A Week and University Begins

Well the summer has gone fast. I feel it's already over, but I still have 7 days until I officially start my Master's. I guess it's because I have been here working since August 18th. Umm classes again. It will be a new experience-bigger classes, different professors lecturing the same course.

Today I am learning how to conduct TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) and tDS (Transcranial Direct Stimulation-I think). Preety interesting. I'm trying to get the procdure down. I'll explain the procedures in future blogs.

Blog I Haven't Forgot You

Sorry everyone. Life has been a bit hectic lately. In the past few days I've learned many experiments, met my roommate, canoed the North Saskatchewan River, spent a day working with patients at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hopsital, and watched two great movies. As I have time I will write more entries... Until then...

Ummm I Wonder If I Do

I was just looking on the internet for various helpful neuroscience sites. I found this one for kids. There is a discussion on the myth of humans just using 10 % of our brains. Take a look:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html

And So I Begin...

I met my professor Dr.Chan at 8am in his office. He filled me in with some of his expectations. That made me feel a bit better. He had a fun and productive summer with 5 students. A coupleof students will continue to work part-time in our lab during the school year. One girl, named Holly, is currently there and will be one of those working part-time. She has been very helpful in showing me around the lab and explaining some procedures. Holly is going into her 3rd year of undergraduate neuroscience. She wants to be a doctor and said volunteering is the best way to get in. She volunteered all last year with Dr.Chan.

I must go back to the lab. I'm just on my lunch break.We saw a patient this morning who has carpal tunnel syndrome. This afternoon we have another one. I'm trying to jot down as much information as possible. There's a lot of details. I'll explain some of the procedures in future blogs. Until then back to the hospital...

What Do You Do With Just the Left Shoe?

Well I'm bored so I'm in the SUB playing on the internet. My day was pretty productive. Zoe picked me up at noon and we headed over to Greyhound. There were 8 boxes! We just had enough room to squish them all into the car. The rest of the afternoon Zoe and I drove around Edmonton finding her a PAIR of good cross trainers. We went to three different shoe companies. She finally found a sneaker she liked and in her size! Unfortunately the store only could find the left shoe! The salesman said it occurs often. They had no idea where the missing right shoe could be. He phoned another mall to see if they had the sneaker-both left and right. They did! Horray! :)

I just received an e-mail from my prof. It looks like I start with him tomorrow. I'm meeting him at 8am and seeing two patients in the morning. I can tell I'm going to have long days.

Think Inside the Box

Well another day trying to hunt down my professor. I went again to his office-4th time so far. I just read my e-mail and found out he wanted me to see him at 7:30am this morning. I will tomorrow. Gee... A busy guy. I guess every doctor is.

Today at noon my new friend Zoe and I are going to Greyhound to pick my 8 boxes up. I hope the boxes fit into her car. We'll see... It's overcast and it may rain. If it doesn't I think we may go to the Fringe Festival.

I found my course book yesterday-$150! Yikes! I'm going to Chapters and see if it's cheaper. I hope.

I pretty much know my way around campus, but I booked a campus tour for next week. I just discovered that the student council is piloting the idea for the student union building and its labs to be open 24/7 this year! Yeah! I gotta love that!

Monday, Monday So Good to Me!

Well today I woke up again at 6am. I haven't been able to shake off the jet lag. I ate my breakfast, read some more of my book, and then met up with the prof in charge of pharmacology 371. He added the course for me.

I went to the neuroscience wing and met up with Luke. I forgot to say in my earlier blog that I met luke on Friday when meeting the secretary. He overheard me talking and came into the office. He asked if I recognised him and I definietely did. He had gone to high school with me! 2 years older mind you (my sister's grade), but we went to a small school. We caught up on each other's lives and I found out that two other people I know from high school were here also. Today I talked to him for about an hour-and-a-half. He warned me of some profs and soem courses. he said my course killed him. Yikes!

I went to get my access code for the internet and was accepted unlike on Friday. Yeah! That's why I can blog right now! I'm trying to keep myself busy. Give me a call I'll be around. :)

Do Do Do...

Sunday I sat around and read all day. I didn't even leave my apartment. Down time can be good. It's just a struggle with being bored. Anyone bored? Give me a call...

Fringe Festival Whoo-hoo!

Well with a map in hand I was off to meet Zoe at the entrance of the Fringe Festival (the largest of it's type in Canada). It was a hot day 30 C. Just the day before it was 8 C! What a crazy, unpredictable place! I found Zoe and we watched some streetperformers. Later on I could tell I was sunburning so we went to Starbucks and talked.

That night I curled up and read soem of my John Griham's book "The Testament." When you have no TV, no internet, and know no one a book passes the time.

Finding My Way

Friday I decided to explore the campus. I discovered that the student union building wasn't far from my residence. I went to the info centre and got a map. There are about 90 builidings at the U of A! A bit bigger than Bishop's! A girl was asking how she could get access to the internet. She was told how she could acquire it and I decided to try to amke a friend. I went over and said I was thinking of going there too. No response. Oh well..it was worth a try. Later that day I went to get my internet access code. lol and behold she sat next to me. We struck up a conversation and we exchanged phone numbers. She was a new grad student also and didn't know anybody. Unfortunately because my courses were not fully registered I was denied access to the internet. :( I had to wait until Monday. That night my new friend Zoe came over and we talked. We decided the next day we would check out the Fringe Festival!

My Home Sweet Home

I unlocked the door to my new residence apartment. The excitement was mounting! I walked in and was pleasantly surprised! It was bigger than I thought it would be. I went into my room and saw that Lily had set up a bed with sheets, a desk, and wrote a card to welcome me. :) I was a bit worried about the apartment because we are sharing a one bedroom apartment. Lily is living in part of the livingroom. Fortunately she put up drapes and she has plenty of room for her bedroom. We also have space for a small livingroom along side the balcony. The balcony is not that big, but it's nice to have. Pigeons coo there every morning. My residence is straight across from the hospital! That's where I'll be working. It's the perfect location. It looks like a good home!

Alberta Finally!

Ok. No i didn't disappear off the planet. I just received my computer access code-finally the internet! I arrived in Alberta on Thursday. It was a long day indeed! My sister, dad and I left my sister's house at 6:30am and headed to the airport. I flew out of Halifax at 8:45am seated on a window seat. :) I sat next to a guy who just moved from Calgary to Halifax. He was going to see his wife (who was still living in Calgary), then drive to Washington (10 hours away) for a Dave Matthews Band concert. He was only going from Thursday until Tuesday. He was crazy! About 2 days flying, 2 days driving, 1 Dave Matthews concert (I guess) priceless... Lol

We landed in Calgary 40 mins late. Whenever I land in Calgary (well 2 times so far) I feel sick to my stomach my ears hurt so bad. Anyway...thankfully the airline held the connection flights for us. The flight to Edmonton was only 38 mins. A rude twenty-year-old sat infront of me. She forgot to turn her cell off, and as we're about to ascend she put her seat back all the way. I told her politely that for safety reasons the seat had to be in the upright position. She was not happy with me. 5 misn later she tilt her seat back again and put her hand up as to say "screw off." The rest of her row were inclined to do the same thing and all of them sat back. Moments later an elderly woman across the way took her seatbelt off and headed to the bathroom. The belt sign was still on! All we needed now was someone to light up a smoke. Geee. Some people I guess don't know how to fly.

I landed in Edmonton and took a taxi. Although I could have taken a cheap shuttle to my residence, it was raining and I had too much stuff. The Belgium taxi driver was very nice. He told me a bit about the city. I had to race into a hotel and pick up keys for my residence and apartment. My roommate was out of town until next week and her friend decided to leave the keys with the front desk. Suppsoedly I could buzz 100 and I would be able to get into the building, but that didn't work. I followed someone in and found the front desk. The guy was busy explaining something to a woman. My taxi was still running and I just wanted to get the keys and go. A woman came out and asked my problem. I said who iw as and that I ened to pick up keys. She couldn't understand why they would have the keys. What is the friend's last name? I had no clue. Does she live here? I don't know. I had to explain briefly my situation. She said she never heard of someone leaving keys like this. She said the receptionist would probably know where the keys were. I asked where the receptionist was. She said on lunch break. It was 2pm!Just I was at my witt's end she found the keys. Thank goodness! If she hadn't I wouldn't know what i would have done! I finally made it to my residence and took the suitcases up to the 12th floor. It was good to be home...

The Day Has Come!

Tongiht I'm leaving Prince Edward Island with my dad and heading to my sister's in Nova Scotia. Tonight we're having a bonfire in celebration of my departing (that's how they probably look at it :) ). LOL Tomorrow I leave Halifax, NS at 8:45am and after 5 hours of flying will arrive in Edmonton at 12:30pm local time. I will then find the Sky Shuttle (the goes every 45 mins) and hopefully find my new home. I will be living in an upper-year undergrad/graduate residence right on campus. My roommate will be away until August 24th so I'll have time to scope out Edmonton and relax. I think tomorrow night I will decorate some of my room, locate a grocery store, and make some phone calls.

On Friday I must pick up some of my boxes at the Greyhound Station. I have a couple of boxes that have been for 26 days! Yikes! I hope they are still there. Then I will be meeting my new supervisor in his office. I think my Master's then begins. Scary. I enjoyed being on vacation, but I guess it's time to get back into a routine. I start classes September 7th-pharmacology. The course is an upper year undergrad course that covers some material of molecular biology. Yeah should be fun..ummm...maybe...tough-yes!

Well goodbye Maritimes. I'll be back sometime... Talk to you all on the other side (of Canada that is). :)

Joke #1

My new-brother-in-law (Leonard) told me this one. hehehe...

Why do crows get hit by trucks more often than cars?

Because crows can go "caw caw", but not "truck truck"

Nova Scotia, My Home

Well I'm here in PEI and am bored. So I decided to write a informative blog on my beautiful province. No not British Columbia (although it is beautiful), no not Prince Edward Island, no not Alberta (I don't even know it yet) and no not Quebec, mais je me souviens Quebec; my home is Nova Scotia.

Although I no longer live in Nova Scotia I still feel that's where I am from. I had a great upbringing there. This summer I was fortunate to spend three weeks in the Martimes. I had a chance to see the Buskers on the Halifax waterfront for the first time in over 10 years!

Here is some info. I picked up about NS:
"Nova Scotia (meaning 'New Scotland'), often referred to as "Canada's Ocean Playground", is almost entirely surrounded by water. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and oturism are the main industries of this province. The osprey is the provincial bird, the mayflower is the provincial flowerand agate is well known as the provinical mineral.

The Nova Scotia Tartan represents the flag of the province, which dates back to the Charter of New Scotland in 1621. The colors of the Nova Scotia Tartan are... Blue for the sky, sea and lakes, green for the trees, white for the rocks and surf of the coastline, gold represents the Royal Charter, red for the Scottish Lion on the shield of the provincial crest and flag. Nova Scotia has the proud distinction of being the only Province of Canada, and the first colony of Great Britain to possess (through Royal Charter) its own flag."

I recommend everyone to visit sometime in their lives.

Back on the Island

I'm again on PEI's red soil. I'm visiting my dad and step-family. I'll be here realxing until Wednesday night. Thursday is my big move. I'm getting a bit ancy and nervous, but things will work out I'm sure.

Valley Girl

Well I must catch-up once again on my busy travels...

On Friday, August 12th Heather, Leonard, and I went home to the Annapolis Valley in NS. I spent the afternoon with a bunch of good friends-Christina and Sarah. I saw my friend's little girl Sophia. She's 2. Very cute. The last time I saw her she was only a month old. It was a day that greatly resembled old times. I didn't feel rushed and I spent time with the people who mattered. I then visited my cousins, and stayed at my grandparents'. The next morning (Saturday) we saw more family and departed for Halifax. There we had fun once again at the fireworks! My last night in the city was joyful and relaxing! :)

Perfect Timing

Well yesterday my sister and I couldn't be luckier with our timing. Here are my stories of the night...dun dun dun

We dropped her husband off to work and headed down to Midas ("that's the Midas touch"-Can't you just hear that jingle?) for an oil and muffler change. We weren't sure how long it would take. We thought an hour. So we sat down and started reading the newspaper. I was glad to catch-up on some world news. Across the street was the fast-food restaurant Arby's. Heather and I were thinking about eating there while waiting. Before we had a chance we saw a woman (in the Arby's parking lot) get out of her car and sit beside her rear tire. The car was smoking a bit and peopel rushed over to see her. She called 911 and was talking to the operator as she paced around the parking lot. She seemed ok. Arby's staff gave her a cup of water. A few minutes later a huge police officer (I mean built!) arrived on the scene with no lights flashing. He talked to the woman and then went over to the car to get her purse out of the front seat. I guess he wasn't very concerned with the car. He then called back-up. The fire truck came next, then the EMS (sort of an ambulance), then a real ambulance and more police officers. It appeared to be overkill. the woman now was sitting down. The ambulance took out a stretcher and put her into the ambulance. The ambulance didn't move for another 5 minutes or so. No real emergency. We (us and the Midas employeses) were all commenting about the crazy situation. We had a discussion about ambulances... The consensus was that if you called 911 even if you were ok you still would have to go into the ambulance. I still don't know if that's true. It just seemed weird that the woman was walking around before, but later she was placed on a stretcher. Then the consenus was that once you were rtansported to the hospital by the ambulance you would have to foot the bill. I thought our health coverage covered that. maybe not. Anyway my sister's car was ready to go just as the ambulance pulled out. Good timing #1 (I had free entertainment).

We then did some errands. Heather, being a teacher, went scoping out the back-to-school sales. Whoo-hoo! We decided o grab a quick meal at Wendy's down the street. I told Heather to take her jacket and umbrella because the dark clouds were rolling into the city. We were one step front the restaurant's door when a gust of wind came up and I said "Yep the rain is coming." We took our final step (which was under the door hanging) and it poured! Buckets of rain! We didn't get one drop on us! Good timing #2 However, it was bad timing for one gentleman. He was sitting in a convertible outside the restaurant in traffic. He saw everyone in the restaurant watching him and he smiled. He was laughing, but then as the rain poured his laughter turned to anger. Poor guy.

We were to meet Agnus and Pete (relatives of Devin) at 6:30pm. Heather had no clue where she was going and I didn't either. It was already 6:10pm. Good timing #3. We arrived at 6:28pm! Amazing!

We stayed at Agnus and Pete's for 5 hours. We could've talked way into the night, but Leonard (Heather's husband) had to be picked up from work at midnight. We didn't want to leave, but finally we left with little time to pick him up on time. The good driver that my sister is we got there with 2 minutes to spare. Good timing #4.

Yes it certainly was another lucky day for the two of us!

Fantastic Night!

Last night was great! My sister and I travelled down to Halifax at 5pm and met up with an old friend from high school, Ceara. We ate at the Med pub and walked down to the waterfront. Two other good friends from high school were meeting us there-Josh and Aimee. great to see them all! We met Josh's fiance and Aimee's bf and then we all watched the Buskers for the evening.

The Buskers were fabulous! One act involved a competition between breakdancers and martial artists. They were all so talented! Then they did a spoof on Star Wars. The breakdancers danced with a blue sword, fighting against the dark side (who held a red lit sword). It was extraordinary! Then we watched an Australian guy who does everything with fire. He was crazy! The end of his act as he swung his poles of fire around he set fireworks off. Buskers rock!

My sister then decided to try her luck at Black jack at the casino. We had only 20 mins until we had to go. She won $30. Not bad.
Overall it was a fantastic night!!

Good Old Times

Another hot day here in Nova Scotia. It was 32 C. I could have perished in my sister's non-airconditioned car. Whew... Last night my sister and I went with our cousin and her boyfriend to a house party. We met a lot of great people. It gave us something to do before we had to pick up my sister's new husband Leonard from the airport at midnight. Having one car sucks...

Today Heather, Leonard, and I stuck around the house until Leo had to be dropped off at work. Just before leaving I caught an old high school friend on MSN. She was in the area. Yeah! We all went to a nice Halifax pub. It was fun catching up on old times. Great to see old friends. :)

Tonight we're at mom's watching movies until midnight. She heads out to Nfld tomorrow morning. Another day gone... Edmonton shortly...

A Good Anchorman

I just heard that Peter Jennings died yesterday. :( He was a fabulous anchorman.

A Blue Sky Holiday

Well I guess it's time to catch up on my blogging...

Today my mom and I went to Mahone Bay, Bridgewater, and Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I hadn't been down the coast since I was little. It brought back a lot of memories. These historic places are among the most photographed places in Atlantic Canada. In Lunenburg we went and saw the historic church that was rebuilt after a fire burned the structure down in November 1, 2005. The church just re-opened last month.

Yesterday my mom and I went to Point Pleasant Park, Halifax Waterfront, the casino, and The Old Triangle. Point Pleasant Park is a place where many people go walking to get away from the "busy" city. Unfortunately, this was the first time I visited the park since before Hurricane Juan. There were hardly any trees left standing. It was sad. No one alive today will ever see the park like it was before. Still the park was nice-worth taking a stroll through. In the park we saw a historic sight-Prince of Wales Tower. We learned that the first asphault floor in North America was placed there.

We then went downtown to the Casino. If you spend $20 at the casino you get free parking. My mom felt that was a great deal so we stayed there for over an hour. I was asked for ID numerous times. The restriction is 19. Man I guess I look young even with my new hair cut. We then got to the Waterfront in Halifax and watched the Buskers (street performers). One guy was hilarious! After a few hours we walked uptown to a pub called the Old Triangle. So many people in the pubs and so many bands. It was awesome!

Finally we went home and watched "Unfortunate Events." Funny enough I didn't like it very much. Jim Carrey did a wonderful job, but what an odd movie. I'll give it props for being odd, but that's all.

Anyway tonight after a long day we're watching another movie-this time "Guess Who" with Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher. Yawn another big day in NS.

Summerside-"Where the Only Thing We Overlook is the Water"

Well lots to write about... (sigh). My sister's wedding was three days ago. I'll blog about all the events when I have a chance. For now I'll talk about my day. Currently I am in Prince Edward Island, specifically Sumerside (the smallest city in Canada), staying with my step-mom and dad. We have a family from Scotland staying with us. This tripo was the first time I saw the new house. I'm here for a couple of days before I return to Nova Scotia. My sister joined me today. She's sort of on her honeymoon, but her husband is in New Brunswick with his dad and she is here with me. lol

Today my dad and I went to the store to buy some bee repellent. When we returned to the van we saw our headlight on the ground. A woman from Ontario hit our parked van and scratched the whole front of the van. My dad's insurance company was just across the street so off we went to figure the logistics out. She was very nice. She was surprised we were not upset; we weren't paying for it, her insurance would. Her husband was away playing golf and she was showing her 14 member family around when the accident happened. She was scared what her husband would say. The rest of the day dad and I went to get damage quotes. Dad called the cell number we were given and talked with the husband. Funny enough, 4 hours later, the woman still didn't tell her husband about the incident and my dad mistakenly called him up and confused him. Dad explained what happened. The man was very nice and said that maybe he should call his wife. lol

Tonight we all went to walk the boardwalk. A ncie, relaxing day.