Just when y’all got comfortable reading me here in WordPress.com land, I’ve decided to pack up and move. To a new home of my very own at the aptly URL’d drbethsnow.com.
I’ve picked a pretty theme and then screwed around with a bit to make it even prettier. Why don’t you head on over there and let me know what you think?
The UBC Rec hockey league, women’s division, is back up and running this semester. We tried to get it going last semester, but only two women’s teams registered and the other team didn’t want to play the same opponent (i.e., us) every single game. This semester, the league has managed to pull together a third team so the division is good to go. And we had our first game on Monday. On the big rink at the new Thunderbird Arena. This one:
Holy Flying Spaghetti Monster, that’s some good ice. I swear I was skating twice as fast as I normally do, with the beautiful ice surface and the huge stadium seating all around, not to mention our team names up on the big clock hanging up over centre ice, just knowing that I’m skating on the same rink where Olympians will be skating in a little more than a year. So. Cool.
So, yeah, I figure since I’m swamped with my regular job plus teaching two courses, why not add a second hockey team to this semester’s to-do list?
Also, playing at UBC again made me think of the sign that used to hang in one of the dressing rooms:
I wonder whatever happened to that sign.
Congratulations are in order for Sarah, the Resident Historian and Chief Political Correspondent here on Not To Be Trusted With Knives, and her husband, Dave, who welcomed their son, Teddy, to the world on Jan 20!
I’ve seen a few pictures and have to say that he’s pretty damn cute. Also, he looks just like me when I was born1 . Which totally makes biological sense. I mean, I’m his Aunt Beth2, after all.
On the left, Teddy, in a photo I stole off Dave’s blog. On the right, me, a mere 32 years, 11 days ago.
1Yes, I realize the arrogance of that statement. I have a category of rampant narcissism for a reason, you know!
2where “Aunt” = honorary aunt as we are in no way genetically related.
I looked down at my wrist yesterday and this is what I saw:
Seriously.
My watch has been coming apart for quite some time now, but it’s finally come to the point that the main part of my watch has fallen completely out and I have no idea where it is. I could have lost it anywhere, really. I think I will use the birthday money that my sister sent me to buy a new one. Maybe I’ll even get one of those fancy ones which I can use to control Marla.
I do know one thing for sure: my friend Alicia, with whom I go running, will be glad to see me get a new watch because my old one, with the strap all unattached like that, kept shutting the timer off when we were runing as the loose plastic of the strap would hit the timer’s off button. So when my watch was supposed to beep so that we’d know that we had done our 10 minutes of running and could take our 1 minute walk break, it just wouldn’t beep. And then we’d have a totally screwed up run schedule. So, yeah, a new watch is definitely in order. Also in order, emailing Alicia to set up a running date, which we haven’t done since before the holidays… I think we only have a 100 days left to train for our half marathon. Eep!
Just listened to President Obama’s inaugural address. I didn’t get to watch it live because the class I’m teaching is from 8:00-9:30 a.m1. Pacific Time. It only occurred to me very early this morning that when they said the inauguration was at 11:30 a.m., they didn’t mean Pacific Time2. And that I’d still be teaching at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, i.e., 8:30 a.m. Pacific, a.k.a., way too freaking early to be teaching.
I wished my class “Happy Obama Inauguration Day!” at the start of class and right after class, I came to my office and watched the video of Obama taking the oath (so eager that he jumped in while the Chief Justice was still talking, which I thought was so cute). And then I watched his speech while toasting him with a diet Coke3. Because I wasn’t invited to an inauguration oatmeal party, which would be more appropriate, I admit, for the ungodly hour of 9:30 in the a.m, than a can of diet Coke. (Did I mention I have to be on campus, ready to teach at 8 a.m. and that I now live on caffeine even more than I used to?)
1Who schedules class at 8 a.m. anyway? That’s just cruel.
2Maybe I have a case of eastern alienation?
3Because it’s really difficult to find diet Pepsi on campus.
Image credit at Obamicon.me
So, as a general rule I don’t blog about work, but rules were made to be broken, right? I’m running an event through work for the general public and I’m thinking that some of my readers might be interested in attending, so I’m blogging it.
Café Scientifique is a public science initiative that gets scientists together with the general public to talk, in layperson’s terms, about science. I think the Wikipedia entry on Café Scientifique puts it nicely when they say that Café Scientifique:
“aims to demystify scientific research for the general public and empower non-scientists to more comfortably and accurately assess science and technology issues, particularly those that impact on social policy making”
There are a number of different groups running Café Scientifique events in a number of cities. Our particular series of Café Sci events is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and my particular event in that series is called “Addictions: Nature Meets Nurture.” We have a panel of four researchers who study different aspects of addictions and each of them will present a brief (like, four minute long) introduction to their area of addictions research – and the rest of the event will involve questions, answers, comments and discussion among the audience and the panel members. It is meant to be an informal event and one that will generate a lot of discussion about this complex topic.
Event Details:
Understanding Addictions: Nature Meets Nurture
February 4, 2009
7 – 9 p.m.
Café Du Soleil
1393 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC (close to Grandview Park)
Note: the event is at Café Du Soleil, not Café Deux Soleils (which is also on Commercial Drive). Here’s a map.
Addiction is a complex problem that cannot fully be understood from any single perspective. Join us as we try to find common ground to deepen our understanding of the problems of addiction and strategies to address them .
Food and beverages will be provided.
Panelists:
| Erin Gibson Masters student Interdisciplinary Studies, UVic |
Hajera Rostam Ph.D. student Counselling Psychology, UBC |
Iris Torchalla Postdoctoral Fellow BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health |
Kristina Uban Ph.D. student Behavioural Neuroscience, UBC |
Moderator:
Dr. Lorraine Greaves
Executive Director
BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH)
This Café Scientifique event is part of the series Sex, Drugs and the Public: Men, Women & Addiction coordinated by the BCCEWH. This Café is offered in partnership with the Integrated Mentor Program in Addictions Research Training (IMPART)
RSVP to: bccewh@cw.bc.ca
If you plan on attending, be sure to RSVP to the email address above and let me know in the comments!
Image Attributions
It’s my one year anniversary of moving from Blogger to WordPress.com. So, now I’m moving to WordPress.org. It’s true what they say: WordPress.com is just a gateway platform to the harder stuff.
In fact, I’m all set up to make the shift. I’ve got a domain (which I’ve actually had for a while), I have a server, and WordPress.org has been installed (thanks to Kalev, who rocks). I’m only lacking one magical ingredient: time. This semester is insanely, insanely busy. In addition to my day job, I’m teaching two new courses: the UBC one and one at SFU1 and I’m playing on two hockey teams. Oh yeah, and I’m supposed to be training for a half marathon. So I won’t be making the shift until I get a few minutes to breath2.
In the meantime, I need all you techies to answer this question: What are your favourite WordPress plugins?
Kalev has suggested this one, which, among other things, allows commenters to preview their comments before posting them. What other ones should I get? You know, for when I stop being insanely busy and get a chance to make the jump.
And speaking of being insanely busy, I’ve decided to prorogue my BC Premiers series until after the end of the semester. Writing the BC Premier series postings, which I usually do on Sundays, takes up a fair bit of time since I know pretty much nothing about BC Premiers. Unlike my usually postings where I just blather about whatever is spinning around in my brain, I actually have to read stuff. And I know that I just don’t have time to do that until the semester is over. So I’ve asked the Governor General of my blog3 for a prorogation of the BC Premier series and she has graciously agreed to allow it. Expect the series to start back up in late April, at which time I’ll present a budget.
1Which, mercifully, is online (so I don’t have to go up the mountain) and has a TA (who does tonnes o’ work and also rocks)
2Perhaps over reading break?
3As it turns out, I’m the GG of my own blog. What a lucky coincidence!
We haven’t had an election to vote in for more than two months! Shocking, I know. With the next election not scheduled for another 116 days1, I’ve just been itching to get my vote on. While not nearly as important as a federal, provincial or municipal election, I have three things that you can vote on. You’re welcome.
1. Vote for Terrace!
CBC is letting you vote for Hockeyville 2009. The winning community gets $100,000 to upgrade their local arena, plus an NHL pre-season game hosted in their arena, with a CBC Hockey Night in Canada broadcast from their community.
One of the top 10 communities in this year’s contest is Terrace, BC. Remember my former roommate, Danielle? She’s from Terrace (a.k.a. a Terracite) . She thinks you should vote for Terrace. I think you should vote for Terrace too.
Go here to vote to Terrace.
2. Vote For Your Favourite Restaurants!
The Georgia Strait is holding the vote for its annual Golden Plates award. Go here to vote for your favourite Vancouver restaurants.
3. Vote for Saddlebacking!
Or, more accurately, vote for a definition of saddleback.”
Dan Savage needs your help. He’s looking to come up with a definition for the word “Saddleback” and he’s got seven options for you to choose from. Read here to learn more. Then email him to vote (as outlined in his article). I, like Dan, recommendation definition number 5. It’s so very appropriate!
1The possibility of another federal election being called once Parliament resumes later this month, of course, still looms.
Remember when I said that US Airways sucks? A plane just crashed into the Hudson River. Guess which airline.
Only two days into my 1001 days and already I get to cross something off my list!
43. take Tod to a Vancouver Canucks game
Last night I took Tod to his first ever Vancouver Canucks game. Shocking, I know. He has lived1 his whole life in BC, most of it in and around Vancouver, without ever having gone to a Canucks game. Mercifully, this has now been rectified.
You’ll note, however, that I didn’t specify on my list that I would take him to a good hockey game. You know, like a game in which we wouldn’t have to give our goalie the hook at 3.5 minutes into the game because he had already been scored on TWICE! Sanford came into replace LaBarbera and soon was inexplicably behind the net with Gionta (a Devils player) putting the puck into the net2. Combine those with the fact that the Canucks let the Devils win every battle for the puck and let the Devils skate around them as if they were a bunch of pylons and it was so bad that the whole stadium booed the Canucks off the ice at the end of the first period! A little kid a few rows back was heard asking, quite loudly, “Why do they suck so much?”
Thankfully, the ‘nucks came out much better in the second and third periods. They managed to make a game of it and there was some entertaining hockey to be watched. Surprisingly, though, there wasn’t a single fight. I think I’ll have to accomplish #44 on my 101 list (take Tod to a Vancouver Giants game) to see the fighting action. Who knows, maybe we’ll even get to see another full team brawl!
In somewhat related news, when I was telling a friend of mine at work that I’d been at the game last night and mentioned that the Canucks were playing the New Jersey Devils, my friend said, “Oh really? I met a bunch of NFL players from New Jersey on Sunday.” She meant NHL (but that’s an indication of just how much she’s interested in pro sports) and after a quick look at the Devils’ website, we discovered that she was partying with Dainius Zubrus and Zach Parise that night. Parise, as it happens, is on my hockey hotties list and it looks like Zubrus needs to be added to my roster!
1Although whether one can say they’ve truly lived without having been to see a Canucks game is up for debate.
2I miss you Roberto. Please say the rumors that you are coming back tomorrow are true!
Photo credit: Tod Maffin on Flickr.
Today’s blog posting consists of the birthday card I just got from my sister, along with a cheque:
Notice how she put my niece’s name first, as if my niece is the one who wrote this? Isn’t my sister so nice to me? My only consolation here is no matter how old I am, she’s always older!
So, for my 1000th blog posting I wanted to do something special. And I decided that the something special would be a “101 things to do in 1001 days” list. The first time I saw one of these was on Dave’s blog and I may or may not have soon after written a parody version called “102 things to do in 1,000,001 days” on a satire blog that may or may not have been removed from the Internet for possible libel issues. Anyway.
The idea behind this list is to come up with 101 things you want to do – things you’ve always meant to do but haven’t gotten around to, things you want to challenge yourself to accomplish and, let’s be honest, a few things that sound good but you are pretty sure you’ll do so that you can gain the satisfaction of checking at least a few things off your list. As well, it’s important that the goals are clearly defined/measurable (or, as we say in the Research Methods world – you need an “operational definition” of each) so that you know whether or not you’ve done it. Props for this idea go to triplux, who appears to be the creator of this idea (or, at least, is the first Google hit for “101 in 1001”).
So, after much thinking and pondering and reflecting and considering and deliberating and contemplating and ruminating and reading the thesaurus, I have come up with the following 101 items that I intend to do in the next 1001 days:
So, there you have it. I expect I’ll be posting updates when I get stuff on the list accomplished and possibly some excuses about my abject failures.
End Date: Monday, October 10, 2011 (thank you dateandtime.com!)
Footnotes
1Ya, this one is totally cheating, since I’m already training for another half. But it’s hard to think of 101 things!
2Um, ya. I have seven years worth of photos in boxes, waiting for scrapbooking.
3Can you believe that, having lived in Vancouver for more than eight years, I’ve not yet skied Whistler?
4This one is stolen from an homage to Dave’s 101 things in 1001 days list. He didn’t actually manage to do it, but I think I can. I think I can.
5Also stolen from Dave’s list. I’ve been wanting to read something by Rushdie, so here’s an extra push
6This is the last one I’m stealing from Dave’s list. Promise. Also, Dan said I should go there.
8Which Sarah’s been telling me to read since forever. And which she just gave me for Christmas, so if I fail to accomplish this one, well, that would just be sad.
9I always seem to get a course for one term only. I taught Nutritional Assessment last year as a sessional, but the department hired a new prof and he chose that as one of his courses to teach, so I don’t get to teach it this year. And then, this past term I taught another course as a sessional because the usual sessional needed a break from it for one term only, so I probably won’t get to teach it next year. Now I want some consistency!
10Just because it would be difficult.
11i.e., meet the recommended number of servings for each food group every day and consume no more than one unhealthy “other” food per week.
12i.e., ones that I haven’t been to before. Or ones where I’ve only been to their airport/airport hotel (I’m looking at you Texas, Oregon and Arizona), if I actually go to somewhere other than the airport/airport hotel.
13since it doesn’t fit in my kitchen. =(
14I can’t believe I’ve lived in Vancouver for 8+ years and not once have I been to see Bard on the Beach. I like Shakespeare (I even have a minor in Drama that included a whole course in “Acting Shakespeare”). And I like beaches!
15Inspired by the tree at the Mexican resort I stayed at this Christmas.
16My 2008 average was 93 readers per day.
17Which occurred on Friday, September 26, 2008 as a direct result of my list of the hottest players in the NHL
18Which I have partly written and can’t seem to get around to finishing.
19I’ve been trying to find a good pair of brown dress pants since forever! Hopefully I’ll find them in the next 1001 days.
20Because I really enjoy baking and I never seem to do it anymore.
Today is my birthday. But you knew that.
This is what a photo of a cake looks like when you take the photo upside down and then you flip it upside right. This cake was delicious.
Despite what Kalev was trying to get people to believe, I turned 32 today. Or 29 for the 4th time. Or my double sweet 16. I celebrated my day by playing a game of hockey1 and watching the two hour season premiere of 24. Which was much better than the 24 movie, thank the FSM. Also – Tod made me a delicious dinner. And I ate cupcakes that Rachel gave me. Mmmm, cupcakes.
Coincidentally2, this is my 999th blog posting. That’s a lot of frickin’ blog postings.
1in which we got slaughtered. But that’s neither here nor there.
2Seriously, I didn’t arrange that on purpose. It just sort of happened that way.
1My tax years up until 2006 were “I’m a student. I make very, very little money. I pay huge tuition fees –> You pay no taxes!” 2007 was my first non-student year, but I was able to handle my tax return via Quicken. 2008, however, I got all uppity with my working multiple jobs plus consulting and it makes my head hurt to even think about it.
So first off, I have to admit that I totally stole my blog title from Miss 604, who said on Jan 8, the day before her birthday, that it was “Becky Eve.”1
Since my actual birthday is tomorrow, a Sunday2, I decided to get some friends together last night for dinner and to watch the Canucks game at Coppertank. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate my birthday with me! And special thanks to Airdrie who brought me a cake! And Rachel who brought cupcakes! And Jen who gave me a card with the awesome sticker that I’m wearing in this photo.
1I thought this was on Twitter, but I searched Twitter to be able to provide a link to it and it’s not there. Then I thought maybe it was on Facebook, but I checked that and it’s not there either, nor is it on Miss604.com. So I have no idea where I saw it!
2On top of Sundays being not the best day for celebrating, I have a hockey game to play on Sunday.
Beth is a freelance scientist, educator, artist, model and social engineer. You've been warned. |
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