like a big whirlpool just suckin' ya down

I'm pretty busy, hey.

i'll take it

Twice, twice in one year I have paid the first months rent for an unseen apartment.

June 2005 - Began looking for a place 7 days before I needed to move in. From the owner's mom, I learnt over the phone that "it could probably be really cute if you covered up furniture" and that "a nice social worker lived upstairs" Sounded good to me. How could a sweet mom and social worker be wrong! And it actually did look okay once I added my own touches like a seagrass mat in the living room, a lovely bright purple throw over the living room furniture and some unique (as in disposable) art work. Just imagine how hot that looked with the pink carpet

Now, I'm really disappointed I have no pictures of suite avec shauna. I took these after I had packed up and even considered redecorating a bit for the shots.....but how stupid would that have been.

February 2006 - 5 days before move I hit the SIAST student housing registry (thanks to a little white lie told the SIAST lady back in the summer). Approximately 20 phones calls got me 3 viewings. I took the 1st and skipped out on the other appointments.

This time I have an unfurnished bachelor suite in a old building that is not quite pretty enough to be designated a heritage site. What this means is a mattress on the floor, a folding card table and whatever else I can stuff into the back of my little truck on Wednesday morning at 8 am.

Now again, I have not seen the suite. Drove up today, met the landlord and got to peek into a smaller bachelor suite in the basement. It was cute, like little cute, besides the fact that it had no floor or walls. Mines on the top floor, a bit bigger and has two big jutty out windows. I've always wanted a little attic apartment and thought this could well be my last chance until I own the building with the cute little attic apartment!

Apparent Meltdown

I didn't touch it and my whole background is gone. You that little strip that repeats infinitely and makes my page look so nice

Do Not Fear the Committee

Permission to Write meeting is checked off the list. I was planning to highlight my creative responses. However, it was absolutely painless, I could even say fun. To make your encounters with the often dreaded committee easier, I suggest:

VERY GLOSSY LIPS: This trendy look can be used to distract the committee. Sit strategically so you can reflect the light into the committee's eyes when they attempt to find the glaring error in whatever piece of work you have submitted to them.

COVERT COMPLIMENTS: The committee appears to enjoy having their achievement and extreme intelligence pointed out in front of their peers. Don't be too obvious as the committee appears to recognize the student tactic of 'buttering up'.

DO NOT ANSWER TOO QUICKLY: The committee likes to feel as though they have unique insight. Ponder the committees question/comment as if you are impressed with the complexity of their idea and couldn't possibly thought of it as a lowly grad student. I advise that you start responses with a covert compliment such as, "Yes, I have been grappling with (insert main concern here) since reading (other committee members research)......." Notice the covertness, the compliment is not directed to the person it is meant to butter up.

BE PREPARED: Jokes aside. The best way to ensure a positive experience with the committee is all in the preparation. Get the committee a well-written and detailed draft/report well ahead of time. I have found this has saved me from having to give a presentation at the meeting and resulted in the committee meeting being very productive and helpful, rather than stressful. Instead of questions resulting from the fact that they really have no idea what you're up to, you will receive valuable knowledge to better your thinking an writing. And most of all BE CONFIDENT...you know your work better than anyone!

Some Business to Take Care Of

I have a backlog of pictures that I want to post, so I'll throw one in here and there. I love this one taken over Christmas of Nana, Auntie Bonnie, Laura and I.

old dog, new trick

Needing to be a unique individual in this blogging world, I embarked upon the task of writing my own html code for my new fabulous template. Before today, I knew very little. After today, I know very little. But after cutting, pasting and editing the shit out of chunks from various online templates I ended up with this beauty of a page. I'm absolutely positive that the code is a huge mess but I think I will be able to call on a techie friend to clean it up.

One thing I thought was pretty cool is that the background (that part with the stripes) is actually tons of little skinny strips of the same picture....just repeating to infinity I guess.

DISCLAIMER: I do not guarantee that all the links, comments, well okay - anything on this page will actually work the way its supposed to.

The Sad, Sad Life of Grad Student

Been working hard and really need a laugh. Some lifted of the net and some of my own. Sad to say but everyone is true!

You just might be a graduate student if...

• you've ever read a journal article in a bar.
• everything reminds you of something in your discipline.
• you've ever discussed theory at a party.
• you have ever spent over $50 on photocopying at one time.
• 'conceptual framework' is a phrase you use daily in conversation.
  
• professors don't really care when you turn in work anymore.
• you find the bibliographies of articles more interesting than the actual text.
• you have given up trying to keep your books organized and are now just trying to keep them all in the same general area.
• you have accepted guilt as an inherent feature of relaxation.
• you find yourself explaining to children that you are in "20th grade".
• you look forward to taking some time off to do laundry.
• you have more photocopy cards than credit cards.
• you feel priveleged to chose which 20 hours out of the day you work.
• you can identify universities by their internet domains.
• you understand jokes about Foucault.
• the concept of free time scares you.
• you've checked out a library when away on holidays.
  
• you find yourself citing sources in conversation.

If you need more giggles go to About.com Grad School.

Okay, Enough Already

Who am I joking that I will actutally keep a knitting blog. However, I still wanna blog, I really do. The final decision has been made this is just my personal blog. Screw the idea that my site has any real theme. Well, I guess it does have a theme. Me!

So, I will maybe put some knitting pictures here, or maybe I will never post another knitting picture . We'll see. What that means though is that your picture just may end up here.