Don't worry I'm still alive, school hasn't quite beaten all the life out of me yet

Hello again, I know it has been a long time since I have updated my blog but school has been keeping me way too busy. But for those of you who check my blog I figured I'd give you something new to look at so you don't have to look at the same thing everytime you click on my link. Here are some pictures from my most recent climbing practice. Enjoy. (Note the self portrait, I'm getting better at it). Hopefully my schedule will slow down so I can breath and update more often.

I'm not asking for much, just a little heads up

You would think that if your landlord was having someone come to work on the plumbing system in the whole building resulting in the water having to be shut off, a tenant could at least get a warning. But no, my 'warning' was trying to turn on the taps or flush the toilet and nothing. I can't have a shower, wash the dishes or even have a glass of water. Plus my apartment is hot water heated so I have no heat. Seeing as it's a basement suite and it's trying to be winter outside with this cold wet weather I'm a little chilled. And now to top it all off it is 11 o'clock at night and the pipes are squealing bloody murder because the new boiler is 'purging' itself. It's a very unpleasant noise, it sounds like a pig is dying over and over again and just won't give in and accept it's fate. Unrelated to the plumbing situation my windows are leaking inundating me with the oh so pleasant dripping sound that we all know and love. But I guess on the positive side the loud squealing is drowning that out temporarily. Most days I like my apartment, today is not one of those days.

Ever attended a gopher wedding?

If you've never attended a gopher's wedding never fear there is still hope for you yet. All you have to do is drive out to Torrington, AB. Torrington is East of Olds by about 27 kms and I have to warn you that the big attraction of the town is the Gopher Hole museum so I wouldn't plan to spend much time in town, maybe a half an hour. Basically, for those of you who don't know, the museum houses taxidermed gophers dressed up in various outfits. The theme's range from a cave 'man' gopher scene, to hockey, to a gopher wedding. I'll admit it's a little disturbing to observe dead gophers dressed in costumes but for two dollars and half an hour of your time you can boast to your friends that you've visited the only stuffed gopher museum in the world (as far as I know it's the only one, good old Alberta). So after your done perusing the country side looking for giant sausages and UFO's be sure to stop in Torrington. You can even drive around town and check out all the painted fire hydrants that are also suppose to be gophers but to me looked more like dogs in overalls. Don't worry they have them all mapped out for your convenience because the town is much too big to drive around aimlessly yourself. But not to be too hard on the town, it is an attraction and it does get people to visit. Look at me, I went and now I have told numerous others who may venture to the town themselves. Note they are only open June 1 - Sept 30th so if you want to go this year you'll have to hurry and don't hesitate to stop by to visit me in Olds (for those of you I know of course, this is not an invite to have strangers come to my home).

Bug Pictures

These are the pictures I wanted to post with my previous post on my bug collection. The first picture is of the dragonfly minus 1 leg and the wonky beetles. The second picture is how I have to pin butterflies/moths in order to display them with their wings out. They call it a relaxation board but as far as I'm concerened it looks more like a torture board. Note the Oilers lamp on the table, not only does it provide me with the extra light I need but also some peace of mind because I know hockey will be starting soon and since I will have cable I will be able to watch the games. Yahoo!!! I predict a serious decline in my grades once the season starts but it will definetly be worth it.

Have I mentioned lately how bitter I am about my bug collection?

*WARNING* INSECTS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS POST. IF YOU HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR INSECTS AND WON'T EVEN BRING YOURSELF TO KILL A MOSQUITO DO NOT PROCEED.(IF YOU SUFFER FROM THIS AILMENT I HAVE THE CURE, HIKE THE NORTH BOUNDARY TRAIL AND NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU HESITATE TO KILL A MOSQUITO. TRUST ME)

Allow me to paint you a picture if you will. I'm sitting in my bachelor suite apartment, in Olds, at my kitchen/bedroom/living room table, which also doubles as my desk, wielding a very sharp pin in one hand and an insect that has been "humanely" preserved in my freezer for over 3 months in my other hand, thinking to myself "how the hell am I going to pin this thing without stabbing it in the wrong spot, breaking off any valuable appendages, not making myself part of some insect shish kebob and still manage to keep a shred of my sanity when I know this is only one of a hundred insects I have to pin?" Don't even get me started on identifying them. I know this is not a very optimistic view but I have to admit at this point I am not very optimistic about this whole thing. Since the day we were told we would have to do this to graduate I've been cursing the project with every bug I've caught and mercilessly murdered from tossing it in my freezer or drowning it in alcohol. I've already managed to pin 3 ladybugs at wonky angles, pierced/broke off the leg of my dragonfly and stabbed a bug in the stomach to which it reacted by oozing some stomach contents. And to do all those things, in the poor way that I just did, took me several hours. To say the very least I am not happy about the whole thing and I can think of better ways to spend my Friday evenings than pinning bugs.
(Carol I don't know how you do it, people should bow down and kiss your feet for having the patience to be in your profession. For those of you who don't know, Carol has a degree in Entomology. Do you do house calls Carol? I'm sure we could get you here from Montreal somehow.)

So as you can tell by my rant, I'm just a little bitter about the whole bug collection thing. But now that I have bombarded you all once with my complaining about it, that will be all, until I do actually get pushed over the edge and go insane but then you won't hear from me anyways because I don't think they allow computers in those white padded rooms over at the Ponoka institute. I guess we'll find out.

P.S. I do have pictures of some of the bugs I pinned and tried to post them but it wasn't working. So I will try to post them next time for your viewing pleasure.

I'm Back!!!

Well, I'm officially back in Olds so let the ceasless ramblings begin or shall I say continue. I know you have all missed the banter and well I just miss hockey but that's another topic all together. But never fear hockey is almost here. I can almost taste it in the air ... or is that my stale apartment I taste, either way I'm excited.

Since today was an atypical first day back to school (if you consider mechanical bull riding atypical and the sad thing is in Olds that is typical) I have not all that much interesting to report so I will save my rambling steam when I have something pseudo interesting to say. Check ya later, Slacker