Back to School

Today was the first day back to school for most kids. Are you like me? I still get the urge to go out and buy new stationery supplies this time of year. I guess because we spent so many of our formative years doing just that at this time of year - new school supplies, shoes, clothes, perhaps a haircut - that it now seems like second nature, even though it has been several years since I finished school.

I went to Staples a couple of weeks ago and had a look around at what they had on offer (I love the ad they used to have, with the Xmas music playing, "it's the most wonderful time of the year..." and the parents skipping around the store with a shopping cart and the kids trailing unenthusiastically behind). They had some really great deals on various items, as if they had set the prices at what they used to cost many years ago. For example, they had packages of 3 hole punched ruled paper on sale for just 24 cents a package! Of course, at that price, I just had to get some. And a new binder and a pencil case and a few other things...here's a picture of Max checking out what I got.

Of course, they also had a lot of really neat stuff that just wasn't available when I was a kid in school - like magnetic shelves and mirrors and other things to stick in your locker to make it more functional and most dramatically, like a laptop computer to take notes on during class, rather than writing things down on paper (doesn't the sound of dozens of students clicking the keys as they type drive the teacher crazy???). In the U.S., if you are a college student or faculty member, you could buy a Mac computer and get a free iPod Touch from Apple. Now that's a cool idea. (Sadly, the offer ends today and it's good south of the border only.

I heard on the news today that a lot of adults who are out of work as a result of the current recession are using their time off productively by going back to college or university. Imagine if you had it to do all over again, what course would you take? Would you want to be the second time around???