Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre

Hey,
I did some more west coast hippy beach combing, no weed, but booze aplenty, and high school girls! yeehaw! It was a more or less all expenses paid vacation (through school) to Bamfield to visit the intertidal and see the great blue ocean. Good Christian fun. Sarah is chatting away with Dave, so I'm attaching some pictures for your viewing pleasure:



This is the view from the Centre. Yes, that's right, I woke up to this for a few days. This is the head of an inlet that goes back some ways into the island. There are lots of houses right on the water in there. Plenty of hippies and scientists, the people are all windswept and enjoy their little private area.










This is a stump... I like stumps. They're totally cool. This one is at the end of the inlet by a muddy beach. If I could I'd bring it home and set it in my living room. Sarah would love that.













If there is anything I like more than stumps, it's bashed up ships. These were not far from the aforementioned stump, so as you can rightly imagine, I was thrilled with this spot. Stumps and bashed up ships oh my!
















Let also not forget I'm a big marine biology nerd, and I happilly stick my head above tide pools for extended periods of time. This is a giant green anemone with a little purple one off to the left there. One of the guys dropped a dead fish into one of these, and it ate the little fucker right up. Rad! (they use that word out here a lot).










Shit hawks! apparently there are more than one species, either way, they flocked us when we did a bottom trawl, lots of shrimpies for them to eat. I should've tried one myself. Either way, I like this picture.











This is a sea star (no shit). Lots of these little buggers, we saw one later that was like 30-40 cm across. They're known to eat children. True story.













This is one of the beaches we sampled. Three weeks ago all the rocks were covered with sand. A storm came through and ripped it all out. For the zoology nerds (that's you Kat), there were a good number of organisms that had already colonized the area, mostly small mussels, but also limpets and other gastropods. I even found some anemones (Sarah and I call these assholes, because that's what they look like when they're closed. I'll send a picture sometime).






Another view of the same beach. Truly freaking cool. We had the whole place to ourselves. I even saw a sea lion swimming by as we were leaving. Oh yeah, and in Bamfield Inlet you (almost) get bored of seeing harbour seals swimming by.













Kelp! Kelp! Macrocystis integrifolia. I got a free poster with some of the west coast seaweeds. How cool is that? Oh yeah, there is more seaweed biodiversity here than in the tropics. That's totally wild.
You can eat this. I tried some fresh out of the water, it wasn't bad. It was even spiced with some copepods. We cooked some up later with garlic and olive oil. It tasted like egg plant. Some people tried oysters, I wanted to (I like them and lets face it: I can use some zinc!). There were some big assed ones, 20cm across. My prof calls them Crassostrea bigass, which is an amusing pun on Crassostrea gigas. Get it?




That's my story. I'm done here.

Remi

Hello... Is there anybody out there?

HELLO! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?

I feel so out of it out here, like everyone in Ontario has vanished into thin air or something! Where the hell are you guys and what's happening?

Remi's on a field trip in Bamfield this week - it's a research station on the western side of Vancouver Island. He says it's amazing for sea life so far and that he's taken over 70 pictures on the camera. He just arrived today! I'm so jealous of him and his school and field trips, etc. I really miss being a student (I'm sure Dave and Sue don't feel me on this one...).

Anyway, post soon guys!

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

Ahh, man... At about 3 PM this afternoon 6 police vehicles pulled up on my street - 3 blocked our end of the street, one blocked the other and two parked just past our hedge on our front lawn. It wasn't for us, or our crack head neighbours upstairs, but for the crackhead neighbours next door. Apparently their son (mid-twenties) was waving a hand gun around and ran for cover in the house directly next door to ours. These neighbours are generally loud and degenerate-like, so we're not surprised, but usually they only have two cop cars at their house, not SIX!

Anyway, here are some shots.
This is out our kitchen window.

























This is out our front window.
















Again, out the kitchen window. I was about to head to the mall when our street was blocked off.















We know the cop talking to the guy! He's the husband of a pharmacist I used to work with. The man in the black leather jacket just went to court on Friday to try to get these crackheads evicted, but lost the case. Maybe he can win now!

Maybe Maine?

Well, I've officially entered myself into the real world. Yesterday, I sent in an application for a summer job in Maine. It's with an Audubon Society group called Project Puffin as an "education assistant." Basically, it means I'd be the onboard naturalist for public boat tours of the small coastal islands where the birds breed. I'd also get to take part in a bit of the research process. I'm really excited about the idea of it, plus it sounds like a pretty sweet deal: they provide room and board, a weekly stipend, worker's comp, plus milage reimbursement while I'm there. They stressed the fact that whoever gets the job can't be prone to seasickness, which I never have been, but I've only had a few opportunities to test that. But other than that, I think it's perfect for me. It's scheduled for June-Aug this year, so it may not be the best choice as far as making a living is concerned, but it certainly will look good on my resume and allow me the opportunity to experience a new place. Plus, it's close to Canada, though not as close to southern Ontario as I would like. But, here's hoping.

I'm done with my fire class. Sort of. I did all the things I needed to, except for the pack test - the one that involves walking 3 miles with 45 pounds on your back in 45 minutes or less. I tried it, but came in at 46 and some change. Talk about disappointment. But at the time, I was more than happy to be done, no matter how long it took me. I'm telling you, it was worse than anything we did in TKD, even running laps. Although the soreness the next day wasn't as bad as that from TKD. Anyway, I'm planning on trying again later. I figure I've already done all I need to for my certification, why not just get it. Even if I don't plan on fighting fires.

That's the other thing. On the first day of class, it hit me that after this training, I would be a firefighter. A real, daggum firefighter (of wildland fires, that is). I don't know why I hadn't thought of it that way before, but I didn't. I went into it thinking I was just going to learn how people fight fires, not that I was going to be one of those people. I think it hit me when they showed us the video of how to try and save yourself if you can't outrun the fire. That was an eyeopener, to say the least. So, anyway, I enjoyed the class and got to know the folks at the refuge better, so overall it was a good experience, even if I never use it.

So, it's almost time for me to be in Guelph. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! I haven't had any more heart attack-inducing events regarding graduation (knock, knock), so that's good. Here's how the itinerary looks: arrive in the G-spot Mon night, kick around Tues/Wed, graduate Thurs morning and stay there again that night, head to Ottawa Fri and kick around there Sat, leave Sun for St. Cat's, kick around there Mon and head stateside that evening, and after that maybe Cleveland, maybe Pennsylvania, we don't really have it figured out after that. But that should help you out. Dave-I will plan on calling your cell on Wed. Amanda and Sue- I'll get ahold of you within the next few days. And I'll see you three in the next week.

Speaking of Canada, several article about the Great White North have appeared in the Louisville paper recently, such as this one:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060210/FEATURES02/602100308&SearchID=73235859136209

I have to say that it's the one "chocolate bar" that I have smuggled into the states. I just thought I'd share.

Well, that's about all for now. Back to watching the Olympics.

June, it might just be...

So I talked to my boss today about getting some time off to come HOME and he said June was good for them because they have a pharmacy student who's going to be there over the summer. I'm not sure when, but I'll keep you posted ;) We have to DO something TOGETHER (Kat, you MUST try to fanagle your way up to Canaaaaaaada for a few days).

:)

If I was a vegetable...

Something I said at dinner tonight that made me think of stoned nights with you guys: "If I was a vegetable I'd be brocoli. I mean, look at this afro!"

Oh boy ;) Anyway, nothing is new and exciting in the life of Sarah, but I thought I'd post anyway. Happy Valentine's Day by the way! Remi actually bought me my first diamond-from-a-boyfriend for VD ;) It's a nice stone pendent on a gold chain ;) Very classy, I think. I'm wearing it right now and probably for the next week and a half 'cause I'm so thrilled! Boyfriends are great.

In other news, Remi and I drove out to the west coast of Vancouver Island on Sunday. It was AMAZING. Saw some snow on the mountains on the way over (like a whole foot's worth!! That's crazy for out here!) and then some major rolling waves. Remi and I dipped our feet into the 'real' Pacific (as Remi likes to call it since we're not really on the 'real' Pacific here in Nanaimo, I guess!). So here are a few pics of the day. I hope everyone's well :)

This tree is really frickin' big.















This was really cold.
















These waves were frickin' huge.

Happy Valentine's Day

........I need a girlfriend :D

It's crazy Maggagie!

Look at those frickin' eyes!

A tale . . .

So I was out one day just minding my own business, and suddenly I just fell off the face of the earth. About a month and a half later I was found clinging to its chin, a little dehydrated and stiff but no worse for wear. So here’s what I was up to on my little trip down . . .

I probably mentioned this before, but I’m working right now for Public Works, the wonderful, painfully slow, scandal-ridden department of the federal government. It’s been pretty slow my first almost five weeks, but at least they’re paying well! The first week my boss was away, the second week our office moved floors and weeks three and four my boss was away (again) this time for two weeks in the Dominican (nice). So all of that combined with the election campaign, where the Minister couldn’t sign off on reports, projects, etc. meant not much was done. But things should start picking up soon. I hope.

So my mission to not sit around on my ass all winter is going along better than I had anticipated. I just recently joined the Carleton Place Heritage Committee (formerly LACAC). I went to a town hall meeting the other Monday cuz the committee was giving an info session on the conservation district they’re proposing for our main street and it was quite clear to me that they were in need of some serious help, so I volunteered to join the committee and help get moving on this plan. Soon those meetings will be every Monday. On Wednesday nights, Lindsey and I go to Pilates. It’s been a couple years since I was seriously into it, and wow how I’ve lost my ab muscles! Ouch! And on Thursday nights I’m going to be taking a French class at a local learning centre. The class was supposed to start about three weeks ago but has been postponed to increase the class size. If it’s not a go, I’ll just buy the book we were going to use in class and try to teach myself. I know I know some stuff, it’s just hiding in the bottom drawer of my brain, and quickly gathering dust.

So that leaves me with my weekends, which usually consist of sleeping in, maybe some Pilates, drinking and getting stoned – which also happens some weeknights which the body isn’t liking too much at 5:30 the next morning L There’s also a little friend on the side who I see now and then so that keeps me in good shape too J Oh my . . .

Other than that things are pretty quiet in little ol’ CP. I don’t get to see Lindsey as often as I would like but I’ve become closer with a friend I made in the summer (the one with the weed) so that’s been fun just hanging out . . .

. . . So here in concludes my tale. A sad and quick little ending I know, but I’ve never been one for good conclusions.

I really feel your pain Kat about your LoP issues and graduating. I’m so happy it worked out in the end. I would have been freaking out if that had been me. I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen to me. Right now I’ve got one class left to take in order to graduate and co-op says I have to end on an academic term. So it had been suggested to me that I could take the one course I’m missing distance ed at another university this summer. That way I get my course and I end on an academic. So after much waiting (for schools to confirm their summer courses) and much searching I finally found an equivalent course offered at Ryerson distance ed this summer. So I email Jane, my prof and pseudo-advisor and she tells me she doesn’t think this will be approved by co-op cuz it doesn’t technically count as ending on an academic term. But she’s the one who told me to do this in the first place! Arghh! Anyways, after much emailing back and forth between Jane, Janet in co-op, the commerce counseling office, etc it looks like Jane will accept this course as a substitute for the one at Guelph, and “due to my unusual situation” the co-op department supposes they can approve this as well. So my Request for Letter of Permission is in and my fingers are crossed. Otherwise, I will have to wait until next January in order to take the one course I need, and that would be a bummer. Not that I would really mind going back to Guelph cuz I loved it there, and Dave, Jonas and Brock would be there, but it’s nice to get things over with. I was hoping that I could get this course in the summer than start at Carleton for a Masters in the fall, but by the time I could find this course, the deadline has already past for Carleton, so we’ll have to wait and see on that one. One step at a time.

If anyone’s been following AD, the “season” finale is on this Friday night for two hours – make sure you tape it, it could be the last one. L Cue tears L

I really wish I could be at the graduation. It would be so surreal to see you up graduating Kat – did we not all just meet? Who am I? Where am I? How’d I get here?? So weird. I was just at a friend’s farewell party last Saturday. She’s ending off to New Zealand for her masters and I’ve known her for forever. And it was held at a friend’s house who lives with her bf and probably soon engaged; Linds lives with her bf and probably even sooner will be engaged; another friend just had a kid. A couple others are getting married . . . The list goes on and I’m freaking out!

But I digress. I’m having fun right now, they are all happy so I’m happy for all of them.
So Kat, good luck at graduation, and try not to puke – but have a rye and coke for me please!! Good luck with the cross-overs Dave and don’t let Big Red intimidate you – maybe she’s a closet AD freak! Amanda, I hope things are well with you and Nick in St. Cath’s and the kitties are keeping you entertained. I saw one outside my window this aft and ran outside to see it, but I think I scared it away. Poo. And Remi and Sarah I hope you guys are loving your BC weather. It’s not cold enough here and I think I brought Guelph’s grey skies with me. Say hi to Maggie for me and hug one of those big trees for me – I’ve always wanted to do that.

I’m off to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy I taped from Monday. I just couldn’t stay awake long enough to watch it. I’m going to make sure to post more often so I don’t end up writing another long essay and cramping my fingers up.

Au revoir!
Sue

I'm not a graduate, I'm a firefighter

See, I hate when I don't check the blog for a while, and I miss out on all the weirdo crap that is brought up, but what is good is that I actually have something to talk about when I update. And I certainly have stuff to tell today. This is Part 3 in my saga of pre-graduation woes.

So, a week ago Friday, I'm kicking around online, and I figure I'll check my uog account, clear out the mucho spam. As I'm clicking the boxes to delete, I come across one from the university, so I open it. It reads, "I regret to inform you that your graduation application for Winter 2006 convocation has been denied.The reason for the denial is that the Letter of Permission grade(s) were not submitted by Friday, January 20, 2006, which was the deadline date for clearance to graduate." My face turns into a scowl, I can hear the blood rushing in my ears, and my stomach drops.

I inform my mom of the email and she insists I try calling, even though it's already 4:30 that afternoon. Luckily, she was right, and the grad clerk was still there and she told me that they never received my transcripts from IUS. I am dumbfounded and tell her that surely that is not possible, since I ordered them on Dec. 14. She confirms with the system that they are not on file, but understands the problem and transfers me to Dr. Larson, my advisor. Dr. Larson is very understanding and also perplexed as to why they haven't been received yet and says that the best option is to have IUS fax up a copy of my transcript. She says she just needs to see my grades, then she can put me on the graduating list. Slightly calmer, I call IUS.

Luckily, they are still in their office, too. I relate the situation to the lady in charge of transcripts and ask her if she can fax it to Guelph. Her response is, "We don't fax transcripts." In my mind I'm cursing her, the school and the world, but I listen as she explains that there is a watermark on the transcript that obliterates the info when it goes through a fax. I ask her if, by any chance we could try anyway, or maybe she can email it. "No, we don't email transcripts, either. It's not a formal copy." I f-ing know that, but all they need is the grades, they can get the official copy later, so I tell her that... er, most of that. She decides to take down the fax number, but doesn't say if she will use it. I also find out that my initial order of transcripts was sent out Dec 22, so it's not like they didn't fulfill the request. I ask if there is any way they can tell if Guelph received them, and she answers in a condescending tone that they are sent regular mail, so they have no way of knowing. They only way they can be sent by courier is to pick them up myself and take it to a FedEx store, etc. (As I discuss this fact later with my mom, I can't understand how something that many lives depend on, whether it's graduating or getting a job, could be treated so non-chalantly.) So, I am told to call Guelph again and see if we can figure something else out or that maybe they were sent to the wrong address. Before we hang up, she asks me to call her back after I talk to Guelph, leaving a voicemail if necessary.

By that time, it is just after 5pm on a Friday, so I would be hard pressed to get anyone, but I do get in contact with Dr. Larson's secretary, who normally I hate to interact with because she is the most cold and curt secretary I've dealt with. But, she says that Dr. Larson has left for the weekend and asks if I want to leave a message. So, I inform her of the situation and she offers that if I can persuade IUS to try the fax, then do it, since it's worth a shot. Otherwise, my best bet is to have a copy of my transcripts couriered up. I tell her that if I do that, it may not get there until Tues, at the earliest. She says that should be okay, since it's better than nothing.

After I hung up with her, my nerves were shot and my tear ducts opened. I was actually impressed that I had, for the most part, held my composure that long, seeing as how I had cried within minutes at my last two academic complications, which helped, but left me embarassed. So, after a half hour of crying and discussing, I have a course of action planned. My dad said that the solution to the watermark problem is to photocopy the transcript since the watermark won't transfer, then fax the photocopy. To back that up, we plan on going to IUS on Monday to pick up a copy of the transcript to courier up. With that figured out, I call the IUS lady and leave a voicemail stating the plan and suggesting that they try the photocopying idea. I am left with nothing to do but wait.

The weekend goes by, fairly easily since I went to visit a friend in Dayton, Ohio, and I find myself in the shower Monday morning when the phone rings. I hear my mom outside the door say, "She's in the shower... okay... ... oh, GREAT, she'll be so happy to hear that!... good... thank you so much... bye-bye." Turns out it was Dr. Larson's secretary saying that they received a fax from IUS with my grades and that they got what they needed and I'm clear to graduate. She said it isn't necessary to courier them up, but I want to make sure they had an official copy, so we went ahead and did it. Is the story over now? Not quite.

Part 4: I received my congratulatory letter from Guelph Saturday, with all the details of when and where to meet. It said the ceremony is on the 23rd, not the 22nd. My parents and I were hoping it was a typo, because my address was also listed as IA (for Iowa), not IN. That would screw up things with our reservations and my brother and family coming up. Another phone call to the grad clerk confirmed Thurs the 23rd as the actual date. She said that I should have received an email back in Nov. informing me of the change, but I don't remember such, nor do I have one in my inbox. So, we are now trying to figure out if my brother will be able to stay another day and what to do with the reservations.

So, am I happy to be graduating? Hell, yes! But, I'm walking on eggshells until I have my degree in hand, just waiting for another snafu to rear it's ugly head.

In regards to visiting the Trash on Wed night, I will not be able to get plastered since I will have to make sure that I am well enough to shake the chancellor's hand without puking on his shoes. Plus I have to be at War Mem by 9am. But that does not mean I won't be out at 2am dancing to "Rasputin" with some of you guys, I just won't be as drunk as previously thought. BTW, what's the plan? I'm staying at a b&b with the fam. You'll be in town, Dave? And you are planning on coming up, Amanda? Are you staying with Dave? Do you think you guys will be available earlier in the evening, so that you can meet my nephew, et al.? Just curious of the details. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to this. Well, maybe you do, but still.

Anyway, I want to write more, but I already wrote a lot, so I'll save it for a later date. Much love.

I'm bored

http://www.damnfunnypictures.com/html/dfp-Wigger-Overdosage.html

I found this online... The captions cracked me up.

In other news, the weather out here is gorgeous... No snow. AHAHAHAHAAHAH

Remi

P.S. I miss snow.

Not back afterall...

So my TKD dream lasted less than a week. I went to two classes last week, loved it, but realized we couldn't afford it right now. The club I went to requires you to buy ALL the equipment, everything from chest protector, crotch guard, and head gear, etc. And so we decided it was a no-go. Instead, I went to join a gym today. I can do aerobics/yoga/aquafit/etc. a few nights a week and maybe swim on the weekends. The gym has a pool and all the classes and both are included in the monthly rate. So anyway, yay! for getting in shape.

Other than that, nothing's new. I have a headache today *ick* and I'm trying to write a paper on how understanding systems of oppression (i.e. sexism, classism, racism, heterosexism, etc.) is key to understanding gender issues. The topic may be what's giving me the headache.

In other news, I saw "Brokeback Mountain" on Friday night. For those of you who don't know, that's the controversial "gay cowboy" flick that's out now with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. It was especially fantastic in itself, but the two actors were AMAZING. I really believed that they were in love/lust. And it was tastefully done. Enough to shake up the conservatives out there, but not too much.

Anyway, it's a renter for all the womens anyway. Not really your speed, Dave ;)

H'ok. I'm off. Enough procrastinating! Back to writing...

Dark Side of Oz continued

I've ordered a copy of the movie on DVD over Ebay so I can just make a copy of the film and mail it out to whoever wants one. So let me know who wants a copy!

Dave

The Dark Side of Oz

I experienced the coolest and eeriest thing last night at The Bookshelf: Dark Side of the Moon synched up with The Wizard of Oz. For those who don't know, when played from track one a few seconds into the movie credits, DSOTM syncs with Oz. Some examples: when Dorothy is balancing on the fence the lyrics read 'balanced on a wave' (or something like that), then the music immediately speeds up when she falls off the fence; during Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Dorothy looks at the sky from left to right and the music switches between speakers, following her perfectly; when the Lion has a shit-fit and then continues to walk on the Yellow Brick Road with the Tin Man, et al, the lyrics read, 'the lunatic is on the path'. That's only the beginning. There are dozens of things...the dancing and footsteps match up with the drum beat, etc. The album has to be looped two-and-a-quarter times and the movie ends when the music goes silent through the second or third track during the third playing. Another theory says to play DSOTM followed by Wish You Were Here (Floyd's next album) and then the two make up the entire movie. Creepy, eh? I was pretty wrecked while watching the movie so everything was obvioulsy much funnier, but when the movie first started this guy behind us yelled 'I'M ON DRUGS!!' and everyone cracked up. There was also a very long line for snacks right before the movie started, so I doubt I was the only one!

Link to a good Dark Side of Oz site:
http://members.cox.net/stegokitty/dsotr_pages/dsotr.htm

I went to Aggie Pub after the movie to meet up with my housemates because I promised them I'd go at least once. It was sort of tollerable, although I really didn't want to be there. There was a decent mix of country and, well, good music and the combination of drinks and highness made the night better. I know I had a conversation about tennis with a girl because she everheard me talking about tennis balls. The conversation lasted about three minutes then I had nothing else to say so we went our own ways. Smooth, Dave.

This weekend was supposed to be a really fun 'getting to know more Jews' weekend, but I've caught a bug that all of my housemates had and I had to cancel. I even had my sister bring up my suit from Toronto to wear to Shul, and now I just have a suit and no purpose to wear it until College Royal. By the way, ironing a dress shit is really difficult! I kept making more creases! Can't someone create a shirt that doesn't wrinkle?

That's about all the energy I have for now.

Dave