Optimism Inc.

This year has been full of surprises - looking back now, it's hard to believe that it even was just one year.

I have a new home and some new friends; I'm closer to some old ones and farther from others, but it all balances out. Classes are going well and the job front looks promising; and with the first round of exams behind, it all looks manageable.

I'm keeping my ears and eyes open for new opportunities. You never know what good can come of something unexpected.

<= found objects from the bottom of my chain locker - the reason my v-berth was forever "sinking" was that the rain that ran into the locker couldn't run out through the drainpipe ... all because of a little tiny shell.

Wishing you all a Joyeux Nöel et un Bonne Nouvelle Année

coming up for air

At long last, a break. If you can call it that. I just discovered my endless to-do list - the last couple of days have been spent nibbling away at it.

Yesterday was glorious - spent drilling (new magnetic hold-back for head door), gluing (fixed trim piece, then discovered it's too long to turn around inside the boat), siliconing (chain locker floor to prevent flooding in forward bilge) and varnishing (chain locker hatch). Also insulating - must now put 1st year physics in action to explain difference between aluminized insulation (for radiation) and batting (for convection) to Boatlord.

I spent the evening with some of my classmates decorating a real tree and watching a marathon session of X-Men. Cultural exchange at its best - learned (again) how to fold a crane and a jumping frog and showed someone how to tie a Christmas wreath in small stuff (cord).

This morning, the bike ride into school today was a frosty delight - crisp smell of leaves that crunch under my tires, white-dusted leaves tucked among still-green grass, wisps of steam rising off a log as the sun hits it.

It looks like the seasons don't change much as Isabelle rolls on by...

The roses are still in bloom by ISU, but it's beginning to feel like winter. I may need to buy a coat.



Finally had time to upload pics from second expedition on Sam Suffi - enjoy!

I'm off to London for Christmas with friends - Merry Christmas and wishing you fair winds and following seas in the New Year! Now I'm on to "update resume" - last checkmark before heading home.

Egomaniac at large

*phew* Just wrote possibly the best exam I've sat since second year university. The key was sticking to my game plan:

• no new material after 8PM 10PM the night before
• if out of time for thorough summary, review keypoints
  
• solid 8(ish) hours sleep the night of
• allow time to review summaries night before

I rolled into the exam 15 minutes late rather than miss scanning the rest of my summary (much to the apparent chagrin of Christine Barber) and still managed to finish first (whups - competitive streak showing through ;-). Time allowed: 4h. Time used: 2:55. Questions likely flubbed 1/3+2/3 = 1/14. (No, that's not meant to be actual math, so stop frowning at me Mr. Armstrong.)

Results: no stress, nothing forgotten (unless not studied), no burn out, ready to go for tomorrow! And my personal assignment is now revised and approved AND I'm going home before dark!

High Seas

While I slept (fitfully, dreaming of the 4P's of marketing and space debris mitigation methods), apparently my old boat decided to go for a sail without me in a hurricane (or is that "typhoon" on the west coast?).

Check out the report from one of my old neighbours - my boat is Midnite Cafe - the shredded sail on the left would be the remains of my genoa.

Thank goodness for insurance. This used to be how I would spend some of my fall evenings - asleep with one eye open as halyards clanged overhead and the sound of a freight train running in across Lost Lagoon from the westerly-funneling Strait of Georgia - pacing the docks and retying lines at 2AM. But never in 20 years was it my own line that parted or sail that unfurled.

On the bright side, the same neighbour has finally quoted on sprucing her up for sale <sic>. I left town so fast, it probably looks like a typhoon went through the cabin as well.

Up to my neck in notes for exams tomorrow and Wednesday - annual Christmas letter to follow, if a bit late.

Following in the Footsteps of the Coureurs de Bois

Last night, intrepid Mars Analogue simulation "astronaut" Simon Auclair and I paddled a 2-man kayak from Marinest in Elsau 5 km up the Rhine-au-Rhone Canal to bring Canada to the ISU cultural night. The trip after dark included 2 portages around the locks (they close at 6) and a long portage from the Route Alfred Kastler bridge by the McDonald's to campus (almost 1 km).

The evening was brisk, but other than chilled hands, it was good exercise and all in good fun. Especially the portage around the traffic circle ... now that'll get even a French driver to stop!

<= this is us after the long paddle up-stream - you're sharp if you note that's an oar, not a paddle. Makes steering much more interesting.

We arrived just in (ISU) time to lead our class in Barrett's Privateers. After that, we inhaled a stack of pancakes crowned with maple syrup and washed down with Maudite beer that was hauled along in the boat.

On the way back (with a couple more hands to help portage back to the canal), we couldn't resist portaging through the McDonald's drive-through. The French are nothing if not good sports. (video to follow).

Trip was also record for longest French conversation to date - more than an hour! New words this week - "Filet-o-Fish" (pronounced similar to the English, which like many French words also looks eerily like the English, but then I think filet was French to begin with. Also ramer (to row), sillage (wake) and the whole new phrase "nous nous faufillons des gendarmes" we eluded the police by ramer-ing like mad with a great sillage behind when we caught the eye of some nosy residents from their front window. Don't know if coureurs des bois had that to worry about.

Today was ho-hum - just a trip to the Chateau de Beltzdorf in Luxembourg to visit SES Global, the 2nd largest satellite operator in the world ... unbelievably green countryside. More pictures later.

The Waking Dead

Returned to the land of the living today after 3 consecutive 12 hour sleeps. I feel like an orange that's been peeled and reassembled.

Got marvelously little done this weekend, other than long-overdue laundry (you can tell when I start wearing formalwear to class ...)

This week seems so easy - just have to get ready for French class Christmas party this afternoon, cultural night tomorrow night, Luxembourg trip Wednesday, sign up for personal assignment, submit documents for Russia trip and apply for internship today. No sweat!

At long last, winter is in the air - ice on the back of the boat this morning, but still a nice ride to campus (now that my bike is finally fixed). I even took the path less travelled on the west side of the canal - and discovered that I can replicate a defective freewheel by wrapping several metres of branches and reeds around my gears :->

*drqft*

survived Literature Review deadline. 2 all-nighters this week - I live at ISU.

galley slave

In the old days, publishers had galleys for editing. I am now galley slave for TP2. Today was spent training 7 local editors how to use Word styles and setting up conventions for our report (due in 2 days).

If my voice sounds a bit high-pitched, it's because I now live, eat, breath helium-3... everything but sleep.