the facts of life (that was a sweet t.v. show)

today at school i got to thinking. i got to thinking about how chemistry is the basis of life.
think about it.
if it wasnt for chemistry, none of us would be here. no jokes. we are chemistry in the flesh. reducible to atoms and particles (or waves), smaller than even most microscopes can see. now that is cool.
but there has to be something more than that.
first of all, it blows my mind to think that we are made up of things that are so small that all work together to keep us alive. but more importantly, how is it that when something is missing, my whole body knows it?
when i miss food, i know it. when sleep gets left out, i definitely know it and even when i leave out things that arent physical, somehow my body knows. that is crazy to me. that these physical pieces of matter "know" when things in the spiritual aspect of life are missing. but how do those particles know? (the answer is they probably dont know anything, but hear me out)
all of this chemistry exists because someone greater created it. and it exists for one purpose--to be in a relationship with that someone greater.

reading

i just finished checking my handy 'bloglines' site that shows me when you guys all update your blogs. and it kind of hit me for the first time, or at least the first time in a long time, that i really like reading your blogs. seriously. if it wasnt for your blogs and updates i would have little to no clue what was happening in your lives. its a pretty sweet thing to be able to catch up on it all in a matter of a few minutes. its sweet reading about everything from the little stuff that comes and goes with everyday life, to some of the stuff that makes me think way too much. so keep those updates coming and remember that saskatoon is the new regina.

movies that make you think

i like watching movies as much as the next guy, but the last week or so since spending some time in calgary, i have a sort of renewed interest in movies that make you think. i mentioned "Ugananda Rising" in my last blog, and im sure most of you still havent checked it out, but you should. last nite i watched "Jesus Camp". i hadnt actually heard about it until last nite, so maybe im way out of the loop or something and behind the times, but i got to see it. man. that movie is crazy. (for those of you who are out of the loop like me check out www.jesuscampthemovie.com) id be interested to hear what some of you guys thought about it. other movies that are on the 'to see' list right now include: invisible children, killing fields, the boys of baraka, sometimes in april. does any one have any other documentary/make you think type movies that are worth a watch?

calgary sucks

now that i have got your attention...at least those of you that are calgarians...calgary doesnt suck, its definitely not as cool as saskatoon, but its pretty fun. im here for the weekend, watching davis cup and catching up with some old friends. kori and lisa have been kind enough to let me sleep at their house, use their shower and eat some of their food. it has been a pretty fun weekend and usually anytime kori is around the weekend is almost full of laughing. . today i even got to see dan hill. one of the estevan boys that i grew up with. ive known him for 25 years. weird. one of the topics of conversation of the weekend has been about kori and lisa's trip to uganda in the summer with a team. so they have been exposing me to some of the things they have been learning including some pretty hard to watch movies. if you get the chance check out "uganda rising". its one of those ones that is good to watch, but hard to watch at the same time. a clip from it is at www.ugandarising.com. on weekends like this, im thankful for friends, for being able to watch each other learn and grow and for sharing some laughs.

what i do all day.

lots of people have been asking me what i do all day at school for 40hrs a week. so ill try and explain it without making things sound easier or harder than they are.
i only have two courses, which have a lecture once a week for 3 hrs at a time. so when im not in lectures, i have about 34 hrs of time to kill. so far i have been working on catching up and refreshing the old brain on 1st and 2nd and 3rd year chemistry that i forgot while i was working last year. my courses have assignments, so i spend a good chunk of time on those as well.
the rest of the time im in the lab synthesizing, characterizing and polymerizing. usually i synthesize a ligand, complex it to a metal centre and then characterize it to make sure that i got what i was aiming for. then this metal centred complex is usually a catalyst and i test to see how effective it is at polymerizing alkenes. (you are likely using polymers right now, so it is extremely relevant).
a lot of the chemicals i use are air sensitive so i have to use them under a nitrogen atmosphere either on a $4000 piece of glassware or in a sealed glove box that has a nitrogen atmosphere. so its pretty fun.
the other day i was getting rid of one of my chemicals that is flammable on contact with water. so i got a huge bucket of ice water and scraped this white powder into the ice water which let out good sized fire balls. now if that isnt sweet...
anyway, the compound i made today was called
(mu-chloro)-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl-3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylaldiminato)copper(II). check it out at your local drugstore.

keeping up with the joneses

yeah. thats right. one of the guys that i look up to the most has started a blog. kori has been a solid friend since highschool and has always impressed me with the way he thinks, so im excited to read some of that on his blog. check it out here. and you wont be dissapointed.

generosity..

well. i honestly dont have a lot to say about this topic. my life in general hasnt been that generous. but generosity has been poured out to me so many times. india is one time that still sticks out. and i know i blogged about this same generosity when tim asked us to write some thoughts on our visit to that country. but i still cant shake the way the people poured out their generosity on us. seriously. i have also been a benefactor of this generosity from my parents, for about 25 solid years, from doug and cindy last year, as well as tim and tara who fed me on a weekly basis, if not more often, and now to bern and deb. those are just the ones that have been recent and so are still on my mind. but serious, if you want to learn about all out, no holds barred generosity, go visit some of the friends we have made in india.

for my arts friends

i thought this one was funny. it was in the saskatoon paper last week. its one of those things thats kind of too bad, but since its true, we might as well have a laugh about it, right?