Summertime!

Oof. I've had a lot of sangria this weekend. What was supposed to be a weekend of working, tidying, some low key hanging out kind of exploded into a whole bunch of awesome times, so its hard to complain about not getting much accomplished. I did do laundry, and install my a/c. Even took out the garbage! That's something, right?

In any case, the weather has finally taken a turn for the fabulous and the whole city seems to have gone summer mad. One of the great parts about living in Montreal are all the pedestrian areas, including streets turned into pedestrian areas. You can just amble, soak up the ambience, people watch and chill out. I have a lot of work to do in the next two monthsbut weekends like this are what will help me keep my head in the game. As I excited as I am to be moving home come September, I really will miss this city and will be back a lot!

Now for some good couch hanging time...

I'm baaaaaa-ack

So I have returned from South Carolina!

It was gorgeous. Seriously. Usually I am not a hot weather girl but when its hot and the palms are swaying and there's a candy coloured city to expore I seem to be OK with it. Especially if the exploring includes shopping, ESPECIALLY especially if it includes shopping for hilariously preppy sandals at stores that we do not have in the Great White North. Stores that sound like Cay Drew. I could've spent a lot of money there, I should get a prize for restraining myself.

But hey, I did get a prize! For best student presentation! I must admit to being quite shocked, there were many wonderful talks, including many by PhD students. The advisor told me that it was quite rare actually for a Masters student to get it. So I was quite humbled and am very appreciative of it. Both of the moolah involved and the encouragement it provides. 

All week, especially post talk, people asked where I was going to be doing my PhD after finishing up my Masters. For the most part, they were quite understanding when I said I was going to be stepping away from academia for the forseeable future, even saying it was a really good idea. But almost all encouraged me to return. When I decided last year that I was going to step away it was during a time that I now admit I was quite ill, quite stressed and quite sick of being in the lab when I was mainly running troubleshooting. A year later, when I have some really interesting data in hand, I am less certain of my previous statements that I will never return to the Ivory Tower. I do still have my concerns, namely about teaching and the impact it would have on me having a family at some point, but I now feel more certain that if this bureaucracy thing doesn't work out, the PhD is a very doable option.

So yes, Charleston was hot and beautiful and awesome. Though I was a little nonplussed by the cars driving around with 'JESUS SAVES' flags on them.

I am however happy to be back and especially sleeping in my own bed again. While I didn't mind all the travelling this week, I was not impressed with the fact that the airline almost lost my bag on the way down and actually did on the way back. Further, upon recieving my bag today it seems it had something heavy on it, for my shampoo and conditioner bottles are rather smushed and there is stuff all over some of the pockets. I have been meaning to jettison this bag for a while however and so this seems to be a sign. I'm going to get some in fluorescent green this time, I'm tired of peering at seemingly indistinguishable black roller bags. 

Slept in this morning, went for lunch with another runner in the race towards finishing a MSc by August, shopped (am looking for a small bag that will go across my chest to take to Italy, any ideas?). Then had coffee with the roomie on a lovely patio, made dinner and saw the Hangover with roomie and J. HILARIOUS. You must go see it. It made me want to go to Vegas.... and not to any of the things they ended up doing, silly boys. So a pretty great day, another relaxed one tomorrow and then back to the lab on Monday - will finish the last assay this week and then write write write!!

P.S. Have I mentioned I'm going to Italy here? I AM! In October! So excited. It's a very generous graduation gift by the parentals, it's a definite motivator to get this done. If you have any advice/stories about going to Venice/Florence/Rome, do let me know!

Pure, actually dumb, luck

So I overslept thi morning, I think I must have forgot to set my alarm last night due to being really really tired. I slept like a rock though, but woke up a little after 8 (when I should have been on my way to the shuttle that goes out to the other campus) to my cellphone ringing. It was my dear friend and fellow plant lover J, who was calling to tell me that the power was completely off on that campus. Sweet! I then went back to bed.

The stress, it cometh

Things have been going really well recently, I completed another assay and even managed to analyse motst of the data already (though I've heard through one of my labmates that I may need to change some of my equations). I got to go home and have an extra long, long weekend (for us Canucks, though its been rather wet and cold so not exactly a time to celebrate summer) and even got some work done here! Despite the weather, its been a great weekend, seeing people, including a newly significant person (we saw Star Trek in IMAX - geek squee! squared!). I'm currently sitting in my PJs and making cupcakes for my Daddy's birthday.

However, this relaxation shall not last. I basically need to have all my data in hand in 2 weeks, along with preparing them to go into a presentation I'm giving at a conference in slightly less than 3 weeks. Cue the freak out. I've so far avoided a total breakdown and as things are seeming to be working should be able to do so. I'm bribing myself with the promise of a massage once I get through a particular annoying set of results, which should help as well. But even once I've gotten through this presentation it still means I'll have less than one month to have a draft of everything in hand to have it ready to be pre-reviewed by my department for early August. As I've said before, it'll be tight. 

However, the promise of getting to move back to the O-town, along with a trip I'm now planning to Italy in October, there is a lot motivating me. I will definitely miss Montreal though and I will be definitely taking the time to enjoy it and all my friends while I can. I am resolved to make my days productive and my nights/weekends a ton of fun. Wish me luck!

(P.S. if anyone has any MUST SEES in Rome/Venice/Florence, please let me know!)

Busyness

Since returning to Mtl things have continued to be crazypants! (My word of the month btw)
I was welcomed back to town with a fabulous soiree organized by the equally fabulous x-ine (check out her blog on the side if you haven't, she's my labmate in arms!) which involved me drinking a hella lot of wine rather early in the evening. Topped off with almost wholly liquor cocktails at the next party I attended that evening, it was a good night. The rest of the weekend was just as great, its really nice to be back.
Not only have I drank hugely since getting back I have also been really productive! Draft of my thesis intro is done and today I started the next part of the chemical work for my thesis, with quite encouraging results.
But I know that I am also about to be rather distracted as today the next book by one of my very favourite authors is out - Jen Lancaster's Pretty in Plaid! According to her description its all about the eighties and CLOTHES! Since the eighties was that glorious decade in which the world got ME and I also really like clothes, I am terribly excited. I would bring it with me on the bus out to Mac these days but considering I usually cannot read her books in public as I snicker too much, I won't. In any case if you've never read one of her books you simply must. Go now. Like right now. You can catch up with me later!

I'm actually now about to eat too much pizza and giggle at Idol, a good end to another busy day!

Whoops

So April has rather flown by hasn't it? Or was that just me? It may just be me....
I've had a lot of fun working in Ottawa, learning stuff that I've never done before and making great progress! I seem to have impressed all the people there with my swiftness but they do not know what I can do when I am FOCUSED. I will be done lab work soon - I MUST.
But in my zeal to be all efficient and stuff, I've ended up working really quite hard, all day, with many fewer blog reading/writing breaks. Once I get home, since I am back with my parents, there's more conversation and a hell of a lot more tv to watch. Thus I have rather neglected this, sorry.
But in any case, am returning to the Mville this week with all my prepped samples, though will have to return back here to do some analyses that we will not have time for in the near future.
Returning is something I am quite cool with though as living with the rents is pretty chill, especially the whole not buying groceries bit. I don't think it will a problem to move back for a while next year. I am also really looking forward to getting to see my friends in O-town more, even just being here for a bit has also led to improvement of my personal life on the boy front :). Things are looking up! Ta for now...

Whew

So after a slow start to the week, writing at home punctuated by doctor and other appointments (oh coming home is fun, dentist time!) my Wednesday and Thursday were crazy. I started the extractions that I'm doing here, and so spent two days grinding up bark and swallowing enough of it likely that I think I have drastically reduced my chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Or increasing my chances of lung cancer, whatever.
But progress is being made and that's whats important! We've also already farmed out part of my analyses that aren't going to be part of my thesis but will likely be part of a big paper afterwards, and hopefully will do the same for at least a few of the others. The good part of being part of a big interdisciplinary research project such as I am is that there are many different techniques you can learn, along with PIs you can talk with and get advice from. The downside is that many PIs creates many more people who have ideas for the thing that will just MAKE your paper, and you start to panic when you think of all of the different tests that will require, and time is getting tight to finish your thesis. However, we are also lucky enough to be well funded and can often to hire people to do some of those analyses.
In any case, it's really quite pleasant being at home again. Free food, both in grocery form and being taken out to dinner, seeing the fam, seeing my friends who live here. I think coming back here to live once I start working will be A-OK, especially if my mom keeps buying me cute sweaters. What? I need to expand my professional wardrobe, I'm told that my pilly fleece pullovers which are SO comfy are not office appropriate *pout*.
Update on the computer front: is still acting whacko, may actually need to buy a new once but am hoping to get through all my analyses on this one and then finish the writing on the new one, which will likely be a Mac and I am afraid of learning new software while writing a thesis.
Update on hockey: Habs are in the playoffs! Yay! Sens are not, but at least finished ahead of the Leafs! As I just jeered to my father across the dining table, 'We may both be losers but we're better losers than YOU.' Sometime I wonder how I made it out of childhood without being murdered by one of my parents, I'm sure I deserved it a few times....