Coffee House Fundraiser for Little Travellers at the WECC

Jewels!

I went to see the premiere of "Jewels" tonight, the new show by Manohor Performing Arts Canada. One of my best friends was in the show as Emerald. It was completely amazing! I didn't know very much about Classical East Indian dance before the show, but now I'd like to learn more! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Sleeping Like a Baby: Around the World!

It is so great to hear from so many parents with children of 9-24 month olds who are interested in our research on children's sleeping arrangements! So far, we've had hits at our site from all over Canada, the United States, the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and elsewhere. Thanks also to the parents who have let others know about the study! If you're a parent anywhere in the world, we'd just love to hear from you. You can access the site at www.babysleepstudy.org .
I'm delighted to read any comments about the study that you'd like to leave on my blog as well!

http://rodgersforgees.bcps.org/multicultural%20image.bmp (top image)

Les Voyages!

Woo hoo! So I am definitely not the joyful tide lady, but I feel like the joyful tide lady (only not over tide). And Laura will get a kick out of this picture (hint hint , Laura).

I have had to stop myself from gleefully dancing around the house at the news that I've been accepted for a five week French immersion program in Quebec this summer! My gleeful dancing and shouts of joy have been scaring my younger brother. Oh well.

I have most of my other travel plans in place, but I was still waiting to hear about the Quebec leg of the journey. Now that I've heard, I've gone into typical SuperBecky mode to find all of the potential permutations and combinations etc. etc. etc. that might mean the cheapest possible way to get there. And 3 hours later....the difference between the cheapest and most expensive fares that I've found (including flying with two different airlines in different combinations with trains from Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City or flying into Gaspe or Mont-Joli)....is..........

$51.10

Very exciting, I know. I was actually hoping for more of a difference. Having thought a little too much about my research project lately, I feel like I want to say that the difference between the different fares is not statistically significant....but I actually haven't done the tests to find this out. But that is what I feel like saying! The cheapest way at the moment might be to walk, but that would only be if I ate very little and slept at the side of the road (on the ground). And I don't think that I have enough time to do that. So my hunt for the lowest fare will continue....

On a slightly different topic, I can't believe that it I just had the last class in one of my last undergrad courses! In some ways, it seems like I've been working on this degree forever. But in other ways, it seems like I just started! Part of me is so ready to graduate and get on with the next chapter of life, but then another part is sort of sad that this is over. If my project gets finished that is. So maybe I won't have to worry about getting on with the next part of my life after all. But I hope that that doesn't happen!

I am actually really enjoying getting more research experience, and I love the fact that the project is open to parents from all over the world.

Please send some motivation for me to work on my other, non-thesis related projects though! Maybe if I think that I'll be nearly as joyful as the Tide Lady if I get all of the project done...that will be motivation!

Baby Sleep Study Progress!

I have been hard at work on the Baby Sleep Study (which is completely taking over my life at the moment!), and it is so exciting to hear from parent bloggers who are interested in taking part in the project! The study will also now be available at www.babysleepstudy.org . I'd better try to get some sleep myself now, because we have a busy day with lots of my extended family visiting tomorrow!

Child Development Studies!

I am working on a child development study on children's sleeping arrangements, and the questionnaire for the study can be accessed at www.milestonesresearch.org/sleep.php
People can also visit www.milestonesresearch.org and click on "Baby Sleep", or look at some of the other studies available for different ages of children!

Parents of 9-24 month old children from all over the world can take part in the Baby Sleep Study!

Woo hoo!

Upcoming Travel Plans

I'm starting to get very excited about my summer travel plans. I'm a little worried about the shots though. I got every shot recommended or remotely recommended when I went to Kenya and Uganda about a year and a half ago. I shouldn't have to get too many other shots to go to West Africa (at least, that is what I am hoping!) I went to the doctor to find out about what other shots I might need, and they said that they would phone me back. And I am still waiting! So I may need to phone them millions of times to find out what is going on.

In other news, there is progress on the thesis project front! Woo hoo!!!!!!!

St. Patrick's Day

All of the gigs went quite well, and we managed to avoid all forms of green beer. Success.

Raise the Roof Fundraiser!

Woo hoo! This ended up being a lot of fun. Just 2 more St. Patrick's Day gigs to go...and I'm hoping that there won't be any green beer at any of them. Tales of the Seanachie later on today and also McNally-Robinson tomorrow. It reminds me a wee bit of St. Patrick's Day in NI- driving back from Co. Donegal for the first one, and a ceili in Cushendall for the second one. My friends laughed at the horrors of green beer though!

To Do List

What I need to do tomorrow:
1) finalize trip finances
2) prepare for concert tonight

Need to get sleep tonight. Very exciting, I know.

Cars: Lesson One

Because I don't want the above to happen. Ever.

So, I'm going to note down some lessons from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Auto Repair" to remind myself of what I need to know when I actually may need to use this information:

"I do not have to be a specially trained auto mechanic to do routine maintenance and repair." (p.1, Chapter1)

1) Read the manual that comes with the car.
2) Some repairs require physical strength. Okay, I knew this, but this may pose a challenge.
3) Wear lots of protective equipment, as outlined on p. 3.
4) Yikes. They tell you how to pump your own gas. I think that I know how to do that, I hope anyway!
5) Octane- "is a part of the gasoline that can keep an internal combustion engine from knocking. An engine with high compression may require higher octane, which means the fuel won't autoignite as quickly as lower-octane fuel." I don't understand all of this yet, but I can draw the chemical structure of octane...
6) interesting- when reaching speeds of over 45 mph, it is actually more fuel efficient to drive with windows up and the air-conditioning on- think about wind drag, which slows down or impedes progress at higher speeds

Okay, we'll move on to changing a flat tire in a future lesson.

The First Oil Change

Apparently one of our cars was in desperate need of an oil change, so I volunteered to get the oil change done. These were some of the things that I learned in the process:
1) Although it is advertised as "The Best 10 Minute Oil Change in the World", it didn't take 10 minutes. Try 23 minutes, not including the wait time. Maybe that is because the air filter also needed to be changed.
2) I have to be actually driving the car to know how to signal. I seriously nearly couldn't figure out how to signal without driving the car, and I actually made the windshield whippers go back and forth. Embarrassing!
3) I was scared to drive over the whole in the ground of the garage floor. What if the wheel had slipped? Imagine the horrible accident! Ah!
4) The time has come to learn more about how cars work. So I went to the library and borrowed, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Auto Repair." I was also looking at one specifically for "Do-It-Herself" or something like this. It seemed to contain less information than the Idiot's Guide, sadly enough. So it is my mission to learn a little about how cars work each day. I've been meaning to do this for a long time. We'll see how long it lasts...

While I was at the library, I also ran into one of my best friends from elementary school who I hadn't seen for years! What a nostalgic experience.

But back to the auto repair now....

Updates

When I was last blogging on my old blog, I was stressing out about preparing for my medical school interview. The stressing must have paid off, because I'll be starting medical school this fall after deferring my admission for a year to finish my honours thesis. (Both yeah! and ahhhh!)

On my old blog, you can read about my adventures in Kenya and Uganda during the winter holidays 2006/07.

There are also some wonderful descriptions of adventures in Manitoba and Ontario during the summer of 2007 on my friend Laura's blog.

This insomnia must end soon though. I really need sleep, and I have an early morning tomorrow.

The First Post on the New Blog!

Hello World...
So...my old blog has decided to stop working, and I felt the need to start a new one!
Now that officially have insomnia, I have some time on my hands.
So I will keep you all updated of my various adventures that are coming up in the next few months and over the summer!