Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean: A Trip Down Memory-Lane

An old mil-col buddy shared this video on facebook, and it sure brought back some memories from my officer cadet days at CMR!CMR was my home in Saint-Jean, Quebec for 5 years (1990-1995) as I was trained in my (univ) studies, leadership, sports/training and French.  These were incredible years of discipline and great (and some not so great) memories!  Still hard to believe that I received a 5-year, $75,000 scholarship.  If you are a young Canadian with the chance to attend one of our military colleges or ever have children that have such an opportunity, you/they should definitely go for it.  Life changing!  Thanks to RMR (Rick Mercer Report) for bringing back such memories.  Check out the CMR website to learn more. There are a couple of videos on that page that are quite informative.  The video “Programme d’orientation” was my favorite as it brought me back to my orientation days way back in August of 1990!

 

                                                                                               

Vérité! Devoir! Vaillance!( or in English, “Truth! Duty! Valour!”)

Canadian Astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield: “What I Learned from Going Blind in Space” (Ted Talks Vancouver)

Fascinating talk by Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space.  18 minutes and 21 seconds well worth your time.

There’s an astronaut saying: In space, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” So how do you deal with the complexity, the sheer pressure, of dealing with dangerous and scary situations? Retired colonel Chris Hadfield paints a vivid portrait of how to be prepared for the worst in space (and life) — and it starts with walking into a spider’s web. Watch for a special space-y performance.

2 great quotes I enjoyed from this talk include:

1. “The jaw-dropping gorgeousness of the turning orb like a self-propelled art gallery of fantastic, constantly changing beauty that is the world itself“.  I love the beauty and awe in this sentence.   Although I don’t believe Chris Hadfield is a man of faith, by drawing attention to the beauty of God’s magnificent creation, one cannot help but be in reverential awe of the Creator Himself.
2. I love that he ends the talk first with a cover of Bowie which he has done before and got a lot of attention for, but he also ends simply with the words “Fear Not“.  This is one of the most quoted words of God Himself throughout the Bible and it has been said that there are at least 365 times in the Holy Scriptures that God has said “fear not” in one form or another.  I would like to add that we are not encouraged to “fear not” simply for the sake of it but the motivation is often given following such encouragement by God’s Words “…for I am with you.”  That is ultimately the only reason we need not fear.  Thanks for the reminder, Colonel Hadfield! 🙂

If you haven’t seen it, here’s Colonel Chris Hadfield covering Bowie in his “music video recorded on the ISS of a modified rendition of “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.The video has over 20 million views on YouTube.”

“Meet Oman’s Bloggerati” – Y Magazine

Y-Magazine (“Pulse of Oman”)  did a nice question/answer write-up with 7 bloggers in the sultanate and I was honored to be numbered among them! 🙂

Check it out here: http://www.y-oman.com/2014/03/meet-omans-bloggerati.  Other bloggers featured include Eliza Richardson of Pumpkin Polar Bear,Freddie Sayers of Muscat Mutterings,

Heather Duncan of the Duncan Adventures,Shurooq al Haremi of Mademoiselle Shosho,Dahlia Al Riyami of Aisheleqtta (or “What’s Happening”)and last (but definitely not least!) Maurizio Monte of Oman Collective Intelligence.Here are the questions I was presented with and my responses which were a bit longer than the other bloggers:I’ve scanned and published the write-ups here because their online material does not look exactly like it does in printed form. Be sure to check out the original post (words by Penny Fray, Noor Hyder and Shishira Sreenivas) as it also includes an intro about the importance of blogs in today’s world, instructions on how to write a blog and this short text about not being afraid to take a risk by fashionista and blogger, Aziza Al Bahlani of the blog Haus of Ziia:One of the best things about being featured in Y Magazine was meeting up with Jerzy Wierzbicki who is responsible for the magazine’s photography.I have been a huge fan of Jerzy’s ever since he started working for Y Magazine 7 years ago.  His photography and write-ups of different spots around the sultanate and great trips for travelling are highly recommended. (Here are some of them listed on Y Magazines website archives for “Cars and Outdoors”.)  Some of the destinations he’s described are so remote and unknown that he has actually been responsible for naming certain spots in Oman! Thanks for sparing some time to chat about your adventures, Jerzy, even though you were so busy.

I really hope they do a 2nd edition of “Oman’s Bloggeratti” as there are so many wonderful bloggers I’ve met here and so many great blogs to follow. Blogs that I think would make for a great 2nd edition would be Wanda in Oman, Debi Brown of Notes Home, Geoff O’Dell of Rogue and Peasant Slave (but needs to blog more!), How to Live like an Omani Princess (one of the oldest and most popular blogs in Oman), Rummy (of Merge Fm) and her blog, Rummy’s Scribblings (who is currently on her way to Antartica!!!), Oman Coast, Salim Al-Harthy’s Photography Blog, Omanly  (Blog on Tourism), and Susan Al Shahri of DhofariGucci (Yes, she is no longer secretive of her identity!).

What are some other blogs in the sultanate that you think should get more press?!

153 Year Old Man Dies in Oman?! (Example of Poor Journalism in Oman)

                                                         Check out this short “news article” from Feb. 27th in which Oman Observer claims that a 153 year old man from Shinas, Oman died.  There is absolutely no indication of how his age was determined, just a short quote from one of his 300 grandchildren.  Is that picture supposed to be of when he was living or after he passed away?  If the man was that old, why would they wait until his death to claim that he was 153 years old?! Why have we heard nothing about such a person until now?  This story is SO fishy!  I’ve also heard that the Arabic version of the story claims that the man was 135, not 153!  (So now a fishy story + a dyslexic writer?!)

Misao Okawa from Japan (born March 5 1898) is currently the oldest living person in the world whose age can be verified. Don’t you think Oman Observer should have a done a little more reporting on such a story if we are we to believe that a man of 153 years of age (born in 1861?!) recently passed away rather than just explain it away with “well…you know, he used to eat fresh food particularly locally-made margarine and honey, dates and fish.” Okay! That should be enough for us then!

Bizarre “Please Avoid Overt Displays of Affection” Sign

This strange sign sure drew a lot of attention at Lulu’s supermarket before someone finally put up a sticker covering the rather odd illustration of what seems to be a “public display of affection” or perhaps “the heimlich maneuver”! 😉A closer look at that sign of “public display of affection”…Definitely a strange choice of illustration for the malls of Oman!