Pretty Rain Boots!!

So for like 4 months I have been wanting pretty rainboots, because well, they're pretty and Victoria rains-a lot. I found some really cool ones in Nelson over Christmas, but - they were like $75, and thats a lot of money. Especially when I had bought a pair of boots living on the farm in Creston for 50 cents from the Gleaners. My roommate Gemma had bought me paint for a Christmas present (we did a household secret Santa). So here are my creations... I love them dearly!

TaDa!


Side Shot


Cute Toes


Gosh! The look so cute! I'm so proud of myself for doing something besides jewelry! Oh- and check out the grass! Yes, it is that bright green here already. And snowdrops are out too!

Spring is Here!

Slaughtered

Well yesterday was Debate Day... and ... we died. I'm not surprised, I was trying to argue a side that I didn't agree with, and the guys on the opposite team made some great points (which I'm going to use in my essay.) Oh, and the essay was actually due yesterday, but our lab instructor's letting us hand it in on Tuesday. Yea! So a great start to a school year. right... but I'm not too worried.

It's sooo pretty here today! I woke up (at noon) and the sky is bright blue! Still a bit nippy, but playable outside. I made breakfast for Joel, Gemma and Kevin (roomies) this morning (mmmm, poached eggs, bacon & english muffins) and we sat outside on the deck. I cannot wait for spring to be in full force. Snowdrop are out, and in a few weeks so will daffodils and tulips. Oh how I love Victoria!

So Joel and Kevin just left a bit ago, they're on a mission to find Ninja equipment. They've been on a kick for awhile (basically since we all moved in together) that they were going to become masters. And last night we watched Fearless, and now they're more determined than ever. So I'm going to have two boys in my house, with weapons.... it should be entertaining. I'm not too worried about this either, because this summer they both bought airsoft guns, and there were plenty of battles, but no one was hurt too bad. And it keeps then entertained, and I get to laugh.

Day of Action

Hey! Check out the National Day of Action blog! I've been volunteering (serving soup to starving students) in awareness for this! It's going to be awesome, there are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of students protesting on the Legislative lawn. I'm so glad I live in Victoria!

Stupid Debate

So, Joel and I have a debate tomorrow in our Resource Management lab. Somehow we have to argue Canada is Doing Enough to Deal with Climate Change. Hmmm, seeing as that we're more than 25% above our targets set in the Kyoto Agreement this is a doozie. (But I guess that doesn't matter since we're not a part of Kyoto anymore, Thanks Stephen Harper! GRRRR!)

Lucky for me, I'm looking into the history of Canadian policy in regards to climate change, this isn't so bad, because there's been a lot of good legislation passed and groups organized around the issue. Unfortunately, it's all about talk and no action, but for the purpose of my debate I'm going to ignore that. Ugh, the other group is going to slaughter us. Joel has to look at Canada compared on an international level... we're pretty much at the bottom for industrialized nations; basically only the US is worse than us. How are we suppose to win a debate when our countries actions suck?! I really feel bad for the other guy in our group. He has to argue that climate change is not affecting/ will not affect natural resources in Canada. Right... about that Pine Beetle infestation and no cold winters...

The worst part about this lab is the other motion, I'm SOOO glad I'm not on that side. They have to argue Are Human Activities Causing Climate Change? How do you even argue the con side? THERE IS NO DEBATE! YES HUMANS ARE CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE! How can they even expect students to find information on that when there is NONE! So for those of you reading who think that there may still be a debate on the is it, or isn't it? I happily inform you that all scientific evidence backs it up that we have changed the atmosphere. I'm not happy that we have, I'm just happy that all scientists agree that burning millions of years of fossil fuels (full of CO2) has had an impact on the atmosphere.

And to top it all off there's a short paper due along with it. I think it's due next week, but there was no due date on the outline given to us. I really hope it's not due tomorrow, that would really suck. Really Really Suck.

So I love school, honestly. I really enjoy being able to get mad and passionate about a topic. I just wish we didn't have stupid assignments to prove our competency. As far as I'm concerned the instructor who wrote the lab up is incompetent, seeing as that the debate questions are not up for debate. Period.

Joel's Sick :( and Jen feels helpless!

So Joel has been up all night puking... why? I do not know. This is the second time this has happened in the last 3 months. The first time (after our way back from Edmonton) he got really sick for like 24 hours, we figured it was food poisoning from some gross food at the Edmonton Airport (which I didn't eat.) But yesterday we ate the same things, we grabbed panini's from Safeway on route to our 10:00am class, he ate 2, I ate 1. The second one he ate had bacon in it, and that's the only difference. Then I made a cassarole for dinner, and him and I ate it, and Gemma (a roomie) all ate it. I don't get it!

So he's going to miss classes today, and we're meeting with a guy from our Resource Management lab for a debate we have on Thursday. I hope he gets better quick, because we have lots of research to do, and a small (1000 word) essay due on Thursday too!

It's a really good thing we don't have kids (knock on wood) because I have no idea what to do with situations like this. I just peak in on him, and ask if I can get anything for him. What else can I do? I feel bad for the poor guy.

Roomate Hunting

So our house is short a person, there are only 5 of us right now, and we need a sixth person. So I put up and ad on UVic's housing site, for $400, all incl, and that we're looking for a "tidy, fun, chill person".

I've had 8 phone calls so far, its been up for like 30 hours. I guess Victoria's in a bit of a housing shortage, which is good for us. So far 3 people have looked at the place, two are a defanite no.

The girl who came tonight to see the place tells me that she had to leave her last home because the land lord rented it out by the room, and the guy who she lived with turned into a stocker-creapy guy, and she had to go through the police and everything. Very traumatic. At 5:15 we had a guy show up to look at the room and guess what? It was stocker-creapy guy. Needless to say, he left quickly, things were akward, and he isn't renting the room from us.

Whew, it's so much work, but good because our place is nice and clean. It never gets dirty, just untidy, but this is forcing everyone to keep it nice. I like it.

Geography Geek

I am a dork, this is something I've come to embrace in my time at school. I tried to run from it in High School, because well, I wanted to be cool. But not anymore, I just want to enjoy things, and being a dork is one of those ways.

So Joel and I are going to a Geography Conference March 8-11, in Abbotsford with the WDCAG (Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers). It's going to have students from around the province presenting their work, and other guest lecturers. We're hoping this will be a good starting point for networking into the geograghy world, and obviously a lot of fun! Check it out here!

Going on trips always involves fundraising, so we're having a bake sale tomorrow. I could have just bought some cookies and called it that, but no, my dorkiness took over. This is what it lead to:

It's a carrot/raisin cake, with cream cheese icing, and yes, I drew all the continents myself! YEA Jen! So I'm hoping that people will donate lots of money for a piece of my cake because they'll see that we're dorks, and dorks should go to conferances. And SOGS is Students of Geography Society.

Life is great.

Inadequate People

More shifts have been happening in Canada's Parliment, we have a new Environment Minister, say hello to John Baird.

Lets all give a big round of applause to Mr. Harper on getting rid of Rona Ambrose, the previous Minister of Environment, and replacing her with another useless minister. Okay, maybe I'm not giving a guy with NO background in Environmental Studies a chance, he has Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and that should be enough, right? WRONG! Not going to lie - I could do a better job.

I'm getting so frustrated with stupid political crap that is stopping our country from being successful. How is it that someone without an educated background on a subject become the decision maker? I hate how the Minister of Environment is a position just brushed off, handed to anyone with a B.A. Do people not realize that this is the only Earth we have? Does that not make the Minister of Environment the most important role? So why is it a position that is not taken as seriously as Minister of Finance? There's tons of money out there but there's only one atmosphere.

I have very little faith in the Conservative government do make any vital changes which need to take place to reduce our impact on the earth. Why would I say that? Well, maybe because our Prime Minister is from Alberta, and supports the development of oil, has made no effort on forcing industry to reduce it's polution levels, and he puts inadequate people in important positions. Perhaps it also has something to do with backing out of our Kyoto agreement for a useless Made in Canada plan, or maybe it has to do with cutting funding for the One Ton Challange.

Maybe I'm over reacting, maybe John Baird will rescue Canada, save our world and be my hero. Or maybe not.

PS. Not all people in Alberta are bad, just ones who don't see the bigger picture.

Money is a poor substitute for having an interesting life

So basically, life is great everyday, but especially yesterday and today.

Lets start with yesterday: it was the Junior Hockey World Finals, Canada and Russia, Canada wins, 4-2. Then last night Vancouver and Edmonton played, and Vancouver won. That puts us in a 6 game winning streak! Yes! (What has Joel done to me???)

Then last night I go onto my UVic account to see how much tution they're going to suck out of me this semester and (*drum roll......*) I have a $500 credit with the school! Joel and I both recieved $2900 busaries from the school and Joel got a $1000 scholarship from Elk Valley Coal. He has a $1500 credit. This is incredible, I've never heard of anyone having such a large bursary. I had been expecting around $1000 each, tops $1500, but $2900. I'm taking it as a sign that Joel and I are heading in the right direction, and it feels very comforting.

I read a fantastic book today (I said it was a great day, didn't I?) It's called How to Save the World in Your Spare Time by Elizabeth May. (Dont' snicker at my dorkiness! Read Chapter One for yourself, here) You may have heard of Elizabeth May as of lately, she is the new leader for the Green Party of Canada. So this is exciting, she's extremely good at getting what she wants (she's a lawyer), I think the Green Party may have more of a future.

The other cool thing about May is that she's a Christian too. I had been getting the sense from reading this book, and about half way through the book she says Jesus is her Lord. It was great, she's talking about how distruction of property has only been appropriate in one situation: when Jesus caused havoc in the temple when the moneylenders were doing inappropriate business. That's the only time it's been okay, because ruining other peoples things isn't going to help anyones cause. So it's great to hear of Christians in politics, and not ones like they have in the States. (I'm not judging, I just have a hard time seeing the connection that fighting terror is justifiable under God.)

Oooh, life's also exciting because I'm getting involved with the a Student Committee on reducing student debt by providing grants - not loans. We're paiting posters this week, and having a Soup Kitchen for Starving Students in a few weeks (we also had one in November) to raise awareness for a ralley happening in Feburary. It should be exciting, we're hoping to have a BBQ on the lawn of the legislature building (I guess that's to attract a lot of students with free food, and maybe catch some politions at the same time?)

Getting Closer...

Hmm, Maybe this whole editing HTML isn't as hard as I thought. Joel helped me figure some stuff out, because even though he never deals with this he magically knows what to do. Always.

I had my first Resource Managment class today and have never been so excited for a course, the material being covered is everything I'm interested in! The prof gave us a cool website to check out for weekly updates around the world of natural and man-made phenomenas, it's Earth Week, and you should all check it out.

MMM, Yum! Joel just brought me a smoothie! It is delicious! He says he used my yogurt, frozen strawberries and milk in it. It's so yummy, and I guess that means it's okay for me too. Well, it doesn't get much better than that.

I have finally found the Enchanted Forest Chronicles! Well, Joel found them for us in Snowdens Secondhand bookstore. I've been looking for a hardcover copy of all four books in it for like four years, and now I have it! Life is good.

And I have more good news, the photos we thought were erased on Joel's camera magically re-appeared! They're all there. How? I do not know. But I'm happy. Here's a taste of what we got:


Joel walking on his hands at the Hobbit House


All the cousins, now if only there were all looking in the same direction


Hanna & Craig - So cute!


Jim & Val


Jen & Joel

Okay... I can do this...

Alright... First Post. After fighting with the template for too many hours I am giving up. For Now. HTML is some confusing stuff. I thought I was doing good when I made a website for my computer course, but it's nothing compared to this mess. Anyways...

Today was the first day of school. I'm officially in third year. YEA! It felt great, I'm really stoked for all my classes, and they are:

• Geog 344: Urban Problems of the Pacific Rim
• Geog 328: GIS for the Natural Science
• Geog 383: Physical & Cultural Geography of China
• Geog 377: Geographies of Development
• Geog 209: Resource Management
• Geog 344: Health and the Environment

Unfortunately this is 6 classes... I can only be in 5, and may have to drop to 4 classes so I can work. But I don't want to work, I really just want to focus on school.

Good News, Joel and I talked to an undergraduate advisor today and ended up having a half hour chat about getting the most out of our education. Joel and I have already been planning on doing an honours degree; which basically means we take two extra classes and write an 80 page paper, and graduate with a B.A. with Honours. It looks pretty, and sounds great to potential employers. It also is a first step in continuing on in graduate studies (masters degree and PHD). He also gave us some good pointers on getting connections, because we all know its about getting connections, just as it's about skill.

Basically, the years off to a great start. And the extra bonus is that textbooks are only going to be like $300 or $400, not $1000! YEA!