now watch, im gonna catch it...

i feel like im in a zombie movie lately. pretty soon Woody Harrelson will jump out from around a corner and start shooting everyone with swine flu. friends are gonna turn on each other soon and a complete irradication of the “infected” will begin à la 28 days later, or zombieland. someone has to be getting rich off this whole swine flu thing. if only i visited my fortune-teller earlier to learn this awful pandemic was coming. I could have developed an iPhone app or came up with a magic “cocktail” containing silver “nano”-particles that would guarantee immunity. i would be swimming in money along with purell and all the other hand sanitizer companies. maybe i should develop some fancy hand lotion that people are gonna need after washing their hands raw. or a sleeve cover, so when people sneeze into their elbows, they can tear the cover off and throw it into the incinerator along with everything else they touch. keep your eyes open for my new products that are gonna take advantage of the fear that has been ingrained in you...

weekend

on friday tim brought a crew consisting of nic, jason and cody up to help him load his uhaul to take down to regina. the evening consisted of fuddruckers (which took a long time cause someone had to order chicken), hauling some boxes and watching the rider game.
it also included reminders of "dont forget the christmas lights". thanks tara.
had some good talks about life, football, books we've been reading, ways to make money, how awesome the Canadiens are and good acronyms for TSN signs to take to the rider game on oct 10th.
watch for us. our signs will get us on tv for sure. that and nic wearing his birthday suit. it will be his birthday after all.

i went and saw Dragonforce last night here in saskatoon. it was unreal. dueling key-tars (apparently thats how nic says your supposed to spell it). green tights, plenty of long hair all make for some good laughs. check out this video. seeing these guys play there guitars like that was sick.
if you dont want to watch it all, at least fast forward to the 2 minute mark to see the solos. wow

september

a lot has changed for me the past few months. got a job, bought a house. ok, so only two things have changed. 2 is a lot in my opinion.
anyway, its september now. starting to get into the new routine and almost feeling used to showing up to work everyday. i dont miss school. lets not lie. it was a good run, but i dont miss it.

september is a sweet time of year. the US Open just finished in dramatic fashion, baseball season is wrapping up and the push for the playoffs has begun. hockey season is just starting and i cannot wait. plans are in the works to get to at least one Canadiens game in montreal this year. the riders absolutely destroyed the bombers last weekend. life couldnt be better.


a few books ive been reading lately are from a pretty different point of view from a lot of books ive read in the past. dont get me wrong, ive read some great ones-donald miller, brian mclaren, anne lamott, blair roberts. people like that. with great stories that have made me think.

more recently however, i picked up a book by richard dawkins called 'the god delusion'. the guy is a world renowned scientist so at times it can be a tough read, but it made me think. if you actually do read it, which i expect none of you will, chapter 7 was the one that caught my attention. that and the first line in chapter 2. ouch. id be interested to hear your opinion(s)

the book im currently reading is called 'american fascists' by chris hedges. so far this one is really good. easier to read than dawkins but just as hard hitting. he went to seminary at harvard, but is writing from a very similar place to where i find myself these days.
so there it is..the point of my blog. a challenge...pick up something you wouldnt normally read. something that will make you think and challenge what you have grown up thinking is true. its good for you.

i just realized i have nothing profound to say and this blog is a complete waste of your time if you are reading it. i apologize.

2 years and 8 months later

in january 2007 i moved to saskatoon to go back to school. my job in yellowknife was ok, but it didnt really challenge me. doing the exact same thing day after day got old after about 10 months and i decided i needed something to push me a little bit more.

i didnt know what i was getting myself into when i signed up for grad school. i figured it would be a shorter version of my undergrad degree and i would learn some new concepts and enjoy the life of a student again.

the first few months were awful. it was so different than anything i had expected.i wanted something that would push me a 'little' bit more...not to the brink of quitting. the courses were noticeably more difficult, the expectations were that much higher and every person i met in the hallways was a hell of a lot more intelligent than i was. i wanted to quit everday for the first few months.

jackson and tressia were the two people i would work with everday for the next 32 months and were also a big part of the reason i stuck with it. they were both super patient and friendly and sort of taught me the ropes about working in a research setting. i enjoyed getting to know them better and learned a great deal from both of them, not only about chemistry but about life as well. you dont get a chance to meet such quality people all the time, and it was more than a privilege to get to work with these guys.

anyway, my time in the Foley lab has come to an end. a new chapter starts once i walk out the door at the end of today. a new chapter that i am super excited for. however, its still hard moving on. even though my new workplace will be within walking distance of where ive spent the last few years, it wont be the same. ill miss the surroundings that have become so comfortable.

maybe thats when its time for things to change..when things become comfortable?

unemployed no more

so i got a job at the Canadian Light Source (sometimes called the Synchrotron). im pretty excited about this opportunity, and excited to be able to stay in saskatoon for a while longer. check out
THIS video cause it explains what happens in the building much better than i can.

a week in Montreal

After a week in Montreal the time has come to head back west. Montreal was unreal, but before I get to that, I have to say how bad the Winnipeg airport is. It would be worth driving to a different city like Regina or Minneapolis to avoid this building. Now that I have that out of the way...

Montreal is a sweet city. Go read Nics blog for what he thinks. It is written far better than mine will be. Growing up I always thought I hated large cities but that's because the only ones I had seen were calgary and Edmonton. No wonder I had a bad taste in my mouth. I've been a few more places since my younger days and have learned that a lot of bigger cities actually have things put together in a much more logical manner. Montreal is one of those. 

Besides that, the history and architecture are great in this city. We watched tennis for a week straight, ate some amazing ethnic food, and of course it is home of the greatest franchise in pro sports. The only thing it is missing is the Expos. If we could have seen a baseball game there, our week would've been entirely complete. We did however manage to find an unlocked door in Olympic stadium to take in the place that would have been home of the 1994 world series champs had there not been a strike. I still blame this strike on the demise of the MLB in this city. 

We had a blast, met some sweet people and watched some unreal tennis. Thanks to Jacynthe for letting us crash in your living room. We will be back when the Canadiens begin pursuit of their 25th Stanley cup. Until next time..