here is percy being 1 month old:
about 6 months, gazing longingly at the world outside:
full-blown adolescent mirth, wishing i would put down the camera [eye roll]:
and finally, compliance with my wishes for a 1st birthday candid:
7.3.07
in which birthdays are discussed
last week i was so busy finishing a grant submission and packing for a weekend trip to vancouver that i had no time to celebrate percy's first birthday. i don't think he noticed. i should specify that feb 28, 2006 was his true birthday. he came to live with me on april 8 last year, 2 days before MY birthday.
here is percy being 1 month old:
about 6 months, gazing longingly at the world outside:
full-blown adolescent mirth, wishing i would put down the camera [eye roll]:
and finally, compliance with my wishes for a 1st birthday candid:
here is percy being 1 month old:
about 6 months, gazing longingly at the world outside:
full-blown adolescent mirth, wishing i would put down the camera [eye roll]:
and finally, compliance with my wishes for a 1st birthday candid:
24.2.07
collingwood weekend
this weekend i was treated to an escape from toronto courtesy of my landlords. they had been encouraging me to join them at their house in collingwood for the past few weeks, and the timing appeared to be right for this particular saturday/sunday. the only condition was full internet access, as i have been going back and forth with my supervisor on final details for his grant proposal that is due next wednesday. fortunately, the internet was not a problem, and i have fully enjoyed my relaxing winter saturday away from the city. i started by waking up naturally with the sun at 8:00 am (something not often possible in my basement apartment), then enjoyed a freshly baked muffin and coffee for breakfast. took a leisurely shower after reading the entire globe & mail. worked on aforementioned grant for a couple of hours and paused for lunch. then, i snowshoed up the escarpment and around a loop of the bruce trail with my landlord, which took about 2 hours. great cardio (!) and so peaceful in the ravines. i thought about taking my camera, but didn't want to spoil the serenity of the run by stopping to take snaps. so unfortunately, no photos for all of you. the view from the top was incredible though - at one point you can see georgian bay out between two of the ski hills. after the very quick trip down the escarpment, i took a 30 minute soak in the outdoor hot tub. outdoor hot tubs are SO underrated. after another shower and another hour of work i helped assemble a few parts of dinner, and spent the evening with friends of the landlords. i think tomorrow i will try for another snowshoe run up the hills, justifying another hot tub soak. then i should get back to the city and back to reality. not for long though, as i'm headed for vancouver on thursday morning!
that's all. snowshoes plus hot tub soak plus wine equals sleepy.
that's all. snowshoes plus hot tub soak plus wine equals sleepy.
13.2.07
sub-zero neuron tracing
it is cold in toronto. i'm not complaining, but merely informing you that it hurts to be outside right now. of course, this snap has timed itself perfectly for the one month in which i need to spend more time than usual walking around out of doors. i'm in the last stretch of an experiment that i started back in november, and this particular phase involves using a microscope located at the Toronto Western Hospital. my lab is at a different hospital, about a 12 minute walk from where the microscope is. unfortunately, those 12 minutes are not in the direction of my house, but further away from my house. this means that every morning i have to spend 32 minutes walking to work instead of 20, and then there are one or two 24 minute return trips to the lab squished in over the day. i have broken out the long johns.
incidentally, i still wear the same long johns that i've had since elementary school. somehow they wield a miraculous power of stretch, while maintaining consistent warm-and-cosiness.
anyways, for the past couple of weeks i have been tracing neurons. apart from eating, this is how i kept myself busy while in India last winter (as described here). in fact, the reason that i was sent to India in the first place was to learn a method of staining tissue called Golgi-Cox impregnation. this Golgi Staining allows you to visualize single neurons in a thick section of brain tissue. then, with fancy computer software and a microscope, you can trace the outline of the neuron's body (called the soma in this context) and all of its arms and legs (called dendrites). you end up with something that looks like this:
then, with the fancy computer software, i can determine how long the arms and legs are and how big the cell body is. i might also get excited and look at how complicated the network of arms and legs is. some neurons will have only one or two arms, while others will have many. this tells us a bit about how active the cell might have been while it was still alive - a neuron with fewer arms would make fewer points of contact with other neurons, while a neuron with plenty of arms and legs would probably have been heavily connected to other neurons.
because they're so pretty, here's one more before i brave the cold:
incidentally, i still wear the same long johns that i've had since elementary school. somehow they wield a miraculous power of stretch, while maintaining consistent warm-and-cosiness.
anyways, for the past couple of weeks i have been tracing neurons. apart from eating, this is how i kept myself busy while in India last winter (as described here). in fact, the reason that i was sent to India in the first place was to learn a method of staining tissue called Golgi-Cox impregnation. this Golgi Staining allows you to visualize single neurons in a thick section of brain tissue. then, with fancy computer software and a microscope, you can trace the outline of the neuron's body (called the soma in this context) and all of its arms and legs (called dendrites). you end up with something that looks like this:
then, with the fancy computer software, i can determine how long the arms and legs are and how big the cell body is. i might also get excited and look at how complicated the network of arms and legs is. some neurons will have only one or two arms, while others will have many. this tells us a bit about how active the cell might have been while it was still alive - a neuron with fewer arms would make fewer points of contact with other neurons, while a neuron with plenty of arms and legs would probably have been heavily connected to other neurons.
because they're so pretty, here's one more before i brave the cold:
5.2.07
i heart co-op
apparently the excitement of my new laptop has kept me from posting for a full 2.5 weeks. i've been amassing things to talk about in that time, though, so sit tight.
first up? my new obsession and life-changing experience. joining a neighbourhood food co-op! my landlords were generously kind enough to gift me with a membership for xmas. i had been talking to one of them about the struggle to find good local produce on a regular and accessible basis without signing up for a delivery service or visiting the farmer's market on saturday mornings. she had been a member of a local co-op for the past many years, and suggested i come try it out. in my 2006 procrastinating ways, i never did. but with the gifting of the membership, i was obligated - and so, about a week after i got back to toronto from the holidays, i made my way over to the co-op and executed my first trial shop. i was hardly in the doors before falling head over heels. not only is it hidden in a little back alley, away from the noise and light pollution of the big city, but real people work there (i.e. not teenage robots) and they play the same music that i was listening to at home 10 minutes before walking over!
before extolling any more virtues, i will explain to my questioning readers what exactly 'food co-op' refers to. in this case, a group of people got together back in the 70's and felt like they were not having sufficient access to healthy, locally-grown, non-pesticided foods. these people took a mortgage out on an old bakery, started sourcing healthy, locally-grown, non-pesticided foods, and opened up to the community. in order to shop at the co-op, you had to become a member. this meant paying a small membership loan up front (it's now about $70), an annual membership fee (now about $16), and volunteering 2 hours of your time every month to help keep the place running. in return, the co-op staff take care of making sure the food is grown, prepared, and packaged in a healthy and ethical way, and they keep mark-up on prices incredibly low because the co-op is NON-PROFIT. so much like for one of my favourite NON-PROFIT orgs from one of my earlier lives, the Ottawa School of Art (where I worked for several years during high school), all money that the co-op takes in is invested back in the co-op. as a result, money flows from the customer through the co-op to the healthy and ethical food producers, and the producers get to remain producers as they are sustained by support from the co-op.
all this appeals to me at a political level and at a basic satisfaction of needs level. as someone who enjoys food A LOT, and who loves to cook in a number of different styles, i am blown away by the diversity of ingredients the co-op carries. at last! one store that sells Lacinato kale, shiitake mushrooms, tamari-roasted almonds, and my favourite breakfast muslix pitas. behold the bounty.
and that was just my trial shop...
first up? my new obsession and life-changing experience. joining a neighbourhood food co-op! my landlords were generously kind enough to gift me with a membership for xmas. i had been talking to one of them about the struggle to find good local produce on a regular and accessible basis without signing up for a delivery service or visiting the farmer's market on saturday mornings. she had been a member of a local co-op for the past many years, and suggested i come try it out. in my 2006 procrastinating ways, i never did. but with the gifting of the membership, i was obligated - and so, about a week after i got back to toronto from the holidays, i made my way over to the co-op and executed my first trial shop. i was hardly in the doors before falling head over heels. not only is it hidden in a little back alley, away from the noise and light pollution of the big city, but real people work there (i.e. not teenage robots) and they play the same music that i was listening to at home 10 minutes before walking over!
before extolling any more virtues, i will explain to my questioning readers what exactly 'food co-op' refers to. in this case, a group of people got together back in the 70's and felt like they were not having sufficient access to healthy, locally-grown, non-pesticided foods. these people took a mortgage out on an old bakery, started sourcing healthy, locally-grown, non-pesticided foods, and opened up to the community. in order to shop at the co-op, you had to become a member. this meant paying a small membership loan up front (it's now about $70), an annual membership fee (now about $16), and volunteering 2 hours of your time every month to help keep the place running. in return, the co-op staff take care of making sure the food is grown, prepared, and packaged in a healthy and ethical way, and they keep mark-up on prices incredibly low because the co-op is NON-PROFIT. so much like for one of my favourite NON-PROFIT orgs from one of my earlier lives, the Ottawa School of Art (where I worked for several years during high school), all money that the co-op takes in is invested back in the co-op. as a result, money flows from the customer through the co-op to the healthy and ethical food producers, and the producers get to remain producers as they are sustained by support from the co-op.
all this appeals to me at a political level and at a basic satisfaction of needs level. as someone who enjoys food A LOT, and who loves to cook in a number of different styles, i am blown away by the diversity of ingredients the co-op carries. at last! one store that sells Lacinato kale, shiitake mushrooms, tamari-roasted almonds, and my favourite breakfast muslix pitas. behold the bounty.
and that was just my trial shop...
20.1.07
like cake
not quite 24 hours, but here i am on my couch with my beautiful new family member. interweb, meet MacBook.
luckily, my iBook managed to hold out for about 45 minutes of hard core data transfer. anyone who anticipates a mac-to-mac transfer in the near future: let me assure you it is simple as pie. after my inaugural boot, the shmancey Mac orientation movie prompted me to restore settings and data from my previous machine. plug in to power, connect with firewire, hit enter, and enjoy dinner with a glass of celebratory chianti. then, it's like i'm back on my iBook - from my mail settings to my bookmark organization, right down to the spatial layout of the countless pdfs cluttering my desktop. beautiful.
luckily, my iBook managed to hold out for about 45 minutes of hard core data transfer. anyone who anticipates a mac-to-mac transfer in the near future: let me assure you it is simple as pie. after my inaugural boot, the shmancey Mac orientation movie prompted me to restore settings and data from my previous machine. plug in to power, connect with firewire, hit enter, and enjoy dinner with a glass of celebratory chianti. then, it's like i'm back on my iBook - from my mail settings to my bookmark organization, right down to the spatial layout of the countless pdfs cluttering my desktop. beautiful.
18.1.07
lady friends
it seems funny to link to my aunt from here, as i think most people who read this blog are from that side of the family - and therefore have already seen my aunt's posts, but i was touched by her entry today. i also have a wonderful group of internet lady friends who i've known over e-mail for 2 and a half years, and i agree wholeheartedly with my aunt that it is both wonderful and important to have a support group of peers. some of my lady friends are artists, some are educators, some are academics, but all of them are inspiring. cheers to lady friends.
enforced hiatus
ack! this past weekend, my iBook G4 that has faithfully served me through an Honours thesis, two rounds of grad school applications, a PhD transfer exam, and countless PowerPoint presentations decided to cough a bit and then die. my beautiful little iBook, he who travelled with me to India last winter, who has been to every Society for Neuroscience meeting that I have (including San Diego, Washington, and Atlanta), who keeps me company on my plane or train trips back to Ottawa; yes, beautiful little iBook has passed. luckily, this was an ideal time for my laptop to die. term paper from last semester's course? done back in december. new grad school applications so that i can continue my PhD in the fall? sent off last Thursday. manuscript that i was supposed to finish 6 months ago? complete as of last Tuesday. and so, little iBook allowed me to access my desktop for one last back-up. then we took a trip to the Apple store, and i waited 2 hours for an appointment with a bleached-blonde and facial-pierced Genius (which is what they call the staff who work behind the Tech Support desk, not a sardonic moniker on my part). Genius tried to turn iBook on a few times unsuccessfully, listened to my detailed description of The Symptoms (which included: sudden black screen, won't boot past the opening apple screen, then scary vertical flashy stripes that look like a grand mal seizure), consulted with a compatriot Genius, and diagnosed iBook as requiring expensive replacement of the motherboard or worthwhile replacement of his entire being.
after a little detective work on the very helpful Apple Technical Support web site, a phone call to my computer-savvy father, and several hours scrolling through pages of Apple internet discussion boards, i came to the conclusion that iBook's motherboard had indeed failed. not that i didn't trust peroxided-pierced Genius; he just had a rather flippant way of diagnosing which begged a second opinion. as a result, i will soon be the proud owner of my second Apple laptop. this time around, a mid-level MacBook with all the trimmings!
1 GB RAM? check! 80 GB hard drive? check! (how crazy it is to reflect that my first laptop, a generous gift from my Grampa in 1999 - hi Grampa!, had only 4 GB of hard drive storage. and this was more than enough! simply baffling.) combo CD and DVD burning drive? check! built in wireless? check. built in camera for video chat? check. remote control to turn on/off iTunes while i'm standing in the kitchen? check. i can't wait to get my hands on this new piece of beautiful computing goodness. hopefully i can put out my first post from MacBook in T-24 hours... see you soon!
after a little detective work on the very helpful Apple Technical Support web site, a phone call to my computer-savvy father, and several hours scrolling through pages of Apple internet discussion boards, i came to the conclusion that iBook's motherboard had indeed failed. not that i didn't trust peroxided-pierced Genius; he just had a rather flippant way of diagnosing which begged a second opinion. as a result, i will soon be the proud owner of my second Apple laptop. this time around, a mid-level MacBook with all the trimmings!
1 GB RAM? check! 80 GB hard drive? check! (how crazy it is to reflect that my first laptop, a generous gift from my Grampa in 1999 - hi Grampa!, had only 4 GB of hard drive storage. and this was more than enough! simply baffling.) combo CD and DVD burning drive? check! built in wireless? check. built in camera for video chat? check. remote control to turn on/off iTunes while i'm standing in the kitchen? check. i can't wait to get my hands on this new piece of beautiful computing goodness. hopefully i can put out my first post from MacBook in T-24 hours... see you soon!
9.1.07
coveted [update]
kottke has posted a play-by-play of steve jobs' keynote at the macworld conference, complete with corresponding stock jumps and dives of apple and RIMM (manufacturer of the blackberry).
he's also compiled a helpful guide which answers the question you must all be asking: how big is this thing, really?
oh, and it turns out steve did announce the release date -- june 2007. unfortunately, the phone will only be available in the US for now, and you have to sign a 2-year contract with cingular. *grumble grumble*
he's also compiled a helpful guide which answers the question you must all be asking: how big is this thing, really?
oh, and it turns out steve did announce the release date -- june 2007. unfortunately, the phone will only be available in the US for now, and you have to sign a 2-year contract with cingular. *grumble grumble*
coveted
apple has just published details on their new iPhone.
i want i want i want!!!!!
also, if you look here and click to watch the QuickTour of Maps, you will see a very important application of my favourite feature.
no release date set, but i can't wait. it should take about a year for them to iron out the kinks, and it just happens i'll be looking for a new phone around then... i really hope they didn't scrimp on the actual phone part that enables good reception. that would make it almost all not worth it. we shall see.
i want i want i want!!!!!
also, if you look here and click to watch the QuickTour of Maps, you will see a very important application of my favourite feature.
no release date set, but i can't wait. it should take about a year for them to iron out the kinks, and it just happens i'll be looking for a new phone around then... i really hope they didn't scrimp on the actual phone part that enables good reception. that would make it almost all not worth it. we shall see.
8.1.07
word play
after finishing the first complete draft of my paper, i popped over to queen video on bloor and picked up wordplay for viewing pleasure in what remained of my evening. i vaguely knew that it was about crossword puzzles, but clearly recalled mention that jon stewart makes an appearance. it was worth it just for him:
"i'm so confident, i'm gonna do it in glue stick."
-stewart, when asked whether he dare attempt the NY times puzzle with pen
as if he just happened to have a glue stick lying around on his desk. in case he feels a craft itch coming on. love that guy.
anyways, the whole movie is great. a veritable celebration of crossword geekdom, complete with endorsement of puzzling by bill clinton. he explains that he used to enjoy doing the NY times crossword over his lunch breaks in the white house, to take his mind off the multitude of issues he faced during the rest of the day. seems a stark contrast to looking up satellite images of one's texas ranch on The Google.
watching put me in the mood for a bit of my own wordplay, so i was happy to locate this. daily crosswords that even i can solve! we've all gotta start somewhere. i just spent the past hour working on today's, but i better escape to bed before i get caught up in yesterday's.
"i'm so confident, i'm gonna do it in glue stick."
-stewart, when asked whether he dare attempt the NY times puzzle with pen
as if he just happened to have a glue stick lying around on his desk. in case he feels a craft itch coming on. love that guy.
anyways, the whole movie is great. a veritable celebration of crossword geekdom, complete with endorsement of puzzling by bill clinton. he explains that he used to enjoy doing the NY times crossword over his lunch breaks in the white house, to take his mind off the multitude of issues he faced during the rest of the day. seems a stark contrast to looking up satellite images of one's texas ranch on The Google.
watching put me in the mood for a bit of my own wordplay, so i was happy to locate this. daily crosswords that even i can solve! we've all gotta start somewhere. i just spent the past hour working on today's, but i better escape to bed before i get caught up in yesterday's.
my year in cities (part deux)
i remember doing this last year after seeing the idea on kottke. since i travelled fairly much over the past twelve months, and since i did attain one of my travel goals from 2006, felt like it was worth reprising.
Ottawa, ON*
Toronto, ON*
Saskatoon, SK
Vancouver, BC
Whistler, BC
Montreal, PQ*
New Haven, CT
New York, NY
Atlanta, GA
Simcoe, ON
in order to list a city, i had to have spent one or more nights in the city at some point in the year. cities with a star were visited on more than one occasion. bolded cities were particularly exciting.
Ottawa, ON*
Toronto, ON*
Saskatoon, SK
Vancouver, BC
Whistler, BC
Montreal, PQ*
New Haven, CT
New York, NY
Atlanta, GA
Simcoe, ON
in order to list a city, i had to have spent one or more nights in the city at some point in the year. cities with a star were visited on more than one occasion. bolded cities were particularly exciting.
final drafted
after nearly seven (count them.. SEVEN) months of procrastination, i am proud to say that this afternoon i finished the first draft of my paper. this is not just some term paper (wrote that be-FORE xmas), but rather the kind of paper that formally describes and pontificates on the results of an experiment that yours truly carried out with her own hands and brain. in order to not feel like a total slacker, i need to remind myself that in the SEVEN months since i started writing i was distracted by a week-long smarty-pants conference in montreal, my first trip to new york city (which was partially for academic purposes), submission of an operating grant proposal to CIHR by my supervisor, the realization that i need to reconvene my studies elsewhere by sept 2007, submission of four PhD funding applications, prep and travel to the annual neuroscience meeting in atlanta, two experiments for my thesis, one experiment for fun, one GRE general test, and two grad school applications. oh, and that comparative cognition course with the term paper that i wrote on the weekend before vacation.
so maybe i'm not a slacker, but i'm still minorly disgusted with myself for taking seven months to write the paper.
i don't really believe in new year's resolutions, since you shouldn't have to wait until january the first of every year to decide to change something in your life, but if i were to make a small resolution for the occasion of 2007 i would aim to fully characterize and understand my procrastination patterns. i have always been a procrastinator, and it has never posed me any problems. because i am also obsessively organized, everything gets done on time. i typically just end up losing a bit of sleep... one thing i have noticed is that the more busy i make my life, the less room i have to procrastinate. for example, in my last year of undergrad i was working at the housing office, TAing for two courses, teaching two evening dance classes, running the Dal dance society, serving on a student services committee, taking a full course load, carrying out my honours experiments, and somehow having a fulfilling long-distance relationship on the side. i was at my most busy, but also very efficient, productive, and happy. when i started grad school in toronto, i figured that i should cut back on accessory things in order to spend more time on my research and course work. this has worked out OK, as i have oodles of hours to devote to all aspects of my experiments, but i don't feel that i'm as productive as i was in that year at Dal. conclusion? in order to feel productive, i need to be able to dabble in more than one or two activities.
perhaps i'll re-incorporate fresh pasta making into my weekly routine. productivity can also be yummy.
so maybe i'm not a slacker, but i'm still minorly disgusted with myself for taking seven months to write the paper.
i don't really believe in new year's resolutions, since you shouldn't have to wait until january the first of every year to decide to change something in your life, but if i were to make a small resolution for the occasion of 2007 i would aim to fully characterize and understand my procrastination patterns. i have always been a procrastinator, and it has never posed me any problems. because i am also obsessively organized, everything gets done on time. i typically just end up losing a bit of sleep... one thing i have noticed is that the more busy i make my life, the less room i have to procrastinate. for example, in my last year of undergrad i was working at the housing office, TAing for two courses, teaching two evening dance classes, running the Dal dance society, serving on a student services committee, taking a full course load, carrying out my honours experiments, and somehow having a fulfilling long-distance relationship on the side. i was at my most busy, but also very efficient, productive, and happy. when i started grad school in toronto, i figured that i should cut back on accessory things in order to spend more time on my research and course work. this has worked out OK, as i have oodles of hours to devote to all aspects of my experiments, but i don't feel that i'm as productive as i was in that year at Dal. conclusion? in order to feel productive, i need to be able to dabble in more than one or two activities.
perhaps i'll re-incorporate fresh pasta making into my weekly routine. productivity can also be yummy.
2.1.07
you're not lost
with the switchover to google-blogger, i decided to adopt a fresh template. thought this one was a bit more fresh and punchy.
she's jolly good, fellows
happy new year to all!
my time at home in ottawa is coming quickly to its end. unfortunately i brought a nasty cough/cold virus home and shared it with my brother and mom, but we took it as an excuse to stay in the house and eat turkey soup and sleep. i did get better enough after christmas to go out and see a couple of friends, and think i might actually get to briefly visit with my ex-roommate from halifax who is heading home to nunavut via ottawa. then on wednesday, back to toronto. much like last year at this time, i'm going to be flat out with data collection for the next 6 to 8 weeks. hoping to have everything for my thesis done by the end of february.
over the holidays i read one book: Heat, by Bill Buford. an account of Buford's culinary experience with Mario Batali and one of his NYC restaurant kitchens, plus wonderful detail on several trips to Italy to gain insight into the mysteries of eggy pasta and cuts of pig and cow.
i also saw one movie: The Secret Life of Words, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. i had never heard of it, but found it on our Rogers On Demand movie thingy and was subsequently amazed that i had never heard of it. great film, and great performances by Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. also great soundtrack.
best present would have to be personally addressed and signed copies of margaret atwood's two latest books: Moral Disorder, and The Penelopiad. yippee! apparently, she was in ottawa recently announcing a collaboration among herself, the NAC English Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company -- they'll be preparing a musical theatre version of The Penelopiad, which will debut in England next summer and open the NAC's english theatre season next fall. unfortunately, i don't think i'll be able to justify a trip back to ottawa from vancouver for only that performance. hope they take it across the country...
my time at home in ottawa is coming quickly to its end. unfortunately i brought a nasty cough/cold virus home and shared it with my brother and mom, but we took it as an excuse to stay in the house and eat turkey soup and sleep. i did get better enough after christmas to go out and see a couple of friends, and think i might actually get to briefly visit with my ex-roommate from halifax who is heading home to nunavut via ottawa. then on wednesday, back to toronto. much like last year at this time, i'm going to be flat out with data collection for the next 6 to 8 weeks. hoping to have everything for my thesis done by the end of february.
over the holidays i read one book: Heat, by Bill Buford. an account of Buford's culinary experience with Mario Batali and one of his NYC restaurant kitchens, plus wonderful detail on several trips to Italy to gain insight into the mysteries of eggy pasta and cuts of pig and cow.
i also saw one movie: The Secret Life of Words, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. i had never heard of it, but found it on our Rogers On Demand movie thingy and was subsequently amazed that i had never heard of it. great film, and great performances by Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. also great soundtrack.
best present would have to be personally addressed and signed copies of margaret atwood's two latest books: Moral Disorder, and The Penelopiad. yippee! apparently, she was in ottawa recently announcing a collaboration among herself, the NAC English Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company -- they'll be preparing a musical theatre version of The Penelopiad, which will debut in England next summer and open the NAC's english theatre season next fall. unfortunately, i don't think i'll be able to justify a trip back to ottawa from vancouver for only that performance. hope they take it across the country...
6.12.06
the deal
i think i have now alluded to the fact that there has been a recent development in my life plan. it's likely that most of you family or friend-type people who continue checking back here already know that i'll be moving, but here is a quick summary of my plans for the next 8 months or so.
i found out in early september that my supervisor accepted a very impressive and deserved job offer from the University of British Columbia. when you have a lab, and you accept a job at a different university, your lab will typically move with you and continue on in the same vein of research. by consequence, your lab at the old university will close. this meant that before next June, the deadline that was set by the hospital/institute where we conduct our research, i would need to find a new home. i had a few options: (1) i could remain a University of Toronto student and just go finish up my projects in Vancouver with current supervisor, (2) i could try to orchestrate a transfer from the PhD program in Medical Science/Neuroscience at U of T to the PhD program in Neuroscience at UBC, or (3) i could drop back into the Master's stream here and defend my existing work in order to start fresh in a PhD program at UBC or elsewhere. after some very careful consideration, i decided that (3) was my best option.
i have had a really interesting experience working in my current lab with my current supervisor, especially in the fact that i've been directly introduced to the realm of psychiatry. because my research addresses questions about mental health and psychiatric disorders, seeing how the field of psychiatry works has opened my eyes to the challenges i'll face in my career, as i plan to interface my basic science experiments with the clinical and patient-oriented side of psychiatry.
with that said, i've also learned over the past couple of years that i think more like psychology, rather than psychiatry or molecular biology. neuroscience, or more generally the study of the brain and what it does, is a tricky label for a lot of interesting stuff that's going on right now. if you think about it, neuroscience is probably one of the only broad fields of study that incorporates measurements at the level of the single atom or molecule, of the single cell, of a set of interacting cells, of a set of interacting groups of cells, of a whole organ, and of the behavioural output of that organ. as cool as that is, a lot of the people who study the brain at these various levels come from backgrounds that predispose them to thinking in certain ways, as differerent branches of science have specific ways of viewing the world. this means that everyone working in neuroscience has a unique perspective and set of skills to offer, but also that it can sometimes be difficult to communicate in a common 'language' or paradigm.
to bring this back to me and my choice, i feel like it's important for me to get my grounding in psychology before i go off to be an independent scientist. i had a taste of psychology in undergrad, but thought at the time that i wanted to explore the molecular details of what was going on in the brain rather than the conceptual aspects of behaviour. as you may have gathered, this is what i've been doing here in toronto: measuring how stress and/or drug treatment changes the expression of molecules in certain parts of the brain. this is pretty dandy in its own right - i mean, only in the past 30 years or so have we figured out ways of detecting single molecules in the brain! but, i personally think that studying these molecules is most interesting when you consider their changes in the context of what the brain is doing. in other words, look at the molecules and look at behaviour. then use carefully designed experiments to figure out if changes in molecules relate to changes in behaviour.
and so, i'm applying to re-start my PhD next September in Psychology. i'll finish up a few experiments that i had been working on for my PhD here, and then write them up as my Master's thesis. i should be able to defend that thesis next May or June, and then i plan to move out to Vancouver to work with a new supervisor at UBC. although this change of plans is a bit on the unexpected side, i'm looking forward to the change of scenery and will be proud to say that my studies took me all the way from Halifax to Vancouver.
mmmmm... all-you-can-eat sushi.
i found out in early september that my supervisor accepted a very impressive and deserved job offer from the University of British Columbia. when you have a lab, and you accept a job at a different university, your lab will typically move with you and continue on in the same vein of research. by consequence, your lab at the old university will close. this meant that before next June, the deadline that was set by the hospital/institute where we conduct our research, i would need to find a new home. i had a few options: (1) i could remain a University of Toronto student and just go finish up my projects in Vancouver with current supervisor, (2) i could try to orchestrate a transfer from the PhD program in Medical Science/Neuroscience at U of T to the PhD program in Neuroscience at UBC, or (3) i could drop back into the Master's stream here and defend my existing work in order to start fresh in a PhD program at UBC or elsewhere. after some very careful consideration, i decided that (3) was my best option.
i have had a really interesting experience working in my current lab with my current supervisor, especially in the fact that i've been directly introduced to the realm of psychiatry. because my research addresses questions about mental health and psychiatric disorders, seeing how the field of psychiatry works has opened my eyes to the challenges i'll face in my career, as i plan to interface my basic science experiments with the clinical and patient-oriented side of psychiatry.
with that said, i've also learned over the past couple of years that i think more like psychology, rather than psychiatry or molecular biology. neuroscience, or more generally the study of the brain and what it does, is a tricky label for a lot of interesting stuff that's going on right now. if you think about it, neuroscience is probably one of the only broad fields of study that incorporates measurements at the level of the single atom or molecule, of the single cell, of a set of interacting cells, of a set of interacting groups of cells, of a whole organ, and of the behavioural output of that organ. as cool as that is, a lot of the people who study the brain at these various levels come from backgrounds that predispose them to thinking in certain ways, as differerent branches of science have specific ways of viewing the world. this means that everyone working in neuroscience has a unique perspective and set of skills to offer, but also that it can sometimes be difficult to communicate in a common 'language' or paradigm.
to bring this back to me and my choice, i feel like it's important for me to get my grounding in psychology before i go off to be an independent scientist. i had a taste of psychology in undergrad, but thought at the time that i wanted to explore the molecular details of what was going on in the brain rather than the conceptual aspects of behaviour. as you may have gathered, this is what i've been doing here in toronto: measuring how stress and/or drug treatment changes the expression of molecules in certain parts of the brain. this is pretty dandy in its own right - i mean, only in the past 30 years or so have we figured out ways of detecting single molecules in the brain! but, i personally think that studying these molecules is most interesting when you consider their changes in the context of what the brain is doing. in other words, look at the molecules and look at behaviour. then use carefully designed experiments to figure out if changes in molecules relate to changes in behaviour.
and so, i'm applying to re-start my PhD next September in Psychology. i'll finish up a few experiments that i had been working on for my PhD here, and then write them up as my Master's thesis. i should be able to defend that thesis next May or June, and then i plan to move out to Vancouver to work with a new supervisor at UBC. although this change of plans is a bit on the unexpected side, i'm looking forward to the change of scenery and will be proud to say that my studies took me all the way from Halifax to Vancouver.
mmmmm... all-you-can-eat sushi.
19.11.06
doctor auntie lorna
this past friday my aunt (i.e. younger sister of my mom) was conferred her PhD in Nursing by the chancellor of McMaster University. i snuck out of the lab for the day to attend her convocation, and was treated to a whole 24 hours with my cousins, cousin's girlfriend, aunt & uncle, granny, mom, and various others intermittently. i am so proud of her for this accomplishment, and for her choice to also complete a post-doc at McMaster and continue her research. she studies issues surrounding quality of life in individuals with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
congratulations auntie lorna! :)
i have discovered over the past few years that i am a total sucker for ceremony. i cried through the entire first half of the convocation, just as i cried through my brother's entire high school graduation, my own undergraduate convocation, and my cousin's undergraduate convocation. something about the organ and the bagpipes and the academic robes and the guy who carries the sceptre... what particularly got me is the simple act of a supervisor placing the hood around the graduating student's neck. to me this represents the transition from a mentor-student relationship to a colleague-colleague relationship, like the official welcome to a circle of individuals who have a little fire burning within themselves over the pursuit of knowledge. despite the minor setback that has emerged with regards to my PhD studies (more details on this next post), i am more excited than ever to continue being a part of the academic world and to achieve all that the PhD entails. maybe one day i'll get to carry the sceptre. ha ha.
congratulations auntie lorna! :)
i have discovered over the past few years that i am a total sucker for ceremony. i cried through the entire first half of the convocation, just as i cried through my brother's entire high school graduation, my own undergraduate convocation, and my cousin's undergraduate convocation. something about the organ and the bagpipes and the academic robes and the guy who carries the sceptre... what particularly got me is the simple act of a supervisor placing the hood around the graduating student's neck. to me this represents the transition from a mentor-student relationship to a colleague-colleague relationship, like the official welcome to a circle of individuals who have a little fire burning within themselves over the pursuit of knowledge. despite the minor setback that has emerged with regards to my PhD studies (more details on this next post), i am more excited than ever to continue being a part of the academic world and to achieve all that the PhD entails. maybe one day i'll get to carry the sceptre. ha ha.
7.11.06
remember me?
so... haven't been around for a while. seems i last posted at the end of august, and i've been pretty much in the grant writing and experiment zone since then. as you might recall, the funding proposals i was working here did not get me any $$, so i've been aggressively putting together 4 (yes 4!) PhD funding apps this year. just submitted the last of them on Friday.
i have to get back to the lab to do a whole bunch of stuff, but to appease everyone who's been waiting for news for the past 2.5 months, here is percy in all his adolescent glory. with a decorative autumn gourd.
i have to get back to the lab to do a whole bunch of stuff, but to appease everyone who's been waiting for news for the past 2.5 months, here is percy in all his adolescent glory. with a decorative autumn gourd.
29.8.06
victoire
my old friend regine and her friend katie opened a store this summer, and i am so proud of them for pursuing and attaining their dream. there's a little blurb about them in Fashion18 magazine this month:
Blurb about Victoire.
Blurb about Victoire.
26.8.06
'redesign'
look what i figured out how to do. custom mastheads at last! this initiative was inspired by my latest foray into writing code; i'm starting a new experiment in the lab and need to teach myself how to program a piece of equipment. unfortunately, the equipment is about 15 years old, and uses a weird sensical-at-the-time, but not-so-sensical-now custom language. looks like my one year of java won't be of much use to me now...
i really enjoyed travelling this summer: to saskatoon, vancouver, and whistler in may for visits and a conference, to montreal and ottawa in june for more visits and a conference, and to new york and new haven in july for yet another few visits and a workshop. i was also lucky to have a lot of visitors over the summer - friends from ottawa, and montreal, and as far as new zealand. it's been a long time since i've seen some of the people i got to spend time with this summer, and each of them reminded me of how valuable friendships can be. thanks everyone. let's do it again soon.
this month has been, overall, a return to feeling (and actually being) productive, in the lab and work sense. i really needed some low-key time this summer to figure out the grand master plan for the rest of my PhD, and those travelling breaks seemed to do the trick. now that i'm back in toronto and not going anywhere for a few months (the carnival that is the Society for Neuroscience Meeting will go down in atlanta in mid-october), i've had a chance to seriously start two new projects. i love the feeling of getting something off the ground, and the time at the beginning of a project when you are organizing lists of supplies, scheduling each stage that needs to be accomplished, reading background literature to establish what you are going to measure exactly and how to go about measuring, and sitting down to learn and practice new techniques. i love this part so much that i've been spending most of my energy there this week, and ignoring the discussion of a paper that i really should be finishing. maybe in the next few hours i'll try to tackle that...
i really enjoyed travelling this summer: to saskatoon, vancouver, and whistler in may for visits and a conference, to montreal and ottawa in june for more visits and a conference, and to new york and new haven in july for yet another few visits and a workshop. i was also lucky to have a lot of visitors over the summer - friends from ottawa, and montreal, and as far as new zealand. it's been a long time since i've seen some of the people i got to spend time with this summer, and each of them reminded me of how valuable friendships can be. thanks everyone. let's do it again soon.
this month has been, overall, a return to feeling (and actually being) productive, in the lab and work sense. i really needed some low-key time this summer to figure out the grand master plan for the rest of my PhD, and those travelling breaks seemed to do the trick. now that i'm back in toronto and not going anywhere for a few months (the carnival that is the Society for Neuroscience Meeting will go down in atlanta in mid-october), i've had a chance to seriously start two new projects. i love the feeling of getting something off the ground, and the time at the beginning of a project when you are organizing lists of supplies, scheduling each stage that needs to be accomplished, reading background literature to establish what you are going to measure exactly and how to go about measuring, and sitting down to learn and practice new techniques. i love this part so much that i've been spending most of my energy there this week, and ignoring the discussion of a paper that i really should be finishing. maybe in the next few hours i'll try to tackle that...
2.8.06
more travels
took my final mini-break of the summer this past weekend. i attended a workshop in new haven, CT on friday, and then hopped a commuter train back to new york to stay with good friend martha and her boyfriend, thomas. being my first time in the city and all, i was treated to a very exciting two days of walking past famous/notorious restaurants. on the list: pastis, babbo (one of mario batali's), per se (one of thomas keller's), masa, jean-georges (i.e., vongerichten), and spice market (also belonging to j-g vongerichten). apart from this culinary landmark-spotting (or as thomas put it, gastric tourism), i adored the architecture and feel of the brownstones in chelsea and the west village, the sense that everyone walking down the street is on their way to doing something Incredibly Important, the tendency to relax on the front stoop of your walk-up with the morning paper and a starbucks as the garbage trucks and yellow cabs whip by, and all the boys dressed in their nice clothes. apart from chelsea, where i spent the few nights, i got to see park slope in brooklyn, where my other good friend anna is hanging out in a gorgeous studio/loft for the summer. sunday was spent lying around in the grass in central park, attempting the NY times crossword.
and now, back to work.
and now, back to work.
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