3.5 hrs at the academy

Today was one of those days where nothing I had planned came through. The weather blasted us with a nasty storm, ice pellets and such, so I had to cancel on a tour I was supposed to give, as well as the screening of "Flock of Dodos" in the afternoon. I rescheduled the screening for next Friday, same time. I wound up spending the day at home, sorting things out, working, etc. Late in the afternoon, I headed to the academy for Kali. Turns out no one else was there, so Bob gave me a private lesson: went through all 36 steps of the numbering system and then a number of knife techniques. Sometimes it's really frustrating. He makes it look so bloody easy!! Years and years of practice. I stayed after that class and did almost 2 hours of Muay Thai practice! Lots of shadow boxing, bag work, footwork, and then actually went 4 rounds in the ring, sparring with various people. Yeah!!! Got whacked good in the knee so am now using a frozen bag of edamme on and off for 10 min to get the swelling down. Man, I need to get my cardio up further. It's pretty good, but I just die in the ring (as I think most people do!). More biking, more biking, more biking. In total, I spent about 3.5 hours at the academy tonight!! Feels great to be back after 2 weeks off. Also great to have Bob back. Not that the young guys aren't good, but Bob keeps things a bit more on the level.

Came home and wolfed down some supper, now am icing my knee and enjoying the NamNam smell! I'm going to go down to China Town tomorrow and get some Chinese linament that is apparently good for bone injuries. Hey, if it helps, great! Then tomorrow night is UFC 68. Gonna be an awesome bunch of fights!! UFC and a couple of beers and all is well in the world. Really, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Pretty simple!

Technetium-99

Bone scan done - check!
Results from bone scan - in progress

Technetium-99 has a half-life of 6 hours, and is produced by beta-decay from Mo-99, or as a by-product of nuclear energy production. It's one of the most common tracers used in nuclear medicine, including the bone scan I had yesterday.

It was definitely an interesting experience. The technician took scans of my leg to check bloodflow before injecting the tracer, gave me the injection (oh, did I mention I HATE needles?!!) and then sent me on my way for 2 hours. I came back later and she did scans of my legs on various angles. I managed to get a bit of information out of her, but she's not the one who interprets the scans nor writes the report for my doctor. I did get a chance to watch the images forming and note that there is a definite 'bright spot' (ie. high concentrations of technetium) exactly where the pain in my left leg is localized. However, the bright spot could be anything - healing bone, bone disease, cancer, shin splint, stress fracture. So, I have to wait a week for the results and talk to my doctor. Very frustrating, but at least we're closer to solving the problem. I'm pretty convinced it's a stress fracture. At least it's not aggrevated by Muay Thai.

I went to CycleLogik and got fit for my new Cervelo today. Yeah!! I fit perfectly onto a 51 cm frame. Ian is going to set me up with a 2nd seat and headpiece for the seat stem so that I can easily switch to a tri position for TT's. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my finances!) the bike won't be in until April. The tubes are made in California, shipped to Taiwan for welding, and then back to Toronto to be built. Strange trip this bike makes!

I am giving a trombone lesson tonight... in French. This is Claudia's 2nd lesson (she's 11) and it's always an interesting time as she doesn't speak much English and my French vocabulary does not include musical terms! Her father generally acts as a translator. I have to find something for the dog to do - the last time she was here, he was acutely interested in what was happening, and would start howling along with her playing! Especially in the upper range.

biked to work today!

Long time no write, but I've been really busy here. This weekend was fantastic - I finally got a chance to relax, do my own thing, CLEAN, and just chill out. I spent Saturday night playing dominoes and drinking wine at S&J's place, and then the next morning out for breakfast with them as well. The dog was happy - got to visit his friend Tweek and then go for a walk in the Bruce Pit the next morning. I spent most of Saturday afternoon cleaning my mess of an apartment: dusting, cleaning the floors, etc. Finally clean!! Most of Sunday afternoon was spent working on a lab for the GEO 2164 mineralogy class for Monday. Took a long time to organize the powerpoint presentation and the lab hand out.

Last night I went to Muay Thai and we had a Kali class. Bob's back from Cambodia/Thailand, which is great. I kinda missed having him instructing our classes in the last month! Our Kali class was great as well - we took the numbering system up to 24, which is very confusing and I think I need to practice alot! Then we did a variety of close-range techniques with the sticks, and a few hand-to-hand combat techniques. It was great!! Arm-bars, moves where you press on the collar bone, stick to the throat in various ways, etc. Alot of moves which put your elbow into really BAD positions! I discovered that joints don't have a wide range of motion! Bob used me as a demonstration model quite a few times and I must say it's amazing how quickly he can bring people to their knees! He makes it look so easy, so smooth... so deadly! I think I need to go practice...

Today was a pretty good day. I had quite a few meetings but all were productive and positive. I think the last three weeks have gone well, I've made alot of strides forward with the projects I've proposed and I think all are happy about it. That's good to know. But for me, I've moved past the shit from 3 weeks ago and just gotten on with my job. Shit happens. There's no point in dwelling on past mistakes, right? However, if I ever discover who the snitch was... :)

Tomorrow is bone scan day. Yeah!! And optometrist day as well. Medical day all around. My leg has felt really good today actually, which is surprising since I went to Muay Thai last night and biked today! I biked to work today. It was -10 C when I got up, but I bought wind-stopper booties and gloves, so the cold didn't bother me. Not too bad for the first time biking all the way to work! The ride back home after work was great - +2 C and the wind at my back. I'm going to try and bike in as long as the weather is nice and the roads remain clean. Looks like we're getting a storm on Friday so biking that day is out (and I have to be at Kali for 4pm anyway).

I got an invitation from FF to return to Paris for 1-3 months as a visiting researcher (paid!) at the Natural History Museum where he is now. Talk about mixed emotions!! Yes, going back to Paris sounds AWESOME!! I do love the city, I do miss it and would like to go back. It's been 2 years since I've returned to my French home. On the other hand, can he and I work together? Can we move past some of the SHIT that we've gone thru in the past? I don't know if I can. I think he's very bad for me in many ways. Maybe he's changed now that he's in a museum and maybe not under as much stress as he was when I was doing my PDF. I don't know. It brings back alot of bad emotions, a period which required many therapy sessions to get over!! On the other hand, going back to Paris, definitely a plus. I miss the city. I miss the food, the European atmosphere, the wine, walking all over town and exploring on the subway. Shit, I miss the subway!! :) I did email him back and said I could do 1 month at a time. More than that, it becomes a problem with the dog. But going after May 2008 would be great - bit of a paid break away from here after the science fair. This year might not be the best time. We'll see. I'd like to take holidays at some point! I told Bob that I would be interested in going to Cambodia with him next year (then going to Thailand) to help build houses for the Tabitha Foundation.

Diversity Training

I spent the entire day in a 'diversity in the workplace' training session. Although the initial reaction is ugh, I have better things to do, it turned out to be a good session. Our instructor had a good sense of humour, made the situations relevant and interesting, and managed to hold our gnat-brain attention spans for the entire time. Personally, I think I am a very culturally-aware person. It comes from traveling all over the world, being open to new cultures and new experiences in a non-tourist fashion. Alot of the information wasn't new, but some points he raised were surprising. One of the most interesting points raised was the fact that only 7% of communication is verbal - 52% is body language (goes to show how email can be a real problem!!).

The other interesting exercise was to look at the differences in values, work ethics and experiences of the four different generational groups:

Traditionalists (born between 1920 and 1940)
Baby Boomers (born between 1940 and 1960)
Generation X (born between 1960 and 1980)
Generation Y (born between 1980 and 2000)

It's amazing that ANY effective communication happens between these four groups!! It's no wonder why a work place tends to have a certain degree (alot?) of conflict given the inherent value systems that each generation has grown up with. It explains when change is often difficult to implement in a workplace when the upper hierarchy is of the Traditionalist or Baby Boomer generation. Us in the GenX and GenY categories are much more willing to step outside the box, are open to change (and less patient!).

The instructor we had also does conflict resolution training. I'm beginning to think that this course might be an excellent training opportunity as well, made mandatory for everyone...

Otherwise, I'm so happy it's the weekend. I'm looking forward to having the weekend to myself, doing some errands, just going down to the Market and doing some shopping, having coffee. The dog is roaching on the couch beside me, enjoying a friday evening as well.

I need to go and buy some winter cycling gloves. This week looks to be somewhat warm, so I'm thinking of biking to work. With my mountain bike of course - I don't want to subject my road bike to the salt and sand on the roads right now. The OBC has Santini winter gloves for sale. But the office is only open in the morning.

Going to find Doritos...

Bone scan next week

Went and saw my doctor this morning to discuss my left leg x-ray results (finally!). If nothing was wrong, the report would have come back "tibia and fibia normal". Mine didn't. It came back with a long paragraph of very scary medical lingo that basically equates to "your tibia and fibia are FUCKED UP"!! Seems that there is extensive hardening (scary "sclerosis" word in there somewhere), evidence of extensive stress, hardening, lateral thickening, etc, etc. And fracture. Somewhere in there, something has fractured and healed badly, possibly more than once. Thus the pain.

My doctor has ordered me to have a bone scan on that leg, which actually sounds like a neat procedure. It's a nuclear scanning technique rather than X-ray-based. They inject a radionucleide into your body and it permeates into the bone, acting as a tracer for areas of bone which are healing or broken down. A gamma-ray detector picks up the nucleide and creates an image. Cool!!! The whole thing takes 3 hours - injection then wait 2 hours until the nucleide goes through your body, and then 45 min for the scan itself.

The problem with this is that I now know that it's not a soft-tissue area and that anything high-impact is just making the problem worse. Which means Muay Thai is out for a while. I figure I can still do boxing training, as long as I don't kick or pivot on the left leg. Boxing should be fine. I'll talk to Kru Bob on Saturday - he's back from Cambodia/Thailand today. Biking should be ok though - it's not load-bearing. Squash is out. Ball hockey is out.

But really, what can be done for a fracture? Other than staying off it?

The afternoon was quite an experience. I learned something today: all people are not equal. Certainly not in the eyes of the overlords who have control over the purse strings. If an overlord can get away with keeping the purse strings tightly knotted, they will, even if it means perpetuating an inequality. If that overlord is asked to put their underlings on an even playing field with the rest of the nation, they get very defensive and angry. It's amazing actually. As an underling, I tend to feel very angry when a known inequality is being ignored, no effort made to make it right. Right now, I'm mad. Incredibly pissed off that bullshit is being ignored. But we will make it right. There's strength in numbers.

soloist it is

Okay, a decision has been made. I'm getting the Cervelo Team Soloist road bike!! I talked further to Ian, and got the ok from Chad, and made up my mind! Chad has an Orbea Orca and wants the Ordu, but I can't climb into that price range quite yet. Soloist it is. Awesome bike. Full Ultegra components, aluminum frame but carbon fork, carbon seatpost, aero everything! Cool anodized finish as well. I'm headed to CycleLogik next week to get fit. I'm not entirely sure which size frame I need. I know my Eclipse is too big for me, part of the comfort issue.

Nothing like spending a weekend with small children to put one off having children in the first place! I think I'll stick with the dog. Not that I don't love my nephew and all, but wow, does that ever require ALOT of time, money and increase stress levels by huge amounts. Love the kid, but don't think I want my own! Hell, a new road bike wouldn't be happening with a little one running around! Not that I'm completely selfish or anything, but at present, I can't imagine changing my lifestyle to suit kids.

Back to the grind today after driving back from TO yesterday. I think I found someone at work who shares a similar mind-set about protocols! Kinda neat actually. But it was a good day - got alot done and moved a few projects forward. Friday, a bunch of us have to sit through diversity training. Ugh. Apparently it's not so bad, but it's going to be a full 8 hours worth of role-playing and discussion. I can think of better ways to spend a friday. Like dreaming about my new Cervelo!! I can't wait for the snow to melt now.

Cervelo Team Soloist?

I feel the urge to write, but about what I'm not entirely sure. I'm currently babysitting my nephew while my sister-in-law and brother are out at my brother's gig. He's asleep, so I'm crashed on the couch watching TV with Abbey. Tomorrow I'm headed to the ROM to visit with the boys, get the latest on their newest donation and the gallery, etc. I haven't seen anyone else while here, which is a bit odd. Not that I've so far tried. I gave Laura a call, but I know she's pretty occupied, understandably so.

I got a response from Ian at Cycle Logik about the Cervelo Team Soloist (the special edition 2007 model with the fancy red paint job). Yeah!! It's a bike that used quite often by Team CSC for longer tours. Cycle Logik has a lay-away plan, so if I play it right, I could have a new bike for the end of April. Do the beginning gucky part of the season on my old frame and then switch over when the roads get to be cleaner. I can't wait to go and talk to Ian further about it, maybe get sized, etc. I've wanted a Cervelo for soooooo long. Their full-carbon TT bike is absolutely amazing, beautiful (as it should be at $5000!!), but the Team Soloist is awesome, and a real workhorse as well. And it has a high-angle dual seatpost so I can put it into an aero position if I wish for TT's with the OBC.

Lots to say but not sure what to say. I've been having some strange dreams lately, very vivid, very emotional. It's a bit tiring and frustrating - some of them you don't want to wake up from! I don't know what is spurring these dreams as of late. Probably the stress from the last couple of weeks. Even being here, I was stressing whether or not to call my aunt and try and see her, but then decided that I'd rather not put myself through that. Just not ready to confront all those issues really. Sometimes it is simply best to leave well enough alone. There comes a point where you just don't want to deal with emotional shit, right? At some points, all I want to do is purge baggage, clean the attics of the mind, banish cobwebs. But when I'm tired in general, it's not the time to start cleaning. Enough stress already.

I bought a new Spinervals DVD on Friday - an aerobic base builder. I figure if I start forcing myself to get up early (I know, laugh away) and do the aerobic 75 min in the morning, that by the time the spring comes, I'll be all set to bike to work each day. I've found my aerobic base has dropped a bit since I haven't been running and haven't been on the bike the last couple of weeks. But at least my shin is feeling a bit better after taking this week off from Muay Thai. Squash doesn't help it AT ALL though. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. Hopefully she'll refer me to a sports medicine doctor. At least biking is not high-impact so doesn't seem to cause additional inflammation. I want to be able to do the Rideau Lakes Tour with ease this June. I just gave in my registration form and OBC membership form on Friday. Committed to the full Classic this time 'round! We have quite a few 'team members' signing up. Still waiting for Andy to respond to me as to whether or not he's going to ride. He said he wants to.

I'm kinda looking forward to march. I know that sounds weird, but February hasn't been a hell of alot of fun, so it's like looking forward to a new start, a turning of the page so to speak.

Tails

I was lying in bed last night, in that weird state of half-awake/half-asleep, watching Abbey sleep and his tail curled up, and thinking about tails. Humans don't have a tail, but look at most other animals? Mammals, reptiles, birds. They all have tails. Why not us? I know there's a perfectly good biological reason for this, but really, why not? It would be so useful!

I had a really strange dream last night, from which I woke up this morning freaked out! It was about a friend/committee member of mine with whom I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. He's one of these people who likes to tease, sometimes to the point where I don't find it funny anymore, and is excellent at hitting buttons. Not alot of people have been able to push me to the brink like he has. I like the guy, work well with him, but we've had some pretty rough blow-outs, usually under times of high-stress (and beer). We always seem to come back to being friends though. Anyway, in this dream, we kinda hooked up, romantically, which is really weird as I've never had any attraction to him before!! Dreams are so hard to put down in writing. It's the visuals, the emotions, that count. I find myself baffled sometimes with this guy - I wonder if he teases because he likes me or hates me, if he has any respect for me, what goes through his mind at times. Maybe that's where the dream comes in - that even though we've had a bit of a tumultuous relationship in the past, that there is a certain amount of caring between us, in a weird, warped kinda way.

Headed to Toronto tomorrow morning. I spent the day cleaning, doing errands, etc. I also picked up a new Spinervals DVD - Aero Base Building (75 min). I'm going to try it tonight. I've got to get back on the trainer and start getting ready for the outdoor season. I've been looking at the Cervelo and Blue webpages. I'm thinking of getting a Cervelo Soloist Team road bike. With Ultegra components. My Eclipse is ok, but the frame isn't the best suited to me.

Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique

Anyone who is a science geek or science communicator has to check out this site!!!!

Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique

For the propagation of an ideal where science communicators can meet firstly, for drinks; secondly, for communicating; and ultimately, for networking.

- - -
Members are:

- not opposed to alcohol.
- fond of IPCC reports (especially the pictures).
- mostly in agreement with the "truth."
- into badges.

- grieving for the slow and miserable death of the Hubble Space Telescope.

- possibly possessed of supernatural powers.

- not in the business of total world domination

- committed to the constant and diligent presentation of science stories, be it to editors, producers, directors, educators, relatives and/or friends of various ilk, in an effort to lessen the gap that is this thing we call public scientific literacy.

- - -

These are the badges I qualify for:

Most importantly:

The "I've done science with no concievable practical application" badge.There are probably more who are deserving of this badge than you would expect.

a glimpse into the human (and animal!) mind

Happy Valentine's Day. Or anti-valentine's day. Which ever you prefer. I could go for Valentine's Day as I'm a mushy, cuddly romantic at heart (yes, believe it, it's true), but being single.... well.... Here's a photo of my nephew and his salute to chocolate on this day.

Being in a union is an interesting experience. Being in union negotiations is also an interesting experience. I haven't been involved in union business before this year and have certainly learned alot in the last months - how to negotiate, how to strategically propose items, protocols for meetings, etc. It's a fascinating look into the human nature and a great forum for people-watching!

I had wondered if peoples' personalities change when they step into such circumstances, both from our side of the table and the opposite side. I've discovered that both scenarios exist, on both sides of the table. I personally don't think I change when sitting in negotiations - hey, our job is to sit quietly and let the negotiator make all the points we want her to. On the other side of the table - yes, the one person I thought would remain themselves has done so. On the other hand, I've seen quick changes happen as well - becoming somewhat defensive is the most common trait so far (not surprising when monetary issues are brought up!). But the one that shocked me was the negativity towards other colleagues, and this coming from our side of the table. Not in open negotiations, but in the team chats. I'm not a fan of this attitude at all actually. I've had to speak up a few times - if you have an opinion of someone personally, keep it to yourselves in this sort of negotiation process. It's not relevant. I especially get upset when the criticism (not constructive) is directed towards someone(s) I actually hold professional and personal respect for. Okay, history comes into play, and our last contract negotiations were an ugly process, with alot of harsh feelings on each side of the table. But this is a new round, a new contract.

As I said, a learning experience - people watching from both sides of the border, ours and theirs. The next steps will be interesting.

Switching from the human mind to the animal mind...

Jay is giving a talk at Carleton University on March 7th, 7:30pm (see poster left). Yeah!!

"If you had to sum up the last thirty years of research into animal intelligence, you would have to say "they are smarter than we thought." But how smart is that? Are other animals self-aware, as we are? Can we draw a line between intelligent thinking behaviour and automatism, and if so, where? Remember, no one knows how many neurons are needed for consciousness. This lecture will explore these questions and their implications."

Jay, we want SEATS this time!!

Mini Banff-reunion will happen afterwards over drinks.