Apple cinnamon protein oats rock my world

I'm just sitting about waiting for a telephone meeting.
Do de do de dooo...
I was in at work until 10 last night and up until 2 last night finishing up the final (yay!) draft of evil paper #1. I have this evil 7AM phone meeting, so I slept in instead of working out today to get a whopping 4 hours of sleep. It was so nice to get a bit of sleep and strangely I am not as tired as I should be. I could steal the car today too, so when I'm done it's home...no waiting. :) After 30 minutes the meeting still isn't happening yet (*sigh*) but it will come. Today is going to be a long day again...

This morning I made an awesome hot breakfast for once - 1/2c oatmeal + 1 T wheat bran cooked in 1 c water with 1t vanilla and 1/2 t cinnamon. I stirred in a scoop of protein powder (vanilla or cookies and cream is good) when it came off the heat and served it up in a bowl with 1/4 c pure apple sauce, a splash of milk and 1 t maple syrup. Oh man....delicious apple cinnamon oats:) And now - a long day. I've got a paper to proof, a speech to write, cells to culture and a lot of labwork to do on top of my regular old day, so I'm off.
I hear the phone :) image

:)

Someone contacted me to let me know my buss pass (and another piece of ID I hadn't even known I'd dropped with it) were turned in for me.

I cannot say how pleased I am. Sometimes I wonder if we're fading as people...that we don't care for each other in the community anymore.
But some people still do.

:)

We're all out of the milk of human kindness

This morning somewhere between getting on my first bus and getting onto the bus I transfer at downtown my bus pass fell out of my pocket and onto the bus floor. I noticed when I went to get on my transfer. Bus guy was nice (I see him every day) and let me go back to the other bus, retracing my steps and ask around if anyone on the other bus (those who'd rode with me and those who'd gotten off to wait) had seen it or picked it up. Someone was sitting near where I had been and looked rather guilty but no one owned up to seeing it, so I'm SOL. There are only 2 days left in the month so I'm not really put out financially or anything. It just bothers me that someone could look me right in the face when I ask about it and deny having it.
Boo to you bus pass stealer. Boooooo - I hope you sincerely need it more than I do, because I don't like the sort of person you must be.
I have this faint hope in humanity that I'll call the bus station and someone will have turned it in to the driver...but it is very faint. Pity...

Other than that, I am working my face off, but for some reason I have been in a fantastic mood. I'm getting lots done and I'm still only Leonard Cohen sick so I feel pretty good. Yesterday was a 16 hour day at work with more work at home, but if I can keep this up I may survive this week after all. :)

Later taters...

Crunch time

I had a lovely day yesterday hanging out with J, eating pizza and watching Frisky Dingo and laughing like a kid. Saturday I worked a full day, but then got to dress up in full indian sari and go to a vegetarian banquet and then meet friends for drinks after. It was nice to be able to spend some time with J. He's finally feeling a lot better from his cold so we could spend some time together and relax. We both needed a day of chilling to prepare for a week of insanity...we'll both be very busy this week. This week will prove to me whether I can ride the line of nutsville without jumping in and wearing my tinfoil hat. Full on 17 hour days are here to get it all in. Yup -it's crunch time. I have 2 papers due, a speech on friday along with the "usual"- 9 cancer cell lines to grow and blocks to make plus work, plus PMS and I'm coming down with J's cold. After this, it will taper off a bit...data crunching and starting on my semester end meeting/report, to get some numbers from all my semester's work. Once these papers are done, I can focus more on my actual project. I'm wanting them to be A one perfect, but realistically I'll settle for grammatically correct and not sucky at this point. Just some solid work...proper referencing's been a real bitch for these things...

From my initial cold symptoms I feel not too bad -bit tired and I'm enjoying the fact that currently I sound like Leonard Cohen. It's amusing... I'm going to roll with it and I *WILL* make it thru this week. I'll just do all I can do, make sure I get enough sleep and I am all set with lots of healthy lunches and pumpkin carrot muffins (so goood). I'm just going to do all I can every day and then sleep the sleep of the dead and get up and do it all over again. If I have to skip workouts for sleep and rest I will...I just need to survive it.
One day at a time. I can do it. :)
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Smartypants

I am currently linked to my work PC via my netbook doing data analysis whilst emailing myself research to my Macbook, on which I type this, as well as my *ahem* long suffering quality paper.

I feel like the biggest smartypants around.

Should get back to that paper thing...

*sigh*

12 page summary articles are SOOO last year.
Think I could get an A for a good puppet show?
The puppets would have mustaches and everything...this wouldn't be a chintsy sock puppet affair. I'd go all out with marionettes and mood lighting.
There would be snacks...

No?
*sigh*
Set on the paper then eh?
Damn...

The horror. The horror...

Wow.
I am grateful this morning that J still has a job. The company he works for fired 500 people yesterday. 84 locally -Over half of the people employed here in Saskatoon are GONE. We figured something was up but we had no idea how massive the reorganization would be. J and his immediate coworkers are still there, but it is a very somber thing to see many people you know just immediately gone...it will not be the same place to work anymore. Two years ago they flew all the employees and their spouses to Calgary for the day for a dinner and concert. Yesterday this. How things have changed...
Today I am grateful.

Strength in numbers

You know, there are times when I feel like life is kicking me in the teeth...and yes, it does sometimes. But then I talk to someone else who is being buffeted by a large trebuchet full of iron filings and lead weights and I feel a bit weak for even commenting. Today even J today is going in to his job where bigwigs from high above are flying in for god knows what...it may be nothing...or it may be Something. I'm hoping when I get home he (and his friends at work) will have nothing other than a few ridiculous stories to tell me. Who knows?
And I've friends dealing with serious LIFE shit...strange irreversible and odd things that can't be ignored or stopped...just reacted to. I've been faced with things like that...like losing Mum...and I wish I had something to offer them. Give them something to cling to for encouragement, but I don't want to make up shit or pander to them...give them false hope. But I also don't want to worry them by saying too much. I want to tell them "nope...it's not easy. It hurts like hell ...but one day it just won't so much and you'll realise you're stronger than you ever dreamed you are-so don't give up. You'll get through. Somehow."
I've learned in the last few years that there are people out there who love me a lot. And I also know that from all the dark things I've had to face that I've gained immeasurable strength. I know that if the ones I care for ask (or even if they don't) that I'm there for them. If they can't walk I'll sit with them until they can. I'll carry them to a place they feel safe and fight off the dragons so they can be alone until they have the courage to come out again...because I had people do that for me. Even when I didn't know it.
Sometimes you need a cave...a sword...or a stiff drink and a shoulder to lean on. A megaphone to shout your anger and rage...a pillow to sleep on.

We're all in this together my good peeps. Let's roll it together :)

Skeezer Commando

J has gotten sick. Boo.
I am considering wearing a bubble suit to try and not catch it...no time to get sick right now.
We shall see...It's a coin toss really...I can try and use my biotraining at home, but I have no idea if it'll keep me form catching it. Here's hoping I avoid it at least until I'm through my cursed papers...

It's odd - to make sure I'm getting all my protein and nutrients as I work out and slave away at school I have been drinking protein shakes after I work out. As a reward for being a good little slave I splurged and bought some delicious higher quality protein shake stuff on the weekend. The cheap stuff was OK. This stuff comes in many flavours - I got cookies and cream flavour. MAN it's SO good...my reward for working out. Yum.
It's the little things :)

Here we go again.

Well, the crazy is still here, but after a weekend involving seeing a movie like a normal person (Paul - I recommend it) and lots of Guinness chocolate cupcakes (and Guinness) I feel somewhat restored. I talked to an old friend I haven't spoken with in ages, made waffles, had a nice nap in the sunshine, and talked to my Dad and heard him laugh. For now, that will do. Life does go on...it will come :)

This song certainly helps. It makes me smile every time I hear it...

Rage against the machine with a machete and a pitchfork and my teeth AND a pointed stick...

warning. extreme moods ahead....

I'm supposed to be working on one of the papers that I have due at the end of this month, but I just bloody well can't. I can't concentrate. I'm sitting at my desk at work so I can't quit for other things and I am just scattered and tired and annoyed with all this school business.
This weekend I (as usual) worked 10 hours on saturday, as well as hours after my daily job. Saturday I found that I zoned out and worked hard and wanted to be home so badly that I didn't call J to tell him when I'd be done...just doggedly wanted to be home with him. Worked and worked...as he waited and had no idea what was going on...just that I still wasn't home. It's like my brain is starting to revolt. I have to add common courtesy to my list of daily duties now because I do not trust myself to come up with it anymore - when I lack the ability to even call him to let him know I'll be here working later yet again...it is a wake up call to me to get my head out of my ass...because it's always that way it seems, but it doesn't make it OK. I know it hurt him that I, yet again, was working and not home when I'd hoped I would be. That school was again the Most Important Thing.
Yesterday I made the decision to not take an optional class in quality that was being offered for 8 weeks on sundays...it would have been a great learning opportunity, and benefit my thesis and career, but you know what? Fuck that. If I am so busy that I feel like my work is never ending and I spend all my free time off on sundays with J, often napping and snacking, why would I give up some of that preciousness for something I don't really need? Want yes... Need? ...no not enough to make it worthwhile.

I have wondered off and on today: when does Life become More Important than Living? How do I get so inexplicably wrapped up in duties that I feel like a 5 year old who built an awesome cushion fort that was so huge and awesome that once they went in and started to play they couldn't find their way out again? Scarey playtime until someone comes in to show me the path out...

*sigh*
I need to finish these papers dammit.
They are last academic requirement of my MSc. And they're both due in 3 weeks. On top of culturing 9 cancer lines, making cell blocks and trying to gather data from slides already done, I must take time off work to spend time to prepare my own method for cytospin analysis (because the one I was promised isn't actually real, by fucks sake). I also have slides from my first test run arriving this week for me to start to analyze-the real part of my project...and I'm not as excited as I should be...because I already have data to analyze. And I'm tired from reading 15 books and 48 journal articles after all the work of the day is done, jsut so I can write my Two Impossible Papers.
I've just been so bloody busy and I feel like I'm still accomplishing NOTHING. I know it will all come together eventually in a giant burst of Wow...but believe me when I say I feel right now like I've set off a bomb and I have to pick up all the pieces with a toothpick and crazy glue them together in order to move forward. Once I finish these 2 papers for my final reading course, it's just the remaining thesis and scientific work there for me to do on top of my job...I'm actually looking forward to it. To be done the labwork. I just have to get there.

I try and cook for fun on sundays... a little reminder of life. What *I* enjoy. Time with J napping in the sun. Playing with cats. Listening to the flaming lips while making coffee in the early morning on my way to the gym. Workouts are my one sanity. The one thing I've been able to get right in my time lately. I try and let it be the outlet for all my energy and stress so I can step back into my day and cater to the doctors whom I work for...do my regular job. Usually I delight in taking work home and going the extra mile...but I can't now. It's hanging on by scraps of nails and bits of twine in the hopes that in the end this will blossom into something amazing. Something to transform cancer diagnosis. The reason I started this in the first place. I can make a real difference.

For now I'll just have to stare at a blinking cursor and type my damn words words words one after another.
Nothing else for it.

Geo out.....

No coffee for me

This morning on my way to work, due to the great melting and wettening of 2011 I had to walk around a large lake in front of my building and up over a pile of ice to get to the front door. Needless to say I fell down, with the odd bruise and scrape as it is really dangerous and slick out.
I am fine really - more dissapointed that I spilled my coffee.
*sniff* I never even got a sip...

I alone have seen 8 people fall in the last few days. And what is work doing to adress the slippery patches all over campus after us all asking for sanding and filling out incident reports?
They sent out an email reminding us it's icy and that we should take care because we might fall.

Yeah. Thanks for coming out...

My sweet little nieces :)

Letter for help

This is from my friend Kyoka. She is from one of the cities hit by the tsunami in Japan, here studying in Canada. She sent it to me to post at work, but I feel compelled to post it here. I humbly ask that you read it. Thanks.


PLEASE HELP MY COUNTRY JAPAN

I think many people already know that Japan had a really big earth quake March 11th. We really need help now. You can help Japan, too. You can do fundraising through Red Cross. You can text or you can call. If you want to text, use number 30333. Then you can directly donate $5. If you want to call, the number is 1-800-418-1111.

After the Earthquake when I talked to my parents they said that it was really horrible. Some of the city was completely gone from the tsunami.

Please help us. We really need help from all over the world.

Einstein is doing bellyflops in his grave right now

On sunday, at the inlaws place, we were watching the news in the afternoon while supper was cooking. There was some live coverage on CNN about the nuclear reactors in Japan that were at risk after the earthquake. Despite some poor newscasting during which the host tried to freak out the viewers with suggested chernobyl like holocausts instead of giving information, they had a government nuclear advisor on for a bit but since there weren't a lot of details the guy refused to speculate and wasn't willing to make any inflammatory statements - just calmly stated the few facts and refused to speculate.
I guess it just wasn't enough for CNN.
After this the newscaster said that up next they were bringing in their "scientific advisor" to give us the "real science behind what was happening in Japan".

"Finally" I thought...until they announced who it was: Bill Nye.
Bill Nye the F*cking "Science Guy"...from kids TV on PBS.

I was livid.

Seriously? American people - do you realise that this is what your newspeople think of your intelligence? They think that you need a child science program host to dumb down nuclear science and potential nuclear meltdown disaster to "your level" - to spice it up and make it entertaining? Maybe make it more "wacky" for you?
Yes, technically he has a degree in engineering and yes he does a lot to raise interest in science for kids - I'm not knocking that.
But a scientific advisor on nuclear science for the masses?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!


...I left the room in disgust.

The Depth -Asymptotic

I am so pumped for my friend Jesse - his band The Depth have been working on an album for over a year and it is done and in the bag, and tonight is their CD release gig at a great local venue Amigos. A great local funky DJ The Gaff, is opening for them, and it promises to be a fine night. CFCR, our beloved local community station is sponsoring the show, because they too, are full of awesome sauce. :)Even if I didn't know Jesse and Aaron and think they were amazing people, their CD is really good. It's has an organic electronic rockish sound..a bit hard to describe. But Solid. Unique. 2 particular tracks Mother Ocean and Where You Are have gotten stuck in my head a lot lately, because - well - it's a damn fine album. Where You Are...is becoming one of my favourite songs period...who'd have thought? I shake my head sometimes that it's people I know making these sounds. :)

If you somehow hear of them coming to your town this summer, or happen to be at Motion Notion festival in Alberta, where I know they are playing, or can pick up or listen to their music, I highly recommend picking up the album. Especially track 10...:)

If you're anywhere about in Saskatoon, come by tonight and see them. It promises to be a great night!

Back to the future

This website, recreating old photos with the same people years later is very cool...vaguely creepy, but cool.

Days like this make me understand morning people a little bit

It's hardly even started and today is fantastic.
The bonus about getting up at stupid o'clock all week is that it makes getting up at 7AM quite nice. J got up with me and we had a quick breakfast and got in to the recycling depot when it opened to see no lineups and happy laughing workers and customers, with no grumbling, no rushing. Then we took our well earned bottle and can money to the farmers market and picked up some delicious wild boar apple and spice sausages along with some pear butter, 3 kinds of scones (mmm), lettuce and fresh potato bread. Best of all, I found the cute old mitten lady and got a replacement pair of warm fuzzy knitted mittens to keep me toasty warm through the rest of winter.
Now I have coffee and tasty snacks and I'm in to work all day Saturday on my MSc.
But you know what?
Today I really don't mind. Today has been good, and will be good. Oh yes :)
Tonight we'll hopefully be out to see some live music and tomorrow? No work at all.
I can hardly wait :)

Have a wonderful day everybody.

Pirate Bakery strikes again!

I have a new recipe I've created for oatmeal spice coconut muffins.
Check them out over at my foodie blog...I'm considering incorporating it back into this one.
Anyways...try them out. They are yummy.

Actually - this IS rocket science!

I'm very proud to work at the university I do. There are a lot of amazing research groups, the synchrotron and a cool program I just learned about: the CaNoRock program. Budding space scientists from the University of Saskatchewan and other Canadian universities participate with Norway's Andøya Rocket Range in a novel rocket research program.

This year in January the CaNoRock-3 exchange program took 3 students from U of S and others from the Universities of Alberta, and Calgary. Students got to enjoy the the challenge of real rocket science and work with other students and researchers from Norway. This year's team of 3 students and a prof had a great time, spending the week with their Norwegian colleagues learning to analyze rocket trajectories, integrate payloads such as instrument packages in their rockets, and analyze data.

Along with all the cool stuff they learned and did they designed, built and successfully launched of a full-scale student-built sounding rocket. The “Aurora Arrow” was launched on January 20 and reached an altitude of about nine kilometers in 35 seconds. The students then got to take all the data from the rocket and analyze it. An incredible experience. There's a blog about their time there this year here. It's pretty fascinating stuff...

I sure wish I had the brains for a program like this...I'm so glad educational initiatives like this exist internationally. THIS is how education and future design of rocket and space science should work. It's tweedley cool!

Go team :)

Geek out.

We are living in a cereal world and I am just a cereal girl

I *LOVE* cereal.

I don't know if it's the kid in me, or the leftover student, but by god nothing makes a better quick lunch than a bowl of cereal. Even at home, I'd be utterly content with it over lots of other things. Especially if there's fruit to add. In university I ate Cheerios, Corn Flakes and Miniwheats all the time. I love throwing All Bran in with other cereal, or tossing it in muffins. Then there's the whole dessert factor of my Mum always making the best Rice Krispie squares and puffed wheat squares. Mmmm. I was actually nicknamed the "Cheerio Kid" at my first lab job, as I had Cheerios and nectarines with milk all the time for lunch. I still have Roger's Light Raspberry Almond granola and yogurt a lot for breakfast and would (and have) run a 5K marathon just for a bowl of Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax granola. I still keep a box of Miniwheats or Fibre One Honey Clusters at work in case I get a hankering for cereal at lunch instead of my usual salad. It saves me on nights when I end up working really late on my project and can't wait until I get home for some food.

Today? I was a rushed day and I worked thru most of lunch, so I just popped in and had a quick big bowl of Fibre One with some All Bran tossed in and a banana sliced up, all with unsweetened Almond milk (I've found no one steals almond milk at work!).

And a cup of good strong tea.

Man - was the best lunch I've had in ages. :)

(and the most links :P )

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