sweet sweet forgiveness...

...I'll be the heron and you be the fox.

A sketch

ink pen on notepad (jan?2011)

Things I should get sick of...

...but never do:

1. ordering through the US and explaining where my province is.

2. teaching ecologists molecular biology.

3. doing price comparisons on scientific gear.

Flying Colourful Flags

I'm getting a new co-worker in a month.

Don't know who yet, but the candidates all look promising.

~East Coast Budget Style~

Academic Job Market

This is a screen capture from the HR link on my university site:

The abundance of term-only positions - where profs get little pay, shitty benefits and ridiculous workloads - is depressing. I want to apologize to my academic brethren because working in this environment has *got* to suck, and I'm sorry the economy is terrible enough that these positions still garner hundreds upon hundreds of applications. Gah.

zebra flooring

While away in Toronto we stopped by Lumber Liquidators to see their selection and found this interesting product called zebra bamboo. LL doesn't have the best reputation in the States but their selection was likely the most different compared to what is available in local stores around here. This zebra bamboo is a strand compressed bamboo flooring with a warm finish. We both really like it, but are hesitant to put bamboo in a century home.

The pros: It's a easily renewable wood product, within our budget and has presence (by that I mean it draws the eye forward along the dark stained sections, which is important since we are installing the flooring right from the front door down the entire length of the house basically). The cons: off-gassing from the finish, still more expensive than re-using some of our old softwood planks, discordant style compared to the age of the home.

I was disappointed in the board lengths of most of the products available through LL, but this bamboo was the exception. Part of me thinks this is my forever house so I should just do what I want with it, even if that means bamboo floor in a 100+ year old house. Well we got a sample so the next step is to beat the shit out of it to see if it withstands the abuse of dropped hammers, doggie nails & kiddie toys.

All Hail the Monarch

Ruling a kingdom is serious business. (Don't tell Beyonce or her garter-belt clad army, they might be embarrassed over their attire)

Science is kicking my ass today and all I want to do is leave for home, pack my bags and take my flight to Toronto. These things are probably related.

Rendez-Vous on cbc

Did you know Amelia Curran lives in Halifax? That she smoked? That she has blue hair?

Yeah, me neither.

(screen capture from video of Amelia Curran and Caracol on Render-Vous on cbc, which won't let me embed the "Viens vers moi" video).

To listen to clippets from her session above check out here.

And a slightly cheesy podcast translating the lyrics for some of these songs (skip to 28 minutes, worth listening to until around 38:00): CBC.ca | A Propos | May 15 & 21, 2011 - Brand new music

Idealistic thought: "We should improve the soil quality of our garden this year by spreading manure"

Reality: Shoveling shit in the rain for an hour on the weekend.

Idealistic thought: "We should eat locally produced and wholesome food as much as possible"

Reality: Fried dandelion greens with bacon, onions and garlic.

Idealistic thought: "If we train our students once in a big batch, we won't have to train them again"

Reality: Training all students twice.

Wildly flailing

In the car on the way to the lab late last night, "Candy Shop" by 50 cent came on. And I'm ashamed to say, I gave her, dancing in my spot in the car. Got to the lab, and re-listened on youtube along with Britney Spears and Gaga and other garbage. Full on. But THIS mashup is gold. I've listened to this ohhh...dozens of times.

Get a groove on, would ya.

I take it back

I tried on my "skinny" jeans after being measured on my last visit to the bootcamp gym. And they fit (just barely). So I guess the gym and I are friends again. I'm still going to try and self-motivate myself to visit the free on-campus fitness centre. (Zumba anyone?) Fashion inspiration from this model-thin 22 year old is probably not healthy, but damn I love her shoes. In an attempt to find myself a pair during the weekly thrift shop -50% sale I did come across a pair of satin peep-toe Steve Madden pumps in pristine condition, which I purchased for $5:
I don't know where I'll toter to in these, but is doesn't bloody well matter. Maybe Toronto, where I'll be headed next week?

wedding bells

My sister is getting married next year, and she is having a destination wedding. It will be my first time ever visiting an all-inclusive resort (this is the one). Are bikini bodies and free all-you-can-drink specials compatible?? We'll see!

Plot Plans

Our farmer reminded me that this time last year we couldn't plant veggie gardens because it was too dry. This year is just the opposite:



Rain all week. My scooter is sitting unused in the yard, waiting for the sunny summer days to arrive.

At least this year I'm a little ahead in terms of garden planning: the third bed has already been tilled once and I have a plot plan for which vegetables I'll be growing in each of the two beds we are using. The third will be planted with green manure - mixture of peas, vetch and some other nitrogen fixers to help increase soil fertility. This year I've included a few rows of kale, way more tomatoes (I've had to ration my frozen supply all winter) & more green beans (they did really well last year but still not enough). I'll plant the same number of zucchini and cucumber plants since we had enough to do pickles and store in our cold cellar for a bit of time. I've dropped the carrots entirely (soil too clay-like), the cabbage (whatever, I'll buy my locally grown cabbage from the store for 0.69 cents a pound), turnip and corn. I'll retry growing peas and golden beets because both of those were underperformers last year yet I love to eat them AND they cost too much to buy. The garlic bed is thriving with about twice as much garlic as last year (probably still not enough).

As for perma-landscaping around our yard, this year we are going to focus on berries. A bed of everlasting strawberries, and either blackberries transplanted from a friends' yard or domesticated raspberries (both if we are ambitious). Hubby wants to build a wood shed near the raised septic bed behind the barn. Eventually the mound of dirt will be camouflaged by tall raspberry/blackberry canes and a (timber-framed?) wood shed with no walls. We were inspired by our visit this weekend with friends who built a timber-framed strawbale house. Combined with all the dead trees we lost over the winter, we have dreams of constructing some useful outbuildings with the logs we salvaged from the fallen trees.

Inspiration picture: Back near the river by the strawbale house: plans for a second timber structure:


Our bees didn't make it through the winter and I think we could use more chickens so round two involves buying a new batch of each. Last year I thought having chicks around was really cute but now I'm not really into the idea of looking after them or cleaning up after them. The novelty wore off quickly, unfortunately those lovely buff orpington chickens are only avaible as day-old chicks so unless I want some nasty Rhode Island Red (they're mean, comparatively) then chicks it is.

My Relationship has Soured

On Friday I went to the gym and the trainer made me do something really really hard.

And all weekend I was unable to use my forearms or biceps to do anything at all.

I suffered acute pain that didn't need extension of muscle to trigger - even touching my arm hurt.

I winced in pain when my mother gave me a hug for Mother's Day ...then everyone laughed at me.

Yesterday (36 hours after assault), while drugged on advil (to allow me to, you know, reach above my head for a reagent or grasp a binder) I tried to put on my trench coat. It was too tight in the arms. GASP!

Gym Pro: added aerobic capacity, healthier heart
Gym Con: incapable of menial tasks at work due to soreness, not fitting into my skinny jeans OR my trench coat.

Time to try the on-campus fitness centre.

on the order of

I thought about this little tidbit over the last week: I would pay $5000 or trade 3 months of my life to be able to control what I dream about before going to sleep. There are caveats in this mystical pretend world of mine: I wouldn't want to trade mental health & stamina, or trade a peaceful death for a violent one.

I have vivid dreams and I remember them in great detail. It's exhausting and emotionally draining, and I fantasize about harnessing the power of my own brain to bring peace in my slumber. Wouldn't that be nice? Wake up the morning refreshed, having solved some problem or found insight into emotions you just couldn't ponder while awake. $5000 seems like a steal, actually.

Sergeant Major Molecular

This week is research bootcamp for the kiddies. In fifteen minutes I'll have about 20 minions and no discernible plan. Teach them autoclave safety, the theories behind f-stops/chemiluminesence/CCD cameras, polyacrylamide gels and ordering (among dozens of other subjects). A full week schedule with some help from other staff and faculty.

Hopefully this week of intensive training on appropriate scientific protocols and general lab politeness will help defray some of the annoyances I'm sure will pop up in the next two months.