NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

thanks karen and gordon for yet another awesome PC x'mas party!!!

vivienne says...

Hey guys!

Belated MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy New Year from across the Pacific! I hope that everyone is having a swell time during their holidays! (Cindy, you hanging in there? Cindyyyyyyy!!!!)

I'm currently typing this at the Narita airport in Japan. It's gonna be so hard to re-Adjust to the non-nomadic lifestyle. I've surprisingly gotten used to hotel-hopping and living out of a suitcase.

I went to see Mt. Fuji yesterday. It's really beautiful and I can't wait to put up picture to show you guys.

Also, hehe.......I found something interesting on the flight from Sydney to Tokyo.... it's what Tim and Pat's lovechild would look like. You'll see what I mean when I post up the pic.

Anyhow, I don't know if I will be going to the dinner on the 29th. Depends if I'm suffering from jetlag or not. I've been surprising hardy for the past 3 weeks, which probably means that I'm gonna crash soon. Hehe....I'll be back tomorrow, I'm already aware that Karen's gonna be calling me, and I'll probably disappear of teh face of teh planet like I usually do in situations like this......

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

merry x'mas everybody~~

and thanks Karen for organizing the hotpot outing :) and hope everybody who went to ben's and christine's had a good time~~

Gordon says...

Thanks Ben/Christine for hosting another P$C after party!!! Awesome to see everyone again... =)

Oh...and....Merry I mean....Happy Holidays to those in ASIA!

Karen says...

awwwwwww...well said, ben. =) =) =)

Unknown says...

think of it this way:

Done checking your rounds at 3AM in the morning,
20 minutes of shut-eye.

Finish the stack of reports for the chief at 5AM,
1 hour of shut-eye.

10-hour tumor removal surgery on a kid starts at 10AM,
starting to wonder when you'll sleep at all.

Watching the tears of joy of the kid's family at 9PM,

priceless.

I'm sure the grueling medical program you'all are put through in North America will produce excellent doctors. Now don't even think about going to the US! Fight the brain drain!!

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

exam at 9am
currently almost 2am
estimate that i'll still need at least a couple more hrs of cramming

ahhhh

ironically in less than 12 hrs all of this will be over

so why do i bother...........

vivienne says...

Cindy: Awww, sweetie. Just have a good cry, I think that actually helps you release your feelings instead of bottling it up. God knows I cry enough as it is, LOL, but it feels better afterwards. I can't wait to see you and give you a good long hug. :D But hang in there...you have the stuff it takes to be an awesome doctor.

The injury to my elbow from the ATV has turned into a huge wet scabby wound. I can't wait to you show you guys. :P the fact that I tear it every time I try to bend my elbow doesn't help matters. It's disgusting.

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

karen: hope u got my offline msg :)

thanks for ur words of encouragement...yes...im hanging in there...

Karen says...

cindy: cheer up buttercup =). it'll all be over soon and you'll be back home in vancouver. you'll make it through the exam *thumbs up*. PS: do you have a new email addy? or do you still use the old telus one?

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

i've decided
as hard as it is...and...this is coming from someone who can truly say that she is studying for the first time for herself and not for her parents or for medical school...

i'm gonna let go of the dean's letter (top 10% of class gets it)
sigh
maybe there's a reason why i never used to ask much out of myself...the lower the expectation the less likely the disappointment...
but im so depressed and upset and i need to cry so bad that i can't survive the whole year like this. i need my sanity back. i need to get over the stupid exam.

and not even medical school is gonna take life away from me.

its easier said than done. but. i'll try.

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

to contrast w/ vivienne's joys of travelling...

im currently freaking out about the pending neuro exam
1. our best prof (the only one who makes sense) is having a review of the spinal lesions that was covered by a couple of really horrible profs. i know my pathways theoretically and i really should have stayed as a review to catch things i missed but...i left. i dont know why.
2. i dont know how to express my stress. lol. it's so bad that im having stomach problems and can't eat. :(. i know it's just one exam and everyone's in the same boat but that doesnt make me feel better...

ok. can't dwell in depression. must preservere...
i think part of medical school training is the ability to handle immense amounts of material and have the emotional stability to calmly attack the problem at hand. i dont know how i got filtered thru the system knowing i am so bad at handling stress...but anyways. back to work.

vivienne says...

Chris: are you sure that girl's not really me in disguise? Okay...it wouldn't really be a disguise....okay, I'll just shut up now. But then again, the same mannerisms? Like....the chirpiness or what are you referring to? Hahah...does she speak as fast as I do?

Well, in the last two weeks I have been to Kyoto, for the most part, and then Sydney,Melbourne,Cairns (GreatBarrier Reef rocks!), and Ballarat. I think I've done most ofthe "touristy" things you can do in Australia. I just needto visit Perth and Brisbane later on in life, that would cover Australia. I took a LOT ofvideos,too.

Yesterday I went on an ATV (all terrain Vehicle) tour. Those machines are hard to control! It was kinda scary at first too....I fell off at one point and now I havea huge bruise/cut on my arm that eerily resembles Australia. I should take a pic of it.

Oh man...all this hotel hopping is crazy! I keep leaving my toiletries behind too. Blah.

And also,it's nice to travel with my dad's business associates. :p We had this 400 dollar king crab last night...that was nuts!!! and 150 dollar lobsters....needless to say I am a little freaked out by the amount of seafood that I've ingested in the past week....gah, all you scientists out there, what's the nutritional(or non-nutritional,rather..hahah) value of crabs,lobsters,and oysters? I'm afraid of the cholesterol levels......

Joanne says...

Went to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) (sorry, writing a hypothetical grant for my class and I'm in the mode where everything has to be expressed as its full name followed by brackets its shortform in the first mention) Toronto Downtown Christmas party yesterday. They took up an entire floor of the Royal York hotel (the Toronto equivalent of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver downtown) and open bars running up and down the strip of the entire floor with white couches and flourescent screens. Each division (Audit, Tax, and Advisory) had their own ballroom and live band. It was a SNOW BALL theme. Didn't get to throw any snow balls though...

The opening joke from the head of the consulting practice in Canada was "So, how about that income trust eh?" ...right...

I'm not sure when this became in vogue, but apparently it is common practice for girls in business to NOT eat the food on their plate. We had a small plate of asian-inspired salad with itty bitty cold (ie. rice wrapped) spring rolls (not like it was even a caesar salad with cream dressing!), some kind of apple soup, ice wine ICE (not even a sorbet..but ice made with ice wine) with frozen grapes as a palate cleanser, and a 3oz filet mignon (I'm not kidding, it really was three ounces) with THREE stalks of white asparagus. Not a lot of food, right? Every girl at the table could finish at most half of each course...except me. And don't even get me started on how much they ate when dessert came...

Luckily there was a late night buffet with all you can eat dim sum (I'm pretty sure a white person organized this part of the party), a white chocolate fountain and ice cream!!! So that made up for it and erradicated the need to visit McDonald's afterwards.

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

peter: very funny.

except i still feel sick to my stomach regarding the neuro midterm coming up friday...my god...i dont know what im supposed to do...

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

i need dirty, dirty mneumonics...

p.s. chris: the one u gave me about cranial nerves is shocking the hell outta everybody around me...hahaha...

Peter says...

joyce, you should have wrote this on the card:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

Furthermore, I wish upon you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make Canada great, (not to imply that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Joyce says...

awww cindy, hear ya. I hated neuroanatomy. And.. better yet, I'll have to deal with it again whenthe board comes.

here's something funny..
I wrote my row instructor a card and wished him a merry christmas, and then realized he's probably Jewish (from his last name, remembering him talking something jewish with my classmate, plus .. it is nyu..), so I added "/ happy hanakkah." However, that looks like a cover up... so i added "/happy international gift unwrapping day"
At the end... I tossed out that card and wrote him another one wishing him "happy holidays"

Lessons you learn...

Joyce says...

FREEDOM!!!! (and no.. not the kind Bush was talking about)
MERRY CHRISTMAS

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

cindy is going CRRRRRRAZY again

lalala

neuroanatomy, i hate you...

Christopher says...

Watched Wicked the Musical yesterday. Its pretty good and the special effects were fantastic. Bad seats but what can you expect for 26 bucks. If you guys have a chance to catch it, go for it!

A week before our party!

Oh and on a random note, met a girl on Friday who looks like ViviEnne and scarily enough has the same mannerisms. Of course you didn't think that other girl looked like Karen either. Bah. No vision amung any of you.

Tim says...

and they're down for the count...KO!

Peter says...

oh SNAP!

Gordon says...

...haha...or so she says in public =P.....

Unknown says...

hehehe actually it's from a bumper sticker...

Here's one from a dorky, yet somehow hilarious, button:

"E. Coli Happens"

Karen says...

*lol*. yes exactly, yours truly would not have initiated a quote on bathroom issues up on the blog.

plus... oh please, i don't "work" for anybody... ;)

Gordon says...

Haha..peter...nice guess, but the person you're thinking about would never put up something like that...

Peter says...

wow... gordon's suggestion for quote of the week sure got acted on quickly...... almost as if he's got an admin workin' for him 24/7... hrmmm... it's always gotta be about who you know, doesn't it?!?!

Gordon says...

Ben haha..LOVE THE QUOTE. I think it deserves to be the quote of the week (or month, ... or year) =P.

DOWN TO THE LAST STRETCH!!! see you VANCOUVER! I miss the rain ;'(

Unknown says...

"Constipated people don't give a shit."

vivienne says...

Reporting from Melbourne, Australia.

It's totally warm here, SUCKAS! AHahahaha I love the warm weather right now. Gotta rub taht into your faces. :D

Oh, actually, regarding Pat's comment on his blog that he's wearing snow pants...he's not kidding. It was so cold in his apartment that I could see my breath in the morning when I woke up. LOL His shower was like ICE!!!! Brrr

Oh, joyce, I took a picture of Pat on his granny bike Hahaha......I'll post that picture up as soon as I'm home or have better internet access and not rushing like I am now at the internet cafe in Melbourne. :D

I almost got lost in the Tokyo airport! So funny....I swore I used "sumimasen" and "wakarimasen" like a BILLION TIMES!!!! Lucky those japanese peeps are so nice! (or appear to be so anyhow...you can't tell 'cause they're eerily polite! )

Karen says...

9:50 am: still yet to get started working cuz hardly anybody else is in the lab yet either. i'm currently just staring mindlessly out the window. i just love how they often put x'mas lights on those massive construction cranes. way to make something not pretty pretty and show that x'mas spirit. *thumbs up*. =)

Karen says...

p&c x'mas dinner part one - update!

it's set guys! ALL YOU CAN EAT HOTPOT.

time: 8:30 pm

place: 砂煲 (no english name on their ad. hehe. as far as i know, it translates to "some kinda chinese ceramic" + "pot".)

address: #105-8291 alexandra road, richmond.

directions: sorry, i really can't help you. hehehe. yahoo map it ahead of time.

price: 17.95

reservation for: 16 people (see guest list on side bar).

note: dinner is set @ 8:30. there's a 1.5 hour time limit from when we sit down. so it's probably best that we get there on time as a group. (cindy, i tried to set it a little farther back so you'd have time to eat too.)

this is the same place that the x'mas party 2005 took place, though i know not everybody was present at that party.

and...on re-fill pop (from their ad): refill 飲不停﹐ 越飲越有感情。 (hehehe...my apologies to those who don't read chinese. and don't worry steve, you're so not the only one. =P)

i will email everybody the details again towards the end of this week and put it up on the sidebar.

see you all then!

Peter says...

AHHHHHHHHHOYVIN MAYVIN!!!!

Tim says...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Joyce says...

AAAAHHHHHHHHH

Karen says...

w00t the princes video!! hehehe.

yeah, WOW, that last picture of scarlett johanssen (sp?) IS hot. (and i'm not normally a fan of hers beyond her acting.) however, that's a very, very obvious kinda hot. it's almost in your face about it. hehehe. JOYCE, i think it's only fair we post the windsor boys on here too!! they're hot without being half naked! =P oh the english accent and royal charm...=) =) =).

Joyce says...

Gordon: well..... I was going to post the video of Prince William and Harry's latest interview .. (ahh, the interview.. *swoon*...) but decided against it.

Pete: omg.. LOVE that pic... love it, love it, love it. sigh, to think she and I live in the same city and I've yet to have any Scarlett sighting.

Peter says...

*DROOL* finally some real posts...

what's with the oldies lingerie? bad call...

in light of pat's bday, here's a better pic (i got four words: WAH WAH WEE WAH)
by the way hired her to be your personal slave for a month... she's on a flight to japan as this very moment.

Gordon says...

joyce...sometimes i really do question you....

Joyce says...

I realize I haven't done this for a while, posting Scarlette Johansson's picture. This is a latest one. man... this is heaven... Scarlett and fashion... it's LV's latest back. FYI, not a big fan of LV here, but.. it's Scarlett

click the image to enlarge

Christopher says...

Happy Birthday Pat!

Karen: As for hotpot, I prefer all you can eat. Much feasting to be done. Thx for organizing it btw, you're doing a bang on job.

To all those who are finish school/exams: Damn you all! Bah humbug!

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

happy birthday pat!!!

karen: i think 8 is fine...remember after arriving i still gotta try to find my lugguage amongst the holiday home-coming crowd...and my flight may be delayed for unforeseenable reasons...so...just go ahead and plan for 8 :)

wanted: EYES. i could not see a thing through my opthalmoscope during my hands-on session tonight and will need to practice e.g. on u guys! pleeeeeeeease???

Joyce says...

I know this would make me sound like a granny... but...
I LOVE MY HUMIDIFIER!

Karen says...

cindy: do you think 8 o' clock dinner would be okay?? or is that a little too rushed for you??

Karen says...

[admin's note: pat's b-day is actually on the 13th, i'm just compensating for time zone differences.]

happy birthday pat =).

*lol* @ viv's comment on pat's paleness. ppl always thought he was japanese when he was in vancouver even! hahaha.

vivienne says...

Two things I learned about Pat:

1) Karen, you're gonna love this. He's losing his chinese! Ahahah..and english too. It's hilarious.

Japan with Pat rocked! I'll send some piccies sometime when I have time. Man, Pat really does live like a Japanese dude. He's so pale, you can't tell the difference.........

Joyce says...

stupid pathology. frigty frig frig.. AHHHHHHHHH

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

Karen: 7:15pm

that reminds me, i still have to buy greyhound tickets to NYC to catch my plane....

Joyce says...

last one of the term..... must... study...

peter: i don't get it.

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

gordon: LOVE THE VID...HAHAHA...it's my fav song at this moment!!!

Peter says...

some of you may find the following question offensive... reader discretion is advised...

chris? how come the penises are the only ones double dipped in chocolate? was that intentional? or...

Christopher says...

Wooohoo! 190 dollars raised!

What really made the sale was when a highschool class came by and all the boys went, OOH I wanna buy sperm cookies.

Highlights:
-Rice Crispie Sperm with Licorice Tails (complete with a variety of deformaties like two tails or two heads)
-Breast cupcakes with cream mounds and M&M areolas
-Choclate cupcakes with Gummi Bears in a variety of sexual positions
-Double chocolate penis cookies (woohoo ppl actually liked them)

Guess we could have added phenylthalein haha and I guess that really would have raised awareness of STIs and reproductive health!

Gordon says...

With everyone in the midst of exams (or some of us anyway)...here's a little theme song to help you study along!

"Study Back" hehe...

Karen says...

it just occured to me yesterday that the 23rd is rolling around the corner very soon! w00t!! sooo, time for me get some details finalized. (i will ignore the 29th party for now, one thing at a time! details for part 2 will come later...=P)

so part 1: i think hotpot was the decided winner. so because cindy is coming in late, we'll be holding it in richmond. (cindy, if you see this, can you let me know what time you're coming in?? thanks.) but anyway, if anybody knows any good hotpot places in richmond, please do suggest or i will get to pick! =) and do we want all you can eat hotpot or just the normal hotpot? also let me know soon. in the meantime, i will survey the few richmond-living honger friends that i have and try and come up with something asap. i will likely make the reservation this week sometime.

FYI:
ppl confirmed attending - gordon, joyce, tim, leo, chris, cindy, ben, gary, christine, and myself. (peter coming afterwards.)
ppl invited but unconfirmed - becca, christina, dave yao, howard (+ ella), jason, and likai.
ppl confirmed not attending - starphen, joanne, viv, and pat.

i'm really hoping i didn't forget anybody... hehehe... otherwise, feel free to shoot me. =)

Stephen says...

I think you should also put phenylpthalein in the cookies.
I love how the engineers did that, and I've always wanted to try it.
What better way than to put it in penis-shaped cookies?

Think about what the people would say to their doctors:
"I started peeing red after I ate a penis I bought from some bake sale."

Christopher says...

Lol nothing completes a good day besides baking penis shaped chocolate chip cookies. We are doing a bake sale to fundraise for a reproductive rights conference in Halifax of all places. Sort of reminds me of the good ol' BPP days.

Gordon says...

hahaha..love the shirt...almost reminds me of some bioc t-shirt that was on sale in undergrad =P

Peter says...

BEST T-SHIRT EVER! (and when i say best, i mean dorkiest)

http://shop.myshirtguy.com/displayProductDocument.hg?productId=4&categoryId=1

Gordon says...

Wow...there's nothing better than a generous banker to help remind us all what christmas is all about... but I guess we don't all get nobel peace prizes....

15 sleeps till Christmas!

Joanne says...

I don't get to use vectors...I feel left out!!!

Karen says...

i'm sure pTAM is pSUPER...*LOL*. (pSUPER is a vector i was using in the summer......hehehe, yeah i had to go there =P =P =P.)

Unknown says...

lol Viv, how's the trip? and how is pTAM doing

vivienne says...

Dear Ben:

I flew all the way to Japan only to find out that pTAM is exactly as you have described it. What a dissatisfactory product. I want my money back!

Joyce says...

Charlie Brown's Pathetic Tree. (click picture for product page)

We were (well, most of us) once "Charlie Brown's All Stars," so I thought this could be something nice to post.

Merry 16 days before Christmas!!!

Unknown says...

OMG IT'S OVER!!!! My finals are OVER!!!!!!!!!

You know what I just realized? Remember we used to call pat pTAM? It's like... totally a vector!!!

well not quite, but it sure does sound like one!! I can see the fliers right now...

Satisfy your cloning needs with our new line of high throughput expression vector, the pTAM! Complete with multiple cloning site incompatible with anyone else and a strong sarcastic promoter that is easily inducible with conversations of biochemistry, UBC biochemistry, or UBC biochemistry profs, or UBC biochemistry prof called Duong. For the price of a ticket to Japan, you can get yours now!

Christopher says...

ViviEnne!

Good luck! Try not to get lost or eaten. Both aren't very conducive to seeing me come Christmas. I expect many stories about the wars at school and the craziness abroad.

vivienne says...

Hey guys!....this is the eve before I fly to Japan/Australia! I'm kinda nervous/excited at the prospect of getting lost in the Narita airport, with NO japanese language skills whatsoever! Ahahhaah....

@___@;;;;

If you don't see me posting for a while, it's probably 'cause I'm lost somewhere near Nagoya...hahahah....

Peter says...

the facebook crew is growing.... muahahaha... and with exams coming up, everyone will be up there in no time

Stephen says...

The protein crystallization thing would make sense. Her buying was kind of random...

I'm going for sushi tonight because it's my mom's birthday. You guys just keep talking about it and I can't put it off any longer.

My suggestion would be Toshi on 16th and Main. They don't take reservations, but it's the best sushi I've ever had in my life. Also, the prices are really reasonable, much better than most places.

NeverGonnaGrowUp says...

days immersed in neuroanatomy: 2
times the thought of quitting medical school came up: 10+

gosh...

i thought musculoskeletal system was like the "real medical school"
but i am so wrong...

hahaha...and this is first yr. second yr is supposed to get harder!

thus, joyce: i take what i said to you in NYC back. i spoke too soon when i said dental students study harder than medical students. that was before. now...i think we both have it hard...and p.s. i think i got ur stomach flu...lol...

Unknown says...

lol yeah Ohako was interesting...


lol yeah maybe Natalie buys herself nice coats so survive those trips to the walk in cold fridge... wait... she doesnt do that, we do!

Karen says...

hahahaha. i was just playing around with the blog settings. and due to sloppy mouse maneuvering i guess, the msg: "DO YOU WANT TO DELETE THE ENTIRE BLOG? YES/NO." came up. hahahahahaha. heh... heh... or maybe it's not so funny...........

please please please don't take away my admin status. =P eek!!

Karen says...

so to sum up:

23rd - hot pot in richmond somewhere
29th - all you can eat sushi somewhere not ohako

yes yes?? speak now or forever hold your peace! =)

ohako service experience: the waitresses had a problem with our tipping. so what happened was we showed up @ about 5. but in order to wait for ppl, i don't think we started eating til like 6. there was a time limit of 1.5 hours. and the food took FOREVER to come. the food was good but it just took them a really long time to serve it despite the restaurant being half-empty. so @ 8, we were still ordering just cuz you'd eat more if you have that long sitting period in between orders. anyway, then the waitress told us we'd been there for 3 hours and can't order anymore (AND HELD OFF on our 20 orders of mango pudding!!! boo!). so we proceeded to pay. we paid about 10% tips. the waitress at cashier clearly couldn't do math and told us we underpaid them. we then walked her through her calculations to show her we paid well enough and then she started complaining in mandarin that we didn't pay enough tips and had this scornful look on her face. so we're like, wth...and threw in 2 bucks more and she was still like, oh it's still not enough. (?!) and the other waitress was just like, oh whatever. and we left. apparently, they don't understand that they can't force customers to pay the amount of tips that they'd like. argh!

Joanne says...

Perhaps Strynadka puts something on hold whenever she's waiting for a membrane protein to crystallize. Everytime her lab successfully crystallizes the protein, she buys herself that item on hold. Or maybe she buys it whenever she gets a Nature paper. Either way, it's a good way to motivate oneself! Maybe I should go up to Bloor and start holding items...hmmm...

Yar, it's surprising how fashion-conscious these nerdy professors can be. One time, I was discussing the Oscar de la Renta semi-precious stone jewellery line with my supervisor... o.O

Joyce says...

the last time we had hotpot: Secret Santa 2004 - Make Your Own.
Second on the hotpot idea!!!

can someone post how bad the service was? I'm curious.

k. memorizing medical emmergency managements is sooo blah.... i'd trade hours in the lab for this. wait.. hmm.. yeah, i'd still trade.

AHHHH

Gary says...

I like the idea of all-you-can eat sushi for one of the days, but I don't want to go to Ohaku again (Thats twice I've been now and both times weren't so great). I'm sure there is another place where they serve raw all-you-can-eat oysters that we can look up.

I also think hot-pot this Christmas would be a great idea. I can't remember the last time we did one together and it would be a reminder of them good old undergrad days. Plus its like, the Asian way to eat!

Anyhow, thats my two cents on food. I look forward to the end of exams already...... :)

What I learned this semester: Don't ever take a optional course just because you don't have to buy the textbook for the class. It might turn out to be really hard. :P

Joyce says...

Yah, Ben, and she quote herself on the lectureslides. I remember being like this, "Nature?@@, Nature again??.. wow.. MORE NATURE??" btw, so you two are totally on a first name basis eh.

wait. So.. when she gets her funding, she can put that in her own pocket and shop at DKNY all the time? I thought those lab fundings are put in some non-personal/lab account and is under severe scrutiny from some federal agent/accountant.

Unknown says...

STRESSED AND GOING CRAZY STUDYING FOR MICB FINAL

,.. ...

stares blankly at Joyce's reference to oral anatomical parts, nods and smiles

... ...

Natalie is big! try searching her name in Nature lol. She gets so much funding from the school and from Ottawa it's not even funny

... ...

Speaking of Natalie always reminds me of the softer side of Karen, *kneels over and cracks up

Joyce says...

in addition to the quote there... he also sounded like this
"you milk it ...... you yank it......" when he was talking about stimulating the parotid papilla and examine the lateral and ventral aspect of the tongue (where oral cancer's commonly seen).

i think that's the only part of the lecture I paied 100% attention on.

and.. wait a minute, Strydnaka wears DKNY??

Stephen says...

Wow, Natalie Strydnaka! She spends lots of money at my old shop. I had no idea she had a lab. Crazy! She's one of those people who puts things on hold forever, then decides she doesn't buy it, then comes back and holds it again.

Don't talk about holidays! I don't get off until the 22^nd, and have to go back the 2^nd. I'm probably going to skip the first week back so I can go away.

vivienne says...

I have no more school! AHHAHAHA...AHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!! I'm FREE!!!!!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joyce says...

http://www.uptoyoutoronto.com/cgi-bin/online/store.php
Such cool store!!! The Toronto people here should check it out.

Christopher says...

Ah post final weekends are glorious.

Friday:
12-2 At a bar celebrating with the class
2-4 Playing computer games at my place
Saturday:
1-5 Watching the leadership convention/Shopping for an overcoat for a friend
5-7 Eating all you can eat sushi
7-10 Watching a concert by Jack Soul and fireworks
10-4 Playing games at my place
Sunday:
11-1 Went to a Presbyterian Church - very interesting (and no, lightning did not come down from the sky)
1-3 Dimsum followed by Coffee!
3-11 Potluck at my place with many games
11-1 Damn still cleaning lol


Haha its strange realizing that you have just spent 25 hours in less than three days with an individual. Cheers to friends!

Tim says...

Haha, I donno Joanne...we had a problem with the 'service' last time which makes us wary about going back. Don't get me wrong, the food was great...the service, not so much.

Joanne says...

My idea for the 29th (well, not so much an idea as a request). May we go to that new all-you-can-eat sushi place with the raw oysters???? I know you guys always get sushi and probably go there lots and are tired of it but please appease this poor deprived Eastern Canada resident here and bring out the west coast sushi (Christopher, help me out here)! As much as I would love to hear an extra jingle and jangle in my pockets, I can get cheap chinese food (ala No.9) out here in Toronto - some of it ain't bad!

Please? Pretty pretty please? And do we still need to do the 29th in Richmond? Cause Leo excluded (and he won't be here on the 29th anyway...) nobody actually lives in Richmond...unless you guys moved...?

Karen says...

VIVIENNE: i'm gonna call you tomorrow. can you please answer your phone??? hehehe. i'm posting here cuz you have a track record of ignoring me via phone/email but still posting on the blog!! thanks =P =P =P. and congrats for making it to the x'mas break... i bet you're frolicking in your leisure time...

Joyce says...

speaking of ultilizing lab material/instrument for cleaning, I use the threeway air/water syringe to clean my computer's keyboard when I bring my computer to the lab. yup.. those thing the dentist uses to spray you with air. mwahaha.. this saves $$ from buying those Kinston compressed air. Only downside is that I'd have to be careful not to press on the water button (eventhough my dear thinkpad has a keyboard draining mechanism).

Unknown says...

Lab games eh? try this trick:

In the Strynadka lab, once or twice (when Natalie wasn't around of course), we would blow up a latex glove with just air and play volleyball with it accross the bench (so basically getting it up and over the highest shelf, which sometimes housed my biggest bottles of buffer... come to think of it, had I knocked one of those down... Natalie woulda been real pissed)

fun times...

Oh oh! and filling those 1.5ml eppendorfs with liquid N2, capping it, and using it as l337 hand gernades (LOL they usually end up blowing up in ur hands anyway)

vivienne says...

Joanne: Hahah...I DO clean up my desk that way! All the crap goes to the corners of the desk! I don't have a chance to play with dry ice...but when I do...I'll try out that glove trick.

Karen says...

*lol*, thanks ben.

awwwwww, another reason why my all-girls lab suck: i haven't played those fun lab games since the coop days!! ohhh and my personal favorite: spring-shooting gloves across the room into the garbage can. hahaha.

w00t!! it's december!!

Joanne says...

I remember having to differentiate monocytes from a neutrophil precursor (forgot what they were called), and that's before the neutrophils were polymorphonuclear. THAT was a pain. However, I was always strangely delighted whenever I spotted an eosinophil. The pinkness! Purdy...

Yah, RNA DOES get degraded really quickly. When I isolate DNA, I don't even bother treating it with RNase first, haha.

What something fun to do with liquid nitrogen? Try cleaning the floor with it. Pour it onto the ground and watch all the dirt and dust fly to the corner.

That and stuffing a glove with dry ice pellets, tying it up, and watch it slowly expand then blow up. Dangerous but oh so irrestibly fun!