gastric pits and intestinal crypts fool

I was taught a month ago
to bide my time and take it slow
but then i learned, just yesterday
to rush and never waste the day
now i'm convinced the whole day long
that all i learn is always wrong
and things are true that i forget
but no one taught that to me yet
-Phish, Character Zero

Erin talked about this SNL Digital Short on her blog the other day. It's called Lazy Sunday. I find it most awesome.

plexi and the like

In Western societies a normal mass is considered to be <200g/day>200g and 70-90% water is usually perceived by that patient as diarrhea.

-Dr. Chris Macintosh, GI Block- Week 3

I missed writing and wanted to put up a little post to say....

I'm studying! School is almost done for this term and I'm fully geared up and in exam study mode. I've decided I should at least try to cram all this information in the ol cranium. Because, you know, patients often come in with their feces in a graduated cylinder. Makes you wonder what poor summer student had to conduct that bit of research.

Anyhow, this is why I haven't been blogging. No one wants to read about this.

prosaic edification

Would you complain because a sunset doesn't have a future?
-Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

Recently I discovered the chess game on my computer when I was looking for some other application. I set the difficulty low enough for me to be able to win and I've slowly inched it up over the last couple of games. It's nice to play a game that seems only limited by your own computational capacity. Also, last Christmas my dad beat me at a game of chess I had been dominating him in throughout and then proceeded to gloat for an hour. You could say I'm in training.

The snow is still here but will apparently leave us soon. It's been awesome while it's lasted, breaking routine and creating a little excitement, like an instant vacation. Also I enjoy making fun of this city for being so unable to handle it. Other cities I've lived in are sooooo much tougher. Take that Vancouver, you have no idea what I've seen.

abominable snowperson

The fundamental question is, will I be as effective as a boss like my dad was, and I will be. Even more so. But until I am, it's gonna be hard to verify that I think I'll be more effective.
-Ray Abruzzo, Sopranos

Apparently, this quote is based on a statement made by dubya before becoming president.

I use convenience store bought phone cards to call long distance on my cell phone. Overall, I reckon it’s a relatively cheap way to talk if you don’t have an internet phone. There are numerous problems with this system however. Let me count the ways.

1. Excessive keypadding. You have to dial 32 numbers before you get to talk to anyone. Approximately 25% of the time, I forget I don’t need to dial “1” or the circuits are busy or something, therefore increasing the average number of keys touched to be more like 39 per call. Oi.

2. The Password Dig. You have to scrape off a protective coating to reveal the password on the card you buy. Unfortunately, the cards are cheap and it can be difficult to remove the silver without also removing those precious digits underneath. Sometimes I feel like an archeologist, using a variety of instruments to try and coax the secrets from an ancient manuscript.

3. Ethical Ambiguity. I once saw this episode of Sopranos where Tony and the gang ran a fraudulent scheme, selling phoney phone cards. Also, I’ve heard that they are way for the Hell’s Angels to launder money. It’s probably not true, but I somehow can’t get over the feeling like these companies are full of sketchy people.

4. Replacement Scams. When you run out of money on your card, you have to go buy a new one. Or do you? I noticed a number on the back of the card that allows you to add moolah using your credit card. After waiting on hold for 5 minutes and giving the dude my card info, he wants to know my address. He wants to know my phone number. He wants to know the 3 little extra security digits on the back of the card. Umm, thanks, but I’m not sure I trust BRAVO! Phonetime with all my earthly details.

salubrious salutations

Say, any you boys Smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, are you otherwise trained in the metallurgical arts before straightened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

-George Clooney, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Another successful weekend in Vancouver for me.

Friday night Jordan, Sarah and I tried to hit the Tenacious D movie Pick of Destiny, but were foiled by excessive traffic and a lack of parking. Again, cities are lame. We ended up renting O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a favourite of mine. Someone has described it as "the soundtrack being the product and the film the wrapping paper", which I thought was apt. I don't really enjoy the "down-homie" style of music usually, but the movie and music work so beautifully together.

It's puking outside now. Pretty awesome actually, but I'm a little worried about getting to school tomorrow. Biking is out at any rate. Last year when it snowed, I figured that shouldn't stop me from riding. It was fine at the bottom of the hill, but once I got to the endowment lands, my skinny hybrid tires did not handle the slush very gracefully. I made it without a spill, but I wouldn't count on that again.

Definitely the snow is making me think about getting home for Christmas and therefore, the amount of work I must do before that. Panic. Panic. Panic. End of Post.

blank

I say I want someone else to stand behind me and write it all down
'cause I can't be bothered doing it myself
and I don't want the responsibility of proving its importance
-Barenaked Ladies, This is Where it Ends

I reckon about half of my thoughts get lost somewhere.

Despite the fact that it's still raining and it's still november, I'm feeling alot more into school these days. I had a good chat with Erin on Sunday and she insinuated I might be having a case of the "November Blahs". I guess realizing the transient nature of our moods was enough to improve mine.

Jordan moved in last night. It was pretty easy as he travels pretty light. Although upon coming home today I see he has an unfinished coffee table in his room now. I'm pretty sure it's his thesis (he took a degree in "wood engineering"). I hope he finishes it so we can use it soon. It looks sweet.

Rob (Trevor's sailing partner), who lived on our couch for a month left us a card and bottle of wine when he left. I thought it was pretty considerate until I opened the card.....and a wad of cash fell out! We weren't expecting anything at all so it was a pretty nice surprise. Now all Sarah and I have to do is decide what to spend it on. We made a deal that it had to be something fun that we could both enjoy. She suggested a new pair of heels.

chargin' the freshies

Brain : "I shall pollute the water supply with this DNAdefibuliser, turning everyone into mindless slaves."
Pinky : "What about the people who drink bottled water?"
Brain : "Pinky, people who pay 5 dollars for a bottle of water are already mindless slaves."

-Pinky & The Brain

I went up to Whistler on saturday with Trevor and met up with Cortney and Trish. Although I think my attitude has improved from the days my dad used to have to coax me away from saturday morning cartoons, I'm usually still a little reluctant to get up on the mountain. Snowboarding is an expensive sport. Never mind maintaining the appropriate gear, once you own the board/bindings/boots/jacket/pants/googles, you still have to pay $75 just to use it. Also, living in Vancouver, getting there and back usually makes the whole episode a 12 hour adventure.

Sometimes though, when the conditions are right, it's all worth it. Saturday was opening day and we managed to hit quite a bit of untouched pow-pow gnar-gnar. It was great to spend the day with Trev before he takes off to Miami for 3 months tomorrow.

We were meant to go out Saturday night and party it up, as we rarely do that anymore and wanted to have a bit of a fiesta to send Trevor on his way, but several events conspired to make the night a bust. I would go into the details, but I think I would be just about as bored writing about them as you would be reading them. That's' the thing with cities sometimes, there are a million and one great things to do, but you have to wait in line, fight the crowds and then pay an excessive amount of money to do them.

Sunday was a day of sleep, laundry, phone calls and procrastination, as it should be. Three weeks to go before end of term!

knee burn

Dude, rain is totally a state of mind
-Miles Estey

Miles and I were talking about the fact that maybe people care a little too much about getting wet, when really, it's not so bad, especially if it's en route to somewhere warm, as it almost always is. Really, though, maybe it's Hollywood and the rampant pathetic fallacy that has been socialized into us, but just as my outlook affects how I perceive rain, rain certainly affects my state of mind.

I always try to remember that old prayer about not worrying so much. It's something about asking for the power to change the things you can, the ability to accept the things you can't change and the wisdom to know the difference.

I am wise enough to know that I can't change the weather, but that hasn't been stopping me from feeling the effects of constant downpour. I mean, never mind the fact that the turbid tap water is becoming increasinly siltalicious by the hour, it's just a drag to have to suit up to leave the house. I'm not talking about a little sprinkle here. It's been pouring relentlessly.

I guess, if you believe that global warming is causing some of the weirder weather we seem to be experiencing, then maybe this is something we can change, and I should just be praying for more power to effect change. Either that or praying for Tenacious D to realize their ambitions and rule the world as two kings (the second decree: no more pollution, no more car exhaust. or ocean dumpage, from now on we will all travel in tubes!.....get the scientists working on the tube technology).

Anyhow, blah, blah, blah, the rain sucks.

snap!

She waters down the rain when I get home
-Gomez, Hangover

Just hung the two posters I had framed. All in all, I'd have to say they look posteriffic, minus the fact that they are slightly different sizes. Regardless, two great mementos from two great shows.

I have been playing ultimate since last year with the med intramural team- Rubber Glove Treatment. Ultimate is a great game because there is no refereeing involved, each player being responsible for upholding the spirit of the game. This doesn't mean teams always love eachother, but all in all, it makes for a much more amicable style of play. Players decide whether they were really in or out when they caught the frisbee, call fouls themselves and usually applaud a great play, regardless of what team made it. For me, this is really important, as I get quite bothered when teams really hate eachother. When I have played intramural soccer, for example, it always seemed that some men joined in order to vent a little testosterone on the field. Tensions often escalated and the teams just started going after one another, aiming to hurt. Anyhow, that's why I like Ultimate, it helps to tease out competition from aggression. You can have a hard fought game without having to pretend that the other team are a bunch of assholes, coming to town to try and steal the women.

Yesterday's games were alot of fun. Despite being creamed in the second game, we made some good plays and had a fun time. I had been looking for the right opportunity to really lay out and it came yesterday. The grass was just wet enough for me to jump forward, superman styles, catch the disc and slide into the end zone. Magic!

Here's a picture of our team after winning in the finals last year at BC Place.

mauve is the new pink

Beware the young doctor and the old barber
-Benjamin Franklin

Well, I did it. I returned the jacket. After finally making the decision to keep it yesterday, I reversed it this morning and returned it to the store and got my 282 dollars back. The trick will now be to suppress my desires for a million other drops in the bucket of the PLC, that I might try to convince myself that I "deserve".

Enough about that.

I had a great day at family practice yesterday. As you may or may not know, I have been leaning towards doing family practice when I graduate. I think it's the best fit for my personality style and goals and dreams for the future. Unfortunately, going out to our family practice placements can be less than inspiring, depending on who your preceptor is. Anyhow, last week, it was all chronic pain and psychiatric concerns. Now, I know that if you don't want to deal with this sort of thing, you shouldn't really be thinking about being a GP, but it can really frustrating when you are a student, as you often feel like the patient's problems are not being properly addressed. This week was much better. Seeing some interesting pathology and witnessing a delivery for the first time helped.

da pineapple juice

Trying to speak about reality is like trying to send a kiss through a messenger
-Anonymous

Apparently the weather we are experiencing in Vancouver these days is the result of some weather system called "The Pineapple Express". I've been enjoying riding through large puddles on my bike and thouroughly soaking myself on the way to school. People often get surprised when they notice that you still commute in downpours. Really though, I change when I get to school and show up much drier than all the other bozos that drive or take the bus. I am kind of tired of the puddles in my shoes though, and today I confirmed my suspicion that MEC is sold out of shoe covers, so for the time being, my room will continue to smell shoe-da-licious.

I recently bought a new winter jacket on impulse. We were walking down 4th and stopped in to look for a fleece for Courtney. I found this nice Northface soft shell jacket that actually fit my unusually long torso. I had been thinking that it would be nice to find a jacket that looked semi-respectable so I could blend in with the other doctor wannabe clones. Anyhow, as you may already be gathering, this sparked a bit of an internal debate. I couldn't (can't) decide whether or not I can justify spending $250.00 on something that I can't really say that I "need". Society keeps telling me that I should keep it....I just don't know whether or not to listen. I won't get into the back and forth that is still going on in my head about this dumb jacket, but it highlighted to me yet again how when my life is running along smoothly, I can spend alot of psychic energy pondering relatively insignificant decisions.

Oh now I remember why I started telling that embarassing story....
Anytime I have a difficult time making a decision, I eventually end up at THE MEANING OF LIFE. I try and reason my way out of things that don't respond well to that instrument and ultimately arrive at the ultimate question.

And so I did something that Erin did for me once when I was at the same spot some time ago. I googled it. I'm not sure if the site that I found is the same one she found, but it's an interesting read. Well, it was for me. It didn't really solve anything, of course, least of all my jacket woes, but I liked it.

Anyhow, I continue to enjoy my meaningless life as it rolls on into infinity....or Week 1 of the Endocrine and Metabolism block (aka Carbohydrates).

So, I keep learning and forgeting facts at school. My ulcer (if that's what it is) seems to be thanking me for my good behaviour (I miss you salsa), and I'm looking forward to the loooong weekend.

purple people eater

One man's remorse is another's reminiscence
- Ogden Nash

I guess I should've saved that purple rain quote I used when I was worrying about armageddon for this post. It would've been so much more literal.

This year for Halloween we decided to purple ourselves in the style of Queen's engineers. Trevor was a Frec and had done it before and I was looking for a costume that was visually stunning. We tried to find enough Gentian Violet in Vancouver, but they only sell it as 1% solution, so I called up Katelyn and she managed to get some from EngSoc and then UPS'd it to us overnight. We purpled as planned on friday night before going to the Halloween Weepers party at the MSAC (Medical Students and Alumini Centre). Anyhow, it worked, we got pretty purple, and people loved it. The downside, of course, was the extensive collateral damaged sustained to our bathroom, my friend Jazz's house we went to for the pre-party, and the MSAC of course. I guess I had underestimated to ease with which the purple leaves your skin and applies itself to anything and everything that it comes in contact with. Needless to say, we woke up on Saturday feeling pretty bad about the damage we had caused and spent most of they day with a bottle of bleach in hand. Luckily, the caustic chemicals work wonders on most surfaces, although we are still working on getting it out of our skin. I must've left the party a good two hours after Trevor and Sarah and they were still up scrubbing their skin when I got home. Pretty funny.

Bottom line, we are pretty much back to being Caucasian and the majority of the surfaces we touched have been restored to their original colour. It was a fun party. Here is one photo, but if you would like to see more, http://ubc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037514&id=21013297.

dollar bouquets

A little pride always goes along with a teaspoonful of brains
- Mark Twain

In my 2nd lecture yesterday, one of my profs told a story about this physiologist that used to work at UBC. The story was in context of the discovery of the hormone calcitonin, which was explained as having a major role in the regulation of serum calcium. I guess this guy was a prominent researcher and ended up becoming a companion of the order of canada. It was an interesting story, but alot of it consisted of talking about how great of a research institution UBC was, and how we were better than U of T or whatever. I was trying to decide why I was having so much difficulty with this guy demonstrating so much affection for UBC. Was I just a snobby Queen's alumus?

Well, maybe I am, but I realized today that the reason I have such an issue with pride is that it often leads to disinformation. According to Cecil's Essential of Medicine, the actual role of calcitonin in calcium homeostasis is a little unclear. It was actually called "a hormone looking for a function". Why would this guy who lectured us yesterday be bigging up the role of calcitonin? Because he wanted to tell us this story. Because we always embelish when we believe in somebody or something.

Speaking of cheerleaders. Check this out.

this moth is not a butterfly

I had a velcro wallet in a casino
that noise drove the shit outta me man
you're at the casino losing money
bust out the velcro wallet again
*velcro noise*
it's like the sound of my addiction
-mitch hedberg

Sometimes I blog because I have something specific I want to write about. Other times I decide it's time for a post and just hope something will come to me mid-keystrike. Now is one of the latter instances.

Do you ever wonder why we get bored? I mean, I spend a fair amount of my time feeling at least a little bored. Overall, I'm still excited to be in medical school, but I often find my mind wandering in class, my mouth wide open and my eyes watering. I also tend to fidget. Courtney says that sometimes, when I'm rocking back or forth in my chair or tapping myself on the face, I look like an autistic child.

Anyhow, even if I find the topic interesting, or at least know it will be useful in the future, I can't help feeling....well....bored. Same thing with just eating a meal by myself. I have a really hard time just sitting there and enjoying my food. I get antsy. I will start reading the cereal box. I will look at the calender and think about what's happening during the week. I will turn on the tv, even though I know that it will only be endless commercials for CHIP Home Mortgages. Seriously though, sometimes I think we all have ADHD these days. Whenever I'm feeling paticularly difficult, I try to imagine shepherds. I'm not saying I dream of sheep herders, I just think of what it must be like to be one. In Ecuador I would see these guys, just sit all day out in the field with their sheep. These dudes have probably lived their whole life in the one village. They don't read books, they don't watch movies, they don't go to school, they don't know anything about world history or philosophy. What do they think about? I can't grasp it.

My landlord is doing renovations on the exterior of the house and he disconnected us from our internet. I went downstairs in a panic once I realized what had happened, but had a difficult time expressing to him just how important to me it was that I had access to this thing we call the inter-web. I had recognized my love for the internet before, but I was REALLY nervous about being disconnected. I started to get annoyed with my landlord, even though he initially didn't even realize he had disconnected us. Doesn't he know that I NEED my connection. He thinks I can be without the internet for a "couple of days"? Uh-uh. Nope. Impossible.

So, you saw it coming, I realized I'm addicted. Maybe I"m just being junkie-optimistic here, but I feel like I can control my use to the point where it's not detrimental to my overall well being. Although right now I should be studying. Eff. Okay, I guess that's all for now.

Oh no, one last thing. If you have been reading, maybe just give me a little message. I don't need much. If you have posted before, then whatever, but if you are a lurker like me, just say hi. That's all I need.

repent! repent!

You say you want a leader
but you can't seem to make up your mind
I think you better close it, and let me guide you
into the purple rain
-Prince, Purple Rain

The conservatives introduced the Clean Air Act today. Ostensibly, the act was intended to demonstrate that their party is not soft on environmental issues.

Sooo.....they have apparently decided to consult with industry for another FIVE years before making any decisions about how we will tackle the issues of air pollution and climate change. The consultation process has been happening for 3 years now, one might think that would be sufficient to get some preliminary strategies on the table. One might also think that waiting 5 years isn't exactly what you think might be appropriate in a global crisis. They did set a goal for carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the deadline for that goal is 2050. Are they serious? I'm not using a figure of speech here, I actually want to know whether or not they are making a joke. I feel like Stevie is up in his office with his cronies laughing about this stuff. Like- "ok, ok, what if we just tell with them we'll deal with it in 45 years, you think they'll buy that?"

At least they are talking about it. Whatever happens, it's good to have a debate. There are some good things in the act if it ever comes to fruition.

Last night I went to go see a presentation/documentary by this couple from Vancouver that circumnavigated the globe using only human powered machines. The documentary is called Beyond the Horizon.
Click and check out the link. It's a pretty amazing story. The dude pretty much did it just to see if he could. He had been on a few expeditions, and no one had ever done this one before. They are trying to put it to good use now to encourage people to bike around for transportation a bit more. You know, it's sort of hard to complain about biking in the rain when this guy actually cycled across Siberia with all of his gear.

the dread pirate pattison

Vizzini- No more rhyming now, I mean it!
Fezzik- Anybody want a peanut?
-The Princess Bride

We went to see a Queen's Players show last night downtown. Players is a show traditionally put on once a semester at Queen's that involves lots of singing, drinking and dancing. They have played some alumni shows in Toronto, but this was the first time there has been a Players style show in Vancouver. The show itself was funny, and the singing quite good, but the crowd was pretty lame. We were expecting lots of other alumni, but it turned out to mostly be friends and family of the people in the show, most of whom aren't associated with Queen's at all. We tried to get things started to get the crowd into it, but we were largely unsuccessful. At a Player's show, it is entirely normal, and in fact expected to dance on your chair, sing at the top of your lungs, give drinks to the people on stage and then heckle them if they don't drink it fast enough, talk during the show and even get up on stage and join in if required (last night was my first time on stage). Needless to say, the 60 year old parents that were sitting next to us didn't really get into it. They also probably didn't get many of the jokes involving popular sexual innuendo. The show was a fusion of The Apprentice and The Princess Bride. One of the characters was Fezzik, played by Andre the Giant in the movie. It made me remember that he made a lot of dumb rhymes in the movie. Trevor is always making dumb rhymes for no good reason so I think he has just found himself a new nickname.

It was fun to relive the good old days, but as is to be expected, wasn't really the same.

Here's a photo from last weekend at Tiffany and Darren's reception. That's Tiffany, Aaron and Kurt, pretty excited about repeatedly saying "Booooookooooooo".

yogi hunters

I fell out of my stream of self consciousness, and I've got welts on my mind to signify all my accomplishments
-Atmosphere

I'm finally getting somewhere with stretching. I have been chronically inflexible for all of my adult life. I imagine that I put one of my toes in my mouth when I was a baby and it's been downhill since then.

I've been having back pain for the last year or so and have been trying to stretch to help deal with whatever is wrong in that deep mess of muscles, discs, vertebrae and nerves.

My goal is to touch my toes. I have had this goal in the past, but any previous attempts have been arrested by a tingling sensation in my calves that I figured to be a result of the muscle lengthening faster than the nerves. This time I just kept stretching and it went away. Who knew? Anyhow, it feels great to be a bit more flexible, but, considering we are in the musculoskeletal section of school, I am wondering- why are tall people so much less flexible than short people? You would think that longer muscles might have a greater capacity to stretch, but I don't know many people over 6 feet that can touch their toes, unless they are training themselves.

I'm interested in getting into yoga, but am scared of the fees. And the lululemon and fitting into stereotypes, but mostly the cost. The kits.life.style doesnt't come cheap.

in places, empty spaces

Beauty is a short-lived tyranny
-Socrates

I'm home now for thanksgiving to an empty house. Mom and Dad are at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort with their friends Hammy and Mel and I'm back in Castlegar for Tiffany and Darren's wedding reception. Tiff and Darren are two good friends of mine from highschool who got marreid this summer in Portugal and are now having a party for all of us here.

I'm working on my own computer at the computer desk in the study and the screen saver of my parent's computer is on the photo album mode. It's a mix of nice family photos from the past couple of years and construction pictures. You go from a shot of the sun rising over ruins in Guatemala to insulation being installed in the basement, or a shot of a kitchen sink in a show home. My parents are building a new house in Castlegar, and are pretty into the whole thing right now. They recently sold the house I'm in now and a rushing to complete the new one, as the sale is effective as of December 1st.

It's a beautiful day here in the West Kootenays, making me wish I was out in the woods, but we still don't have a gift yet and need to do some shopping and card making this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow we will be in good enough shape to get into the woods. It's hard to imagine nicer weather to be outside. Warm sun, crisp air and colourful leaves. Jordan and I realized that we haven't been home during this time of year since we were in highschool.

I went to the Bodyworlds3 exhibit at Scienceworld this last thursday. It was pretty stunning, but definitely weird. Not necessarily because the exhibit is open to the public, but because the poses of the cadavers are so dramatic. It would take me a long time to describe everything, but they dissect and plastinate full cadavers in interesting ways, and them pose them in the middle of some athletic or artistic pose. Like a man walking, holding up his platinated skin in one arm, seemily pondering the nature of the body's coverings. Some people describe it as a "freak-show", but it's hard to deny the educational aspect of it, and the artistry of dissections. Anyhow, if you have the chance, and aren't morally opposed, I would recommend it.

old friends, new faces

you don't need double talk, you need Bob Loblaw
- Scott Baio, Arrested Development

Ran into my old next door neighbour from 1st Ave today on my ride home. I was waiting at a traffic light, listening to this woman describe an accident to a police officer. Halfway through her description, she looked at me and said "are you Kyle Merritt?", and then told me to hold on. So I waited while she finished with the cop, still not really sure who she was until she took off her sunglasses. Anyhow, we talked about the time I got hit in the face with a baseball bat, she introduced me to her husband, I rode home. It must be at least 10 years since I saw her last.

I had a similar experience in the summer at a bar, where I ran into this guy I knew in residence in first year. It was especially weird, because there is this guy in my class now who shares a number of characteristics with him and I guess my memory of my friend from 1st year had melded into my new friend from medicine. One is named Danny Bay, the other Danny French. They are both from the east, both did a degree in engineering, are approximately the same height and build, and even have a similar sense of humour. It's weird. Anyhow, I always find it hard, when you run into someone like that. I always feel like it is such a coincidence, that something should come of it. Inevitably there is a quick catch up on the main details of life and you part ways, sometimes exchanging numbers, but most of the time both realizing that the chance encounter will be it. I don't know why I suppose that it should happen any other way.

walking through water

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighbourhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land
-Jon Stewart

Trevor is just heading to bed. On friday, he gave me a horse chestnut for some reason I haven't figured out yet. Today, I found myself underneath a horsechestnut tree while playing a round of frisbee-golf and picked up a cargo-pocketful of chestnuts that I have hidden under his pillow. Just waiting for the reaction.

I've played frisbee golf a few times since I've lived in Vancouver and I have to say, I don't like it that much. Cortney is quite good at it, owns a little bag with an assortment of golf discs and is usually the impetus for me to play. Actually, he is always the impetus for me to play. It was nice to get outside today, cause I was studying, and it may have been the best day for weather all year. Clear, crisp autumn air with some nice warm sunshine. Autumn just smells good, even in the city. I have the same problems with frisbee golf as I do with regular golf...mostly getting frustrated at the object not going where I wanted to propel it. I've realized I'm just not good at making shots. Darts, curling, baseball, pool. Any game that focuses on isolated opportunities to hit/throw something- not my game.

I found myself wishing we could be playing real frisbee, with nice big discs that float and are easy to catch. Especially when I hooked a drive left, the disc bounced off the road and into a white corolla with an elderlly asian man inside. He got out, I apologized and felt relieved when I saw no marks on his car. I'm not sure if he understood anything I said, but I sure didn't understand anything he said. Anyhow, I stood there for about 5 minutes while he inspected his car but eventually had to go. The frisbee must've made such a loud noise when it hit that we was sure there was damage, because about 10 minutes after I left, he was still hunched over, inspecting every inch of his car.

Still no reaction from Trevor, but I'm tired, and can't wait any longer. Lise and Trish made a turkey dinner tonight. One week from Thanksgiving. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was really good.

interup

Everyone likes baseball. Everyone likes parks.
-Javier Rodriguez, Traffic

This morning was one of those times when you wake up and are so tired your brain tries desperately to invent ways that you don't actually have to get out of bed. This morning, it seemed so dark and cold that I started to think that my housemates had played a trick on me and set my clocks an hour ahead. Of course, as the cobwebs slowly cleared, I realized that hypothesis wasn't very plausible. I hiked up the lions yesterday, which was beautiful, but my body definitely needed a few more hours in bed to recuperate. Sitting in lecture today reminded me of pretty much every lecture I went to in undergrad, where I was so tired it was painful. Why did I stay up so late all the time? Seems like cruel and unusual punishment to inflict on oneself.

Just started hematology block today. I think I've figured out that the level of confusion I feel about a paticular subject dictates how excited I am to learn about it. I've been pretty confused about different types of anemias and what they mean, so this should be a good block.

On the way back from the hike on sunday, there was an accident on the Lion's Gate bridge, so we had to take the 2nd Narrows around. I guess it was better than us having an accident actually on the Lions themselves, but I have a hard time dealing with traffic. I think with most of my other frustrations, I manage to keep them in check by telling myself to accept the things that I'm unable to change. With traffic, however, I guess I feel like it is something I don't want to have to put up with, and hope to get away from later in my life. I don't want to become complacent with spending hours of my day on the road. Vancouver has done a great job of providing disincentives for people to drive their cars, but unfortunately has not done enough to provide people with viable alternatives. This term, my family practice placement is in Langley, which takes about an hour to get out to and almost 2 hours to get back from (due to traffic over the Port Mann). So far I've been spending 3 hours transit time for 1.5-2 hours of patients. argh. Although I'm happy with being in Vancouver for a multitude of other reasons, when I'm sitting on the highway, I start to think that maybe the UVic or UNBC programs would've been an alright fit for me.

This is the view from the side of the East Lion, looking North I think towards Howe Sound.

delivery

and anyway
Susan
if you like
our conversation
is as faint a sound
in my memory
as those fingernails
scratching on my hull
-The Tragically Hip, Nautical Disaster

I've been pretty affected by the shootings in Montreal. I don't think I'm able to articulate any ideas on the subject, but I'm not sure if things like this need any more commentary. I'm not sure assigning blame has ever helped anyone.

I was recently notified that a book I requested at the beginning of the summer is now available. It's a thick book called "The Great Transformation" about the beginnings of the 4 major religious and philisophical traditions. Namely, Buddhism/Hinduism, Confuscianism/Daoism, Monotheism, and philisophical rationalism. I've started reading it and it's very interesting, but I think it's going to be next to impossible to make more than a dent in it before I have to return it in two weeks.

One interesting "useless" fact I've learnt is that the word "Caucasian" is derived from the Caucasus region in Europe (it's also a mountain range), where I guess a bunch of white people came from. Right now I'm reading about the Aryans, living there around 900 BC.

Sarah, Trev, Courtney, Carolynn and I are going to see Final Fantasy tomorrow. Should be a very different type of show. Also of note, Sarah found out Gomez is coming to town and we have tickets to see them in October. Very exciting.

"nature" vs "nature"

and now from Regina, Saskatchewan-the city that rhymes with fun
-Grant Lawrence, CBC Radio 3 podcast

Kind of crude, but I thought it was really funny. Sometimes I forget how much my opinion of funny depends on me not expecting the punchline.

Seriously though, if you enjoy Canadian music, especially "indie" Canadian music, you should check out this podcast. It's great! I put "indie" in quotation marks because I'm not exactly sure what it means these days when a million people make albums on their laptops. I guess it's stuff that's not on regular radio. But seriously, who listens to "radio" anymore. Why would I listen to advertising when I no longer have to? That time I used quotation marks to show my disdain for "radio".

Every now and then, my computer connects with its mothership and downloads some updates of various kinds. Usually this means that you have to restart your computer and the application that was "updated" runs exactly the same as before. Today, however, my iTunes was updated and a number of changes were immediately apparent.

1. The music notes in the icon are blue now. I missed the green at first but I'm now getting used to it.
2. iTunes will download all your album art for you, even stuff you didn't buy from them.
3. This is especially important because they've included a new way of browsing through your albums that is kind of like actually flipping through albums. So cool!

I think this new development may actually allow me to reconcile my music buying conundrum.

I have always liked having the actual, physical albums. Mostly because of the artwork, and the back-up copy in case of computer crashage. Also, I still have the perhaps antiquated notion of having a music "collection", rather than just an assortment of random songs. Anyhow, this new iTunes feature really makes it seem like you are leafing through your collection, which I like.

Apparently there are kids t-shirts with "iPoo" on the front in the same font as "iPod". If my cousins neva and hugh weren't growing up at such lightning speed in my absence, and most likely gaining control of their bowels, I would purchase one for them.

It's raining now. This is significant because other than a short sprinkle last weekend, it hasn't rained in Vancouver since i can remember. Great to defray my seasonal affective disorder, but not so great for the risk of everything lighting on fire.

Speaking of which, I was walking behind a woman yesterday who finished her cigarette, stomped on it, checked to make sure it was out, and then left it on the sidewalk. I've never really figured out how cigarette butts are not considered "litter". Anyhow, I really wanted to pick it up and give it back to her, saying something like "Sorry, is this yours?", as if she had just dropped her wallet. I was in pain due to a Charley Horse, late for class, and in a general state of agitation, which at times leads me to do or say inappropriate things that I regret later. Upon reflection, I've decided that this was, indeed, a good idea, and that given another opportunity, I shall go ahead and hand someone their butt. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok, I lied, I'm still not used to that blue iTunes icon. I want the green one back.

To continue with the disjointedness.

I have been using lots of quotation marks to highlight a trend in society to overuse these bits of punctuation. My theory is that the excessive usuage was triggered by the "laser" joke, used in the 1st Austin Powers movie. I've seen all sorts of inappropriate punctuation in various publications and signage recently. I'm trying to think of examples. I can't. I did remember today, however, that there can be two types of ectopic tissue in a Meckel's Diverticulum that can cause ulcers in that structure, namely gastric and pancreatic. So there. This prompted one of my classmates to congratulate me on being smart as we both used our respective urinals in a very colourful washroom after class. He is the only guy in our class of 250 that I have ever seen smoke a cigarette (something my dad actually doesn't believe). Maybe I'll tell him to pick up his butts. Maybe not so disconnected.

When I first started writing this blog, I was pretty self conscious about the whole thing and wasn't interested in anyone finding out. I even picked a name that was obscure and difficult to spell. I'm pretty much over that now and ready for even my parents to have access. It's a good exercise to just write how you are feeling, knowing that the people you are writing about could potentially be reading your entry.

I think the moral of this entry is that I should try and be blogging more regularly and maybe the entries won't be so long and disjointed.

I've started a little art project in my house where I'm taking a head shot of every person that comes to this house. I like adding photos, so maybe I'll start posting one with each entry. Well, maybe I should get people's consent. This one is of Trevor (my housemate), I don't care if he gives consent.

ping pong

Instead of a war on poverty, they've got a war on drugs so the police can bother me
-Tupac Shakur

I learnt recently that the metre is one one millionth of the distance from the equator to the north pole.

Settling now into school. Routines make dealing with life alot easier. You can just sort of roll around on autopilot and not think too much about why you are going where you are going. Since I've started school, I've taken no pictures, read less (non-medical material), written less and have communicated the bare minimum with family and friends. Seems silly.

My tutor this block has an incomplete understanding of the theory behind PBL which is making the whole process very difficult. A well meaning and kind man who truly believes he knows what's best for us. A good lesson that you can be as good-intentioned as you want, but if you are out of touch with the people, nothing good will come out of it.

I went to an orientation today to work at a clinic in the Downtown Eastside, just shadowing like we already do in family practice. We went on a little walking tour with a dude who is part of the community. I've been there once before, but had not really taken a good look around and I have to recommend it to anyone visiting/living in Vancouver. It's a place with alot of pain and suffering but alot of humour as well. I was impressed with the community. Everyone knows eachother and is openly friendly, even to us obvious outsiders. Regardless, it is a truly unique place. I went out to Langley on friday for my family practice, and for all I knew, I could've been in White Rock, or Ladner, or Coquitlam or whatever. I was nervous the first time I was down there, and still felt a little on edge today, but rationally there is not much to be worried about, walking around in broad daylight. I realized that I was probably feeling uneasy just because there are so many people around who don't subscribe to the rules of society. Sometimes I get annoyed by societal norms and rules, you know, like having to wear clothes and not being able to sing or talk to yourself, but in the end, it's a pretty useful tool for regulating behaviour. Anyhow, if you really think about it, it's not like you're going to get robbed or stabbed by a needle, it's just the fear of not knowing what the people around you are going to do.

Family Practice should be good this term, minus my preceptor is of the old and burntout/bitter variety. He has already told us to specialize and says things like "Patients like that just make you want to jump out the window don't they?". I thought he had some pretty funny patients. We even had a guy in with ehler's danlos syndrome. So even if you didn't care about the people, there's some pretty neat pathology as well. Anyhow, he's old, but it's hard to not be discouraged from family practice.

The Dalai Lama is in Vancouver today. A few people are going to see him speak but the talk is at gm place. No thanks.

laundree laundray

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong
-Betrand Russell

Do you ever have repetitive thoughts or sayings in your head that have no explicable origin?

Sounds like an infomercial for an exorcist.

I do. For instance, when I am bored in lecture or falling asleep. Let me rephrase that. When I'm falling asleep, I often have images of people swinging things, over and over. Usually golf clubs, baseball bats or swords. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's someone more used to swinging things (like tiger woods). The funny thing is that I'm really not good at any sport that requires a swinging motion.

Also, when I'm doing work around the house, I often repeat things in my head. Like when it's time to do laundry, I always say "laundree, laundray". Usually I don't actually enunciate these words, but it definitely goes through my head.
Weird.

I've been having a fantastic long weekend and am just settling down to read a little about the upper gi tract.

The ribs were delish and followed up by a few gin martinis. Had a fun time playing Origins, a board game I was given a long time ago that involves guessing a certain cliche, custom, name or invention once given the origin. You end up learning interesting "useless" facts. Por ejemplo, that the word "news" is derived from the 4 points of the compass, as it means to receive information from all directions.

I hiked up the mountain on Bowen Island with Jazz, Julia, Jordan, Heather and Amira. After the hike, we were invited to Julia's house in West Van for a fresh salmon dinner. Upon arrival, we had a swim in Julia's pool after rinsing the dust off and her dad brought me a beer as I was relaxing in the hot tub. Not long after, her aunt showed up with some appetizers and I found myself sipping on a corona, eating yummy food in a hot tub while looking out over the ocean. It was a nice way to end the day.

This morning, I was recertified to pump on people's chests if their hearts stop beating.

I have continued thinking about international health this weeknd and discussing it with Courtney. I've realized that I will most likely end up doing some short, disaster relief missions, but mostly send money to worthwhile projects. I just think now that either you raise funds and provide help in disaster relief, or you move to Africa and work there for the rest of your life. Although at times I feel so guilty about my north american lifestyle, I guess I don't really know yet why I'm here or what I should do with myself. I have some idea, but I've never really been sure about anything.

m.b.,b.s.,m.sc.,f.a.c.s.,f.r.c.s.(c)

Old White Guys! Holding you down since.......always
-Golden Words Poster

Fridays mean something again for the time being. Jordan is coming over and we're gonna make ribs. Well, I've already made the ribs. Jordan is gonna come over and I'm going to put the ribs in the oven.

School is off to a quick start. Lots of material has already been covered and it's not even labour day. I'm not really stressed, but it is a stark contrast from my life only one week ago. I definitely feel like I have suddenly accelerated. I guess the trick is to manage this without letting your time slip by you. I find it's easy to spend your weeks looking forward to the week-end and each looking forward to the next. Days of studying and social events seem long, but when the next year rolls around, I wonder where the time went.

Our afternoon workshop was on International Health. I have participated in some volunteer projects in the developing world and thought alot about the whole situation but still haven't come up with any real opinions on what aspects are good ideas and what are bad ideas. It seems too easy for any sort of aid to end up being entirely useless or even harmful. I sometimes even have a problem with the whole issue of charity. I'm reading a collection of essays by Bertrand Russell where he argues that most men in business are "more anxious to keep foreigners poor than to make themselves rich". This is a bold statement, but it's hard not be pessimistic sometimes about why things are the way they are. International Health, even when done properly, seems to be so inconsequential to people's well being when you work in or take an indepth look at the problems of the developing nation. Medical work is important but the real issue is organization. Policy. Trade. I guess it can be considered that any help given will be an extra push to get a country on it's feet.

At any rate, I will have to decide sometime how much involvement I will have with international health. There are many opportunities but they are so difficult to evaluate. It seems like the main problem, once you've decided the idea itself is valid, is the time commitment. Any worthwhile project will take years of dedication and work, if not a lifetime. Is it worth it to sacrifice so much for something of questionable impact or value?

school's in for-evah.

Medical students strive for a stance of professional neutrality where their knowledge & skills matter but not their persons- as if they were not humans, interacting with humans, in a social world where every aspect of our beings has social and cultural meaning
- Kenny, Nuala P 2004

First day of school today. Unfortunately my enthusiasm for it lasted all of 5 minutes into our histology lecture. I find it very difficult to try and keep myself motivated to learn things I am almost certain I will never use. I understand the importance of learning basic science and physiologic mechanisms in order to have a solid foundation to build your clinical skillz, but it can be very frusterating sometimes. Today I spent an hour learning about the different layers of the gut and the different types of cells that make up the lining of the stomach and esophagus. It's just so discouraging to be constantly forgetting this knowledge they spit at you.

I had the idea today that it would be interesting to do last year's exam this christmas and just see what i retained. I mean, do the same exam the first years are doing and see if I still know anything. I know I'm not stupid, and that I'm relatively good at retaining information, but I sometimes it's frusterating. I don't know how many times I've learnt the coverings of the heart, or the different parts of the fallopian tube, but i just can't seem to make the knowledge stick. Even if I could, will I ever need this "useful knowledge" ever again?

At lunch, our course director talked trash for half an hour about how this year is going to be sooo much different than last year and how we aren't going to be "spoon fed" this year and that "studying for exams just isn't good enough anymore". Despite the angsty feelings this stirred up in me and the class at large, I plan on doing the same thing I've always done. Take that UBC Medical School Administration!

Included in his speech were the usual comments about professionalism. bleh. I'm so sick of that word. Nobody even really knows what it means except short white coats and being 5 minutes early.

It was nice to see everyone though. I will endeavour to appreciate this last year of hanging out with people all day like it's highschool before we never see eachother again.

Man, apparently I'm right on the predicted course of becoming maximally disenchanted by 3rd year.

Time to wash the smell of one hundred beef burgers out of my hair (orientation bbq).

eat shit. he's a robot

"I remember one time I tried to pity this fool. He told me his name was Jeff. He was married. He pulled out his wallet and showed me three pictures of his kids; Kelly, Robert, Brittany. Real cute kids. Don't get too close man. It's hard to pity a fool if you get too close.
-Mr. T

I'm back now from the LWI. Probably the best one so far. Kurt and Jordan were in Castlegar for a couple weeks before the party, so they did lots of work to make it an interesting one. There was a good mix of old and new people from all over BC, Alberta and Ontario. The Manta was amazing fun and didn't kill anyone. We never really acheived sustained flight but we certainly made progress over the course of the weekend and got some significant hangtime. Pretty much everyone rode it and it was no problem for kurt to recoup the cash needed to purchase it.

Unfortunately, we had a such a good group this time, it is hard to figure out who to ban. The original cache of the lwi has always been the fact that at the end of the weekend, we eliminate the weakest member of the party. In practice it can be a complicated process, but it essentially is based on people taking fun away from the group. This year, everyone was very fun, but at the same time respectful and not annoying. A hard line to walk for some previous lwiers. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Highlights include

Karen nose-diving the MANTA
Friday night at midnight
Tibes on the Tramampoline
Navy Seal instruction by Tory
Dance party on the Barge
Hot Summer Nights: 16 Sizzling Tracks
4 man Manta
Soft porn pass the shot
The 1st co-ed Kurt Saari Ring of Power
MANTA injury and subsequent operation
Darren's strobe lighting
Shot or lapdance
Sunday night Tatoo Parlour


Lots of great photos. Here's one.

nothing about something

"I've never been a fan of Amphibians. Not only do they strengthen the argument for evolution, they are Nature's fence-sitters. Come on Amphibians, which is it: water or land? Pick one, we're at war."

-Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

If this blog isn't scared for its life yet, it should be.

This is my last day of work. I can tell because I received a large chocolate cake with "Thanks!" on it. Due to my difficulty with gift giving , I don't have a gift for my supervisor. I will get one next week.

Which means, of course, that these days of truly having not much to do are over.

Apparently 2nd year is much more time consuming than 1st year. This will most likely be true, as I feel like I had a pretty good head start on my peers last year due to my lifescience degree.

Regardless, I hope to continue posting, albeit at more irregular intervals.

Don't despair little blog! Never forget the hope provided by the gods of procrastination!

I was investigating the possibility of buying some Colbert Report shows on itunes and had to switch to the American version of the music store to view them. Whilst browsing in America, I discovered an ABC show called Kyle XY
and was immediately drawn to it, due to the similarity between Kyle XY's name and my own name, Kyle Merritt.

Unfortunately, it's on ABC family and looks relatively lame. Kyle XY has no belly button, and was found in the woods somewhere acting like a baby so a family adopted him. sure. Anyhow, the whole show is meant to be a mystery, and the website uses the tagline "Who is Kyle XY?".
I have to admit, I am curious as to what made them come up with the XY. I mean, he looks pretty masculine to me. Now, Kyle XXYYYY , that would be an interesting show. Are they just using some of the letters from the tail-end of the alphabaet to evoke feelings of the unknown, like in the X-Files? Personally, I think the lack of a belly button is an excuse for him to lift up his shirt and reveal his so-perfect-I-don't-even-have-a-belly-button-abs.

After briefly perusing the episode descriptions, I couldn't help but liken the plot lines to those of the 80's television show Small Wonder, where a father builds himself a robot daughter, similarly clueless to the customs of human society. Ok, maybe they aren't that similar, but Small Wonder was a wicked show. Ok, maybe it wasn't that wicked, but I do remember this episode where Vicki (The Robot), buys drugs from a dealer at her school, and the parents think it's the human son who owns them. Good episode. I sure felt bad for the son until they discovered the truth.

grade 5 art project

If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris, you may be seconds away from death.
-Top 100 facts about Chuck Norris

I'm starting to get a little worried about THE MANTA. Kurt recently sent out an email about THE MANTA to the LWI crew and Lise alerted me to the fact that another company's version of the same product has been recalled. I found a news story about a boy who fell from THE MANTA and ruptured his aorta and collapsed both his lungs. yikes. Despite this, I'm stil excited about riding it this weekend, which leads me to wonder. What's wrong with me?

I contemplate this question every time I am launching myself off the Texas Creek cliffs into Christina Lake. This is a tradition that Kurt and I started around the time we graduated from highschool. The cliff is 60 feet high (we measured with a ski rope), and juts out over the water, providing a perfect jumping platform into extremely deep water. The climb to get to the cliff, however, is tenuous, and the possiblity for a slip and the subsequent roll and fall is very real. At any rate, it's dangerous, people have died and injured themselves. So what's the deal? Why do I do this every year? To overcome the fear of the first jump, I convinced myself that I was really being courageous, that by jumping, I was "alive". I'm not sure if I still really believe that, but nonetheless, I jumped it last weekend and I'll do it again this weekend. Maybe it's simple, I enjoy "the rush". I like the feeling coming up out of the water, victorious, having conquered my fears once more. Maybe it's the ego. I like proving my local knowledge and balls of steel. (I don't literallly have "balls of steel" nor would I want to, but I have learnt how to protect them on entry into the water in order to prevent "slappage").

Sure, it's stupid. Despite this concession, I would argue that there is something elemental, something authentic, something naturally wonderful, about going up or down mountains. I don't know what that means per se, but I like the way it sounds.

Maybe I should've call this entry "Getting up and down things, I like it".

I don't have a photo of me jumping the cliff (one strike against the ego hypothesis...yes), but here is one of Kurt, Vince and I contemplating the task.

mid-night killing sprees

I got tired of feeling like Dracula.
I wanted to see some daylight, and not just at six o'clock in the morning
-Kate Moss

I live upstairs in a three storey house.
Heat rises.
There are no screens in the windows.
There are mosquitos that live in Kitsilano now.

I never really notice them before I go to sleep, and have been debating each night whether or not I will risk keeping my window open. Because I can't see any, I decide that I would rather have a cool breeze in my room and risk an insect or two. Over the past three nights, for whatever reason, at three o'clock, they attack. The first night I would just try and swat them away in the dark, but they would inevitably be buzzing by my ear again just as I was about to drift off. Now I just get up right away, turn on all my lights and jump around my room.

bzzzzzz....slap!
bzzzzzz....bam!
bzzzzzzz....smack!

The problem is that by this point, half of them have already had a sample of my tasty blood and aren't interested in me for a little while, but I'm still smearing their blood-filled bodies, all over my walls. Vengeance is a powerful force. By the time I've dispatched about 10 little draculas I'm am so charged up by the hunt, it takes awhile to fall back asleep.

Tonight I'm using my fan to generate a cool breeze with the windows closed.

square eyes

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
~Peter Rothman

I love my computer. I won't disguise that part of the reason I bought a Macintosh was for the aesthetic of the machine itself and the operating system. This doesn't really strike me as weird, considering that how things look seem to be an important factor in many decisions in our lives. The look and feel of my laptop wasn't the only reason however. Whether or not the operating system is "easier" to use could be debated. I find it is hard to tell when you've been raised on PC, but the golden thing about Macs is the stability. My supervisor just got a Toshiba tablet laptop with a docking station including many bells and whistles including a finger print scanner. It's great except that it's been repeatedly freezing for the past two days. I don't know what to say to people about freezing and crashing these days, as I can no longer really sympathize with them, and have to move to the much more difficult role of empathizer, where it is all too easy to sound phony.

Regardless of how much I love this little machine, there is definitely only a certain number of hours per day I can spend with it. I am using it all day for my job. I can't describe the feeling I get these days after coming home from work, but it's definitely not pleasant.

Saw an advertisement for a Final Fantasy show that is playing Sept. Should be good. The band is essentially one man, Owen Pallett, who plays a violin. He mostly uses a looping pedal to record little bits of what he is playing and then plays on top of it. For whatever reason, I love the little symphonies looping can make at live shows. So amazing to see one person put together complex pieces of music all by themselves. Despite the lack of a mandolin, Trevor has decided to join Sarah and I for the performance.

Otherwise I had more or less a blank day. Just doing some work and sending a billion emails about the LWI.

Well, due to the aforementioned lack of interest at spending any more time in front of a screen. I'm out.

view/edit blog

You can't even get 'strength'. 'Strength' is out now.
It's all 'extra-strength'.
Some people are not satisfied with 'extra', they want 'maximum'.
"Give me the 'maximum-strength'."
"Give me the maximum allowable human dose."
"Figure out what will kill me and then back it off a little bit."
-Jerry Seinfeld, I'm Telling You For the Last Time

There are still maybe only 5 people who I have alerted to this blog's presence....one of whom/who, my cousin Jeffy, has been diligently reading AND leaving comments for me (you other 4 take note). As an experienced blogger, he has left me some good tips. Anyhow, I went back over the last five notes and made some small improvements to grammar and linkage...nothing to really go back and look for. Jeffy's commenting has slowly been inspiring me to stop "lurking" and start leaving contents on his blog.

We (Cortney, Courtney, Trish and I), went to my cabin for the long weekend. We did regular cabin stuff....campfires, swimming, cliffjumping, wakeboarding, quadruple solitaire, etc. Jumping the cliff with Cortney was scary/pretty fun (Cortney is the boy, Courtney is the girl) as I haven't done it for two years. We had a supportive audience on the beach this time (compared to the usual name calling and jeering from the peanut gallery). The weather and the lake had cooled off quite a bit since the week previous, which I found quite pleasant. I had been talking up the temperature of the lake to Trish and Courtney all week, likening it to "soup","bathwater", and "the centre of the earth". Ok, I didn't compare it to the centre of the earth, I just said that so I could tell you that the centre of the earth is apparently the same temperature as the surface of the sun, a "fact" I learnt listening to the podcast edition of Quirks and Quarks, a CBC radio show. I put "fact" in quotation marks cause I'm not exactly sure how one could measure the temperature at centre of the earth...or the surface of the sun for that matter, but I imagine it involves some guessing. I'm questioning whether or not I've talked about this before here, but I've really been getting into CBC podcasts lately. So handy. I've especially been loving the CBC Radio Three podcast, which does a one hour show each week of independant Canadian bands. These shows that have talking in them really aren't the best for trying to do any school/house work, as I find myself stopping what I'm doing in order to be more attentive, but are kickass for long car rides.

Anyhow, the temperature of the lake reminded me of a little trick I had been advocating to Jordan only a week previous that involves lowering expectations and delivering above them. Trish and Courtney, in a condition that appears widespread among females, are chronically cold, so I think they were a little disapointed that the water wasn't a bit closer to their desired temperature...something slightly less than would scald.

Two more weeks of work left and it's defnitely feeling like summer is winding down. It helps that it's cold and rainy outside. No matter what, I'm always looking forward to what's coming up next in my life, although I think I will miss the hours I've been keeping these days. My supervisor said that I had been doing a "pretty good" job of getting my work done, which doesn't seem to be a very glowing summary, considering the "exceeding expectations" comment I got earlier on in my job. Again, I guess I should've paid more attention to where I was setting the bar. Things are looking better now though, as I actually have some things to do (ie- I am currently reliving the joy of procrastination), so hopefully I can dazzle now for the remainder (1st and last impressions are the most important).

string vs grilled

We look like professionals, like we've been playing together for years.
Busty women stop and stare.
Senior citizens sit and shake their heads, gasping.
Religious people fall to their knees.
No one has ever seen anything quite like it.
-A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

Cortney (the boy) and I went down to Redmond Washington, the (alleged by my landlord) location of the headquarters for the company Microsoft, to see a String Cheese Incident show. We had been debating numerous ways to see them this summer, and with the discovery that we (I), had taken our procrastinating nature too much to heart and missed out buying Spearhead tickets before it was too late- we decided to make the overnight trek down to America. We stopped at the duty free to buy a few beers and upon exiting the parking lot through the only non-tire-shredding exit available, found ourselves in the nexus quick-lane, which we were forced to continue down until we arrived at the gate and had to nip into the regular lane. I'm a pretty big fan of lines, when used properly, and get annoyed at budgers, cutters and the like, but was left with no other option. When we made it to the border guard, he asked us the standard questions and then we had a little conversation that went a little like this

American Border Guard (in a stern voice to Cortney): Please remove your dark glasses.
Cortney: "OK"
American Border Guard: "Did you two go to the Duty Free and then cut into this line?"
Kyle: "Uh, yeah, well, we didn't know what else to do because....."
American Border Guard (while waving us on): "You did the right thing"
Kyle (to Cortney): "I guess we got a free six pack with our $10 skip-the-1hr-customs-line pass."

We decided, after some consideration, that they must have that lane set up in a weird way, but don't want people to use it as a short cut, so don't have any signage, but also don't want those people trying to use the nexus lane (which is some speedy pass of some kind). Either that or cutting lines has somehow become an aspect of the "difficult, but necessary," war on terror. -GWB

The show itself was pretty awesome. Great summer music to dance to in a park. The venue was loosely filled with the authentic style of hippie, you know, the ones that embrace the sacred pentad of hippiness (dreadlocks, tie dye, abstinence from washing, unemployment and polypharmacy). I was forced, yet again, to notice how hippies are always white. I can't remember if I commented on this after the folkfest, but it's true. The only black and asian people I saw at this concert were on stage. The concert ended at 10pm for the neighbours which gave Cortney and I time to practice some disc-throwing and sample the $1 garlic grilled cheeses of shakedown street.

On a sad note, the Kwik Trip styrofoam cooler I had been keeping in my closet was mortally injured as Cortney either put his hand or foot through the lid. The cooler was left at the cabin by some dudes from Seattle, and it gave me some pleasure to know that it had returned to it's hometown (or therabouts) to die.

our aria: kyle's soda

I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
-The Outfield, Your Love

Gotta run home to the house bbq peter is putting on.

Just thought I would post this link kurt sent me. We are planning on buying this little badboy for the LWI (Leanne Walton Invitational), this year. Just click on the right to see the Manta Ray video demo. Kurt being able to get us things at wholesale prices at Canadian Tire has proven quite useful.

Here is a picture of Trav, cranking out (it's hand powered radio), my new favourite song- Your Love by The Outfield, at last year's LWI. One of Katelyln's friends made her a cd with this song on it to commemorate the weekend, and due to it's catchy 80's riff, and suitability to "rock out" to, made it's way into many a stereos this past weekend when I was home.

the outfield

concerns about the world getting warmer

people thought that they were just being rewarded
for treating others as they'd like to be treated
obeying stop signs and curing diseases
for mailing letters with the address of the sender
now we can swim any day in november
-Postal Service, Sleeping In (Give Up)

I had thought that I might get a chance to blog while I was home for the week but it never really happened. My parents described my vacation as "hectic" in the airport before I left, but it would more aptly be described as "full". I spent the majority of my time out at the lake, which was fortunate as the heat was pretty intense. My dad and I drove out on friday night, expecting the typical cool breeze off the mountain only to find air that was just as charged and hot as it was in town. There was some much needed nightswimming under the stars and a cold beer on the deck at midnight. The majority the weekend was spent installing some new kitchen cabinets and sink for my mom. My cabin, like many, is an interesting dichotomy of relaxation and make-work projects.

Katelyn came out on tuesday and we had some nice lazy days. Slept outside every night under the milky way because it was actually too hot in the cabin. Unprecedented in my experience at the lake. I enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine, but couldn't help feeling like it was unnaturally hot. I know that isolated heat waves, or even hot summers are not really evidence of global warming unto themselves, but I couldn't help but wonder about what is really going on with the old climate these days. I have been trying to figure out lately if global warming is really happening. I mean, you probably have an opinion on whether or not global warming is really going on, or how big of a deal it is, but what is that opinion based on? People like to say things like "there is a consensus in the scientific community" or whatever, but have you actually ever seen any evidence to support the theory of global warming? Erin sent me a link to this website called the Competitive Enterprise Institute , some group that is trying to combat "global warming alarmism" and have a slogan "They call it Pollution, We call it Life". It seems so ridiculous as to be comical, but they mention scientific studies in Science and Nature about how some glaciers are getting larger and anarctic ice sheets are getting thicker. In the Skeptical Enivronmentalist, environmental alarmism is discussed and an example of how "global cooling" was a major concern in the 1950's, which obviously turned out to be nothing. Anyhow, who really knows, but when we are talking about the future viability of the planet for human life, it might not be such a bad idea to be a little on the safe side. Maybe dramatic and embellished headlines are required to whip people into environmental action.

Ok. Back to the narrative. I returned into Castlegar on thurs night to meet up with the rest of the people in town for Aaron's wedding. Went out to a new bar that has been built, the Element Night Club. Before this place, the most popular bars in town were "Dexter's" and "Banjo's". The Element is a two storey club with flat screen televisions, a sunken dance floor and enough room for the whole population of Castlegar between 19 and 30. It looks out of place from the outside and you feel out of place on the inside. Anyhow, everyone was excited about it and it was a fun place to party. But weird.

The wedding itself was awesome. Aaron is one of my best friends from highschool and he was getting married to Jieppe, a Thai girl he met while on a Canada World Youth exchange program. The ceremony was outside, short and personal. The reception was at the complex and was shaping up to be pretty standard until Aaron narrated a slidewhow about how his relationship with Jieppe came to be. He tends to a be a private guy and nobody in the audience, including his parents and close friends, knew all the details of what happened. I won't go into the whole story, but it was more or less a romance novel involving exotic locations, forbidden love and making dreams come true against the odds (and the rational advice of everyone you know). The reception afterwards was filled with 80's classics, girls pouring bottles of wine over themselves and concluded with a not-so-clandestine Super 8 slide.

Now it's back to a week of work (I need the rest), before we head back to the interior this weekend for a Spearhead concert.

Here's Kurt in a contraption he made.