Category: Earthquake

ON VACATION! Back on AUGUST 30!!

I AM NOW ON VACATION!

What an exhausting and long year since last August – my last full vacation!

And exhausting … for ALL OF  US! I am so fortunate to have been able to  work with such amazing and incredible colleagues at The Computer Help Desk over the past … 500+ DAYS! Yes, it has been that long since we started working remotely, late in March of 2020!

Without ALL of their support, humour, leadership, imagination, guidance  and every single possible ‘intangible‘ that each and every single one of them, ALL BRING to our Teams meetings, emails, texts, GIFs, Emojis, Jeopardy, Quote Contests, it would have been impossible to accomplish a fraction of what WE ALL DID AS A TEAM!

THANK YOU ALL!

A few key UVic and BC websites for returning to campus in September for everyone!

  1. Return-to-Campus Guidelines now available
  2. Return to campus info for students
  3. Communicable Disease Plan now available
  4. UVic News
  5. Update on getting your COVID-19 vaccine
  6. Remote work arrangements announced for the fall
  7. Working remotely
  8. Post-secondary studies during COVID-19
  9. NEW COMPUTERS IN CALL! YAY!
  10. NEW FURNITURE IN CALL! YAY!

Not to worry . . .

August 30th to prep for
. . . Septem . . . PURR !!!!

 

Pandemic


I will bring Empire Donuts when I return to UVic!

~~Bogman~~

 

Stress Relief or How I Learned to Love Writing Exams …. Mostly ….

Stress Relief . . . 
. . . or . . .
How I Learned How to Love Writing Exams
. . . mostly . . .

Been there. Done that. What could go wrong?

Well, sometimes nothing, sometimes everything and sometimes … a bit of both.

I have written my fair share of exams. I can barely remember a handful of ACTUALLY writing them, and few still of how I did. But, I could find my U of Calgary transcripts … or maybe my B.Ed. degree … to prove I survived.

There are no hard and fast strategies that always work to reduce exam stress. You really have to find what works for you. And no guarantee it works every single time.

For me, simple meditation works. At least, it works now …. but not always.  That is why they call it a ‘practice’ of meditation.

Unfortunately, I did not have that as a strategy when I was an undergrad. One of those…. “if I only knew then, what I know now“!

Back then, I relied on the oldest strategy known  to every student in the world – blind luck! I simply HAD to wear my lucky Edmonton Oilers jersey AND I had to bring the ball from my most recent raquetball game … that I won! Simple! 

Multiple-choice, short answer, math/stats type exams were fairly straight forward for me. The most imaginative study trick came from a Stats Instructor. We could bring in a 4×6 recipe card with ANYTHING WE WANTED ON IT! What a great idea! Forced us to study what we were uncertain of, by writing it down and bringing it with us to the test. And I barely referenced it …  because I had studied what I was unsure of! And I got an A in the course! WOOT!

I did hate open book exams. They were simply THE hardest to write because you would THINK they would be easy …  but you wasted time looking up answers that you SHOULD have known. Oh well, not too many like that.

But the worst exams for me were LONG ANSWER  or ESSAY EXAMS! Dates, people, documents, history, facts …. SO many blank pages, so little grey  matter!

I basically would get the answer booklet, then turn to the last page and purge every fact, date, document reference, etc. IMMEDIATELY. I did not even LOOK  at the questions. Then, I would look at the first question and .. I had just written my own cheat sheet! Other info would pop into my head and I was able to complete these horrific long answer/essay exams.

And I have been on the ‘Other Side’ of exams … crafting them so that the exam would truly reflect the knowledge base of each student. The last thing you want is to have an exam where either achievement is random or that it does not discriminate between students who DO KNOW the material and those who do not. 

And although it is not available right now, Walking the Labyrinth by Candlelight at the  UVic Multifaith Centre has been incredibly beneficial to me. Once, I was the ONLY PERSON IN THE ENTIRE CHAPEL WALKING THE LABYRINTH! Best meditation experience I have ever had! I came out to a pitch black night, stars twinkling brighter than ever and totally refreshed!

Bottom line is there will  be something that can help you study, minimize anxiety and improve your test scores. Maybe not all the time, but most of the time, hopefully. 

The links below are ALL UVic sites! Well, the very last one, #10, is the only non-UVic site I listed. To be fair, there are hundreds of sites out there, and IUVic thought I would concentrate on the UVic sites I could find and … just one more. And a nice little pause at #9 … to just take a moment and relax ‘MIDST my links!

Everyone stay safe and healthy, whether working at UVic or at home. 

  1. Meditation at UVic – Multifaith Centre  (Works for me!)
  2. Walking the Labyrinth (Unfortunately, not available, but …. AMAZING!)
  3. Zoom On-line Morning Meditation with Henri
  4. How to Beat Exam Stress – OAC My UVic Life (Shameless OAC Placement!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
  5. Tips for Exam Season (UVic … and advice still timely and relevant!)
  6. Coping with Exams and Exam Anxiety (UVic!)
  7. Anxiety and stress (UVic! Sensing a trend…..)
  8. UVic Student Mental Health Blog 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
  9.                         (left blank on purpose …. a stress free resource!)
  10. How to Beat Exam Stress: 25 Tips Backed by Research (The ONLY  non-UVic site!)
  11. Workplace Wellness (An OAC UVic site!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
  12. Resilience Resources (A subsite of Workplace Wellness!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥


University of  Victoria Labyrinth Multifaith Chapel

And, well, just don’t write an exam like Mr. Bean!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic

 

Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness
{Quake News}
… especially at UVic!

How timely and ironic!

This morning I was updating my OAC Favourite and Useful UVic Links Page and was adding a new section on Emergency Preparedness. AND A MAGNITUDE 3.0 EARTHQUAKE RUMBLED THROUGH OAK BAY AT 8:45 AM! REALLY! Even more details HERE!

            BOO THIS MAN! BOO!

I am pretty sure my colleagues thought I was crazy (often, a default!) but it was confirmed! So, whew, it was not ‘Fake News‘ …  it was … ‘Quake News‘! (I was actually ‘booed’ by a colleague for that joke!)

I had started the morning updating my links as BC is now under Province Wide Restrictions (as of today, November 20, 2020) which includes mandatory mask wearing in Public Places – and that means AT UVic TOO!

CHD staff are ALWAYS wearing their masks and wear gloves when cleaning or potentially touching high contact surfaces. AND especially when they are in ALL areas of UVic.

  BC Province Wide Restrictions – November 20, 2020

I just want to say THANK YOU ALL  for doing this!  I think of it as a gift to everyone around me. I wear my mask even if I am outside my closed-door office, even for just a minute!

The links below are all very important and useful, especially now and even especially today! Literally … TODAY! They are all posted at my OAC Favourite UVic Links Page too.

Everyone stay safe and healthy, whether working at UVic or at home. 

AND TOP OF THE HEAP NEWS!
By Friday, April 23rd 2021,
everyone (18+)
will be eligible to register
for a vaccine!

And specifically for AstraZeneca (40+, first dose), find a pharmacy near you:
AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD COVID-19 Vaccines In Pharmacies

As always, information changes, so you can keep up to date with the BC Covid App.

BC COVID-19 App
                                                                                                        BC COVID-19 App
  1. Emergency Planning (Take a few minutes for this site please)
  2. Emergency Procedures (And what to do … if ….)
  3. Earthquake and Tsunami (How many in the last 30 days … SEE THEM!!)
  4. An earthquake happened in Oak Bay, WHILE I WAS UPDATING THIS POST! 🔥 HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER 🔥
  5. Snow or Extreme Weather (Yes, it snows in Victoria .. LOTS!)
  6. Specific Hazards (Nitty gritty specifics of what could happen)
  7. Campus Evacuation Procedures (Where to go ….)
  8. Emergency Planning – Events & Upcoming Training (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!)
  9. UVic Alerts (Register today, right now!)
  10. Safety Committees at UVic(Join a great committee! I did!)
  11. And .. UVic Covid Information too
  12. Province-wide restriction  🔥 HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER 🔥
  13. BC Covid Dashboard (Added April 9, 2021)

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic