Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Catch-all, Catch-up blog

I was first introduced to blogging in the fall of 2010 when I took a course called Communication Skills, with Dr. Bob Montgomerie. In this class, one of our assignments involved designing a research blog, and writing ten posts about papers relevant to our blog's topic. I always enjoyed blogging for that course and I swore I would do it someday on a more personal level, to document my life and my own research. That being said, indeed I did start to blog again, using the blog application on my own personal website. I have kept 'kind of up-to-date' with that this summer, but find the format the host provides really hard to work with. Now, just maybe... with a good platform and some.. well.. motivation, I will be able to keep this blog going strong for the next...err 3...3.5...4 years (long sigh - let's pray no longer than that).

A Quick Update on my life:




I defended my Master's in May of 2012, and on August 4th, or as the paperwork now says, July 21st, I officially received word that I had completed all requirements for my degree. Now that it is September and a new school year has begun, this officially marks the start of my next (and final - again, pray for me) degree of my academic career.




In the time between degrees (April to August) I worked as a Supervisor for a great local greenhouse business, Burt's Greenhouses. I have worked for the Burt's before, and always enjoyed my time. This was my first year as a supervisor for the 5 satellite sites and although I did enjoy my time, I found the summer challenging.. and interesting to say the least. I learned so much about dealing with people, employees, etc. this summer that I think I may be set for life (seriously). Even more, I learned a lot about myself, and my capabilities as someone in a supervisory position. Needless to say there was never a dull moment, and I can tell you one thing, 1.5 months from now when I am knee deep in decades worth of literature trying to design my PhD project, I will be longing for the days when I was outside all day in the beautiful sunshine!
Kittens at KHS

I have stayed out of trouble for the most part this summer. Thanks to my great friend Kari, I have become a volunteer with the Kingston Humane Society (KHS). I have thought about getting involved with KHS for a long time, but being the hardcore animal lover I am, I thought it would be too hard to see the animals like that. After my first visit, I was hooked. It was kind of like an addiction. For some people its prescription drugs, others its top secret bagels (ok, that's mine too), but for me seeing them once just made me want to see them again and again. I really feel privileged that I am able to spend so much time with such awesome pets. I have also become involved with Big Brothers, Big Sisters as a Big Sister to a 16 year old girl here in Kingston, and I LOVE it. I get to spend 3 or 4 hours a week doing crafts, playing games, watching TV with an amazing young person.... again, SO privileged.

I have had several fun day trips this summer including: the Toronto Zoo, Ennismore (yay!), Wolfe Island, lots of conservation areas, fishing trips on the Bay of Quinte, etc. Usually, during the summer, I read a couple of great books... I can't say I did that this summer. I did read the first 78 pages of Death Benefit by Robin Cook. And I have also read 2 pages of 50 Shades of Grey. Huge reading fail!!! I swear I will be better!

Wire fence field at QUBS
Taking the above into account, it is now September 4th, and summer, unofficially, has ended. For the past 3 weeks and for about the next week or so I will be doing some field work up at the Queen's Biology Station (QUBS). I am working in Wire Fence field, the same field I worked in for my Master's research, looking at relationships between MIN/MAX plant body size and recruitment, using some old target plants from last summer. This isn't research for my PhD, but it will make a pretty cool follow up paper to my MSc thesis!

Next week should mark my actual return to real life: spending everyday in the lab and using Tim Horton's as fuel (not the coffee), napping at my desk, facebook gaming during lunch, you know...all the REALLY important stuff starts then. In all seriousness, I am a LITTLE nervous about this, OK, a lot nervous. I think back to my days as an Undergrad, and how my current journey could take me longer than that did, which felt like a lifetime. But then I think to my MSc which I technically finished 3 months early, and how with hard work, really anything is possible. With the nerves comes excitement. I am excited to brainstorm and think about some new areas I could delve into. I am excited to be playing a larger role in the Bio Grads community as the Co-chair and Secretary for the BioGrads student council. I think I am MOST excited to teach again, because, simply put I just love it!

Well, this has been sort of a catch-all of my life in the past few months, but I'll be back...sooner than you may think (or hope)!

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