fredish domesticus

Nondisintegration

2007-09-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just another post so my blog doesn't disintegrate. My real site is www.fredish.rblords.com

Active?

2007-03-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd make a post to keep my blog active.
I'm still found at www.fredish.rblords.com

New Site

2006-09-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

So, I have finally gotten around to setting up my own proper site at www.fredish.rblords.com
It's still under construction, so please be patient with my slow progress and don't laugh at e too much for not being very fancy.

See you there!

Jiggety Jig

2006-08-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

So, I got home from Mexico last night and am happy to be back in my own house with my own bed and my own kitchen!!

Our trip was really fantastic - I loved Mexico!
We spent 12 days there, Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Queretaro, Taluca, Acapulco, and Matehuala. We drove through Mexico City, but decided not to stay because it was just too big.

The children in Chihuahua stared at me a lot... I guess blue eyes and red hair are a bit of an oddity there...

We went to a cool mine in Zacatecas, where we lucked out and had a tour guide all to ourselves!

We petted a cactus at the ruins in Teotenango - very cool - and saw some pople getting busy (Naughty people!)

We saw the La Quebrada Cliff Divers in Acapulco... I'd be too scared, but it was very nifty to see them do it...

And we accidentally bisected a bee with the antenna on the way home.(half a bee, philosophically, must ipso facto half not be)

Alive and Well in Taluca

2006-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

So I{m in Taluca in an internet place that doesn{t have a door and I can{t figure out what button makes an apostrophe instead of a bracket... Sorry.

We had a brief run-in with the law today because we had the license plate in the back window of the car (we were worried about thieves in Chihuahua) and no front plate at all, because they{re not required at home. The policia in Ciudad Mexico didn{t like that very much... They found one that spoke a little English and he explained what the problem was, but was shocked to hear that only the rear plate is required at home and that everyone in Chihuahua keeps them in the car. Fortunately, we avoided jail time and didn{t get a ticket, but I{m sure the policia think we{re incredibly stupid!!

Anyhow, I{m doing well and will be home in about a week and a half!!

Arrgh! Pet Peeve!

2006-08-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

I have a huge pet peeve about this...
I was at the grocery store this afternoon and a woman with a cart full of nutrient-free food was complaining to the clerk that "I'd like to eat better, but I don't know how."
Arrgh! I wanted to shout "SO LEARN, DAMNIT!! Buy a book and try some recipes!!"

That's like if I said "I'd like to speak Korean, but don't know how."
Cooking yummy and healthy food isn't just a magical skill that some people have and some don't. It's just like any other skill that you have to study and practice.
So get off your ass and learn!

Blorrrgh!

Mehico!

2006-07-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Yay! Steve and I are going to Mexico!

We just found out earlier this week that we can go to Mexico in August! We're heading down in my car - through California, and then into Mexico... So, we'll be in Mexico for about 2 weeks and then driving back up home again.

We're planning on burning through the US as fast as we can so we can spend as much time as possible in Mexico and as little money as possible in the States... We'll be camping/car sleeping because American hotels are too rich for our blood and then staying in hostels and inexpensive hotels in Mexico.

I'm excited!

Busy! My Goodness!

2006-06-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last update... Things have been a little crazy in my life...

My Grandma Harris went into the hospital at the end of May and turned out to have liver cancer. So I spent a month at the hospital, spending time with her, with my Grandpa and with family from out of town who came to see her. She died Thursday, June 15th and we had the funeral last Thursday, June 22cd.

I've been very lucky to have such an amazing and inspiring grandma...
She spent years volunteering with many organizations - she helped found the International Students' Association, worked for getting government pensions for women, received the Order of Canada, was the president of the Saskatchewan and National Councils of Women and a million others...

My grandma was very loving and really cared about us all. I miss her very much but am glad that I had a wonderful 24 years with her.

On an equally busy, but much happier note - Steve and I moved in together this week! Our place is still in disarray and we've got lots of unpacking left to do, but I love our little house! We're renting from my stepsister, Bonnie, who has moved to Regina for a year to do a practicum with her SIAST course. Once we get all settled in I'll take a few pictures and post them so you can see my little house that we're very excited to be in!

Schork

2006-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Steve and I were wondering what to call my grad school: I go there every day and I get paid for it, so it's kind of like "school"... But I get a degree out of it so it's kind of like "work"... Eventually his friend Rob figured it out for me! It's SCHORK!

So far grad school is going fairly well! I like the project I'm working on and my supervisor and I get to play with the cool new fluorometer later this week!
With the cool new fluorometer I will get to take pictures that look like this:

Only not of leaves... Of algae!
I will be able to compare different cell lines much quicker and more easily. Cells doing different amounts or types of photosynthesis will appear differently.
So that's really cool!

My sweetie and I spent our first weekend out of school at my dad's cabin... We thought we were going up for a nice relaxing weekend of drinking beer, canoeing, firepit and sleeping in... Well, we got in a nice canoe adventure and then we got roped into helping my dad rip the deck off for the reno guys to come in! So much for relaxing!
I'm not a lot of good for manual labour, so mostly poor Steve had to help my dad, but I will pretend that I was of pivotal importance!

Anyhow, we did get some firepit and beer into our weekend and we got a nice picture of us at the lake, so it was a good trip after all!!

I know it's a little cheesy, but I love this picture!

Whoo hoo!

2006-04-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm officially done my last undergraduate class! Yay!
Now I just have 4 brutally hard finals to write, 27 212 labs to mark and then I'm done my degree! Whoo Whoo!

Also, here's a couple of pictures from my grad banquet!
Enjoy!

Me, Sharon, Jill and Carly

Me and Steve

Bad! Bad!

2006-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

My students keep cheating! Bad students!
They copy off each other or off old labs... They fake their data... They steal data from other people... Bad!
One person said that she copied because she needs good grades to get into medicine. Bad!

Bad! Bad!

Space Groups = Bourgeoisie

2006-02-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

Protein Crystallographic Space Groups are bourgeoisie.
Jill, Ben and I are the proletariat.
Space groups should be wary of what happened to the tzar.

But, my honours project progress report is all done!! Whoo!!
Here is a figure from my paper:

Figure 1: Colony morphology of cell lines on solid
media at 25 C and 100 micromol photons /mexp2 x s

If you want to read my paper (and I have no idea why you would, even though my research is pretty cool) I will email you a copy, just ask me llg687@mail.usask.ca

Oh, also... Don't be afraid to get a little charged up... after all, free radicals have revolutionized chemistry!
Bah-hahahaha!
Now that's funny!

Ugh. Shoot me.

2006-01-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

This semester is going to kill me. When an intense fourth year metabolisms class is your "easy" class, you know you have a NASTY semester.

I'm TAing Biochem 212 (which is great, but a lot of work), attempting to wrap up my honours project, and taking four brutally hard classes - three of which are all about electrons - I HATE electrons.

I've been spending 10 hours a day or more at school every day this semester... And doing homework almost every evening. I've taken two nights off since the term started.

BSA stuff is driving me insane... I've been ridiculously busy with all sorts of stuff that isn't my job. Blorgh.

So, basically, I'm in scholastic hell and the only thing keeping me sane is the tiny fragment of time I get to spend with proper people instead of books. Thank God Jill is in all my classes so we can vent to each other!!

On the other hand, I also found an update from the summer and posted it!! Whoo!

Jesus Wants You To Ho'

2005-08-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

I thought this was just too fantastic!! Isn't it nice to hear that Jesus wants you to ho?

So, welcome to the best summer since I was 15! I'm sure that anyone who knows of the existence of this site already knows most of this, but I'll sum it all up for you anyways...

~ My job rocks! I love what I do at work!! How many people actually really LOVE their job?? The best part is, I get to keep doing it in the fall! Dr Wilson and Dr Gray have agreed to supervise my honours project. Here is a picture of the algal species I work with:

See their little flagella? Well, I'm trying to make them tangle their flagellas and mate to release this lysing substance, autolysin, that breaks down cells walls. I'm having no luck at all, but, boy, am I having fun making jokes about that the need candles, wine and Barry Manilow.

~ I spent August Long in Medicine Hat at my friend Danielle's wedding... Apart from the brutal and suffocating heat of travelling in my car in the summer, it was awesome!!

School is Done

2005-04-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yay! I'm finished school for the summer! One more year of undergrad to go!

This summer should be fantastic! I'm very excited about all the awesomeness ahead:
- No summer school for me!! I start my cool new job on Monday - I'll be working with green algae that has photopigment problems. You can read more about the lab I'll be in here or find out more about strain I'll be working with here. Not that I actually expect anyone to care about algae...
- Danielle and Brian get home on Thursday. I realized awhile back that they've been gone for longer than I've known Jill and longer than my niece Emily has been alive... Wow.
- Most of you already know about the nifty trips we have coming up - only 5 weeks 'til Vegas! and the Houseboating trip is coming up in July.
- I'm hoping to get to Regina to see Barb on the third weekend of June, but we'll have to see how all that works out. I'm excited to go shopping with her and not allow her to buy skull barrettes.
- I'd like to spend a couple of weekends at my Dad's cabin at Jackfish before he sells his house and moves to the lake, but I'd like better weather first. I don't want to go to the lake in this crap.

So, yeah, now that school is done, I actually have free time and free will again! I can have a life again! Yay!

erotic tarpaper history WTF?

2004-09-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

While taking a quick study break to check my email, I received an interesting piece of spam. The subject was "erotic tarpaper history" and the body was a link, supposedly to a site selling labcoats and scrubs.
I'm puzzled and slightly intrigued as to how these things fit together, and how anyone, even some sort of random word generator would ever put 'tarpaper' and 'erotic' in the same sentence.

Well, at least it was a refreshing change from being told "YOUR SMALL PENIS IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO YOU!!!"

Live and Learn

2004-09-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

So before I really delve into all manners of other scholastic torture, a quick update on the two very important things I learned this week:
1) If a monster boiled my classroom everyone would dissociate into two parts and mix together randomly. Once the monster cooled us back down to a sensible temperature, we would all wander casually about until we found ourselves and joined back up to be very happy again.
2) All manners of centrifugal chaos could ensue should you neglect to label your nebulizers.

Oooh, hangovers suck

2004-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

So last night was quite the girls' night... Jill, Christina, Deanna, Julianne, Barb and I hit The Black Duck and went on a bit of a bender. Our night out was followed by a slumber party (sorry guys, there was no sweaty naked pillow fight, but if you'd all prefer we can SAY there was one and fabricate stories to tell you all about how erotic it was).
We have concluded we need to do these girls' benders more often; we just need to find a way to avoid the horrible headache the next day.

Here's the general idea of my night:

HOORAY!! for finger-waving, Sephiroth, Phosphofructokinase-1, Wicket the Ewok, curried lamb jokes, much hearty grog, Alcohol Dehydrogenase, pump-your-own-cheese nachos, 5cent candies, Jill squawking at me in her sleep and Grainfields.

BOO!! to icky leering men, simple arithmathic, the psychotic cab driver I was scolding for driving too fast, people getting hit by trains, all the air coming out of the mattress and next day headaches.

WARNING: There Is A Trojan On Your Computer

2004-09-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

WARNING: There Is A Trojan On Your Computer (explodingdog.com)

Clayton was telling me about how he's going to fix his coworker's computer and it reminded me of further evidence that life's tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid. I knew that Graeme would enjoy this one...

A few months back, I was on my parent's computer and it, well, sort of broke. It got some wacky virus that disabled Norton's ability to scan, but I was able to go in and look at its settings.
Now I know that Norton isn't always the best virus scan program out there, but, even despite its shortcomings, it still works better if it hasn't been disabled!!!
This scary virus was gobbling up programs... It hadn't eaten the burning program yet, so I just put all the files I wanted to keep onto CD and reformatted their computer...
Upon their return to town I explained what had happened and what I did to fix the problem. I then asked if they knew why Norton was shut off. They replied "Well, it kept popping up these annoying messages that wouldn't go away, so I found its options and changed them to make it not do that anymore" ...
I told them not to touch the Norton settings without talking to me or my step-brother-in-law first.

They phoned me the next day:
"The computer made a message"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"That program, it told us that a virus is here"
"Oh, Norton gave you an alert that you had gotten a virus and that it wanted to fix it?"
"Yeah. What do we do? It's that one from on the news yesterday"
"I don't watch the news. What virus?"
"Well, the one they always talk about on the news"
"I don't watch the news. What is its name?"
"Um, it's a horse"
"A Trojan Horse? That's a type of virus. Did it tell you exactly which one or what it wanted you to do to fix it?"
"No, they talked about it on the news. That's the virus. The news said so"
"Yup, it's a type of virus. Now did the message give you any instructions?"
"Yes. It said to click ok. So I did. Is it done now?"

You know it's a good night when...

2004-09-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Dallas threw one heck of a party last night! As promised in his email invite there was fire, love and a keg.... I

As a D-D, I spent much of the night packed onto the swing with JA, Jessa and an ever-changing 4rth person, watching what all the drunkies were up to and calculating the percentage of Jeffs and Ians present at the party.

Speaking of Ians - Ian Goodwillie somehow managed to not sleep with Vance last night! Even though Vance told him "You have to sleep with me tonight"...
No worries though, Vance hasn't turned gay - it was a case of mistaken identity. He thought Ian was me... You know, given that I'm over 6' with a shaved head and a beard... and am a man... and all those other similarities...

In further cases of mistaken identity:
~Erin Winkler showed up (the little sneak!!) and is convinced that I am Audrey Hepburn... But as I am 6'5" with a shaved head and a beard and am a man, I really don't see just how she made this mistake!!
~A girl who looked like Diana, and said her name was Diana was also there... But it can't have been Diana... But she was sober, not too drunk to stand, so it CAN'T have been Diana!
~Jessa has mistaken JA and I for people who are extremely dull. And, in a rather contradicting case of mistaken identity, a faulty source appears to have tricked her into thinking that I'm neat.
~The percentage of Jeffs rose to around 23% when Mark arrived, but fell back to a miniscule 14%, when it was discovered that his name was, in fact, Mark.
~Graeme mistook Vance for a either a pro wrestler or a blow up doll and gave him many elbow drops on the front lawn.
~Dallas mistook Cayley for having a dick shaped like a soup can, and himself for having one like a Tiki torch... I suspect that this is wrong and that they both have dicks that are shaped like dicks.
~Travis mistook Shannon for someone who does not like the skins of cucumbers. I mistook her for someone who is pregnant - I was corrected when she said she didn't want any chocolate from the store.
~Once again, everyone thought that Jeff and Chantelle (sp?) were there. I seem to be the only one who knows that their names are really Mike and Laurie. Everyone else has a faulty source.
~Dallas was mistaken for an excellent host... Oh, no, wait, that isn't a mistaken identity, he really was an excellent host!
~Steven got confused and thought Sharon and Jill were too cool to come out with our lameass friends. I had to clarify, that THEY were the lameasses because they hadn't come to the party. I mean, who goes to Regina anyways?? :)

Anyhow, it was a kickass party, and I really should go check if all the drunkies in the living room are still alive...
Here's hopin'!

Life's tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid

2004-09-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

With still more baffling displays of idiocy my dad and stepmom are very close to driving me completely insane!
Dad called me yesterday, then forgot who he had called when I answered and said "Oh, hey, I was wondering who I had phoned!"... He then proceeded to tell me that my sister was coming to town, and told me where from - like I just happened to forget where she lived?? A frustrating phone call at best.
Then I called them today, from Deanna's place, around 3 o'clock to see if my sister was in town yet, because my dad said she was coming straight there when she arrived... My stepmom said "No, her haircut isn't until 5" "Yeah, but Dad said she was coming there first" "No, I don't think she'll be here until around 6:30 or 7" "Hmm, do you have her cell number? I don't have my adress book with me" "Oh, your dad is beeping in... ... ... ... Ok, what were we talking about?" "Erin" "Oh, right. She's not here" "Could you tell me her cell number so I can call her to find out what's up?" "Why?" "Well, to see when we're going to go visit Grandpa in the hospital and to see what she's doing tonight and all that stuff" "Why don't I just tell her to call you when she gets here?" "That will be too late for if she's visiting the hospital this afternoon. Can I have her cell number?" "She can phone you when she gets here. I can write down the number off the phone" "Um, no, I won't be here in 4 hours. Can you just tell me her cell number so I don't have to go home and get my adress book?" "Why won't you be there?" "Deanna is going to work at 5" "Oh, so you'll be leaving soon then?" "Yes. So can I just have her cell number so that I can reach her soon?" "I guess that might work. Let me find the adress book.... ... ... ... ... 5 minutes pass... ... ... Ok, here it is: ___ -____. Will you be calling her?" "Yes, now Deanna needs her phone. Thank you."
I called back a few minutes ago to see if my sister was still at their place and my dad actually had to THINK about it before he said "Yes"!!!
This is nearing the idocy displayed the time he told someone they had the wrong number because they asked for 'Lindsay' instead of 'Fred'...
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???

I shall just play fowlwords (my new addicton) to relieve my stress.

JJ McCracken?

2004-09-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

I keep waking up with the name JJ McCracken stuck in my head.
Does this person exist? Why do I wake up with this name?
CAN ANYONE HELP ME???

I was told today that I'm a hot mom!
Nick, Sam and I went to Timmy Ho's for a treat and as we were sitting down, there were two guys at the next table...
One said to the other "Hey, those are really cute kids"
The other whispered back "Yeah, but their mom is even more so!"
I was about to say "I'll be sure to tell her that when she gets home from work!" but decided to just be happy instead...

Buffy night tonight!! Also, cake decorating!! Whee!!
I will try to post a picture of the cake some day soon.

I like the fireplace!

2004-08-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

I went up to the cabin on Thursday, just like I said I was going to...
I have discovered that Vance thinks it's extremely funny to scare me (a non-swimmer) by rocking the canoe in the middle of the lake. I, not surprisingly, find it much less funny.
On Friday evening we were joined my Graeme, Julianne, Jill and Sharon. Dancing up the hill to the lighthouse was a highlight of the evening (haha, pun!!, get it?), as was marching about with JA to good ol' Johnny Horton, and the many beers that came before and after....
After a hearty breakfast and a good deal of coffee on Saturday morning, Graeme, JA and Sharon went back to Saskatoon, leaving one of Sharon's socks and Jill behind.
Jill and I continued the lakiness with an excellent afternoon of corn on the cob and MXC, followed up by an excellent evening of cribbage, Patrick Swayze and my fire...
A fire that was so roaring we wore shorts and had every window and door in the place open.

That was my weekend, so for any of you with any interest in fashion history, I shall leave you Hairiffic!

"I'm wearing panties. Are you wearing panties?" And also YIPPEE!!!

2004-08-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

I babysat my 2 year old niece, Sam, and my 4 year old nephew, Nick, today. I love babysitting them, but OH MY GOD AM I TIRED!!! They can be a little, um, trying sometimes.
Sam is just about done potty-training so she's a bit obsessed with panties right now. She informed me that she was wearing panties, inquired if I was wearing panties, and then demanded proof! Again!
I have also discovered that Sam is scared of dinosaur skeletons and lizards.
Nick told me that I "don't let Vance cook, even if he wants, but that's okay, because he can't cook anyways". When I asked him how he decided this, he said he was just kidding, and that I "probably do let Vance cook if he wants". (Note how he never said he was kidding about the other part?)

Of course, my exhaustion is compounded by that Sharon and Jill kept me out too late last night at a funk show at The Bassment... It made me wish I had the confidence to wear a sexy black slip with red trim as a dress - boo. Also it made me wish I could sing and/or was incredibly sexy.

Now for my YIPPEE!!!
I just found out my Arch 112 final mark and it's 93%!!! Holy crap! I've never done that well in any university class before! And probably never will again! I'm very happy! Wheee!!!

Well, I finally gave in

2004-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

The day has come... I decided to build myself a blog.
I decided that interesting things DO occasionally happen in my life, and maybe some of you would like to know about them... Wishful thinking, I know.
When I'm busy in school my blog may be updated about as often as Dust In The Balance , but we'll see...

It's been sort of an up and down couple of weeks... But I'll only tell you about my happiness for now!
My happiness is that I'm done summer school and don't have to go back to regular session until September 8th!!
Also, I'm likely headed to my dad's cabin for a couple days later this week for lots of canoeing and reading and plus-plus-ing. Yay plus-plus!
Yesterday, Cayley and I walked the route of the 10km Terry Fox run and I don't even hurt today... I'm in better shape than I thought!! Whoo-whoo!