A to the wesome

Exclusive: James Van Der Beek Gets In on the Robin Sparkles Action
Source: Korbi Ghosh, Watch with Kristin, Eonline, Mon, Mar 31, 2008

Ok, maybe just one more...

I said I would quit when Derek commented but I thought it would take longer.



Derek Fact #2: Derek can only eat toast ironically.

I maybe done with Derek facts but rest assure tiny pointing Derek will not be gone. He's the aweso.

Interesting but Untrue Facts about Derek

QWoP and I are starting a game: state interesting but untrue facts about Derek everyday until he comments on our respective blog. Play along if you like but let me know if you are.


Fact #1: Derek's hats double as 10-pin bowling ball bags.

Where Did that Come from?

I have the Zoobilee Zoo theme song stuck in my head. I probably haven't heard it in over 15 years. Bee-zarre.

Open Letter to the People in My Physics Lab

Dear Girl Who Talks Too Much,

The only thing more annoying than your Uggs is you incessant stories. First, I doubt your boyfriend will die if he has anymore radiation exposure, there is radiation all around us. Second, you can't be partially allergic to cats. You are or you aren't. Just like you can't be partially pregnant or kind of have cancer.

Love, Janny




Dear Only Student Older than Me,

Sliding around the class room doesn't show you are young at heart, it shows you are immature. I like the stubble but your clothes need to be about 3 sizes smaller.

Love but not is that kind of way, Janny




Dear John,

You're adorable. Thanks for staying late so people could finish filling out their evaluation forms.

Love, Janny




Dear Lab Instructor,

You're long hair doesn't make you more Rock 'n Roll. You are an experimental physicist, nothing can make you Rock 'n Roll.

Love, Janny




Dear Lab Partner,

Sorry about messing up the experiment so we had to start again. Totally my fault, thanks for not getting annoyed with me.
Sorry I weirded you out when you found out how old I am. I glad you can still be silly with me despite that fact. I hope you can figure out what to do with your life.

Love, Janny



Dear Other Lab Instructor,

This morning I woke up with this feeling
I didn't know how to deal with and so I just decided to myself
I'd hide it to myself and never talk about it
And did not go and shout it when you walked into the room
I think I love you

Let's get married and have lots of babies.
Love, Janny




Note to Self:

You know you're tired when the bag boy at the grocery store tells you to get some sleep. You have lots of work to do but get some rest.

Love, Janny

Into the Mind of Janny: Part II

For a review of Part I

Dreamed last night my university professor was trying to convince me to be a surrogate mother for him. He always wanted to have children but had never been able to get pregnant. I didn't want to but he would not take no for an answer. He walked in on me when I was in the shower to talk to me about it again. He had taken things too far; I held the slide doors shut and screamed for help. I could see Slash outside in the hallway looking for towels in the linen closet but he couldn't hear me over the steam. I screamed louder and then Slash and Snoop Dogg came to my rescue*. When I woke up, I thought the strange part was the shower had sliding doors.





*Obviously.

From Saint Patrick's Breastplate

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man
who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man
who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.

Saskatchewan Girls

Speaking of stereotypes, a friend sent me this joke this morning:

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had set their new wives straight on their duties.
The first man had married a woman from Ontario, and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning that needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.
The second man had married a woman from BC. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.
The third man had married a woman from Saskatchewan. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, snow shoveled, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see well enough out of his left eye to do the dishes and the laundry; and he thought by Saturday he'd be able to shovel the sidewalk.

Judging a Book by Its Cover...

I make up stories about the people I see out and about. For example, I saw a man with a mustache carrying a backpack and immediately assumed he was a mailman. Some prejudice are ridiculous and unfounded but others are generalizations based experience.* To preface my story, the judgments are usually pretty silly and harmless. If the person heard about it, they would have nothing to be offended about.

As previously stated, I am only the oldest student in one of my classes. There is a guy who looks older than me but I figured was probably actually younger. He always wears a ball cap, jeans, a sweatshirt and hikers. He has a goatee. From this I figured out he is originally from a small town, has dated the same girl since high school and is going to university for the first time after working for numerous years. He probably played hockey up until he moved away from his small town if he still doesn't play now.

I bring all my notes for this particular class. It makes me a little paranoid when the rest of the class is silent and Janice is rustling her papers. *Cringe* Anyhoo, once after class said prejudged guy asked if he could borrow my notes. Since then we occasionally talk but up until today it was only ever about class. We started talking about why we were taking our respective degrees when he revealed to me that
- him and his girlfriend moved from a small town to Regina after high school so she could go to university
- he had been working up until last year when he started university for the first time

I prejudge to amuse myself, that is a little creepy.





*Of course, you could have a skewed experience but that is another discussion.

I Blinded Her With Science

For my computer science assignment, I need to create a program that find the first four perfect numbers. A perfect number is one that the sum of the factors equals the number (for example: 1+2+3=6). In one of my math text books, I found a formula that calculates perfect numbers using prime numbers. My CS was warily about me using this formula and I'm not sure why.

The first four perfect numbers are
6
28
496
8128

What would you rather do: find the factors for 8128 numbers and then add the factors or find the first four prime numbers? My program runs faster than the program she would prefer I create. Doesn't everyone want a computer program that no only works but works quickly? My program works perfectly, fulfills all requirements of the assignment question so I'm keeping it that way it is. I'm not going to rewrite a program that is perfectly fine because of preference. I created a computer program that uses Fermat's Little Theorem and the Euclid-Euler Theorem, I should get bonus marks for that.

Ok, Ok, I got to it...

I updated my blog roll, I have others I will be adding in the next week or so.

Some new notables include:
Kicking up Confetti Leaves - friend and former coworker
DC Power - my father, the greatest super hero of all time.

I think I need to tell the story about the pseudonym, DC Power (mostly because I don't think my dad remembers everything about it):
A couple years ago I wanted to demonstrate my new webcam to my parents. I showed my dad how to use MSN Messenger. I set it up downstairs and they watched me upstairs. Dad, set up up his display name as DC Power -- his initials (he has no middle name) plus his occupation (electrical engineer).

Fast forward a couple years and both of his daughters have blogs. After much "frustration" over his "serious reputation being ruined" on his daughters' blogs, he started to threaten "just wait until I have my blog". Just like he claimed he was going to get a trick bike, it seemed like a pretty empty threat. Before Christmas, my dad and I were watching hockey and he threatened me with what he would post about me o n his blog, once he got one. I asked him what his blog name would be. He wasn't sure so I started suggesting ridiculous ones: "Rashumba, Queen of Fabrics", "Papa Brisebois", "David Powpow"* and "DC Power". I even called Dad "Papa Brisebois" for a couple days preceding.

With my dad working more at home during the winter, a coworker suggested they start web conferencing. He logged onto Windows Live Messenger for what he thought was the first time to rediscover he already had some contacts and the display name "DC Power". He admitted to me later that he thought I had just made it up and thought it was a pretty good nickname, not realising it was he made up himself.

Now my daddy has a blog, much to my surprise. Now, I know why my dad wants spring to come, he wants to learn some sick tricks on his new bike.


* Joe Powpow was a quarterback for the RoguhRiders in the 80s. Dad used to tease me that I was going to marry him someday just so my name would be Janice Powpow. I do admit, that would be a pretty awesome name.

Have you seen my silliness? I think I lost it.

The last two days I have been in a funk that I just can't seem to shake*. It started when I got back my computer science midterm. I lost about 17% due to careless errors and not reading the directions properly -- nothing to do with what I do or do not know. I didn't do poorly but it was the difference between an OK mark and an excellent mark. I have to step it up even more to reach my goals. It seems daunting right now but all I can do is improve my work habits one at a time. Sigh.

Yesterday my former faculty adviser emailed me to see how the semester was going. How can I tell him that I know how to learn, I know how to study, I know how to write a test, I know how to achieve the needed higher levels of thinking but I just can't pull it together to make it happen? Translating theory into practice. I've spent years transforming the work habits of students and can't transform my own. Being an above average student isn't enough.

I was feeling a little better this morning like "Hey, I have problems but I can tackle them." I received back an assignment this morning and I lost 10 marks out of a possible 50 because I forgot to include the last page. As the professor handed it to me, he looked at me like "What happened?"** I was in his office last week to ask him questions and he knew I was done. He is the kind of professor that takes his student's results kind of personally. It absolutely breaks my heart to think I disappointed him. OK, maybe not disappoint him but the frustration of a student who's mark does not reflect the ability.***

I'm supposed to go to my physic lab instructor's office to pick up my notebook so I can prepare for this afternoon's lab. I'm filled with dread -- I don't even want to know how I did. I think I did well but I'm not prepared for disappointment.

For disclosure, things that did not help the situation:
- I left my lights on yesterday and my battery died. Why do I only seem to need to call CAA during the winter?
- Bron's post
- etcetera, etcetera, etcetera

* The Project Runway finale didn't even help.
**My interpretation but I know him well enough that it won't be far from the truth.
*** Of course, I think he overestimates my ability since he has a slight bias towards me.

Talking Pants

Sitting in Calculus class, suddenly I heard a woman's voice inaudibly speaking. I looked around to see who was so rudely talking during the lecture only to find no females sitting anywhere near me.* I noticed the guy beside me looking around too. Very loudly she said "Hello? Hello? Are you there?" The guy next me looked shocked and started to TRY to shut off his cell phone from outside his pant pocket. I started laughing as he fumbled to get the phone out which got him laughing which got me laughing even more. His friends became very curious why their friend was in hysterics with a girl he doesn't know. He explained to them after class, his phone was on vibrate and he tried to shut it off but instead turned the speaker phone on. He didn't know what was going on right away. I was the only other person who saw what was going on.






* Contrary to a male classmates complaint of "too many chicks in the class". Stupid engineering students.

Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?

Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?
The idea that women aren’t funny—and which male said that?—seems pretty laughable these days. TV has unleashed a new generation of comediennes, who act, perform stand-up, write, and direct—dishing out the jokes with a side of sexy. Annie Leibovitz photographs a dozen of the wittiest dames in showbiz, from 30 Rock’s Tina Fey to Sarah Silverman, to S.N.L.’s current stars, while the author learns why the setup has changed.
Alessandra Stanley, Vanity Fair Online, April 2008

Some Germanic Truth

"When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you
have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice."
--Otto Von Bismarck

Grinning from Ear to Ear

My Habs are in first place in the East. The start a four game western road trip that should only extend their lead. It has been a very long time since they have been in this position so it is a little surreal right now.
For the past several years they start off strong, have a mid-season slump then pull it together to barely make the playoffs. Last season they started out strong but were hit hard by the flu that lasted about 3 weeks before everyone was back. Almost the entire team was dreadfully ill. They never were able to pull it together enough at the end to make it. (Didn't help that Toronto eliminated themselves and Montreal, stupid Maple Leafs).
Earlier in the week they traded Cristobal Huet, their goalie. I was livid. Former coach Jaques Demers said* that Montreal will not win the Stanley Cup without Huet and I tend to agree. Their go-to goalie, Carey Price, is very young and inexperienced**, you can see he has talent but I worry about the pressures of the playoffs. He has been doing well so far, time will only tell.
16 games to go...

*My French isn't the best and I was watching RDS. I think that is what he said.
**CBC news story about the Huet trade, will open up as a CBC video player.

Tim vs Christian Walk Off

With special bonus of Heidi Klum tickling tim Gunn.

Not Cool at All...

Prince Harry and the Secret Kept by Fleet Street, BRIAN STELTER and SARAH LYALL, March 1, 2008
Despite London’s rabid tabloid culture, journalists kept quiet for 10 weeks about Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan.

In the case of Prince Harry, his life was put in more danger than it already was for the sake of the "latest information" to feed the voracious appetite of the general public. Real news organisations never publish the whereabouts of troops or people visiting troops until after fact for their safety. The UK tabloids which are reportedly are the worst offenders, managed to keep their mouths shut about it. Matt Drudge and that Australian magazine went way too far.

Here's some pictures the British Army released after he was safely back home. Yeah, they're pretty hot.
Prince Harry in Afghanistan, John Stillwell/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images, Published: 20080229
British reporters unleashed into the public domain all the interviews and video scenes of him discussing his deployment, wearing fatigues and firing his machine gun that they had been saving for later.