The Only Reality Show I would Watch

The Two Enantiomers of Thalidomide

Coming to you from Okanagan TV...the Ed Neeland Organic Chem Boot Camp Reality Show:

"Watch as Dr.Neeland culls the herd, breaks the students down, and builds them up in his own image...Here's a clip from next weeks show..."

--picture terrified 1st years quaking with their calculators and pocket protectors, standing in a line, Neeland pacing around them---

"This molecule has a line of symmetry--can it reflect polarized light?!!!"

--students in unison---

"SIR, NO, SIR"

"What is the R or S of this molecule?"

--a slight pause by students, Neeland bellows--

"TOO SLOW! Faster"

--students, (not so in unison)---

"R Sir R!" and "S Sir S!" can be heard.

"Tune in next week to see who is kicked off the island (er, out of the classroom) after quiz number 2..."

Ice bergs are salty?

Ice bergs are salty?
Originally uploaded by albinoblackbear.

A year ago tomorrow I took this photo in Pond Inlet. Lovely Jenny here is discovering that what we thought was ice berg ice was in fact frozen sea water. Not such a tasty addition to our bevvys. Whoops...

Blog Birthday

So it is a couple of days late. But this is the 1 year birthday of my wee blog. The online rambles and photos. It is good to remind myself that at this time last year I was sitting in Iqaluit waiting for the weather to clear so I could continue my journey into Pond Inlet.

I suppose it is good comfort to myself that at this year last time I was really wanting to get into medicine but was doing nothing to actually achieve that. Now I am here in Kelowna, a year later. Poor, missing friends and family, but finally I am doing it. Finally I am doing what I said I would do for years, no more excuses.

I know that this is really boring to read about for everyone but me, but right now my life is so unbelieveably focused on 'the prize'. All I comfort myself with is the fact that all this sacrifice and all these heinous courses are getting me somewhere. That somewhere is med school. It is so one dimensional and selfish but it is the mentality I have to have otherwise I'd be driving back to Revy right now and buying a ski pass.

For me, if this really is a journal that I can look back on, I want to make it represent where I really am these days. Right now I am toiling away on minimun sleep with mazimum stress hoping for a long-shot goal to come through. It is not an overly comfortable place to be in.

I sent my application to SABA University a couple of weeks ago and will likely find out in the next few weeks if I have an interview or not. So now my days are sidetracked by continuously checking email, phone messages, and finding out if anything has arrived in the mail for me from Saba. Tenderhooks would be a good descriptor.

In the meantime, I am trying to stay healthy, and trying to get more than 5h of sleep a night. Sleep, eat, classes, study, repeat. A groundhog day if you will. But I am certainly counting down the days to be done all of these pre reqs.

So I suppose happiness is all relative. Last year at this time I was richer and working with great people in my favorite arctic town. I was on holidays when I was at home and was able to enjoy my pals in a stress free environment. But something was continually nagging at me, I wasn't on the path I thought I should be on.

Now I know I am doing the right thing, but it is kinda like having to eat cooked peas. I don't enjoy it but I know it's good for me.

So happy 1 year wee blog, and hopefully many more...

Wagon Falling and Other Adventures

I have noted that some despondency may have crept into my entries of late so I feel I need to highlight some of the good things that happened which helped me get through another week away from the powder, the pals, and the partner.

Amber (bio study buddy) picked me up and we were heading to *Bucks to enjoy another power session of flash cards and physiology when she informed me that she had brought along an activity for us to do for stress relief when we were done. I was suspicious as the woman is 5 months pregnant so it obviously wasn't a bottle of wine.

Turns out it was magic paint, iron-on rhinestones, and iron-on printer paper for us to BLING up our lab coats. Thus elevating us to epic-ultra-nerdy-weird-adult-learner status.

I came up with the pun- phrase and she with the design and we tricked out our lab coats to an impressive degree (more photos to follow). Dust off your old organic chem texts if you can't figure it out...


We made an extra one for our equally-fond-of-nerdy-chem-jokes prof, which, apparently he liked so much he put it up on the overhead during Friday's class.

Sadly I missed being outed as the uber-nerd as I was already happily diving head first off the cleanse wagon in Revelstoke.

It was hard not to speed the entire way home, I was looking so forward to seeing my Revy family that the drive made me feel like an impatient 5 year old.

Had a fantastic few days at home which included a delicious happy-steak dinner at Ann Marie et Ryan's, some botched cast-iron brownies, and spicy Zinfandel--what was it's name again?

Friday was studying and then a cheese fest of truffle preccorino, winemakers, and cave aged gruyere with plenty of vino, Cava, and port while we tucked into several episodes of "Sex in the City". Maybe we can't relate to the shoe shopping and the clubbing in New York, but some of the themes were close to our hearts---missing our dear friends, finding love, trying to make babies, invalid in-laws. Much much needed time with the girls and laughter. John and James even joined in for some of the episodes, both of them armed with stiff scotches, mind you.

Saturday was the 2nd Annual Revelstoke Robbie Burns Night.
Well, I am going to wait until Verena sends me some photos from that night before I expand, as the old adage of "a picture says a thousand words" is soo true.

The next day I unwillingly crawled to the kitchen table to study a bit more despite the 10cm of fresh snow and sunshine out there.

It had better friggin' snow next winter I tell ya.

G'night for now. Thank you world for another great week.

A Perfect Day

I woke up Friday morning a bit earlier than usual to give myself a few minutes to have a leisurely breakfast whilst reviewing some chemistry, my quiz was at 0830h.

It was a beautiful morning, which the photo of course doesn't do justice, but at least you can get a glimpse of the pink clouds and the snowy hills.

Friday turned out to be not such a great day, despite it's calm beginnings. In fact Friday was pretty much crap. I bombed my chem exam, which I had actually spent quite a while preparing for, and then physics class was both over my head and frustrating.

Ann Marie, Tobin, and Ryan stopped in on their way home from Penticton, which was a nice break from the downward spiral of school/self-loathing. Seeing them reminded me of how much I miss being home in Revy, surrounded by the people and places I love. These classes and the upcoming MCAT only seem to become more and more ridiculous to me as hurdles to go through to get into medicine. Why do I want to do that to myself anyway? I already have a degree and a well paying job that is flexible and challenging....isn't that what most people strive for? And if I got hit by a runaway ice cream truck tomorrow, would I die thinking--'thank goodness I learned about Coulombs Law and spent my savings on pre-requisites and rent in Kelowna?' Doubtful.

So I toyed with the idea of quitting. I did some calculations...how much tuition would I get back? Is it too late to sell my books back to the bookstore? Will I lose my damage deposit here if I leave before April? But I knew it was pointless. I have to stick it out. And somehow I have to make the best of doing physics and chemistry labs, memorizing things I will never use again, and learning obscure concepts that will likely never come in handy in the middle of a night shift in emerg somewhere when someone presents to me their sick child.

I couldn't sleep Friday night. I was up until almost 5am lying there, as usual (I am an on-again, off-again insomniac who appears to be on the on-again side of things) thinking about what I should do with my life. Right now, being a bobcat driver in Revy seems like a much more attractive offer than spending the next 8 months preparing for the MCAT. That way I could see John every day, enjoy my days off instead of worrying about practice problems and reading I should be doing, and I could sleep in my own bed, far far away from the tanning booths of Kelowna.

But then Saturday rolled around, and it was a perfect day.

John came back from Vancouver. So he was at the airport first thing. Both of us were bagged (he from drinking rum with Pete the night before--and me from not having slept) but we stayed up and managed to push through the desire to sleep for the rest of the day.

We did some physics together, which was hugely helpful, and actually kind of fun. We figured out how the theoretical experiment I had to perform would in fact result in a major electrical disaster, involving my incineration by lightening due to a styrofoam ball coated in metal flying though the air at 1/10 the speed of light. Thankfully it was a theoretical experiment. I did some studying, John did some putzing.

Then we went to the kitchen store and John proceeded to shower me with completely undeserved gifts...a beautiful, brand spanking new, sparkling, gorgeous Global fillet knife that could cut a man's heart out with a couple of flicks and then create a still-beating serving of paper thin slices for anyone around who cared to try it. Oh, chicken bone stock and pork roasts here I come.

We then went to my other favorite culinary theme-park--Valoroso Foods. John picked up a selection of cheeses, prosciutto, and spicy marinated eggplant. I got my favorite Fleur De Sel that I am almost out of.

Then our meal at Waterfront Wines. The restaurant we both love here in K-town. Enjoying each other and salmon wrapped prosciutto, leek and arctic char soup, and for desert the creme brulee (of course) and a yummmmmy croissant bread pudding with chocolate sauce and roasted hazelnuts....and a bit of Botrytis affected dessert wine from Quails Gate.

For second dessert we went to Future Shop for necessities like ink-jet cartridges, Sex in the City (the final season), and season 3 of The Office.

A stop at the great wine store on Dilworth resulted in a mini bottle of Champagne (and a stock up on red Zin, just in case there is a world wide shortage on the horizon).

I couldn't think of a more perfect day. All my favorite haunts, with my favorite person, and coming home with all sorts of treats. It was the universe balancing out Friday in a large way, I suppose.

You know you have found your soul mate when you can have fun together, whether it is doing physics homework or drinking Champagne and watching Sex in the City. And in both cases, he doesn't care that you are wearing sweat pants.

isn't she a beaut?

Pre/Post Finals Photos

Thought I would post a few pics from the beginning of December...gotta document when the man makes pumpkin Gnocchi from scratch, tossed in a delicious butter sage sauce. Finished it off with an amazing cheesecake (note said cake in left corner). I think the most hilarious part of it all was when he so casually said , "I have to call Mike for a recipe". Like he's always calling people for recipes.

Note the blue steel pose.

Tobin was initially skeptical but then tucked right in. You know it's good when you get the approval of an infant, I mean, if they don't like it, they just throw it at you. It's pretty clear.

One of many great snowfalls in December. Apparently John and Verena are crazed with delight...

John being bombarded by the massive flakes, barely able to stand under their great weight.

And of course, the inevitable morning after.

Gotta love the upside-down berry cones.

And now, alas. My tiny universe for the next several months, revealed. I think my butt has already grooved the chair this semester. Note snazzy new study-mug a la Ann Marie Pottery Collection...

A Better 2008 For Everyone

Some things and people that I really wish would just go away in 2008. If suddenly they began existing in an alternate universe instead of ours, I would be so thrilled.

1) Ugg Boots. Okay, I am not against the Ugg Boot per say, having gotten my first pair from my brother in 1997...which I still own and wear as house slippers. What I don't get is the fashion aspect of these things which seems to continue to be paired with tight jeans, sweat pants and miniskirts. Shudder. And the shuffling that goes with them. Double shudder. Tighten your hussle girls and buy some winter boots with real soles for crying out loud! Not that I declare any fashion sense of my own but come on! Every year I hope that they'll die off like feather hair clips and acid wash but no....nooooooo....

2) Paris Hilton/Brittney Spears/Lindsay Lohan/Jessica Simpson...I'm sorry, what are you all famous for again? Other than being rich train wrecks? Why is it that every time I open my email or wander through the grocery store I am forcibly exposed to their hit-and-run-coked-out-head-shaving-sex-tape-new-perfume-estranged-parents-antics? I want a publication ban on talentless starlets in 2008. Is that too much to ask?

3) Reality t.v shows: If this form of entertainment doesn't signify "The End Is Near" I don't know what does. Just because Nostradamus didn't add it to his predictions doesn't mean it isn't shouldn't be one. Now a reality show I would watch would be, if you took the cast from America's Next Top Model and plunked them onto the set of The Apprentice with Donald Trump. "Okay girls, take off the feather boas and send Fabio away, today's challenge doesn't involve lip gloss, it involves making a business plan..."

4) Oprah: I will admit, she has done some good things with her empire and power (insert maniacal laughter here) but as far as I am concerned she lost all her street cred when she made a magazine which features HER on the cover each month. Are you that much of a megalomaniac that having your own production company, t.v. show, book club, and school in Africa isn't enough? She probably has Andy Wharhol-esque photos of herself plastered around her house. LAME. And the sudden southern accent that she trots out whenever she speaks to someone from the 'south'. Uber-lame.

5) Karlheinz Schreiber: Blah, blah, blah inquiry, 300 000$, blah blah blah Airbus, blah blah hotel restaurants. The guy is a sleaze bag. A former judge and arms dealer? Huh?
His stalling tactics have already cost us law abiding Canadian citizens enough cash. Send him back to zee Germans so he can face the trial for his German crimes. We'll take care of Mulroney in our own way...by letting him keep the cash and make money on his book... and then we'll make him spend an uncomfortable 7 minutes in front of the ethics committee. Case closed. He'll be an example to all other potential white collar criminals out there.

7) Hummers and the people who drive them: need I say more?

8) Nickelback: My friend Shaun opened for them when they played at Grant MacEwan 10 years ago when I was a student there. He walked into the green room and found Chad Kroger rocking out to his own single, and shushed Shaun when it got to the vocals. He and Oprah should start a magazine together. Is it just me or is every single song the exact same chord progression, drum climax, modulation, fade out? Oh no it is not just me.

9) Call in Radio Shows- Call in programs are the reality shows of radio. They are dead to me.

10) George Bush- maybe I will start a website countdown to when the Anti-Christ is out of office. Awww shucks, someone already thought of that ...374 days and counting....

That is it for now. Any things you'd like to add to the list are most welcome. I guess I am feeling a bit punchy as a result of the lack of refined sugar and alcohol...

Okay, I took point six out. It involved some criticism to local radio broadcaster and I felt guilty (I am so Catholic) this morning when I heard her do an almost bearable interview.

Happy New Year, I Guess

Happy New Year! maybe?

I wonder where this whole social construct of wishing each other happy new year really comes from? Is it because we are all so depressed and stressed around the holidays? Because we're all coming down from Christmas, the ultimate in hallmark-endorsed-consumerist-anti-climactic-event of the year?

I suppose that it is to signify the new beginnings and new chances, new resolves. But to me the phrase carries about as much weight as "Happy Valentines Day". What does that mean? Do people ever have happy valentines days for real?

And then there is Happy Birthday.

I am starting to sense a theme here. On the days when we are really feeling down and out (our Birthdays after the age of 21), Valentines Day (when we are invariably sitting somewhere like Boston Pizza, alone starting at paper hearts stuck to the walls) and New Years (when we are thinking about all the dazzling things people seem to do on New Years yet we never seem to be with those people) random folks are telling us to be happy!
Be Happy damn it!

There are no "Happy Raise at Work!" or "Happy Graduation" or "Happy Your Ex Finally Signed the Divorce Papers!" cards because everyone is already quite pleased when those things happen and they don't need outsiders telling them to be.

Well, I guess I should say, I do like saying 'Happy New Years' to people because it is passing on well wishes and it appears to be the only safe thing to say to someone around the holidays now. Now that we are supposed to be a completely secular society...anyway, happy (belated) Ramadan, Diwali, Hanukkah, Orthodox Christmas from my little self to you.

(the lamps of Diwali Observance)

Do Do Do Lookin' Out My Back Door

I love these teeth-like icicles threatening to devour all the houses around town right now...

I also like the note that James left near the sink after our accidental party on Thursday night. It ended up being such a grand event! The plague had literally arrived on Gill's doorstep so we diverted the intended guests to our house---not sure if anyone would show, Anna and I started roasting veggies and making soup. Soon the house was pull of delicious aromas and we had started drinking some delicious red Zin. The veggies became veggie strudel, the soup became a Jamaican coconut puree, the bread became a banana-bread-pudding-boozy-saucy-delight-a-la-Anna (Anna wasn't boozy but she was saucy). John was blasting Bard and reminiscing and then people just started showing up, lots of people! But thankfully they brought beer and salad and there was enough food for all. It snowed all evening and I was sooo excited to hit the pow pow that I opened 2 bottles of bubbly to celebrate the blessings of the snow gods and the blessings of my dear friends and delicious food.

But alas, the norovirus paid me a second visit that night, and still it lingers as an unwelcome guest. So skiing was dammed for me. And the bubbly was in vain. Well the night and next day wasn't a bust for anyone else in the gang. So far it seems I am not the 'Norvirus Mary' of our town (but only time and incubation averages will tell). Until then, keep up the hand washing and no doorknob licking.

New Leaf

(norwalk virus)

Well, it is that time again. A time of resolutions and revolutions.

Things I didn't do over the holidays which I intended to do:

-study biology
-begin correspondence organic chem class
-read a few books
-drink a lot of hot chocolate
-see my family
-buy downhill boots and perhaps a ski pass

Things I did do over the holidays:

-skied a fair bit
-slept in a fair bit
-cooked a hell of a lot
-turned around 50kms outside of Revelstoke on my way to AB because the highway was ass
-got the norovirus a second time
-spent time with all my great friends in Revey
-spent time with all of their great kids
-begrudgingly returned to Kelowna
-bought the first Harry Potter book on tape
-finished my application to SABA University


So, I have been humming and hawing about this whole resolution thing and I am still feeling unsettled and undecided.

A couple of sure things...

As I writhed with the norovirus part deux I made a lot of empty promises to the universe with the hopes of sudden recovery...

1) I will abstain from alcohol---including Champagne...
2) I will abstain from rich foods, including my favorite stinky cheeses
3) I will drink more water
4) I will be a better person overall...

So I recovered, well, I should say I am still recovering...but by thoughts on food and food choices linger....it seems that there was a lot of sugary, rich, delicious foods and a lot of alcohol consumed over the past 3 weeks and I think that in fact I will attempt a cleanse for the next 28 days. My own Amy-Winehouse-Lindsay-Lohan-Brittany-Spears detox if you will (minus the custody battles, jail time, and alcohol monitoring devices).

Yup. As hard as it will be to pass up a tasty Syrah or some of AM's delicious chocolate something-somethings I am going to do a 28 day no alcohol, no refined sugar, no vinegars, white flour, chocolate, coffee, red meat, well...you get the picture.

The only reason I am blogging this is to make it that much more difficult to break.

So tonight I went for dinner alone and toasted a pretty bad local Gewurtz and fish dinner, and have now filled my fridge with the necessary foods. Wish me luck. It is not so much a new leaf I am turning over, I am just going to water the tree with something different for a little while.

No tempting allowed when I come home!!!

I know it is cliche to do a cleanse after New Years, but hell...I never claimed to be an original.

Happy New Year!