And..... done (well, kind of)

I realized today that I hadn't posted here for a while (checks Blogger) - since August 8! Hm, what could have been occupying my time since then..... hm.... oh right. MY THESIS. WHICH HAS BEEN SUBMITTED. ZOMG. Ok, that's enough caps for now but be sure that I am VERY excited. There were a few days where it did not seem like a sure thing, but with enough persistence and a few late nights, until I couldn't look at it anymore, I got it in on time.

The last few weeks in M-ville really were fantastic. I threw myself a little going away shindig and lots of the people who've made my time in doing my thesis so much fun showed up. I drank even more sangria to truly cement 2009 as the summer of sangria. I kept running and kept the whining the next day to a minimum. I presented results of my thesis to the team I work with and had one of the most truly ridiculous nights I've had in a while with a bunch of my fellow students. And then definitely paid for it the next day. My lovely roomie and friend J got me a thesis cake, and we managed to open a bottle of wine to drink with it. The next thing I knew, my father had shown up to move me home. (I did somewhat feel it was time for me to leave academia mainly because the froshies were pissing me off WAY more than usual).

So I am now back in my hometown, O-town, where I will attempt to organize all of my life's posessions which are currently packed into my bedroom, re-establish myself a life here and try to get some relaxing time in along with getting manuscripts from my thesis published and other projects moving forwards. The relaxing started very well by my heading up to my familial cottage. It was rainy, so I plunked myself down on one of our couches and read utter trash, in between making hemp bracelets and schooling my cousins at Scattegories. It was awesome. This week I do unfortunately have things to accomplish, and my parents are renovating our downstairs so that means HAMMERING! starts promptly at 8:30 AM. However, I'm getting excited to head back to the M-ville next week for my kind of defense, hang with my peeps who I already miss dearly, and will also be heading back up north soon. And then I go to the Italy! My heart is aflutter.

Speaking of aflutter, I'm a total nerd, and am thus already hooked on 'Defying Gravity'. If you haven't checked this show out yet, you really should, and can even download the first 3 episodes from iTunes! (I managed to almost fry my computer doing this until I realized how little free disk space I had but thats just another part of the saga currently known as 'Anna needs a new computer') It was an interesting episode last night, all about choices and living with our choices and they were kind of hitting us over the head with the concept of CHOICE, but I digress. For some reason, by 2052, abortion seems to be illegal in North America and one of the characters (Zoe) has a secret abortion to stay in the space program (because this show is 'Grey's Anatomy' in space if you hadn't heard). She has the opportunity to meet a former candidate who left to have children, who assures Zoe that she has no regrets. At the end of the episode we see Zoe (whom we had learned had to have an emergency hysterectomy due to the abortion going wrong) looking at pictures of this woman and her children in a longing way. That's fairly standard, but interestingly we also got to see the one who left looking at pictures at Zoe and the other astronauts, likely feeling some regrets of her own. Often women in the media are painted as so happy to have made sacrifices for their families, that it was quite refreshing to see someone reflect the likely more accurate picture that women deserve every choice we have, but it doesn't mean that we'll often wonder about the path not taken.

As I am currently finishing one path and setting out on another, one that I would hope will include a family in a few years (BUT NO BABIES YET!), but realizing that if I ever shifted back towards academia it could be hard, I appreciate every blog I read by those who have already tried to find their paths, who can offer me some wisdom in the eternal struggle of life balance. This post may seem a little confused because I am still confused. I am in a much better position than most, better educated, with better prospects ahead, but that doesn't mean my life is easy or uncomplicated, its likely even more complicated! Ugh, I can't deal with both life questions and unpacking, I think I need more sangira. Ta for now....

3 weeks to go

This week was both highly productive and rather frustrating, and I would have told you about either state with great enthusiasm if you had happened to speak with me. There were days that my roommate seemed to eye me with some concern and pointedly did not comments on the number of fudgsicles I was eating (which I had bought to prevent myself from buying a bottle of wine to serve a similar comfort function). Other days, I found going for a run to be exceedingly effective at ridding myself of some anxiety. The, um, one day this week that I found productive and got great news and fairly bounced home, I think I was fun to be around. Sorry roomie!

In my grand scheme which I scheduled (I oh so love to schedule) in Google Calendar in early June, I would have submitted my thesis for pre-review yesterday. That didn't happen. I have relatively come to terms with this, its not my fault, I'm still waiting for one last batch of comments from one of my supervisors, I then have to revise and show it to my other supervisor who will then approve it to go on for pre-review. Unfortunately, the latter supervisor (having two supervisors always makes telling stories about my thesis SO much more complicated, rather like how they've made the whole process more complicated, but in a better way I think) is unavailable through the end of next week and so its unlikely pre-review will start before the 15th or 17th. Which is cutting it a little tight but I've spoken to who will do that pre-review and have been assured I will make the final University deadline. So I've been doing my best to take a few deep breaths, and find other ways to occupy my time so I'm not just sitting and stewing.

I've started packing up my samples and lab supplies, to either relocate in my own lab or find people who could use them now. I tossed a whole bunch of serial dilution samples and was impressed with myself for doing so as they represented a lot of work, but I actually don't need them anymore. The end is nigh. It's time for me to move on, and while I will be indeed quite sad to leave this town and my friends, I'm looking forward to whats coming next. Especially the whole making actual money part (so I can go on trips, not my round the world trip quite yet but the UK is looking highly attractive for next summer).

Off now to go and work through a few more comments at Starbucks, then a fun party ce soir. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

The semi-domesticated grad student

In the course of my career as a graduate student I have learned a reat number of things. Things including the molecular genetics of polyploidy, real time PCR, botany, the history and culture of Canada's Aboriginal peoples, how to give academic presentations, how to write academic papers and how to drink wine with your supervisors. All very important things. However, my learning has not been limited to the classroom, lab, or ahem, bar.

The roomie and I have learned quite a bit about cooking in the past two years. In the course of our undergrads, neither of us were exactly culinary mavens. I bought a lot of prepackaged salads and pasta dishes. The roomie only grocery shopped at Shoppers Drug Mart for a while. We were somewhat better than some of our roommates however, one of whom who shall remain nameless, lived on white rice and Dr. Pepper, for about six weeks at one point.

Going from sharing a kitchen with six girls to just the two of us, and realizing the economy of sharing groceries and meals, we have became quite the budding chefs. We whip up nutritious pastas with veggies, omlettes, discoveries such as naan-wiches, and just last week make gazpacho for the first time for the roomie's parents. We're pretty awesome. We've also found that when we combined our shared grocery shopping, usually with more veggies than usual, it has a positive effect upon our waistlines, if we manage to restrict the beers as well.

Inspired by Julie, on Friday we cooked up some stuffed peppers. We were left with extra pureed tomatoes and beans however (we used another recipe that involved meat, we are both currently trying to upour excercising and thus need MOAR PROTEIN) and decided to make chili. We managed to rouse ourselves this afternoon from our comfy spots on the couches, braved the rain and did groceries.

Our chili will include carrots, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, ground beef and jalapenos to name a few lovely healthy things.

The beer we've poured to accompany it is kind of healthy right? Hops and such?

I also whipped up a batch of homemade iced tea this afternoon, rich in lovely antioxidants and delish for what is shaping up to be another sizzler of a week.

In any case, I'm much savvier in the kitchen than I was two years ago. I learned that rather than cooking from scratch being a chore, its a lot cheaper, healthier, and a lot of fun when you do it with one of your best friends. I'll miss this kitchen in a few weeks....

P.S. The kitchen post-chili. I said SEMI-domesticated, we're still working on the cleaning aspects...

Oh my....

Today was a pretty fabulous summer day. I got up at a reasonable hour (gooooo me!) and went for a jog in a bid to beat the heat. It didn't really work but I still plowed through a half hour jog/walk. I'm following the Couch to 5K program, which says I will be able to run 5K (hence the name, I'm smart huh) in 8 weeks. We'll see, but I'm liking it so far. I'm just not liking doing it in the heat.

Anyways, I went home, had a shower and then the roomie and I went out for a totally delish late lunch. We went to one of our fave places in Montreal, Los Tios on Crescent Street, which has an awesome $10 lunch menu, as well as great pitchers of sangria to split. This summer has been the summer of sangria and I am not complaining.

This was followed by browsing around a few stores (am still on the hunt for the new laptop, likely to be a Dell 13' Inspiron, let me know if you have any views). I had a slightly less enjoyable run in with Via Rail over a ticket they owe me a refund on, but I have resolved to forget about that until tomorrow when I can call and yell at someone.

In any case, returned home, had a nice light dinner and are now having a relaxing, chill evening. This is likely a good idea as August is already looking to be crazy busy! I can't get over that its August and that my thesis is supposed to be done this month. ACK! Since my last, ever so chill post, things have gotten a wee bit more stressful but I am still optimistic that everything will get worked out and submitted in time.

One of my activities this evening has been perusing several travel blogs online, first for any ideas for going to Italy, but then in general. And something terrible has happened. I've developed a travel bug. I want to go to South Africa and Australia and Turkey and Dubai and Russia and..... already have a full time job lined up in November, and despite being completely excited for Italy, want to do MORE. But I guess it's a good plan to save up some cash and really plan a great trip to take, hopefully next summer. Until then, I'll have to dream.

Off to drink some rather anachronistic but still wanted hot tea! Will definitely miss Montreal, for both exciting days and relaxed evenings....

Balance

It's getting to crunch time here, I am trying to submit my thesis before August 31st so as to avoid registering for another semester, and also as that's 2 years exactly for my degree completion. If I can pull it off, it means I can spend September up north, conducting a few final interviews that would really help our publications and running the school program I developed, as well as trying to push all my papers for publishing. Then, I head to Italy and a few precious weeks of relaxation before I start my *gasp* grown up job.

I am shocked about how calm I'm managing to be through all of this. There haven't been many panic attacks, nights up fretting and I'm managing to take pretty good care of myself. I took last weekend off after spending the last work week going through draft after draft and making some really important progress, and enjoyed sleeping, cooking yummy (and healthy!) foods and hanging out with my friends who I really am going to miss when I move. Last night I got home and decided to make use of a lovely evening by continuing my slow progression into becoming a jogger.

Balance has always been a bit of a struggle for me. I've always tended to throw myself into work to the detriment of my health, both mental and physical, and one of the things I'm really proud about as to my time in graduate school is that I seem to have taken some important steps forwards into making myself a priority. Right now, this thesis is the most important thing in my life but I can now recognize that in a few years, there will be many more important things, and this will be a significant part of my life, but not nearly as significant as so many other things in making me a good and rounded person. I feel very lucky for having finally managed to figure that out yet still hope to continue this as I start a new and what I think is a pretty exciting portion of my life.

It hasn't been easy getting this thesis written, and the fact that both of my supervisors have been away (ie. in the furthest reaches of the province with no internet, or in Africa) hasn't made it any easier. But they both should be back next week and hopefully can dedicate just a bit more time to helping me make this thesis the best it can be. I still have a lot to get through but it seems to be doable and I am quite confident that I can indeed do this. It's been a challenge, but a good challenge and I've risen to it, with just a bit higher to climb. Wish me luck!

Summertime academia

Despite the great deal of rain we've had this summer, I've been greatly enjoying the time as the campus has shifted from the regular portion of the school year to this time of relaxation that comes May-September. As the last undergrads filter away, either hungover after partying to celebrate final exams, or partying to drink away failing exams, the campus takes on an entirely different feeling. I'm hardly the first to remark on this this summer, but today especially I've had time to drink in the atmosphere. I stayed downtown to work on the main campus of McGill, where you really feel the lack of undergrads. At Mac, we've lost a good part of the student population but nowhere near the proportion that undergrads make up downtown. During the school year, I often didn't bother trying to work in the libraries downtown because I knew they would be crowded, noisy and towards the end of term, filled with a sense of DESPERATION. Today, I wandered in at 1:30, got one of my favourite spots right away and settled down to work. If I had gone to get a snack, I wouldn't have had to wait in line for 15 minutes while overprivileged 18 years old use their Daddy's VISAs to pay for their 5 dollar coffees while screeching over their oddly decorated smartphone about their exploits from last night... Ahem, sorry. Though, with the undergrads gone some cafes close down so I would have to be careful when I go.

In any case, when its just grad students, staff and professors on campus, I think we all become somewhat cheerier and relaxed. One way this is reflected is in clothing choices people make. Just this afternoon I saw a number of different categories of summer academic dress represented:

Nerdy grad student (either sex): T-shirt from a conference/with an equation on it, ratty shorts, Tevas.

Hipster grad student (female): T-shirt from American Apparel over leggings without any sort of skirt or something. Odd gladiator sandals that do nothing to improve the look of their pasty legs. Accessories include 80s sunglasses and cigarettes.

Hipster grad student (male): Tight pants, Vans, Obscure t-shirt, same accessories as above.

Reasonable grad student (female, AKA me): Cute jeans, flip flops, bright tank and coordinating scarf to complement the designer bag currently holding most of my life.

Reasonable/cute grad student (male): Nicely fitting but not TOO fitting jeans, polo shirt, aviators, messenger bag.

I need a few categories for professors:

Geeky science prof (co-ed): Very close to the grad student (ie. hasn't changed their style in at least 10 years), but usually are wearing the tevas with socks (shudder).

Humanities prof (male): Inexplicable brown cordoroy jacket, mustard yellow shirt and black pants. I am not joking. I wish I were.

Humanities prof (female): Hippie skirt with button up shirt that don't quite match. Birkenstocks.

Sporty prof (co-ed): Waaaaaay too tight/ short jogging/biking outfit. Seriously. No.

Awesome prof, either science or business like (female, AKA who I would want to be one day): Nice chinos with a very cute bright button up blouse. Comfortable yet stylish sandals paired with a discreet yet designer bag.

I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I noticed today. If you have another category do let me know. Now for another great part of summer, Friday beers!

Erm.... hello

Sorry for the long lapse in posts. I think that most of my mental/writing energies have been so directed towards the thesis, of which there is now a DRAFT, that I just haven't had the ability to come up with witticisms for this as well.

I read a comment somewhere that a lot of blogs are languishing while their authors have become Twitter fanatics and I had to completely agree. With Twitter, I only need a short, hopefully funny/interesting statement and boom! Here, I feel as though I need a point, pictures, etc.

I have actually been quite busy since the last update. I attended a party for my dear friend Chantal's housewarming, and we rejected our pending adulthood (houses! weddings! jobs!) by having waaaaaaaaaaay too many jello shots, really early in the evening. I was quite tipsy around 10 but mercifully, almost totally sober when we left around 1! That weekend also included some great hanging out with former housies and checking out my dear friend Zu's new apartment! I've also had lots of fun in M-ville with my peeps there, seeing Stevie Wonder in concert, drinking lots of beer, almost winning at trivia.... I really can't complain. Am currently back in the O-town for the last real set of lab work and enjoying seeing my peoples here, eating my parent's food, etc.

But back to the thesis front. We are moving, I'm currently waiting on comments on the whole draft from my supervisors, so am even relatively on track! I'm still going to be doing a lot of writing/editing once its September but the prospect of having a completed thesis is JUST SO EXCITING. It's Sunday evening and I was in the lab this afternoon so am now rather dozy and so that is all for me.... Ciao!