6TH SEMESTER BITES THE DUST
I have put an end to my sixth semester at the U of A. I am really looking forward to finishing with my final exams now. My classes were mostly interesting, but I am really looking forward to putting paid to Prokaryotic Genetics. It's been a long somewhat interesting semester. Ecology turned out to be close to what I had originally thought - long and boring. I wound up sleeping through or completely ignoring everything that the prof went through. On the last day of class, he was covering the nutrient cycle, again. Normally before a big holiday like Easter, you're getting ready to enjoy life and it's bounty and meet with family, etc. Thanks to my exams, I will instead be slaving away in some musty library on campus, feverishly trying to cram a semester's worth of operons, regulatory mutations, and off grammar in the back of my mind. Easter dinner looks like it'll be some type of McDonald's fare. Maybe I'll hide a few eggs for myself.
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE
Seven spares and two strikes. I made a personal record tonight with that bowling score. What an incredible game. Odd too, since the last time I had the opportunity to go bowling was probably about a year ago. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed that. And I actually finally got all of my cans and bottles refunded and the space underneath the sink is clean for once. I think that in itself is a miracle. All in all, a fairly decent day. On the other hand, I got precious little productive done, and hence, I will spend all of tomorrow studying for a quiz, midterm, paper, and getting caught up in some readings. That and I have a curious overheating issue with my computer that demands to be worked out soon. And of course I need groceries...
FIRST DAY OF SPRING
First Day of Spring Originally uploaded by lithiumfrost. As some of you may know, we recently moved into spring a few days ago. Or at least, according to the calendar. He in Edmonton, spring doesn't really roll around until June or so. But I am used to this world of white now, and it could just be cold and brown outside. Oddly enough, this is preferable, though I miss the use of my bike. But still, usually we have just a thin layer of snow, so it was great to see a significant snowfall for once. It has been extremely busy for me lately. In fact, I have had little time to anything fun. This week is class registration, so I am trying to hammer out some sort of acceptable schedule for next year. It is not easy though. And of course, I had two quizzes, an eight page lab report, and the usual complement of studying and working while trying to find a job for this summer. Needless to say,I have done a serious bit of running around. It's hard to even start detailing everything I have been up to since the last time I posted, but there's been a game's night, St. Patty's day fun, and theological discussions with Jehovah's Witnesses just to start... Next time, perhaps.
FLESH EATING DISEASE AND LOVE
As so often happens in university, there is a great volume of needed stuff to be accomplished and only very limited time for it all. This weekend, due to my inability to write this paper earlier, finds me trying to write a 300 word essay about some facet of love en français and study for what will surely be a grueling midterm about virulence factors, exotoxins, and immunopathologies. I had wanted to get more of it done before this weekend, but quite frankly, I couldn't find a great way to start the paper. I don't like those questions... Still, irregardless, I have to have something to turn in on Monday which means that irrespective of my feelings, I will be writing something tomorrow. I can only hope that it's something good... For the same reasons, I am sure I'll be up to my elbows in reference literature and notes preparing for my last midterm on Monday. It'll feel good just to be done with them all, I suspect. Then I can move on to focusing on papers and finals. Such is life. Ironically enough, the day that we talked about Streptococcus pyogenes in class, the lead story on MSNBC was about a woman in her forties who succumbed to necritising fasciitus caused by that organism. They amputated her arm and a substantial amount of tissue from her torso before she passed away anyway. Really quite creepy, and it happens really fast. Docotrs thought that from infection to death was about 3 days in this case. That's not a whole lot of room for error.
NO COFFEE
i started out this morning without the habit which I so often indulge. Blood testing does not allow so much as a stick of gum within 8 hours of the test, so i hd to make do with a nice cold glass of water, the only thing that actually is allowed.in any case, it was a pleasant lunch when I was finally allowed to choke down a hot cup 'o jjoe. Well, that, and have a sandwish. Normally I stop by at the Chaplain's office around noon for a cup of coffee as it's free and there's usually a good conversation, but there's been non of that this week either, except for a few minutes on Monday. The head chaplain headed out of town for his brother's funeral, leaving me looking for another way to satiate my habit. it wasn't a bad idea, I have killed a lot of precious hours chatting about current issues. Besides that, America's favorite beverage, and potentially Canada's too (aside from beer) has been taking a lot of flak lately. Today's article on slashdot was actually all about how coffee may not be as healthy as once thought. Not that i have ever cared much about a beverage's healthiness, but at least now I can feel less disappointed about it's absence.
I'M NOT ALRIGHT
Sanctus Real's recently released single is a fantastic song, in my opinion. It's well done melodically, if not lyrically. You can also find it at iTunes. I kind of just stumbled across it, but it's definitely worth a listen. Yesterday was of course Ash Wednesday. It's now open season on repentence, and that's probably something that everyone could use a bit of. I have not really given anything up for Lent yet, but I am considering it. As we go into this season, I think it is appropriate to think of what in our lives we should change and make good on that.
ADVENTURES WITH THE COMPOSE KEY
Amazingly enough, Linux can actually look very good if configured correctly and customized for your equipment. Luckily for me, it's only taken me about 5 years to figure out exactly how to do that. Hundreds of mindless hours combing through arcane info pages, outdated wikis, and forum postings led to my Eureka moment. I finally have a setup I can live with, sort of. I can type all of the characters I wish to, and they look good to boot. Of course, the Holy Grail of X still eludes me, but I struggle valiantly on trying to find an agpgart driver for my chipset so I can finally have accelerated X. Driver support has always been iffy on Linux, and I gave up depending on it years ago. Too frustrating to limit myself to one or two supported devices. Of course, if you'd read my earlier entry, you'd know that I haven't spent my entire break wrestling with a software system or rewiring my computer... That actually only took a day. For the rest of it, I spent my time out in Vancouver. I have always liked it out there, and this trip did little to change my opinion on the matter. While I did not do a lot of exploring this time out, I did get a lot of R & R, which is mostly what I was hoping for anyway. With my normal weekly schedule the way it is, I appreciated some time where I could get some other tasks out of the way and simply relax and read and watch the Olympics. The furthest I got out was to Langley and that was just for a pleasant dinner and a stop at NCIX to pick up a set of headphones to replace an old pair of mine. Other scintillating destinations? Well, I did make it to Costco a few times. In any case, I have to write a paper tomorrow, so I should probably get some shut-eye...
CONJUGATION WITH F PLASMIDS
Valentine's Day sounds so much more meaningful and beautiful when decribed with baterial DNA transfer terms. What could possibly be more romantic for Valentine's than learning exactly what means bacteria use to have "sex"? On that topic, wouldn't it be great to study birth and death rates and the associated statistics for Daphnia (a small aquatic species)? Didn't think so. Yet here i am, listening to my prof drone on in that seemingly incredible cure for insomnia. That said, i am panicking as tomorrow it the time for my prokarotics genetics course, and I am not ready for it. That class is really difficult, and I can't afford anything but an excellent grade. Now that all three of you are feeling sorry for me, I'll mention that I am flying out to Vancouver this weekend until Thursday for a little pseudo R & R. i say pseudo and mean it, as I have to get two papers and my job hunt for this summer over in that time as well. I imagine I will be busy typing away on my notebook while watching the Daytona 500. That said, I do plan on spending some time seeing some new sites and exploring. I am also looking forward to some guilt free viewing of the Olympics, which I am a huge sucker for. In any case, i should probably head back to my notes and my half ear to the lecture.
WEEKEND HELL
As has been previously discussed, i found myself at the beginning of the semester needing a productive change. Specifically, i needed better grades. The rubber is soon to hit the road, as next week I have all of my midterms, or nearly so. i even have the encouragement to start studying immediately after my quiz this morning, which was ugly... Amazing how the nicest teachers can have the nastiest exams. I swear i hadn't even seen a third of those terms, and that was after diligently copying down all the terms off the whiteboard. In any case, I have cut my hours at work next week and sloughed off some extracurricular activities in order to focus on the exams. Some of my classes are interesting, and those are at least interesting to work through and practice, while others are far from it. Ecology and prokaryotic genetics are... well... boring as all get out. I don't mind working through Geology and French though. I imagine I'll be solving a lot of practice problems and making a lot of notecards. The upside? This time next week, I'll be packing my bag for my flight out to Vancouver. I figure I've got one of the best carrot and stick combos out there.
MUHAMMAD'S BOMB
For those of you who keep up on international news and events, the Danish free press problem may seem a bit absurd. After all, several countires now have severed their ties with Denmark, and there are riots over these cartoons published months ago. And it would seem that Denmark is now quite concerned (en français). Of course, this is an interesting confluence of events. The notoriously open, liberal, and tolerant countries are meeting a culture that is known for being rigid, traditionalistic, and violent. It almost makes me want to reach for the popcorn... Immigration and the quest for profit have wrought an uneasy alliance in Europe with its North African and Middle Eastern neighbors. Unfortunately, something soon here will have to give. I can't see the Danes abandoning the sacred cow of free press, but neither can I see the Muslims backing down over some cartoons in poor taste. I think that Europe may have to come to grips with the fact that its working idea of tolerance is hypocritical at best and patronizing at worst. The Muslims have called them on it. For a long time now, Christians have put up with all sorts of mockery, from the "Life of Brian" to later Family Guy episodes that stepped over the line. However, I do not see us taking to the streets. Oh sure, there may be some grumbling from time to time, but on the whole we get over it and move on. I supsect that the end of this will be somewhere along the lines of an unspoken truce... The European press will generally self censor itself in order to avoid costly public offense and political debacles, while the Muslim world will have to let infidels do what they do best: ignore Muslim law.