October 2006 Archives

Another Friday night at my place in the frozen North, more appropriate than ever today as it rains and snows outside. It has been a relief to come to the end of this week, so I can catch my breath a little and get caught up to where all my class material is. Courses certainly seem to get harder at upper levels, and I could swear they need more time now than say, in my second year. And of course this term has been fairly relentless with midterms, having nearly one every week for half the term.

I picked up a book at the discount book shop in the mall on campus the other day titled The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester. The book chronicles the history of the English language, and the birth of the most authoritative works on one of the odder languages in history. I bought it after the advice of one of the people on a committee I serve on. I have not been disappointed. Thus far, the book has been quite entertaining and very well written.

The word hwaelweg was an Old English word for the sea, meaning whale-way.These and other such trivialties are just a piece of what the book offers. The term RNAi refers to a revolutionary new understanding of of a mechanism in the cell which allows us to selectively block the expression of undesirable traits, like those in genetic diseases. It was the subject of this year's Nobel price in medecine.

It's that time of year again in many parts of the world where dedicated nature lovers will scramble through closets and storage containers to find hunter's orange so they can get back out in the field and woods. They'll embark on a frantic quest to rid themselves of any human odor and endeavor to remain motionless for hours at a time in search of their ever elusive prey. Being a student is not much different. Every year around this point in the semester many simply give up on hygiene, switching to old standby's like sweatpants. We too, will stalk our distant goal, paying thousands of dollars for the chance and experience.

That said, I am sure most can guess what is the more enjoyable experience and for those that can't, I'll give you a hint. It's the one that doesn't involve the library. Of course, being in pursuit of that all too lofty achievement, namely a B.Sc., I spent the last several days wracking my brain for some reason why I had decided on advanced cellular biology. I am still struggling to come up with that answer after tonight's midterm.

Nevertheless, life must continue on, and thankfully I have two substantial assignments to complete before Friday, as well as the usual retinue of things best put off or ignored (in a perfect world, anyway). Looking at my closet at the moment I can see that my laundry has reached critical mass and that something is possibly growing at the bottom. I'll have to look into it on Saturday -- once I get my gun and my hunter's orange.

Christian Priest Killed in Indonesia

An unidentified gunman killed a Christian priest Monday in central Indonesia, where religious tensions have been mounting since the executions last month of three Roman Catholic militants.

I suppose that this type of thing occurs frequently over in that part of the world, but it's a trend I like to see disappear. As the church is undergoing rather massive structural changes and serious decreases in clergy, this is the kind of thing only worsens matters. As the church continues to be hammered at by post modernism on the one hand, and outright hostilities on the other, it is more important than ever to critically assess both direction and core principles of the Faith. I am becoming increasingly concerned about the disharmony in the Church as it exists today. I see steps towards ecumenism, but these must be intensified and encouraged far more strongly in the future, lest the Church disappear into irrelevancy.

I am reading a book I picked up a few days ago called Witness to Hope, a biography of John Paul II. I am not, as most of realize, a Catholic, but I believe that our future relies on us making better efforts to begin building on mutually recognized frameworks. There simply won't be enough of us around to pretend otherwise in a few decades.

I spent this weekend burying my grandfather, which I have to admit, was harder than many things I have done before. He was quite ill in his later years, and it was a blessing to him to be called home. That said, it's always a loss to those left behind.

This morning around 7 AM or so I learned that my paternal grandfather had passed away a few hours earlier. He immigrated here in the 50's after serving with the Dutch Army in Indonesia. After the death of one of my uncles and my grandmother, he eventually retired and did some travelling with one of my Aunts. However, the last few years have been rough and he has not left the Granum/Claresholm area where he lived the last 50 years due to emphysema and subsequent complications.

I feel fortunate to have visited him on as semi frequent basis for the last few years, and I am certain I will cherish those memories in the years to come. He had hoped for his reunion with the Lord, as he has been in a lot of pain for quite some time. Still, it's never easy letting go.

I must admit that though I have much to accomplish in the coming weeks, and even to do this week as I prepare for the funeral, I feel at odds. And I feel like my head is in a fog. The young do not often experience pain or immobility, so I am finding it to be disconcerting searching for a pill desperately every 6 hours before my jaw begins to ache unbearably. It begins to profoundly affect you, though finally biological ncessity got to me on the 4th day as I became starved for food. But eating is no longer a pleasant experience.

I am planning a trip to the dentist to find out exactly what is wrong. I am worried that I may have a post operative infection.

U.N. weighs sanctions against N. Korea (AP)

AP - The world lined up against North Korea on Monday for staging a nuclear test denounced even by key allies. President Bush called it "a threat to international peace and security," and the U.N. Security Council weighed severe sanctions to punish the impoverished communist nation.

It seems crazy that things would get this far, but then again, the man is a psycho. Normal bevaiour is not really expected from a man who would rather that his citizens were eating leaves and drinking out of puddles. Still, I have a South Korean roommie who is more than a little concerned that he might have to go home to serve should matters accelerate. For the record, sanctions are unlikely to effect the government too much there, but I can't imagine it will do anything to improve the plight of the poor souls unlucky enough to be born there. We live in interesting times.

In other news, I haven't really eaten anything solid for over 4 days now. I recently had my 4 wisdom teeth out and a filling, with only NO for anesthesia. After nearly coming out of the chair, when the dentist pulled (well, attempted) one tooth, I did survive and spent Friday watching movies and spitting blood. It was actually quite unpleasant.

Since then, I have taken my drugs fairly regularly and basically stuck to my apartment. Unfortunately, the swelling still has not dissapated, so I am planning on calling the Dentist's office tomorrow. I am definitely starting to get hungry, and I fear broth is no longer cutting it. I even missed out on this year's Thanksiving feast because of my slow recovery. Now the work week is beginning, and I am far from eager to go to class with a swelled head (heh).

As I am nearing the end of my studies, I realized that shortly I will be expected to somehow put my degree to work and get some kind of gainful employment. At first glance, this would seem to be a daunting task. Unfortunately, there isn't an abundance of jobs in Canada that rely on sciences or the kind of theoretical and principial knowledge that I have acquired. The majority are in applied sciences, like clinical practice or engineering (This based off of my recent explorations on Monster, the employment site). So for the jobs that I am best suited for, there a alimited number and they are most likely highly competitive, and so somehow, I will have to strengthen my resume so I can get a leg up. I think it is past time that I started finding industry contacts.

I realized today in my class on the principles of gene manipulation that I have a midterm coming up on Friday. This is in addition to the midterm that I had planned on in Environmental chemistry. I hardly feel ready for either. I have spent quite a bit of time on the chemistry class, at least, but looking through the solutions to the problem sets makes me feel like an idiot. The prof's problems are quite complex, and require extensive and thorough knowledge of principles from previous chemistry courses: ones I forgot. Hopefully I can rectify that situation somewhat in the next 72 hours.

There's nothing that makes a university student happier than a good pizza, because let's face it, for minimum effort, you have something that is easy to eat while doing anything else, cheap, and at least passably nutritious. It's become part of a staple diet, and over the years, I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess as to how many pizzas I have eaten. Still, even after the number I have consumed, I am ready and eager to have another slice; it's just that good. And I could go for stuffed crust, thin crust, Chicago deep dish, or traditional. God bless Italians.

As I paid my tuition yesterday, promptly spending almost the entirety of my summer earnings, it got me thinking whether or not this education is worth it. All of my blood, sweat, and tears going to pay some doofus to teach me thermodynamics all over again but with greater detail... As I sit here with an eraser, mechanical pencil, and my trusty TI-89, I must admit that I am constantly driven to doubt. There is something immensly satisfying about finishing a difficult problem, but maybe that's because it so rarely happens. Some of the last chem 303 problems have taken me an hour each. The prof deliberately writes the questions so I'll have to refer back to long forgotten prequisite matierlal. How evil.

I am looking forward to semi nice weather around here at least for the time being. In addition to the dreaded chemistry homework I have tomorrow, a bike ride or something sounds good. After all, this is Canada, there could be snow next week.