"Gosh, I wonder how they managed to manufacture the capsule in one piece..."
I don't think I should be allowed to watch Contact any more.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Home again, home again
I did very little knitting in Pearson, surprisingly enough. Instead I found a random person who was in the same situation as me to talk to.
Flew home, went for coffee, collapsed into bed. Doctor's appointment the next morning for ear issues. Now cannot hear out of right ear at all. This is making for some interesting conversations with my parents. Was sad that I could not hear properly and thus could not indulge in the vast and varied collection of classical music (including a lot of Christmas music) that my mother owns.
I consoled myself with rum. Lots of rum.
Now trying to finish up an assignment, but it's getting dark and colder so I should head home soon since I don't want to walk across the park in the dark. I brought my iPod, but since I use my earbuds, and only in my left ear to allow me to hear... That renders me completely deaf for the walk home.
Time to bundle up and make the trek before there's another train.
Flew home, went for coffee, collapsed into bed. Doctor's appointment the next morning for ear issues. Now cannot hear out of right ear at all. This is making for some interesting conversations with my parents. Was sad that I could not hear properly and thus could not indulge in the vast and varied collection of classical music (including a lot of Christmas music) that my mother owns.
I consoled myself with rum. Lots of rum.
Now trying to finish up an assignment, but it's getting dark and colder so I should head home soon since I don't want to walk across the park in the dark. I brought my iPod, but since I use my earbuds, and only in my left ear to allow me to hear... That renders me completely deaf for the walk home.
Time to bundle up and make the trek before there's another train.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Going Home
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I am about to embark on what is possibly the dumbest idea I have ever had.
I'm spending most of tomorrow in Pearson's T3. Come say hi if you're on your way through.
I'll be the one knitting.
I'm spending most of tomorrow in Pearson's T3. Come say hi if you're on your way through.
I'll be the one knitting.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Counting the hours
I have one more day left of work here in Sudbury. In January I'll be back in school for another four months.
It's been a good term, despite the dental fiasco in the middle and the ongoing insistence of my landlord and his wife to treat me like their child.
Tomorrow I will go to work, compile the references for my work report and finish off the spec I have been working on for the past month. When I get back to the house I will pack what little there remains to be packed, write a note to my housemate, let my landlord know I am leaving, and wait until 2230, when I can leave for the bus station.
In less than 48 hours I will be home, assuming all goes well. Home.
To all who may be reading - Best wishes to you over the holidays. Stay safe. Have fun. Enjoy the snow.
It's been a good term, despite the dental fiasco in the middle and the ongoing insistence of my landlord and his wife to treat me like their child.
Tomorrow I will go to work, compile the references for my work report and finish off the spec I have been working on for the past month. When I get back to the house I will pack what little there remains to be packed, write a note to my housemate, let my landlord know I am leaving, and wait until 2230, when I can leave for the bus station.
In less than 48 hours I will be home, assuming all goes well. Home.
To all who may be reading - Best wishes to you over the holidays. Stay safe. Have fun. Enjoy the snow.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Well that was different
For a change, I finished my Giftmas shopping today. Normally I leave it until the last possible minute, but not this year.
I still have some small stuff to get, some knitting to finish up, but the big stuff is out of the way. Now all I have to do is pack and write my work report.
I still have some small stuff to get, some knitting to finish up, but the big stuff is out of the way. Now all I have to do is pack and write my work report.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
So I got bored this weekend
Not only am I easily amused, but I also have a rather ridiculous amount of yarn to use up in the next little while. This is not helped by the fact that I just bought wool for a Sekkrit Projjekt (tm) and have to move again in the next month. Among my pile of yarn I have some 100% cotton. Great for dishrags.
I also have a housemate. Can you see where this is going?
I put off doing PDEng for this. TOTALLY worth it.
This is my dishrag, in all it's red and white glory. It's going to my housemate. I'll knit one for myself later, once I finish up the Giftmas presents.
It LOOKS like a brick wall, but it's a little too soft to bang your head . So I wore it as a hat instead.
Why yes, I did have too much coffee today. However did you guess?
I also have a housemate. Can you see where this is going?
I put off doing PDEng for this. TOTALLY worth it.
This is my dishrag, in all it's red and white glory. It's going to my housemate. I'll knit one for myself later, once I finish up the Giftmas presents.
It LOOKS like a brick wall, but it's a little too soft to bang your head . So I wore it as a hat instead.Why yes, I did have too much coffee today. However did you guess?
Monday, November 12, 2007
A day late, but never a dollar short.
In 2005 I had the privilege of being in Ottawa for November 11th. I went to the ceremonies at the National War Memorial and later in the day wandered down to the War Museum. I took both these photos - the first of the Canadian Peacekeeping Monument and the second of Canadian War Memorial - in December that same year.
And so, in keeping with a tradition I started on LJ:
In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amidst the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
~Lt. Col. John McCrae
Lest we forget.Saturday, November 3, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Epic Saga of My Wisdom Teeth Part 1
Disclaimer: Everything that follows is absolutely true. Really. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.
The events of this past week need to be documented for eternity. In any case, I’m sure it will provide at least some entertainment to anyone who happens to stumble on it.
Last weekend I was down in Waterloo to visit friends and play for Naismith with the Band. Very very early Sunday morning, I got up, rolled off the couch, got ready to leave to catch the bus and proclaimed that I felt like I was coming down with something. This was attributed to the fact that I had had less than three hours of sleep.
Turns out that I was indeed coming down with something.
On the insanely long bus ride from Toronto to Sudbury, my mouth started to hurt. I brushed it off.
Monday. Monday was the day I discovered that Advil would make the pain go away and allow me to function relatively normally. Unfortunately for me I didn’t discover this until after I got home from work. I also bought popsicles. They were tasty. I decided that if my mouth wasn’t better in the morning then I would phone the dentist that a guy at work had recommended to me and get in ASAP, because I was fairly sure this was an infected wisdom tooth.
At this point we noticed that the fridge wasn’t very cold, so we turned up the compressor and went to bed. We being my housemates and I.
Tuesday morning, I phoned the dentist, grabbed my trusty bottle of Advil, and went to work. The earliest time I could get in was Wednesday morning.
Finished up at work, walked home cursing my teeth all the while, then went to grab a popsicle. And discovered that I didn’t have any more. What I had instead was bags of liquid with sticks in them.
Yup, the fridge had gone to that big gourmet kitchen in the sky. I had earlier decided that due to my continuing dependence on Advil to function at a somewhat reasonable level, I would skip karate and take a nap. Karate is awesome, but so are naps, especially when an accidental light punch (or kick) in the face would have you on the floor whimpering like a guy who's just taken a direct hit to, erm, sensitive areas.
Instead I spent the evening throwing out spoiled meat and coming up with interesting combinations of curse words. So much for my nap.
The dentist was Wednesday. Was given a prescription for what I consider to be large amounts of penicillin and told to haul ass to the nearest pharmacy. Bear in mind that I’ve only had penicillin twice in my life before this, and was considered to be allergic for quite some time. However, I did have an allergy test for penicillin and was declared able to take the stuff. No problems there.
Until I discovered that taking penicillin left me with heartburn, mild nausea, and shortness of breath when climbing stairs. Not hard exercising, CLIMBING STAIRS.
I waited Thursday to see if the side effects would go away. They didn’t, and my teeth still hurt. I skipped karate again.
Now this is the best part of the whole deal.
Friday morning I phoned the dentist I had originally gone to. She offered to phone in a stronger antibiotic, but I said I would think about it, since up until now nobody had actually told me what was going on and I wanted a second opinion.
That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was phoning the local dental association to see who was on call that day. The receptionist there gave me a number, I called and they said to come in as soon as possible.
My third mistake was actually going.
I walked into this guy’s office. The building was in downtown Sudbury, and several other offices in there were vacant. Walked into his office, and I SWEAR it was straight out of the fifties. I could not for the life of me shake the feeling that I had stepped into a James Herriot story. The magazines were recent but that’s about it. Explained what was going on, that the antibiotics weren’t working and I wanted a second opinion. Dentist-guy, who looked at least 60, took a look.
It’s an infected wisdom tooth alright. So he wanted to take an x-ray to make sure it wasn’t impacted.
You know how dental film has that tab on one side that you can bite down on to hold it in place while taking the x-ray? None of that for this guy! No, I had to hold the film in place while he ran out of the room and took the x-ray. This was AFTER he had jammed it in my already sore mouth.
Every time I go to the dentist, I gag ONCE on the film. Then I’m fine. I tried to warn this guy. I really did.
Then the kicker:
“It’s not impacted. If you want, I can freeze you and take IT OUT RIGHT NOW! No problems!”
Now, if there is one thing I am absolutely terrified of, it is needles in my mouth. Just regular needles I can usually handle, but not in my mouth. My regular dentist knows this and tries to work around it whenever he possibly can. My reply was remarkably restrained.
“HELL NO.”
“Don’t worry about the needle! I’ve done HUNDREDS of these! I can handle WHATEVER YOU THROW AT ME!”
“You are not coming ANYWHERE NEAR ME with a needle. Apart from the fact that I will have a panic attack in this chair if you try and freeze me, I need to check what my insurance will cover. No, sir, if I have my wisdom teeth out anytime soon, I want sedation.”
“Well, if you want a general anesthetic, you need to book now because you’ll need to go to the hospital for it and I don’t deal with the hospitals any more, they keep…”
He continues in this vein for some time. At this point my well-honed bullshit alarm is going off and has been for some time. I told him I needed to check insurance, paid my bill and walked back to work.
Since I had obviously been fairly upset, D wandered over to my cubicle. D asked how it went, and I told him. Then J wandered over. When he found out who I had gone to, the first thing out of his mouth was:
“Isn’t that the guy who used to be the vet?”
I called the first dentist I had gone to that afternoon and got my prescription changed to something that was not penicillin.
I woke up this morning (Saturday) feeling much, much better, and I’m no longer having to take Advil. The wisdom teeth will have to come out eventually, probably this Christmas, but I’m sure that when they do there’ll be another interesting story or two.
The events of this past week need to be documented for eternity. In any case, I’m sure it will provide at least some entertainment to anyone who happens to stumble on it.
Last weekend I was down in Waterloo to visit friends and play for Naismith with the Band. Very very early Sunday morning, I got up, rolled off the couch, got ready to leave to catch the bus and proclaimed that I felt like I was coming down with something. This was attributed to the fact that I had had less than three hours of sleep.
Turns out that I was indeed coming down with something.
On the insanely long bus ride from Toronto to Sudbury, my mouth started to hurt. I brushed it off.
Monday. Monday was the day I discovered that Advil would make the pain go away and allow me to function relatively normally. Unfortunately for me I didn’t discover this until after I got home from work. I also bought popsicles. They were tasty. I decided that if my mouth wasn’t better in the morning then I would phone the dentist that a guy at work had recommended to me and get in ASAP, because I was fairly sure this was an infected wisdom tooth.
At this point we noticed that the fridge wasn’t very cold, so we turned up the compressor and went to bed. We being my housemates and I.
Tuesday morning, I phoned the dentist, grabbed my trusty bottle of Advil, and went to work. The earliest time I could get in was Wednesday morning.
Finished up at work, walked home cursing my teeth all the while, then went to grab a popsicle. And discovered that I didn’t have any more. What I had instead was bags of liquid with sticks in them.
Yup, the fridge had gone to that big gourmet kitchen in the sky. I had earlier decided that due to my continuing dependence on Advil to function at a somewhat reasonable level, I would skip karate and take a nap. Karate is awesome, but so are naps, especially when an accidental light punch (or kick) in the face would have you on the floor whimpering like a guy who's just taken a direct hit to, erm, sensitive areas.
Instead I spent the evening throwing out spoiled meat and coming up with interesting combinations of curse words. So much for my nap.
The dentist was Wednesday. Was given a prescription for what I consider to be large amounts of penicillin and told to haul ass to the nearest pharmacy. Bear in mind that I’ve only had penicillin twice in my life before this, and was considered to be allergic for quite some time. However, I did have an allergy test for penicillin and was declared able to take the stuff. No problems there.
Until I discovered that taking penicillin left me with heartburn, mild nausea, and shortness of breath when climbing stairs. Not hard exercising, CLIMBING STAIRS.
I waited Thursday to see if the side effects would go away. They didn’t, and my teeth still hurt. I skipped karate again.
Now this is the best part of the whole deal.
Friday morning I phoned the dentist I had originally gone to. She offered to phone in a stronger antibiotic, but I said I would think about it, since up until now nobody had actually told me what was going on and I wanted a second opinion.
That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was phoning the local dental association to see who was on call that day. The receptionist there gave me a number, I called and they said to come in as soon as possible.
My third mistake was actually going.
I walked into this guy’s office. The building was in downtown Sudbury, and several other offices in there were vacant. Walked into his office, and I SWEAR it was straight out of the fifties. I could not for the life of me shake the feeling that I had stepped into a James Herriot story. The magazines were recent but that’s about it. Explained what was going on, that the antibiotics weren’t working and I wanted a second opinion. Dentist-guy, who looked at least 60, took a look.
It’s an infected wisdom tooth alright. So he wanted to take an x-ray to make sure it wasn’t impacted.
You know how dental film has that tab on one side that you can bite down on to hold it in place while taking the x-ray? None of that for this guy! No, I had to hold the film in place while he ran out of the room and took the x-ray. This was AFTER he had jammed it in my already sore mouth.
Every time I go to the dentist, I gag ONCE on the film. Then I’m fine. I tried to warn this guy. I really did.
Then the kicker:
“It’s not impacted. If you want, I can freeze you and take IT OUT RIGHT NOW! No problems!”
Now, if there is one thing I am absolutely terrified of, it is needles in my mouth. Just regular needles I can usually handle, but not in my mouth. My regular dentist knows this and tries to work around it whenever he possibly can. My reply was remarkably restrained.
“HELL NO.”
“Don’t worry about the needle! I’ve done HUNDREDS of these! I can handle WHATEVER YOU THROW AT ME!”
“You are not coming ANYWHERE NEAR ME with a needle. Apart from the fact that I will have a panic attack in this chair if you try and freeze me, I need to check what my insurance will cover. No, sir, if I have my wisdom teeth out anytime soon, I want sedation.”
“Well, if you want a general anesthetic, you need to book now because you’ll need to go to the hospital for it and I don’t deal with the hospitals any more, they keep…”
He continues in this vein for some time. At this point my well-honed bullshit alarm is going off and has been for some time. I told him I needed to check insurance, paid my bill and walked back to work.
Since I had obviously been fairly upset, D wandered over to my cubicle. D asked how it went, and I told him. Then J wandered over. When he found out who I had gone to, the first thing out of his mouth was:
“Isn’t that the guy who used to be the vet?”
I called the first dentist I had gone to that afternoon and got my prescription changed to something that was not penicillin.
I woke up this morning (Saturday) feeling much, much better, and I’m no longer having to take Advil. The wisdom teeth will have to come out eventually, probably this Christmas, but I’m sure that when they do there’ll be another interesting story or two.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried
On of my wisdom teeth has been bothering me lately, to the point where I can tell you exactly where the bottle of Advil is at any time of the day whether or not I've had my coffee yet. In an attempt to stay off painkillers if at all possible, I bought a box of what were some tasty popsicles yesterday.
I say were, because they are no more, and no, I didn't eat them all.
The fridge died.
Pretty much everything in there was ruined. Including my popsicles.
Back to the Advil.
I say were, because they are no more, and no, I didn't eat them all.
The fridge died.
Pretty much everything in there was ruined. Including my popsicles.
Back to the Advil.
Friday, October 5, 2007
I need home for a rest...
I'm going to the Sault for Thanksgiving.
I'm leaving very very early tomorrow.
I haven't started packing yet.
I'll be back Tuesday.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
I'm leaving very very early tomorrow.
I haven't started packing yet.
I'll be back Tuesday.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Friday, September 28, 2007
I've been taking martial arts - karate - for my past two school terms, and I've managed to find a dojo up here in Sudbury. I'm finding karate more and more enjoyable as I progress, and I hope to continue with it for a long time.
But it does make for an interesting day at work when you stiffen up around noon the day after a class. Especially since I've been spending my days sitting bent over drawings on my desk.
Hopefully I won't be as stiff tomorrow, I'm thinking of exploring a park on a lake.
But it does make for an interesting day at work when you stiffen up around noon the day after a class. Especially since I've been spending my days sitting bent over drawings on my desk.
Hopefully I won't be as stiff tomorrow, I'm thinking of exploring a park on a lake.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
How To Buy Safety Boots
My job this co-op term will require some site work on my part, and because I work in heavy industry, I needed to get special safety boots. The only thing that's special about them is that there's an extra bit of metal in them that most safety boots don't have, but considering I'm rather attached to my feet, well, I'm kind of glad it's there.
Considering where I am, you'd think that finding these safety boots in a reasonable range of sizes, if not styles, would be pretty easy. And it is.
Except I'm female. Therefore the procedure is as follows:
1. Go to local safety store. Get all other required safety equipment, ask about boots.
2. Discover that there is precisely one pair of boots in your size.
3. These are, of course, men's boots, and very very wide.
4. Try them on anyways.
5. Put boots on hold until you can phone large national chain to see what they have.
6. Go home, phone chain, discover all they carry are men's sizes.
7. Since you have nothing better to do, go to chain store anyways, just in case they have something in your size.
8. Discover that they don't. Unless your feet have suddenly become boats.
9. Go to bookstore. Buy knitting reference book and chocolate. Contemplate rum.
10. Try and take bus back to local safety store. Get off bus several stops too early, in what is clearly a sketchy part of town.
11. Walk along highway to store, only to find out you got there 15 minutes after closing.
12. Go back the next day at lunch. Buy original pair of boots.
Sigh. Such is life.
Considering where I am, you'd think that finding these safety boots in a reasonable range of sizes, if not styles, would be pretty easy. And it is.
Except I'm female. Therefore the procedure is as follows:
1. Go to local safety store. Get all other required safety equipment, ask about boots.
2. Discover that there is precisely one pair of boots in your size.
3. These are, of course, men's boots, and very very wide.
4. Try them on anyways.
5. Put boots on hold until you can phone large national chain to see what they have.
6. Go home, phone chain, discover all they carry are men's sizes.
7. Since you have nothing better to do, go to chain store anyways, just in case they have something in your size.
8. Discover that they don't. Unless your feet have suddenly become boats.
9. Go to bookstore. Buy knitting reference book and chocolate. Contemplate rum.
10. Try and take bus back to local safety store. Get off bus several stops too early, in what is clearly a sketchy part of town.
11. Walk along highway to store, only to find out you got there 15 minutes after closing.
12. Go back the next day at lunch. Buy original pair of boots.
Sigh. Such is life.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Introduction
Welcome. I set up this blog as a way for family and friends to keep track of me as I move around the country for co-op and school. I've had another blog for the past three years, but I decided it was time to set up something a bit more formal
I hope you enjoy hearing about my (mis)adventures; the past three years of university have been interesting to say the least, the next three years can only get funnier.
I hope you enjoy hearing about my (mis)adventures; the past three years of university have been interesting to say the least, the next three years can only get funnier.
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