December 26, 2008

One of the best parts of Christmas is doling out new catnip toys for the kitties. They're always good for about 20 minutes of catnip induced craziness, followed by at least 4 hours of napping.

Our Christmas was pretty good this year. Unfortunately Ian's Dad was supposed to come and stay with us from Christmas eve to Boxing Day, but he decided last minute not to come because it was so bitterly cold he didn't want to risk travelling. With wind chill, we've been experiencing temperatures as low as -57C almost daily since mid-December out here on the prairies. It sucks. Big time. Anyway, we spent Christmas eve with Ian's mom and Christmas day with my family.

Santa was extra good to me this year. He brought me a new set of kitchen knives (and they're awesome!) and a fancy new watch (which means I can finally ditch the $50 Walmart special I've been wearing for the last couple of years). Ian bought me a funky new bag with a dragonfly on it and a gift card to my favorite store so I can get some badly needed new work clothes.

As an extra surprise, my brother and sister in-law annouced they are pregnant! Due July 24, 2009 which means at least one very pregnant lady will be at the wedding. Here's hoping we make a decent auntie and uncle!

December 11, 2008

In the future, I'm going to do all of my shopping at "Mark's Work Warhouse". I bet they have cool presents.

December 8, 2008

Ian is gone to Ottawa for a week. When he's gone, I often try out recipes that I'm not sure he'll like. Today I made a tater tot casserole. I love tater tots. Yes I know they're horrendously bad for you, but they're so tasty! The casserole was pretty decent, maybe I'll make it for Ian some day.

Other benefits to Ian being gone include hogging the bed and the remote. Those are really the only benefits I can come up with. Mostly I just miss him terribly.

December 6, 2008

So I'm at work yesterday. It's Friday and at about 2:30pm I'm putting some flasks of cell culture in the incubator and I happen to glance at the CO2 tank. It's empty. Shit. This means my incubators will run out of CO2 over the weekend and all of my culture will die and I'll be screwed for next weeks work. I call the CO2 supplier to see if I can get a new tank in before the end of the day and they tell me they'll be able to drop one off in about an hour. Yes! The delivery guy finally shows up around 4:30 and I hook up the new tank and the delivery guy takes the old one away. After he's gone I realize the new tank is leaking. Fuck. It's now 4:55pm on Friday and I have a leaky tank. I call the supplier and I find out that there's no chance I can get a fresh tank this weekend, I have to wait until Monday and I am going to spend most of the weekend praying that the tank will hold out.

This sucks. I hate Murphy's law.

December 1, 2008

Remember way back in the spring, I posted about one of our kitties who had been sick? Well, this is her. Her name is Ivy. She has been sick with several different gastrointestinal symptoms since April. The biggest issue has been the fact that she stopped using the litter box entirely for a looooong time. Several months, many trips to the vet, and a lot of money later, we finally have a diagnosis. Ivy has inflammatory bowel disease, which means that her immune system attacks the inside of her colon and makes it all inflamed and ulcerated. Sound fun? No, I didn't think so.

I'm happy to tell you that Ivy has been feeling much better lately. In fact, after I took this picture of her she spent about 10 minutes chasing her shadow and destroying the blankets on the couch for fun. Also, she's been peeing in the litter box again! Hooray!!! It's nice to have her back to her old self again, mostly.

November 30, 2008

I have to apologize to my loyal readers - all two of you (Hi Barb and Ian!). I haven't been posting much lately. There's no particular reason for this, I just been in a bit of a blogging rut. I haven't been taking many pictures lately, which presents a problem when you write since I write a photo blog.

I'll try to do better.

November 20, 2008

In the continuing saga of "lyrics I hear on the radio and think are weird", I offer the following observations:

1. There's a new song out by Lady Gaga called "Poker face". In the middle of the song, the singers voice is computer altered and I think she's supposed to be saying "poker face" but it sounds an awful lot like "fuck her face".

2. In the song "Bad Girlfriend" by Theory of a Deadman, they censor out the words "ass" and "fuck", which doesn't really surprise me. They also censor out the word "dick" from the phrase "my girlfriend's a dick magnet", which I find strange because "...going down on me in between the sheets" is allowed in another song that's currently getting a lot of airplay.

3. Christina Aguilera has a new song out called "Super girl" that has the lyrics "some days I'm a super bitch". Some days they censor out "bitch" with a weird cartoon hammer sound but other days they let it fly.

November 9, 2008

We went to the CFL Western semi-final yesterday (Riders vs Lions), where I got this shot of the two biggest douches in the CFL - Wally Buono and Rob Murphy. This was right after Murphy shoved the Lions defensive coordinator onto the field and laughed in his face.

In case you hadn't heard, the Lions won. Boo.

November 8, 2008

Hey look everybody, I found Waldo! Apparently he drives a Porsche.

PS. I have to give credit to Ian for pointing out Waldo to me, so I guess technically Ian found Waldo.

October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween everybody!

October 29, 2008

Every year some friends of ours have a pumpkin carving party. We all get together and carve pumpkins and drink. Once everyone is done carving we vote on who carved the best pumpkin. There are prizes and everything. It has gotten quite competitive in the past.

This is the winning pumpkin this year - conjoined twin pumpkin babies. I am not even remotely creative enough to come up with an idea like this, so I always end up carving a generic jack-o-lantern. Needless to say, I pretty much never win (but I always have a great time).

October 24, 2008

Hmm, there appears to be a fire in the north end of the city somewhere.

October 21, 2008

I took this picture while wandering around downtown Raleigh, NC.

I wonder what happens inside of a "Ministry Incubator".

October 20, 2008

While at the Sara Duke Memorial Gardens on the campus of Duke University, I saw a great blue heron with a small catfish he(she?) had caught. The gardens were quiet so I was able to just sit and watch him/her for about half an hour.

I've never been so close to a heron before. They are endangered in Saskatchewan so you don't see them very often. Apparently they are quite common in North Carolina.

I learned two things: 1) herons are beautiful
2) catfish are really ugly.

October 19, 2008

I spent last week in North Carolina attending a workshop for my job (thus explaining the lack of updates last week). I flew out on Wednesday and came back on Sunday. I had Saturday to bum around and see the sights of North Carolina. Pictured is the university cathedral at Duke University in Durham, NC.

Rather than bore you with the minute details of my trip, here's a list that sums up the important stuff:

1. Workshop for work = awesome. My brain at end of workshop = mush.

2. North Carolina has the worst radio stations I have ever heard in my life.

3. North Carolina has some of the friendliest and most polite people I have ever met.

4. The accent amused me greatly. It can only be described as 'southern lite'. I got called dear, darlin', honey, and hun many times.

5. GPS for your car takes some getting used to, but it's really handy when you're travelling alone and can't read a map and drive at the same time.

6. Downtown Raleigh is pretty boring. It reminded me of downtown Regina.

7. Duke University campus is beautiful, but crazy busy when there's a football game on.

Overall, it was a good trip. I'd go back in a second.

October 8, 2008

So I'm driving home from work today and I hear the song "Addicted" by the group Saving Abel. On the radio, they allow the lyrics "I'm so addicted to all the things you do when you're going down on me in between the sheets" but they censor out the word "shit".

Am I the only one who finds this weird?

October 5, 2008

If you're into midget wrestling, there's going to be some in Regina on October 24.

October 1, 2008

One of our cats, Duchess, is very territorial. She gets very upset when she sees other cats on her property. This leads to displays of hissing, snarling, and throwing herself against the window whenever she sees another cat outside. It's usually pretty funny to watch, but she can get herself so worked up that it can be a little scary too.

Here she is telling her arch-nemesis, a neighbourhood cat who lives a couple of doors down, to get the hell off her lawn.

September 28, 2008

Last night was the windup party for my women's soccer team. Here's some of the team playing Rock Band. Don't be fooled by the expression on everyones faces - the party was actually a really fun time!

When I first looked a this picture, I thought 'that's funny, I didn't notice that the picture on the wall was so crooked. Hmm.' Then I realized that the entire photo is crooked, probably because I took it when I was sitting on the floor while drunk.

September 27, 2008

Haircut.

My hair stylist curled my hair since she didn't have an appointment right after me and had some extra time. It's been about 2 years since my hair has been curled, mostly because I'm too lazy to curl it myself and it takes a ton of hairspray for the curls to stay for longer than three minutes.

I noticed for the first time today that my stylists last name is 'Shearer', which is the most perfect name for a hair stylist I have ever seen.

September 26, 2008

Stuck in traffic on my way home from work on a Friday afternoon.

When you live in a city divided by a river, bridges become extremely important. However, when two separate accidents close down two of the bridges at rush hour, chaos ensues. A normally 15 minute drive home took me 45 minutes.

Why is it everyone decided to drive like an idiot at the same time? And why does that day have to be Friday at 5pm?

September 23, 2008

I've been making quite a bit of progress on the wedding front lately. In the last couple of weeks, I've

1. Booked a marriage commissioner (this was a big thing for me because it means even if we don't plan anything else, the wedding can still happen!)
2. Confirmed dates and other stuff with the caterer
3. Bought wedding bands
4. Come up with about a million ideas for centerpieces
5. Perused information about florists and hairdressers

I spent this evening working on a preliminary guest list while watching the Sex and the City movie on DVD. It's been fabulous.

September 21, 2008

Hey there Fall.


Look, Fall, it's nothing personal, but I have to say I'm not thrilled to see you. It's not that I don't enjoy you... I do like the lovely fall colors and the fresh fall air. It's just that this thing called Winter always follows you and, well, let's face it - Winter sucks.

September 20, 2008

So we went to see the Roughriders (RR) play the BC Lions tonight. It was a night game so I didn't take my camera, hence the picture of one of my kitties sitting on a Rider flag. I have been to many football games, but I have never seen anything like what I saw tonight.

During the fourth quarter, there was a play that resulted in a RR player fumbling the ball and BC recovering it. During the course of the play, the BC player very obviously facemasked the RR player but no penalty was called. The replay was shown inside the stadium on the maxtron and was slowed down to highlight the facemasking and the crowd went nuts pointing at the screen and shouting about the abysmal reffing. The BC player who recovered the fumble then ran over to the stands behind the BC bench (which is where we sit - in the 3rd row), gave the stands the finger, and launched the football into the stands. The already outraged fans then launched a battery of beer cans, water bottles, really anything they could throw at the BC players. The BC players then started shouting and flipping off the stands again and a couple of them picked up some of the beer cans and threw them as hard as they could at fans. Then the entire team was moved to the center of the field before a riot started.

First let me say that the behaviour of the RR fans was disgusting. It was uncalled for and was in no way, shape, or form justifiable. I did not throw anything - once the beer assault started I simply sat down and covered up my head with my hands and hoped I didn't get hit with anything. HOWEVER, the behaviour of the BC lions was definitely not something they should be proud of. Giving the fans the finger? Throwing a football into their midst out of spite? Picking up half-full cans of beer and throwing them hard at directly at fans? Come on guys, you're professional players. You wear protective equipment and you get payed to be out there on that field. Yes, the behaviour of the fans was despicable but so was yours BC! Do the Riders come into BC place and start flipping off your fans and throwing beer at them? I highly doubt it.

I think the thing that bothers me the most about the whole incident is the fact that the media is portraying it as an unprovoked attack by the fans against the BC bench, when that was most certainly not the case. Now the rider fans are being portrayed as a bunch of thugs while the BC Lions come off looking blameless. OK, BC, if that's what you need to tell yourselves so you can sleep tonight, then go ahead.

But I know what really happened. I was there.

September 14, 2008

According to Superstore, Redbull qualifies as juice.


Taking this picture got me thinking about weird things that I see that I don't write about on my blog because I can't take a picture of them. Since this is a photoblog, I must have a photo for every post so I'm always on the lookout for interesting pictures I can build a blog post around. Sometimes, though, I see weird things that I would love to write about but I just can't get the shot. For example:


1. Once, when driving to work, I saw a guy cross the street in front of me riding a bike. The rear tire and frame were a normal size for an adult but the front tire had come from a kids bike, giving the bike a really steep angle to the front.


2. A few weeks ago we went to a pub for a couple of beers on a Saturday night. No tables were open, so we sat at the bar. The guy sitting directly to my right had a pack of cigarettes and an inhaler sitting on the bar in front of him. Every time he went for a smoke, he took the inhaler with him. I wanted to tell him that if he quite smoking he probably wouldn't need the inhaler.


3. I was driving on a fairly busy street in the city the other day and I saw an older man riding a bike toward my car in the middle of my driving lane. He wasn't peddling the bike like a normal person, instead he was just pushing on the ground with his feet and coasting on the bike. He headed toward me for a few seconds, then careened into oncoming traffic. He made it to the other side of the street without getting himself killed, but I wonder if he made it home.

September 13, 2008

Ian's mom gave me this mug a few weeks ago. Ian's kindergarden picture is printed on the front. I love that picture of Ian because even as an adult, he still makes the same expression he is making in the picture. I think it's neat that I am able to see adult Ian in a picture of 5 year old Ian.

I hope our kids are that cute.

September 7, 2008

I've been thinking about centerpieces. I'm incredibly lucky to have a friend who owns a home decor and gallery shop. He's lent me several catalogues to peruse for ideas. In theory this is a great idea but now, instead of having no ideas for centerpieces, I have a hundred. Is this better or worse than having no ideas? I'm not sure.

September 6, 2008

One year ago today, we got engaged.

Today, we bought our wedding bands. This was not planned, it just worked out that way.

September 3, 2008

I have a confession to make. I have to work at feeling happy. I don't mean that I'm unhappy with my life, in fact it's quite the opposite - I love pretty much everything about my life right now. However, my default emotional setting is usually worried/anxious rather than happy. This is something I need to work on, so sometimes I try and focus on little things that make me happy even if it's only for a few seconds.

I took this picture from my office at work. I am lucky to have an office that has an entire wall of windows that provide great light. I am also lucky that I live in a city that has agricultural test plots in the middle of the city, so I can look out at open space rather than staring directly into the next office building. This morning, I saw a falcon soaring above the field hunting for his breakfast.

For a few seconds, I felt happy. Then I had to get back to work.

August 31, 2008

We spent the labour day weekend in Regina. While wandering around in Ian's Dad's backyard, I saw this crazy squirrel scaling the neighbours garage wall.

Weird.

August 29, 2008

I don't really love Y Regina. But I do love Y redundancy.

August 24, 2008

When we were touring Ian's old school I saw this diorama about phospholipids. For some reason, the sight of phospholipids depicted with fuzzy balls and pipecleaners made me giggle. I'm a science nerd and I'm used to finding things like this highly amusing when everyone else thinks they're boring.

Speaking of nerdy science things that I find highly amusing, my friend Julie (who has a PhD in molecular genetics) gave me a t shirt with a picture of Gregor Mendel that says "Mendel is my chromeboy".

Hee hee hee. I love it.

August 23, 2008

It was Ian's 10 year high school reunion this weekend. It was neat to see the inside of the school that he went to. It was also funny to see the grad pictures of Ian and all of his friends and to see how they've changed in the last 10 years.

Ian was a beanpole in high school, so his face has filled out in the past 10 years. He also had more hair back then.

August 18, 2008

One of the girls in my group at work recently resigned, so I've been reviewing resumes hoping to find a suitable replacement for her. This is the first time I've been on the hiring side of the job hunt table and it's a little strange. It was much more difficult to create a short list of candidates to interview than I thought it would be. The applicants seemed to fall into three major groups:

1. The grossly overqualified applicants who submit a resume that's 10 pages long (or more!). Really people, if you have a PhD I'm not going to hire you for an entry level position. Neither of us will be happy so lets not even go there. Also, it's not necessary for you to submit a 5 page summary of your PhD thesis with your resume. I'm sure it was very well done but I don't really have time to read it.

2. The grossly unqualified applicants who can't write a decent resume to save their life. FYI, it's not necessary to include every job you've ever had since high school. I want to hire you for a science job. I don't care if you worked at McDonalds, Starbucks, or the local nightclub. If your past work experience doesn't show me your experience in the biotech field and why I should hire you, don't put it on your resume. Also, proofreading and spellcheck are your friends! Use them!

3. The somewhat qualified applicants with decent resumes. There were only two.

Next step, interviews.

August 11, 2008

Should I take Ian's name when we get married?

Pro:
It would make Ian very happy
It will be easier to explain to our future kids
It identifies us a family unit
It is a symbol of my commitment to our marriage

Con:
I'm beginning to advance my career under my maiden name
I have a pretty unique last name and I'm kind of attached to it
I would have to change all of my ID and I'm kind of lazy

I have thought of all of these reasons and more for both taking Ian's name or keeping my old one. In the end, I've decided to take his name. I love him and I will be very proud to be his wife. I cannot think of a more meaningful way to show my commitment to our marriage, even if it means I have to change all of my ID.

August 10, 2008

This is the hall we have booked for our ceremony/reception. While I'm somewhat annoyed at the high rental cost, after seeing the hall in person I think it's perfect!

August 9, 2008

Today we drove out to Rouleau (AKA Dog River) to see the set used in the filming of the TV series Corner Gas.

Corner Gas, in case you don't know, is a Canadian TV comedy that depicts life in small-town Saskatchewan. Set in fictional Dog River (40 Km from nowhere), the show focuses on Brent (owner of the local gas station) and his shenanigans with several other people in town. It's a show I hold very near and dear to my heart since I grew up in a Saskatchewan town of about 600 people. While people from urban centers can definitely appreciate the show for its witty dialogue and slapstick effects, you can't truly identify with the show unless you've lived it.

The sixth and final season of Corner Gas is currently being filmed. I'm glad they've chosen to end it before it becomes stale and unpopular. Besides, I have all of the seasons on DVD so life in Dog River will never be very far away for me.

August 7, 2008

Football game.

Ian is infatuated with cheerleaders. I think he enjoys the cheerleaders more than the game itself.

The Riders lost, but they are still 6 and 1.

August 5, 2008

Me: IAN!!

Ian: What?

Me: THERE'S A GIANT DRAGON FLY ON MY HEAD!!

Ian {Laughs and takes pictures while the thing crawls around on my head, then shoos it away}: I think it was eating a mosquito up there.

Me: Great

August 4, 2008

Camping.

Ian and I have this week off work. We spent a few days in Prince Albert National Park, which is where we will be married in June. For the first time in history, it did not rain while we were there.

August 2, 2008

Soccer owie.

July 29, 2008

We have a wedding party!

Pictured is my Maid of Honour, Julie. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, but after posting this picture of her I'm sure I'll find out.

For some reason, one of the most common questions I get asked about the wedding is "How big is your bridal party?". Well, now I can say we have a maid of honour, a best man, 2 bridesmaids, and 2 groomsmen. Oh, and a bride and a groom. And no flowergirls or ringbearers.

That's one thing checked off the wedding to-do list.

July 27, 2008

This summer we've been spending a lot of weekends driving between Regina and Saskatoon, which means we spend a lot of time looking at fields from the highway. One of the reasons we do this is because we have season tickets for the Roughriders, which was my engagement gift to Ian (a huge football fan). Last weekend, the opening kickoff was delayed for an hour because of a thunderstorm that rolled through the area. This weekend, there was a 40 minute rain delay between the first and second quarters complete with thunder, lightening, hail, and funnel cloud sightings. In case you don't know, the stadium where the Riders play is an outdoor stadium (as in, no protection of any kind from the elements) so when it rains you get completely soaked. Then everyone runs inside to hide from the rain only to find the stadium is very old and leaky and that standing under the stands in only marginally better than standing in the rain itself! Luckily, the sun came back out after about 20 minutes of rain and dried everyone off.

Unfortunately there is another reason we've been travelling to Regina - Ian's Dad is dealing with some pretty serious health issues right now. This is the main reason why my posts have been few and far between lately - it is difficult to find inspiration and even more difficult to find time for blogging. It is times like these that make weddings, blogs, and many other things seem like small potatoes.

July 21, 2008

The tow truck showed up after about an hour and towed us back to Regina. Then we called Ian's Dad to give us a lift to the airport, which is where we picked up our rental car. Then we drove back to Saskatoon. A normally 2.5 hour trip turned into a 7 hour adventure. The lessons I learned that day include:

1. Breaking down on the highway is stressful and expensive, especially when you're a long way from home and you have to work the next day.
2. Tow truck drivers have good stories.
3. Sometimes people honk at you from their functional vehicles when you're broken down on the side of the highway. These people are assholes.
4. The 2008 Toyota Yaris (the rental we drove back to Saskatoon) is a decent car to drive.

Fortunately, it was only a fried ignition coil that caused our breakdown so the bill was only $145 for the repair. The truck is fixed now and waiting for us to pick it up over this weekend.

July 20, 2008

We went to Regina this weekend. About 45 minutes into our 2.5 hour drive, our truck broke down. I've never been stranded on the side of the highway before. It blows.

Here we are waiting for the tow truck.

July 9, 2008

One of our kitties isn't feeling very well. She's been having some non-descript symptoms for the last few months (general abdominal discomfort, etc). Our vet has been unable to pin-point the cause of her symptoms. This week she also came down with a bladder infection. Poor girl.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried that these symptoms are indicating a serious condition that means she is coming to the end of her time with us. She is still eating and drinking like a champ and so far her discomfort seems minimal (well, after the bladder infection cleared up anyway) so I think she'll be around for a while yet, but it's hard to know that she is hurting and I can't figure out why.

July 7, 2008

Speaking of trashy TV, here's another show I watch occasionally. "Wedding SOS" features a different couple each week. They usually have about a week before their wedding day and a giant list of wedding things they haven't completed yet. And I'm not talking little things, either. It's often things like the bride has no dress, no caterer has been booked, no venue is booked, etc, etc, etc. Then this English wedding planner named Jane steps in and grants the couple 3 wishes for their wedding. She also acts as their wedding coordinator on the actual wedding day.

In some of my lower moments, I can easily see myself ending up in a situation like those portrayed on the show. It's not that I don't care about the wedding, it's just that so many other things seem to be of greater importance on a daily basis.

I think I'm bad at this.

July 2, 2008

I have a confession to make. I watch trashy TV. One of the shows I watch whenever Ian isn't around is a show called "Rich Bride Poor Bride". It's a reality TV show that follows couples as they plan their weddings. I've probably seen 10 episodes of the show and I have yet to see a bride that I identify with. One episode I watched featured a couple who spent $120 000 on their wedding, complete with custom designed wedding gown for the bride ($11 000, in case you were wondering). In another episode, the couple was made up of a normal girl and a really feminine guy. In the episode featured above, the bride was obsessed with impressing her guests. Her initial visit with her wedding planner went something like this:

Planner: So, do you have a vision for your reception?
Bride: Extravagant! I want things my guests have never seen before!
Planner: OK, so over-the-top, original items...
Bride: [with a very intense look on her face while punching her fist into her palm for emphasis] I want their jaws to hit the floor and I want to hear it!

I laughed out loud when I saw that. I would be a terrible person to be on that show. No one wants to watch the planning process of an Apathetic Bride. It's really boring.

June 30, 2008

Hello Summer. It's nice to see you.

June 27, 2008

Rainy day.