September 2004 Archives

It's amazing to me that sometimes I can be amazingly effective in my room and accomplish almost everything that I intend to, and other times I struggle to do anything at all. I think I am just going to have to be more proficient and proactive at recognizing the times that I had just better head to the library. I got a bit done today. I did my French and most of my anatomy, but I didn't get started on my Semiotics paper, which is going to be a bear...

We started small groups tonight at McKernan. It should be a positive experience, and if nothing else, it will get me out of the university a little more. The people in my small group are all in their early twenties, some in various schools, others graduated and working. I have a little bit of homework to do for it, but not much, so I am ok with it.

Tired tonight.

I felt totally lost without a phone, as odd as that sounds. Unfortunately, even in a day of email and IM, a phone is absolutely crucial to being part of Canadian society (or American for that matter). Nobody could call me, and it was quite a hassle for me to call anyone, so until I talked to my grandparents this morning, it had almost been a month since I had sporken with them. There is still something about hearing someone's voice, even if you are 3000 km away.

Tomorrow is going to be a nasty day. Church will be good, but then I have quite a bit of homework to do. I went through almost all of my psychology today, but tomorrow I must study for my French midterm, make my Anatomy notecards, and work on a Semiotics paper. I also need to finish organizing my room. I have it part of the way where I want it now, but it still needs work. My floormates just asked me where I planned to sleep, so...

This site may now, for a few days anyway, be accessed at the address natevos.info .

What are these? Tonight, I will attempt to define, in a limited fashion, a few of them for my person. My recent discovery of the incredible power of power napping is one example. For those of you unfamiliar with this practice, it involves going taking a simple 20 minute nap in the middle of the day. Hardly revolutionary, right? Wrong, the art has enabled me to be far more productive in a day than otherwise. I no longer completely drift off in my later classes of the day, like anatomy and psychology. In fact, I stay totally conscious during the entire class which is a great feeling. I no longer miss the entire point of the lecture becasue my primary efforts are devoted to the topic, not straining to simply stay awake.

The necessity of a list: I cannot put it any more succinctly. Without a list, an agenda of basic, core goals I have for the day/week, I often fail to meet even half of my objectives. My memory simply cannot contain all of the ideals I wish to maintain without the power of a planner. Today being my case in point, I failed to look at my planner before attending my French class, and while I completed the assignment, I had totally forgotten the quiz. I scored an amazing 50%.

The necessity of fundamental organization: Well, this one I am still working on, but as opposed to last year, I am far more organized and task-driven. I try to maintain a fairly clean room, allowing me to be far more efficient in working on the things that truly matter, like the basic process of ossification of bone in the developing fetus or that game of squash I wanted to get in.

I attended a fascinating lecture tonight on the dichotomy between evolutionism and creationism, from a prof here at the U of A that argues from a teleological evolutionist point of view. The ideas from the lecture I am still working over im my mind, as they involve broad implications for both the book of Genesis and the nature of modern biology. It is certainly a new way of viewing the world and its origins.

Well, I have certainly never been to Alaska before, but there is tiny chance that I could be heading there for Remembrance Day in November. I still have a free flight to burn, and after my mom spurned my attempts to goto Florida while she was there on business, it seemed only natural that I go to Alaska. What you say, how could I pick the only state colder than Edmonton to go to in November? I am just a glutton for punishment. That, and I am hoping the Kenai Peninisula is intoxicatingly beautiful with snow on it... Hoepfully I will find out tomorrow whether or not it can be done.

In hopes of running a nice (big) server in my dorm room ths year, I have replaced the stock heatsink cooler on my CPU with a much better and quieter one, so I can hopefully run the computer full time. This is all speculation right now, but things look good at the moment. I just need to figure out a way to quiet the graphics card...

Math class at 9 AM tomorrow. Best be squeezing off to sleep.

To be fair, I am not exactly bored with lack of things to do, it's just that memorizing the different types of epithelial tissue makes me want to break something, or at least run screaming from my dorm. Anatomy is a fascinating class, but memorizing thousands of names and qualities can get a little tedious. Never the less, I would really fancy passing this class with better than a C this year, and so if this is what it takes, well...

I am still trying to figure out how much I will be able to work this fall and winter while maintaining my grades. I have settled to about 12 to 16 hours as acceptable for now. French and anatomy require obscene amounts of memorization and English 217 is no walk in the park either. Hoepfully I can successfully pull off the whole show, but it is difficult to say.

Tonight I think I am going to settle down with a bag of popcorn and watch I, Robot. I postulate that I need some mellowing...

Well, ok, this shouldn't turn out to be a rant or anything like that, but I would up walking to class this evening after a long period of hailing. Odd, because the hail had started to accumulate like snow on the ground. Edmonton weather is definitely strange. It is nice to be back here, but winter is going to be harsh this year. Perhaps itwill give me a stronger incentive to dive into the books. I still have a wack of Math I need to complete by 3 PM tomorrow.

I was hoping to start receiving some comments by now on this site. My posts can't be that dull, and if they are, whine about it and maybe they will change . If nothing else, my posts will start becoming a tad polemic.

I suppose it puts a man in his place to see the awesome might and power of a hurricane and all of the destruction that it leaves in its wake. Still, it is terrible for the people living there. I have watched with fascination as each hurricane has moved across the ocean. Something about the idea of massive amounts of energy in a swirling nexus appeals to me. The power imbued in each is overwhelming.

I have been taking a class this semester called Textualities: Signs and Texts -- a weird course. I have never thought of language, the nature of meaning, and what literature really is until now. Difficult as the class is and will be, I find it somewhat fascinating to discuss the different theories of signs by Saussure and Jacobsen. I may be unable to view even my writing in the same light after completing this course.

Tomorrow I have my longest day, with French, Anatomy, and three hours of Psychology tomorrow evening. So more on things tomorrow.

I have actually managed to stay fairly productive today, only slipping off for a few moments of sloth. I am impressed that I managed to stay on task, but I actually got back my employment from last year, picked up my loan papers, fixed my FC's computer, talked with the chaplain, etc. I am happy to be hitting the sack though, as I have a 9 AM class in Calc 1.

Last night was fairly interesting. After I went to bed somewhere around 2, I heard this buzzing out in the hallway, as in loud buzzing. I went out there to see what it was, and lo and behold, it was a fire alarm! So at 2:30 AM I trudged out in the snow! That's right, armed with my trusty slippers, and my hastily applied clothing, I made my way out into the great outdoors. After being stuck outside in the cold for a half hour, we went to the other side of the complex where we waited a little while longer. When I finally got up to my floor, I was somewhat surprised to see firemen in our kitchen. Yup, that's right, somebody on our floor decided that they wanted to have cheese toast and threw that in the toaster. Not only did they wake everyone up, but a visit like that costs Lister about $5000. Smooth.

Once again, I am back in Lister, albeit it this time, I am far more organized and dedicated to a list of a few goals. Despite a rocky start, things are starting to look up, but I have much to do over the next few days. Classes start tomorrow, and I am not quite ready for that. I am also looking for a job to fill in some of the rest of my time due to a lack of funds to complete this school year with.

I initially was placed in the 4th floor of Henday, which I desperately wanted off of, so after waiting around in the Housing office for a few hours today, I got my transfer to MacKenzie. I spent the rest of the afternoon, and evening unpacking box after box of clothes, computer gear, books, etc. I am happy to say that one more load of stuff out of Henday should do it tomorrow, and I will be all set up here. A hassle to be sure, but at least I am up here now.

I now have to get to bed, so tomorrow I can register in the rest of my classes, get my loan papers mailed off, finish setting up my room, and get my phone ordered. More on my adventures tomorrow, I suppose.

Unbelievably, I woke up this morning with a call from my cousin about butchering some chickens. Not really knowing what I was in store for, I tagged along. I wound up plucking chickens for the better parts of two hours. Needless to say, I enjoyed a lovely piece of ham this evening. Chickens will be given a healthy break for a while.

I finally got to Alberta on the first of September. I have so far spent the time fooling around with family and picking up odds and ends before I move back into Lister. I am still not really looking forward to school, but if I have to do this, I am going to do it right this time. I will be organized and time-oriented.

The news from Russia is absolutely disturbing. I can't believe that even terrorists would simply slaughter hundreds of completely innocent children. I hope Justice finds them with a hangman's noose. Even that is better than they deserve.

Bart Simpson is RIP. Someone in Lethbridge ripped the entire antenna off my car, shearing it off at the fender whiel I was at the mall.