Tuesday pet peeve: noisy neighbours

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

We’re avoiding the worst effects of the (now thankfully waning) heatwave by sleeping in the spare bedroom, which is much cooler than our own. However, last night’s attempt at a good night’s sleep was a massive FAIL.

It is NOT COOL to use power tools in a residential neighbourhood at 11 pm on a weeknight.

Mr E Man had to go out into the back alley in just his shorts last night to find the perpetrators and ask them to STFU. (Response: “but we’ve almost finished!” Tough shit, buddy, some people get up at 5.30 am for work).

It is NOT COOL to repeatedly attempt to park a huge truck equipped with one of those beeping reversing / backing up alarms, in the same back alley, at 1 am on a weeknight.

Especially when you clearly suck at parking. Perpetrators currently unknown as I couldn’t actually see the truck from the window.

The subsequent Crazy Kitteh attacks on our feet were no-one’s fault but our own; we’ve been keeping the bedroom door open to get the benefit of the ceiling fan in the next room, giving the cats access to our sleeping selves for the first time. But the damage was already done by the time the latest manifestation of a recent jump in feline craziness started to hit, just as it got light.

A plague of tinnitus upon noisy neighbours!

Posted in bad people, plagues, rants | 20 Comments

It’s oh so quiet

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?
  • it’s oh so still*

The boss is away.
The admin manager is away.
The lab manager is away.
Are the lab rats mice playing?
Well, they may or may not be going for more (iced) coffee breaks than usual.
BUT the resident grant wrangler is taking advantage of the peace and quiet, and is working away on those little projects that get forgotten amid the din and clatter of the grant deadline months. Progress report templates, transcriptions of the barely legible notes from a course taken in the Spring, early submission of ethics certificate renewal applications, that kind of thing.
but soon again (shhh, shhh) starts another big riot
The boss and the department’s other PIs will return soon, and launch straight into CIHR and NCIC / Canadian Cancer Society operating grant applications. These grants are the life blood, the bread and butter, of Canadian research labs in my field, and I anticipate working on at least five or six big grants due between now and mid-October.
A three week vacation is planned for November, details TBD. I’m foregoing all remaining 2009 vacation time1 to save up enough days for this trip; I also have nine days of paid sick leave left in case I need to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital and/or rehab facility.

1 I’ve already taken four days in February to go skiing, and another day in May to attend my citizenship ceremony.

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

We see BC

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

What better way to celebrate BC Day than to show you some lovely views of Vancouver from this weekend?

On Saturday night we had a very disappointing dinner at a pub that obviously coasts by on its fantastic location on the waterfront without paying much attention to the quality of its food, beverages, or service. The best part was watching the parade of boats heading out into the harbour to watch the fireworks, and trying to decide which one we’d buy if we had the money.

There are some very bizarre boat names out there, which led to some speculation on their origins:

Mary’s Promise III (she broke the first two)

Amesia IV (they forgot where they’d moored the first three, so they had to keep buying new ones)

Scot Free (bought using the proceeds of a bank robbery; police clueless).

We then headed to a friend’s fantastic penthouse apartment to watch the fireworks and admire the view:

Burrard Bridge (you’d think that the owner of a penthouse suite would be able to afford to clean his windows, eh?)

Granville Island
The crowd gathers…

To watch the show


The fireworks were part of an annual international competition; Saturday was China’s turn, and they put on a hell of a show. I hadn’t seen any of the other entries though. I know it makes me sound boring, but after watching from a boat, or someone’s aunt’s beach-front apartment, or a wealthy friend’s penthouse, watching from 5 rows back on the beach or bridge and fighting either the crazy traffic or the mental transit crowds just doesn’t seem worth it. So now we only bother if we’re guaranteed a spectacular view! This makes us pariahs in some Vancouver circles.

————

Yesterday was our friends’ 4th Annual BC Day Weekend BBQ on Spanish Banks beach. We had a huge crowd of friends, complete with loads of kids and several dogs, one sporting a jaunty red feather boa in honour of Pride Week; we played bocce ball, we swam, we ate chicken wings and salmon and potatoes and salads and cookies, and drank lots of beer. We then headed back downtown (I spent more time downtown this weekend than in an average month) to an out-of-town friend’s hotel suite, for yet more spectacular balcony views:

Another sunset

Stanley Park, Lions Gate Bridge, and the North Shore mountains


I swear that the tourist board is not paying me!

Happy BC Day everyone!

Posted in photos, Vancouver | 12 Comments

Sir Bobby Robson, 1933 – 2009

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Sir Bobby Robson died today.

A gentleman, a fighter*, and a true local hero in my native region. He managed Newcastle, England, and Vancouver.

I’m glad he managed to hold on for the game held in his honour at the hallowed grounds of St James’ Park last Sunday. But he will be sorely missed, in Newcastle and elsewhere.

RIP, Sir Bobby, and thank you for all the good times.

My all-time favourite quotes from the great man:

“He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two”

“We can’t replace Gary Speed. Where do you get an experienced player like him with a left foot and a head?”

“There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game that they lose”

and, of course, “I would have given my right arm to be a pianist”.

More here if anyone else is trying to cheer themselves back up after this sad news.

———————–

*From the BBC:

Robson, who was first diagnosed with cancer 18 years ago in 1991, fought a brave battle against the disease. He beat bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995 and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006. In 2007 he vowed to “battle as I’ve always done” following the start of chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time.

Posted in personal, sport | 5 Comments

Probably not a miracle

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

This fire happened just a few blocks from my house this morning. We first saw it on the news just as we started to hear the helicopters and smell the smoke. Thankfully, no-one seems to have been hurt.

From the CBC article:

A suspicious fire has destroyed the Khalsa School near the intersection of Fraser Street and 45th Avenue in East Vancouver, but the school’s holy book has been miraculously recovered from the burnt remains of the buildings. […] It is was not known what condition the book was in as firefighters brought it out covered in a white cloth, but members of the temple attributed its preservation to the will of God.

Members of the temple are free to say whatever they feel to be the truth… but is anyone else a little surprised that the (publicly funded) CBC would use the word “miraculously” in such a way?

I seem to remember similar claims being made about a religious relic that survived another fire that I saw in person – York Minster in 1984. I was a wishy-washy kind of Christian at the time and believed the claim (as well as my Grandmother’s allegedly eyewitness account of a sudden fog saving Durham Cathedral from being bombed during WWII*), but I remember touring the Minster when I was a bit older and noticing that the whole area in which the relic was stored was almost completely undamaged anyway.

IMHO it is much more likely that the most treasured items in a given building are the best protected.

ETA: and now Blackcomb Mountain (part of the Whistler resort) is on fire too. I wonder if some miracle will save Seventh Heaven (my favourite ski area on either mountain), or if the militant Olympics NIMBYs will have something to cheer about.

————————-

*Corroborating story about 2/3 of the way down this page

Posted in current affairs, secularism, Vancouver | 6 Comments

It’s the wrong t-shirt, Gromit!

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

As blog regulars will know, my habit of showering and changing at work (after cycling in) has caused a number of wardrobe malfunctions in the past.

Yesterday’s incident, though, is worthy of a whole post of its own.

As I was getting ready for work, I grabbed some capris and one of my favourite t-shirts, and stuffed them in my panniers.

This is the t-shirt:

The squid is Teh Awesome. People are always asking me where I got it (the Militant Penguin, on Main & 10th. And here’s a plug for the local designer, Grumpy Clothing).

The designer prints onto American Apparel t-shirts. As, apparently, do lots of other printing operations.

Because here’s the t-shirt that I pulled back out of my panniers after my shower at work yesterday morning:

Yeah.

I wore my gross cycling t-shirt until 10 am, at which point I went straight to the nearest clothing store and managed to find a somewhat decent top among all the weird old lady clothes.

The friend who gave me the second t-shirt is highly amused.

I should probably turn my inside-out clothing back the right way before putting it in my drawers.

Posted in photos, silliness | 17 Comments

Spooky!

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A few weeks ago I heard a student wish my boss a “happy vacation!”. In reply, he used almost the exact same words as the out-of-frame PI in the final panel of this cartoon:

(Linky)
The state of my email inbox proves that he wasn’t joking.
I hope all my NN friends are having a (relatively) work-free and relaxing summer! No vacation days for me until November, when a planned trip to New Zealand will hopefully make up for all these beautiful sunny days spent in an office while my husband gallivants about town recuperates from his own recent slave labour work schedule, and does his duty as a good host and cousin.

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

CFI: Confusing F***ing Initials

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I can never remember what the initials of one of Canada’s major funding bodies stand for.
Today’s first attempt was the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
Nope.
Canadian Fund for Innovation?
Wrong again.
Oh, I remember, it’s the Canada Fund for Innovation.
Nope, sorry. Try the last possible combination:
the “Canada Foundation for Innovation”:http://www.innovation.ca/en.
Got there in the end.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Dear Lilah,

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?
You are the most hilarious baby I have ever met!
Within a few minutes of meeting you for the first time, you:
winked at me while holding a lotus position,

threw me a rockin’ devil horns salute,

and told me to “fuck off” in time-honoured British style.


I can tell that you and I are going to be the very best of friends. I offer you the same welcome to the world and promises that I gave to baby Morgan, with an added bonus of two whole weeks of auntie-to-a-newborn experience. It must be working, because you fell asleep so peacefully when I first held you.

Maybe cut back on the attitude a wee bit though, eh? The monkey hand-puppet was a freebie; all future gifts need to be earned.
Just think about it. Have a good ponder.

All my love,
Auntie Cath
xoxoxox
Posted in photos, silliness, the 2009 baby boom | 8 Comments

Feeling old

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

My first ever student successfully defended his PhD yesterday.
When I say “my” student I mean that he was officially my PI’s student, but I supervised him in the lab for his first year or two and helped him with the short-term development of his project. I also crushed his soul edited his first contributions to the scientific literature. It goes without saying that I am immensely proud of him!
The cohort of grad students who joined my department shortly after I began my first postdoc are starting to graduate and move on… and here’s me on my third job since those days!
The remaining question though is whether I should now address my former student as “Doctor Little Mark”, or as “Little Doctor Mark”.

Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments