so as i write this i am sitting in the living room of my new place. none of my roomates are home cause two are working, one hasn't moved in and the other has moved in and headed north for his summer job already.
for those of you who are unaware (though i am pretty sure i have told anyone that might actually read this), my cousin and her husband are moving home while they build their house, so as of tomorrow i would be homeless...and so i have moved into a nice little house two blocks from campus with a bunch of friends. well technically it is two conjoined houses, and i am friends with the people in both houses which is sweet. it was a good two and a half years living with my aunt and uncle. they were amazing, and i had a sweet roomate there this year (my sortof-non-cousin michelle). but i was kinda ready to live with friends, so this worked out perfectly.
i just found out that there is still some snow on the ground so i am stuck in the city for another three weeks before i can go out to pasture...thats a lot of hours of microscope work :( but it will be all worth it when i am back down south.
its been a busy couple weeks, finished classes, finished finals, passed with flying colours and get to keep my scholarship (YAY MONEY!!!). i went and spent a couple days with my sister and her family. played with my niece and nephew which was great. Cody has a toy grain auger, so we moved grain back and forth between buckets, too cute! Mom and Dad got a new dog and even bigger news...NEW HORSES! i am so jelous cause it is going to be a long time before i get to see them in anything other than a picture. i just want to ride one, or have my own...that would work too.
i can't decide how i want to end this post
Moooooooooo......that is all!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
damn my life is glamerous!
As I write this blog I have recently returned home from another oh so glamerous day in as a grad student.
I have in the past year been a cold, wet grad student, a sweaty, filthy grad student, a bug-bitten, ichy grad student and a grinding room/lab bound grad student. But as of today I have reached a new high (low?). I am now...... a fecal sludge filtering grad student.
Hold your groans and looks of disgust!
It is here that I must point out that it has been dried, ground and soaked overnight in ethanol, so really as clean as bovine feces can be.
And you may now commence with your general revulsion.
Now Brian has pointed out to me that I have a job that only certain people could do, and I suppose this is very true, I mean most people that see pictures of my trailer get this look of horror and say they could never live there. and even a fellow grad student who also has to do fecal work looked at my sludge and said that it was gross. While I am not saying it is a barrel of laughs, it really isn't that bad.
But then I always have been kinda weird like that.
And so tomorrow brings another day of filtering fecal sludge, but really if this is the price I pay for the coolest summer job in the world, complete with government issue trailer, cows, a quad and when I am really lucky a truck, I say which way to the sludge!
I have in the past year been a cold, wet grad student, a sweaty, filthy grad student, a bug-bitten, ichy grad student and a grinding room/lab bound grad student. But as of today I have reached a new high (low?). I am now
Hold your groans and looks of disgust!
It is here that I must point out that it has been dried, ground and soaked overnight in ethanol, so really as clean as bovine feces can be.
And you may now commence with your general revulsion.
Now Brian has pointed out to me that I have a job that only certain people could do, and I suppose this is very true, I mean most people that see pictures of my trailer get this look of horror and say they could never live there. and even a fellow grad student who also has to do fecal work looked at my sludge and said that it was gross. While I am not saying it is a barrel of laughs, it really isn't that bad.
But then I always have been kinda weird like that.
And so tomorrow brings another day of filtering fecal sludge, but really if this is the price I pay for the coolest summer job in the world, complete with government issue trailer, cows, a quad and when I am really lucky a truck, I say which way to the sludge!
Monday, February 16, 2009
HELLO WORLD!!!
1 year, 291 days and who knows how many minutes....
Wow it really has been forever....I mean I know that Holly was harassing me about it last time I saw her but wow, when I do the math it is really bad.
So what have I been up to in the last 656 days?
So last thing I wrote about I was in PG that summer was awesome, met new people, did new things, did some of the same old things which were also good. Applied for a job in Vernon, didn’t get the job in Vernon, got offered a temporary position in Smithers, didn’t take that so I could go back to school, went back to school in Saskatoon at the end of the summer and really never left.
That second (first and a half?) year in Saskatoon was really good. I took all kinds of practical classes about things that really interested me. I was all together too busy most of the time since I was on our student association council. I am sure that all of you that know me are so surprised that I am super involved in clubs. I went on a Society for Range Management tour my second summer with Ag and Lands, and I found that really interesting, so I enrolled in the range management class and joined the range team. The range team went to Louisville, KY that year and we competed in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam competition. The team placed 4th out of 23 teams from all over North America (I pulled off an 8th out of 153 in the individual, I may not have got a plaque but I was stoked). We toured around all kinds of cool places, including a native seed breeding operation, the Louisville Slugger factory and my personal favourite Churchill Downs.
I moved into my Government Issue trailer at the Elbow Community Pasture in early May 2008. I had all the luxuries of life: power that came from an extension cord, water from a garden hose, a PVC camp shower and and true Saskatchewan biffy. Most people cringe when they hear me describe it, but it wasn't that bad actually. I spent the summer working with my 42 heifers, bombing around on my quad, building fences and taking vegetation and fecal samples. I know it sounds oh so glamorous, but it was probably the best summer job I have ever had. I had a blast ever though it was work. I met a lot of people that live in the area, went to a couple brandings and helped move cow with them. They even convinced me to try Prairie Oysters (really not THAT bad if they are shake’n’baked and you don’t think about what they are). They are really a great group of people that live down there. I went to some rodeos, went down to a friend’s families place in the south east, rode some, learned to rope (still working on it, no rodeos in my future).
Range team just got back from the meetings in Albuquerque, NM. We had real Mexican food, danced with the Mexican team at the dance, hung out with students from Texas, Montana and Nebraska.. We went to meetings and sessions, did a bit of shopping and toured the historic plaza and the church that was over three hundred years old. We also went and looked at the petroglyphs carved by the Pueblo people and topped it all off with a trip to the Aquarium and Botanical gardens. The rest of the group also went up to Santa Fe for a day, but I had a meeting so had to skip out.
Wow it really has been forever....I mean I know that Holly was harassing me about it last time I saw her but wow, when I do the math it is really bad.
So what have I been up to in the last 656 days?
So last thing I wrote about I was in PG that summer was awesome, met new people, did new things, did some of the same old things which were also good. Applied for a job in Vernon, didn’t get the job in Vernon, got offered a temporary position in Smithers, didn’t take that so I could go back to school, went back to school in Saskatoon at the end of the summer and really never left.
That second (first and a half?) year in Saskatoon was really good. I took all kinds of practical classes about things that really interested me. I was all together too busy most of the time since I was on our student association council. I am sure that all of you that know me are so surprised that I am super involved in clubs. I went on a Society for Range Management tour my second summer with Ag and Lands, and I found that really interesting, so I enrolled in the range management class and joined the range team. The range team went to Louisville, KY that year and we competed in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam competition. The team placed 4th out of 23 teams from all over North America (I pulled off an 8th out of 153 in the individual, I may not have got a plaque but I was stoked). We toured around all kinds of cool places, including a native seed breeding operation, the Louisville Slugger factory and my personal favourite Churchill Downs.
I moved into my Government Issue trailer at the Elbow Community Pasture in early May 2008. I had all the luxuries of life: power that came from an extension cord, water from a garden hose, a PVC camp shower and and true Saskatchewan biffy. Most people cringe when they hear me describe it, but it wasn't that bad actually. I spent the summer working with my 42 heifers, bombing around on my quad, building fences and taking vegetation and fecal samples. I know it sounds oh so glamorous, but it was probably the best summer job I have ever had. I had a blast ever though it was work. I met a lot of people that live in the area, went to a couple brandings and helped move cow with them. They even convinced me to try Prairie Oysters (really not THAT bad if they are shake’n’baked and you don’t think about what they are). They are really a great group of people that live down there. I went to some rodeos, went down to a friend’s families place in the south east, rode some, learned to rope (still working on it, no rodeos in my future).
. 
. 
I was home a couple of times in all this, bought a car at the beginning of the summer. I was back again at the end of May for Shannon’s wedding. At the end of the summer I came home for a week before classes started up again. Since then it has been mostly school and lab work. I am again too busy for my own good: involved with coaching range team, on council for our Stockman’s club, campus rec sports, homework, labwork, proposals to write...and yet I still do find time for a social life so I don’t turn into a complete hermit. There has been some stressful moments, the biggest being my supervisor leaving in December to work for the BC Ministry of Forest and Range. I say he copied me, since he knew that was one of the places where I was thinking of ending up. He told me as soon as he applied for the job, but it was quite the role reversal when I was a reference for my supervisor.
Range team just got back from the meetings in Albuquerque, NM. We had real Mexican food, danced with the Mexican team at the dance, hung out with students from Texas, Montana and Nebraska.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
back in PG
yes, i am now back in the great and wonderful northern city of prince george. it is a whole lot warmer now then when i left it, though the pulp smell is still there to let me know that some things never change...
it really is great to be back though, i dont get my old office back, but my new shared office is good too. nothing has really changed, it is really like i never left, which is cool. the other summer student, Lori, got here today and we walked to work together. thats right people, i am walking to work. it is like a 45 min walk from my place in the college of new caledonia dorms to work, but i dont have a car up here this summer, and so i shall be in mad good shape by september.
i really dont have all that much to say...
ttfn
Monday, April 9, 2007
end of semester festivities
ahhh...end of semester
classes are done, exams are coming up, stress needs to be relieved. i dont think that i could have had a better last day of classes if i had have planned it out.
well techically it was the second to last day of class, but details, details...
so the day started off i was just going to go to school a little early, skip my only class and go to the Temple Grandin lecture. who is she you may ask...she is only the leading expert on livestock and animal behavior and livestock handling systems. that she was lecturing at UofS was huge. so i got to the school, walked it to the lounge and there it was...
overnight the geers (aka the engineers *sss*) had transformed our lounge into a model of the south saskatchewan river. i mean they had bridges and cars and busses. they started at like 7 wednesday night and finished up at like 4 the next morning. it was awesome. they brought in like five three tonne truck loads of dirt, used hairdryers to mould pondliner, ran hoses to fill it with water... i mean they pulled out all the stops.
then we had to clean it up and we had a blast doing it. it took us far less time to clean up than it took them to put it together. we started about 930 and finished by 330. i skipped out for an hour to go to my lecture, which was awesome, and then came back to help finish off the cleanup. i have to say i have never had that much fun shovelling dirt in my life. and then the geers kept coming to look at the stunt, and so we started capturing them as they came in, taping them to chairs and coating them in paint and mud. then us girls got bored, cause only guys can tape guys, so we went and kidnapped some girls. it was great.
so then we continued on with travelling blue room aka drink a small town dry. we loaded up onto a bus and headed out from rodeo's to an undisclosed small town...which was in fact Asquith, SK. we did in fact proceed to drink the asquith hotel dry and had a rather good time doing it too.
check out all the pictures in the photo gallery
classes are done, exams are coming up, stress needs to be relieved. i dont think that i could have had a better last day of classes if i had have planned it out.
well techically it was the second to last day of class, but details, details...
so the day started off i was just going to go to school a little early, skip my only class and go to the Temple Grandin lecture. who is she you may ask...she is only the leading expert on livestock and animal behavior and livestock handling systems. that she was lecturing at UofS was huge. so i got to the school, walked it to the lounge and there it was...
overnight the geers (aka the engineers *sss*) had transformed our lounge into a model of the south saskatchewan river. i mean they had bridges and cars and busses. they started at like 7 wednesday night and finished up at like 4 the next morning. it was awesome. they brought in like five three tonne truck loads of dirt, used hairdryers to mould pondliner, ran hoses to fill it with water... i mean they pulled out all the stops.
then we had to clean it up and we had a blast doing it. it took us far less time to clean up than it took them to put it together. we started about 930 and finished by 330. i skipped out for an hour to go to my lecture, which was awesome, and then came back to help finish off the cleanup. i have to say i have never had that much fun shovelling dirt in my life. and then the geers kept coming to look at the stunt, and so we started capturing them as they came in, taping them to chairs and coating them in paint and mud. then us girls got bored, cause only guys can tape guys, so we went and kidnapped some girls. it was great.
so then we continued on with travelling blue room aka drink a small town dry. we loaded up onto a bus and headed out from rodeo's to an undisclosed small town...which was in fact Asquith, SK. we did in fact proceed to drink the asquith hotel dry and had a rather good time doing it too.
check out all the pictures in the photo gallery
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
of initiations and mine tours
holy cow...that was cold. and messy.
so sunday we had our first meeting as the new executive
and then we had our initiations.this of course entailed all manner of disgusting pursuits in three stages. stage one involved all of the new exec filing outside in the snow. now the girls were lucky as we were allowed to keep our pants. the guys, not so much. the old exec had bought the most disgusting looking foods they could find at the superstore and then asked us questions out of the constitution. if we got the question wrong we had to eat the random food. these included curried pureed mustard leaves, grass jelly, sardines, lotus oatmeal, and perrywort juice (which really looked more like common mallow). they were all right as long as you didnt actually chew them or let them touch your tongue. stage two involved us getting down on our knees in the snow in the lineup. they put peanut butter in our right ear, mayo in our left, syrup and ketchup on our hair and then a handful of flour in the face. stage three was the worst, they took guinness and put it in the oven to warm up. we then were required to chug a can of guinness that was about as warm as your standard morning cup of coffee. now i can only sort of handle guinness when it is nicely chilled, but warm is a whole other story. the whole roast malt think is really strong. and then there were a couple of us that for a variety of reasons were locked outside and required to drink another one. after that we were officially initiated and part of the team.
so sunday we had our first meeting as the new executive
and then we had our initiations.this of course entailed all manner of disgusting pursuits in three stages. stage one involved all of the new exec filing outside in the snow. now the girls were lucky as we were allowed to keep our pants. the guys, not so much. the old exec had bought the most disgusting looking foods they could find at the superstore and then asked us questions out of the constitution. if we got the question wrong we had to eat the random food. these included curried pureed mustard leaves, grass jelly, sardines, lotus oatmeal, and perrywort juice (which really looked more like common mallow). they were all right as long as you didnt actually chew them or let them touch your tongue. stage two involved us getting down on our knees in the snow in the lineup. they put peanut butter in our right ear, mayo in our left, syrup and ketchup on our hair and then a handful of flour in the face. stage three was the worst, they took guinness and put it in the oven to warm up. we then were required to chug a can of guinness that was about as warm as your standard morning cup of coffee. now i can only sort of handle guinness when it is nicely chilled, but warm is a whole other story. the whole roast malt think is really strong. and then there were a couple of us that for a variety of reasons were locked outside and required to drink another one. after that we were officially initiated and part of the team.other news, i got to tour a potash mine today and it was so cool. they took us all the
way 
down the mine, just shy of a kilometer down. then we bombed around in the back of these toyota jeeps through the tunnels. it was the most awesome thing ever. it was dusty, boy way it dusty, but it was worth it. though we did come out of there pretty sure that we had all eaten our salt quota for at least a month. we actually got to see the miner excavating the raw ore. they showed us the the processing and the storage, but the mine was the coolest. definitely the best tour i have ever been on.
way 
down the mine, just shy of a kilometer down. then we bombed around in the back of these toyota jeeps through the tunnels. it was the most awesome thing ever. it was dusty, boy way it dusty, but it was worth it. though we did come out of there pretty sure that we had all eaten our salt quota for at least a month. we actually got to see the miner excavating the raw ore. they showed us the the processing and the storage, but the mine was the coolest. definitely the best tour i have ever been on.
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