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.

from the hip

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong
-Mahatma Ghandi

Heading home tomorrow. Despite the slackness of my employment, it still feels good to be off work for a week.

Today I got to spend some time on my own seeing healthy pregnant women, measuring s/f heights and getting doppler heartbeats. It's fun to see patients who don't have a chief complaint.

At the clinic, I mostly spend time with residents, and they are always saying things like "You don't have to be keen with me" or "Quit pretending you're busy, We know you're not" and sometimes "Why don't you just take off". I'm fairly confident that they aren't trying to insult me or get rid of me, and are just trying to be helpful. I guess they are probably feeling a little overworked and underpaid and wish they could go home themselves, but I haven't had to "pretend to be keen" yet in medicine, which is probably something to be thankful for.

I did a little reading on Wikipedia yesterday about the history of Israel. I read a book a few years back called "From Beirut to Jerusalem", an autobiography of a Jewish New York Times reporter stationed in the middle east. It was an interesting read and informative to a certain degree, but I don't think I really gained as much as I could from the book, due to my lack of a knowledge base. Anyhow, I would highly recommend Wikipedia for any general synopsis, especially for current events. I usually find that trying to figure out what's going on using conventional news sources is very problematic. I've actually become alot less enamoured with news in general this year. I found that although I might know what was happening in the world, I wasn't really learning anything or really understanding what was going on. This really hit home when we turned on the news after being in the woods for a week during our Bowron trip. I think there were three news articles on the radio (CBC); Mad Cow, Bombing in Iraq and Softwood Lumber dispute. I realized how much news about Iraq I hear and how I know nothing of what's going on there. How many American troops are there? Are there any other countries involved? Is there an Iraqi police/army? What powers does the Iraqi government have? What powers are being retained by the Americans? I didn't know the answers to any of these basic questions. It's difficult to retain knowledge without context. From the number of times I've heard there's been an escalation in violence in Iraq, I would have thought it would be full blown civil war by now.

Anyhow I started that paragraph talking about Israel. I fully didn't realize how young of a country Israel is. I also didn't realize that Palestine was a colony of Britain initially and that it was the UN that partitioned the country up. I won't go on, but it's an interesting read if you have a moment. The situation really is a mess. With such a history of violence, and the current set back in the peace process, a stable situation for that part of the world seems a long way off.

Well, I will be incommunicado for a couple of days now. Next post should include a photo of me on the dock in the sunshine.

some things that annoy me. part one.

You know what really grinds my gears?
-Peter Griffen (Family Guy)

Acronyms.

This may seem weird coming from me, as I am a lover of the short form. I like nicknames and slang and generally making words easier to say (and to make myself sound cooler). It seems, however, that as with most things, excessive use can be troublesome.

Universities appear to be the environments most hospitable to the acronym. I noticed this especially at Queen’s, where the need to incorporate the letter "Q" into every acronym dominated the landscape.
THAN-Q (some branch of alumni fundraising)
QUEST (Queen’s university entrepreneurial summit)
And of course, who could forget the infamous Q-CARD, which I recently realized is supposed to sound like “cue-card”. I never made that connection. Kind of like the time I was wondering why Shell gas station chose such a funny logo, before realizing it was, indeed, a shell.

I am now researching the ethical requirements for the course we are designing as part of my summer employment. At first I thought it was complicated but after a while it became stunningly simple. Just go to the ORB website (a division of the REB) and click the link to access the BREB form. Once there you will find out you have to take the TCPS tutorial before submitting your BREB. If you get confused, just click on the FAQ’s.

I just feel like people use these long winded titles for things so as to perfectly describe the organization/form/procedure but in doing so, make it so impractical that an abbreviation is needed. Unfortunately, everybody just uses the abbreviation on it’s own and anyone who isn’t involved in the specialty has no idea what is going on. Take the Tri-Council Policy Statement for the Ethical Conduct for Research involving Humans (TCPS), for example. The name of the document is so long, they had to omit letters from the acronym.

Another example of the potential harms of acronyms has recently been described in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM for short). There has been a trend in clinical research to name studies in such way that clever acronyms can be made, making the trial easier to remember and discuss. It has been found that these trials are cited at twice the rate of trials not named with acronyms. As you may suspect, there is a close association with acronyms and sponsorship by the pharmaceutical industry. This advertising technique is one that can at times sideline the actual scientific credibility of the trial.

Anyhow, I'm not sure if I dislike acronyms as much as I did at the beginning of writing this....but it's already written, so here it is.

definitely discombobulated

why bring hope where it once was forgotten?
sons are like birds, flying always over the mountain
-Iron and Wine

Made it home from ultimate with a scraped knee and an intact back today. Sarah had my bus pass so I had to bike to the MSAC to get a ride from Lise. It sometimes seems like biking is going to be hard work but it never is really. I've never been biking and thought that I'd rather be in a bus or a car. Especially in the summer it's just so nice to be outside in the cool evening air, quietly gliding along. I finally got my clicking pedals figured out, so my bike really is a silent machine.

Ultimate was really fun tonight. We came out on top of a very competitive first game, despite the other team calling some questionable fouls. Ultimate totally depends on teams self regulating (there's no ref), which works very well pretty much all of the time, but can sometimes be frusterating, especially if you feel like someone is trying to take advantage of your good nature. The second game was against this rag tag group of 30 somethings, who ended up beating us. At first they looked like nothing special, but had a few guys who would huck it to these huge girls in the end zone who would never seem to drop it..... At the end of the game I realized their name was the discombobulators. I thought it apt.

Work is the same. I've decided to really try and make learning medicine my focus (fancy that). Get the stuff done I need to on the project, but spend most of my time trying to pick up stuff in clinic.

Trav sent me a cool link on different dimensions. I don't know much about string theory and quantum mechanics and what not, but the imagination required to come up with these theories boggles my mind. Like trying to imagine the earth is round and moving at a great velocity when you've believed it to be flat your whole life. Anyhow, check it out if you like.

Going home this weekend. Looking forward to the lake and hopefully having a nice time with my family. My mom seems anxious about selling the house and my dad is busy as usual. Katie is working three jobs but is getting some time off to hang out. I anticipate some tension between friends and family as usual when I'm home, but think it will work itself out. As my family's overall happiness with my behaviour waxes and wanes, I'm fairly certain I'm at a low point these days. It is relatively predictable due to my poor performance on birth/mother/father days. I think I might have to forgo receiving presents entirely in order for things to stop being stressful for everyone involved. I would have to manage a few perfect years of timely and appropriate gifts...that's 3 gifts a year for both mom and dad, as well as punctual and courteous thank you notes. The first few years would be be met with lots of surprise and smatterings of sarcasm but I'm sure I could work my way into the clear. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's possible. As per my own theory on gift giving, I have bought a few presents this past week as I had time to look and some ideas on what everyone might like. No occasion, except that I owe them for previous lackings. The thing is, for my familly anyhow, this is a little pointless. They will no doubt appreciate them, but it won't come close to the disapointment they felt on their birthday.

I'm not sure if this will go over too well. I guess I'll sleep on it.

I'm so folked up right now

the world owes us nothing
we owe eachother the world
-ani difranco

the editing program on this website is brutal. I think if this continues I'll have to somehow type in word and then copy and paste or something.

Sarah, Coco and I attended the Vancouver Folk Festival yesterday. I keep telling myself to stop talking about the weather, but- the weather was amazing. Beautiful sunshine and a cool breeze. We took in a few small shows in the afternoon, came home for dinner (about a 3 minute bike ride) and went back for the evening shows. Experienced the usual festival indecision (the sensation that despite the quality of the show you are at, there is probably a better show going on at another stage), but saw some really good music reclining in my thermarest chair. Folk Fests are so great for the colourful crowds. I mean, despite all the talk of diversity, most of the crowd is middle aged and white, but in general there are alot of people who couldn't really be bothered to worry about what other people think. it's nice.

We missed a second showing of Afrodizz (surprisingly only 1/8th black) and arrived back from dinner in time to catch Ruthie Foster play her set with some other peeps from texas. She was really good, but the guitarist they had playing lead was amazing...this woman named Nina Gerber who looks alot like a man. Anyhow, some Indian dudes came on afterwards and just played strings which isn't really my thing. After what seemed like a long changeover, Feist appeared and performed a lovely sequence of songs as the sun sank over the mountains. She was followed by an energetic Australian group called Ganga Giri-lots of fun to dance to. The format of each band playing about 45 min long sets was about perfect for me. It's nice to get such a variety.

Another beautiful day here today. Maybe we'll make it down to the beach.

reality television actually an amazing journey

yet now that I recall all the circumstances, I think I can see a little in to the springs and motives which being cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about performing the part I did, besisdes cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill
-Ishmael (Moby Dick)

It's friday today so I'm at home...trying vainly to finish Moby Dick before it's due back at the library. I'm only halfway done the epic tale of Ishmael and Ahab, but alas, o Fate!....someone else has requested it. Perhaps it is the Leviathan himself, aiming his portentious bulk at the untimely withdrawl of my renewing privledges.

Almost forgot another appointment yesterday, but made it in on time to meet with the midwifery student who is doing a research project on patient educators. It was nice to be able to get a better sense of what midwives do and how they are trained.

I spent the afternoon in clinic. Thursday is obstetrics so I got to do some prenatal check-ups. It's amazing how different family practice can be depending on the patient population you are working for. We had a few complicated patients and the resident I was working with had just come off call and was a bit zombied, but I feel like I learnt alot.

Ever since Coco gave Trevor a plant for his birthday and Jordan left his plants here for the summer, I've become very interested in growing them. I've started several new plants from pieces of existing ones and just started a new avocado seed last night. I've always liked having plants around and watching them grow, but I think that at some point during my time spent in the ghetto, I supressed this urge due to the impractical nature of the operation. Anyhow, it's been a nice little activity these days to help me feel productive.

No real plans for the weekend. I finally got the rain I wanted a few days ago but now it is just GLOOMY. As long as it's not too gross we are planning on seeing Feist at the folkfest on saturday night.

city hall. episode one.

We have 'em screaming in the streets,
we have 'em tippin' over shit and breakin' fuckin' windows of small businesses,
and settin' fuckin' fires!
and settin' fuckin' fires!
and settin' fuckin' fires!
-Tenacious D (City Hall)

When I used to work Walkhome at Queen's I went through this period where I got really tired of asking people the standard questions of the season (ie- so what are you plans for reading week? how are your exams going? how was your easter break?). As a result of this, I developped a set of "deep questions" to try and start an interesting discussion. They didn't always go over very well, but a few times they really got people going. Anyhow, one of the questions was the following.

-If you could become supreme ruler of the planet, but would have to forgo all contact with your friends and family in order to do so....would you do it?

Most people say no.
I think out of the people surveyed, I am one of the closest people to saying yes, as I spend a substantial amount of time being frusterated by the way things are going and also have some sort of false sense of confidence that if I was in charge I would be able to change things. It would be a huge sacrifice, but one that could potentially affect the lives of billions for the better.

Maybe not the best comment to post on a site most likely read by your close friends and family. On a side note- I love you guys.

Anyhow, that was the introduction to the actual topic, hopefully the first in a series, entitled "city hall" where I lay out my election platform.

1st decree.-Get rid of the Penny.

I have more or less been of this opinion sinced I lived in Australia for a year after highschool. Both Australia and New Zealand have banished the 1cent denomination for over 10 years. They just round up or down to the nearest 5cents. They are also up on us by adding the GST to the listed price. This helps in that stores can no longer price things as $6.99 or whatever. Instead they tell the truth and call it $7.00.

There has been a recent debate in the United States about the penny, as it has started to cost more than a 1cent to produce each coin. Initially I was astounded by this fact but in the end it doesn't really mean much. Who cares if the mint is making money by making money or not? I guess it means that if you saved up enough pennies, you could sell them back to the bank for more than their face value. In Canada, it only costs about 0.7 cents in Canada to make a penny, because they use some plating technology that allows them to use mostly steel and are therefore not as influenced by the rising price of copper, etc. Although some people think this is enough of a reason to keep making them (it's profitable for the mint), others highlight the cost of distributing the tonnes and tonnes of pennies around the country. I highlight the pain in the ass they are, cluttering up people's lives in general. The other day I had a few pennies in my pocket and wanted to be a little lighter, but didn't get rid of them because I thought it would be littering. You should not have to wonder if you are littering currency. Even giving pennies as a tip or to a panhandler is considered a dis.

Fun Fact #1- There are 16 billion pennies in circulation in Canada.
Fun Fact#2- Did you know that the Canadian mint produces currency for other nations including the Dominican Republic?
Fun Fact #3- I used to have a penny collection when I was kid. I guess it was really a bank. I would double check each new addition to make sure it was a Canadian coin.

According to the news article where I got most of this info 34% of Canadians support getting rid of the penny and 29% were opposed. The majority, 39%, didn't care either way. In politics, I think these people are termed the "Swing Vote".

hungry hippo

"Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I want to drive it all night long"
-Tom Cochrane

I'm starving, so this should be a quick one.

I went slightly cuckoo at work this morning but things improved by the afternoon as I started to interact with other human beings. The morning really reminded me of working for RanFlan in Kingston as I had a comparable amount of spare time during which my mind would run all over itself. It was interesting to think about what was bothering me then, which was essentially the meaning of my own life. Unintentionally, I've become even more self-centred since then and spend most of my time contemplating the optimal mechanics for my life, rather than trying to figure out where the whole contraption should be heading to. This probably has much to do with me being in medicine, and the warm fuzzy certainty that brings.

Anyhow, the afternoon was nice and I like the bunch of residents that are in the clinic now. I got to learn more about the roles of nurse practioners which will most likely prove useful.

Dinner time!

moderately zapped

"Snake eyes....I just said snake eyes....that's a gambling term. it's an animal term too"
-Mitch Hedberg

I've told a couple people about this little endeavour and in doing so have tried to think a little more about the style I wish to adopt. In order to consider the style I had to first consider the purpose.

Technology has had an incredible effect on the ability of people to stay in contact over long distances. In the past and even now, people on different adventures often use the "bulk email" tool to communicate to large audiences. Despite their efficiency, if you've ever had to write or read any of this type of email, the many downfalls of the format are readily apparent. Amongst some other, more sinister, motives, this blog is an effort to stay in touch with friends and relatives, My hope is that this might eventually be read by people across the globe, who, interested in knowing what I'm up to, can conveniently tune in for a snapshot. Mixed metaphors, but you get the idea. I aim to provide these little synopses of my life in the format of interesting anectodotes and observations. If I fail, talk to my people in subscriptions.

I'm trying to spend less money these days after a brief audit into my expenditures over the last couple of months. It's uncanny how the numbers indicating what I'm (not) worth increase so rapidly. I'm devising a plan to help myself realize that I'm on a budget, but it's proving to be a little complicated. In undergrad I had one grand per month to spend. When that ran out, I just ate whatever I had in the cupboards and waited until the next month. Unfortunately, having a line of credit encourages you to just take the money directly from the seemingly bottomless pit in order to decrease the amount of interest being paid. This, coupled with VISA expenditures, lends itself easily to ignorance of exactly how far down I am.

In the process of discovering my financial state-of-affairs, I struggled to figure out what I spend my money on. I fancy myself to not buy into the consumer mentality of this continent as much as the average joe. I am uncomfortable in most retail outlets and haven't bought a pair of shorts in a few years, depsite the stained and torn line up that currently take turns hiding my underwear. A quick look at my VISA bill, however, reveals enough purchases at Amazon.ca and tickemaster to make me wonder about how spendthrift I really am. A quick look around my room also helps me realize how many wonderful objects I've managed to accumulate in my short life. A beautiful collection of electronic, musical and transportation devices to enhance and enrich my existence. As much as I love the idea of travelling light, I can't help but feel like all my things help me run a smooth and enjoyable life. Probably more on this later.

Coincidently, at approximately the same time, Trev asked me about my interest in renter's insurance. I have since accepted this as a good idea. The problem, however, is that I'm a procrastinator, and buying insurance is one thing that doesn't lend itself well to people such as myself. Every day that I think about buying insurance, I realize that I've saved some small amount of money by not having insurance since the last time I had the same thought. It's like I'm gambling all my stuff every day - and winning.

the intrepid george vancouver

"Without the top of the mountain, there could be no sides"

-Robert M Pirsig
(Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

I'm really enjoying myself, being in Vancouver for the summer. Met up with Trish, Cortney, Lisa, Lise, etc for a picnic at Kits Beach on friday. Played some good frisbee and sat around, enjoying the music and the people. I'm not very comfortable in crowds, and therefore tend to avoid the beach scene in the summertime, but it was just perfect on friday. Maybe everyone got beached out on the long weekend.

Cortney picked me up early on saturday a.m. and we loaded our bikes in the back and headed up Port Moody way. We first rode and then hiked up Eagle Peak (aka Mount Beautiful) and had some lunch at the top. It as definitely alot more like hiking and less like a stairmaster than The Chief (the hike Courtney & I did last week). This was both good and bad as I tried to enjoy the privacy while my calves burned. Overall, I think we picked the best one for the day out of the 103 possiblities. It's only an hour drive from Kitsilano, and we only saw two other people on the trail and had the peak to ourselves. Had a great view of Vancouver, Indian Arm, Coquitlam Lake and Mount Baker. Went for a swim in the lake afterwards. Abrupt on the hot muscles but magic for my knees.

Today I'm probably gonna watch the deciding match in the World Cup and then chill out for the afternoon and head over to Hylnsky's for a bbq/pool party. I'm usually not that into spectating (see my cousin Jeffy's blog for his(my) opinion on watching professional sports), but I like soccer, and this is the most important game in 4 years, so catching the 2nd half seems reasonable.

Here's a photo from the hike.

4 inch non-stop begonia

"It's just, when you buy furniture, you tell yourself, that's it. That's the last sofa I'm gonna need. Whatever else happens, I've got that sofa problem handled. "

-The Narrator
(Fight Club)

I'm going to work today, which is kind of optional on fridays. I have things to do there, so I might as well....it's not like I would have the slightest inkling of what to do with myself otherwise.

Courtney (and Cortney for that matter) came over last night and we had a good talk. I feel like when that sort of thing happens, the subject matter covered here becomes much less immediate. Cortney came over to look over my recently purchased book-103 hikes. (We are planning on doing one tommorrow). I'm excited about getting up another mountain. It's fun to explore the area you live in. Find out the names of the mountains and the ranges they belong to. I can't help but realize that part of me has some ambition to try and climb all the hikes in the book. Kind of ridiculous, like those people who have "life-lists" for bird watching or scuba diving or for their life in general. There is this story my friend Gill told me once of this guy who wrote down a hundred things he wanted to do before he died when he as like 15 years old or something and is now 60 and almost done the list. It has things on it like "summit the 6 highest peaks in the world" & "swim with great white sharks", etc. I'll try and find it online today and post it later.

The weather has gotten kind of overcast and colder. That's fine, but I would prefer some precipitation. I live in Vancouver and I'm missing the rain. In the winter this year, apparently the city almost broke it's own record for the number of consecutive days of rain (29 days). Everyone was talking about it. It was enough to make you hope it didn't let up just so you could break that record. Anyhow, it didn't rain at the airport one day and we didn't make it. It still rained in my neighbourhood, however, so although the official record wasn't broken, I like to think that we made it.

Here's a photo I'm posting of my own visage so that I can put it in my profile. Just to make sure you know who's talking to you.

ratcheted

"The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing"
-Shunryu Suzuki
(Buddhist Koan)

This doesn't really describe how I was feeling yesterday, but is a good example of the paradoxes inherent in buddhism, which I've been thinking alot about lately.

Anyhow, yesterday was a weird day, and it's description might make the importance of the quote more apparent.

I spent most of the day at home yesterday, waiting for a meeting with my other supervisor to gain some direction on my project. I got many things done that I have been putting off. Writing thank you notes, potting new plants, I even made my bed for the first time in ages. Although I had a very productive meeting, I spent most of my day feeling pretty tormented. It's a melodramatic word I know, but that seems to be the best descriptor. I actually think that the reason I felt so crappy is because I got alot of things done. I always expect to feel really relaxed when I have gotten my life squared, but it's usually the opposite. This feeling always comes over me when I spend time alone, especially if I have to make decisions. I manage to whip my mind into something like a tornado or a whirlpool or something that spins and spins but doesn't actually achieve anything other than leaving me in an irritable and anxious state. I have done a little reading and pondering about buddhist ideas in the past, but this apparent inability to manage my mind when I'm not surrounded by people to regulate it has been pushing me to consider a regualr practice routine. I've recently heard someone saying (I think on the CBC Ideas podcast), that considering the amount of time many of us spend exercising our bodies, doesn't it make sense to spend some fraction of that amount of time exercising our minds?

Anyhow, I didn't really start writing here to post all about my internal mushings, (that was supposed to be musings, but the way it turned out seems more apt) as there are definitely better places for that. This sort of annoying wondering will be kept to a minimum in the future.

On a more concrete note, I'm trying to plan an overnight camping trip sometime soon, hopefully this weekend. Not sure how it's going to work considering Trev is taking off with his automobile. I always think it's funny how you often need to own a petroleum-powered machine to enjoy the wilderness.

I have databases to scour now! I'm off to it.

PHHP

"It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I
guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there,
rocking back and forth, wanting that money."

-Jack Handey

This is new to me, so, typical to my nature I should be very interested and committed at the beginning. Here is my second post in approx 14 hours.

Work is slooooooow. I am trying to appreciate the free time and relaxation it's bringing me but at times it can be difficult to feel unproductive. Lazy and always wondering if I should be trying to take some more initiative in deciding the direction of the project. I am currently working on an 8 week summer research project at the UBC family practice clinic, researching and developing a course for the students that work there. It's an interesting project, and I've enjoyed my time so far, but my supervisor appears to be going through some sort of continuing crisis which appears to be her regular life. I don't usually think alot about having children and a career but I did yesterday as her kids ran amok in the office (the nanny is on a leave of absence).

That explains why I am blogging at 9.20am on a wednesday morning.

I picked up Sarah and Trevor last night at the airport from their jaunts back east for the Canada Day long weekend. The both seemed to have enjoyed themselves and it was nice to have them home. I really enjoy living with them and am still not looking forward to being on my lonesome in The Vine

Because I have time, I will try and post a photo with this entry. If it works, it's a nice one (i think) from the bowron lakes. That's Blade (Dave) checking on the boats.

famous last words

I've never been a paticularly good writer, or even kept a regular journal of my private thoughts. Sentences belonging to many of my compositions have found a litte "awk" floating near their ends. Anyhow, I promise to tell no one of this until I get myself on track with my senses and sensibilities of writing.

What's in the name? A personal statement. A moment of supposed decision that went slightly awry but nonetheless- stuck to. You see normally I would spend days writing down possible self-titles and then evaluate them, constantly wondering if I should go for something that sounds cool, or means something, and eventually decide I need both, which is almost always unattainable, unless you possess a wildly creative intellect. which i do not.

Anyhow, he's a character from a movie. Not my favourite movie or my favourite character. He doesn't even have any extra special lines. Just a cool spelling name.

Some people keep each blog post to one topic but for now I think I shall not.

Over 2 million Americans are incarcerated. That's 714/100,000. According to the World Prison Population Report (I'm going to learn how to link later). Over half of these people are non-violent offenders, most of whom are in the slammer on drug charges (I think, more research pending). Canada clocks in at 116/100,00. Maybe not surprising, but interesting, I thought.

ok. well, to end with a quote is best. I'll pretend it's fitting that we have a not paticularly well spoken character be the first quoted.

"Oh, we were like glory's gate, my darling. We were like that bloody shark of yours, we swam with the... oh, damn it, I had it on the plane. "

-Oseary Drakoulias
(The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou)