Crazy to be Me's Weblog

Term paper grade…  Recurring theme – do-over, por favor!

The taste of Jamaica!

The week in Jamaica was wonderful – and not having phone or internet after Tuesday wasn’t so bad.  We sat around, played games, talked and really didn’t even watch TV.  The week was great.  Pictures wil be posting soon – I’ve just not really had much time to get around to it yet.

This’ll be a quick week as I have family arriving on Thursday night to stay the weekend.  It’ll be crazy – aunt, uncle, cousin and husband.  They’re all staying at my house – woo!  It’ll be fun but kinda busy.

Back to work tomorrow.  I think I’ll log on and as the email is downloading – I’ll go for coffee.  Nice to be back in the land of coffee I like.  Blue mountain was good – I brought some home  but I do love an Americano from *$s.

That’s all for now. Time for sleep – but I’ll share one photo.

Sunset from Negril.

I’ve introduced the gang to patties – and they seem to like them nearly as much as I do.

For those of you who don’t know, Jamaican patties are like turnovers that are stuffed with something.  I’ve only had beef patties, so just off the plane I bought 6 patties – two each for S, J and me.  S was a little apprehensive but I think she was hungry so she tore a piece off and well, she liked it.

They are different than what you might anticipate.  The dough is orange – it contains tumeric, so it’s orange.  It’s very flaky (there’s a fair bit of lard I think, but not so much that it coats your teeth.  Anyhow, E wanted to know where to find them when she arived the day after we did – I sent her a text with instructions.  Everyone else went to pick her up so they all got patties ar the airport.  They agreed, they are good.

Yesterday, I went out and about with my first cousin once removed – and we stopped on the side of the road and J bought mangoes.  We got jewelies and east indian.  The jewelies smell amazing!  The east indians don’t smell as sweet.  They both taste amazing!  Anyhow – Olive cut them for us at breakfast – ohmygosh they was good!

We spent the day at the beach today – Doctor’s Cave in Montego Bay.  We got chairs and umbrellas and did a whole lot of nothing.

Well, tomorrow we head to Negril for more beach and to watch the sunset.  Hopefully we’ll have good weather again – today was amazingly beautiful.  Not a cloud in the sky.

Risk identification as a part of risk management.  That was the latest project for class.

The scenario is as follows: You are the member of a school board in Calgary Canada.  The eighth grade class wishes to take a field trip to an exhibit hall in downtown.  They will travel by bus.  The hall is 14.7 miles away.  There is a park with a pond that the children may visit is the weather permits.

List all of the possible risks of this trip. My list is below.  As you can tell, I was taken away by the absurdity of the task – however I received 30 points out of a possible 30 points.  Again, I request a do-over of my undergrad work!

Here’s my list (watch for patterns, evolution of risks and the absurdity of it all):

• Driving the bus in rain, sleet or snow may cause an accident where control of the vehicle is lost
• Driving the bus in inclement rain, sleet or snow may cause an accident where another vehicle loses control and hit the bus
• Driving the bus on a sunny day, glare from the sun may cause an accident where control of the vehicle is lost
• Driving the bus on a sunny day, glare from the sun may cause an accident where another vehicle loses control and hit the bus
• Driving the bus something un-weather related may cause an accident where another vehicle loses control and hit the bus
• Driving the bus something un-weather related may cause an accident where control of the vehicle is lost
• Students traveling in a school bus without seat belts can be more easily injured in an accident
• Students traveling in a school bus without seat belts can cause bodily injury to other persons by walking around the moving bus
• Students may purposefully walk away from the exhibit hall and school group and do any number of things: get hurt, hurt someone else, cause a fire, do drugs, steal a car, rob a bank, etc.
• Playing/”horsing” around the pond may cause an accidental (or deliberate) drowning
• Animals in the park may be injured or bothered by students.
• Other visitors in the exhibit hall and park may be bothered, injured, disturbed or harassed by students
• Objects d’art in the exhibit hall may be damaged by students or staff.
• Students venturing in to the pond may be exposed to water-borne illnesses
• Students may trip and fall and injure themselves or others while running in the exhibit hall
• Students may trip and fall and injure themselves or others while running in the park
• Students may trip and fall and injure themselves or others while leaving or entering the school
• Students may trip and fall and injure themselves or others while boarding or disembarking from the bus
• A clan of badgers from the wilderness outside Calgary may enter the city and be drawn to the pond in the park where the (ground-nesting) flocks of geese have taken up residence and the students may contract rabies
• Student(s) may be left behind at school if staff does not “count noses” before leaving
• Student(s) may be left behind at the exhibit hall if staff does not “count noses” before returning
• Students may steal object d’art or other objects from the exhibit hall, park or bus.
• Students may disobey traffic laws and cross the street against the light and be hit by a car
• Students may disobey traffic laws and cross in the middle of a block and be hit by a car
• Students may obey traffic laws and wait at the corner for the pedestrian light to change and be hit by a car that has gone out of control in the intersection
• The bus may have a flat tire(s) due to faulty maintenance causing the students to have to walk a distance to the exhibit hall or school
• Students or staff may contract food poisoning from improperly prepared food or unsanitary practices of the food service staff at the exhibit hall restaurant
• Student(s) may get separated from the group and not know who to call for help, or how to find the group
• The bus driver may suffer a medical emergency while driving the bus thus causing an accident
• The students may distract the bus driver while they are driving the bus thus causing an accident
• The purse of the teacher, containing the permission slips and emergency contact information, in charge may be stolen during the trip so in case of emergency the teacher would be unable to reach the school or the parents
• Trip chaperones may become ill and have to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, leaving the students at the exhibit hall unattended
• Bus driver may become ill while the bus is parked at the exhibit hall and have to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, leaving the group stranded at the exhibit hall
• The bus may be stolen if left unattended by the bus driver, leaving the group stranded at the exhibit hall

Prof comments:

Clans of badgers and flocks of geese can really ruin a trip!  If the chaperones see this list they will never agree to go along.

I just recevied a phone call – yes, at 11:20PM!  The recording said “This is ___ Credit Union, your debit card has been compromised. To reactivate your card press one to continue.”  I pressed 1.  Yes, I know this sounds fishy – that’s why I did it.

The recording then asked me to enter my 16 digit account number.  I made one up.  It said the number wasn’t valid and hung up.

I have the phone number that appeared on the caller ID.  I’ll call them tomorrow and have a conversation but my point here is DO NOT EVER!!!!! Enter your credit card or any other personal info into a phone or a website that has contacted you unsolicited!!!  NEVER.  Just NEVER!

If you get a call like this – look and make sure you have your card.  Check you account activity online if you can.   Call your bank in the morning.  The bad guys set this stuff up at the hour because people are tirde and they won’t think about it until after they’ve run and retrived their card to enter it…

Just a warning!!

Also – the Netherlands beat the Dominican Republic in baseball on Sunday! The DOW gained over 300 points today.  The Vestry meeting was over in two hours.  It’s Armageddon for sure!

Tonight, we change the clocks in the US – “Spring ahead” – in case you’ve not heard it 427 times on the news this week!  I hope I don’t forget!

new ad campaign – just saw my first ad (I’d seen it online at work before).

pretty cool.

still love my job.