Charity Begins at Work

October is a very expensive month. The IBM Employees Charity Fund is full on. We have a variety of fundraisers going on, and it is 2 bucks here 5 bucks there and before you know it, a lot of money has gone out of my wallet. On Thursday we had a pie throwing contest, well it turned out to be chocolate pudding, but you get the idea. There were 6 volunteers from the executive and management employees to have a pie thrown at them. It was so much fun, the idea was that you bought some tickets and then decided who you wanted to throw at and put your ticket in their box. The organizers then picked 10 tickets from each box, and if they pulled your ticket, you got to throw. Rob Bligh who is one of the executive, was wearing a beautiful suit, and to raise even more money, said he would not change and have the pies thrown at him just the way he was. All the other pie throwees, were wearing old clothes, or rain ponchos, and stood behind a structure, so that only their heads were shown. Not Rob, he was standing right in front, so instead of just getting a faceful of pudding he got it over his whole body. Talk about getting into the spirit of things.
Not too much else going on with me. Work is going fine, pretty busy so the days go by very quickly. We had snow this week, but not much stuck, so I am hopeful that we will have more time without snow. Only about a week and half until I go to Kelowna for a visit, can't wait.

December and May

I wish I could have come home for chocolates! My downstairs neighbours are disapproving because I have not put up any lights or other Christmassy things, but it doesn't seem like Christmas yet and probably won't until I leave... and anyway, I would then just have the depressing task of taking them down again when I returned in January! However, am looking forward to decorating in Rocky (if any remains to be done) and the the winter wonderland that is Alberta (Steph says she walked seven blocks and pushed out three stuck cars!) In preparation for such things, I have bought some new boots that are plaid AND knee-length AND laceup... and totally waterproof and lined! They weren't cheap, but if there is one thing I learned from my aunts, it is that if you don't have a car you must spend on shoes instead of tires.

I have to submit a "Grad Student Progress Report" every semester, in which I try to justify my existence. This semester, I totted it all up and was amazed to learn that I collected data from 93 participants (8 of them substance-dependent and in treatment, which are a million times more difficult), ran and analyzed a pilot study and three experiments, started another study with the other PhD student and the post-doc from our lab, and wrote a review article and a conference abstract (as well as two scholarship applications). No wonder I've been tired all the time. It definitely felt busy, but I didn't realize quite how much till I looked back. However, I further realized that my ultimate goal was not necessarily to add to the annals of research, but to get an abstract in for that conference in Florida next year! All that work to get the studies done before December was mainly for that reason. But they are done, the abstract is submitted, and whether or not my abstract is accepted, I am going to the conference. The most exciting part is that some of the girls from my lab last year are going, and since there are a lot of us, we can rent a house together rather than stay in the expensive hotel. And THIS is the house they have in mind! I think I can live with this... roll on May.

A Bread Garden just opened up next door (Bread Garden is a coffee shop that does food - panninis and the like). When I say next door, I mean literally thirty feet from my building. This is what living in the city is all about! It might be a problem though, given my love of coffee. I can see myself spending far too much there, especially on the weekends. Just today I've been three times- breakfast, lunch, and meeting a friend for coffee. Although, I did get my coffee at lunch free since it was the third time I'd been in today. And now I'm happily drinking my free coffee, and eating a butter chicken wrap, and waiting for a classmate to discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant. Does life get any better?

They had an open house at school this week - they put prospective students up in the hotel, and showed off the school to them. There were a couple free meals, so I agreed to go along as a current student, and tell everyone how much I like VST. One of the visitors is a woman that I knew from the Cathedral in Victoria.

It was minus four and snowed this week. You all can complain about how cold it is, but at least it's supposed to be like that. I moved here for spring in February, dang it, not snow in March.