Facts and Beliefs

So I've just finished reading a book called "Monkey Girl" which filled out details of the Kitzmiller trial. In this trial the school board tried to include Intelligent Design (a religious argument) as an alternative to the theory of Evolution in the grade nine curriculum. They claimed that they were supporting the students by trying to broaden the course material. However, the understanding of the science by the board was - to put it mildly - woefully, no, comically inaccurate. They were motivated not by the facts of science but rather their beliefs of religion.

Intelligent Design is a religious argument that attempts to pass itself off as science and it infuriates me because it works so hard to hamstring scientific investigation. ID is a 'God of the gaps' theory. It claims that gaps of evidence in evolutionary theory is proof of an intelligent designer (denied to be God but no alternative is suggested). ID is not science, it is confusing and disingenuous.

So here is my analogy of ID and why it bothers me as a scientist. Say we are explorers in the 15th century. We have a fairly robust theory of continents; they probably have forests and rivers, mountains and deserts. They don't, for example have giant holes that go straight down to the centre of the earth. So North America is discovered and is most easily explored by water. You gradually get an outline of a continent and maybe some details up a major rivers. However, when you draw a map you have great big white spots with no exploration, the gaps. Are the gaps proof that your theory of what continents are is incorrect? Or have you just not gotten to all the places yet.

What would it take to make you change your opinion about what continents are? Is someone pointing at the blank spots enough? Or would you need evidence, like someone making it to the middle and showing that it is like the surface of the sun?

ID tries to claim scientists refuse to accept alternatives to evolution and that gaps in knowledge are a fatal flaw in the theory. In science we are exploring new country, and seeing fantastic new places but nothing we have seen have shaken the roots of the theory of Evolution. I can't remember of the origin of this quote but when asked what it would take to disprove evolution the scientist quipped "rabbits in the Cretaceous".

The ID movement has at best managed to point out gaps, it has not provided evidence. And I'm not even getting into the fact that ID needs a supernatural explanation which is outside the realm of science. As a scientist I am not as interested in supporting Darwin as I am interested in knowing the truth. If the truth says the middle of the continent is hotter than the surface of the sun, I will not walk there, ignoring all evidence to the contrary just to cling to my precious and unquestionable theory. I have not yet seen evidence of rabbits in the Creataceous.

Finally I have one quote that I thought the most telling from the book "Monkey Girl".

The argument [against ID] went nowhere, for it was not really about evidence or logic anymore. It was about belief - and, more specifically, about what people choose to believe, because it is a choice. As Stough would later realize, the women bearing those petitions would not be convinced by anything he could possibly say. They chose to believe something that they did not understand and that sounded scientific - ID - and to reject something else that they did not understand and that sounded scientific: evolution. They did this because one appealed to their worldview and their religious convictions, while the other scared and challenged them.

Facebook and Beacon

Facebook has introduced a new 'feature' called Beacon. From what I understand, Facebook has partner sites and they report if you bought anything back to Facebook and then it appears in your news feed ("Carly bought something from somewhere"). You have about 20 seconds to catch the opt-out and you can't opt out of everything at once.

I found a workaround.

I like this quote:

I want Facebook to sit still and let me check out how many of my friends enjoy the movie Sleepover and look at pictures of people I didn’t like in High School. I don’t need Facebook extrapolating data about me as I go about my business on the web.

Hiking and Science

Yeah, did some more hiking. My legs are really sore from riding on Saturday, and my arms for some reason. Usually my arms aren't sore but there was a lot more muscling around of the horse. Today Cheryl and I hiked 2nd and 3rd peaks of the Chief. It was a perfect day that started cloudy but soon there were blue skies. I was surprised how much of the trail I remembered since it has been several years since I've hiked it. I guess we'll see just how many more leg muscles will be sore tomorrow.

As for the science, here are some books that have really shaped my views. I highly recommend because of course you came here for science book recommendations:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Not really a science book but does a good job teaching you why I am getting a Doctor of Philosophy and not a Doctor of Science.

The Selfish Gene: A classic which taught me to think about selection at the level of the gene and not 'for the good of the group'.

Godel, Escher, Bach: A difficult book that talks about self-reference, rules about systems and those conversations between the tortoise and Achilles.

The Ancestor's Tale: This is one of my favorite reads, not too heavy because it is split into separate entertaining tales (hmmm, entertaining if you're a biology nerd that is). Can you tell I'm a Dawkin's fan...

Endless Forms Most Beautiful: A book about developmental biology and how many different body shapes can be formed from the same toolkit.

And if you're looking for something else, Genome was a nice light intro to genetics, Flatterland about math and strange mathematical landscapes and Singularities in Biology about a lot of relevant biology stuff that doesn't get covered in class.

Vancouver eats its young

Wow, I really like Vancouver but can't see myself staying here. It just costs too much and gets more and more out of control every day. I was surprised to see a Globe and Mail article say just as much.

When Vancouver advertises itself, the faces on the condominium billboards are young and smiling, poised to Live! Work! Play! And yet, is there any other Canadian city more ruthless toward its young adult citizens?

Talk to Vancouverites in their 30s or younger, and you learn why, despite a booming economy, a lot of them doubt they'll spend their futures here. Which can't be good for the city's own future.

Followed by:

Much as the real-estate windfall graced middle-aged Vancouverites like myself, rising resource commodities prices have helped B.C.'s Liberal government run surpluses in the billions of dollars for several years now. But, for the young, the same government has more than doubled university tuition fees since 2001.

Anyway, it was an interesting read and nice to see the trend has been noticed. As for me, living in Vancouver has me already planning for when I leave.

Lead Toys

From The onion

BEIJING—In an attempt to assure the world's children that the millions of Chinese-made toys currently being recalled for containing toxic lead paint and tiny choking hazards can no longer hurt them, high-level Chinese officials announced Tuesday that millions of playthings are being rounded up and immediately put to death.

minus e-mail

Well, UBC has lost its e-mail access (as in any UBC interchange account is dead). Turns out its a hardware failure and all the data is corrupted. They had had a similar problem weeks? months? ago and had put off the correct replacements till November but the hardware died now. E-mail is still being received but it is being cued. So anyway, its a tremendous pain to be without e-mail because so much work is done over it. The e-mail probably won't be up and running again till later in the weekend. Currently they have to go through the system one mailbox at a time starting with the a's and there are oh what... 30,000 interchange accounts? Hmmm, I'm a c so maybe I'll get it sooner than Monday. On the plus side, I'm not getting those stupid seminar announcements 3 times a day from the same secretary or those annoying product show ad's which always come as massive .pdf or .doc attachments.

Mr. DNA himself

From this weeks Nature Sidelines:

“I think I could have been an art dealer. I have pretty good taste. I've always liked portraits. For me, faces dominate my life. It's not about big boobs. It's about the face. Always.”

James Watson tells us what he might have done had he not turned his mind to unlocking the structure of DNA.

Slashdot turns 10

I didn't realize I'd been reading the geek news for 10 years but Slashdot turned 10. I remember when I started reading it Jon Katz was writing something about Columbine and there was something about hot grits. Ah, when geeks get together, they really do like their memes. Anyway, slashdot has spawned many things including the best of slashdot.

And I finally found how I could get my very own OMG Ponies!!! version of slashdot mocking cuteoverload which in turn mocked right back.

Finally, I learned something new, I knew Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher from star trek::TNG) read but I didn't realize he sometimes posted. Ha.

Women in Science

So, one day I will get to the end of my Ph.D. and I'll be thinking about what to do next. There was that big incident where Larry Summers (ex prez of Harvard) went on about why there weren't more females as profs. There were statements about innate ability (or lack thereof) and it was a hot topic for a while. I found this article about women in science written by a man (hmmm) but covers a fair amount of what we have talked about in the lab. Science is not a way to get rich and certainly not a way to get rich quick. The hours will suck, the pay will stink and you'll be old before you start.

A summary quote from the article about why there are fewer women profs:

"Most people go to work primarily in order to earn a paycheck. Workers prefer a higher salary to a lower salary. Jobs in science pay far less than jobs in the professions and business held by women of similar ability. A lot of men are irrational, romantic, stubborn, and unwilling to admit that they've made a big mistake. With Occam's Razor, we should not need to bring in the FBI to solve the mystery of why there are more men than women who have chosen to stick with the choice that they made at age 18 to be a professor of science or mathematics."

So as I write this am I bitter about my Ph.D? No. This degree has the intellectual stimulation I was always going to require, I didn't see any jobs I wanted with just my undergrad degree and I really *really* like working with smart people. Its just an interesting article. The big question is what to do next?

Science as drug

Nature article about a dinosaur show and the experts quote who attended:

"Dinosaurs, he says, are "a gateway drug for the sciences". A lot of kids scored tonight."

What I really don't like

Religion can be wonderful. Religion can be bad. This kind of stuff really pisses me off.

The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.

The Bishop claims "Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose,"

The Bishop's words sound like they carry a lot of weight in Mozambique so how many people will die because of his lies?

Quotable

Well, I haven't posted in a while so here's a quote from the Globe and Mail.

"It's so romantic. It's romance. I was playing poker one night in my room and I was down about $250,000. He said if I made out with him, I could clear the thing. And I ended up paying off my poker debt. And then I fell in love and now we are engaged."

Actress Pamela Anderson, 40, discussing a new man in her life.

Hmmm, I like how the Globe writer says "...a new man" and not 'the new man' in her life.

Back from the shop

So I had the bike into the shop for some air going into the carb repairs. I was wondering if they remember much about me at the shop and turns out they do. The man at the counter said they were recently using me to goad a guy into driving his bike into the shop without a clutch. You'll remember back when I had my little adventure. "Well, one of female customers drove her bike in without a clutch and she was going further than you have to go, and she had less torque". So yeah, not so keen on the "a girl could do it" but thats current reality (maybe biological research used to be that way but things have changed and now girls are usually the majority). Anyway, as long as they don't go on and mention why the bike had a broken clutch in the first place....

MSG - monosodium glutamate

Good article about MSG at The Observer.

I remember living in res with a food scientist who talked about if the manufacturer wanted to remove MSG from the ingredient list they would just add parmesan cheese.
And here's the table, wow, parmesan is 1.2% G of MSG (the MS would just be the salt).

Free glutamate content of foods (mg per 100g)
roquefort cheese 1280
parmesan cheese 1200
soy sauce 1090
walnuts 658
fresh tomato juice 260
grape juice 258
peas 200
mushrooms 180
broccoli 176
tomatoes 140
mushrooms 140
oysters 137
corn 130
potatoes 102
chicken 44
mackerel 36
beef 33
eggs 23
human milk 22

Foo Fighters don't believe in AIDS

So I found this interesting article about AIDS denial and there in one of the first paragraphs was the Foo Fighters supporting a group that denies HIV as the causative agent of AIDS. I guess rock stars can not only have concerts that support ending poverty and the like but support scientific quackery as well. Hmm, just like the creationists it seems everyone likes a good conspiracy theory, they like to pretend they are being silenced by the mainstream scientists and they like to say science is just a religion like every other one based on faith. Too bad unlike evolution a lot of people can die from this. The article talks about a main AIDS denier who had two children while refusing to take treatment and even breastfed one and one of the children died from AIDS complications.

Almost a Unicorn Chaser

In the spirit of Boingboing and their Unicorn chasers after a disturbing image I am posting something from cuteoverload because every time I open my blog I see the really disturbing bunny picture and it creeps me out.

Creepy Bunny

So on Monday night I watched Donnie Darko and while it was ... good it was really really creepy. I truly regretted watching it before going to bed, especially considering I'm pretty chicken for scary movies. As I tried to sleep I felt a hint of the fear I remember as a kid and how I could freak myself in the dark. When I was a kid I was terrified of the devil dogs from Ghostbusters and had nightmares for weeks after watching it. What really terrified me was the 'key' being dragged away while the restaurant people watched with little interest. Anyway, this time it was Frank, the freaky 6 foot bunny of Donnie Darko that kept me up at night (though nothing compared to the terror of Ghostbusters or reading about Poltergeist). And if you don't think a 6 foot bunny could ever be really scary then I suggest you check out the film.

Life in Vancouver

I just had an adventure; some van driver was pissed when he tried to jump the queue for the gas pump but my friend was there. He then waited for us to finish and chased us in his van (us on our motorbikes) through a few roads and up an alleyway before we made it back to the gas station and he drove on. Holy crap what a waste of his time! He was burning rubber in angry squeals but its not like we've learned some lesson about not getting in front of him at the gas station; all he did was take miles off his tires. Too bad we couldn't get the license plate.

On another note, I haven't watched tv commercials in a very long time. I do watch tv (Buffy!) but on DVD's that I either own or borrow. I now have two channels and was watching the Fifth Estate but the commercials really caught my attention. I saw a lot of commercials about dangerous bacteria that are everywhere in your house. They coat your dishes (even if they look clean) and your toilet bowl is full of them! Dirt is scary! Danger! Danger! It was all women doing the cleaning but then again, the commercials aren't out to reassign gender roles, just sell cleaning products through paranoia.

Yeah linux!

I quite like running linux at home. Sometimes its a real pain like when I was trying to rip DVD's to iPod readable format but generally its been really good. I also like how stuff just works with the caveat that if it doesn't work right away you usually have quite the job ahead of you. I can play DVD's and they all just play, no having to install all the malware that the DVD company thinks I need to prevent copying (see SONY rootkit).

So with interest I read about Microsoft patenting the next generation of software for ad targeting. In order to bring you more tightly targeted ads the software will look at all your downloads, read all your e-mails, snoop all your documents all for "The benefit to the user is the perception that the ads are more relevant, and therefore, less of an interruption." Scrolling banners on your next word document, maybe clippy will pop up with suggestions for toothpaste or something. Anyway, makes me appreciate the linux experience much more.

So if one day you just get sick of your computer being less and less in your control, check out Ubuntu

Canadian copyright

I've been paying attention to the issue and I enjoyed this interesting (but slow) video. I particularly liked how many Canadian labels have dropped out of the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) - so how much of CRIA is controlled by a foreign voice now?

Motorcycling to Baker

Baker in 2003


Four years ago before I hurt my knee I did two great trips to Mount Baker. The hiking was fantastic and the views were amazing. It was the most beautiful mountain I have camped on, especially the first weekend when I went with Roland. The second weekend kinda sucked but the walk up the railway trail (hike? Moraine?) was really neat. Then it rained and company was equally uninspired (except you Emily! and your wonderful memories of the toilets - the toilets were just boxes perched on ridges and we were above the trees so you got fantastic views).

This weekend I got to go back (but no hiking). Chris, Suzanne and I took the motorcycles down for a nice long day trip. The weather was supposed to be terrible but of course in Vancouver you can't be sure till the day of no matter what the weather reports say. We started out just after lunch and over the border in Abbotsford. The traffic was light and the roads were fantastic. It got really twisty as we wound our way up the mountain and eventually to the ski hill on Baker (I *knew* there was a ski hill). First we stopped at an elementary school which had this very important sign posted out front:


We continued on to the top and the road had plenty of motorcycles. No wonder, the road was fantastic for a nice twisty ride.

Carly and Suzanne


The bikes

How things work in the lab

Today we had an illustration of how different lab thinking is. A labmate was filtering lysed bacteria (precious lysed bacteria) into a container sitting in ice. She accidentally pushed the container in and ice got into her sample. So what do microbiologists think? "Oh no! Dirty ice is contaminating my bacteria". Several of us were watching (hanging out in the lab, watching someone filtering a sample, who said science isn't exciting) and we all thought it. Some of us even gasped. Then after a moments pause I reflect on what the real world thought would be and just how different a microbiology lab can make you think.

Noticed in Vancouver

Number 1: People who park in a place that clearly isn't meant for parking but then put on their four way flashers. I've been seeing more and more of this, do people think that four way flashers really turn random places into a legal parking spot?! That they won't get a ticket because those four way flashers made it look like they were having a problem and hey, people who are having problems can park wherever they want (I suppose they think not being to park right outside the bank is a problem).

Number 2:This one is definitely of limited scope. They are taking a picture of my supervisor now and why must pictures of researchers in labs always be taken through the shelves of bottles!!!!. When its been done 50 bazillion times it is not original anymore!! We already have a bunch of pictures of Lindsay being photographed through the bottles they didn't need to send in a photographer, I'm sure we could dig up some old photos. Hmmm, I wonder if they will give him a one litre culture flask and ask him to look at it in a serious and questioning manner while they snap away. A situation made all the more humourous because the article is about tuberculosis.

I found a webpage: Overheard in New York.

This is my current fav (haven't made it too far down the list yet so this may change).

Dumb teen: Hey, look at this! It says "Train for jobs in biotch." [ed. I believe he is trying to say be-otch; a lengthened out version of bitch]
Smarter teen: Fool! That word is biotech. Why you gotta be ignorant all your life?

LOLnet

Yeah, I is interneted up.

And reading too much Boingboing.

Creationism

I read an excellent post on slashdot today about the argument against creationism. Just for the record, I am a lapsed Pastafarian.

Update: How is this possible? In a (American) national debate 3 candidates stood up and stated they don't believe in evolution and then one wrote why he said so in the New York Times. Here's the scientist's rebuttal.

That's a big bike

Here I am in Ontario on my dad's bike, its a 1200cc bike so a lot more power than I'm used to. I rode it around the block a few times, around the neighbourhood and then out in the country (with parental units following behind in the truck) to visit my uncle. It was really really gusty out on the open highway, not at all what I'm used to. The bike had power though, it could pick up a lot quicker than my little 400cc bike.

Anyway, the time has come to put away these childish things and move on to ... bacteria!

Motorcycle Trip

Today I went on the motorcycle out to horseshoe bay with Chris (guy in the lab next to us) and his girlfriend Susan. It was a gorgeous day and we took it easy on a nice twisty road on the way there. There is tons of traffic out on the main streets so it was great to have someone riding with you, two bikes are just less easy for the cars to ignore.

Ongoing History of New Music

I sometimes turn the radio on late at nights and catch this show and now I found the webpage offering podcasts. Fantastic! Check out The Ongoing History of New Music.

Contra Dancing and More Motorcycling

I've always enjoyed the Scottish Country dancing here in Vancouver and Duncan is a great and entertaining caller but I found the dancing rather slow. Last night I found something more interesting - contra dancing run by the Vancouver country dancing society. The music was great and there was lots of dancing and I had to stop because my knee was hurting.

On another note: more motorcycling stuff - I bought a magnetic tank bag and went out for a ride yesterday. I was on Southwest marine which got very large and busy and so many drivers were really nice about letting me in. And the weather - they were promising a weekend of +21 and it's cloudy *pout*

Apartment Hunting

Damn, I really love the house we're in. It has a yard, it's in a fantastic location, I like having housemates and the rent was *cheap*. However, our landlord wants it back so we are all scattering away. I've been trying to check out shared housing but most houses had creep vibes going and were way too much money for what they were offering so I moved on to checking out apartments.

First off, a rant about appartment advertising. Craigslist was great but not where I ultimately found my place. However, the ads (and the UBC list was the same) were very flexible in the lingo. Excuse me, but when you advertise a one-bedroom in your basement where the bathrooom was mainly yours but the landlords would come down and use it; that's not a one-bedroom. Here was another common ad in the craigslist section for apartments/houses - one-bedroom advertised but then it turns into a two bedroom to be shared with the other person. That's no longer a one-bedroom sweetie, that's shared accomodation and it has a craigslist section all to itself. Ditto kitchens - a hotplate and toaster oven does not a kitchen make (and you wanted $500+ for this luxury!). Or the one ad which said the basement one-bedroom was great for a female who only did light cooking. Light cooking?! Like use the hotplate to boil water for her Mr. Noodles? But that place was going for over $500/month, plus utilities (all the water boiling must add up).

Anyway, I found a place - a bachelor close to Broadway and Granville (one bus trip away from everything!). It's the first time I'm going to be living on my own, not sure how much I'll like that and it's double the rent that I'm used to.

I have a cell phone now in preparation for the move so look for me on the bus. I'll be the one saying: "yes, uh huh...., yeah I'm on the bus.... yeah.... I'll be there in 10 minutes... yeah, yeah.... ok bye".

Motorcycling

So I haven't been posting that much lately so here's a post that may or may not be boring but its something.

Oh yes, before I go on I should reiterate why I have the blog. I don't think I have wonderful opinions that I should bless the rest of the world with, but I do have some friends who like to check out what I'm up to.

I have my new motorcycle, it survived being dropped by me on the very first day and I haven't been riding it a whole lot in part because the weather hasn't been great, my focus has been skiing and I don't really know anything about maintenance. Well, today the maintenance thing changed. Ivan, a fellow I met in the band, has a motorcycle and today I went to his place and we went over the entire bike. He showed me how to change oil, lube the chain, check tension, check everything and now I feel like the bike is in top form (hmmm, except for that pesky no speedometer thing...). It was great, an excellent learning experience and then we went out for a ride. The weather here in Vancouver is pretty darn nice (for spring) so we just went back and forth out behind UBC. There's a big forest with long fast roads and some turny places so we had some fun. And its nice and close to where I live.

Anyway, the bike is ready and now its time for me to mark those f***ing undergrad exams. They're paying me but at this point its not worth the money (hmmm, then again it would be nice to know how fast I'm going...)

Totally Awesome Bacteria

How awesome is this - bacterial art. I got it as an attachment so I can't credit the original. What you're seeing is the same E. coli species with different plasmids expressing different variants of GFP (probably). GFP is a natural fluorescent protein that was originally isolated from jellyfish. Anyway, the people in the lab streaked the different E. coli cultures, let them grow overnight and then exposed the petri dish to UV light to make the fluorescent proteins ....well, fluoresce. In the lab I'm working with a few types of GFP proteins but not enough to make this artwork. And who says scientists aren't artistic!

Burr-day

Yeah its my burr-day! Todays topics are Facecrack and an ode to my alarm clock.

First off - I love my alarm clock. I've had it since elementary school. The best feature is you can dim the digital time light making it bright enough to see in the day but you can turn it down so it doesn't light up your room at night. My alarm clock also has two alarms, a backup battery and a radio. The radio dial button is kind of stuck so it makes changing it difficult sometimes but I never seem to change it anyway. I listen to the radio long enough to get to a commercial break, get annoyed at the commercials and then turn it off. My parents bought me a replacement once but the stupid display was sooo bright I could read by it. Otherwise it looked like a good potential replacement with the added bonus of being able to play CD's.

Facecrack - yes it is highly addictive. You can look up old friends and keep track of what everyone back at home is doing even better than using the mom network (mind you the mom network is still where its at for juicy stories). First, just a few friends are on and inviting you to join but then suddenly its a tidal wave. Yeah yeah, you can avoid it and sound like the man who doesn't own a tv.

Can you tell that right now I'm having a real bitch of a time explaining how for my mechanism of inhibition Ki does correspond to Km of the inhibitor?

Spring Stuff

First off - Andrea's birthday wine and cheese. That was a yummy evening. Here Sachi and Grace position themselves with the best seats in the house.

Then it was spring skiing at Whistler. It was a gorgeous day but windy at the top. In the distance you can see the needle point of Black Tusk.

Then at our house we arranged an afternoon of tradition egg painting. Here is an egg in yellow dye. The black stuff is beeswax applied to block the dye from staining.

Here are the results - mine is the blue one.

And here's the second egg that I did. Thanks to Donna for organizing the afternoon.

What would a Unicorn do?

And here's your chance to try it.

Nerds

More Buffy. The three nerds are arguing about the pecking order with this quote:

"Warren's the boss. He's Picard, you're Deanna Troi. Get used to the feeling, Betazoid,"

Hilarious. Unless of course you aren't familiar with Star Trek. Or you're not into geek humour.

Skiing at Whistler

I finally made it to my first day on Whistler for the season. I bought five lift tickets so I had better get going!

This picture is from the top of seventh heaven, always a great spot for photos. It was a great day for skiing and it was nice and sunny once you got over the clouds.


However, not all was well. I bought these old used teleskis to learn and finally, 3/4 down Blackcomb glacier the binding broke. This is an even bigger problem because they can't get the snowmobile in. It's a 14 km walk out the bottom or a steep climb up the glacier to top out at the lift so I hiked up.

I made it to the top just as ski patrol showed up to ski to me and tell me to start hiking out. Since I couldn't ski down the mountain I got to ride on the back of the snowmobile down the Horstman glacier (pretty steep) and to a lift I could download on. I think I will keep the skis but buy new bindings.

High Culture

Talk about a lucky evening. I rushed out of the lab on Thursday evening to try and buy rush tickets for the latest Vancouver Opera production The Magic Flute. This was a really neat performance that they had commissioned which incorporated lots of west coast native american tradition. It had been getting good reviews and I was hoping there would be some rush seats available. I stood in line and some lady came up to me to give me a free ticket! I got to see the opera from centre, 9th row! Not bad.

I also finally bought a copy of the Seven Samurai. It's this great movie and I don't really know why I like it so much but I do. Of course, it comes with all the extra audio commentaries I love so much as well as an extra DVD about the making of the movie, AND a book of essays. Before you start thinking I might have a modicum of taste I also recently bought the Disney movie The Little Mermaid.

Harry Potter

Weird, I was wondering what the next Harry Potter title is going to be, looked for it and happened to look the very day they posted the next release date.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
July 21st, 2007.

I'm really excited that this series will be ending. At least, I hope it will end and not go on and on until a great idea finally fizzles (see Lost)

Fiddle Music

So, I finally made it back to play some fiddle music. Man am I out of practice. This is a pub close to where I live and they have live sessions several nights a week which I like to drop in on.

Motorcycle

Well, the day came. I finally bought a bike. The first motorvehicle I have ever owned. It was quite a day and it only got more.... exciting. I'm not used to driving in traffic so being on a bike after several months and trying to go through all the traffic was intimidating. I survived. I drove out to Commercial drive to buy a cover and got back just as it was getting dark. And then I had a supreme blond moment. I (with great relief) put the motorcycle down on the kickstand but ... wait for it ... forgot to put the kickstand down. So the bike went very slowly and gracefully to the ground. Gas starting leaking out and I learned that I *can* pick up the bike by myself. The damage - a broken clutch lever.

Then I made a panicked call to the motorcycle repair shop that I had just visited. There the guy said they *could* come and pick me up but really, I could just drive the bike to the shop anyway (he was quite keen on this idea). He explained how to do so and I figured what the hell, I bought the bike to learn and this was certainly going to be a learning experience. So I had to start the bike in neutral, straddle it, paddle it to a fast enough speed, then kick it into second gear and drive. You can't stop he cautioned. You can't change gears so that meant if I got too slow it stalled (yes I could have kicked it into neutral but this bike and me going into neutral takes a while). Then it was a running start again (doing this across busy Granville street was not a treat). Of course I couldn't even come close to stopping going uphill because well, it was hard enough to push this bike on level ground. So I had to push start the bike several times, drive really slowly almost stalling it to time the lights and some quick right turns on hills so I could go around the block and make it back for the light. I can't believe I drove back without a clutch.

The repair shop was fantastic, I showed up late but the owner gave me the part and sent me down with an apprentice mechanic with instructions that he show me how to do it myself.

After that experience traffic was no problem now that I had a clutch. Kong took the photo when I got back. Its the best one showing off the sexy 70's motorcycle jacket and bike.

Australia! (and Fiji)

I have finished my grand tour of part of Australia (can you call it a grand tour?). It was a great vacation, I visisted friends, made new ones and got to see sunlight in the winter (a rarity for Vancouver).


First, my travelling partner Rhonda, enjoying her cup of coffee at the Victoria market in Melbourne.


Rhonda and I stayed with Vancouver now living in Melbourne friends Bryan and Sarah. But first we braved driving on the left side of the road (and a very narrow and twisty road at that) and rented a car for a road trip on the Great Ocean Road. This is the obligatory tourist photo with grand landmark, the 12 apostles (now with fewer apostles due to geological progress).


Bryan and Sarah were magnificant hosts, they were amazing from the minute we arrived. For Christmas Bryan and Sarah treated us to a 5 course dinner on the Tramcar Restaurant. This tramcar went around Melbourne for three hours with tons of food and drink.


It was a fantastic Christmas present (and delicious too).


While in Melbourne we stopped in the Yarrow valley and tried some wine. Lucky for us Sarah our driver didn't like wine. Poor Sarah. But thanks for all the great driving!


Then we all drove up to Sydney for Christmas. We were hosted by Sarah's parents and joined by Sarah's sister and her husband. Once again talk about fanastic hosting. The food was fabulous, the drinks were great (thanks Bryan!) and everyone was so warm, welcoming and entertaining. Here we are after a long evening.


After Sydney we all flew to Hobart on Tasmania. Here our ex-Vancouver friend Nenagh and her father hosted us (once again, thank you thank you thank you). We all enjoyed the Taste of Tasmania for several evenings.


Sarah and I put aside any shame and took a turn on the Merry-go-Round on the waterfront.


Nenagh's father was a bonsaii enthusiast. I always had an interest in Bonsaii and he taught me a lot. We wired trees, trimmed leaves and even repotted a fig.


For New Year we joined friends of Nenagh at a beach house. Here is Bryan and Sarah on the beach.


In Hobart we went for a hike on Mount Wellington. We saw at last three snakes on the trip which was scary because all snakes in tasmania are poisonous. We also saw an echidna. These mammals are monotremes which means they lay eggs (the other monotreme is the platypus). It was really neat to see this guy in the wild. They usually try and bury themselves into the soil as soon as they feel threatened but this guy was on rocks and could only hide his head.


We also went to an animal sanctuary and they had a place where you could feed the kangaroos. What this guy really liked was being scratched, he would ignore all the food around him when you scratched him and he would lean right into it.


After Tasmania we flew back to Melbourne (without Rhonda) and I went for a horseback trip offered by the McCormacks. I couldn't go riding in the high country because of the fires but I still had a great time. Bruce and Deb were fantastic and I got to help herd cattle and treat them for pink eye (I know I know, maybe not everyone's idea of a vacation).


So after Australia it was Fiji for four days. Since I had a short trip I was looking to avoid the backpacking thing and went on a sailing safari instead. Here I am on the boat.


I stayed in a bure. There was no hot water or electricity but cold showers were necessary. The snorkling was excellent, I've never gone before and it was amazing to see all the coral and all the life.

So then I got back to a clean room, clean house, dumped my stuff and started work the very next day. I'm still getting over the jet lag and now its back to weird Vancouver weather (more windstorms and snow) but at least the buses are finally going into campus without problems.