point D

A new era...

2011-03-12T23:23:00.002-05:00

I think, for me at least, blogging is a cyclical thing. It has been nearly four years now since my last post, so a lot of things have happened. I left Queen's, I left Kingston, I moved to Ottawa, I got engaged, I got a job. Not precisely in that order. Recently, I've had to start working on a blog for my job, which made me want to go back and read my old blog. Which made me really nostalgic. And also made me realize how fun it can be to bitch and moan sometimes! And holy crap... My first post about facebook? Classic! I realise that because it's been so long no one is still reading this, but I miss having a permanent record of my witty banter and terrible judgement. And hey, now facebook has features like Links so I can share the blog with friends! How did we survive back in 2007?!

2007-06-04T14:46:00.000-04:00

Gabriela --

[adjective]:

Banshee-like

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Well... Considering my campus email address keeps getting confused with ogre, I should be used to being associated with icky mythological creatures.

I see London, I see France, I see the blood on Bush's Underpants!

2007-04-26T10:11:00.000-04:00

So what is up with crazy celebrities lately? I saw the metaphor-off between Sean Penn and Stephen Colbert... Last week? I don't know, its exam period. I have no sense of the passing of time. But I digress... I saw the show and was struck by how silly Sean Penn is. Does he think he's funny? He's not. Does he think he's being smart? Well, he's coming across as pretty dumb. That being said, he's probably one of the smarter celebrities in the news lately. Alec Baldwin gets angry at his daughter for being spoiled and it makes the cbc evening news. You don't scream at your kids in a public place when you're a celebrity (the first thing was apparently a tape, but they caught him doing it again)! That's just common sense! People hold you to a different standard. An average person yells at their kids, people tend to dismiss it as a bad day. A celebrity? Apparently it makes international headlines. Hmm... Who else has been nuts lately? I guess its been a while since Brit had her freak out, but I still can't shake the creepy image of her with no hair. Ick :P

Things I Have Lost

2007-04-14T09:17:00.000-04:00

I seem to be losing a lot of things as of late, some more important than others. Here is a list of things I have lost in the past year or so...

My keys
My grandmother's engagement ring
My grandmother
My grandfather
My iron ring
My bands mug
My fear of spicy foods
My iPod
My phone charger
My cell phone (sometimes vibrate isn't useful)
My wallet
My coat
My sobriety (repeatedly)

Now this is not an exhaustive list, and some of these items were found or can be replaced, with two notable exceptions. I only had two grandparents to start with, and now I'm down to none. My grandparents weren't perfect, but they were good, caring people who I will miss greatly. My grandma's funeral is Tuesday in Port Credit, where she lived for the better part of her life. Yesterday we had to clear out her room at the nursing home where she's lived for the past 2 years. I cried. In fact, I'm crying a little now. My grandma was pretty much the definition of sweet old lady. She was quiet and caring, didn't like to complain when she was in pain but liked it when people around her were happy. She valued music and education and was overjoyed both when I began studying violin and when I was accepted to Queen's (my grandpa was also pretty happy about the latter). Her mother was Scottish, so she liked hearing about all the Scottish traditions at Queen's. She was happy when I took up Highland Dancing too. I'm glad I could make her proud. But I don't think I'll be able to listen to any piping for quite a while without crying.

Trifecta!

2007-04-08T20:56:00.000-04:00

I know there's such a thing as underemployed, but is there also a term "overemployed"? Well, not according to the dictionary in Mozilla. Then again, the word Mozilla isn't in that dictionary either, so I don't think its all that trustworthy. As I stated in (possibly) my last post (I'm too lazy to check) I got offered a summer job in the Chemistry Department at Queen's, I got a part time job working on local food systems, and I was seeking an AMS job. Well, now the seeking has become "found" since I got a job at the Common Ground. The CoGro, as it is affectionately called, is the student run coffee house on campus. They make tasty caffeinated beverages, fruity beverages, and a variety of foods. I love this place. They make better raspberry mochas than Starbucks does. And now I get to learn how to make them too! And get paid for it! Hooray!

I thought for sure I wouldn't get this job, but that's how I felt about the Chem job too. I guess you never can tell. Then again, the only reason I thought I wouldn't get the job was cause I was late for the interview... I got into the zone writing an essay and didn't notice what time it was till it was 5 minutes until the interview, then I had to pack up my stuff and run to another building on campus. You're supposed to show up 10 minutes early. Oops. But then I told them a funny story about going camping and running into a bear, so I guess that made up for it. I can be a very animated story teller when I want to. And it was a true story, so that makes it all the better.

Note to self: Bears not as bad as Stephen Colbert says. They can actually get you a job.

No, not a Pint... A Draft.

2007-03-27T22:29:00.000-04:00

Iain and I and three other people recently did a movie "draft." Here are the results. I think this idea needs to be followed up on... In other words, I want to do more drafts. I apparently have too much time on my hands. I wish that were actually true. My proposal: fantasy occupations. I've been thinking about jobs lately (and I've had interviews coming out the wazoo), and I think this could be interesting. I'm not talking doctor or lawyer... I'm thinking more random than that. Or maybe movie characters. After all, who wouldn't want to be Lara Croft or James Bond?

Mugs are for drinking...

2007-03-25T22:43:00.000-04:00

It is a Queen's Bands tradition that after 4 years of service, you receive a mug for your efforts. And by mug, we mean a large ceramic tankard. There is also an unwritten rule that on the night they are handed out, once the mugs are filled with alcohol, they are not allowed to be empty until the end of the night. Last night was that night.

I and 13 others received our mugs at Bands formal. Unlike last year, there is a large quantity of photographic evidence to prove I was there. Here is a list of what I was "forced" to consume...

-8 shots of vodka in the form of vodka crans
-4 glasses of champagne
-1/2 shot of something green
-1 beer
-2 glasses of red wine

I must specify that this is all I REMEMBER drinking... According to the photos I've seen thus far, there are probably a few others I don't recall. Why am I still alive? I have no idea. I think its cause they chose to feed us pasta, which I tend to believe to be the best pre-boozefest food. It seems to soak it up a bit so you take even longer to process it. But I have no data to back this up... Just my personal experience.

I would like to thank everyone in Bands for a great 4 years. I would also like to give a special thank you to Iain, Jenna, Kevin, Rachael, and Erin who all recorded stuff for my mug speech (even if Erin didn't actually make it in). You are all amazing human beings, awesome Bandsies, and great friends to boot. And an EXTRA special thank you to Rachael and Erin especially for putting together the mug speeches. You two are goddesses. Despite all the work you put into this, I still don't think you realize how much it meant to us. You have given us something that no other 4th year bandsies can say they have... A permanent memory of our mug speeches!

I have a job!

2007-03-22T16:09:00.000-04:00

Well, two to be precise. Who knew I was employable? The first job starts this weekend and goes until the end of April. I'm working for a group/program called "Food Down the Road." Its a pretty amazing idea... They want to make the agricultural system in and around Kingston more sustainable. The best way to do that is to grow products in ways that require less inputs (little or no fertilizer, pesticides, and the like) and then sell them locally. This also requires the participation of the consumers - chefs and regular people. Its important not to just tell people to buy local organic produce, but to teach them how to use it. Some of the stuff that's easily grown in Canada doesn't often make it on the menu. Things like free organic cooking workshops would be a great way to get them on. This is an issue I feel pretty passionately about, but hadn't yet found an outlet for. Now I get my outlet AND I get paid. AWESOME. I only have funding until the end of April, but, barring disaster, I plan to volunteer for them after the money runs out.

The second job is my summer job. I'm working for Dr. Stephen Brown at the Dept. of Chemistry at Queen's. He's an environmental chemistry professor (he runs my program) and I have been hired to help on his Fibre-Optic Environmental Sensors project. I'll be synthesizing polymer films and learning a lot about water quality analysis. Awesome in a different way... It lets me stick to environmental chemistry, but broaden my knowledge beyond mining. Its also still potentially applicable to mining... And I can put the work I do toward my thesis next year. I'm really excited about this job too, but I also feel a little bad about getting it cause a friend of mine really wanted it. I wanted it too, but you know how it is... I guess its a form of survivor's guilt.

Now if I can only get a part time AMS job next year too... Then I'll have the perfect employment trifecta.

Puppysitting

2007-03-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

Today I am puppy sitting. The puppy's name is Paddington, but he is neither bear-like nor British.

On an unrelated note, I am almost too hungover to move. Last night was Queen's Bands GNO/BNO. The theme was strippers and sugar daddies... Yeah, they totally gave up on being creative. That said, so did all of the frosh. They didn't dress up, they just wore normal bar clothes. Boo. And it made those of us who did dress like strippers look a bit crazy. Double boo.

However, it did prove to be very entertaining. My friend Jenna and I had some fun spotting the guys staring at us. We then had even more fun laughing at all the guys who went to talk to us, then stopped themselves before saying anything. And then had EVEN MORE fun laughing at all the guys staring incredulously at the very average looking Bands boys dancing with us. In short, it was a night full of laughs at the expense of boys at the Ale House. But boys at the Ale House are sketchy, so its okay.

That don't impress me much...

2007-02-25T15:50:00.000-05:00

I was out for breakfast today, and it occurred to me that there are a lot of foods out there that you can't eat in front of someone unless you aren't trying to impress them.

Everyone knows about spaghetti... Those dogs from Lady and the Tramp are the only example of romance and spaghetti mixing. Normally its messy, difficult to control, and impossible to eat while maintaining composure.

But bacon is also definitely on the list. You can't stick a whole slice of bacon in your mouth at one time, at least not without coming across as pretty disgusting. If the bacon is well done, its impossible to cut. And to get a whole piece of bacon on your fork and eat it bit by bit is difficult and makes you look just a little insane. Its a shame, cause bacon is so tasty.

Pretty much any kind of Asian food. Doubly so if you have limited abilities with chopsticks. Mostly the same reasons as spaghetti.

Wings! Man, those are messy. And nachos too. Actually, most things that you have to eat with your hands, including pizza and ribs. So basically, don't invite anyone you want to impress to your Super Bowl party.

Applications of Face Recognition Software Have Hit a New Low

2007-02-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right... I am 83% Beyonce Knowles. What does make me blush a little (in a good way) is my 78% similarity to Grace Kelly. And hey... The other three are pretty hot too. Now if only I could become Lois Lane or the nurse that gets the Human Torch... That would really be awesome.

Stop the insanity!

2007-02-18T20:22:00.000-05:00

Well I just saw the new Simpsons movie trailer and I have to say, I hope this is the sign that the Simpsons will stop making new episodes. While tonight's episode had funny moments, overall the Simpsons has become a rather boring show. How many ways can you have Homer make an ass of himself before you start repeating yourself? Well, not nearly as many times as there are Simpsons episodes. This is the exact opposite of the problem Futurama suffered... They were cancelled just when they were getting to their best material. The Simpsons has gone on for about 5 years after they ran out of good material. Man, I miss Futurama. Thank heavens they're bringing it back. Whether in movie form or tv form, I'm looking forward to it.

Apparently the media has selective memory

2007-02-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

Why are we so fascinated with celebrity? Yesterday, Anna Nicole Smith died. While her other exploits are typically confined to tabloid news, for some reason this was the lead story, or at least one of the top stories on virtually every news broadcast last night. And I know they say its wrong to speak ill of the dead, but the news took that to an extreme last night. Several stations completely neglected to mention her work for playboy, her crazy drug induced behaviour, her general trashiness. Instead, they decided to portray her as, at worst, a little girl lost, and at best, a really sweet person who was mistreated by virtually everyone. While I do agree that the girl had some crappy luck as of late, I think its wrong to completely change how she's portrayed by the media literally overnight. Only once did I hear the label "gold-digger" last night, and it was in the context of her denying it. The fact remains that she has openly admitted to doing virtually anything to become famous, she married an old man with lots of money who then died, she did lots of drugs, she was a stripper who posed for playboy. This girl was not a saint. I find the tendency to ignore the negative aspects of peoples lives once they die ridiculous. People are who they are, and remembering them differently is unfair to them. No one can truly benefit from only remembering the positive. After all, if we can learn from other peoples mistakes rather than just our own, that saves us a hell of a lot of trouble. So when Paris Hilton finally kicks the bucket, lets all remember her as a greedy skank. Maybe that way we'll help prevent people from wanting to be like her.

Aqua Teen Terrorist Cell

2007-02-04T19:26:00.000-05:00

Does these little guys look like terrorists to you? Do they look like bombs?
No? Well, you're apparently not from Boston.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for a while, this past week saw the guerrilla marketing team for Aqua Teen Hunger Force arrested for causing panic in Boston. Basically, they stuck a bunch of battery powered Lite-Brites up around the city which had a character from the show (a Mooninite, like those shown above) displayed on them. Apparently these things were up for about 3 weeks before anyone freaked out... Which shows the stupidity of the people who did panic is twofold. Not only do they think an ad is a bomb, it takes them three weeks to notice its even there. The whole affair has also shown the stupidity of the government in Boston is pretty extreme too. Instead of quietly dealing with this, and sweeping an event that makes your citizens look bad and the marketing team look clever under the rug, you are putting the spotlight on it. All this has done is make a really weird late night cult cartoon show a household name. Which is the best the network could have hoped for. I've been to Boston twice myself and rather enjoyed it, but I have to admit, this whole episode has really lowered the level of respect I have for its citizens. And increased my respect for mooninites.

You have got to be kidding me...

2007-01-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

I have a cat. His name is Schrodinger. If nothing in the past has proven I am an engineer/ science geek, that does. The picture of him ---> is old, from when he was a tiny kitten. He still looks the same, just way larger and with smoother fur. And today I found out that he hasn't stopped growing, and likely won't anytime soon. A friend of mine informed me that male cats don't stop growing until they're two. Schrodinger is already too big. His favourite activities are sleeping and eating (similar to his mommy) and he does both with great gusto. I sometimes have trouble picking him up, which I enjoy doing because he's so cute and cuddly. He sings too... I didn't know that cats did that. He doesn't meow much though. Yeah, that's about it. I'm terrified of what my cats final full grown size will be. Well, at least that means I don't have much in my life to really complain about.

Field Trips? What are we... Grade School Kids?

2007-01-22T15:12:00.000-05:00

So I have two field trips this term that are required for my courses, one of which seems moderately reasonable, and one of which seems like a complete waste of time. The waste of time field trip involves driving school buses to McBurney Park and the LVEC construction site and talking about how they relate to human geography. Woo! Yeah! That's a party! It is of course followed by skating at city hall which, while actually kind of making it a party, really just serves to make it seem even less important. It kind of feels like those field trips that got banned from my grade school... Like the grad trip to Wonderland and stuff... Things that have no real educational value. Of course, it could just be that I place a very low value on an introductory course in human geography.

Could someone please buy him a dictionary?

2007-01-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

So I was watching 60 minutes briefly today and therefore briefly watched an interview with President Bush. I was struck both by his inability to focus and his poor grammar. He even used a few of his trademark Bush-isms. And so I had a thought... One that I'm sure most intelligent people have had while watching Bush speak... I should give the man a dictionary. I have no idea when his birthday is, but I am strongly considering sending the man a gift. I mean, its something he can use, or rather desperately needs to use. And while I doubt it would ever get to him, at least it would give someone in the White House mail room a good laugh.

I was also watching CBS earlier in the day and caught Face the Nation. Today they interviewed Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama about their views on the President's new policy for Iraq. I have to admit, while I wasn't particularly surprised by what they each had to say, I was a little surprised by Obama's violent hand motions. If he does run for President, I would not want to be on his campaign team. I would fear concussions every time he made a speech. But what a good speech it would (probably) be...

How early is not last minute?

2006-12-22T13:10:00.000-05:00

I went to the mall last night to do the last of my Christmas shopping (which I'm proud to report is now all done) and had what I have now decided is a very insulting retail experience. I walked into the Body Shop and was looking at some of their Christmas stuff when a salesperson approached me and basically chided me for leaving my shopping til the last minute. Yesterday was the 21st... Last minute is at least the 23rd, but definitely the 24th. I picked up the last three gifts I needed yesterday and one of them I can't even give to the person til the second week in January. Heck, I've even been Christmas shopping on behalf of friends! My friend Kevin has been trying to locate a Big Tim (a super large travel mug from Tim Horton's) all week. He spotted a few of them in the Tim's at Portsmouth, but the staff told him they weren't for sale. I stopped at that Tim Horton's late last night to pick up a hot chocolate and decided I would give it a try... And it worked! Thank heavens the night staff at most places are nice, friendly people. And it doesn't hurt to be a young female customer asking an all male staff.... I really hope no one in his family reads my blog.

Firkin Foodpoisoning and Other Unfortunate Events

2006-12-18T22:47:00.000-05:00

It is no coincidence that my last post coincides with the start of the pre-exam study period. This year, I decided to do something different. Study. Intensely. Its also no coincidence that I decided to do this in a year I had four exams in a row. I started the 7th with Introduction to Environmental Studies, then had three chem exams in a row on the 8th, 9th, and 11th. There are no exams on Sundays. What made those four days particularly gruelling was that the exams on the 8th and 9th were in consecutive timeslots (ie I had an exam at 7 at night, then at 9 the next morning). I ended up having the exams in the same room, and even the same seat. I had a bit of a sleep deprived laugh over the fact that all the eraser stuff on the desk in the morning was mine from the night before. I had a big break after those exams - my fifth and final exam was tonight. But in reality, it didn't end up being much of a break. My grandpa landed himself in the hospital yet again, so I went to Toronto to visit him for what *might* be the last time. While there I decided to hang out with a friend of mine for an evening. We met up at the Firkin pub in the Bloor West Village. The next day I got severe food poisoning. I was supposed to get back to Kingston on Friday and start studying for my last exam. I couldn't leave Toronto til sometime Saturday, my mom actually had to drive me home, and then I basically still couldn't move til this morning. Note to self: fish and chips is not the best meal to have the day after you've banished all the bile from your digestive system. Thankfully, one day of studying was all I needed for this exam. I think/hope I did well. One of the tasks on the exam was to develop 5 -10 topics for a book on North Americans and Nature. I came up with 9 somewhat witty chapter titles. I actually liked some of the titles/subjects enough that I might even write the book someday... But I'll think of a better title for it.

The Pros and Cons of Facebook

2006-12-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

I got facebook fairly recently and have gradually become a habitual user. I find myself both loving it and hating it at the same time. Basically, facebook use is full of pros and cons. Here's my list thus far:

Pros

You can find long lost friends from high school, even grade school
Its a great way to find out about parties and events
You can keep track of your friends without having to talk to them constantly
Its easy to find people from your classes if you need to borrow notes etc.
You can learn new things about people you already know
It proves 6 degrees of Queen's really exists - basically everyone has at least one shared friend
Its a good way of finding out if you're back on speaking terms with someone (ie my exboyfriend)
Its an easy way to check people out and make sure they're not crazy (found out a couple of people I know actually are a bit nuts)

Cons

Its completely addictive - I find myself logging onto facebook multiple times a day as a procrastination tool
Everyone knows your business
You can keep tabs on friends without having to talk to them EVER
Its way too easy to "Facebook stalk" people or at least feel like that's what you're doing
If I don't keep my profile private, profs, admins etc can find out about me
There's one person who I added as a friend who I actually hate, but felt guilty about offending - it makes me feel fake

There are other, somewhat more abstract things I don't like too, but they'd be too difficult to explain. I think its interesting that facebook and blogging have some of the same issues, despite being so rediculously different. I guess technology really is affecting our personal relationships.

On a windy day...

2006-12-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

It's the last day of class for the fall term! And I showed up late for class. Way to go me. I showed up on time for Ritual for the first time all year though... And did my part to help fill the coffers at Clark. Then went home and watched the Liberal leadership convention of all things. I saw Ken Dryden's speech, Bob Rae's, and Michael Ignatieff's. Dryden quite impressed me... For a former goalie. Rae was inspiring. Ignatieff fell pretty flat and came off as a bit sexist. I missed part of his speech, but during the part I saw he seemed to be avoiding talking about his views on Iraq and what not. Personally, I'm cheering for Rae. I could live with Ignatieff as Prime Minister, but I'd rather not have a leader who condones torture. Stephane Dion would be okay, but I don't think he has enough charisma to be Prime Minister. And no one else seems to have much of a chance. Calm down Kennedy fans... I like him. Hey, I even vaguely know him. He's cool. I still don't think he has a chance. Sorry.

Funny thing... If Kennedy were to win, politicians I know (to varying degrees) would be leading 3 federal parties.
Elizabeth May - Green Party - was her "boss" (on the board) at Sierra Club of Canada
Gerrard Kennedy - Liberal Party - through education stuff like OSSSA and he was my MPP
Jack Layton - New Democrats - environmental stuff in the City of Toronto where he was a councillor, and he knew my dad from cycling and environmental stuff.

I also know the Mayor of Toronto (or rather my dad does, and I've met him a few times). He was my city and metro council member for a long time. I must say, Toronto is pumping out some pretty good politicians as of late.

The Economics of Recycling

2006-11-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

I just finished my last essay of the year (calendar, not school) and something struck me... For an Environmental Science major (ssp ENSC/CHEM to be specific) I really don't talk about environmental issues very often. The essay I just handed in was technically a report on the state of waste diversion in the city of Toronto. I am both impressed and depressed by Toronto's system for dealing with waste. They have lofty goals, which are great, but they've recently had to move their deadlines for waste reduction back by two years. Why? The short answer is a lack of market for recycling of a large portion of their waste stream. In Kingston, we recycle #1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 plastics. In Toronto, #1 and 2. But the city is only partly to blame. In reality, there's no incentive for manufacturers to produce goods and packaging out of readily recyclable materials. Although corporations are forced to contribute part of the costs of running recycling programs, in most cases, their contributions don't even come close to offsetting the cost of their material decisions. Instead, taxpayers are in essence subsidizing poor corporate decisions by paying the remainder of the recycling and disposal costs. What we need is a system like the one developed in Germany - the Green Dot Program. This system charges manufacturers based on the amount and type of packaging they produce. Readily recyclable materials have lower fees than less recyclable materials. The government collects, processes, and sells material. Profits from the program are then redistributed to manufacturers, again based on their packaging choices. This system does two things... First, it provides companies with strong incentives to reduce quantity of packaging, use more readily recyclable material, and encourage consumer participation in the program (higher participation means more revenue). Second, it internalizes the costs of goods so that consumers don't have to subsidize programs out of their tax dollars. In essence, people who consume a lot will pay up front in the cost of products, while those of us who consume less don't have to shell out as much. The Ontario government has taken the first steps towards this system by requiring corporate contributions to municipal recycling programs, but if they want to see Ontario's waste production reduced to more sustainable levels, they have to take the next step. And if they're not willing to make the leap just yet, they should at least put more effort into developing markets for recycled materials. If more people were buying #4, 5 and 6 plastics, Toronto would be able to collect them. The only reason they don't collect them is that so much of each of them is produced in the city that they would flood the market and it would collapse, causing smaller market recycling programs (like Kingston's!) to lose revenue and become less viable. How nice of them.

Oh, and just so you know, no one collects #3 because recycling it can produce Chlorine gas (which will kill you) and no one collects #7 cause there's really no way of knowing what it is.

Truly Stranger Than Fiction: Will Ferrell Can Act

2006-11-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday night in Kingston. You've just skipped out of the last Santa Claus Parade of the year and therefore opted out of any post Santa parties. What to do? Go see a movie. What's playing? A whole lot of nothing. Or so you think...

This is essentially what happened to me a few days ago. Of the slim pickings available at the Cineplex Odeon, I chose to go see Stranger Than Fiction. And its a choice I will never regret: my first reaction upon leaving the theatre was to comment that I needed to get home right away to add this movie to my favourites on my Facebook account. A joke? Yes. But only because of the time frame. Now I feel like I'm unfairly building you up to believe this is the best movie ever made. It's not. I stand by Live and Let Die on that count (now that REALLY is a joke). But I will say its the best movie I've seen in a long time. It was just the right mix of humour, good acting, and surreal concept. It went right where I Heart Huckabees went wrong. Like that movie, it had a concept that you could easily dismiss, a tone that could easily become boring. But the casting director made a great decision and chose actors who can both tell a joke and keep your attention. I was really impressed by Will Ferrell in particular. He found something in this movie he's lacked in every other role he's played: subtlety. Although I do enjoy his other movies for pure entertainment, I often feel embarrassed to admit that. This is a Will Ferrell movie that I will openly admit to enjoying. In fact, I will fully endorse it to others (as I'm obviously doing right now). I feel certain that if you see this movie, you will not feel as if you've just wasted $10.

Low Expectations Can Be Good

2006-11-27T18:37:00.000-05:00

As you already know if you read this Blog, I was extremely hesitant to go see the new Bond movie. In retrospect, I may have blown my concerns somewhat out of proportion for the entertainment of others, but that's only in the Bond tradition. After a brief debate, I chose to see the movie, though I waited nearly a week after the premiere to do so. My verdict: good movie, good actor, still not a great Bond.

First of all, the opening scene nearly made me walk out of the theatre and demand my money back. It was awful. The opening credits were incredibly cheesy as well. In the end I chose to stay and was rewarded for my patience. It was a good movie with better acting and a better story than most movies in the franchise. I do however have several (in my mind) important criticisms to make:

I was pretty much bang on with my concern over lack of gadgets. As an engineer, I love the cool technical stuff. The best offering was a mini defibrillator. That's disappointing.
James Bond arrived at a luxury resort in a Ford. A very small Ford, possibly a Focus. That's just wrong on so many levels. Luckily he left in a 1964 Aston Martin (my dream car) in a not so subtle "shout out" to the franchise's early days. (Do I detect a hint of Gouda?)
There was a definite parallel with A Beautiful Mind - good movie, but would have been better with another lead actor. I still stand by my choice of Clive Owen.
I think they pulled a "From Dusk til Dawn"... It seemed like there were two completely different writers/directors for the movie. One for the opening and the scenes of romance and one for everything else. The latter was Quentin Tarantino. The former was the other guy.
There was zero chemistry between Bond and his girls. The scenes of romance were rife with overacting and cliches. The only believable moment was the shower scene, which doesn't exactly fall under the category of romance. (You'll know what I mean if you see it)

Despite my long list of complaints, I would recommend this movie. I would even say I really enjoyed it. But just one more warning: you'll never know when the movie is about to end, so don't go to the bathroom. I did, thinking there had to be at least a half hour left, and ended up missing it. Oh well!

Why I'm glad I wasn't born in the 60's

2006-11-17T21:07:00.000-05:00

The other day I saw the movie North Country. For those of you who don't know about this movie, its about female miners in the iron range of Minnesota and their struggles with sexual harrassment. Its set in the late 80's, a time after affirmative action, but before sexual harrassment policies. As a result, the women who work for the mine have to deal with all the crap that comes with not being wanted or accepted in the workplace - anything from bad comments to dirty pictures to assault. What's shocking is it actually happened - the names might be different, backgrounds and precise events different, but the fact that women working in mines in the 80's had to deal with this stuff is completely true.

I am a woman who has worked at a mine, and let me tell you - we're not in the 80's anymore. Nowadays it seems like there's been pretty much an about-face in the attitudes of male miners - or at least the ones I've worked with. I was always told how much they respect the women who are strong enough, cool enough, maybe just crazy enough to go into mining. I don't know how or why this change in attitude occurred - I'm not even saying its universal - but I am thankful. My best guess is that the message the movie was trying to drill in (women want to do their share of the work, aren't expecting a free ride or special treatment etc) actually got through. I have to thank all the women that came before me and paved the way, I don't know if I could have handled what they went through.

Elections

2006-11-10T12:03:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how silly I am... I woke up this morning intending to blog about the US elections, and forgot. And on that note...

The US midterm elections are finally fully decided. The Democrats have control of both the house and the senate. While this is a great thing since it prevents further spread of the neocon agenda in the states and means that any further supreme court appointees (should the need come) will not be puppets of that same agenda, overall it really doesn't mean anything. Why? The presidential veto. Anything progressive that the house and senate propose can be immediately shot down by the president. It doesn't matter if 90% of the American public were to want the law/policy... If gwb doesn't want it, it won't happen. My main problem with the presidential veto is that it actually gets used. In theory, the governor general can refuse to sign a law, but that never happens. Regardless of whether or not they personally agree with it. A veto like this assumes three things: the president knows what's best for the country, the president cares what's best for the country, and that the American people don't know their true opinion. I think the current president's approval ratings and actions, combined with the results of the election, show all of these to be untrue. The government of the United States needs reform. They need something closer to rep by pop in the senate, they need to abolish the veto, and they pretty much need UN observers at the next presidential election.

Don't get me wrong, I think there are plenty of problems in Canada too. The legislation on political donations that the tories are trying to introduce is pretty crap. It sucks that the green party has a decent percentage of the vote and still can't get a seat in parliament. We too need a new system - one that forces political parties to work together so we have a government that is truly representative of Canadians. One that allows people to vote with their heart and not strategically. Although I still prefer an appointed senate, I think we need even stronger consequences for senators who don't take their job seriously. That's all I can think of right now.

random is my middle name

2006-11-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

Today is going to be a random day... Much like this has been a very random week. And in the spirit of the week, I intend to write a very random post.

I can't hide it anymore. I like football. I like CFL football (and OUA when the Gaels are involved). I don't like the NFL though... And on that note, I will be watching the East Championships on Sunday. The problem with that is, I feel weird about the matchup. I grew up cheering for the Argos because the Al's mostly didn't exist, but now the Al's are my team. What's really weird about that is I'm from Toronto and I actually hate Montreal as a place to live, but I'm a fan of their sports teams. I guess as long as all I'm doing there is drinking and watching sports, its not such a bad place.

I think I hate tv. This revelation will confuse a lot of people, but its true. I hate commercials, I'm sick of cheesy plotlines. I still like watching the news and tmn, and for some reason I can't break myself of my Gilmore Girls habit, but other than that, I think me and tv are done. This probably just means I'll get addicted YouTube or something. Although the fact that I thought it was called u-tube until I googled it just now gives me hope.

Why are cats so creepy? Everytime I go into the bathroom and close the door, my cat decides to reach his paws under the door and tries to grab for me like he's some kind of crazy zombie from a horror movie. He wakes me up in the middle of the night by trying to spoon with me. Sometimes he tries to eat my toes. And have you ever heard a cat cry? That's creepy.

I think that's about it.

To Bond or Not to Bond...

2006-11-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

The new Bond movie come out November 17th and I'm torn... I don't know if I should go see it or not. On the one hand, I don't like the direction the franchise is going. Hiring an ugly Bond, losing the gadgets, trying to pretend its something its not (i.e. a serious movie). On the other hand, it's still a Bond movie. And I love Bond movies.

Now, I feel kind of bad blasting the movie when I haven't seen it yet, but there are a lot of things I can say just from the press releases and trailers. This is a new breed of Bond movie. This is a new breed of bad Bond movie for the following reasons:

The guys who play James Bond have a history of being kind of rediculous - Sean Connery is the Scottish Arnold (he was also a Mr. Universe...), George Lazenby was the Australian J-C Van Damme, Roger Moore was a model, Pierce Brosnan played Remington Steele for heavens sake... The only exception is Timothy Dalton, who was a Shakespearian actor who played a pretty crappy Bond. Though no one comes close to Lazenby. The company is making the same mistake it made with Dalton - its casting a "serious actor" to play Bond... And we all remember what happened after the Dalton era. Near bankruptcy and the better part of a decade between Bond films.

The other mistake is that they are essentially "restarting" the franchise with a new actor. They are creating a strong sense that this is a new Bond. That's what they did with Lazenby in Secret Service. That's a large part of why he lasted only one film. Openly admitting this is a different Bond is not what the viewers want. Continuity with the other films is what people want to see - virtually no one who watches Bond movies has ever read the Flemming novels. They don't care about the books. They want Bond to kick ass, drive a cool car, get with the chicks, use a few crazy gadgets, and still be alive at the end of the movie. And preferably in bed with yet another girl.

Finally, perhaps the biggest mistake they're making is that they aren't listening to fans. When a movie has this much bad press before its even premiered its a bad sign. Bond has a large number of hard core fans, and none of them want Craig in this role. The second he was cast as Bond, the internet was full of sites calling for him to be fired. No one likes this guy - especially not when the other (rumoured) choices for the role included Clive Owen, Ralph Fiennes and Orlando Bloom. While movie gross is not dependent on internet followings (cough... Snakes on a Plane... Cough) it can't be good that all the buzz about this movie is about how the lead actor was a horrible choice.

And for the record, my preferred choice for the next Bond is Clive Owen. Though I love Ralph Fiennes, I think he's good enough to do way better movies.

Parents can be a problem... Or perhaps I'm the problem.

2006-11-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

So I found out yesterday that I may have caused problems for a friend of mine with his parents... I mentioned his full name and the words "shit show" in my blog. His parents googled his name, and found my blog. Wow. Apparently they were mostly concerned that his employer might google his name and find my blog as well. I will now never use someone's last name on my blog again unless I actually want to ruin their future prospects for employment. On that note... No, never mind. The only person I can think of badmouthing right now is M. Night Shyamalan (sp?). And maybe Ghandi. Thanks a lot Jenna.

Since when do I agree with Leafs fans...

2006-11-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

Despite being born in Toronto, I'm a Habs fan through and through. Heck, I'm even an Al's fan... And that team failed to exist for most of my life. These two facts stem from having a father born and raised in Montreal and a mother who doesn't give a crap about sports. Being a Queen's student, I am consistently surrounded by Leafs fans. And they tend to complain about Sen's fans being assholes ALL THE TIME. Having grown up in Toronto liking the Habs, I'm used to Leafs fans being rediculous assholes. But yesterday, for the first time, I started to believe all those Leafs fans...

Yesterday was the OUA semifinals and the Gaels were playing the Gee-Gees in Ottawa. Normally when we play at another school, a certain level of respect is expected on both sides. We're willing to take a little more crap from Western, cause they're supposed to be our "rival school"... Same type of people go there, they have a band, but they have slightly lower academic requirements. We laugh at them for that, they get to laugh at us when we screw up on the field. Whatever. But apparently Ottawa just threw all that out the window. Not only did they constantly bad mouth our team, they rubbed in any (and I mean ANY) mistake the Gaels made. Never mind the crappy refing, the huge fumbles the Gee-Gees made, the number of interceptions... And on top of that, they decided to make fun of the bands as well. Come on people... Get some class. We go there to support the team. We may get mouthy once in a while, but we don't rub it in other teams faces when we're winning or they screw up. We also don't make fun of them for the lame outfits they wear. At least our uniforms have some history. And let me tell you, you've got to have some pretty solid confidence to be a guy and wear our uniform. At least to homecoming... In short, I've never seen fans with less class. Ever. In my entire life. And that includes Nascar fans.

At this point I also feel the need to state that Ottawa is a school of rip-offs... They ripped off Mac's colours, Western's mascot, and our name. So they don't have class, or a mind of their own. Awesome.

I may be old, but at least I'm bitter

2006-10-24T13:13:00.000-04:00

So over the past few days I have been noticing some things that have been bugging me. Or rather, some people. In general I'm a huge fan of Queen's students. I am one. But sometimes someone does something, or more likely wears something, that just makes me cringe. I have previously ranted about leggings. Now here are a few other things I've noticed lately and why they make me die a little inside.

Girls who do runway walks while wearing sweatpants. I don't understand why when you can't be bothered to put on real clothes, you would want to draw attention to the fact that you look like a slob. Pretending you're a model while in this state just makes you look stupid as well as unattractive. And by unattractive, I mean you look fat and ugly.
Girls who wear Uggs that are falling apart. I can understand still wanting to wear Uggs despite the end of the trend - they are insanely comfy. But when your pink Uggs look almost black and appear to have a hole in them - throw them out.
People who wear the intramural S on their jackets. While this doesn't make me die a little inside, it does make me laugh a lot at you if you do it. All the S means is you weren't good enough to make Varsity. You might not want to draw attention to that fact. Most Queen's students could get an S if they wanted to. Most don't. Clue in.
Girls who wear fake Chanel. If you're working at Tim Horton's, I think we all know those CC earrings aren't the real deal. I don't understand the need to own something that's branded. I never will.

Just Call Me Generic

2006-10-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

So it turns out that the thing I love about facebook is starting to be the thing I hate about facebook - there are so many awesome groups out there. Take "When I was your age, Pluto was a planet" and all of the anti-legging and crocs groups... I love that I'm not the only one that feels that way... But these groups have sooo many members that it just makes me feel... Well... Generic. But I like those better than the ones that make me feel geriatric - like the ones dedicated to people who DON'T remember the 80's. That's just not cool. Though I have decided there are some groups I may just have to start on facebook... But you'll just have to wait and see what those are.

When did 23 become old?

2006-10-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

You know what I love? Getting drunk on a bus.

You know what I don't love? Frosh who are drunk on a bus when I'm not.
I hate being old.

At least we should win the football game tomorrow (knock on wood)... That will make me less bitter.

I believe in Kevin Bacon

2006-10-12T22:59:00.000-04:00

So if ever there was a perfect example of six degrees of separation, last night was it. My friend Jenna and I went out to Elixir (a Kingston bar) last night just to have a night out. We met some randoms and then eventually ran into Jenna's former tennis pro. We started talking and he had a friend with him, so I started talking to his friend. We went through the usual banter "Do you go to Queen's?" "What are you studying?" "Where are you from?" "Where did you go to high school?" It turns out he spent his last year of high school at a special Ontario school in Switzerland. One of my best friends from high school went to that school too. In the same year. It's not that big a school, so they knew each other. Crazy.

Another crazy thing happened in the bathroom at the bar... Some girl comes up to me and asks for help with a guy. I ask her if I know her, she says no. She drags me into a stall to ask whatever she wants to ask me about said boy. She said she recognized me from before and thought that I could help her. I figured she saw how many guys were hitting on me and buying me drinks. She closes the door and asks me for a line. Being the innocent person I am, I think she means a pickup line. She says she can pay me, she just really needs a line. I tell her she wouldn't have to pay me, but I can't think of anything. Shortly after saying this, I realize she's talking about cocaine. I adjust my statement to "you wouldn't have to pay me, but I don't have any." She leaves the stall and lets me pee. I told Jenna about this and asked her if I look like a cokehead. Her response... "Well, you are really skinny..." Oh sketchy Kingston. I may not love you any more.

The first cold rain

2006-10-11T07:26:00.000-04:00

So its that time of year again... Thanksgiving is done and its time for the weather to remind us that winter is just around the corner. On the upside, Halloween really is just around the corner, which means my birthday is too. I'm starting to think I should spend my birthday wish on the prevention of a nuclear holocaust... Or maybe a pony. I still don't have a pony. Hey, does anyone else look at Kim Jong Il and think of Team America: World Police, regardless of what he's saying? And if you do try to read part of that bio I linked to, don't you think the North Koreans missed the point of the word "brief"?

Gab + anaesthetics --> bad times

2006-10-10T16:37:00.000-04:00

I am a glorified chemistry major and as such have a large number of chemistry labs every year. Occasionally these labs deal with chemicals that used to be used as surgical anaesthetics. So far I have a very bad track record with these labs. Without fail, I will spill some of the chemicals, break stuff, and eventually pass out. Thankfully the passing out has yet to happen in the lab itself, but its still a problem. In second year, I broke a glass spoon full of chloroform and my whole lab group went home that afternoon and slept until the next morning. Last year, I spilled some chloroform and had to take a nap. This year, I got diethyl ether all over my hand and broke a graduated cylinder and a small beaker. I have also consumed 5 all-nighter earl grey teas since the lab in an attempt to ward off the effects by drinking way too much caffeine. So basically I have a rapid heartbeat, an upset stomach, and a strong urge to take a nap. Methinks its time to go home.

Why my cat would make a better Prime Minister than Stephen Harper

2006-10-06T11:09:00.000-04:00

He's way cuter
He's not afraid of a challenge
He pays attention to the world around him
He believes everyone should have plenty of food in their belly
He might not like his opposition, but he can coexist with them
He listens to commands from [the] people
Most people actually like him
He knows when to fight and when to roll over and go to sleep
He doesn't care about peoples race, sex or sexual preference
He doesn't have to suck up to people to get their attention

Can someone please tell me...

2006-10-06T00:16:00.000-04:00

why qcard, qlink and webct hate me?
why abercrombie doesn't make sweatpants anymore?
when I became a cliche?
why the cat is trying to eat my toes?
how I ended up with a cat in the first place?
why I'm so attracted to that guy from prison break?
why I have an unhealthy obsession with plaid?
how to stop watching ANTM?
when leggings will be uncool again? (please say soon!)
why I'm addicted to facebook?
when I'll finally get out of school?

Cause I really can't answer any of these questions myself.

I Hate Hippies

2006-10-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've jumped on a bandwagon. The hippy hating band wagon. As an environmental science student, I constantly get called a hippy, which makes me really angry. Hippies are lazy, dirty slobs who sit around all day smoking pot, reading bad poetry and bitching about war. I do none of these things. Well... Not most of the time. What pisses me off about hippies is they actually cause people to dismiss all environmentalists as weirdos when some of us are actually normal people. I hate Greenpeace. I hate them because their members are bunch of hippy bastards who know nothing about most causes they take up. They're full of people who think "I'll make the world a better place by sticking a spike in this tree so that logger won't cut it down." Oh wait... He did. And now he's dead and everyone hates you. Why couldn't you actually read up on the issue and realize that the company you're bugging gets millions of dollars worth of support from the government? Why not push the government to stop giving them money unless they introduce sustainable forestry practices? Didn't think of that did you? If more environmentalists were rational human beings and not dumb hippies, maybe we really could make the world a better place.

The Soundtrack to my Life

2006-10-04T20:44:00.000-04:00

You know how someone you know thinks that something in their life could be turned into a movie? Well, if you don't, you do now, cause I'm one of those people. It would involve a girl moving to a different, much smaller town than the one she's used to (kind of like when I moved to Northern Ontario for a while) and it's pretty well sketched out in my head right now. I've even come up with a basic soundtrack for it, which is kind of the purpose of this post... Below is a list of the songs I want on my soundtrack, and what I want them for...

k-Os... the Love song
No, this isn't for the obligatory scene of romance... This really isn't a love song. This is the song for the pseudo-triumphant realization that the only person you need to rely on is yourself. Hey, I never said my movie wouldn't be formulaic!

metric... Calculation Theme
This song IS for the obligatory romance.

the tragically hip... Any song I can afford the license for.
How can I make a movie about Canada without a song by the tragically hip? I'll make it fit. It doesn't matter what the song is. I'm just sad that when people look for the song on google, they'll inevitably get information about Men With Brooms as well.

Hayes Carll... It's a Shame
I really like this song. In fact, I really like a lot of his songs. But this one is the one that I think would maybe work best in a movie. Especially in a cheesy pre-hook-up moment. Though sadly, the use of the song in that context kind of degrades it. Sorry Hayes.

Radiohead... High and Dry
I think this is probably my favourite song. I'm not a die hard Radiohead fan, far from. But something about this song just gets me... I think I'd want to use this song just as random background music... Or maybe for a montage (hehe). I just wish it hadn't been used in so many other movies.

Sublime... Smoke Two Joints
This would definitely be background music in a drinking/partying scene. God knows there's enough pot in Northern Ontario. One of my bosses at the mine I was working at was busted for having a grow op while I was working there.

Neil Young - Helpless
Considering the song starts with the line "There is a town in north Ontario" I think my reasoning is pretty obvious. Plus its just generally a nice song.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll have some other ideas, seeing as new music is released every day. But if I ever do write a screenplay, remind me to burn it.

Even my dreams revolve around ENSC...

2006-10-04T07:48:00.000-04:00

So now that I'm an environmental science ssp student at Queen's I seem to be getting really immersed in my program... So much so that I'm having really crazy dreams about it. The other night I had a dream about Paul Martin and the Kyoto Accord. Specifically that I had to go over to his house (which happened to be about a block from my grandparents house) and pick up a copy of a newspaper that contained a secret code that proved that the government was trying to get out of Kyoto. Like that's something that needs to be proved... They'll tell you that themselves.

Well, off to another ENSC class...

Benders are not the way to stay in school.

2006-10-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I've finally made up my mind. I can never become an alcoholic. It's way too much work. Started drinking Thursday night for Initiation and the rest of the weekend was a total drunken haze. Well, not exactly. By Sunday afternoon I was fully sober, but wishing I was loaded again. I always wish I was drunk when we're losing a football game. Usually I am. I think I've learned a valuable lesson (after 3 years in Queen's Bands)... Just keep drinking your face off til someone tells you to stop. I think I'll write a post later about lesson's I've learned at Queen's and lessons I've learned in Bands. That should amuse me as well as other people who've been to Queen's.

I think I love stupid people...

2006-09-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

Now I know that statement goes against everything I've ever said about stupid people before, but sometimes stupidity can be useful. If people weren't stupid with their wireless networks, I wouldn't be online writing this post right now. When will people learn that you have to put a password on your network or people will access it and slow you down, if not fuck with your computer. On a related note, I love that stupid people are slowing down how fast my orgo prof writes by asking him stupid questions. Maybe my opinion of stupid people has changed forever, maybe just until another stupid person pisses me off. But at least its progress.

Matrix Syndrome

2006-08-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

Today I rant about Hollywood. I know it's such a cliche thing to complain about, but I feel the time has come for me to jump on that particular bandwagon. But I'm not going to complain about Hollywood in general, there's no point in that. I'm going to do the nerdy thing and complain about the Matrix... Specifically the two crap-tastic sequels. The second one of which I literally threw up in. And yes, I am using the term literally correctly.

It seems that the two Matrix sequels gave Hollywood the idea that a) it is a good idea to revive the concept of the "purely for profit" sequel*, b) those sequels can be two part, and c) you can distract the audience from the fact that this is a useless, plotless sequel by throwing in some overly choreographed, ultimately pointless fight scene. And yes, I did recently see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. I enjoyed both the original Matrix and the original Pirates, but thus far none of the sequels. While Pirates was at least entertaining and contained no plastic orgies, it chose to repeat the aspects of the first movie that were bad (let's go back and forth to the same two or three places a dozen times and get nothing accomplished), stretched out one movie into two and glossed over that fact by adding long, absurd, ultimately pointless action sequences. While I can't avoid seeing the second movie eventually, I'm going to wait until I can watch it on TMN. Something I really regret not doing for the Matrix sequels.

And the rant is now over.

*While some of you may argue that the crappy sequel never went away, I would argue that there was a good chunk of time in the 90's where sequels were extremely rare, but franchise movies were common... And franchise movies like James Bond etc. are basically stand alone movies that happen to share some main characters.

Seems like I'm reverting to old habits...

2006-02-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

I know... I know... I haven't blogged in a LONG time... But my excuse is all the tests I've had over the past few weeks. So... What has happened? Well, Iain Gomme came to visit a while back and that's always a shitshow... My boyfriend came to visit just over a week ago and wrote the LSAT... There was a shotluck at someone else's house a while ago, and then a house party at my house sometime after that... I think there was an election at some point too, but that may have been a figment of my drunken imagination. At some point, Queen's won the Carr-Harris cup and then I went and got intoxicated after that... So basically all I've done lately is drink and study. Sounds about right for a university student. Oh wait! I forgot the most hilarious thing! When Gomme was up, we got drunk at Ritual and booked a trip to Vegas... We had to cancel because Gomme couldn't miss that much work, but the point is... We got loaded and booked a fucking trip to Vegas! We're so money.

Poutine! Crepes! Power!

2006-01-25T15:33:00.000-05:00

What do these things have in common? They're all things that Quebec has in large quantity right now. I may hate Montreal (see pretty much any of my posts), but I thank my lucky stars for Quebec, at least since the recent election. We have a conservative minority government (but we also have more ndp in parliament now too so it's not all bad). I'm a little scared, but not terrified like I would have been had we had a conservative majority. In the new parliament, the Bloq essentially holds the balance of power and they're in favour of gay marriage, a woman's right to choose and even the Kyoto Accord. Which means its highly unlikely that we'd lose any of these things. They're also against the militarization of space. Thank heavens for the French... We may make fun of them all the time for being cheese loving surrender monkeys, but they really are a great bunch. Now if we could only convince them to stay in Canada forever, then I probably wouldn't have to worry about politics any more.

The Elephant formerly known as the Election

2006-01-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

Right now, in households across Canada there is a giant elephant inhabiting the living room, possibly the kitchen. We all refuse to talk about it, but there it is. Its the election, and I'm sad to admit, it may be making me physically ill. Why: I'm starting to get really afraid that Stephen Harper could be the next prime minister (sorry for the lack of link, but I can't find a politically unbiased bio to help you learn more about the guy). This is a guy who opposes a woman's right to choose, opposes gay marriage, and opposes stricter gun laws. Plus he's willing to give up the ~$5 billion the U.S. owes us over the softwood lumber dispute just so George W. Bush will like us more. He also wants to go to war in Iraq. And while he's said he won't open the issues of choice and gay marriage (that would make his party seem less attractive to the majority of voters and any bills wouldn't win in the house anyways), I'm still afraid he'll try to reinstitute the death penalty. This guy reminds me of Pope Benedict... Starts out his career in politics (or religion) relatively moderate, then has one bad experience and goes off the deep end. And another thing that's scary... He grew up in the feeder area for my high school. Yeah, he's not Catholic so he never would have gone there, but it still creeps me out.

The Hub: No longer sexist!

2006-01-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

So it's drunk week 2006 and that means its time to go out on the town. Which is what Jenna, Erik, Smitty and I did Monday night. We went to Stages, a club in downtown Kingston that's part of a group of establishments called the Hub. Last year, there was a stabbing in one of the clubs (not Stages, the one across the street). In an effort to boost business, they renamed the bar in which the stabbing took place the Ale House (it was A.J.'s) and starting frisking every guy who entered a Hub bar. This year, apparently they also frisk the girls. Which I suppose is good, since there was an attempted stabbing by a girl using a beer bottle in the same bar before someone died. Not that I'm blaming the Hub for Justin Schwieg's death... This is Kingston, no one expects serious violence in an overwhelmingly student-focused group of bars. I mean yeah, there's the occasional scuffle between drunks, but you would never really expect someone to pull out a weapon. But then again, there are a heck of a lot of criminals in Kingston. And for those who went to the first of those two links, who puts the layout of a maximum security prison on the web? Apparently the Government of Canada! Yay Canada!

Watch out AFI: THESE are the best films ever made!

2006-01-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

I was just recently catching up on reading my friend Kevin's blog. Back in November he wrote a post about his top 5 guys movies ever. I may be a girl, but I think I've got good taste in so-called "guy movies". So I came up with my own list which I posted in his comments. To save you wandering about the web, I've brought the top 5 list here and provided some additional explanations.

1) Star Trek: First Contact
What you have to understand about me is I'm am a total Star Trek addict. I don't go to conventions. I don't dress up like a Klingon, and I haven't read a StarTrek novel since about the fourth grade, but there is no chance I won't pick an episode of ST:TNG as the best thing on tv unless there's an episode of simpson's, futurama, family guy, or the daily show I haven't seen before on. And this movie is the ultimate ST:TNG. I mean, holy shit! The Borg try to stop humanity from getting warp drive! And now all of cyberspace probably thinks I'm a pocket protector wearing virgin.

2) Terminator 2
When this movie came out, I totally thought the kid in it was hot. Now that fact creeps me out. But I still love the movie... How could I not? The special effects are AMAZING. For their time. And its the perfect role for Arnold. I challenge you to find a better actor to play an emotionless cyborg.

3) Goldeneye...
Though I love James Bond movies in general and own all of the old school ones, this has got to be the best one. And I think Pierce Brosnan is the best Bond. Connery was great, but Brosnan is so suave. What I think cements this as the best Bond movie is not just the franchise's victorious return from the dead, but the enormous work that went into making sure it would. And Sean Bean.

4) Aliens
You already know I'm a total scifi geek, and therefore the reasons behind this movie being on the list are obvious. What you don't know is that it totally scares the shit out of me every time I watch it.

5) The Rock
This was a tough choice since it's the last spot and there are a lot of great guy movies. This very narrowly beat out Die Hard 3, and only because it had as many explosions and more science. Man, I really am totally predictable.

Now if any of you read my comments from Kevin's blog, I just realized I totally lied... The top 4 of these are not my top 4 ever... They're 2-5 of my top 5. Underworld is totally my favourite movie ever. But I don't really see it as a guy movie since a girl is the one who kicks ass. Now, I also love movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Royal Tannenbaums, Garden State and what not, but in a totally different way. Most of the time I'd rather watch a horribly inaccurate sci-fi movie than an incredibly well done top caliber film (yes, I am including MP&THG). But it doesn't mean I don't appreciate those films as much. It just means I have no attention span.

Technology is making me LESS lazy?!

2006-01-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

Yeah... I know! What's going on?! I just got a new iPod is what! And let me tell you... These things are SWEET. I'm about ready to sell my soul (or consumer loyalty, whatever) to Apple thanks to this little baby. Not only is it inspiring me to go to class (I get to listen to it on the way there!), but it's also making me want to go the gym so I have another excuse to listen to it... Plus it's helping to save the earth... I no longer have to turn on my laptop to listen to music. I just plug the iPod into my speakers and all is good. My only problem with the iPod is it's only designed for a one way transfer of music. I know this is designed to prevent pirating and whatever, but I'd rather use it than my mesely 512mb flash drive to transfer mp3s between computers LEGALLY. I could download a program that would get the files, but why should a company assume that I'm going to use something for illegal purposes? Making it so that I can't transfer files off my iPod is like making it so that you can't copy a file off a burned cd. I'm sure a portion of the cost of an iPod (much like the cost of blank cd's) is restitution to big labels for copyright infringement, so it's kind of a bitch that they charge you for something, and then don't let you get what you payed for. Plus most of the new stuff I'm listening to as of late is independent (or dead people), and you can be darn sure they don't see a penny of whatever money Apple passes on.

Sorry Daddy

2006-01-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

Not that he would ever read my blog, but I feel obliged to apologize for not mentioning today is the day my dad officially becomes old. Happy 60th birthday... Only five more years til CPP.

Haha... Suckers

2006-01-06T19:48:00.000-05:00

I'm in Montreal right now. And I'm here because my boyfriend is already back in school... Thus the post title... All of McGill is currently stuck in class. While, not right this second seeing as its 8 o'clock on a Friday night, but they've been back since Tuesday. I was reading one of the McGill papers today, and they were complaining about how their "arch-rivals U of T" weren't back at school til the 9th. Now, that makes sense... But then later on in the same paper they say that the Men's Hockey team beat McGill's "arch-rival Queen's Golden Gaels." Can someone have more than one arch-rival? Isn't the point of an arch-rival that they are the absolute most hated enemy that you have? If you are allowed to have more than one, does that make you a bad person? I mean, you really really hate two people... You've got a lot of hate going around. Maybe you should just chill out and have an herbal tea and do some yoga... God knows there are enough Yoga Studios in Montreal.

Oh the world!

2006-01-04T14:59:00.000-05:00

The other day, my boyfriend mentioned the significance of capitalization in the English language... His famous quote is that the difference between saying "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I helped my uncle jack off a horse" is one capital letter. I would also like to point out the importance of just paying attention, something I'm pretty famous for not doing. A while back my friends and I were watching something on tv (knowing us, Family Guy or the Daily Show) and an Oral B commercial came on. Their slogan was something like "Oral B, the most trusted toothbrush in the world" and so my housemate said something which I thought was "Oh, the world!" when he really said "I love Oral." Needless to say, Oh the World has now become a household phrase. Well, in my household at least.

It's been a long time, baby

2005-12-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

My New Year's resolution is to Blog more. Not every day, but more than once a week. What I need is a poster that says something somewhat more witty than "Have you blogged today?" and has some sort of amusing image to help remind me. Hey... Maybe I should just put a picture of a post next to my computer.

One More Reason to Hate McGill

2005-11-28T18:40:00.000-05:00

So I read this article today on the whole broom thing at McGill. Apparently they're being fined lots of money for missing the last two games of their football season. Where do you think that money is going to come from? If you answered the football team or its booster club, you're probably wrong. It'll inevitably be diverted from student assistance or library requisitions.

The reasons I already hate McGill are:

it's in Montreal on the steepest part of the mountain
it's hard to find a place to park there, and...
it totally stole my boyfriend from me. Well, somewhat unsuccessfully since it stole his presence but definitely not his affection.

Snow? Snow! Noooo!

2005-11-26T21:07:00.000-05:00

So can you tell how much I like snow? It's great in our backyard, which is gorgeous and huge and basically a playground for our puppy, Paddington. It sucks in front of our house which gets a lot of traffic before any of us are even awake... Which means it gets compacted into ice... Yuck. On the upside, have you ever seen a small white dog running through snow that's almost as high as he is tall? It's the cutest thing ever. And I mean ever.

Also, apparently I really suck at this Blogging thing... When was the last time I posted? I have no idea. I think I may have posted for SciFormal, maybe not. I don't remember. On that note, check out some pictures of the Formal! Here's some more. The Rockerfeller Center was my room and it turned out alright in the end. Except the 07's forgot to put chairs in it. And I was supposed to have a dj and ended up with a full band, so they took my dancefloor as a stage instead of the stage. Which the 07's left in my room despite the fact it was basically a safety hazard at that point. So, to sum up, SciFormal was great and the 07's are morons.

So tired... So old.

2005-10-12T23:55:00.000-04:00

So as some of you will know, and some of you will not, I am currently in my fifth year of post-secondary studies. Consequently, this means I am, yet again, eligible to attend Science Formal. This year, I'm in charge of designing a room - Rockefeller Center. The theme, by the way, is New York, New York. Last year, I was on SciFormal Committee. The result of this combination of roles is that I'm starting to feel really old. SciFormal is kind of that last big thing (other than the Iron Ring ceremony) before you graduate. I'm now going to my second one.

They've started building structures for my room already - namely the bar, the dj stage, and some random little things like a bed and a table and what not. They're starting my murals tomorrow. I'm basically going to the warehouse all the time now, and I've noticed a trend. People think I have some kind of authority over them. The fact that I have at least half a clue about what's going on seems to translate into "This chick can tell us what to do and possibly even how to do it." That's fine for the things that I actually designed... Kind of funny for other stuff. Another thing that's funny... Engineering students have a tendency to totally overdesign stuff. I asked for a 2ft high table with a 1 sqft top, and it was not only the craziest, sturdiest table you've ever seen... It also took four engineers to build it. Mind you, I'd rather have structures overdesigned than flimsy and dangerous. A civil engineering friend of mine (who was a fourth year back when I was in first year) once told me "Next time you drive over a bridge somewhere, consider the fact that the civil engineer who designed it probably only got a 50% in STATICS." Isn't that a sobering thought?!

Long time no blog...

2005-10-11T00:34:00.000-04:00

Wow... I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged... Sooo many things have happened. Sadly, nothing spectacular. Queen's Bands is back in full swing. Courses are starting to get heavy. Midterms are fast approaching. As any Canadian knows, this weekend was Thanksgiving. While my family opted not to celebrate, I ended up at Chris' house. Apparently his family makes good roast bird. But they eat it at 1:30 in the afternoon. Weird. So after we ate... uhh... Thanksgiving Lunch? we sat down and watched a slideshow of Chris' sister's wedding photos. I didn't know a photographer could take that many photos at such a short ceremony. Overall, not a bad day. Except that now I'm procrastinating on my policy briefing for my environmental policy course. Meh... At least I've decided on a policy now!

Summer in the City (or, 'Gab bitches about the heat')

2005-07-12T21:17:00.000-04:00

Summer in Kingston. Not as pleasant as it sounds. While many Americans I have met seem to think that the Canadian border is like the door of a freezer, holding back the cold temperatures from their toasty land, when it's 35 degrees here... Ladies and gentlemen, that's CELSIUS. 35 degrees is... Well, according to google calculator, 95 farenheit. In other words, hot enough that I could pretty much kill myself by standing outside in full sun for an hour or two. I'm a little pasty-white girl, just not designed for life in the sun.

On the upside, the heat does make me love rain even more than I already did, which I thought was pretty much impossible. I've been told I'm designed for life in BC... I love camping, trees, water, and rain. The four (legal) things most people think of when they think of BC.

The other thing about summer is the bugs. I don't mind bugs, but I have some pretty funny patterns of bites, especially on my feet. Today, to help illustrate this fact, I took a pen and outlined some of the bites. I added a smile, and ended up with a cartoon mouse.

I really can't think of anything brilliant or even logical to write about. I think the heat may have fried a few too many of my brain cells.

Long time no post...

2005-06-12T12:34:00.000-04:00

Holy crap it's been a long time! I haven't posted since the end of April, mostly since I moved and therefore got lazy. My move was quite possibly the worst thing I have ever experienced. Never rent a U-Haul. They don't show up. I was supposed to move all my stuff Saturday afternoon/evening and then move it in really early Sunday morning... But we had no means of moving anything. I eventually started moving stuff sometime Sunday morning in a rather small car... But none of my furniture or anything could be moved until random people were able to assist me with moving individual pieces of furniture when they randomly had the chance. It was stressful an awful. And the house we move into was left as messy as I've ever seen a house. It was disgusting. Junk and garbage and dirt and grease EVERYWHERE. But gradually over the last month and a half it's improved. It's still not perfect, but it's becoming a great place to live. My housemates are cool and we have the most incredible backyard I've seen at Queen's; it's perfect for keggers.

I finally got internet access on my computer after a month in my new place, and after another two weeks, I'm finally getting around to posting. I won't be making regular updates this summer, but I'll check in a little more often than I have thus far...

Beware the Street Meat

2005-04-27T01:13:00.000-04:00

So I finally broke down and went grocery shopping today. I ran out of fruit, and that's something I never like to do. Since I had to pick up a new cartridge for my printer at Staples, I decided to go to FoodBasics downtown. I picked up my groceries, and since it was about time for me to have lunch, I picked up a hotdog at the street vendor outside. I then spent the rest of the day feeling nauseous.* I took a nap around 6 and slept til 9, and have basically accomplished nothing today.

*I assure you, it wasn't food poisoning. I'm probably also wrong in implicating the street meat. In its defense, the guy who sells it is nice, and it tasted really good.

241 Pizza vs. 241 Fajitas

2005-04-25T00:10:00.000-04:00

Last night, after a brief stop at The Tir nan og, followed by about 30 seconds at the Brew Pub, we ended up at the Toucan. We drank for a little while, but it wasn't one of those "drink til you drop" kind of nights. When we left, everyone else decided to go for 241 pizza. I don't know if you've ever tried this pizza, but in case you haven't, it's cardboard. Cardboard covered in greasy cheese. Not being a fan, I didn't eat it.

In stark contrast to yesterday's 241 experience, I went out with a bunch of friends for 241 fajitas at Lonestar. Mmm... Fajitas! Soooo good. It also happened to be Laura's birthday celebration, so in addition to throwing ice at us all night, some of the guys decided to play a trick on our table (there were 18 of us, spread out over three tables)... They bought the birthday girl a shot of tequila, and the waitress brought 6 shot glasses over, 6 lemon slices, and made sure we had plenty of salt. Now all of the shot glasses LOOKED like they had tequila in them, but 5 of them were filled with apple juice. I think we were all fooled. It was especially funny to compare our reactions to Laura's reaction when we did the shot. The horribly pained look, compared to our "what the heck was that?" looks. Classic.

But I'm not in LifeSci!

2005-04-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

Today was only the third time in my career at Queen's that I've had to check a book out of the library. I feel obliged to remind you: I'm in engineering. We don't get books from the library because most of the time they make us buy anything we need. The poverty this action promotes, rather than the knowledge instilled, is probably the desired effect. Poor students are creative students; we learn to homebrew, we learn how to construct complex hydraulic systems (to the layman, "crazy-ass funnels"), and how to create something from nothing. Well, not quite, since the laws of conservation of mass still apply in this universe. But I digress... I went to the library to get a book that I need to finish my design project, and it wasn't there. Since no one in the world besides the people in my course would want it, I'm assuming one of them took it. I am now unable to complete my design project. This strikes me as very similar to those horrible stories about LifeSci's taking books and ripping out the pages with relevant information so other people wouldn't have it. Only I don't think this particular action was done with any malicious intent. I think the person who checked it out just didn't realize I would need it too. Either way, I'm fucked.

Cookies and Cookie Monster

2005-04-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

This is the second time I've written a decent post and had it disappear into digital oblivion. Earlier this afternoon, I decided to write a post about procrastination, including a handy pocket sized guide. That is, if you decided to print it. Blogger decided to stop working due to "planned maintenance." My fabulous wisdom flushed down the proverbial toilet. Oh well!

The second part of my post dealt with the fact that my browser won't accept cookies. This, despite the fact that it is set to accept all types of cookies. Apparently Internet Explorer has developed a Cookie Monster complex and now suddenly thinks it's too good for cookies. If you know how to fix my problem, please help me.

My buddy Tucker got into Reformation Studies at Birmingham. I found out today, and despite his assurances, I'm still quite concerned for his safety. There are good points and bad points about Birmingham. On the upside, if I take a random "road" trip to England, I've now got a place to stay. On the downside, I will probably be killed by a random mob of soccer and/or rugby hooligans if I do go. I think I'd rather stay in London... Gotta find me a friend going to grad school in London.

Also in the grad school realm of things, my housemate Alison got an interview at the National Theatre School in Montreal! She's soooo excited! Alison is a director (and playwrite) and quite possibly the most artsy person I have ever known. She's also incredibly talented, and I'm really rooting for her to get in!

And now for my first Public Service Announcement... If you are enrolled in Classics 201, or have some sort of masochistic desire to learn Roman History, I'm hosting a tutorial on the 27th. BYOB&B (books and beer).

So close and yet so far...

2005-04-20T16:34:00.000-04:00

I finish university on the 29th of April. Nine days. Why can't it just be over now? I started packing for my move yesterday, but only because everyone else in my house was packing. Two of my housemates are moving out of town, and one is moving next Tuesday, so they have to pack. Me, I'm moving a few blocks away on May 1st. There's not really a need to pack yet.

Chris finished his exams yesterday, and is really happy about it. Mind you, he really hated his program, so he has reason to be happy. I just wish he'd stop randomly smiling. It's a little unnerving. I think I finish later than anyone I know who isn't in Process Dynamics (my last exam), so my random smile period will be wasted. Especially since the one person who's head I could hold it over (my Sci06 housemate, Rob) cares far more about my iron ring.

Probably going to see Joel Plaskett tonight at the Grad Club. Should be a good show.
At 12:30 am CKWS plays Oh Canada. Sadly, that doesn't have the same ring to it.

Studio Q, where are you?

2005-04-18T12:19:00.000-04:00

I think I may be cursed... Every time I try to watch Studio Q, it ends up not being on. Though I will admit that I have only attempted to watch the show twice in my four years at Queen's. And both of those times were in the last three weeks. Still, I think it is a bit of an odd coincidence.

Yeah Delta!

2005-04-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

Wrote my first exam of the term... Well, technically it's the third, but it's the first one in the exam period. Numerical Methods Using MATLAB. And for the first time in four years of seeing/using MATLAB, I can finally say I understand it. Which is odd, since I got less than three hours of sleep last night. For prood, I will finishthis sentenfe without corecting any typos. Yeah. I'm really tired. BUT, it was a good thing I was awake at 3:15 in the morning, cause there was a power failure last night! That could have been a real disaster, seeing as the only alarms I have need to be plugged in to work...

So I wrote my exam at 9am this morning, and it went alright. Not spectacularly stupendously, but better than expected. And my expectations were decent, so I'd say it was a good morning. The only problem with having an exam at 9am was that I missed the bus for the Queen's Bands trip to the Delta Maple Syrup Festival. Delta is a very small town in south eastern Ontario, and according to a drunk guy I ran into this morning, has the best maple syrup in the world. But all was not lost, for I was given a free rental car to drive to this teeny town. Sadly, I missed the pancakes, but I did make the parade (us, a car, a firetruck, and some clowns) and the free beer. Though as a responsible citizen, I only drank one of those. I was driving after all, and drunk driving is incredibly stupid. After the parade, we kicked around town for a while and then I headed home. My plans for the remains of the day consist primarily of unconsciousness and aloe for my slightly sunburnt nose.

One weird day...

2005-04-13T22:55:00.000-04:00

I woke up early today. 10 am on the dot. It was weird, cause I didn't set an alarm. Got up, had breakfast, had a shower, got a few groceries, went to the doctors, went to Kingston Hall, went home, went to Shopper's, went home, went to Shopper's, went home. That's my day. Now the highlights...

I found a new yogourt at the grocery store! This may not excite anyone else in the world, but it made me quite happy. It's low fat (which I don't really care about, but most people do), contains real sugar (not that horrible aspartame stuff), an active bacterial culture (yes, this is actually a good thing), and Omega 3 fatty acids. As if yogourt wasn't good enough for you already!
I am, as suspected, going to live at least another day. No, it wasn't an important doctor's appointment. I'm not seriously ill, just need a check-up.
I went to Kingston Hall to take measurements of room 204, which is the room I'm designing for SciFormal next year (Rockefeller Center) and there were two kids taking an exam in there. Damn. I have the worst timing ever.
Shopper's at Division and Princess totally has the worst pharmacy ever. Well over the anticipated 20 minutes to fill a prescription when it only involves them putting a sticker on a box? That's wrong.
My house is a black pit of procrastination. I blame msn.
My house must also be VERY dirty (I swear I vacuum!) because when I went to Shopper's to drop off my prescription, the lady asked me if I knew my face was dirty. She even ran off to find a mirror to show me. When did I become Ron Weasley or a chimney sweep? I walked home and washed my face before picking up the prescription.

Let Sleeping Frecs Lie

2005-04-11T16:37:00.000-04:00

This is the new rule I'm trying to educate my silly frosh on... Since one of them called me at 8:30 am today. My frosh Gordon got an email I sent to the mineshaft (that was my Frec group name) listserve last night at 7:45 am... And decided to respond rather quickly. Now, I had to get up this morning anyway, but we all know what it feels like to be woken up a half hour to an hour before we have to... Not so fun. And this is why I am enacting a new rule. If it's before 10 am and not an emergency, leave me alone.

I went for a walk downtown today. It was nice, but still a little bleak. Can't wait for the weather to get really nice and for all the streets to get cleaned so Kingston looks like less of a dump.

So Chicken Fingers Smell Like Pancakes?

2005-04-08T18:15:00.000-04:00

Well, my housemate apparently thinks they do. My other housemate is currently sprawled out on the bathroom floor. She had way too good a night last night with some guy from the MBA program. No, not that kind of night... I don't think. He's old, so probably not. My night was far less interesting, but at least my morning wasn't so bad. I finished my thesis last night round about 3:30am. Probably could have done it earlier, but I took a coffee (actually, tea) break on campus. It felt pretty good to print out the ~40 pages I've got and slide them under the Undergraduate Advisor's door. Sadly, this happened right before I wrote the worst exam I've ever seen. Probably not the worst mark I've ever got. Scratch that, definitely not. But it was incredibly painful, and didn't seem like it was entirely my fault that I did poorly. But you know what, I'm finished that course, so I'm happy. Fucking Pyrometallurgy. Never have to do that shit again.

There's a party tonight that I'm going to on Brock Street. Should be good. I need a nap. This is my worst post ever.

Sometimes life just sucks

2005-04-06T16:57:00.000-04:00

Today is one of those days. You know... The ones that you know are going to be crappy before you even wake up. Which is why I didn't wake up until 12:30 today. Well, actually I got up three or four times before that, but only to get water, answer the phone, and get through about a chapter of the book I'm reading right now. And what do you know... The day has thus far lived up to its anticipated level of crappiness. The events related in my post yesterday have lead to a rescheduling of an exam to this Saturday. Now the exam will be written by the department head, which means it might not be multiple choice, and could even be on material we haven't covered. Boo. Also, as a direct result of my lie in this morning, I was really late for a tutorial. But that turned out okay. Then I had to wander around campus for an hour just waiting for my discussion group on hydrogeology and mining to start. Have I mentioned how much I hate my hydrogeology class?

Well, I suppose it hasn't been all bad today. I had a delicious blueberry bagel for breakfast, and there was no line at the Common Ground. Also, this week's issue of Golden Words came out, and was okay. Bitter, but okay.

Now I'm gonna go listen to loud punk music and drink tea until I'm awake enough to do real work.

When lectures go wrong...

2005-04-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

Holy crap. I just had the WORST lecture ever. Well, it was originally supposed to be an exam, but I've got to tell the whole story from the beginning...

A few weeks ago, in my evening class entitled "Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment", we had a bit of an incident. We all got to class, and the prof showed up late. While we're waiting for him to set up, we're talking. Then all of a sudden, he puts up the first slide. We all get quiet. He's mumbling, and at first we figure he's being funny and trying to get even with us for being so loud, but no... He goes on to the next slide and continues in this manner. He then starts focusing and re-focusing the slides, and then goes backwards and forwards through them. To make a long story short, it turns out he was hammered out of his mind. The next week was the midterm, and he was nearly as bad.

So this week, we were supposed to have an hour or so of lecture before writing out in-class final. We had a guest lecture on the Union Carbide accident in India, and then we were supposed to have a lecture on heat stresses and such. Only the prof didn't show up. He finally strolls in about half an hour later, with only one copy of the final. And yes, he is rather intoxicated. He then leaves to photocopy it, and returns over half an hour later. The exam gets handed out, and gradually laughter spreads throughout the room. Turns out the prof handed out the answer key to the exam. Every question already had the answer next to it. Except one. So after the prof leaves the room, the TA checks the exam and discovers the problem and declares the whole thing invalid. So now we have no idea what's going on in that course, or how we will be marked.

I swear to God this is not a joke.

I think I've inspired something sacrilegious...

2005-04-04T17:18:00.000-04:00

So the other day I'm talking to Chris, and all of sudden he goes "So the pope died..." Being Catholic myself, I started discussing ecumenical politics, specifically, who I think would be a good Pope, and what kind of person the Cardinals are actually going to choose (the two are very different). In the process, I made a statement to the effect of "Desmond Tutu would make a great Pope, only he's Anglican." And now, Chris has started the campaign to make the Dalai Lama the next Pope. Mind you, thus far the campaign is restricted to his blog, and I'm probably not the only person to complain about the Church being too conservative, but I feel a bit guilty. Especially since I laughed pretty hard. It seems wrong to laugh at the Dalai Lama.

Never Trust the ArtSci Course Calendar

2005-04-03T18:33:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I'm graduating from engineering this year, that doesn't mean I'm giving up on being an undergraduate student at Queen's. I'm coming back for a second degree in Environmental Science (good mix with Mining, I know!) and until today I had thought it would be a breeze. According to the ArtSci course calendar, I have 9 credits left to take in a 20 credit degree (I get 10 credits to transfer from my engineering degree, plus I did a full year biology course that doesn't count towards that degree, giving me 11). Sadly, according to the School of Environmental Studies, the Environmental Chemistry program doesn't have the course requirements that the ArtSci calendar indicates. In fact, there's not a whole lot of similarities there... At least, most of my engineering credits are not, in fact, transferable. Damn. So rather than having 11 done and having 9 left, I now MAY have 9 done and 11 left. If my chem courses are equivalent.

Despite being a little taken aback by this discovery, I'm still pretty excited. Engineering is starting to get old, and I'm looking forward to taking super cool courses like Environmental Sociology, Sustainability, and Religion and the Environment. No, I'm not joking. And no, I'm not a vegan. I'm not even vegetarian. And I can't believe I said super cool.

On a different note, I've decided not to hate "Brian Wilson Presents Smile." But it's still not driving music. And though I didn't like the new Hayes Carll album at first, I'm now completely in love with it. It's very different from the last one, but still awesome. I can really see why they call him the next Townes van Zandt. But I don't think he'll be throwing himself off balconies. Finally, Jack Johnson's new disk is okay, but a disappointment compared to the rest of the new stuff I've been listening to lately.

The Perrier Ocean

2005-03-31T13:42:00.000-05:00

So today my Pyrometallurgy prof decided to do a lecture on Greenhouse Gas Emissions. He talked about the challenges facing industry, the Kyoto Accord, and general emission information. He then decided to talk about carbon sequestration. Now, he mentions planting trees (fine), he mentions storage (iffy), and then he mentions sequestering CO2 in the Oceans... Now, I know all the chemistry behind this and what would actually happen, but I still couldn't help but picture the ocean becoming a giant vat of Perrier water. Sadly, the other guy in my class didn't understand what I was laughing about. Even when I passed him a note that said "Perrier Ocean."

Mortal Kombat: ALARM CLOCK

2005-03-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

Day after day, year after year, it is Me vs. The Alarm Clock. I am locked in an epic battle which I can not win. It's gotten so bad that I cringe every time I hear a noise that even remotely resembles the one produced by my white box of misery. Now, you might be wondering "If she has always hated it, why is she choosing to complain about it today?" Well, today there was a new twist. As of today, I not only have to contend with my own alarm clock, I also have my housemate's clock to deal with. See, my housemate is in drama, and she has a solo show coming up soon. So in her enthusiasm/dire need to get work on the show done, she ended up sleeping at Theological Hall last night. Only she didn't turn off her alarm clock. And I didn't know how to turn it off. Around 8 a.m. this morning, shortly after I'd turned my own alarm clock off in order to go back to sleep (oops... No pyrometallurgy for me today!) and just after the point where trying to get to class becomes useless, the noise starts. Beep beep beep beep. Beep beep beep beep. And no way to shut it off. Thankfully, around 10 my housemate came on msn and told me how to shut it off (no, I'm not stupid... It's not a normal alarm clock and I was only semi-conscious).

Note to self: Buy earplugs.

One down...

2005-03-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

Well, that's the first official holiday weekend of 2005, and it's finally over. The long weekend had a spectacular start, but any weekend involving my parents is inevitably doomed. To those who know me, it's no secret that spending time with my parents is not my favourite thing to do. As individuals, my parents are at least interesting people. Together... Well, it's not the best way to know them. At least I get free laundry and a chance to hang out with my pet rabbit when I visit. On the plus side, I grabbed a whole bunch of my dad's cd's on the way out, and now have a bunch of Dylan, beatles, and townes van zandt lying on my desk. However, my dad forced me to take his copy of "Brian Wilson presents Smile" which I am not inclined to enjoy. It's supposed to be the album he had a breakdown writing and then went back to in 2004. To me, The Beach Boys have always sounded like they were on Ritalin or e or something... This sounds like the Beach Boys, but on something a little more hardcore. Not a big fan of the harmonies on the album. I suppose I can respect what Wilson's trying to do, and he does make a lot of interesting musical choices, but he makes a lot of weird choices with his harmonies. Maybe I'm being closed minded. After all, a lot of respectable people think Smile is one of the greatest albums ever made. So I'll listen to it again. If I still don't like it, I'll give it a third try. After that, if I don't love it at least I'll really hate it.

Of oranges and other things...

2005-03-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

Well, it's finally that horrible time all university students dread... The crunch time for my thesis. If you were to call me crazy, at the moment you wouldn't exactly be wrong. Between the lack of sleep, general awfulness of the lab, and this one grad student I like to call the gnome, my sanity is definitely being challenged. I had an orange on my desk earlier today, as well as an orange stress ball. Now, the two don't actually look very alike, but when being momentarily challenged with a bout of data related anger, I happened to reach for the wrong one. I caught my error before releasing a freshly squeezed glass onto all my work, but still... I need a break.

And just in the nick of time... Easter weekend!!! Sadly, this will still mostly be used for thesis related work, but at least I won't be back in the lab til Monday, and then IT'S THE FINAL STEP!!!! Yes, that's right... Fifteen more samples to process, about three hours of work, and I'm done forever!!! Then Wednesday I have to present. But really, that's not a big deal to me. I'm one of those few people who like doing powerpoint presentations in front of a group of random people. Plus there will be maybe two other people in the room who understand what I'm doing, so I won't have a lot of hard questions to answer.

That's my rant. Hopefully I won't be squeezing another orange anytime soon.

p.s.
Read the Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams. They're even better the second time, as I'm currently discovering. And Robert Johnson is the best bluesman ever to live.
That is all.

The final step...

2005-03-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

Well, it's finally over. The absolute last thing I have to do (except get my money back) for SciFormal 2004 is done... We put up our commemorative plaque. It's gigantic, about 5 times the size of any of the old plaques. The plaque goes inside the rafters of Grant Hall, and gets to stay there until they tear it down, which means probably forever. In case you don't know what SciFormal is, it's the Queen's Engineering Formal and it happens every year in November. It's a really big deal because we basically recreate a city, time, place, whatever, for the night in really amazing detail and have a huge main structure (appropriate to the theme) which is actually designed by Civil Engineering students. I was on committee this year, and, being a silly, artistic fool, I'm also an Art Manager for SciFormal 2005. Our theme was Paris, next year's theme is New York City.

2005-03-23T16:20:00.000-05:00

Yay! The Plaque!

Starting Fresh!

2005-03-23T11:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided to delete my old blog and start anew. The whole point of my old blog was to share pictures and stories about my time as a summer co-op student in Northern Ontario. Needless to say, I didn't do much work on it. I couldn't figure out if there was a way to add a separate photo gallery to my blog or anything, so I eventually gave up. Reminder: Engineer does not always mean computer savvy. However, having realized that more and more of my friends seem to be using these silly little things, I figured I'd give it another try. I suppose the worst that can happen is that I'll forget about it again.