to
· networkers: those who have endless connections
· gatekeepers: (admin and execs) those who provide or deny access to others
· content experts: those who know the most on a given topic
Jenson suggests negotiating company time to meet with these people face-to-face; if that’s not possible, then during lunch breaks, before or after work.

Two-Way Review
New employees should try to negotiate a two-way review with their manager at the end of the third month if they are not provided one. This review allows the new employee to get the feedback they need to help them better succeed.

Jimmy Ockey

Reference
The Simplicity Survival Handbook, Bill Jensen
BC HRMA Round table presentation, Judy Mackenzie, TEVO Consulting Inc

Day 4: Thursday 3 July 2008

The last two days of the Orientation went by very quickly. The Thursday was a half-day, and we only had two lectures. The first was "Native English Teachers 101" by Dini Turner. I believe she is married to James Turner, who gave the less-than-successful talk on classroom management the day before. Well, Dini wasn't much of an improvement. To be honest, her talk wasn't that good. However, the information included in her section of the Orientation booklet should come in handy, as it has all sorts of information about what you should expect from your school and what Korean co-teachers need to know about native speakers. It also has some examples of what your pay slip should look like, as well as leave forms and other odds and ends.

After a short break we had the second (and last) lecture for the day. This was "The Role of Teachers in Co-Writing Class - English Writing" by Won Jangho. Actually, it was more of a talk on how to use videos to structure a writing lesson, and how to get students to write more. Speaking and writing (the productive skills) are sorely neglected in the Korean school system, so this really caught my attention.

This was a great lecture. The speaker, a Korean English teacher, clearly outlined how he uses videos, many pulled from YouTube, to structure his lessons and to practice specific grammar points. I stole loads of ideas from his talk, and I'll be implementing these in my lessons from next semester. I struggle to get my students to speak in class, and I've found that they are much more comfortable writing as they aren't under the spotlight if they make mistakes. BUT, I can use the writing to get the students to speak a little more. I've already used some of these ideas in my lessons this week. So far it has worked well, with the students writing short descriptions of monsters they have drawn, and then reading these aloud to the rest of the class. Great stuff!

The afternoon was set aside for an outing to Hwasung Fortress in Suwon, but the weather wasn't playing along so we ended up going to the Gyeonggi provincial museum instead. This was relatively interesting, but after a long week it was a wee bit difficult to appreciate it. The museum showcases a lot of artifacts from Korean history, with the focus on items and events linked to Gyeonggi province.

Day 5: Friday 4 July 2008

The last day of the Orientation was a bit of a write-off. It started with a review of a short survey we had to fill in on the first day of the Orientation. The survey asked some simple questions on our awareness of Korean culture, as well as some basic info on our own nationalities, ages and length of time in Korea. The review of the survey wasn't that exciting, though it was interesting to see that about 25% of the people at the Orientation were from South Africa. That's about 44 out of the 180-odd people there. Not bad.

After the survey review we broke up into groups and had to come up with some ideas for improving the teaching of English and cultural awareness at our schools, and then put these ideas on some posters that would be displayed for everyone to see. We had about 40 minutes or so for this whole exercise, and I was pretty impressed by what the different groups came up with in such a limited time-frame. Not that many of the ideas were particularly practical, but they were nice nonetheless. After all the posters were put up for display, everyone walked around and put stickers on the posters we liked. I think the idea was to select the posters with the most stickers as the best, but I don't think many people took this seriously (including yours truly). I entertained myself by looking for any posters that Africa on them, and then putting a sticker on where SA should be.

After the sticker session we filed back into the hall for a review of the posters, and this was the last little bit of nastiness for the Orientation. Each group had about a minute to talk about their poster, but some people in the audience started clapping as soon as they were bored to indicate that the speaker should stop. I felt this was really rude, especially when one guy, who was a bit of an odd character, didn't even get a chance to start before people started clapping. This really lowered my opinion of certain people in the crowd.

But thankfully this session didn't last long. Afterwards it was all just goodbyes and thankyous and the like, and then a final performance by traditional dancers and drummers.

One of the last speeches was by Rachel Cameron, one of the attendees. She spoke about how she had lost enthusiasm for her job, and before the Orientation had considered quitting and going back home to Austalia. I think she articulated how many of the people at the Orientation felt when she spoke of how the Orientation had made her re-evaluate her role as a teacher in Korea, and how, even though things often aren't that great, that things can improve and we can still enjoy our time here. It was good to hear that other people felt the same as me. All in all a pleasant, and very Korean, way of ending the Orientation.

Then it was grabbing bags, catching the bus back to Migeum station, and home. Thank goodness!

Overall the Orientation was worthwhile. Not everything was great, and some lectures were terrible. But on the whole I feel like I've returned to work a little better prepared and with a lot more ideas for making good lessons. I'm also going to try my damndest to improve relations with my co-workers. I think both sides are guilty of making mistakes here, so it's up to me to try and make it better. So far it has worked well, so let's hope I can keep it up!

Gepik Orientation 2008: Part 1

Gepik Orientation 2008: Part 2

Visit this:

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1033631/Google-creates-Lively-virtual-reality-rival-Second-Life.html

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Search for Lively or Virtual Worlds/news on Google for more information!

I wonder why someone had messaged me to watch this.

Big names in various fields — Rajat Mitra, Shovana Narayan, Shiv Khera, Shikha Sharma, Jitender Nagpal and Kiran Bedi — have been roped in to interact with the students. Some of them are alumnae of the college.

The sessions have been planned keeping in mind the changing needs of students. For instance, Rajat Mitra, director of Swanchetan and IPS officer gave guidance on self -protection. “Every girl is a target, but not every girl is a victim. There is a difference between  a target and a victim. Common sense and attitude can save you from becoming a victim,” said Mitra. Girls should be assertive and not shy, said he.

What do you think of the college’s decision to host such a programme? More important, do you think this is a friendlier way of introducing students to college and its culture? In what other ways can a student’s entry and initiation into higher education be made beneficial and smooth? Give us your opinion.

Day 2: Tuesday 1 July 2008

Day two of the Orientation started with a Q&A session with Dain Bae, the GEPIK co-ordinator for secondary schools. I was a bit worried that this session would deteriorate into a series of gripes, and that Dain Bae would spend the entire time in defensive mode. I'd heard stories of previous orientations that became little more than an opportunity to complain about GEPIK.

Dain Bae did a really good job of defusing any potential tension in the room, and it was as simple as not treating the crowd as unruly schoolchildren. So we all settled down a little and heard about common concerns in the GEPIK contract and working conditions. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about issues like pension fund and tax payments. For those South Africans who are still not sure: we are exempt from making pension fund payments in Korea, and for the first two years that you work for public schools in Korea you don't pay income tax.

After this rather fruitful session we had further discussions about life in GEPIK, but this time in smaller groups. I'm not a fan of group discussions, and this session was a bit of a waste of time. The only good thing that came out of this was some cool lesson ideas, though this was a bit off topic from what we were actually meant to be doing. But this ended soon enough and off we went to lunch.

The first session after lunch was a talk by Mark Merzweiler on "My life as a GEPIK teacher." The title of the session was a little boring, but the talk wasn't. This was the first of the really useful lectures we had during the orientation week, though lecture probably isn't the right word. The image that comes to mind is a guy talking about his experiences while sharing a beer in a bar somewhere. It was a really interesting to hear about this guy's ups and downs in Korea, and why he is still here even though he first arrived in 1993. This guy has seen some really dodgy stuff in Korea, and seems to have had a really raw deal with some of the hagwons he taught at. It was good to put my experiences in Korea so far into this context, and to remember that things could be a lot worse. Not that things are all sunshine and roses, but oh boy, it could be a LOT worse.

I picked up a couple of good tips for lesson plans and classroom management from Mark. But I think the most important thing was to hear how, even after all these years teaching in Korea, he still struggles with many of the same problems I do, in terms of ensuring discipline and keeping the kids interested. So I'm not a shoddy teacher, and my kids aren't especially naughty - this is just something you need to learn to handle.

The last session for the day was "How to do a lesson plan" by Darlene Delorme (or Darlence Delorme, as she is listed in the programme). The title suggested a snoozefest. I've done lesson plans to death, in my TEFL course and at my school, so I wasn't too sure what I was going to learn here. But, to my surprise, Darlene was able to give me some ideas on how to approach my lesson planning.

The highlight of this session? When Darlene found out that, no, we don't see our students several times a week. Try once a week. Or even once every two weeks. When she had taught at public schools she had seen the kids a couple of times a week, so her lesson plans were structured around this. And no-one had ever bothered to tell her that things aren't exactly like that at the public schools where we all teach. The look on her face was priceless.

After this was more Korean food for dinner, and then we watched "The King and the Clown", a Korean movie about a crossdressing minstrel and his troupe that get involved in the intrigues at the kings court. It was a bit odd, but interesting to watch.

Day 3: Wednesday 02 July 2008

The first two sessions of day three of the orientation were just disaster heaped upon incompetence. They sucked. No, really. That's three hours of my life I'll never be able to claim back. The first session was "Using Interactive Activities" with Nick Mitchelmore. I don't know what this was intended to be, but it ended up being torture. The speaker tried to demonstrate how to use various activities in the classroom to get the students to participate and to speak. Now, almost every single activity he demonstrated I have come across on any number of forums and books on ESL teaching. Nothing new here. But the worst part was when he started getting irritated that we weren't going along with this bizarre lecture. His mistake was treating adults, native English speakers at that, like a bunch of non-English-speaking schoolkids. Of course your demonstration is going to fail. We aren't kids, you know, and we speak the language just fine.

His annoyance and frustration were very apparent. That's the only thing I learnt from this session - that I must hide these emotions while giving a class, no matter what. He lost the crowd as soon as he looked irritated. No turning back from there. Maybe some people picked up a couple of tricks from this session, but I personally feel that he could have approached it differently. He might have shown videos of students using these activities, for example, and illustrated where this was well-managed or not by the teacher in question. I felt that we were all well aware of activities to use in class, but not necessarily in how best to implement or run these activities.

The next session was "Classroom Management" by James Turner. Actually this should have been titled "Classroom Management: How not to do it". I can't write much about this session because for the life of me I can't recall much of what this guy said. He sort of waffled for about 45 minutes, and then opened the floor to questions, most of which he couldn't answer. Not that he'd admit it. He'd give an answer, though it didn't necessarily correspond to the question. He thought he only had an hour to speak, but he actually had 90 minutes, so the torture got extended for what seemed like eons. Oh, and what this had to do with "classroom management" I still don't know.

Thankfully we were saved by lunchtime.

The first session after lunch was a team-teaching demonstration by Koo Yeon Jin & Candice Sue Bolton, from Suwon Foreign Language High School.

I was worried that they'd act as if were students and try and teach us.

I was really relieved to see that they were merely going to illustrate to us how they did their recent demo lesson, with commentary on how they approached the lesson, with some videos showing them in action.I found this session really informative, especially with their discussions on how they deal with the whole co-teaching thing, which is problematic for most of the people attending the orientation. I did have a pang of jealousy when we saw what level their students are at, as they teach at a foreign language high school. These kids could string whole sentences together and everything! But I found their general approach to co-teaching interesting, and I'll try to apply some of these lessons in the relationships with my own co-teachers.

The last session of the day was the by far the best of the entire orientation. This was "Why don't they just get it?" by Darren Ng. His topic looked at the many differences andproblems native English teachers encounter when they teach in public schools in Korea. He basically spoke about how to improve your living and teaching experience in Korea, starting with yourself - your approaches to your fellow teachers, your students and your teaching philosophy. I was expecting a preachy 90 minutes, but instead I was thoroughly entertained by Darren, who definitely has a gift for public speaking. The important bit was that he is actually a teacher in GEPIK, and he was able to draw on his own experiences to illustrate how we might go about improving our situations, and how to stop complaining. Some experiences at the schools in Korea seem universal, and it was good to see this. This lecture definitely lifted my mood, and gave me a lot of impetus to try and improve things at my school. I hope this enthusiasm lasts past the first week back, though...

I'm not going to do Darren's talk any real justice here, but you can read some of what he spoke about at his blog here: http://jm-english.blogspot.com/2008/06/gyonggi-do-teachers-workshop.html

That was pretty much that for day three. There was a "Korean Traditional Music Performance and Workshop" that evening, but I'd been dealing with TMP (Too Many People) all day, so I hid in my bedroom and read a book.

Day four and five will be covered in Part 3.