Now they've gone too far!

A mosquito bit me on the face! Grr...

Sitting on the dog...

I have been charged this weekend with watching the dog while Rob is in Toronto, presumably for Gay Pride weekend. Although the issue of him being homosexual has not been confirmed, the consensus around the house is that he is...not that there is anything wrong with that...

Now, before anyone asks me again how the mosquitoes are, I do believe that they are in fact doing quite well. Well fed at least now that I have moved into town. With the sun arrived the mosquitoes that had spent weeks breeding in the large puddles and overflowing rivers. I get at least one bite a day, sometimes more. Last weekend, I got about 10 bites on my left arm. And the other night while making a salad for dinner (which took 2 minutes max) I got bit 5 times on my feet, the only part of my body not covered by clothing. It's going to be an Itchy and Scratchy summer. I also spent the week at work reading and writing about West Nile virus, which has made me slightly paranoid.

So, what have I been doing with myself??

Well, I can't remember if I mentionned this or not, but I have purchased a yoga mat, and now some yoga music. So now, I can do yoga in the comfort of my own room. I feel myself getting stronger which is quite nice.

Last weekend I went to a jazz concert being held downtown for the Jazz festival. It was great fun. The bands weren't so much jazzy, but rather jazz-inspired. One of them, the New Meanies, sounded just like Dave Matthews band. Also cheap drinks. 4 bucks for a Smirnoff Ice...you'd pay at least 6.50 or 7 bucks plus tip in Toronto or Vancouver... Winnipeg and their cheap booze. The funny thing is that everyone here thinks it is expensive. Apparently a couple of years ago some guy got really drunk and ended up drowning in the Red River. Since then, they have raised the prices, and now people are really mad at that guy for ruining it for everyone. Unbelievable. Anywho, there is another concert this afternoon at the Forks that I will likely go to.

Oh! And I have booked a flight! From Toronto to Vancouver on September 1st. I just need a flight to Hamilton now. But, the price for the Hamilton flight is currently only 20 bucks less than the Vancouver flight, which is a bit ridiculous. But I will likely buy it anyway and get the government to foot the bill (part of my moving expenses). My last day of work will be the 24th of August so I will probably be home starting the 25th. Yay! I have been thinking about dumplings, and dim sum quite a lot this week and am looking forward to it!

A pot pourri kind of week

As I was typing in the title for this post I just realized that the translation for "pot pourri" is "rotten pot". A bit disgusting actually.

So this week was quite good...busy. I was actually assigned some projects, so I had work to do at work, which was a refreshing change.

One of the highlights of my week was a conference that I went to on Thursday. The keynote speaker at lunchtime was particularly interesting. He was a forensic expert from the Winnipeg RCMP who was talking about his experience in Thailand identifying the disaster victims of the tsunami. Luckily there weren't too many visuals, but my imagination was able to fill in the gaps provided by his descriptions.

And the sun finally shone! And it's still shining! A welcome reprise from the month long rain we had been getting.

I am working on creating another blog entitled "What's cooking in Jadine's kitchen?" It is still under construction though...So, just watch the Links section.

I meant this entry to be a bit longer. But I'm hungry for breakfast...

Contained!

I would love to say that this week has been endlessly productive and tiringly busy, but in fact, it has not been.

As of mid-last week I have not had much to do at work, except waiting for my boss to get me started on my risk assessments. So, as you have noticed, much of my workday has been spent writing and making adjustments to my blog and floating around on various websites picking up bits and pieces of information on infectious diseases of interest.

Not to say that i haven't done ANYTHING. Perhaps the most exciting thing (and in reality it wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be...but oh well), was that I got to go into containment. As a refresher, the CSCHAH houses labs that vary in containment levels from 2 to 4. Level one would be like a high school lab while level 4 is highly secure and is reserved for working with pathogens that have a high risk of infection to the worker and to the community. So, I got to go into a containment level 3 lab. Some of the procedures for this include changing into laboratory dedicated clothes (scrubs), passing from postive pressure rooms into more negative pressure rooms, and showering upon exit. Other than that, it was pretty much a normal lab, except, one girl was walking around with a powered-air purifying respirator. (Head-covering hood hooked up to a pump that HEPA-filters out the air before it can enter the hood.)

Also I have participated in a few meetings, done some reading, and went to the movies on Monday afternoon. (I saw Fever Pitch - don't bother. See Hitch instead...much funnier.) Today I have to follow around a film crew for an hour to make sure they aren't shooting anything they aren't supposed to be.

No big plans for the weekend yet. Going to yoga tonight, which is always a great wind down at the end of the week. Then for the rest of the weekend I am dog-sitting Macy (Rob's keeshonen) while he is off kayaking. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm this weekend a nice change from the constant rain we have had this past week. No floods yet.

Press release

For those of you that haven't heard, there are some exciting things happening at the CSCHAH. Scientists here have discovered a vaccine that is effective at preventing infection from Marburg and Ebola viruses in non-human primates. This may lead to the production of a human vaccine. Marburg to date, has killed hundreds of people in Angola in the ongoing outbreak.

Here is a link to the press release from the Public Health Agency of Canada: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/media/nr-rp/2005/2005_21_e.html

I also nearly failed to mention that I actually went to this press conference. That in itself was an interesting experience.

Life in Coupledom

I have noticed something really bizarre about Winnipeg, that I am not used to: everyone seems to meet their significant other at a young age and get married. As a result, most of the people my age (at work) are married or are in serious long-term relationships. When I mentioned this to one of my co-workers, she confirmed my suspicions: Winnipeggers (this is what they call themselves) don't get out much, hence don't meet many people, and so just settle for the first "decent" person that comes along. I find this to be at once funny and depressing. Having been already pegged by the Peggers as a Big City girl (despite my reassurances that I am a Hamiltonian), I am shocked by this attitude. Maybe I'm a romantic...but, isn't it better to be alone and dating than settling for someone who is "good enough"?? They claim that there aren't a lot of options in terms of types of people to meet or places to meet them. Maybe I've just been spoiled when living in Toronto and Vancouver in that, when you go to school you are more or less delivered a set of friends that you can pick and choose from. But, I think it goes beyond that. While the people at work are very friendly, I don't know if we will ever get beyond the at work acquaintance relationship that we have going. And, frankly...not sure if I really care. I know that sounds perhaps a little Big City snobby of me...but some of them are such boring homebodies that sometimes during our lunchtime conversations I fear that I may just stab myself with a fork to add a new dimension to the conversation. Case in point, the conversation frequently finds its way to the topic of gardening. While I can appreciate how some people may find gardening to be a relaxing and rewarding hobby...it really just isn't my cup of tea. I have never had a green thumb, and in the very very far away future, when I buy a house and feel the need to garden, I most likely will fill it with plants that can be eaten or that require little attention (especially weeding, daily waterings, fertilizing). Many things that I would much rather do.

So that is my little rant about Winnipeg. See how I managed to limit it to one paragraph! On the upside I have made some friends. Two girls who are in my yoga class: Kelly and Jenny. We went out last night after class for a couple of spontaneous drinks at a patio bar on Corydon - THE (only) place to be in summertime in Winnipeg. Anywho, I think that they are quite fun. And they aren't married. Although one of them (Kelly) is in a serious 5-year relationship. But she has assured me that it will never lead to marriage, which I did find to be strangely comforting even though I have not met the guy. It just reassured me that I have not landed in the Twillight Zone or Bizarro World or another dimension.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to sound cynical. I think marriage is great. And one day I might just do it. But, frankly...at this point in my life I'd rather have a dog. And even that, I think is a pretty big commitment! I apologize if this entry sounds like one of Carrie's columns from Sex in the City.

Changes...

You may have noticed that today my blog has a few additions. And if you haven't, well, I will point them out to you.

- blog description at the top
- links section
- description of me (well, sort of)
- changes to the archiving format
- new photo

Another busy day at work...hehe...

At work...shh!!

I am currently at work. I just finished writing a report, and I have an hour before I am due to leave. Not too keen on starting something new, which would most likely be reading from the "Molecular Microbiology" textbook that Jane plopped on my desk yesterday. Writing on my blog seems like a nice alternative. Just don't tell anyone.

There seems to be some exciting commotion going on down the hall. I think there are people here from the CBC shooting a documentary of some sort.

Not much is going on here in Winnipeg. It has been raining a lot. I am beginning to think that there may be a giant raincloud following me across the country. Well, at least the grass is green and trees are filling in.

Sadly, because of the rain, I haven't been out on my blades much. But, we did have a few days of sunshine between Sunday evening and yesterday night. On Sunday, I went with my housemates to the Bridge Drive-In (aka BDI). Contrary to what you might think from the name, it is not a drive-in movie theatre, but rather an ice cream parlour. They serve ultra creamy, non petroleum based ice cream. I had a pina colada sundae...yummy, but the cream did haunt me for the rest of the night. Probably worth it anyway...Also, have been eating lunch outside, which is a nice change. While we do have a nice, bright cafeteria, it is nice to eat lunch at a picnic table...

On Monday night, Brendan and I went to a public plenary discussion at the University of Winnipeg. First, the University of Winnipeg is soooo ghetto. But, they have Lloyd Axworthy as their president, which is impressive. He was one of the speakers at the plenary, along with Frank Plummer, the head of the National Microbiology Laboratory here at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health. The discussion was about the global impact of infectious diseases. Frank was representing the science side, while Lloyd was the political and social side. Lloyd is an amazing speaker...There is another plenary tonight, but the weather today is making me want to go home, change into my PJs, and crawl into bed and read/watch tv all night. No more thinking please! Anywho, so my impressions of Monday's discussion. Well, most of it was not all that groundbreaking. They talked about how the ease of travel between countries is making the isolation of infectious diseases next to impossible, and how the transmission can occur so fast (e.g. with SARS) that the disease can spread to 13 countries before you even know you have a problem. As such, we need to have a more global approach to eradicating infectious diseases. The richer countries (this is where Lloyd came in) have to take the reins and protect the less prosperous countries, not only for charitable reasons but also to protect their own from potential spread. It was super interesting. (If anyone would like to give their opinion on this, I would be open to discussion...)

Other exciting news: I got a TAship for September in my department. I am going to TA the first year introductory course in Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. This involves a lot of marking and being available for student questions. I was offered the Acoustics and Vibration TAship en lieu of the introductory course, but declined it. 501 should be more work, and more challenging, but also a little more interesting. I believe the MECH course will only be marking of problem sets and setting up of noise dosimeters....boring.

So, I guess I currently have 3 jobs. CSCHAH, TAship and the noise lit review for SHAPE. But, I'm guessing the SHAPE thing should be finished by the end of the summer, as will CSCHAH, leaving me with one job for September. It is nice to feel busy though. I find that I am a lot more productive this way as I am force to institute some kind of time management. If I'm not busy, I don't get anything done, and just end up playing Hexic for hours and babbling on my blog about inconsequential things.

Yet, YOU keep reading...sucker! Hehe...kidding!

P.S. My suspicions about the CBC crew have been confirmed. They are shooting a documentary here for the next couple of days that will be aired in October. The working title is "Plague hunters" and it will be about the mobile lab that the Public Health Agency sends off to countries like Angola to test for Marburg virus.

P.P.S. As you may have noticed I managed to get my links in working order and have fixed the ones from my previous post.