Rick Mercer's Appology to the US

A Canadian Apology

A truly Canadian Apology to the USA... Courtesy of Rick Mercer from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC Television:

On behalf of Canadians everywhere I'd like to offer an apology to the United States of America. We haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, I am truly sorry. I'm sorry we called George Bush a moron. He is a moron but, it wasn't nice of us to point it out. If it's any consolation, the fact that he's a moron shouldn't reflect poorly on the people of America. After all it's not like you actually elected him.

I'm sorry about our softwood lumber. Just because we have more trees than you doesn't give us the right to sell you lumber that's cheaper and better than your own.

I'm sorry we beat you in Olympic hockey. In our defence I guess our excuse would be that our team was much, much, much, much better than yours. I'm sorry we burnt down your White House during the war of 1812. I notice you've rebuilt it! It's Very Nice.

I'm sorry about your beer. I know we had nothing to do with your beer but, we feel your pain.

I'm sorry about our waffling on Iraq. I mean, when you're going up against a crazed dictator, you want to have your friends by your side. I realize it took more than two years before you guys pitched in against Hitler, but that was different. Everyone knew he had weapons.

And finally on behalf of all Canadians, I'm sorry that we're constantly apologizing for things in a passive-aggressive way which is really a thinly veiled criticism. I sincerely hope that you're not upset over this. We've seen what you do to countries you get upset with.

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I especially like the Iraq part.

Physics Phunny

It's been a while since I've heard many physics jokes, but I'm sure someone will appreciate this. I was suprised that got it.

Getting Ready to Graduate: Step 1 Completed

Finally managed to hand in my thesis to the graduate secretary after much fustration over a missing signature on a silly form. At UoG, there is a form that needs to be signed by all committee members before the thesis is handed in. The form simply states that each person has read the thesis and whether or not it should be defended.

The catch is that the thesis can be defended regardless of whether your committee agrees with you. With one of my advisors teaching in Iowa and currently on vacation, we thought that an email would sufficient. In the past, she and my supervisor assured me, that was always possible. The graduate secretary said she would look into it. Unfortunate for me, the secretary went on a week long vacation right when I was supposed to be handing it in. When she gets back, I'm informed that an email won't cut it anymore, and so I'm stuck waiting as my advisor does not have access to a fax machine for two weeks. Lovely.

The rest of the stress is because there is only a narrow time frame in which I can defend. My advisor begins teaching during the last two weeks of August and the thesis defense cannot occur until at least 3 weeks once has been submitted to give the examination committee time to read. On top of this my supervisor is away on vacation, leaving everything up to me. Ugh.

The good news? I finally managed to submit the thesis this afternoon!

Finally figured out the banner

As you can see, I have finally figured out how to get the banner at the right place and size along with a few minor adjustments. Not I just need to figure out how to standardize the font. How can I change the template so that the font of my posts will always be Palatino Linotype, 14px, 1.5 spacing? Any suggestions would be well appreciated.

I was disscussing blogs today with labmates. They don't feel keeping an unthemed blog as very worthy. I understand the point, as I doubt any random people would find my thoughts interesting. Unless of course, you know who I am and because I am horrible at sending emails making this is the only way to see what I have been up to.

I'm thinking about making two theme blogs...to appease those people who are critics of personal blogs. The first about food and recipes and the second about my cats. People who don't have cats will not understand that blog, but there are still many cat lovers in the world.

Taking Nike for a walk

The banner is coming along. I've changed my template again. The other one was too difficult for me to figure what everything meant. This one is a bit more intuitive.

Do you like the frogs in the banner? The picture was taken last July 3 (the last day of the Harvard Tropical Botanical Course). These little golden frogs were so cute...and I just can't resist the macro function on my camera. We have two Nikon cameras in the lab, but niether are as good for these shots as my (relatively) old Olympus, bought three years ago.

Today Larry and Cameron left for Spain where they will meet Lewis an Manuel. With Usher gone to England, only Erin, Mike, and I will be in the lab tomorrow and continuing into next week. Tim doesn't really count: a family member has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I really sympathize with the guy. Whenever things start to calm down and he can focus on his thesis, something happens, something that must be dealth with.

Nike went for a walk last night. She is getting very obediant about walking, although we still get strange looks for walking a cat on a leash. We met a well trained dog, Steve, and his owner Mike. Nike was freaked out a first and Steve patiently sat at his master's feet. After about 5 minutes, Nike could get to within a foot of the dog before she hissed. I was proud of her. For the past three days I have been taking Nike outside for a walk around 7:30pm. It was raining (the street at the back of my building flooded with about a foot of water) her today so I wasn't planning on taking her outside, but she's givining me the look, standing on her hind legs and putting her chin on my arm as I write this. Time to find out if she minds the wet grass.

I have made a banner for the top of my blog, all I need to do if figure out how to put it in the template.

What to Do?

Hmmm...just a post mostly for myself as I try to figure out what to do after school today. I was thinking about walking to Zellers and picking up some organizing stuff (but I may put this off until tomorrow, because, by then I may need some groceries).

1. I can continuing sorting and organizing the bedroom.
2. Yesterday I went through my clothes to figure out what to keep and what to get rid of when I move. Movers charge by the pound.Start playing the Sims or RollerCoaster Tycoon.
3. Finish reading book and return it to the library tomorrow (and check to see if my hat is in the lost an found).
4. Personalize the template for this blog: make a banner and whatnot.
5. Take Artemis outside for a walk. It is her turn since Nike got to go yesterday. When I brought her in, she sat by the door and yowled for half an hour, wanting to go back outside. Funny cat.

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Last night, I did not fall asleep until after 1:30am. That 1h30 nap yesterday afternoon was not very good for my sleeping habits or my insomnia. Artemis slept on the bed with me while I was watching TV, but I don't know where Nike was hiding (probably trying to chew her way into a bag of treats). Usually Nike is the social one and Artemis is off on her own. When I woke this morning, they were both in bed with me. I'd probably be very lonely on my own if I didn't have the cats (I feel a bit disappointed having to say that. What ever happened to being a tough bitch?)

statz rappers

This is too funny! Makes me happy that I didn't have to do any stats for my thesis. As a TA, I have never thought to do this.

Jason is off to NB this morning, leaving me with cats in our hot apartment for the next week and a half. This will be the first time I have had the apartment to myself since we moved to Guelph. I have a few ideas of what I'm going to be doing during this time.

1. Organize stuff for the move to Halifax
2. Take the cats for a walk...well, at least Nike (the whitish one)
3. Watch some TV (I've downloaded America's Next Top Model to stop me from snacking. Since I don't have anybody to cook for, I'll be tempted to each crackers and cheese for every meal)
4. Do a little baking for the lab
5. Read (I'm reading a good fantasy book now called "The Decoy Princess"-not sure if it is part of a series)
6. Apply for jobs

Which reminds me- if anyone has any ideas on jobs in Halifax I'd love to know. Once we move to Halifax and pay Dal tuition, the savings will be minute. Hopefully I'll find a job quickly. I'm a bit stressed out about it.

I'll probably be updating my blog quite a bit over the next few days. I'm thing about putting in some picture of my trip to Montreal. Unfortunately the pictures might be very boring- usually all the focus is on plants and people only make it in the frame when I need something for scale :) Dr. Riding would be proud.