Last trip for the 09 school year is now over.

Yes Kelly and I managed to escape for a nice 3 day weekend in Dubai.  We accompanied our 6 Canadian friends from Kuwait to support them in the 2009 "Dubai Mighty Camels" Canadian Hockey Tournament. The rest of the team met in Dubai.  Two professional female hockey players came from Czech and Russia to join the team.  Both girls are actually Canadian, one from Regina and the other  from La Duc, Alberta.  4 other guys flew in from Edmonton to join the team and a couple drove down from Abu Dhabi.  It was a nice reunion as all these folks played together as kids and many played together up until university but have since gone their separate ways.  Kelly and I went along for the ride.  They lost the first two games on Thursday then re-grouped and won both games Friday, which was the rubber-match with the Dubai team.  Today they lost in a shoot-out but were all very happy with their performance.  The Edmontonians will fly back Monday as the rest of us made our way back by Saturday evening.

Luckily we were able to make it to the Harley dealership this time around.  Clothing options were minimal as the dealership was more geared towards bike sales and the "brother-dealership" across the city has all the clothing and apparel.  Regardless we got our meat-hooks into a couple nice t-shirts to bring home and use as rags........I mean give to some harley owners.  

We painted the city red both nights we were there and had a wonderful time meeting many new faces all from our "back yard" .....W.Canada.

School will be wrapping up soon as we only have about 25 teaching days left and course work is to be completed by May 21st.  Ok with me!  All our students will write final exams which soaks up a week at the end of the year.  The last exam will be written June 4 and that will mark the end of the year, however, we have administration work to deal with and our rooms to pack up before departing. 

Kelly and I fly out June 13 and arrive in Winnipeg June 13 at 14:30.

See you there!

Robotics 101

So because I am the science teacher one of my students is telling me about this robot that he is building.  Ok so I listen and not too sure how serious to take him.  He is a great student so it gets me thinking.  I ask if it is a kit that he bought, "no I am in a robot club".  A CLUB? WOW, that is cool.  Now I remember when they had the "Model Club" in The Pas that was held in the basement of the Kinsman building but THIS sounded waaaaaay cooler.  No offense Bitton.  So I ask a few questions about this club and he says, "Mr, do you want to come with me tonight?" Ummm yeah I do!  "Give me your phone number and my driver will pick you up at maybe 5 or 5:30, something like this."  Awesome, and he did.  We arrived to his very excited instructor.  Having a member's Science Teacher in the room is exactly what these guys love to see.  After some welcoming drinks, a 7-up and cup of tea, I was given a full tour of the place.  He showed me the robot that he is working on and it was pretty cool... for a 12 yr old to build.  It didn't look like "Robot Wars" on Discovery Channel or anything but the coolest part was what you can get them to do.  In fact, the robots are actually a kit that is made by Lego.  But it is a line of Lego that is quite advanced.  His instructor showed me how to program it using the "easy to follow software."  It was actually quite incredible how you can program it to react to your voice commands and completely program it to drive, or walk (using multiple sensors), any route that you design.  So I asked if I could make one and the instructors reply was, in short, "it is only for Kuwaiti little ones."  Damn... I hate being a grown up.  Here are some pictures of the joint.

This was the classroom he worked in

box of parts ready to build anything you want

Easy to use much like Meccano sets

This was his that he made.  It is quite unfinished still

The eyes are speakers for him to talk back to you.  Right arm is a touch sensor.  Left arm is a mic for him to sense your voice commands and away he goes.

This was a cool scorpion that picks things up in its claws and has a light sensor for a tail