Wednesday, June 12, 2024

SOME UPDATES.

       Many times your comments remind me of things I forgot or expressed poorly and you didn't get it. 

      I forgot to mention my all time biggest conference. I got to go to a teacher conference in Washington DC. That's pretty good for a little old guy from the prairies. Several of our teachers got to go to major conferences in the US. So this little old guy got on a plane in Calgary and went to Dallas. I changed planes and went to Washington. I took the subway from the airport to my hotel and got in the hotel about midnight. So this was an exciting day

    The conference was across the street in the hotel where Reagan was shot. 

    I got to hear some major speakers. I'd never been in a 3000 seat hall before. There were many smaller sessions.

    The area with displays was the size of a hockey rink. I chose many things to take back and give to colleagues. I had to make a presentation when I got back home.

    The name Red is an accident. When I first set up an email account it wouldn't take my name so I put in Red taken from Red Deer the city I live in. At the time I didn't realize once the name was in the system it spread through the internet world. Why didn't I use my middle initial or stick a number between my name like other people do?

     The Micro manager went with me and toured Washington while I was at the conference. I stayed an extra day for touring. 

     Western Canada, where I live is huge. You must travel or you have the meeting by yourself. Edmonton is 100 miles away as is Calgary. The national parks are about 150 miles away. 

36 comments:

  1. Well, now Red, we'll want to know what your real name is.
    It's great that your government paid for teachers to travel to conferences. That didn't happen much here in Seattle.

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    1. The association paid for most of our meetings. The Washington trip was paid out of a budget the school had.

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  2. Yea, I was pretty sure we hadn't seen any red hair. Linda in Kansas

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  3. Flying down to Dallas and then back up to DC seems like something they would make you do these days with modern airline routes. I'm surprised that was the route you had to fly back then.

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    1. This was in 92 so the system of hubs was in place.

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  4. That was an epic trip for you!

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    1. Yes, for a little old prairie boy it was a big trip.

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  5. I don't think I could imagine you as anybody but Red. That sounds like it was a truly memorable trip to Washington.

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  6. I remember you explaining about your nickname a while back when I asked you the same question. You probably should add a little blurb to your "blog history" or your "about Hiawatha House" so you don't have to keep explaining. ;)
    Sounds like you enjoyed your trip to Washington, DC. I was surprised you had to fly all of the way to Dallas before you could fly to Washington. They really took you out of your way!

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    1. That's the way the system is set up.

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  7. So dear Red - Can I say it? - you live in a wide country, Calgary 100 miles away, the city of the 1988 Winter Olympics, where Katarina Witt won the gold medal with Carmen and there are great national parks... 150 Meilen fuhrter away.
    I imagine it to be wonderful, the vastness of Kanada.
    Congratulations on your trip, it was certainly a wonderful experience and perhaps an honor for you...
    - My husband comes from work, we drink tea and I baked cake... so see you next time.
    I'd love to come back.

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    1. The skating speed skating oval is still in Calgary. I've skated there many times with a senior skating group. It's beautiful ice to skate on.

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  8. What a detour Washington DC via Dallas! Good that you got to experiene so many things! You will always be Red:)

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    1. To my high school buddies I'm still Pa or pop.

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  9. My dad's friends called him Red. He had hair and had the name on his work shirt. :)

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    1. This one is what I called myself accidentally.

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  10. Nice memory of your Washington DC trip.
    I had a neighbor named Red. he lived just a few doors away down from the house where I was born. Take care, enjoy your day!

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  11. Our in-service session on the provincial level were always in St. John’s or Corner Brook, three or five hours away. I hated the drive!

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  12. I guess I once passed through Red Deer, but I don't recall anything about it. Actually twice as we visited friends in Lacombe from Calgary. Later we must have passed through driving from Edmonton to Calgary although we had got to Edmonton via The Rockies and Jasper.

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    1. You probably don't recall anything about Red Deer as the highway goes around it.

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  13. It's interesting how you got your google name. It's also good that you got to travel to Washington, DC through your employment. I still haven't made it there. I'd love to go during Sakura blossom time.

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    1. We had hoped to see blossoms but it didn't happen.

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  14. Ha! I just assumed you had red hair back in the day. I never made the connection between where you live and your name!

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    1. Very few people would make that connection.

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  15. So good that Mrs. Red could go with you on the trip. It sure was a big one, mile wise. I hope you were able to visit all the monuments around our National Mall.

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    1. The Micro Manager really got around I did see some of the major monuments and I was impressed.

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  16. I remember my first trip to Washington as a young man. I was riding in a cab to my hotel when we went by the Capitol, which was all brightly floodlit (it was night time) and I remember being awed by the sight and thinking, "Gosh, it's REAL!"

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  17. I imagined that you got the name Red because you are or were a communist intent on indoctrinating young minds.

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  18. Red, I recall several of the “conferences” … we had some sort of rule that teachers had to spend a certain number of hours, each year, taking a class or going to a conference to keep our teacher’s certificate active. I remember one in Portland and one in Spokane. They were unusually interesting. I would have considered it lucky to have gone to a conference in Washington DC or Dallas. These stories from your life are neat and thank you, RED, for sharing. 😊 John

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  19. How awesome that you got to go to such a fun conference. I rather like your blog name Red. I wish I came up with a fun name to give myself for my blog.

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  20. This was quite an achievement that you were sent to the conference in younger age dear Red.this shows your hardworking and maturity indeed as human and as teacher as well
    I didn't know that Red is not your name.
    Glad you enjoyed your trip to Washington with your wife

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  21. In the early days of the internet there were account names I set up with what I intended as a password. It was a different time, we hardly knew what we were doing. I like the name Red and I like the story

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