Editorial

by Gary

The April newsletter is a bit late to get put on-line, as we had a few changes and delays. Brad was also away for a while (in Hawaii! And he didn’t bring us along!), so I am the interim or acting editor (i.e. acting as editor while the real editor is temporarily away). As such, my subsequently growing fan club can contact me in the computer room, where I work most of the day and spend part of the night (see Till’s article on “Modern Poker”).

This is another big time of hellos and goodbyes. Many new AY and ILS students are coming, but many are also leaving, including several of those who were heavily involved in the last few newsletters. This means our newsletter team is shrinking, so we need new talent! The handful of talented and eager people in the group each have a larger workload in order to try to keep the newsletter to a similar size. I highly recommend the newsletter SPIN, as it is a great forum for creative work and publication, as well as a great opportunity for hands-on experience with layout and publication, as well as with using certain computer programs and functions. Even for me, the EF IT guy, I have learned a lot from taking the students’ work and putting it on the web. My many and public thanks to Yong and Paz, especially, as well as to Dyonne, for the great help they’ve given me in website construction, a new experience for me.

For those who complain about the rainy winters of Vancouver (to whom I simply respond, “Be glad you’re not in Winnipeg, Edmonton, or Montréal, lands of extreme sub-zero temperatures!”), you can soon expect a gradual return to the kind of Vancouver weather shown in typical tourist brochures and promotions: mostly sunny (only occasional rain), warm (not hot) and long days (the sun can ascend around 5:00 and descend around 9:00 in July/August!). THAT is what we’re looking forward to. People will be playing volleyball on the beaches in a month or so, although I wouldn’t be in a hurry to jump in the water before June.

Oh, and in late May, we’ll have our spring party cruise to celebrate the graduation of the AYs! It’ll be great! The boat has a hot tub, so bring your bathing suit and a towel, unless you want to go skinny dipping (not a great idea when there are 100 students with cameras on board!

So, Brad, I hope you’ll find your SPIN in ship-shape upon your return, with your tan and all! Then I’ll say goodbye as ex-interim editor of EF Insider!