Canadian Geologist in California Unearths Another Unique Find!

Or the headline would read something like that anyway. Cleaning up my office a tad more I uncovered reel-to-reel tape reels, and decided that we definitely didn't have any sort of machine to play them on, so they were going in the trash.

Under that box was another box, inside of which was an animal trap. The kind that trappers use in the Canadian wilderness - the kind that snaps shut on an animal foot and the animal chews its own paw off to escape? Yes, that kind. Big, rusty metal animal trap in my office. So I pick it up by its chain and carry it over to show Mr Geography (my office mate), who says in response to my "what the hell is this?" "ew! get that out of here!".

Shortly thereafter, as I'm swinging it at arms length, I notice it actually still has a foot in it. Some poor unfortunate fox or bobcat or something, which really makes the thing revolting.

I wasn't sure where it ranked on the "mummified arm" "rat fetus" scale of things previously found in my office. It's worse than the fetuses because they were enclose in a jar, but how does it rank against the mummified arm?

Glass Blowing!

Here are two successful AND functional pieces that I have made thus far in glass blowing. (Others not pictured included shattered glass shards and a blob of glass.)
Both still need the "button" ground off the bottom from where they were attached to the "punte" (metal rod).




I somehow managed to include two additional bubbles in the clear glass, which I love because it looks like eyes.
The coloured one I had selected green and purple glass, but evidently the purple glass got completely absorbed into the green. This is just fine, as I figured the glass would be ugly and shatter as other things before it, so I had selected what I thought would be ugly colours. Luckily for me, the ugly colours didn't work out, and the glass did, so it's WAY better than planned. Hooray!

Fig Twig

I was a little concerned about the "fig twig" as I call it, but a horticulture friend informs me this is normal because they are deciduous... I anxiously await it to resemble something less dead.

Who's caught the knitting bug?

An appropriate post only in that it's been surprisingly chilly around here these days, and so the wearing of woolly sweaters is actually somewhat waranted.















So, here E-marathoner (a.k.a. Professor Chipotle) and I happen to coincidentally be wearing our hand-knit sweaters at the same time in the same place. E-marathoner recently completed, this, her first, fantastic fuzzy sweater less than a month ago - amazingly so, as it was under my guidance. Mainly my guidance consisted of things like "it doesn't matter", "fuzzy yarn hides mistakes" and "knit however you want to, there's not really any strict WAY to knit, exactly...".
Let us all then bask in her wondrous knitting powers from neophyte-needler to custom sweater constructor and finder of fabulous yarns crafted of the softest materials imaginable.

Adieu old web page, adieu dignity

Today I received an e-mail that my undergrad e-mail address and all things attached to it, such as webpages, would be removed permanently as of March 15, 2006.

I created a webpage when I was in 1st year, in 1998, and periodically updated it with a few assorted random bits and pieces. It has long not been touched - for about 4 years actually - and I have long not been an undergrad. And so, the end of an era of a stupid useless webpage that I had long forgotten how to access, and that I had written in HTML code, arrives.

If anyone wishes to view said webpage for its last remaining month, you can reach it here:
http://qlink.queensu.ca/~8neb

The other thing that happened today was that my iron ring fell off, somehow, sometime this morning. The ring that I wore for years without removing for anything! That I triathloned with. That I swam with in open water, that stayed on through all that - THAT ring somehow fell off randomly this morning and I absolutely cannot find it. ARRRGH!!!! I now begin the grovelling process of hanging my tail between my legs and explaining that I have to join the ranks of the useless engineer that has to request a replacement ring. I haven't even got the slightest idea what my ring size is either... so step one is to get myself sized, and then step two is to grovel. Alas. I am ashamed!

Bike Police

Today I was finally able to ride my new bike into school, as I had finally received the sole plates for my shoes AND had finally put them together. Despite a nagging mucous problem (read: head cold), I was happily zipping into work owing primarily to FINALLY getting to ride "Vent Noir" (or Artemis, as her pseudonym goes - even though "vent" is masculine), and owing partially to my having changed my office hours from Wed. am to Thur. am.
ANYWAY, I arrive on campus and unclip a foot to begin the slow and careful student dodging that is a part of my "get to my office" bike routine, no sooner does this happen when I am stopped by the Bike Police. Yes, police riding around on bikes on campus to stop people from riding around on bikes on campus.

Here's why I think it's silly:

1) There are golf carts that drive around campus ALL THE TIME, they say they are "supportive services", but I mainly see them transporting the obscenely obese (hereby to be known as "OO"). Clarification: I have ONLY seen them transporting the OO. The day that I picked a ridiculous amount of oranges from the Ag Lab that's way across campus from my office I debating hitching a ride before my arms fell off, but ended up just dealing with rubber arms anyway rather than succumbing to American Laziness. Point being: the golf carts are not only significantly larger than people on bikes, but they also move significantly faster, thus posing a significantly greater threat to the general population (especially when equipped with the OO).

2) We should be ENCOURAGING the general population on campus to be MORE athletically inclined rather than LESS!!! A student that normally bikes or skateboards or rollerblades to school is then BANNED FROM ENTERING CAMPUS! What will they do? Will they happily remove themselves from their man-powered wheeled mode of transportation or will they begin to DRIVE to school instead?

3) The Bike Police are riding around campus on bikes.

A much wiser solution, one postulated by ultra bike-connaiseur Hot Hands, would be to have a strictly imposed speed limit on campus. To be heeded by golf carts, bikes, and rollerblades alike - this can still provide the bike police with employment thus suiting everyone's needs without compromising our inclination towards general fitness and perhaps, one day, reduce the quantity of the OO.