Just label me "Productive"

One weekend and about 24 hours of studying later...and what have I got to show for it?
- 1 lab write-up
- 1 problem set
- a couple of box plots and some ANOVA tests
- a couple of articles read for Noise
- sleep disturbance
- an evening out at Lou's (don't get too excited...not a potential boyfriend...just the name of a bar)
- yam tempura rolls and chopped scallop rolls (mmmm....)
- a fridge full of veggies (including gui lan --just like home!)
- animated Skype conversation with Victor
- telephone conversation with dad

Other things that I have neglected to mention in previous blogs:

I am now an employee of the university. They are paying me 25 bucks an hour to do literature reviews on noise exposure in the agriculture and entertainment industries. By the end I should be able to tell you (hopefully) the effects on a violinist having a trombone blasting in her ear and what we should do about it. Interesting stuff...well, I think so.

Reading week is coming up and I might have a few guests. Melissa is definitely coming for one weekend. Very exciting. And possibly my dad as well. If my dad doesn't come to take me to Whistler, then I can probably still go with Melissa on the weekend. Or maybe Melissa and I will go anyway. Say, that's a lot of skiing! When in Rome...

Jess is moving here! Yippee...slowly but surely I intend to have everyone (friends and family) move to Vancouver. He should be pleased to know that I know lots of girls in Vancouver. Heck...my program is full of them...and a couple of them are single...

Gosh...I guess I've run out of things to say. Unusual, I know. The next couple of weeks before reading week should be doozies. And because of visitors, first bit of the week I should be doing some mad assignment completion...

It's raining. The sun came out on Friday for the first time in weeks. It was truly exciting.

Now you see what I see...

Desk
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

This is what I have been looking at since 9 this morning. My asbestos lab writeup, photos of my friends and family on my window sill, the tree-bush outside my window, piles of papers on my desk, my water with lemon and my NO HEXIC warning (keeps me from goofing off). Going a bit loopy.

Snowdrops

Snowdrops
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

No kidding...flowers in January!

Days when the rains came...

Well, the unusually cold days and the snow are now gone. To be replaced with unusually warm and wet weather. It rained practically every day last week. I misplaced my umbrella, bought a new one which broke within one day, replaced it, and then found my old umbrella. Now I have two! It's supposed to rain every day this week too. Sigh...but the flowers are blooming in my backyard! (See above for photo.)

What is happening? Not a whole heck of a lot.

The weekend before last I went to two parties. Friday night was my friend Elizabeth's birthday party...wild times. Note to all: Jacob's Creek Merlot...bad, bad wine...tastes and smells like butt. (Not kidding.) Salvageable when mixed with 7-up or ginger ale. Saturday night I went to a potluck. I made baby quiches in muffin tins...mmm...Someone also brought a portable karaoke machine. Yay fun! I scored 92 on my rendition of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You. Yes...they do score you, but I suspect that it's based on whether you are singing something into the microphone when you are supposed to rather than the quality of your singing. So, I will not put too much stock into singing as my career goal. Better off sticking with this hygiene gig.

As for school...I found out that one of the job postings for the summer is at GlaxoSmithKline (a pharmaceutical company) in Mississauga. While I ideally want to stay in Vancouver for the summer, working for GSK would be pretty cool, and my friend Juliana from my undergrad currently works there as a hygienist too. So...maybe I will be back in Ontario for the summer! Better than being stuck in Kitimat, BC I suppose.

Work is starting to build up. Nothing due this week, but lots of meetings, labs, and things to prepare for next week. Things that I am working on: a literature review on Ultrasound for my Noise course, counting and identification of asbestos fibres, problem sets, homework blah blah blah.

Saturday night went out for dinner at Boston Pizza with Britta to help her celebrate her birthday. I had a Thai Chicken pizza. It was yummy, but I was still hungry when we left. We also rented some movies. Watched "The importance of being Earnest" with her that night. Yesterday I watched "Pumpkin" and tonight I shall watch "Italian for Beginners".

Ok...off to take photos of the flowers.

4234 W11th

4234 W11th
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

Home, sweet home. (For now at least!) Taken in "snow mode" --ooooh

Semiahmoo princesses

Semiahmoo princesses
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

Our room came with terry cloth robes. Sweet...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

So this will be my first complete week back at school after nearly a month off for Christmas. It's definitely tough getting back into the swing of things...but I have an assignment due tomorrow, so they waste no time.

Last week went to a conference in Blaine, WA with the department. It was my first scientific conference. Not much I can say about it...except that the hotel that we stayed at was pretty sweet. Hot tub, sauna, steam room, indoor/outdoor pool (I swam while it was snowing!), and a movie theatre. Neat. I also ate swordfish, which is apparently a no-no since it is overfished...but it wasn't that good anyway...so I think I'll pass on it next time anyway. Above is a pic of me, Rakel and Prabjit in our Semiahmoo robes.

Other interesting thing that happened is that it snowed here! And we got quite a bit...and it's sooo pretty! This also means that I can try out the "Snow mode" on my new camera. Above is a pic of my house. You can't see my window because it is covered up by the bushes to the left of the stairs. As far as I can tell the snow mode makes the picture less blue than regular landscape mode.

Nothing else to report. Just photos....enjoy!

Yay!!

Happy New Year!!
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

A little bit out of focus...but I didn't take it. And I haven't read the book Kevin gave me for Christmas yet.

Happy New Year!!

Back in Vancouver now...and I'm quite happy not to be living out of a suitcase.

Hamilton is pretty much the same as I left it. Highlights of this leg of the trip include: yummy home-cooked meals, movie night with Eddie, Christmas, dumplings, poker night, night with Melissa. Oooh and I got a digital camera...so be prepared for a photo-filled blog!

Trip to Toronto was good. A rockin' New Years with Erin, Tim, Tarek, Leslie and Jean at the Hard Rock Cafe bar. Visited some of my favourite spots: Mel's for brekkie, Sonic Boom for used cds, Seekers for used books, Amato's pizza, Indian food, card games and shopping!! Bought a couple of cute tops (surprisingly not from H&M which was devoid of inspiring clothing this time around).

The flight back was pretty lousy actually...Once again Air Canada was late leaving. I got stuck in the last row of the plane next to and behind crying babies. The in-flight movie put me to sleep. And the meal was bland. Next time, WestJet. The individual TVs are a nice touch.

Well, it was a relaxing month...Back to school tomorrow. Macleans issues were delivered while I was gone...already behind...sheesh...