Airporter wait: Live Blogging

8:39pm: I am live blogging my airporter wait. Hopefully it will be a short lived live blog.

What appears to be a large number of child violin players just came through US customs, from Boston, it would seem.

8:41pm: Up until now, there has only been me sitting next to the airporter loading zone. I haven't seem much activity except for a bunch of people just within the last minute. Perhaps the shuttle won't be as empty as it would first appear.

8:43pm: Several Air Canada flights just landed and the baggage area is quite busy. Follow along with the arrivals with me!

http://www.hiaa.ca/schedules/arrivals_ns.html

8:44pm: This live blogging thing is not nearly as exciting as Cameron makes it seem.

8:46pm: I am going to pack up my computer and get ready for the shuttle. I want to get a good seat the live blogging is not really that entertaining. The people watching is entertaining though. I wish the airport was closer so that I could people watch more often. I guess I could people watch at the mall, but the people here are more exciting. Like all the kids with the violin cases.

8:47pm: Going offline.

Conclusions: from now on, I'll leave the live blogging to Cameron and Montifax.

CV and research blurbs

Right now I am starting the job hunt process. This will be long and hard and frustrating. But to even start I have to have a CV and a write up about past, current and proposed future research. Yikers. The research blurb is the hardest for me. There are all sorts of directions that I see this can go. Trying to focus that, write sensibly and somehow attract employers seems like an impossible task.

Fingers crossed that I will have some sort of research blurb epiphany and I'll write something magical.

Unpopular Opinions

I often have the unpopular opinion on particular issues. Generally I keep them to myself, but the benefit of a blog is to mouth off.

Many of the people that I went to high school (and even university with) are school teachers. Most of those who choose to do math have jobs, but most of those that did other things like English and History do not have jobs. They get by on substituting and tutoring. What bothers me is the amount of complaining (mostly on Facebook) about the lack of available substituting and other issues surrounding not being able to get enough work. The reason that this bothers me is THIS IS WHAT THEY SIGN ON FOR!!!!! Everyone knew, when we were starting university, that unless you did math or a science or french as a teachable, there were not any jobs. It was common knowledge 10 years ago. So what did these people think?

When I decided to pursue my degree and this whole academia thing, I knew this meant that I would probably have to live and work somewhere for a few years before getting a position I really want. I knew this, and so I am not upset about it.

Anyway, that is my unpopular opinion for today: substitute teachers should suck it up.

Stay tuned for other unpopular opinions in the future...I am full of them

Work Fail

So today, I got up early, made a lunch and headed into my office to get a full day's work. I was so pleased that I managed to get on the go relatively early. I walked in, got there in just over 20 mins, then discovered that I couldn't get into the building. The security system was malfunctioning. Frustrated, I turned around and came back home. On my way home, I recalled an email about a planned power outage today, which was probably the reason for the system fail.

Anyway, all my plans were then turned around. Thus, I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I wanted and needed to get done.

Now to try to make this a better day!

Yoga update

I am continuing to go to yoga, and I am getting better with a lot of poses, but one pose of the sun salutation eludes me: chaturanga
Other students do not seem to have trouble with it, but I do. I think my lack of any arm strength is the problem. I am going to try to improve this, but in the meantime, it is frustrating that, for a beginner, I can do a lot of the poses, but this starting one I have so much trouble with.

Trip to Arizona

I just returned to Halifax after a trip to Arizona. The reason for the trip was a family wedding in Phoenix, but we also fit in some sight-seeing. We went to the Grand Canyon which was amazing (pictures to come!). We also went to the Desert Botanical Gardens, where the wedding was held. Also, lots of other touring around Phoenix.

It was a great trip. I really liked how sunny and warm it was in Arizona. I liked all the cacti and other desert plants. One thing that I wasn't prepared for was how spread out Phoenix and metro area was. There was no walking anywhere. Everything was also big box stores. That was a little disappointing.

Pictures and more about my trip later...

Phoenix

I am heading to Phoenix tomorrow and have been carefully watching the weather. Apparently, there has been a lot of rain and the weather has gotten cold, but last week, it was 41 degrees. It is hard to pack for such weather.

Fingers crossed I won't freeze or melt.

Hair Cut

On Friday, after my tutorials and after my meeting, I quickly went and got my hair cut. The girl cut a little more off than I thought, although I definitely wanted it short. It is a bizarre feeling to go and get 8 to 10 inches cut off my hair.

I think in the future, I might try and get my hair cut more than once a year. Maybe I'll up it to twice a year.

Cable

Oh, boy, do I like cable! Last week we got TV and it is fantastic.

The reason I finally got to have TV is that there was a special that made it cheaper to get TV than to not get the TV.

Awesome!

TV Shows that I like

Comedy/dramas: Grey's Anatomy, Castle, House,...

Crime dramas: CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds, The Closer,...

Oldies but goodies: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel,...

Reality tv: The Apprentice, Survivor, The Amazing Race, anything on Slice,...

I am sure there are others. After writing them, I realize that I basically like all TV shows. The good aspect of this is that.... we are getting TV tomorrow! No more watching stuff on the internet! A good way to unwind! Yay for TV!

I know that this is not a popular opinion to have, especially for someone my age and education. But I really enjoy TV and find it a great way to unwind and relax, because I don't think about work when I am watching TV.

KevJumba

My new favourite YouTube star KevJumba. He even has a wiki! I came across him after watching the season premiere of "The Amazing Race" where KevJumba and his Dad are competing to win a million dollars. He also has a charity YouTube channel, JumbaFund, where for each view, money goes to charity.

Have a look at his videos and then watch "The Amazing Race" to see how he does!

Difficulty sleeping

I have never been a good sleeper. I don't sleep very solidly, I have trouble falling asleep, I have trouble staying asleep and I don't often feel rested after I sleep.

I know, I know, there are things that can help: getting exercise, not drinking caffeine, etc, etc. I have been trying to get exercise and not drink caffeine close to bedtime, and this has made it so I generally have less trouble falling asleep, but I still have tons of trouble staying asleep. Last night's bad sleep was due to heat (it was way too warm) and our uncomfortable bed. This bed is probably causing most of my sleep problems. I should get rid of it. But, since I am desperately trying to finish my thesis, I don't really have time to go bed shopping and I will be hopefully leaving Halifax soon.

Anyway, fingers crossed for a better night's sleep tonight. Good sleeping to everyone else!!

Using blogs to feed my Empire Avenuing

So some of the recent blog activity on my behalf has purely been to get more money on Empire Avenue.

That is truly sad. :(

Not enough hours in the day...

It doesn't really feel like there are enough hours in the day. What would it be like if there were more hours? Would that change anything? I guess it would only change things if I was the only one getting more hours.

For now I'll settle with using caffeine to make my days longer by sleeping less. Obviously, this is a very short term solution. I'll sleep once I finish my thesis.

Meetings

Tomorrow I am meeting with my supervisor. As with all my meetings, I am not prepared. For the past two weeks, I have not gotten as much done as I wanted/needed to get done. Basically, for lots of different reasons, I have only made progress for the past 4 days. Unfortunately, my supervisor expects that I have done A LOT more. He will be disappointed and will make that known, and will then warn me about the fact I was hoping to eventually finish and I will feel horrible.

But, despite the horribleness that awaits me tomorrow, I am trying to not let it bother me too much. My supervisor will forever be disappointed and I refuse to keep letting that drag me down. I will get so much work done this week, that maybe he will be a little less disappointed in me next time we have a meeting.

New Delhi

It seems like the athletes from around the world have started arriving in India for the Commonwealth Games, despite all the problems with the infrastructure.

Apparently today, the newest reports are about a bed collapsing

Sounds like the whole thing is a bit of a shit show. In order to get something like the Commonwealth games in your country, aren't you supposed to show that you can have all the infrastructure done in plenty of time?

It doesn't sound like it will be a successful games.

Short Posts

The problem with spending all one's time doing work is that it leads to very little material on which to write blog posts.

A week and a half til Phoenix..

In a week and a half, Neil and I head to Phoenix for his cousin's wedding. I am very much looking forward to it. Although, in this week and a half, I have to get a significant chunk of my thesis done. It will be a busy week.

One exciting part of what we have planned for our visit, is a short trip to the Grand Canyon. I have never seen this American wonder. It will be a good time.

Better head back to work...

When you are feeling down...

Whenever I am feeling down, Maru's blog cheers me up. Maru is a scottish fold cat in Japan whose owner has has created quite a prolific blog detailing Maru's life for the past few years. Maru has books and dvds.

He is cute and has quite the personality (for a cat).

Enjoy! I hope he cheers you up as much as he cheers me up.

Tutorial angst

This semester, for the first time in a while, I am hired as a Teaching Assistant. So I am doing tutorials for first year calculus. It has been a long time since I have done tutorials, but since I have been teaching classes, I was not concerned and, if anything, I was excited because I knew I could do a really good job. What I was not prepared for was the hassle involved OUTSIDE the classroom. Between the learning centre coordinator, TA coordinator, instructors, instructor coordinator, random emails and crazy online systems, I am ready to quit and the first week isn't over! It just seems like no one is in charge and no one is taking responsibility for anything. I want to tear my hair out.

Despite my usual tendency to try to fix things and to organize things, I am backing off and sticking my head in the sand. I will do only the tutorials and the marking I am supposed to do and not bother with the other garbage.

It is unfortunate that politics and coordination ruin my enjoyment to teaching students.