rockin relay

Oromocto High School recently hosted a yearly event known as the Rockin' Relay. This event lasts all day long and serves as a fundraiser for the school, and hundreds of students participate. Students make teams of up to 15 people and raise $1000.00 in about two months. Then, on May 23rd of this year, they are excluded from classes and are able to take part in a variety of fun activities. One student from each team is walking, running or jogging around the track at all times, in order to honour the fundraiser's name. This year, the weather was not on their side, as it rained quite a bit all day. However, this did not stop students from enjoying bands, laser tag, sports, and inflatable equipment. With over fifteen teams involved, many fought for prizes of "best campsite", "most laps run" and "best outfits". 

Grade 12 student Kymberley Gillett was the captain of the "Chicks n Hicks" Rockin' Relay team. She has participated in this event for three years, but it was her first year as captain. "It isn't something that I would normally do, so this was a big thing for me. It has helped me realize that I can be a leader." Gillett's team worked hard to raise enough money, and had a blast doing so.

newspaper

Why NBIS to Speedway 660?

I have mixed feelings regarding the name change to the racetrack in Geary. The track name was recently changed from the New Brunswick International Speedway to Speedway 660. The New Brunswick International Speedway sounds professional and attractive. i believe that many people, myself included, preferred that name. It sounds classy and dignified. This is why I do not understand the meaning behind changing the name.

Yes, I realize that the speedway is located on Highway 660, so it does make sense as to why the name was changed to that. I just do not see a reason in changing something that was in no need of a change. I frequent the track during the racing season and have heard no complaints regarding the name. In my opinion, it was unnecessary to change something that was already well-known and loved.

On The Road Again

Dale Hiltz is a man with two homes; one of the normal variety and another in an 18-wheeler. Hiltz, who has been a long-haul truck driver for ....... years, drives for Ayr Motor Express, a company based out of Woodstock. Though he loves his job, it has its ups and downs in the family department. 

"Sometimes it's hard being away from your family for that long. You miss out on things. It's tough." Bt, he does enjoy travelling all over Canada and the United States. And he does it in style. His transport is equipped with bunk beds, a microwave, toaster, coffee-maker, and fridge. 

"I have all the comforts of home, right in my truck."

Saving A Life- Times Four

There was no doubt in Tammy Dickeson's mind that she would get a dog when she moved from the city into the country. But she didn't just get one dog-she got four. "I adopted dogs from the SPCA because I wanted to give them a better life. They didn't have a home, and I wanted to give them one." she said, looking at them fondly. 

There are few cons when considering a shelter dog. The workers at the Fredericton SPCA get to know each animal individually, in order to place them with the right family. Certain dogs have specifications that need to be met, like being in a home with no children or other animals. 

However, there are many advantages to adopting a dog. "You have an animal that someone else may not want, and have the opportunity to give it something better. And in return, you get unconditional love." Dickeson explained. 

She has adopted four dogs already, over a period of six years. Each one was carefully thought out and ensured that it would get along with the other dogs in the house. Is there any chance of getting more? "Eventually, yes." she laughs. 

Hundreds pay respects to murdered woman

The Canadian Press
CALGARY - So many people attended the funeral for a Calgary woman slain by her landlord last week that it's standing-room only at the chapel. Amber Bowerman was stabbed to death by Joshua Lall, along with his wife and two of their children, before he turned the knife on himself.
Many of the mourners lined up before the service to take a look at dozens of photos of the 30-year-old freelance writer in happier times.
Pictures included Bowerman with her family, on holidays and, in one case, smiling as she sat on Santa's knee.
Her casket, covered with flowers, is at the front of the chapel.
Bowerman's family came forward Tuesday to remember her as an immensely caring person with an adventurous spirit.

Two ships collide, causing huge oil spill
The Associated Press
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Officials say they are fighting a 21-kilometre-long fuel-oil spill caused by the collision of two ships just outside the harbour of Uruguay's capital.
Navy Captain Marcelo Larrobla says an undetermined amount of fuel oil was released after the Greece-registered Syros slammed against the Malta-registered Sea Bird near Montevideo.
Authorities are trying to control the spill with floating barriers.
No one on either ship was injured but the Syros was damaged near the fuel tank, which apparently produced the spill.
Larrobla says the collision was likely caused by a wrong manoeuvre by the Syros, although it is still being investigated.
He says a southeast wind will likely prevent the oil slick from reaching Uruguay's coast.

Angry motorist overreacted to driving mistake
Road rage is deliberately dangerous and/or violent behaviour under the influence of heightened violent emotions, such as anger and frustration, involving an automobile in use.
I was driving my car on Montgomery Street last Saturday. I yielded to go down onto Smythe Street. There were no cars coming and I made a decision to go.
I did make an error and went through a red light. I was lucky there were no cars coming and no one got hurt. At that point I realized that I was not as defensive as I thought and I better start doing my part to be a defensive driver.
As mentioned above, I did make a driving offence. However, the person in the vehicle behind me should have reported the offence to law enforcement, not chased me down Smythe Street, blocked me in my parking spot and abused me verbally. The person almost knocked me down while driving away, and then continued with hand gestures.
Road rage is a relatively serious act; it may be seen as a violation of property rights and endangerment of personal security. When I accidently went through the red light, it was not about the other driver - it was offensive driving.
If I ever experience road rage again, I will be taking down the licence plate and driving directly to the police station. If that is not possible, I will try to find a spot where there are a lot of people around; park my car and, if I am still in danger, I will lock my car, roll up my windows and beep my horn continuously to get the attention of the people around me.
Again, my apologies go out to the driver that was behind me that Saturday afternoon.
Drive defensively.
Jean Murdoch
Fredericton

TEENS' VISIT TO GRANDPARENTS COMES UNDER THEIR PROTEST

DEAR ABBY: Our parents make my sister and me go with them to visit our grandparents one Saturday a month. They live two hours away. We don't like having to waste our Saturday this way. My sister and I are 15 and 16, and we're old enough to stay home alone. When we are there, all we do is sit there bored while our parents and grandparents talk.
Our grandparents show no interest in us, even though they tell our parents how much they "love" seeing us. Our parents say our grandparents are not in good health and may not be around much longer, so one Saturday a month isn't too much to ask.
The other day Mom overheard us in our room talking about how much we hate having to go over there, and she was furious. She said we were selfish and care about no one but ourselves, and she had better not hear that kind of talk again. Please tell us what you think. -- BORED TO DEATH IN SAN FRANCISCO

DEAR BORED TO DEATH: Sometimes when people grow older, they lose the knack of communicating with younger people. While visiting your grandparents may seem like a pain in the neck now, when you're older you may be glad that you did.
One way to bridge the generation gap would be for you and your sister to show some interest in THEM. Prepare a list of questions to ask them before you go to visit. You might be pleasantly surprised to find their answers a fascinating window on the past, and give you an insight about how your parents were raised.
Please consider what I have said. It will make visiting your grandparents less of an ordeal -- and you might even learn something of value.

DEAR ABBY: My long-standing boyfriend, "Peter," and I plan to be married next year. Peter's parents divorced long ago because his father was abusive. Peter told me about a specific incident in which his father pushed him down the basement stairs.
Because of a recent spiritual awakening, Peter decided to forgive his dad, but the man rejected a face-to-face reconciliation with his son. Of course, this has hurt Peter deeply, and it hurts me to see him go through it.
I had always thought that married couples should share the same last name. But I feel uncomfortable taking Peter's name, knowing that it was given to him by a man who abused him and no longer wants him as a son.
A logical solution would be for us to take his maternal grandfather's last name because he and Peter are extremely close. However, I could never ask Peter to give up his last name. Should I alone take his grandfather's name? I realize this problem may not seem important, but it carries a lot of weight with me. -- NO-NAME JANE IN GAINESVILLE, FLA.

DEAR JANE: While you could never "ask" Peter to give up his last name, you should certainly talk to him about your feelings. If he has no objection, you could use his maternal grandfather's name. You could also, as many women do today, continue to use your maiden name.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips.

horoscopes

http://horoscopes.astrology.com/index/dailyindex.html
ARIES
March 21-April 19
That sticky situation at home or at work might get pretty frustrating today. Try not to let it get to you too much, because if you do, it gets that much more difficult to deal with tomorrow or the next day.
TAURUS
April 20-May 20
You get a great reminder of how lucky you are, socially speaking, when someone really comes through for you. It may be help with a problem you didn't know you had, or it may be a surprise gift.
GEMINI
May 21-June 21
You long for a big change in your life -- one that seems to be a long time coming. It's a good time to try way-out ideas and see what happens, because your dreams can come true if you push.
CANCER
June 22-July 22
It's a great day for brainstorming and letting your mind wander -- you never know what you might come up with. See if you can find a like mind or two so you can work together on mutually interesting issues.
LEO
July 23-August 22
It's a good idea to take a giant step back and figure out what's really going on with that new client or potential mate -- you may be making a few assumptions that won't hold up under a harsher light.
VIRGO
August 23-September 22
Unless someone close is about to put their life at risk, try not to criticize their choices today. It's just too hard to couch it in language that is respectful enough to effectively sway them.
LIBRA
September 23-October 22
It's a good time for you to step back and clear your plate -- even if that means leaving some things undone. You haven't got quite as much time as you think you do, so make sure you prioritize!
SCORPIO
October 23 - November 21
Imaginative power comes naturally to you and on days like today, you find it easier than ever to dream up new plans and solutions. Don't worry about how crazy they may seem at this stage.
SAGITTARIUS
November 22-December 21
It's another slow day, but at least you can get going! It may be hard to tackle projects that involve more than one stage or too many details, so try your best to just focus on what's in front of you.
CAPRICORN
December 22-January 19
You may not fancy yourself a writer, but on days like today, your written words are more powerful than anyone else's. Email, texting, IM and old-fashioned letters are all potent tools at your disposal.
AQUARIUS
January 20-February 18
Spending is a powerful force, but it can't solve all the problems you face. Today you need to choose between incurring greater debt and forgoing some amenity that you really want -- but things should settle down soon.
PISCES
February 19-March 20
Your assistance is crucial to making a difference in someone's life and timing is everything. You should see what's needed and be able to take care of it without interfering much in their plans.

Canadian Geography 120 in a Distance Education Setting

I really enjoyed the Distance Education course that I took this semester. I feel that the semester work plan guide did meet my needs in that I rarely felt rushed to get my assignments completed. I felt that the work load was fairly average, and wasn’t too much for me to do. The information that I was given on the website for my assignments was clear and concise. I was able to follow along easily. There were a few resources available for my course, but more would make it easier to find what you are looking for.
Students should be told in detail about the Distance Education courses, and what will be expected of you. They should be told completely that it is on your own and there isn’t someone reminding them that their assignment is due. I had no problems whatsoever with navigating the course or finding out where anything was. The site was designed well, and everything seems to be at your fingertips with regards to finding what you need. The roles of the teacher and facilitator seem odd to me. The teacher mainly just sits in the class and keeps order, as they may not have taught the subjects that are in that class. Plus there is a teacher in a different place that can help you out if you need it. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the teacher in the classroom know the subjects of the students in their room? For example, it would be more beneficial to me to have a canadian geography teacher in my class, so then I could just go up and ask my question and get an immediate response. With a facilitator, sometimes you have to wait a day or so to get an answer about the question that you have. I do not think that a weekly tutorial for all students would be beneficial, because different students work at their own pace, so having a tutorial for everyone would mess up the process of the students who learn at different paces. The email accounts could be better utilized because they could be a place where the facilitators could send a quick word of praise to the students who did good on an assignment, etc. I don't think deadlines should be placed on the units because then it seems like so much more work to do, whereas when you have one assignment that's due in a week, it doesn't seem like that much work that needs to be done. I do believe that more pictures, diagrams and graphics would add a lot to the course, instead of just a lot of text. As for the assignments, my only complaint is the amount of graphs and diagrams that needed to be labelled and made. They are the most time-consuming of anything.
The regular evaluation of student progress could be improved by more communication between the facilitators and the students. There could be a place where you could keep a journal showing your progress within the course. If you make the journal worth some marks I'm sure that the students would be more than willing to participate. I think students should be tested whenever the test is scheduled. By giving a student a date, it is their responsibility to be ready by this time. I think the tests should be done online, as it is an online course. Students should become familiar with the computers, and should be able to navigate on them efficiently enough to be able to write a test online. I think the evaluation should be formatted in a way that allows the students to show what they have learned and to show that their online course was beneficial to them in some way. I think that regular assignments should be worth 80%, work ethic, regular testing, special projects, and the final examination should be worth 5% each. The assignments are the main topic in this course, as it is where you learn all the information, so it should have the biggest weight.
I liked being able to work at my own pace and teach myself about the topics, rather than being taught to. That made the course interesting and fun for me. However, I did not really like all of the maps and graphs and diagrams that I needed to do. They took a lot of time, which could have been put towards something else. I would take another distance course, but since I am graduating, I can't. I did enjoy it because it was a nice break from the normal, everyday class room setting.

Journal #12

(Media Studies)

This week I would like to talk about our advertising project that we are working on. My group is doing subliminal messaging and product placement. I find that researching subliminal messages is very interesting, because you see the messages in a different way if your purpose is to dissect them. There are a lot of subliminal messages out there that we don't really think about because we just see them as an ad, not as having a hidden message in them. We can be easily influenced by advertisements because we do not take the time to really look at them and see what the meaning is. The advertisements can have a whole different meaning, but if you do not take the time to look at it, you will not notice it. When we looked at the ads in class, we saw something totally different when we really looked at them. Some people might think that the ads were sexy and appropriate, but if you take the time to look you can see that women are portrayed totally differently in ads. I think that this advertising project will be very informative and will make people look at advertisements in a whole new light.

Journal #11

(Media Studies)

This week I would like to talk about how advertising affects us. Advertising affects us in basically everything we do. We are constantly influenced about what we see in ads, which can be seen or heard on the radio, television, magazines and newspapers. If we see an ad with something that we are familiar with, we will probably stop to watch it, just because we like the product or have seen it before. There are also commercials that people will watch over and over again, simply because they like the commercial, not necessarily the product. Advertising affects us because we may see an ad about a product, and then buy it because we like how the product was portrayed in the ad. Personally, I will watch commercials that I like, and sometimes will get an idea for something else based on some of the ads I see in magazines, etc. Very rarely will I go and buy a product that I see on a commercial or in an ad, unless I have thought about buying it before. Overall, we are still influenced and affected by every type of advertising.