this last shot was taken looking north at king edward ave and quesnel dr. the dramatic slope just north of king edward makes for an incredible view! i'm sure the value of the houses along this stretch reflects this...
23.7.07
photos: rainy day walk
after 7 days of rain, verging on stir-crazy, i finally donned my MEC rain anorak and went for a long walk around my neighbourhood. here are some photos i caught before the batteries in my camera died. i am in awe of the trees and greens that line each of the streets in this part of town. it is definitely a gardener's paradise, but you would have to get used to gardening with a rain suit on (which i noticed a few people were doing today).
this last shot was taken looking north at king edward ave and quesnel dr. the dramatic slope just north of king edward makes for an incredible view! i'm sure the value of the houses along this stretch reflects this...
this last shot was taken looking north at king edward ave and quesnel dr. the dramatic slope just north of king edward makes for an incredible view! i'm sure the value of the houses along this stretch reflects this...
22.7.07
photos: the lab
i have been promising photos for a while now, but unfortunately it's been raining since monday... so i haven't been outside exploring very much. instead, i decided to play around with my camera at work one night. the part of the hospital in which our lab is situated has a very distinct 70's-drab aesthetic, but there are a few design touches that i appreciate.
looking down the hallway by the entrance to our lab.
autumnal mural painted next to the washroom on our floor. this strikes me as odd. wouldn't you want spring-time imagery in a place that offers healing?
my desk, in our office.
semi-unpacked bench space in the lab.
storage in the lab. as my supervisor put it, "a mondrian look".
glassware hanging to dry.
surprisingly nice tile in the washroom. i love these!
looking down the hallway by the entrance to our lab.
autumnal mural painted next to the washroom on our floor. this strikes me as odd. wouldn't you want spring-time imagery in a place that offers healing?
my desk, in our office.
semi-unpacked bench space in the lab.
storage in the lab. as my supervisor put it, "a mondrian look".
glassware hanging to dry.
surprisingly nice tile in the washroom. i love these!
18.7.07
into week 3
can't believe i've been here for three weeks already. after a very slow first weekend spent lounging on the beach, life got busy again and sped past. i've also started to get a feel for the city, so am enjoying getting out exploring when i'm not at work. this past week i managed to get to a couple of dance shows at the Dancing on the Edge festival. both were thought-provoking and beautiful, but for very different reasons. i plan on writing about them, but am feeling a little drained of words after working on a paper for the past 36 hours.
this week i am excited to meet up with a very treasured old friend who was a coordinator at the summer program i attended the last time i was in vancouver for an extended period of time (summer '99). he is now a professor at the university of windsor back in ontario, but in a lucky twist is here coordinating the same summer program at UBC right now! we are meeting at my favourite lunch spot on campus tomorrow. i can't wait to see him.
hoping to get that paper off to collaborators to read by friday, so that i don't have to bring my laptop while i'm away this weekend in tofino. somehow i was lucky enough to be here at the same time that a good friend had a trip planned with her girlfriends, so i will be heading to the pacific side of vancouver island with them. unfortunately, it looks like it's supposed to rain from now through monday. hoping they're wrong on that prediction.
this week i am excited to meet up with a very treasured old friend who was a coordinator at the summer program i attended the last time i was in vancouver for an extended period of time (summer '99). he is now a professor at the university of windsor back in ontario, but in a lucky twist is here coordinating the same summer program at UBC right now! we are meeting at my favourite lunch spot on campus tomorrow. i can't wait to see him.
hoping to get that paper off to collaborators to read by friday, so that i don't have to bring my laptop while i'm away this weekend in tofino. somehow i was lucky enough to be here at the same time that a good friend had a trip planned with her girlfriends, so i will be heading to the pacific side of vancouver island with them. unfortunately, it looks like it's supposed to rain from now through monday. hoping they're wrong on that prediction.
kitsilano farmers' market
figured out that this past sunday was the first convening of the farmers' market in kitsilano, up around 10th and larch. went to check it out, and came away with delicious okanagan berries. also a selection of wild mushrooms and some bunches of baby bok choy, but unfortunately i ate those tonight before i remembered to snap a photo. will post more on the mushrooms once i get to the market again, but i need to write down their names so that i don't forget what kinds they were. that's right.. even i hadn't heard of them!
the old train station
went for a walk around gastown last friday night, and ended up in front of the old CPR railway station on west cordova street. it was a beautiful golden evening.
10.7.07
things move slowly
today i scored a chair for my office! mind you, it's a loaner until our research account is set up so that we can order our own chairs. at least now i can sit in front of my laptop and imagine that i'm on the internet. access to the UBC wireless network MAY come tomorrow. fingers crossed. then i could actually do work at work!
7.7.07
toronto subway
Photo by Craig James White from the set Toronto's TTC Stations.
despite being on the west coast, i am still following my toronto blogs (here and here). yesterday, the torontoist had a piece on the controversial decision to edit much of the signage used in subway stations around the city. although i am all for updating and refreshing where updating and refreshing are due, i have to agree with the author and with accessibility expert Joe Clark. the subway has been integral to my experience in toronto as a frequent visitor throughout my childhood and teenagedom, and as a resident for the past 3 years. i remember memorizing the station sequence heading southbound from Finch (where we typically stayed with my granny or grandpa) around the loop to the University line, reciting the station names in my head based on the first rush of coloured tiles as we pulled in. Lawrence was a deep orangey-brown, Eglinton was grey. Rosedale's identity was conveyed in bright canary yellow on a broad sweep of tiny diamond-shaped khaki green tiles. i liked Wellesley in turquoise, and the mosaic patterns of St. Andrew and Osgoode. but across every station, the bold subway typeface was familiar and authoritative. frankly, i would be devastated if they went through and changed all of the signage to match the comparatively dull black-on-concrete look of the newer Sheppard line.
the torontoist story linked out to some great TTC-related items. at spacing, you can purchase pins portraying each and every subway station. and, Craig James White has a beautiful TTC flickr photo set. these pictures make me want to be back in toronto riding the subway. my personal favourite shots are of Arlene Stamp's tile designs at Downsview station, and of the stunning tile artwork by James Sutherland at Dupont station. i am particularly sentimental about the latter, since Dupont was my home station for the past three years. how can you not feel deco glamorous when walking up a stairwell like this or down the main corridor that looks like this? i would recommend checking out the entire photo set. there are some hidden gems in those stations under the ground!
5.7.07
overdue again
since that night of celebrating the over-ness of my defense, i have not done a single ounce of work. well.. that's not entirely true. i finished off an experiment that i had going during the 2 weeks prior to my defense. then i pulled together a presentation for a conference in banff that i attended a couple of weekends ago, and engaged in some academic discussion at said conference. and if you count packing and moving the lab to vancouver, i've done a bit of that too. but apart from these few things, i have unabashedly engaged in a strict regimen of fun, sun, and trashy fashion fiction. i realized today that it's july the 4th (happy independence day americans who i like!) and nearly a month since finishing.. and i started to feel a bit ick for having avoided my papers that need to get written (count: 2) and my grants that need to get submitted by september/october (count: 3). hopefully the ick will translate to a bit of grindstone-meets-nose, but i have to confess that it is hard to pick up a stack of journal articles after wiling away the past weeks with such gems as everyone worth knowing and bergdorf blondes. my brain may have pruned up a little while reading about alligator birkin bags and champagne cocktails at cipriani's.
oh well. sometimes self-indulgence is important.
right now i'm sitting at a desk that does not belong to me in a subletted room in vancouver. i arrived on the west coast exactly a week ago, and was staying at a friend's place near kitsilano beach until yesterday. after a bit of a hassle from air canada, i was able to get percy sent out here by live animal cargo; he joined me last night. he was doing great with the new house and the extreme laid-backedness embodied by all pacific coasters. then our third subletter roommate arrived with her enormous 1-year old huskie mix puppy. if a cat's jaw could drop, i think percy's would have. needless to say, we will be engineering a slow introduction of giant mutt to tiny kitty.
apart from socializing domestic animals, i'll spend the rest of the summer writing the aforementioned papers and grants. i also might do a little bit of data collection, if we manage to unpack the equipment and slides that i need anytime soon. to provide a bit of context, for anyone who is not already up-to-date on my life, my master's supervisor decided to leave U of T last fall to accept a position at UBC. after wrapping up all of my MSc experiments, and allowing the other grad students to transfer to new labs or finish, we packed up and brought the lab out here for him. i've decided to return to toronto in the fall to start fresh on my PhD with a new supervisor, but agreed to spend july and august out here on MSc supervisor's dime. it is not a bad set-up. i get to taste vancouver living during the most beautiful part of summer, avoid toronto humidity and smog, and sort of relax before joining my new lab and embarking on the next five years of studies. so far, i am enjoying myself. i have a good friend here who i met in the lab at dalhousie, and she has introduced me to her group of grad student and other friends. i also know a few other random people who i will hopefully get to connect with once or twice. i've also met up with an old good friend from grades 7/8 who i found on facebook this past weekend. oh what would we do when moving to new cities without the internet... i am entirely dependent on the BC translink bus system web site, Googlemaps, and facebook for daily function here.
the views are beautiful (try breathtaking mountains as you coast down the hill to work in the morning), everyone walks about 10 times slower, and the air smells like flowers, cut grass, and open water. the sushi is delicious, and 40% off after 7 pm (freshness guarantee). the beach is never far away. but still, i miss my dirty, noisy, stinking-hot toronto with its crowded streetcars and bad drivers. i miss living in my new house on a street that never quite falls asleep. i take this all as a sign that i've finally found home again. despite two - almost three - years of struggling to find my place at U of T and in the city, i feel like i will belong there for my PhD. can't wait to get started all over again.
oh well. sometimes self-indulgence is important.
right now i'm sitting at a desk that does not belong to me in a subletted room in vancouver. i arrived on the west coast exactly a week ago, and was staying at a friend's place near kitsilano beach until yesterday. after a bit of a hassle from air canada, i was able to get percy sent out here by live animal cargo; he joined me last night. he was doing great with the new house and the extreme laid-backedness embodied by all pacific coasters. then our third subletter roommate arrived with her enormous 1-year old huskie mix puppy. if a cat's jaw could drop, i think percy's would have. needless to say, we will be engineering a slow introduction of giant mutt to tiny kitty.
apart from socializing domestic animals, i'll spend the rest of the summer writing the aforementioned papers and grants. i also might do a little bit of data collection, if we manage to unpack the equipment and slides that i need anytime soon. to provide a bit of context, for anyone who is not already up-to-date on my life, my master's supervisor decided to leave U of T last fall to accept a position at UBC. after wrapping up all of my MSc experiments, and allowing the other grad students to transfer to new labs or finish, we packed up and brought the lab out here for him. i've decided to return to toronto in the fall to start fresh on my PhD with a new supervisor, but agreed to spend july and august out here on MSc supervisor's dime. it is not a bad set-up. i get to taste vancouver living during the most beautiful part of summer, avoid toronto humidity and smog, and sort of relax before joining my new lab and embarking on the next five years of studies. so far, i am enjoying myself. i have a good friend here who i met in the lab at dalhousie, and she has introduced me to her group of grad student and other friends. i also know a few other random people who i will hopefully get to connect with once or twice. i've also met up with an old good friend from grades 7/8 who i found on facebook this past weekend. oh what would we do when moving to new cities without the internet... i am entirely dependent on the BC translink bus system web site, Googlemaps, and facebook for daily function here.
the views are beautiful (try breathtaking mountains as you coast down the hill to work in the morning), everyone walks about 10 times slower, and the air smells like flowers, cut grass, and open water. the sushi is delicious, and 40% off after 7 pm (freshness guarantee). the beach is never far away. but still, i miss my dirty, noisy, stinking-hot toronto with its crowded streetcars and bad drivers. i miss living in my new house on a street that never quite falls asleep. i take this all as a sign that i've finally found home again. despite two - almost three - years of struggling to find my place at U of T and in the city, i feel like i will belong there for my PhD. can't wait to get started all over again.
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