29/05/2009
25/05/2009
A Good Laugh
Although my initial efforts were futile...And worth a good laugh (and I don't mean at me wearing those bulky runners with my slim-pants)
After my handsome hubby pierced a balloon, as well as multiple nieces and nephews (nailing balloons, not Tom piercing them),
I was determined to follow shoot.
Did you see it????
Here, I'll point it out for you, just in case.
Mid-flight my friend... Heading straight for a white balloon. Won me (and mine) a gift of wonderful frappuccinos.
After my handsome hubby pierced a balloon, as well as multiple nieces and nephews (nailing balloons, not Tom piercing them),
I was determined to follow shoot.
Did you see it????
Here, I'll point it out for you, just in case.
Mid-flight my friend... Heading straight for a white balloon. Won me (and mine) a gift of wonderful frappuccinos.
19/05/2009
Looooong Weekend
Just came off a 40-hr work-weekend.
Now it's time to get back to... work?
Tom made a discovery in my data set on Sunday which was about the equivalent of a roof caving in to a carpenter. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But we did get to spend the rest of the weekend making up for it. And now, although we lack sleep, we are only about a week behind.
This is going to be a looooooong project.
Now it's time to get back to... work?
Tom made a discovery in my data set on Sunday which was about the equivalent of a roof caving in to a carpenter. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But we did get to spend the rest of the weekend making up for it. And now, although we lack sleep, we are only about a week behind.
This is going to be a looooooong project.
18/05/2009
15/05/2009
Here's a post.
I'm stressed.
The question is: 'How?'
...Am I going to graduate on time?
...Am I going to get this apartment packed up in time?
...Am I going to be able to put in sufficient time to study the beautiful Spanish language before we go?
...Am I going to get this degree wrapped up at lightning speed?
...Am I going to get the fundraisers off the ground, continue my personal preparation for the trip itself, finish all the details, fulfill obligations...
...Am I going to actually value doing my masters enough to sit down and actually do it, even when it's so beautiful outside and my husband is so fun to hang out with?
...Am I going to get things done when all I want is to have visitors and travel all summer?
How? !
So far, the approach has been to work crazy hard and drive myself nuts over it...But then a few nights ago, when I headed to bed in the wee hours of the morning, yet again, and found myself still lying awake and staring at the ceiling an hour after getting there...Wondering "How?" over and over again (and starting to convince myself that if I wasn't sleeping I was wasting time, and should head back to my desk), I thought of another idea.
Give it to God.
God is all knowing, he knows more about my project than I ever will. He personally knows my supervisors, the work that lay ahead of me, my deadlines and schedule...And he cares.
This doesn't mean I won't be stressed, but if I follow right, things will work out right. Maybe not the way I would like or how I've planned, but the way they are suppose to be. Until then, I'll hunker down, work hard, but will hopefully sleep better at night.
--
Side note: You should probably prepare yourself for mainly school-related posts over the summer. Blogging about stress is a great release for me...
The question is: 'How?'
...Am I going to graduate on time?
...Am I going to get this apartment packed up in time?
...Am I going to be able to put in sufficient time to study the beautiful Spanish language before we go?
...Am I going to get this degree wrapped up at lightning speed?
...Am I going to get the fundraisers off the ground, continue my personal preparation for the trip itself, finish all the details, fulfill obligations...
...Am I going to actually value doing my masters enough to sit down and actually do it, even when it's so beautiful outside and my husband is so fun to hang out with?
...Am I going to get things done when all I want is to have visitors and travel all summer?
How? !
So far, the approach has been to work crazy hard and drive myself nuts over it...But then a few nights ago, when I headed to bed in the wee hours of the morning, yet again, and found myself still lying awake and staring at the ceiling an hour after getting there...Wondering "How?" over and over again (and starting to convince myself that if I wasn't sleeping I was wasting time, and should head back to my desk), I thought of another idea.
Give it to God.
God is all knowing, he knows more about my project than I ever will. He personally knows my supervisors, the work that lay ahead of me, my deadlines and schedule...And he cares.
This doesn't mean I won't be stressed, but if I follow right, things will work out right. Maybe not the way I would like or how I've planned, but the way they are suppose to be. Until then, I'll hunker down, work hard, but will hopefully sleep better at night.
--
Side note: You should probably prepare yourself for mainly school-related posts over the summer. Blogging about stress is a great release for me...
08/05/2009
Ah, University Shopping
Today was my first day at my 'new job'. We toured for a young girl and her father from Ontario, and another young girl and both her parents from Tokyo. They were all visiting Montreal to check out a university prospect for their daughters' futures. Many, many questions from the parents, silence and white faces from the prospective students.
I seriously kind of got choked-up about this. It brought me back to when my parents and I university shopped when I was finishing high school.
See, I'm from a small town with no universities in sight. So where I come from, reality is that if you want to get a higher education, you're leaving town come graduation. This is the same reality for parents: if you want your eye-apples to get an education, your going to have to say good-bye come graduation. High school convocation is a right of passage in Dauphin. It means it's time to fly. Those that don't go right after high school, usually don't go at all. Which is fine, except Dauphin does not have a lot to offer young adults.
So, off we went to shop for my future. Both parents took the day off work, and I the day off school. First up, BU in Brandon, Manitoba. I easily remember this experience, it was the day after my 18th birthday...I slept all the way there...'nuff said. We looked at dorms and classrooms, talked to an advisor and went out for lunch. It was an interesting option.
Next up, UofM in Winnipeg. My mom and I hit the road for this one a few weeks after Brandon. The place didn't stand a chance after I saw the stoplight on campus and giant parkade. We didn't even bother going to the information session in the afternoon; if this campus was big enough to need stoplights, it was way too big for this country girl to make it. So instead of going to the info session in the afternoon, we went to Red Lobster (ah, those were the days!) to celebrate the decision: Brandon it was! Smaller campus and closer to home, to be honest, these were the deciding factors.
I was to move in with my older cousin on Cornell Bay in Brandon. My home town was just two left turns from there; 200kms mind you, but it was just two turns and then a straight shot home.
I remember the first days of university like it was yesterday. My mom drove me in to Brandon to drop me off. It was like kindergarten all over again. She knew I had to go, I knew I had to go, but neither of us were ready for it. We drove into the 'city' the night before, and slept in the same bed...We talked 'til like 4:00 in the morning. We talked like girlfriends do at sleepovers, giggling and laughing and staying up way too late. I honestly feel like that night we transitioned from mother-daughter friends, to friends that were mother and daughter. In the morning she dropped me off at orientation, then proceeded to fill my apartment cupboards with food, printer with paper, closet with laundry soap.... I, on the other hand, hated orientation. First off, they didn't have my name on the list, so I was thrown in with some irrelevant-to-my-interests group and had to wear a hand-bombed name tag. I eventually left. I cried to my mom, she talked me through it, then we went to the mall, then out for dinner. Then, oh then, it was *that* time. The moment that took 18 years, 7 months, and 1 week in the making. The moment when my mom had to leave. At this very moment it would be official: I was moved out. I was at university. I lived in Brandon. My mom was leaving *my* apartment, to drive 200kms home.
Then, she left.
It was official.
I cried.
I found out later she cried all the way home, too.
Let me ensure you, I was not on my *own* at that point. Very far from it, in fact. Because of my parents hard work and value of education, their children were merely asked to strive for their dreams, while they did everything in their power to help make it possible.
Thank you mom and dad, without you I would have never made it.
Without your encouragement, I would have never gone.
And probably nor would those two young girls I toured around today.
I seriously kind of got choked-up about this. It brought me back to when my parents and I university shopped when I was finishing high school.
See, I'm from a small town with no universities in sight. So where I come from, reality is that if you want to get a higher education, you're leaving town come graduation. This is the same reality for parents: if you want your eye-apples to get an education, your going to have to say good-bye come graduation. High school convocation is a right of passage in Dauphin. It means it's time to fly. Those that don't go right after high school, usually don't go at all. Which is fine, except Dauphin does not have a lot to offer young adults.
So, off we went to shop for my future. Both parents took the day off work, and I the day off school. First up, BU in Brandon, Manitoba. I easily remember this experience, it was the day after my 18th birthday...I slept all the way there...'nuff said. We looked at dorms and classrooms, talked to an advisor and went out for lunch. It was an interesting option.
Next up, UofM in Winnipeg. My mom and I hit the road for this one a few weeks after Brandon. The place didn't stand a chance after I saw the stoplight on campus and giant parkade. We didn't even bother going to the information session in the afternoon; if this campus was big enough to need stoplights, it was way too big for this country girl to make it. So instead of going to the info session in the afternoon, we went to Red Lobster (ah, those were the days!) to celebrate the decision: Brandon it was! Smaller campus and closer to home, to be honest, these were the deciding factors.
I was to move in with my older cousin on Cornell Bay in Brandon. My home town was just two left turns from there; 200kms mind you, but it was just two turns and then a straight shot home.
I remember the first days of university like it was yesterday. My mom drove me in to Brandon to drop me off. It was like kindergarten all over again. She knew I had to go, I knew I had to go, but neither of us were ready for it. We drove into the 'city' the night before, and slept in the same bed...We talked 'til like 4:00 in the morning. We talked like girlfriends do at sleepovers, giggling and laughing and staying up way too late. I honestly feel like that night we transitioned from mother-daughter friends, to friends that were mother and daughter. In the morning she dropped me off at orientation, then proceeded to fill my apartment cupboards with food, printer with paper, closet with laundry soap.... I, on the other hand, hated orientation. First off, they didn't have my name on the list, so I was thrown in with some irrelevant-to-my-interests group and had to wear a hand-bombed name tag. I eventually left. I cried to my mom, she talked me through it, then we went to the mall, then out for dinner. Then, oh then, it was *that* time. The moment that took 18 years, 7 months, and 1 week in the making. The moment when my mom had to leave. At this very moment it would be official: I was moved out. I was at university. I lived in Brandon. My mom was leaving *my* apartment, to drive 200kms home.
Then, she left.
It was official.
I cried.
I found out later she cried all the way home, too.
Let me ensure you, I was not on my *own* at that point. Very far from it, in fact. Because of my parents hard work and value of education, their children were merely asked to strive for their dreams, while they did everything in their power to help make it possible.
Thank you mom and dad, without you I would have never made it.
Without your encouragement, I would have never gone.
And probably nor would those two young girls I toured around today.
07/05/2009
Advertisement for Reality
Are you happy with your grades this past semester?
Are you feeling more self-confidence when looking others in the eye?
Are you feeling like you're finally getting the hang of statistics and SAS and maybe, just maybe, getting a clue about research?
Have no fear, go meet with your supervisors, and they'll squash all of that for you!!
Are you feeling more self-confidence when looking others in the eye?
Are you feeling like you're finally getting the hang of statistics and SAS and maybe, just maybe, getting a clue about research?
Have no fear, go meet with your supervisors, and they'll squash all of that for you!!
06/05/2009
Break the near silence
I know, I know... I've been pretty quiet on here the last week or so. Not too much excitement, and the excitement that has happened, is yet to be fully sorted out, so it's not quiet ready to be published on the web. But here are a few things anyways, as mundane as they are:
- The semester is officially over, as indicated by an updated transcript with a few more letters on it. I'm trying my best to remain humble about those letters... Am I allowed to say YYYYeeee-ssss!!! ?
- My eye ball is doing very well... The first day was about the equivalent to having a fork stuck in my eye, tongs down, but everyday has been considerably better than the last. Tomorrow it will be a week since surgery...Apparently I have another week to go before I can move up from bath to shower again. I can hardly wait.
- I've found myself a casual- very part time extra employment for the summer; I had to find *something* to take care of that pesky spare-time of mine! I'm a tour guide for McGill's MacDonald campus! Really, all this means is that prospective students book a tour and I show them around the place for an hour. This position is suuuuuper sweet for me because it's only an hour at a time, once in a while, and it's across the street (so I don't have to pay for transportation nor spend time communting), and it isn't too many hours (this is important because I have a stipulation as to the amount of hours I'm allowed to work because of my funding). I'm really excited about it, I think it will be great to get a break from my work every once in a while and get some extra cash taboot.
- We already have one visitor booked for this summer...Any other prospects we should know about?!?! ;)
- My cousin is coming down for Canada Day. She'll come a few days before, and her and I can bum around Montreal shopping and sight seeing for a few days. Then we'll head to Ottawa for the big day. Tom and I had such a fantastic time there last year, we can't wait to do it again. We may stay the night in Ottawa at my other cousin's (which is a cousin of this cousin as well.) I'm also looking forward to gripping about masters' work; she's in a graduate program at the University of Manitoba.
- For my project, right now I'm in the middle of number crunching with statistical analysis software. We are slowly becoming friends. Emphasis on the slowly. So far my dataset is super-ubber boring. I can totally see how some are led to falsify results so they have somehting to talk about. Not I though, I almost prefer it boring... It means that they may not trap me into publishing, because no one will want (never mind pay) to hear about it (meaing I may actually get done on time!)
- The semester is officially over, as indicated by an updated transcript with a few more letters on it. I'm trying my best to remain humble about those letters... Am I allowed to say YYYYeeee-ssss!!! ?
- My eye ball is doing very well... The first day was about the equivalent to having a fork stuck in my eye, tongs down, but everyday has been considerably better than the last. Tomorrow it will be a week since surgery...Apparently I have another week to go before I can move up from bath to shower again. I can hardly wait.
- I've found myself a casual- very part time extra employment for the summer; I had to find *something* to take care of that pesky spare-time of mine! I'm a tour guide for McGill's MacDonald campus! Really, all this means is that prospective students book a tour and I show them around the place for an hour. This position is suuuuuper sweet for me because it's only an hour at a time, once in a while, and it's across the street (so I don't have to pay for transportation nor spend time communting), and it isn't too many hours (this is important because I have a stipulation as to the amount of hours I'm allowed to work because of my funding). I'm really excited about it, I think it will be great to get a break from my work every once in a while and get some extra cash taboot.
- We already have one visitor booked for this summer...Any other prospects we should know about?!?! ;)
- My cousin is coming down for Canada Day. She'll come a few days before, and her and I can bum around Montreal shopping and sight seeing for a few days. Then we'll head to Ottawa for the big day. Tom and I had such a fantastic time there last year, we can't wait to do it again. We may stay the night in Ottawa at my other cousin's (which is a cousin of this cousin as well.) I'm also looking forward to gripping about masters' work; she's in a graduate program at the University of Manitoba.
- For my project, right now I'm in the middle of number crunching with statistical analysis software. We are slowly becoming friends. Emphasis on the slowly. So far my dataset is super-ubber boring. I can totally see how some are led to falsify results so they have somehting to talk about. Not I though, I almost prefer it boring... It means that they may not trap me into publishing, because no one will want (never mind pay) to hear about it (meaing I may actually get done on time!)
04/05/2009
DIY Homemade Cappuccino
Ingredients:
- Donated, used espresso machine from older cousin, provided while en route to Montreal from Winnipeg with UHaul
- Espresso beans ground to perfection and picked up at an Italian bistro in downtown Montreal
- Cute latte mugs provided by your mother
- The Wonderful Web for directions on how to use your Italian machine (instructions only in said language)
- A year to perfect the foaming
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