Friday Favourites: Pingu and pancakes

For your Friday enjoyment....2 of my favourite things: pancakes and Pingu.



I will be the lab queen this weekend...but hopefully squeeze in a few pancakes too. My project is going OK, and I feel as though I just might keep it together long enough to make it through to June :)
AND, my bike is all tuned up and as soon as the rain stops (pretty please?) I can start riding to work. YAY.

Have a great weekend!

adorable

Mum & Dad...

I've been going through old photos, some of which I happened to take back from home when I was out there a few weeks ago. Dad would like a small slide show from some of the photos we have of Mum.

It's amazing to think of all Mum did, even before I came along. I mean, she had me when she was 40. I'm not even 40 yet and I feel like I've lived a whole life...and then came me and even more. It's strange to think of them doing and seeing so many things...so young. And so happy. Seeing pics of Mum and Dad years ago is fascinating - She had a pink coat to match our once pink car! My dad was once a hot young thing...

One most excellent gift from my Mum to us all was that she took and kept so many photos... Kept cards, art projects, gifts and crafts. I found a detailed article describing their wedding ceremony in 1960 in so many little details...the pieces of music played ("Oh Perfect Love" and "A Wedding Prayer" - played by Mrs. A.L. Tebbut!), mum wore a "floor length gown of tiered nylon net and lace over satin featuring a fitted bodice with straight cut neckline embroidered with iridescent sequins". She carried red roses... the fact that mum's mum's dress was light blue with yellow flowers, and dad's mum's was dusty rose... and they received a telegram from John Diefenbaker congratulating them!

She left on her honeymoon wearing a brown knitted suit with orange and brown accessories...so many little details that make a day...a sunny snowy day in March.

How annoying

My knee started twinging this morning while I was working out. Just for a minute, then it went away. It feels OK ,but now I'm paranoid. I've finally gotten to the point where I don't think about my knee anymore after healing up fromt he LAST time this happened.

Stupid *%$#$*! knee.
It has a thing about me getting into shape again. I picked this new program because it's supposed to strengthen your core muscles and prevent injuries.
I was doing so well. I just stepped up a level in the Core Prrformance program and it's hard...I'm quite stiff, but I'm doing my best. It's a challenge. The workouts are helping me burn off stress.

Here's hoping it doesn't stick and I can keep going, or I'm going to be miserable. Nothing kills a workout buzz like knowing you might have to sit for 6 weeks and do nothing. Again. For the 6th time.

Here's crossing my fingers...

Attack of the triffids

There is a rhubarb plant in my back yard. It was there when we moved in. Like the raspberries, which have died, it has been scrawny and small and generally gives me a mere single pie's worth of fruit in a year. I basically ignore it and get rhubarb from my mum in law instead. I love rhubarb...it's so tart. Put it in matrimony cake instead of dates and I'm all over it.

This spring it has rained (and rained...and rained) more than I can recall in years.

And guess what? That rhubarb plant is freaking HUGE. It's waist height and there is this massive centre stalk in it with a hugeass flower that looks like some sort of podule coming out of the middle of it. It hasn't been asking me to feed it yet or called me Seymour, but I'm absolutely fascinated by it. I didn't know rhubarb plants flowered. My mum had lots of them in the back yard and they never did that before. Apparently I'm supposed to remove it because it causes the plant roots and leaves to weaken...I'm guessing because it puts all it's oomph into making a flower instead.
Pity...it's so odd. I want to stare at it a few more days before I remove it. I'll be sure to snap a photo of it if it ever stop raining...

So lesson to me?
Water my rhubarb.

I'm looking forward to a summer of yummy muffins, pies and maybe even some jam. Mmmmm...

hooray for buddhism

A friend of a friend has had a sudden attack of Buddhism and has been giving away personal possessions he no longer wants or uses to people who will. Through him I have obtained the first 3 seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

I watched a few last night...it's so good to giggle uncontrollably ...:)

Captain Non-specfic

I have to start to train a summer student today. And I have no real topic. Nothing specific...just on "what we do around here...you know, in the lab?"

*sigh*

Sure thing. I'll get right on that...
I know it's what I get paid for, but sheesh...why sign up to train a student for the summer if you're going to just get someone else to do it?

Dirf Nader

My brother sent this to me. I'd forgotten about it...

"What else could get us out of this?"
"I know - a song and dance number..."

Cheesy, but it is worth it all to see Gonzo and to watch C3pO tap dance.

I *know* :)

The heart! The horrible beating heart!

source

Beautiful morning. Just walked to the work in the sunshine and counted geese and pelicans and gophers and sipped a mango peach strawberry smoothie.
Hello Monday. What's up? :)

The power of pure light

This week has been long and hard. 12-14 hour days...work and then my MSc - some things working, some things not. Lots of work. And despite this, there have been a number of great rewards to keep me going...In the middle of the week there was a crazy roadtrip to Calgary to hear a set by Shpongle. Mr Posford is the mind behind Shpongle, Younger Brother, Hallucinogen and the whole Twisted record label (there's a link on my sidebar...go on...check them out...)...and it was a grand show. He remixed songs from all his collaborative groups...it was very very good. I saw many great peoples I have not seen in a while and dance my ass off to fine music...then scurried home to dive back into things.

But even better than that, was Thursday.
On the U of S campus we have a 3rd generation synchrotron - the Canadian Light Source. I went on a tour of it when it was built almost a decade ago but I've been dying to have some reason to be in there and actually use it. The last month or so I've been collaborating on a research project, prepping samples for a cancer study and on Thursday I got to go tour the facility and then assist the main researchers in analyzing some samples at the mid range Infrared beam there. I could geek out with my knowledge of Infrared chemical analysis...and be in the freaking synchrotron...

My people...the synchrotron is FUCKING AWESOME. Seriously.
A ring of incredibly powerful light divided into functional wavelength units....low -IR through high X-ray. All in one giant facility with odd industrial machines and nooks and crannies all covered in tinfoil...

I got to wander to all main acessable areas and snoop about all the beamlines after. Fascinating stuff. There is even a biological beam line for study of proteins and live animals with visible range light. One of the biological lines was down and I could snoop in the room used for larger samples...it looked like a freaking space ship capsule in there. I did the happy dance. Right there. And the person showing me around knew exactly why....I have not geeked out like that in a long LONG time.

They let me wander and look at things...even a research lab where blue light harms their end product so the whole lab is bathed in orange light...how cool is that?

My most amusing thing from the facility was the poster by the biological beamline showing the layout and functionality of the beamline and where the sample would go...represented by a dog. Bizarre. And yes...you could put a dog in the beam. It would be OK. And you could study it's dogginess on the atomic level. I mean BAH! Craziness...

So yeah...I'm busy, but life keeps handing me cool things to keep me hanging on to the edge of sanity. On days like thursday I really really like my job :)
Tonight I'm going to see the Full Monty musical with a friend but before that I must be good and go to finally put the final coat of paint on my kitchen cupboard doors...I mean it's only been 4 months since we started the kitchen. I should probably stop wating precious time and finish that up, what?

Have a grand weekend everyone.
Geo out...

Amelie

Watched this again last night...wonderful.

Very few films have come close enough to my soul as this one...

I find it hard lately to squish a whole week of relaxation into one day...like I'm forcing myself to relax as MUCH as I can...stupid I know. I refuse to turn into one of those manic people I see out at clubs partying like it's 1999 and the end of the world all rolled into one night. Trickier than you'd think...everywhere you look there's "something to be done". I try my best to catch up on what I can and dutifully ignore the rest. Most times I'm successful. Most times.

Sunday was relaxing and lovely, lots of tasty foods, hiding from the (eternal and everpresent) rain indoors with J. Films like Amelie remind me of who I was (hopefully am still) and that this will end and soon I can go back to me...as just me. I am honestly not sure what I will do with all my spare time then.

Start a new cult? Invade Poland?

Hmm...so many choices...

Science!

Yes. Science is cool.
I try and remind myself of that when I'm in the lab 10 hours on a saturday...

Very good!

You give me so much at one time...
Yes I do...



Been in my head since I woke up...no clue why...

squishy escape

They're replacing the water mains in our neighborhood, so for the next little while we're all hooked up to alternate water sources by a tiny hose hooked into our back house tap. The main road is all dug up, but they're not getting too far as it's rained non-stop for the last week or so. Wet and squishy and cool...not any fun to be out in unless you're a duck. I'm hoping it lets up soon ...
To hook up the emergency water the poor guys had to crawl under our deck to get to the faucet on the house which is under our deck. There is a panel in the floor of the screened in deck to get to it, but they couldn't have hooked it up that way or the cats would get out. We had gone through the deck floor to turn the water on and then put the panel back in place with a weight on top of it. All was good (so we thought).

They got out anyways. Sneaky little guys.
Now that it's above 0°C the cats like to be out on the deck, even in the rain, sniffing and checking things out and napping on the chairs. They'll stay out for hours with no desire to come in. We don't have to worry about them being safe as they're screened in on the deck only -they are never allowed to wander about freely, as we're near a main road.
On saturday after watching Doctor Who we figured they had been out long enough and went to open the patio door and let them in...and they weren't there. At first I thought we'd let them back in and forgotten, but then I saw the motion light come on in the yard and I noticed a very very wet Gavin on the back step...he looked up when I called his name and meowed at me mournfully. I checked and sure enough they had somehow moved the weight and shoved aside the panel and climbed down under the deck to freedom.
...wet cold mucky freedom.

We went to the back door where both cats were huddling near the deck and back step... soaking wet and they ran into the house. They were fed treats and left to grumpily lick all the rain off their fur and snuggle into a warm duvet and dry off...
I'm hoping it's cured them of wanting to escape to the outside for a while!
Needless to say there is even more weighted junk on the access panel on the deck. They won't be getting out any time soon...
Now if I can just cure my cat Geek of his newly discovered love of howling for no reason...*sigh* He used to be such a quiet cat...