PL Trail Exploration

Danielle has been waiting for this day since August. This afternoon, I finally agreed to explore PL Trail with her. Meet our fellow traveler.













If you ever find yourself hiking PL Trail, beware of HANDKIND!

Preparing to Meet the Firms

Yesterday was the last day of Preparing to Meet the Firms class and today our class and other Southern students gathered at the Collegedale Church for our chance to Meet the Firms. When I signed up for the class last semester I dreaded the idea, but I knew I needed to take it to ensure that I'll have enough upper division credits to graduate. (In reality, I should have used my time more wisely to dread Communication Research instead.) Now that Preparing to Meet the Firms is done, I can look back on the past seven weeks and see what I've learned:

-Using action verbs can drastically improve a resume.
-Waiting until the day before your portfolio is due to updated it and go through all your Southern Accent articles and Publication Tools and Technique designs is a very bad idea.
-Jump at every opportunity to have your writing published. It will greatly enhance your portfolio.
-Don't put too much stock in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. (Apparently I'm currently an ISTJ. In the past I've been an INTJ and I have a feeling that if I took the test again, I could go back to being an INTJ. My "S" and "N" values must be quite similar.)
-Despite what the Preparing to Meet the Firms teachers claim, it's not a good idea to try to talk to everyone at Meet the Firms. The medical-type companies don't care to waste their time talking to Communication majors.

Groundhog Day

No, not the movie (that was such a ridiculous movie), but the real, official day where rodents decide if winter will prevail for another six weeks or if spring will, for once, come early.

February 2 is my favourite non-statutory holiday (just one of those records Ty) and has been since I first found out about Groundhog Day in pre-school. Ever since, I've looked forward to the day and anxiously awaited the reports from the official groundhogs, Canadian Wiarton Willie (of Wiarton, ON) and American Punxsutawney Phil (of Gobbler's Knob, Pa).

Today, both official groundhogs, and a third, not so well known Canadian from Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam, saw their shadows, predicting winter to extend for another six weeks.

I don't mind a bit, seeing as how I only had two weeks of good winter weather at home during break. My relatives, living in BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, are not so accepting of the verdict and I do feel for them. They've had a hard winter already, but, since the groundhogs unanimously agreed that winter will continue, there's not much anyone can do to change that fact.

(The Official Website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club provides additional info on the U.S. weather-predicting rodent.)

Savannah Trip

Pictures from the Red Bud 5 (and sisters) weekend trip to Savannah, GA on Jan. 17 & 18. Credit for all the pictures goes to Bryn Q. She enjoys taking pictures much, much more than I do, so she's the main photographer and does a marvelous job.


Bonaventure Cemetery


Old stairway at the River Front


This squirrel didn't move the entire time we were watching it


Kristina, me, Kim & Hillary by a Vietnam Memorial


Talmadge Memorial Bridge linking GA and S.C.
After about 20 minutes of attempting to find the right road to cross the bridge, we finally managed to get on it and drove across so Hillary could be in S.C. Kim took pictures of Hillary by the Welcome sign and then we drove back over to Savannah.


By some ivy on Bull St. (the street with all the city squares)


Fountain at the largest city square on Bull St.


One of the Savannah College of Art & Design buildings


The 3-storey SCAD book store (with towers of real books!)


Chocolate mousse tower from Lulu's Chocolate Bar
My sister-in-law told us about this yummy chocolate place. Our GPS first led us to the Savannah ghetto, but eventually we found the right place and got to eat our chocolate!


After eating the chocolate mousse at Lulu's Chocolate Bar

After this, we left for Southern, but made one quick stop at Parker's gas station to find out what chewy ice was. (We had seen billboard ads for chewy ice on the drive down and all over Savannah and were curious about this new product. It turned out to be small cubes of ice with more air in them to make them "chewier"...not all that amazing, but at least now we know.)

Dids and Didn'ts

When I come home for a break, either Christmas or summer, I always make a mental list of the things I want to do while I'm at home. Here's what I managed to do this break, and also what I didn't quite accomplish.

I did...
-watch as much hockey as possible (Canucks & World Juniors)
-read ten books
-go skiing
-go sledding
-play a bunch of card games with my friends & family
-get a real Christmas tree in the mountains
-spend time at Chapters & Mosaic bookstores
-play with my dog, Pepper, in the snow
-go out to eat with my family
-make a snow angel (or two or three)
-sit in front of a real fireplace with a fire in it
-special music at my church two weeks in a row
-help make Christmas dinner
-a photoshoot
-go grocery shopping at Safeway
-have a dentist appointment

I didn't...
-go to a Kelowna Rockets game
-play Crokinole
-go snow quadding or snowmobiling
-go in our sauna
-eat at Tim Horton's
-do a photoshoot with Bryn or my friend, Julie
-go ice skating
-get my glasses lens fixed
-convince my dad to go winter boating
-help my parents reorganized certain unorganized areas of our house

I also did some things that I hadn't planned to do: I...
-spent half a night sleeping in the ticketing level of SEA-TAC airport
-drove over the Coquihalla & Connector highways in a snow storm
-experienced -28 C weather again
-accidentally gave myself three bruises (left leg, right leg & lip)
-went for a late, late Friday night walk in the snow
-helped my mum do a photoshoot of a 2-month-old baby
-ate sushi (vegetarian of course)
-sang German songs to my great-aunt at her nursing home
-ate soap candy (aka Floral Gums)
-visited my Grandma in the hospital
-inhaled 11 minutes worth of cigarette smoke while waiting for a shuttle to our hotel at SEA-TAC