Just a quick update, or maybe not so quick

My talk is done!!! Hooray!! It went really well. I received many thoughtful questions and lots of comments. So far 4 of our little Saskatchewan group have presented and we all have made a great showing. All those extra practices that my supervisor has led us through have really paid off for everyone. Thanks Jen!

On top of the fantastic presentation, when I registered for the conference the lady helping me told me that my name was flagged. Apparently, the media was interested in my topic and possibly wanted to talk to me about it. I was sent to a press room to leave my contact information and a copy of my notes for the talk. I don't know if they will actually contact me further, or if my talk will actually make it into the paper, but it is quite flattering to be noticed for my topic.

It has been raining constantly in Winnipeg. I am not enjoying the feeling of being constantly damp and clammy, but all the green is wonderful.

I spent the first couple of days in Manitoba well out side the bustling metropolis of Winnipeg just past a teeny town called Fannystelle. I was visiting a good friend from high school, Kestrel and her husband Jim and their 6 month old baby boy, Bruno. Bruno is such a little flirt. It was wonderful to get a chance to visit with them again. I have pictures to put up when I get home.

So, the plan for the rest of the week is to finish up the conference and support all my fellow U of S participants at their presentations. After that, I am spending a couple of days with Jazzy in the city. Talk to y'all soon!

Packed

I am all ready for my trip tomorrow or rather this morning... my flight leaves at 6:15 am. It seemed to take quite a while to pack for this trip. I will be on a blogging hiatus while I am away, but I will try to have some cool photos for when I get back. I will be back in town the morning of Friday June 5th. Toodles :)

I should be packing...

But I keep getting distracted. Woe is me. Fun stuff here. Must get back to work.

Myrah, Furry Psycho Kitty

Today is the day before I run away from home for a week. Carla is staying at my place for a few days while I am gone, so Myrah will not be lonely and starving.

I think I have an attack cat... Myrah hasn't taken very well to a lot of strangers in my apartment. Last night, Caitilin, Thea, Carla and I were all in my apartment for a while. Myrah was going batty. She was hissing and clawing and stalking everyone. She can be quite the little furry psycho.

When Carla and I went to crash for the night, Myrah got all possessive of me and insisted on sleeping on me for the first part of the night. That was fine. This morning at around 7am she decided to get the crazies and was tearing from one end of the apartment to the other, jumping on all the window sills and any other surface she could. When I tried to calm her down she had another mini-frenzy. And people think I am joking when I say I need valium and a little kitty straight jacket for her.

I wonder how crazy she is going to be when it is just her and Carla in the apartment together. Maybe I should have Carla sign a waiver...

Done is good...

Today I presented my paper for a public audience before the big trip to the conference in Winnipeg. It went quite well thanks to the many practices that my supervisor had run us through for the past 8 months or so. I am sure the conference will go well. It was also nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd :) Thanks for all of the support everyone!

Now to get ready for the trip. Becky, being a super doll, offered to give me a ride to the airport Thursday morning. My flight is obscenely early, so there is a true friend right there. Love ya grrrl ;)

I am so excited to see Kes and family for a few days before the conference and Jazz for a few days after the conference. This will be a nice little break. Then when I get home my parents will be here for a visit. This is going to be a busy week.

Birds vs. Window

One of the nicest things about my apartment is the two big picture windows on the south and west walls. Out the west window is a big tree which, at this time of year, is home to many different types of birds.

Unfortunately, these birds have a difficult time perceiving the glass window. As a result, I have a couple of little grease spots where birds have flung themselves against my window. Myrah is mightily amused by this, but I am kind of disturbed.

The score so far:
Window: 3
Birds: 0

I think the window is going to win by a landslide this summer.

Myrah's glee at the birds hitting the windows became apparent to me when she used my head as a launching pad in order to get to the window sill. That was only one of the strange ways I was awakened in the past few days. Add to the list the cadet marching band that practices at the HMS Unicorn which is a couple blocks away. Oh, and Myrah chewing on my hair always makes me happy in the morning. Who needs alarm clock when you have a cat?

Long day

Today was the first day for public presentations of our conference papers. Everyone did a great job today, though. The turnout was pretty good. Later a few of us stuck around and run through our papers again to prep for Tuesday and the conference. Somehow I didn't even end up getting home until 6pm from that practice. I think I am just going to take a hot bubble bath, grab a book, and snuggle into bed with my kitty.

Saskatoonians go and sign this before May 30th!

B and I hit Broadway today and visited a little bookstore called Turning the Tide, just off of Broadway above Stuff. The bookstore is amazing with lots of great books, zines, and other media. As B and I were leaving, we noticed a sign about the Gathercole petition, so we went back and asked about it. You can check out their website here Here is the information that Peter Garden gave us:

For me this petition drive really comes down to a few key ideas:


City Council has made agreements with private developers to build a 20
storey hotel and condo units on the land where the Gathercole building is
now without any full financial or environmental feasibility study and with
no public consultation. This plan was made behind closed doors between
certain members of city council, city administration and the developers. We
want full public consultation and a master planning process. Transparency
and accountability are demanded of city council.

We want to keep the riverbank public. We support a space where small
businesses can set up (such as vendors at a farmers market or shop owners)
and they should be there on a lease basis keeping the land in the hands of
the citizens of Saskatoon.

We want development in South Downtown that people will be excited about
and will want to visit. A shared public/private space with a public market
and space for arts and cultural events would create a true destination for
the people of Saskatoon and for tourists from far beyond our community.
This could be the key in revitalizing downtown. We do not believe that more
condos and hotels will do anything for to revitalize the downtown area.


We need lots of help in getting petitions signed so if you are able to help
blitz neighborhoods on any evening or weekend, please contact Lenore at
lswystun@sasktel.net. There are also going to be people at the Farmer's
Market, at Midtown Plaza and around the Bessborough this Saturday afternoon
so any participation with that signature gathering would be appreciated.

The deadline for signing and submitting the petitions is May 30 so that they
can be delivered to City Hall before 4pm. They can be turned in to me
(Peter Garden) at the Turning the Tide bookstore at 525 11th St. East
(upstairs in the pink house behind Lydia's on Broadway) or turned into the
Backyard Naturalist at 273 2nd Ave. S. My contact information if you have
any questions is by email at pgarden@resist.ca or by phone at 955-3070.

Please note that in order to be able to sign the petition that you must have
the following status:

- A Canadian Citizen
- Have lived in Saskatchewan for at least 6 months
- Have lived in Saskatoon for at least 3 months
- Be 18 years of age or older

The last space in the petition information is for you to witness once the
person has filled out their information.

Thank you again for your help with this campaign.

Peace and solidarity,

Peter Garden

The petition needs to have signatures from at least 10% of the residents of Saskatoon by May 30th to be considered. If anyone is inclined to give these guys a hand to sign, distribute a petition, or canvassing, let Peter know. I have signed! You should too!

Warm weather

It has been so nice out the past couple of days I decided to celebrate by putting sparklies on my website thanks to John/Barry and Ginger. Well, I was going to put sparklies on anyhow, but this is just a good excuse.

I cannot believe that I forgot that the long weekend is coming right up. What happened to the month of May? It has just gone by so quickly.

You can't ignore a cat. They have ways...

This is Myrah demanding my full attention. How can a girl work when her kitty needs lovin? I must remember how cute she is for those times when she attacks my ankles from underneath my bed.

I just updated my photo page too.

Avalanche - Matthew Good

One foot in front of the other
One foot back to counter it
Days like these you've got to find it in some other way
It's all or nothing baby

Avalanche, start inside of me
Avalanche, down through the trees
Avalanche, start inside of me
Avalanche, hell down through the trees

If everyone's a casualty
Then take your time there ain't no trouble
If the weather's fine and we're feeling crazy
There's always drinks and dancing in the rubble
I'm spinning and you're spinning
The world's spinning and we're laughing
And I'm charming, the devil's charming
And we're ruined but we're building
And I'm selling and you're counting
The world's stopping but we keep going
And we're ruthless and we're cunning
And I'm heir to it all

Days like these you've gotta find it in some other way
It's all or nothing baby

Avalanche, start inside of me
Avalanche, down through the trees
Avalanche, start inside of me
Avalanche, hell down through the trees

This key is to your kingdom
This key is to your heart
Neither one is a doorway
But both of them a part
So one foot in front of the other

Okay, I am going to work today. For real.

I am about to get to thesis Chapter 4 again. Chapter title: Scarfing Down Doughnuts: Mary Walsh’s “Connie Bloor” and the Language of Canadian Resistance. This also just happens to be the subject of my big talk that I have been preparing since December and will be presenting in Winnipeg at the end of the month. Okay, I am going to get back to working on this chapter draft now. Maybe I will update later today if things are going well.

Pluggin' away

I have spent this weekend on Chapter 4. It is funny how much time you can spend on something and still not feel like any real progress is being made. It's just a wee bit frustrating. I ~know~ that I am steadily moving towards completing my thesis, but the movements seem so small.

I will work all afternoon today then I am going to take a little break for the Survivor All-Stars Finale. I really have to break my addiction to prime-time television. It is not condusive to a finished thesis.

Even more Blog changes!!!

I finally got around to revamping the colours on my blog to what I had been envisioning for quite a while now. No more orangey-red headers on a purpley background. Talk about a colour clash. It is funny how when you have other work that needs to be done, things that are really not that important seem to be so much more fun.

I never realized that the design of my blog was going to be such an ongoing process. As a matter of fact, now that this design is done, I have a very cool idea for yet another blog design. But that one will have to wait for a while before I decide I need a change. And there are still a few things I want to do with the sidebar and tagboard on this design in order to perfect it.

Alright, back to work... again.

Isn't this the cutest thing ever?

I think this Vespa is absolutely adorable! And a matching helmet! That would be so much fun to putter around town on. Too bad it won't stand up to nasty Saskatchewan weather.

Vespas are super popular right now. There is even an Italy by Vespa tour package, which I think would be amazing. Maybe that is something I can think about after I have finished my thesis.

I feel particularly girly today. I even put a flower in my hair this morning which got many compliments and smiles. I think I need to do that more often.

Today I am going to spend some quality time with my thesis, especially Chapter 4. After spending the past month concentrating on the CSSR talk, I think it is about time that I got back to the writing portion of my education. I cannot believe that it is almost upon us.

As a matter of fact, our group is having a public presentation of all of the talks that we will be presenting in Winnipeg, on Friday, May 21, and Tuesday, May 25th. I will be presenting on the 25th, but the talks on the 21st are well worth attending also. I believe both sessions will be from noon to 1:30pm in 2C01 of the Engineering building at the U of S. Here is all the information.

Back to work.

Disney vs. Michael Moore

Will no one give this guy a break? He has written best-selling books, put out award winning documentaries, and worked tirelessly to bring a thoughtful perspective to relevant current issues. I think he has proven that his message is worthy of a public audience.

Now Disney is pulling their support from him so they won't lose Florida tax cuts that may result from not blindly supporting Jeb's brother. On another note, I think Jeb has done enough, and don't even get me started on old Georgey boy.

Luckily though, Moore is still taking "Fahrenheit 911" to the Cannes Film Festival. It was one of the 18 films selected for the prestigious festival. I don't think Bush, Disney, or anyone else for that matter is going to keep Mr. Moore from being heard.

La la la la...

Sunday afternoon was so much fun. Becky, Ang, Marc and I all went to the park and played Frisbee for the afternoon. It was great to get out in the nice weather and play outside for awhile. After that we went for dinner at the Majestic Grille and got buster bars at Dairy Queen. It was just a nice fun day in some nice weather.

It is occasionally starting to feel like summer is slowly creeping up on us, when the weather cooperates, which is fantastic. I can't wait to go camping, swimming, and spending more time playing outdoors. I have to temper some of that summer frolic in me as I am going to be spending a lot of time indoors finishing my thesis. I want to be as close to done as possible this summer.

This month will be wrapped up with a conference in Winnipeg, where I get a chance to visit Jasmine in the city and a quick visit with Kestrel, Jim and their new baby Bruno. I am quite excited for that. I will be cutting that visit short as my parents are coming into Saskatoon that same week.

Dad is going to a conference at the Delta Bessborough that is being organized by a fellow I teach with. Uh oh, two worlds are colliding here and I won't even be there to control the impact, but it should be alright. Mom is super excited because she finally gets a chance to meet Myrah and take care of her while I am away. I hope Myrah behaves herself.

At the end of July, I am going back to Cranbrook for my 10 year high school reunion. That is a wee bit scary. I can't believe 10 years has already passed. It will be great to see what has happened to some people. I am super curious. I don't think many people know what has happened with me, as there are only a couple of people that I have kept in touch with since I graduated. It will be nice to reconnect with some of them though. I don't think there is going to be a huge turn out from our class of 250 people. Apparently, my brother's reunion only saw about 30 people attend. Who knows.

Well, I had better get back to work.