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

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

pictures!!!!!!

ladies and gentlemen here they are... the long awaited pictures from Cummoniwannalaya and Elections Pub

Cummoniwannalaya

Elections Pub

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.

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.

wow...its been a while

yes i am still alive and well.

well it has been a busy month and a half.

lets see, i went home for reading break, had a good visit with the family and friends. headed out for a fantastic evening at the OK Corral, always a good time. the twenty some odd hour busride back to saskatoon was not, but what can you do?

right after reading break was monte carlo, the ASA annual casino night to raise money for telemiracle. way to go me, i signed up to run a table all night. so i started off the evening at blackjack, where i learned that it is a lot harder to be a dealer than it looks on tv. it was a blast, i was the evil blackjack dealer that took everyones play money. so then i moved on to crowns and anchors, where i spun a wheel for over an hour, not so fun, but laughing at the antics of those who came to play (or cheat) made up for it. and i took everyones money. having been the house at a charity casino, i really cant see how people love casinos so much, we take your money.

school work, school work, school work...stupid midterms and assignments. hanging out in the lounge, go to class, go home, eat, homework, sleep. my days are so riveting.

CUMMONIWANNALAYA

think about it... there you go, you got it. who ever came up with the name for the annual hawaiian mixer was a genius. it is so much fun to say, just try it...cummoniwannalaya. so again as a busy little involved type person i signed up for a whole lot of shifts to sell tickets, it was awesome, course i mostly just sat at a table in the ag atrium while no one bought them. except the day of cummoniwannalaya, friday march 9. so the asa had taken a kiosk in the arts tunnel and dressed it up like a tiki hut. they had music and beach chairs and fake grass and leis. it looked fantastic. and the weather was nice, we're talking plus 8. it was gorgeous. so i was selling in the tiki hut on the friday, so i went all out with shorts and flip flops and harassed people into buying tickets. then later myself and another girl wandered around outside hawking tickets. it was an all around good time. as was the event. we ended up actually selling like 650 tickets. the bands wernt all that great, but a good time was had by all. i would post a picture here, but i do not have one yet, so it will have to come at a later date.

since i am going to be here for a while, i figured that i would run for the asa executive, well rather i got talked into it. they needed more people to run so that they could fill all the positions. in anycase, i am now the literary and photo officer of the asa, by acclimation. i told you they were short on people. there were only like four positions that had actual competition. then we had the elections pub last night, where the results were officially announced. it was a costume event and we had the sweetest costumes. there were three of us and we went as nascar/agros pit crew girls. we had jumper dresses with checkard flag fabric and sponsor patches and our names. it was fantastic. again i dont have pictures yet, but they too will come. so we anounced the winners, who then had to funnel a beer, drank keg beer, had an all round good time, and then we tarred and feathered the outgoing and incoming presidents. well actually it was honey and feathers, but the effect is the same. they then proceeded to spread the love and cover others in honey and feathers. i so got attacked by the outgoing, Denise. i had to have a shower when i got home. i was a mess, honey and feathers head to toe. but i shared my feathers around so its all good.

well thats about it, cheers.

we wuz robbed!

its been a while, so what is new...

we wuz robbed! but i'll get to that later...

life has been rather uneventful for the last couple weeks; school, home, homework, sleep. life as usual for a student.

so two weeks ago i found out the most hilarious bit of trivia. the agros have a beer quota! no for real, we have a quota. i went to cheap beer night a couple weeks ago, but it was actually cheap rye night. when i asked why, i was told that it was a special treat because we were almost at our quota. now this of course puzzled me, so i had to learn more. so you see we are sponsored by labatts, and in the sponsorship contract, the agros are required to consume or sell minimum amount of labatts products at their cheap beer night and their events. the amount of the quota, only the exec really knows, but it has to be a hell of a lot, because they sold a lot of beer at the ag bag drag this year. of course labatt product includes kokanee and bud and keiths to name a few, so really it is not like it is limited, but still... now i really dont know which is better, the fact that we have a quota, or we were almost there at the end of january. either way thought, it is hilarious.

a couple weeks ago i signed up to help with lambing. the university has all of its sheep lamb in like the first week of february, and they have students volunteer to take the overnight shifts. they posted the shedule last wednesday, and i look for my name and i look for my noam, and as murphy would have it, i was scheduled for the 8-midnight shift after i planned to be well and in bc. this meant that i had to scramble to find someone to switch with, and the only person i could find had the 4-8 AM shift this monday. and so i found myself getting up at 3 to get bundled up and head off to the barns at the university to help with lambing. i get there and there were five of us, do they really think that they need that many? there was not a single lamb born in my shift, so all we did was stand around and talk for most of the four hours. oh we checked the ewes every 45 min to see if any had lambed (we wish) and one girl had to milk a ewe to feed her baby which would not suck, but that was the totality of the four hours. but it was still kind of fun, and it looks good to the profs so it wasnt a total loss.

anyway on to the robbery...

on saturday the student union held the college challenge during a huskies basketball game. on the line was a keg and 40 dozen wings. oh ya and the college cup. so a bunch of us agros show up (late as we were having a beer or two in the college pub) we missed the hotdog eating contest, and got there just as they started the tug of war, which they would not let us compete in because we were late. the next contest was the rootbeer chugging. we decided that we would all shotgun our rootbeer, it was awesome, and we so won...i even got a little roughriders football as part of our prize. we then proceeded to also win the belching contest and capture the flag dodgeball and the college cheer. and might i say our college cheer is awesome. the gym went dead silent and we were small but loud. so at this point we think that we have the thing in the bag. i mean we are at least winning the mini keg that second place got. then they announce the winner, the TOGA KIDS FROM REZ, what the hell, they arent even a college and they win? sure there were a lot of them but they hadnt won a single event? we didnt even place, we were choked, and not just because of the lost beer, but on principle. we were not impressed. but they huskies men and women beat ubc so it was not all bad, but still...we so won. i mean our cheer is like 80 years old, and everyone elses sucked.

not impressed.

but anyway... i get to go home for reading break tomorrow. ten days off, most of my midterms are done so life is good.

tanks, dances, and root that pig

so what is new...

well every thursday the ASA (ag students association) has a cheap beer night at their host bar, Rodeo's. since i still knew very few people as of thursday, i figured it would be a good opportunity to attempt to do so. and so off i hiked to take the bus to the bar. now on paper this seemed like it would be no big deal, the nearest bus stop was ONLY four blocks away from the bar, and so i think to my self "i can walk that easily, no problem". this however failed to take into account the fact that it is winter, and in winter there is nowhere to put the snow but on the sidewalk. so i got off the bus and began to walk.. the snow that i walked on was about waist high, packed down. this put me way up above the street. still not a problem untill i came to the overpass. you know those nice gaurd rails that they have so pedestrians, and cars, dont fall onto the street below, ya it was about mid-calf. i made it though and i made it to Rodeo's, about a half hour late but i figure on a pub night no one really cares. i met a few new people, learned the names of a bunch of people i knew in passing, imbibed a couple cheap beers, learned that anyone caught drinking anything but a labatt product is subject to ridicule (labatt sponsors the ASA) and in general had an excellent time. and then the news arrived...the agros had stolen the tank!

now as an uninitated i had to have the significance of this explaied to me...the tank is this ancient chev three ton truck belonging to the engineers (SSSSS). they have a small like world war two mini tank/shell gun on the back of it, and the whole thing is painted red. now the engineers(SSSSSSSSS) hide this svehical knowing that if the agros ever found it it would be stolen. a first year was walking home from a doctors appointment and saw it parked in a yard. when he got to the lounge and told everyone, not knwing how big a deal it was, a group of senior agros decided to steal it before pub night. and so the went, opened the triangle window with a fillet knife, poped the locks, cut the brake line and towed her away. the tank is now safely hidden by the agros, and painted a lovely shade of royal blue.

on thursday, some of the new people that i met told me that i should go to the grad dance on saturday. i got myself all dressed up pretty and went, again hoping to meet some knew people (i am detecting a theme here) i show up and buy my ticket to get in, walk in, look around, and see no one i know. at this point i felt like the biggest party crasher. the only thing that kept me from leaving right away was the fact that i had my ASA membership card in my purse in case anyone asked me if i belonged...but then i saw some people i knew and it was all good from there. had a good time, danced a little, met a whole bunch of people, learned some interesting alternate words to mony mony, and observed a very bizzare yet interesting drinking game. the kind only farm kids would think up. it begins with someone saying yeehaw and swinging their armin one direction to point the directionthe yeehaw was to go. this continues araound a circle, a hoe down switches the direction, a barn roof skips the person who says it, a pitchfork skips the person beside you, toss the bale sends it to anyone in the circle who can block it with a barn door closed. and then there is a root that pig, where everyone must stand up shout "root that pig" anyone who screws up has to drink. it really makes no sence (but really how many drinking games do) but it is sure entertaining to watch. have i mentioned that agros are fantastic and so a lot of fun.

thats really all that is new with me. school is school, most of my classes are pretty interesting, i could live without computers though. they make you take a course in which you learn how to use word excel and power point. yay. my field crops lab went on a tour of a local microbrewary yesterday, which was pretty cool, and i tour a feed mill tomorrow with my animal science class. life is good.

horray for industry dinners!

well tonight i went to the most fastinating thing... and industry dinner. every year the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC) hosts this dinner for upper level UofS animal science students. it is this meet and greet thing so that students can get to know industry people and who they work for and what they do, and so that the industry people can meet some of the students that will be graduating soon, and scout new potential employees.

so, you ask, where do i fit in to all of this since i am in limbo and not really a animal science major.

when i was talking to the grad studies advisor, i mentioned that animal nutrition interested me, so he suggested that i come to the ANAC dinner. i promptly signed up, sent my resume as was requested, and showed up to look pretty and hopefully get a feel for the industry and the people involved. as i know virtually no one, i got myself my free drink and introduced myself to a group of students that looked friendly, thereby allowing me to attach myself to them. the best part of the evening was the fact that there was a phalynx of animal science professors also at the dinner. this meant that i could actually meet the profs. they would come around to talk to the girls i had attached myself to (i sound like a leach or a limpet, but i am pretty sure they didnt mind especially since they actually talked to me) and then the prof would notice me and so i could introduce myself, and they would want to know all about me and where i transferred from, what i was doing. each and every one of them thought i should skip the second bachelors and just to a masters (thanks a lot guys now i have even more to worry about) but i got to know them some, and one of them told me that the monogastric animal production class that i wanted but didnt have the pre-requisites, i could get into because he taught it and in his words "we let anyone off the street take that class" so needless to say i have now dropped my soil micro class (time conflict) and will show up in class on wednesday and say "guess what murray i took your advice". actually i will probably go see him tomorrow, but the first way would be so much more fun.

hmmm what else to say...

oh ya i also met some people in the ag lounge today and a few more in my plant science lab, so life is good. and i finally asked what the heck social points were, they had signs everywhere about them and i had no idea what they were about (you get points when you participate in social activities, and then you get badges to put on your Agros jacket, its really cool)

now for the saskatoon weather update, for those of you who fear i am turning into a kimsicle, it was a balmy -15 today. i have survived a blizzard and waiting for a bus that never came in -47, i can take anything.

and so continues the saga of me...

oh, one more thing, you would not believe how excited people get when they hear that i am an import from bc and i like it here. its really funny.

Cheers

Damn it's cold

Just as a sidenote to my blizzard comments yesterday, it is officially ranked as the worst blizzard in 55 years. And now it is -46 outside when you count the windchill.

umm...

i really have not much else to say, except that i skipped school today. yes folks you heard that right, i who never skip, did not go to school. i called to see if my class was on or not, and the department could not get ahold of my prof, who lives like 45 min outside of town. the office said since they had not heard otherwise, they were assuming that it was on. But being as it was -46 and the busses in my area were not working and i would have trudged through the snowdrifts to get to the nearest bus terminal for a class that may or may not have been on when i got there, i chose to stay home.

what shall henseforth be known as a memorable day

Come one, come all to the inagural blog of me!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I have finally delved into the world of this high techness that is the world of blogs. I figured it would be a good thing since I am somewhat of a wanderer, now the whole world may know where I am and what I am doing.

It is also a memorable day, as I have now faced the worst blizzard Saskatchewan has seen in years, and made it through alive. First of all may I say that it is bloody insane out there. They have basically (though not officially yet) shut down all of Saskatoon. You know, we just don't make winter like this in the Okanagan. And the whole -33 windchill thing, not cool. But I shall perservere and then join these brave prairie folks as they mock those in BC.

For those of you who dont already know (though most of you will have fournd your way here through my latest mass email) I am currently at the University of Saskatchewan, doing a second degree. Yes I am crazy, so be careful, I may be contageous. I am all of a year and a half from a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a major in agricultural biology and a minor in animal science. Yes folks my first degree transfers and all I have to take are classes for my minor. I love transfer credit.

Anyway...

A few caveats to this my very first blog:

As you (my nearest and dearest) know, it is not uncommon for me to be terrible with the responding to emails. As such, do not expect me to post to this blog on a highly regular basis. That being said, this may become the new mode of my procrastination, and I may end up on here all the time.

Cheers