I forgot about this picture. John and I ended up lost, wandering the streets of Geneva like a couple of oafs after a fabulous dinner at a restaurant Hank recommended. But before we ended up an hour and a half in the wrong direction from our hotel, we stumbled upon this park where many chess games were underfoot (literally) among an interesting cross section of Genevians (Genevioans?). There were toothless old dudes, hipsters, punks, yuppies, huppies, nerds, and goths all claiming their little piece of painted concrete.
I was entertained as we walked around and John shredded every players strategy, mumbled about their inferior chess playing abilities, scoffed at their moves, and guffawed about slow and painful endings to games that had such "obvious check mates". Thats my man. Chess snob number one.
Enter, Edmonton.
After our beautiful little Swiss getaway the reality of Edmonton hit like a ton of bricks. Or should I say, a ton of pavement?
Right now I am spending roughly 2-3h a day in traffic. Not just the 'getting from A to B is a long way off' kind of traffic, but the 'inching along in construction zones' kind. The worst kind. Also, the two main veins that empty into the heart of the university are under construction. So there is no way to avoid it. It is heinous. My calculations have shown roughly 30+ hours in the car in the past 2 weeks. Life is just too damn short for that kind of nonsense if you ask me. No wonder coronary artery disease is directly correlated to how far one has to commute!
So last weekend I got in the car again. But this time I drove to Red Deer. And got to see my beautiful little niece and nephews.
The reward was certainly worth the trip.
This is Rachel, she's 6 which means she still is young enough to think she has a cool auntie. I like hanging out with her, a lot.
This is my bro Shandy. He's pictured here, in his happy place, i.e his garage where he is assembling a replica AC Cobra.
His plan is to be finished by fall so he can drive Rachel to her first day of grade one in it.
I asked if he'd maybe make another one for me so I could have it for my first day of MD school, to which he made some smart-assed remark about "well...at the rate you're going...".
"Have I been looking at the directions upside down the whole time? Hmmmm
Speaking of boys and toys. Here is my brother in law's new toy. He's pretty pumped. Though I am sad he didn't get the insane zodiac with the roll bars. That boat looked waaaay more fun!
So Davey took us out for a day of fishing. We were absentmindedly enjoying our V8 juices and the sun when suddenly the weather turned on us and lightening started showing itself in the north. So we hot-footed it back to the trucks to wait for the storm to pass. Good thing, for as soon as we were ensconced in our vehicles a crazy hail storm decided to hit us full throttle.
In about 20 mins the wild storm had passed and we had bluebird sky again.
Here is 'Little Man' eying his catch with some trepidation. Who knew one could catch such brilliantly colored fish in the 7 foot depths of an Alberta lake?? Sorry Verena, no macros of that guy.
So now I am back in the big smoke. Doing my fair bit of couch surfing. It has been great catching up with some friends that I haven't seen in years. I am tired of living out of a duffel bag though. The past year in Kelowna with John and I having to go back and forth on weekends, trying to keep track of my coat/toothbrush/footwear was tiring and it just seems to continue. When I leave my moms place in the morning I have to make a couple of trips, my car is full of textbooks (in case I have a spare minute to MCAT cram), an emergency supply of powerbar meal replacement drinks, spare runners, running clothes, some cans of tuna, change of clothes and shoes in case I end up going out for dinner, breakfast/lunch/coffee/tea/snacks, computer, ipod, camera, and their various charging and downloading devices. Really, it's ridiculous. Last week I slept at four different locations. Turns out all I need to add to my Mary-Poppins-Bag of a car is my fan and a pillow and I am set.
I wrote the above posting a couple of weeks ago but due to some issues with my tags (?) it wouldn't publish. I have since started the next o chem class and my schedule looks like this now:
0600h: wake
0730h-1000h: meet tutor at university after eating breakfast in car
1000h-1230h: class
1230h-1330h: study for daily lab exam/eat lunch/finish lab write up/pre-lab
1330h-1630h: make like duck in lab for 3h (scrambling around but trying to look calm on the surface)
1630h-1830h: run, eat, start lab write up, pre-lab, stare at wall, drool, fantasize about being a kept woman/winning lottery
1830h-2030h: meet with tutor (again!)
2030h-0030h: study, study, study...
0030h-0040h: read
0040h-0600h: sleep
So please forgive the lag in postings until after this is all over.
I was entertained as we walked around and John shredded every players strategy, mumbled about their inferior chess playing abilities, scoffed at their moves, and guffawed about slow and painful endings to games that had such "obvious check mates". Thats my man. Chess snob number one.
Enter, Edmonton.
After our beautiful little Swiss getaway the reality of Edmonton hit like a ton of bricks. Or should I say, a ton of pavement?
Right now I am spending roughly 2-3h a day in traffic. Not just the 'getting from A to B is a long way off' kind of traffic, but the 'inching along in construction zones' kind. The worst kind. Also, the two main veins that empty into the heart of the university are under construction. So there is no way to avoid it. It is heinous. My calculations have shown roughly 30+ hours in the car in the past 2 weeks. Life is just too damn short for that kind of nonsense if you ask me. No wonder coronary artery disease is directly correlated to how far one has to commute!
So last weekend I got in the car again. But this time I drove to Red Deer. And got to see my beautiful little niece and nephews.
The reward was certainly worth the trip.
This is Rachel, she's 6 which means she still is young enough to think she has a cool auntie. I like hanging out with her, a lot.
This is my bro Shandy. He's pictured here, in his happy place, i.e his garage where he is assembling a replica AC Cobra.
His plan is to be finished by fall so he can drive Rachel to her first day of grade one in it.
I asked if he'd maybe make another one for me so I could have it for my first day of MD school, to which he made some smart-assed remark about "well...at the rate you're going...".
"Have I been looking at the directions upside down the whole time? Hmmmm
Speaking of boys and toys. Here is my brother in law's new toy. He's pretty pumped. Though I am sad he didn't get the insane zodiac with the roll bars. That boat looked waaaay more fun!
So Davey took us out for a day of fishing. We were absentmindedly enjoying our V8 juices and the sun when suddenly the weather turned on us and lightening started showing itself in the north. So we hot-footed it back to the trucks to wait for the storm to pass. Good thing, for as soon as we were ensconced in our vehicles a crazy hail storm decided to hit us full throttle.
In about 20 mins the wild storm had passed and we had bluebird sky again.
Here is 'Little Man' eying his catch with some trepidation. Who knew one could catch such brilliantly colored fish in the 7 foot depths of an Alberta lake?? Sorry Verena, no macros of that guy.
So now I am back in the big smoke. Doing my fair bit of couch surfing. It has been great catching up with some friends that I haven't seen in years. I am tired of living out of a duffel bag though. The past year in Kelowna with John and I having to go back and forth on weekends, trying to keep track of my coat/toothbrush/footwear was tiring and it just seems to continue. When I leave my moms place in the morning I have to make a couple of trips, my car is full of textbooks (in case I have a spare minute to MCAT cram), an emergency supply of powerbar meal replacement drinks, spare runners, running clothes, some cans of tuna, change of clothes and shoes in case I end up going out for dinner, breakfast/lunch/coffee/tea/snacks, computer, ipod, camera, and their various charging and downloading devices. Really, it's ridiculous. Last week I slept at four different locations. Turns out all I need to add to my Mary-Poppins-Bag of a car is my fan and a pillow and I am set.
I wrote the above posting a couple of weeks ago but due to some issues with my tags (?) it wouldn't publish. I have since started the next o chem class and my schedule looks like this now:
0600h: wake
0730h-1000h: meet tutor at university after eating breakfast in car
1000h-1230h: class
1230h-1330h: study for daily lab exam/eat lunch/finish lab write up/pre-lab
1330h-1630h: make like duck in lab for 3h (scrambling around but trying to look calm on the surface)
1630h-1830h: run, eat, start lab write up, pre-lab, stare at wall, drool, fantasize about being a kept woman/winning lottery
1830h-2030h: meet with tutor (again!)
2030h-0030h: study, study, study...
0030h-0040h: read
0040h-0600h: sleep
So please forgive the lag in postings until after this is all over.
