Welcome back maybe?

I just thought that I would take the time to formally welcome back Aussies Nan to the fold. Or whatever may be left of it as it seems that Facebook has taken over. And I know that I may be jumping the gun as only one post since something like October of last year. But I am a strong believer in positive re-enforcement. So here's hoping that this is the start of a new age in my little blogging family..

That, my friends, is a little subtle hint to the rest of my links on the right. Re-enforced.

See, I'm consistent.

Gotta run.

A Dieu

Well, I tried again. but I just can't do it for some odd reason.

Over the years I have tried several times to sign your guest book. I just can't do it and I really don't know why. Maybe I', still mad at you for forcing me to take that phone call in the middle of the night, or early morning as the case was. Glad it was Jason that made the call though. But I hate answering the phone in the middle of the night. Thanks Canada Student Loan people for continuing to call me in the wee hours of the am while I was in "Oz. You helped me re-live those moments regularly. (Please feel the bitterness in my voice over that one).

I don't know.

I don't even think I've been able to make a private contribution to your guest book. Man, how many ways do I suck. I don't even know what it is symbolizing for me that I can't do it. I really thought that I could today, I started typing, and then had to stop. No tears or anything like that. I accept that he has gone and is now making fun of my inability to sign a Guest Book!! (Shaking fists into the air in a good hearted fashion) Bastard!!! I'll show you when I see you again!!!

I know it's not good to speak ill of the dead, but I'm not. i'm just playing with him. And he knows it.

Jeez, I may have to stop now. I haven't welled up in a while, and I am at work so not a good time.

Bye Chris, Sorry I can't sign you off yet. But I don't think that I ever will.

Bugger.

A little worried...

It snowed today.

Why does this worry me?

Because it is the end of April; I just left Australia just before summer started; and it's almost bloody May. This leads me to worry that my wife may leave me because of the snow. Not much snow mind you, but snow nonetheless. I am also worried because I can not for the life of me remember saying that snow was ok to have today.

Not happy at all.

Ah well, I just thought I'd share that with you. I have to get back to work.

Just thought I'd let you know.

The writer's strike which ended a while ago finally has repurcusions (I do not know how to spell that) for my life. New shows are on!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

We got to watch new NCIS last night, New LOST tonight, New Grey's tonight (at least I am pretty sure of the last two). The only sad thing is that I don't yet know when Heroes will be back.

I really like that show.

Work went pretty well this week. I got things to work hopefully. Ok, they didn't get contaminated with some kind of dirty bacteria again. This is always a good thing. So I may actually get some results this week!!!

I've been really tired this week though. I don't really know why, but I fell asleep putting my son to sleep last night. And then nearly fell asleep on the couch after waking up realizing I had fallen asleep with my boy. Not good.

So I've got a Doctor's appointment for next week. It seems that I have something funny on my left upper arm. And I don't think that it's muscles. Which would be a surprise since I don't work out. I figure that I've worked this hard on my physique for the past 31 years that I don't want to wreck it by exercise.

Jeez.

What do you think I am?

Crazy?

But the arm thing's a bit of a worry of late. I should have had it checked in Australia. But I didn't. It's probably just some kind of insect that's buried it's eggs in my arm and they're just happily co-existing with me. In which case, I'm not sure I want them to leave. (Please Google "Parasite Pals" and explore, it's the site that made my son ALWAYS wash his hands after using the bathroom... silly Tapeworm!!)

Anyway though, I should really run as it's now 4:30. I will try to keep up a bit more and post things. I just hope that I finally find something worth posting.

Ha!!!

A short note to advise that spring is here.

I just thought that I would splurge and let you all know that Spring is here as of today.

Yup.

I went out.

Without a jacket.

Wearing a short sleeved shirt.

And wasn't that cold.

Nice.

Sadness defined.

I know that it's been a little while since my last post. And even then, the question remains as to whether or not that was a real post... Even more questionable was whether or not it warranted comments!! But thanks nonetheless Oh Adoring Yet Oft Neglected Fans.

So what's happened. I finally got internet access on my laptop at work. No access to facebook as it's blocked, but here I am. So this isn't blocked. I've been pretty busy at work as of late, thus my last post.

I had kind of a crap week last week. I set up a fairly large experiment and all my samples got contaminated with some kind of dirty little bacteria of some sort... Which made it a write-off.

But things seem to be going better this week.

So yesterday, I have officially been married for seven years to my lovely wife. We went out for supper on the weekend to a really nice Italian restaurant by the Westin in Halifax. I can't remember the name so i can't give it to you. I had a really nice seafood pasta thing that reminded me why I love lobster. The stuff is like gold. I missed those poor little crustaceans that should be found in my belly much more often.

So the definition of sadness that I promised you.

Well, back in 1989, I really began watching hockey. Influenced by a friend, I was rooting for the Calgary Flames (now you see where sadness enters the story). It just so happened that they won the Stanley Cup that year. So I was pretty pleased!!! I remember it very well! Ahh the joys...

Come up to 2004. I am in Australia, no news of hockey really makes it there, so I regularly check Google News. Lo and behold, the Flames have now made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs!!! And I couldn't watch. So I got my dearly loved uncle Jimmy and my Grandfather to record the games for me and send them down to Oz for me. I then proceeded to ignore all sports news for a long time so that I wouldn't know the outcome.

When I got the videos a while later (2 months or so I think), I still didn't know who had won. So I watched each of the games late at night when my wife and son were asleep. And I loved it!!! It got to game 7, and I was crushed by their defeat by a team in Florida!!!! Tampa Bay Lightning who had Patrick Roy as their goalie (ex-Montreal Canadien).

And now, here we are. I am in Canada. I can watch the games in real-time. If only they didn't start at bloody 11 pm and I didn't have work. I didn't watch last night's game because it was my wedding anniversary and I love my wife more. But I woke up to defeat. They lost last night to San Jose Sharks.

Crappity crap crap.

I even bought myself a Calgary Flames hat!!! Jeez! What's a guy gotta to do!?! Ah well. Next year. (I know, I sound like a Toronto Maple Leafs fan eh!).

But I am trying to get my son to enjoy watching hockey and I don't think that it will be too hard. We watched the first period of Montreal's glorious win the other night against Boston. My son seemed to enjoy watching. But what made me really proud was when I found out that the first thing he asked my wife the next morning when he woke up (I was at work) was if they won!!!

How great is that!!! So I think that I will be watching some Montreal Canadien hockey.

But please Montreal, please pretty please allow me to continue to root for you. Don't riot anymore. Celebrate yes. But rioting because of a ROUND ONE victory?

Please.

Grow up.

Make me proud to be a Canadian.

Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!

I just had to get that out.

Thanks for listening.


Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet another post for yoru reading pleasure.

Hey there.

So what’s changed over the past little while since my last blog…

We bought a car. A nice little 2003 Kia Rio for driving to and from work and driving around the city etc on weekends and stuff. She’s a nice little car. Gold in colour. No power steering, cd player, and I think that’s about as fancy as she gets.
So we then tried to insure her. Here’s where some problems began… Because I have been living in Australia for a few years, my license expired about 4 and something years ago. So I have to re-write the beginners test (passed easily on Friday). And then take the road test again. Which will be done in Yarmouth this coming Thursday. Note that I live in Halifax. Anyway though, The Wife and I are moving through this pretty quickly because it will cost us thousands of dollars (unfortunately I am being very literal) to insure us for the most basic of insurances for a year. However, with a valid NS driver’s licence, we get it for under $800.

Hmmm.. Ya it’s a no-brainer. So we are moving as fast as we can to get our NS driver’s licence.. And since the earliest I could get my licence here in Hfx is sometime in April, we are going to Yarmouth to do on Thursday. Much sooner.. And I am praying to God that we both pass.

How embarrassing would that be to fail!!! I have been driving since 1993!!! Oh ya, and when I passed the written test, I was offered a temporary NS license, and that it would be subject to the conditions of a beginner’s license… Like driving with someone who has had more than 2 years driving experience. I laughed and said no. I mean really, I have a valid International Driver’s license which entitles me to drive for a year as long as my Australia one is valid, and my Australian license is valid here anyway for a short period of time. Why would I opt in to getting a license which restricts me to driving with someone with over a decade less driving experience than myself.. Man it was hard not to laugh at that moment.

Even now I suppress.

And suppress some more.

Oops, there it goes… I lost it.

(UPDATE: since I am quick to write, but slow to post, I did the driving test, and passed with no problem whatsoever, so I have a valid NS driver’s license. The Wife was pretty nervous but she did well and passed with some pretty colours. So all is well in the world and you can sleep in peace.)

Going to look at some houses tomorrow too (Well last Tuesday, about a week ago). A few in Dartmouth, and a few in Timberlea. I am kind of leaning toward Timberlea at the moment as the house looks alright.. Especially after I give it some good lovin’. Paint and a few other bigger jobs. But I think that one of the main things I like about it is the price and the location as it will leave us with a very manageable mortgage, the street is full of owner occupied houses, it’s not too far from work, and the downstairs is laid out really well for Rebecca to do child care (babysitting; see previous post). I think that the only issue we are having is that the school is really big, and we don’t know what (or if) there is a demand for child care in the area. I imagine that there is, and I believe that The Wife will be able to get kids. Anyway though, my Parents are coming up tomorrow to have a look with us because we love the second opinions.

We even got my Dad to look at the car with me before we bought it… In fact, we even got them to pay for it for us!! So how’s that!!! Na.. we’re not that bad… I just couldn’t get money out of the bank on Saturday, so Dad gave me a loan which I paid back immediately with a lovely cheque…

A cheque which for some reason made my bank limit the amount I could pull out of a cash machine to $220, making it pretty hard for me to pay my student loan of $335 a month hard over the counter at the Royal Bank when they could only take cash from me. But that’s a different problem and pain in the bum.

So what else has changed…

We bought a house. Funny because it was one of the houses we looked at last Tuesday with Mom and Dad. And not the one we asked them to come up and see.. This is why we get the second opinions! Well we are in the process of getting it, but we have been approved for financing, and the house inspection was yesterday which turned out alright. We’re moving to Dartmouth, which I always kind of considered the New Jersey of Halifax. But now I think it’s alright. Kind of have to don’t I? But it’s a really nice house. We don’t have to do anything too major to fix it. Just some little tiny things for longevity purposes, and we may want to start thinking about fixing some of the windows. But besides that, the house is in great shape. Nice wood floors, nice paint on the walls, nice landscaped back yard, or at least it looked that way in the pictures!! It was still covered in snow! We picked this one because the mortgage is only a little bit more, but it’s finished, better demand for child care in Dartmouth than in Timberlea… And the amount of work required in Timberlea kind of cancelled out the when the Dartmouth house is finished… So Dartmouth, here we come. For your own info, our new home is kind of in the back-end of Dartmouth just before Cole Harbour. We checked out the school and it looks good, so we’re a happy family!

Works going good. I have some footing and I think that I kind of know what I am doing. Still hate the cubicle thing, and I am really starting to miss having internet access on my laptop while at work. I really need to check a few things right NOW but I can’t because all the internet accessable computers are busy. Apparently, there is some hold up with the stock from the suppliers supplier (ie Microsoft). I’m not too happy about this at the moment though.

I need things.

I have needs.

I need to do work now.

Hmm.

Just a little post to point out and highlight the fact that most if not all of my links go to pages that have not been updated since at the latest, Like December of last year.

Ah well, to you all, I bid you A'Dieu, and you may soon find yourself absent from my links page as I don't really want to have a bunch of dead links.

Maybe I will give myself an overhaul and put some interesting links to web-sites that I particularly enjoy on this...

By eby

What can I say, I'm slow.

(I should note that this was written last week and some things have changed, but the views and opinions herein expressed are nonetheless true at time of writting (if not at time of print), however, we here at AWE publishing company fully endorse and are willing to expand upon any and all views that are stated within this fully binding and staggeringly insightful document of documents. Enjoy. Or at least try to.)

Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.. And I guess the only reason for this lag is that I’ve been kind of busy… but over a month, a short month, but still a month… no excuse is sufficient. Sorry to all my loving and loyal fan(s). I don’t know why I added the “s”, I know it’s not true.
So what’s happened to me.. I turned 31. So I’m not the 30 year old I used to be. I’m the 31 year old that I’m growing in to! Yay for me. But that is yet to be decided.

I’ve been pretty busy at work setting up a few methods to test some stuff at work. It went well, I got three assays up and running in about 2 weeks or so. Wrote the most kick-ass Excel file to analyze them. You must remember that I am a PhD. This translates into Geek. Not the MD type who you watch on Greys’ Anatomy, House, or ER, but the Geek that they don’t make shows about because we’re geeky. Albeit, the drugs that the those MDs prescribe etc, especially the new fangled ones, are the result of PhD geeks… So just so you know, it’s the Geeks that tell the ones you watch what medications to give etc. To some degree. Ah hell, the largest degree ever.

Anyway though, I’m sitting at work on the second day of the Fast. And I’m bored and tired. And getting a bit hungry. Honestly, it’s a lot easier fasting here than in Australia. There’s not nearly the same amount of heat to scorch your throat making you crave a drink.

Oh ya!!!

That reminds me!! It’s Roll Up The Rim To Win at Tim Horton’s!!!! How cool is that (sucks that I’m fasting because I don’t drink during the day thereby limiting my chances of winning). BUT, have no fear my friend, I have played this game for many years, excluding the ones when I was in Australia. So maybe not many years, but I have played before, and as soon as I saw a Roll Up The Rim To Win Cup, I was excited. So I bought my first one. I lost, and I lost again and again that morning. But the next morning was another story. I got my coffee from the lovely girl at the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper, then I went across the road (the Tupper Building is on my way to work, and has less of a line-up than both Tim’s in the IWK), went up to my “office” drank and wrote my Kick-ass Excel file. Then decided to roll up the rim my friends. (Yes, I know you are wondering how long can he keep this crap up, but be warned, I am full of crap. Absolutely full of it. And even this little soliloquy is taking up your time). So I rolled it up and low – and – behold, I won a $50 Tim Card. So i got the card that night at another Tim’s in Bedford, where the girl’s immediate response was that’s awesome, and then “I wish I had of watched that video”. I think she had to send something away, but she was like, well we have the cards here, so I’m going to give him one. So I got my card.

So I went to the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper the next morning, only to find that they were not set up to use the Tim card. So my heart was broken. I get $50 and can’t even use it where I buy my coffee. ..

Yes a sad tale of woe.

Woe is me…

And now I am fasting so I am not even drinking coffee much anymore. But as soon as the Fast is finished, I promise that I will make up for lost time.

Ever wish that you had something intelligent to say? I have that wish right now.

So we’re still looking for a house to buy. Having some problems with that though. Trying to find a decent house and a school that has less than 700 students in grade 1 is proving a bit tricky. I may have found something though, it’s a little ways out, but then we don’t really have the cash to buy in downtown Halifax. Not that we want to, but The Wife would like to buy in Bedford. She likes Basinview school, which is where My Boy is registered to go to school in Sept. Assuming that we don’t move. Which we will since we only have our house until the end of August!

Ya, life’s good. I still don’t have a second car. Which is probably a good thing since it gives us more $$, but it means that I am still taking public transportation. It’s slowly starting to wear thin on me. I am appalled at the level of child care in NS. You know, I am sure that there are decent people who take care of kids, but when it comes down to it, it should all be regulated. And the government should support the child care industry. If you want to improve your workforce, women should be able to come back to work after they’ve had a baby. I know that they are technically allowed, but if that woman works IN child care, she’s screwed. Not worth working in child care when you have a child that needs to be in child care because the pay you get working in child care does not provide enough money for you to send your kid to child care. Where’s the sense in that? I understand why there are so many people taking care of children in their homes. There is no regulation against it, and you actually make real money doing it. $25 / kid /day, times one week is $125 a week for one kid. If you have 4 kids that you are taking care of, that $500 a week. Or $2000 a month, or $24,000 a year, with the possibility of this being tax-free. And for your information, you are allowed to have at leasat one more than 4 kids, and the going rate at a child care centre (at least the one where The Wife went for an interview) is $18-20,000, taxable income. You tell me what choice we should make. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would work in a child care centre here.

This also means that you can get anyone operating a “babysitting” service from their home. Just advertise yourself, and you may get lucky. I believe that you should have some sort of formal training in child care. Some sort of First Aid kit, and some kind of insurance, Heaven Forbid, should anything happen to a child while in your care. I think that the Nova Scotia government really needs to step up and deal with this.

It’s a travesty.

A bloody travesty.

Happy Birthday

I'll never remember where I was on Feb 2, 1978 when I got a baby brother. (I was only 1). But I will never forget where I was when I lost him. Or the phone call that woke me up. Or the sound of Jason's voice on that morning. Or the sinking in. Or the days leading up to it even. Or the loss that will never go away.

But today is a happy day nonetheless. It is the day when Christopher R. Amon was born. And my childhood friend came into being. The beginning of my memories are perfused with Chris. The good fun we had playing baseball with oranges upstairs in the hallway. Chocolate pudding fights in the house when Mom and Dad were gone away. The vicious fights we had. Ahhh the memories. Thanks Chris. I'll see you again soon enough!

Until then,
Cheers!
Mike.

Just another day

So my friends, it’s been snowing a bit up here lately… Take yesterday for eg… 2 hours on the bus it took me to get to work. Now that’s at least twice the normal amount of time it takes me to get to work. By bus that is.. It’s normally only a 15-20 minute drive had I had a car to call my own. Not complaining though, I would rather have the wife have the car in case she would like to get out of the house with the kids, or if something should happen and she needs to go… But 2 hours was a long time to be on the bus. A long time indeed.

So, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about B-cells and CCR4. No, I’ll spare you the details, but there are a few interesting questions that I wouldn’t mind trying to answer, and again, I won’t bore you with the monotonous details…

Oh ya, the presentation that I mentioned last week, I think that it went well. I made it through the 45 min or maybe a little bit less… without any major coughing fits. I couldn’t talk to loud though or I would have been lost to the cough. I also felt like I answered the very good questions well. I guess the only people who could really answer that would be those who actually asked the question and whether or not they were happy with the answer. Anyway though, I think that overall it was a success as now the people of the DIG (ref to last post) know who I am and what I’ve done.

My parents came up to visit over the weekend too. They brought up a Rappie Pie as well.. The spelling is probably wrong, and for that, I’m sure you’ll learn to get over. With time. Some counseling. But don’t count on my help. Rebecca, although not from Canada, or having ever known what Rappie pie was, tried over the holidays at my parent’s house in Yarmouth, and didn’t not like it. Not the use of double negatives. It’s too stress the fact that she was not opposed to eating it… double negative again… I’ll try again. She ate it and liked it. I think that’ll do. I missed it greatly, and had like thirds of it I think. And when I take thirds, I don’t mean one or two mouthfuls, I mean that I had 3 plates full. And then I ate cake.

You see, part of the reason that Mom and Dad came up to visit, was because tomorrow, Wednesday the 30^th of January, 2008, I turn that blessed age of 31. No longer a spring chicken. But a chicken with a family and responsibilities. All of which I enjoy. I think that I mentioned this last year, and I’ve said it to many. I think that I would not like aging if I had done absolutely nothing. But, I have already sold my first house, got married (7 years ago), and I have two kids who are happy and healthy, I try my best to support my wife, and I have gotten my PhD. So I have done a few things making aging ok. And 31 is not really that old, and I don’t think that I am aging that bad yet. A little tiny bit of gray in the eyebrows that I have to point out, and anyways, it makes me look distinguished!!

Yes. I will keep telling myself this.

So Saturday night, we got Mom and Dad (well the offered) to babysit the kids while me and the wife went out for supper and a movie. We went to Baan Thai on Dresden Row, across from the Theatre at Park Lane. Now I love Thai food. And whenever I go to a new Thai restaurant, I order Cashew Chicken as this tends to be one of my favorite Thai dish. There was a REALLY good restaurant in Sydney (Newtown actually) that made the best Cashew Chicken that I have ever had. That’s all changed now. I think that Baan Thai made the best cashew chicken that I have ever eaten. It was a bit different to what I was used to, but it was really good. Even my wife agreed with me that it was really good, and she even thought that it was better than her meal (Pad Thai). I tried hers as well.. Well alright, I finished hers for her, and it was good, but not the best Pad Thai I had ever had. It was different to what we were both used to for Pad Thai. We are used to a kind of lemony (weakly) flavour, but this one seemed to have a kind of faint tomato tint to the flavour. Nothing overpowering or anything like that, but it was enough to alter the flavour. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as what we have had elsewhere. We will go again though, and we will each order something different to work our way through the menu.

Yes, I am supposed to be working now. Reading more actually. I need the break now.

For the after-dinner movie, we thought that we would see the romantic comedy Cloverfield. We weren’t sure what we really wanted to see, but by the time we paid for supper and got to the theatre across the road, that was what we had to see. I didn’t mind as I kind of wanted to see it anyway.

Honestly, I liked it. I think they took an idea from a similar movie from a while ago, and added a new concept to it. And I think that it worked. I don’t want to give too much away from it, but I did like it. It’s not quite a good date movie, but the wife was scared. Well as scared as a movie can actually make you when you know that what’s going on on-screen is not real etc. The end was odd though. I expected it to end in the way it did. But I was left with the feeling of…. Well I think I chuckled a bit, as did many others. Not a funny “Ha Ha” chuckle, but a funny “that’s it!?” kind of chuckle. I had to walk away from the movie and let it sink in more before I came to the conclusion that I did like it. Anyway though, I thought that it was a good movie. Probably won’t watch it again, but I’m glad that I did see it.

Well I think that this has been a pretty long post. And I wish that I had something of real substance to say. But it’s interesting to note the severe and drastic drop in blogging by some. But I guess it comes down to why you started. To make contact with someone random and perpetually unknown; or not unknown; to vent; or to use this void as a means of expressing pain at whatever; or something altogether different. I think that I have used this site as a means for all of them on at least one occasion or another. Initially, it was meant to vent. But now I find myself just using it as a means to perform verbal diarrhea.

And on that note.

Lucky or not?

All I can say is that today is your lucky day: you get to read another great post by me. I have spent the day making a great little Excel template to analyze a proliferation assay, doing various aspects of said proliferation assay, going over and fine tuning my 45 minute or so presentation for the Dalhousie Inflammation Group presentation for this Thursday (Jan 24^th, Theatre C, Tupper Building, 3:30pm) and that’s about it. That did take most of the day, up until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Of which time it is now.

So I think that I want to join a band. Any volunteers? I was looking on Kijiji even, and it showed that there were some people looking for someones. I play bass, rhythm guitar, sing lead and/or back-up… ALL at the same time!! How’s that for skill! If only I could work drums in there. And if I could find the cash for an amp. Although I did see some cheap ones on the net though (Kijiji again my friends, Kijiji). BUT I think that I would like to have my second car to avoid the daily bus, and also a new lap-top, but not before we buy our house.

A few expenses to get through first eh. Yup, I’m becoming Canadianized again… Throwing that there “eh” around. See, you know you’ve mastered the art of “eh” when you can use it so that it is not a question, but the final punctuation to a statement. A matter of fact. That’s just the way it is eh. Enough of that.

It’s been so long since I’ve posted for 2 days in a row I’m not really sure what to write. Jeez, I’m not even a writer and I’m getting writer’s block. But I must hold the course since all of my adoring fans are awaiting the mundane. I am a little sick of reading things right now too. I spent all last week reading about CCR4 and its ligands CCL17 and CCL22… and I need to read more. Preferably by last week. I should take one of those speed reading courses to make me move that much quicker…

Other matters, I went to a Feast on Saturday (NOTE: A “Feast” is what we as Báhá'ís go to instead of Church on Sundays. We go every 19 days, which is, not coincidentally, one Báhá'í month. For more information on the Báhá'í Faith, and I urge you to do this, follow the link on the side of the page that says something about the Báhá'í faith). It was nice. I got to see a few people that I haven’t seen in just under a decade. And I learned some sad things about some people in that they used to be quite active but are not anymore.

Well just great. The boss came in and here I am typing away on a blog. So I got caught blogging. But I did maintain eye contact and positioned myself in between him and my screen.. I couldn’t close the screen because then it would be just too obvious that I was doing something that I don’t think that I shouldn’t be doing. Crap.

On a sad note, I have about 1 full week of being 30 left. Yes, 31 comes next week. At least I still have my rugged good looks. Alright, so I don’t. I don’t look anymore rugged than a newborn, I still can’t grow a full beard. I can go a week before I need to shave. I guess that’s good because I hate shaving.

I have to finish now though because I have to go catch a bus…

I guess today wasn’t your lucky day now was it?

first post for the year

I know that it’s been a little while since my last post, but to be honest, most of my posts have been done while taking a break at work. BUT, since I don’t have internet access on my laptop (seems I opted for Windows XP Home Edition as opposed to XP professional, the IT here won’t let me on to their network!!!! And I can’t be bothered to pay $200 or so to upgrade) I am relegated to the computers in the lab. Common computers. And the last thing that I want to be caught doing is blogging in front of everyone. It should be one of those private moments you share with your millions of on-line fans. Not with those who are paying you to actually do work.

Sheesh.

So here’s what I’ve done: I typed this between 4:15 and 4:30 pm just before I left work… and then pasted it in now. I know!!! How lucky are you that I am that clever.

Well onto other matters.

As you all know, but for new readers, I am now living in Bedford (just outside Halifax NS, Canada). Me and the wife found a nice duplex and managed to drive out the other people who live in the other side of the duplex in about 2 weeks. So we are now living by ourselves. In a duplex. Down by the river. We are just off the Bedford highway and I won’t give you anymore details because I don’t want you to stalk me. I know you want to. I’ve never had a stalker though, it might be fun. I guess you could e-mail me and ask and I might give you my address if you sound like you’d be a good stalker.

About work… I am now Dalhousie Faculty. At least that’s what my Dal ID card says! How cool is that. I am such a simpleton that can be impressed because his ID card says that he is faculty. Don’t you worry about me though, that’s why I got married. I’m someone elses’ problem!! Again, Yay for you! Well I am at the IWK doing some medical research investigating some chemokine ligands and receptors. It seems like a nice group and good place to work: There are TWO Tim Horton’s right in the hospital!! The only things that I don’t like, and I really don’t like them, are that I am in a bloody cubicle. And they won’t let me have internet access. That probably buggers me the most though.

Besides that, I’m learning things, and getting ready to do stuff of goodness.

I got asked to do a presentation this Thursday though. It’s supposed to be about 45 minutes long and to the Dalhousie Inflammation Group (DIG for short) of which I am now a part of. I’m a bit nervous though (no sympathy please) as it’s the first time that I will be presenting this work without the back-up support of the other people of my old lab in Sydney! They provided me with good moral support, and if I got stuck on anything, they might be able to help me on the spot. Not this time though deary. You’re all on your own.

One thing that I noticed since I’ve been back is how caffeinated we are, and how bloody reliant we are on Tim Horton’s. No I’m not blasphemy---ing I guess is the word. But I can’t seem to be able to get a decent coffee made without a bloody perk or a plunger for 4 or more people. I am the only one who drinks coffee in my house, and i want a little, single cup plunger to make me and me alone a coffee.

Bloody hell I gotta go I’m going to be late for my bus.

So it's been a while!

Well guys, I am truly sorry about the lag in time between posts. But I trust that you'll understand when you realize that me and my family moved from a summer in Australia, to the worst winter in 15 bloody years in Nova Scotia Canada!!!!

So I finished work on November 30. And honestly, it was a sad day for me. At 4:30pm I handed in my keys and my ID badge... I could no longer get into my office without someone else letting me in. After 6 and a half years. 6 and a half years. Long time. Small group. Good friends... A sad day indeed. But the going away dinner was really good. I got to dance with a very attractive belly dancer, photos on Facebook... Thanks Anne. You're a doll :)

Saying goodbye to the family was hard. That's all I'll say about that. It was hard and I didn't like it. Didin't like it at all.

So on Dec 7, we went to Sydney Airport, where we spent too long in line for them to tell us that we had to repack our luggage because our carry-on was too heavy. So we had to go and buy another checked luggage bag and empty all of our carry on. My problem was that we were only allowed something like 7 kg and my laptop etc was about 3.5. The really shitty thing was that we didn't get to say good bye to the family members that came to see us off because we were too busy re-packing. I am truly sorry and deeply saddened by that loss.

The plane trip from Sydney to LA was really long. Really long with a 5 year old and a 1 year old who is on the verge of walking. Neither me nor The Wife got any sleep on that leg of the flight. Not a wink. Nor did we really get to watch a whole movie. Alex enjoyed that flight though (except the food) since he could choose which movie he wanted to watch, he could play his Nintendo DS and the list goes on.

LA: Good and bad. The people were really nice and helpful. The airport was exceptionally well organized and were able to get our luggage, get through customs, and all that crap and then catch our flight with only portions of minutes to spare. We only had 2 hours from touchdown (which ended up being 15 minutes late) to the LA to Boston flight. The crappy part was the customs part. Do you know that you can bring in milk onto a flight, but not water, as long as the milk has no sugar added. but not waterm or liquid om greater than 100 mL aliquots. It was a pain in the ass. Especially when we were traveling with 2 little kids and could not remember in which carry-on luggage the drinks were in.

Boston: Same problems as with LA customs. Except there was a 1 hour delay which meant that we were in Boston airport for 4-5 hours. Not fun. Me and The Wife only got about 1 hour of sleep on the last flight. Only one hour. But the flight was only 1 hour or so.

Halifax: hat can you say, it was only good. Got to see my family again! Drove back to Yarmouth with my big bro Jason, The Wife, and my one year old daughter. Unfortunatley, there was a snow storm, and what usually takes 3 hours, took 5. But Jason did an exceptionally good job. Thanks Jay! And he had to get back to work at 7:30 that morning.... Thanks, and sorry!

The weather here in Yarmouth NS has been pretty crappy too! In the way that there has been way too much snow and I am not used to it. And neither is my wife. We played in the snow today though, and that was truly fun. Except when I realized that I lost my keys and they ended up in the snow on the front lawn. Mom came up with the idea of raking the snow covered lawn. Which eventually worked (after searching the entire house).

The important thing about the keys, besides the Swiss Army Knife which my Dad gave me when I left home in 1995, was my new home keys. My family will be living in Bedford for the next 8 months, and I had both of the keys on that knife. Not smart yes, but since 1995 I have never lost my keys, so why should that change now. Why should that change now??

Ah well, the family is great. We like the living arrangements. The kids like the grandparents (my parents). The grandparents like the kids. And all is well. But it will be nice to have our own place again. Since we moved out of our house in November, I have lived in 4 different houses with 4 different sets of people. But we've enjoyed each place.

So this is likely my last post of the year, so Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'll talk to you all next year.

PS: I will be working at the IWK in Halifax NS in January 2008, and I will be doing medical research again in the field of immunology, particularly autoimmunity etc like rheumatoid arthritis...

Keep smiling and make your new years resolutions count for something.

a short bit...

Look, I don't really don't have alot to say today, so I thought that I would just say a few words. It's getting a bit scary now though... I have 37 days until I am in Canada. It's scary.... Last time I moved continents, it was pretty easy. I left Victoria BC, where I had no family, friends yes, but no family there. They were all back in NS (Canada again). I pretty much packed up my suitcase, and left.

NOW though, a completely different story. Married, 2 kids, a house full of crap to get rid of. A bit of a bigger deal of a move. But my wife is a true champion of champions. She's sold most of our stuff, and is, even now as I write, filling the world of e-bay with the final remnants of our possessions. Good on ya babe. Sorry I'm useless. But I think you may have known that when you married me. You may be over it.

It'll be interesting when I get back to NS though. I think that what will happen is that before I know it, the rest of my family will realize that they actually liked me better when I was so far away, and not visiting them!!! Joking (hopefully). Naw, it'll be great to see everyone. My brothers, my sister, my nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents and parents and the list goes on and on. Up to and including the snow. I have royally missed the snow my friends. The beaches here are awesome though and they will be greatly missed, but the job is too good to pass up!

For those of you that care (a list of 1 maybe?) I finish work on the 30th of November. Go down the coast to visit the in-laws the next day. Come back to Sydney on the 5th, do the formal graduation bit on Dec 6th, fly out of Sydney on the 7th at about 12 noon. Get into NS at about 9:45 pm on the 7th. drive south for 3-ish hours to Yarmouth NS, and then pass out from sheer exhaustion.

Well, I should run, I have to put some clothes on the line. And then go to bed. I've been pretty tired and bloodshot lately. It's starting to bother me a bit actually. For the past few days, my eyes have been too bloodshot... Not enough coffee maybe... I'll work on that tomorrow....

Cheers,

Countdown...

I just thought that I would try posting automatically from a program called "ScribeFire" which is a Firefox (web browser) add-on. if it works, you're reading this and you name's not Michael Amon.

Anyway though, it's Friday, I'm doing some work getting ready for a pretty big week next week. I'm going to start training a kind of replacement for me. She's an honour's student who'll be starting here next year, but she'll need to do some technique training because the stuff I have been learning this year is pretty tricky. I am also doing my last really big experiment which I want all my readers to begin praying for the success of.


Start now....



Alright that's probably enough, but remember to do it again soon. Like tonight and tomorrow and for the next week. I'll need it.

Just s short post though, I wanted to let you all know that I have only 6 weeks, to the day, of work. 7 weeks, to the day, until my family leaves the southern hemisphere for a little while.

Geez, it's coming up pretty quick isn't it. Almost scary.

Anyway though, I should run back to the lab to make up some medication to stop a transplant rejection in diabetic mice. (Remember the prayers I asked for...)

ya ya ya deal with it...

Powered by ScribeFire.

This cuts me deep...

This is a short post, but I wanted to post it because it sparked a strong emotional reaction from me. A very sad one though, but I want people to be aware so that if they are religious, they may include this poor child in their prayers.

Yesterday, a child between the ages of 5-10 was found in a travel bag in a duckpond in Rosemeadow (Rosemeadow is one of the small suburbs of Campbelltown, of which I live). Police etc "believe it is the body of boy" goes to tell you the state of the child.

The news story is here. And I don't want to go into any more detail, but I wanted this child to be remembered because nobody deserves this.

I pray that "he" is happy, free from pain, and is laughing at God's side. And may justice be served in the name of the as yet unknown child. I can't think of an appropriate punishment for this crime.

A little annoyed...

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a good day.... And give you a little update as to my absence, which I'm hoping ends today with this monumental post. Alright. So it won't be anything too special, but it'll hopefully mark the end of once or twice a month posts.

To start off with... Below is yes, a picture of my house. Particularly, my house last Saturday during the colossal moving sale we had. You can also see the "Sold" sign in front of our house. Pretty cool eh! We pretty much emptied the house so that our bed was on our front lawn as well. That didn't sell, so I'm happy that I still have my own bed to sleep on. BUT, both of our tvs are gone, as is our DVD payer, our VHS player, which makes my Wii a little hard to play on now (big sad face). Our couch and chairs also went, so in our living room is a very old but working tv (sitting on the floor in the corner), and an old computer desk with Bec's laptop sitting on it so we can at least check our e-mail etc. That's it. No chairs. Nadda. BUT, this does mean that we have very little to get rid of the end of next month.

Notice in the picture is Rebecca and Madison holding the fort!



Other matters..

I really don't like mobile phones (aka cell phones for my ever expanding north american audience). Sitting on the train, a crowded train where there are alot of people standing up in the ailes because there are no more seats left, is not the place to talk about how some relative is now in rehab by court order and if she walks out will be doing the rest of her rehab in Silverwater (prison in Sydney). or about many other issues I don't really want to share. But she was talking behind me so loud it's like she was talking straight into my ear.

And I had headphones on.

Loud..

And I still couldn't shut her out of my head. Maybe that's simply a sign of a weak mind on my part. Maybe I should drop this then and stop pointing out my weaknesses and faults. I may have just given all of my enemies the tool they need to finally defeat me and overthrow my vast empire of wealth. Which coincidentally is tied up in student loans. I guess the take home message is, please don't yell on your phones if your riding public transportation. I don't want to know the problems of your life, unless it's urgent. But otherwise, for people with weak minds, it's very disconcerting.

Another very sad thing happened to me. Starting last week or so. I had noticed that my ergonomically designed keyboard with nice soft-touch keys etc was in it's final throes. The letters, "z", "x," "c," and "v" stopped working. So I am now relegated to using a crap cheap keyboard that you have to slam the keys to get it to type. And it is bloody loud. I type pretty fast, like 500-1000 words a minute (yes the zeroes are correct), so it gets a bit loud. Ya, I am complaining about such a little thing, but I type alot. you may not realize but A LOT of science is done on a computer and there is a lot of writing involved. On that note, I have to go and finish writing up a grant for a project that I will not be working on....

PS: My last day of work is November 30!!!!! Yay for me!!!!!

Sorry So Long!

Firstly, I must apologize for my complete lack of blogging for like a month or so. Too long between posts, and for my adoring and obsessive fan, I am truly sorry. Truly sorry indeed.

But I have had a pretty big month if I do say so myself. First of all, I am tired of working here. I can't seem to get motivation. This has probably stemmed from that fact that I thought that the project would be a bit more set up before I started (as I was told it would be)... Or that it took over 6 months to get ethics approval to do the work... Or that I still don't have all the required tools to do the work... Or that I just spent a long time (months) getting my cell line to work properly and the company stopped making the most essential part of my experiment rendering my cells almost useless (or at least the experiment has no become a lot more expensive!!)

BUT, besides all that crap, my house sold in 5 days, the cooling-off period is over, and we bought out plane tickets back to Canada. We are leaving Australia on December 7 (12noon ish) and will be arriving in Halifax around 9:45pm that night. We're flying from Sydney to LA, to Bost and then to Halifax. It's a pretty big trip. Man I hope my kids can handle it. It's a big change... I feel bad for Alex though because we have to sell alot of his toys and stuff before we go. We are going to keep some for him until we leave, but still. No kid likes to get rid of their toys, especially when you are only 4 years old. He's doing well though.

We have already started selling off our possesions last week. We managed to sell a bunch of stuff to several Baha'i's in our community. Stuff like microwaves, dishes, plates, sewing machine etc... We're going to have a big yard sale soon to try to do a lot more damage though.

I'm really sorry about cutting this all-too-exciting post short though, but I really have to go and get some work done...

(end this letter with a defeated sigh)