Happy Halloween

On Friday night, we celebrated Halloween. As promised, here are the photos. We went as the 'X-men'!
Below: Garrett - Professor X. Kim - Storm. Joelle - Jean Grey. Jean-Francois - Beast.Bonnie went as a witch.Jessica went as a flower and Raymond as a jailbird.Hope everyone out there has a spooky Halloween!

Captain your Halloween

Last night I saw an info-mmercial for a website that sells costumes for Halloween. It seemed like a joke commercial, but it's truly trying to sell costumes to guys who would have lame costumes otherwise. For example, they show a guy at a party dressed as the back half of a two man horse, with the requisite front half missing from the party. Another guy is dressed as 'Hanglider man' - no one can get within 8 feet of him because of his hanglider span. The commercial says "Why go in a lame costume, when Captain Your Halloween can give you a great costume! You could be 'First Class Male' (black outfit, with an oversized first class postal letter on the front). Or, you could go as 'Deviled Egg' (black leggings, oversized egg shape over head and upper body, with devil horns). Or perhaps 'Venetian Blind' is more fitting (blind-guy shades, Venetian outfit)." Enter hot chick: " 'I LOVE deviled eggs.' Wink wink, hint hint. So go to captainyourhalloween.com and order your costume online!"

I went to this website and it turns out it is for Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. However, you CAN actually buy these costumes by clicking on a link to a third party costume site.

Weird, but a cheesy and funny commercial nonetheless.

SNOW!!

It snowed!
It snowed a few centimeters on Saturday, and topped up to about 4-6cm Saturday night. I took some pictures as I was out shovelling the walkways. That's something I wish I didn't have to start doing so early in the season.
Pumpkin wanted to go outside yesterday, but when she looked out the door, she stopped short. She then hovered on the door sill trying to decide what to do. I tried to push her outside but she hissed at me! Then she decided on her own to go back inside.

Today, however, she did brave the snow once I had cleared the back steps. She wandered around for about 2 minutes, then wanted back in again. Guess she isn't a winter cat.
I will post shortly with pictures from our Halloween party on Friday night. I have to get the pictures from friends, since Garrett and I didn't bring the camera with us.

QLD

When we were kids, every summer Kyle and I would go to the Wickson's house in Vancouver. We would spend a week with our friends, Craig and Jenny. Their dad, Mark, used to be an RCMP officer, and when he had to drive us around, he would challenge us to find a license plate with a 'Q' in it. He bet we couldn't find one, but if we did, he offered us some money (I can't remember how much, maybe 5$, maybe 20$). It was a pretty safe bet for him, because 'Q' is never used in normal license plates - it looks too much like an 'O' or a zero. Thus, we had to find personalized license plates, and hope that they had included a 'Q' somehow in their design. This was also difficult to find, because there are not many phrases or acronyms with a 'Q' in it. It was, however, an effective game for Mark, because it meant us kids were quiet for awhile.

Until today, I had still never seen a personalized license plate with a 'Q' in it.

Today I took Garrett's car to the dollar store. I had to buy some prizes for our department's Halloween door decorating contest. On the way back, there was an SUV in front of me with the license plate 'QLD'. Q! Q! Too bad I can't win the money still.

I'm guessing that 'QLD' was supposed to look like 'OLD', but I'm not really sure why you would want a license plate that says 'OLD' either. Maybe it's an inside acryonym. Initials? What sort of name starts with Q?

Anyway, it was nice to reminisce about the good old days when we were kids.

Loss of sleep

I am on the graduate recruitment committee in my department. I'm involved in getting new graduate students to our department each year. We are having a recruitment event in a few weeks, and I'm required to go around to some of the undergraduate classes and spread the news about it.

I went to a class this morning at 8am.
I'd like to point out that, normally, I don't even get up at 8am. I had to get up SOOOO early today to make it to the class by 8am. Plus, I had to be moderately awake in order to make an announcement to a classroom full of students.

Guess how many students were at the class I went to. Guess.

6. SIX!!!! SIX!!!! Out of a total possible 11!!!

I'd expected a lecture hall of 60 or so students.
Instead, I told 6 students about our recruitment event.

I could have slept in and found each student individually to tell them about it. I'd probably have wasted less time.

I'm only slightly bitter. At least I don't have to go to any more 8am classes.

Poofy cat and new hat!

This morning, Pumpkin was sitting on my lap at the table while I ate breakfast (like usual) when she spotted the neighbour's cat outside our window. Bam! She shot off my lap and up to the windowsill like a bat outta hell. She then proceeded to poof up and make deep-throated, mean kitty noises while trying to attack the cat through the window (my cat isn't nice to other cats - this is well documented). I took some pictures of her because she looked funny: I eventually scared the other cat away from the window and pumpkin climbed down for a little bit of milk.

On Saturday, my friend Mike bought me an Oiler's hat from the game. I got it from him today and wore it proudly - the Oiler's play tonight against Phoenix. Here is the hat:
Pumpkin liked the hat too.

Oiler sighting!

Today, while at the costume store, Bonnie and I saw some hockey players. Oiler hockey players. Now, I'm not that good at identifying hockey players in real life, but once I got home and checked their pictures on the website, I was pretty certain it was Jarret Stoll and Ales Hemsky. Ales Hemsky has a distinct baby face and a missing front tooth. I don't really understand why he doesn't get that fixed? Other hockey players have fake teeth that they take out for the games. It's not like he doesn't have enough money...

Here are the players we saw:
Jarrett Stoll:



Ales Hemsky:

Bonus posting: Haunted Halloween Barn

Tonight we went to the Haunted Barn at the Cornmaze, which is just outside the city near Garrett's parent's house. The Cornmaze runs all summer, but at Halloween they add on the haunted barn portion. We went out there just at dusk and entered the Cornmaze first. It was super muddy everywhere because we've had a lot of rain lately, but we were forewarned by Garrett's sister Heather, since she works at the Cornmaze parttime and was aware of the muddy conditions. Bonnie, Garrett and I all brought an extra pair of shoes, and rolled up our pant legs. The Cornmaze has a different design every year, and this year it is in the shape of a hockey player and an Oiler's logo. We wandered in the entrance and proceeded to get lost. That is the point of a maze, after all. Here are some pictures of us in the Cornmaze. Garrett and I are scared!And a funny one of me - yes, it is cold enough out now that I need a toque, scarf AND gloves (you can't seem them, but I am wearing them).We wandered through the mud with the aid of Garrett's head lamp for about 25 minutes, when *poof* - we realized we were back at the entrance again. Hmmm...the maze appeared to have beat us, because the proper exit is not the same as the entrance. Oh well, on to the haunted barn - which was AWESOME!

The theme of the haunted barn was something along the lines of zombie corn-hybrid people. I inserted the 'hybrid' word because that is a distinctly science-y word and I doubt that was their original term for it. Anyway, the three of us entered the haunted barn together. Bonnie and I held each other's hand and sent Garrett on ahead. This was a little foolish because it ended up all the scary stuff happens to the people at the back. In any case, our hand-holding rapidly progressed to clinging to each other, as we wandered through the barn. First, corn stalks were hanging everywhere and we had to push through them to get to the other door. As we were nearing the next room, a guy who had been laying on the ground climbed up and came after us. SCREAM! AAHHH!! Scary! We went on to the next room.
In this room, there were a bunch of stalls. I was mostly scared to look in them, but Garrett looked in one and said 'Kim, come look in here.' I peeked in. There was a skeleton. Which JUMPED out at us! SCREAM! AHHH!!
This went on in a similar vein, with the actors scaring us repeatedly, even when we saw them ahead of time and knew they were going to jump at us. You just can't prepare yourselves for it. At one point, I was pushing Garrett on ahead and pulling Bonnie along behind me while a scarecrow guy slowly but creepily moved towards us. In another part, we had to walk through a long enclosed tunnel completely full of smoke. Garrett was only a foot ahead of me and I couldn't see him! So there were several types of scary things in the haunted barn. Very scary, very good and very fun. Well worth going and paying our ten dollars.

Fountain Tire Foolishness

Garrett got a slow leak in one of his tires, so he took it in to Fountain Tire today to get it repaired. Bonnie drove down with us to pick us up and shop with us while we waited for it to be done. They estimated it would take an hour, so off we went. We visited London Drugs, checked out some shoes stores for Bonnie to look for boots and went to Chapters and Starbucks.

On an aside note, at Chapters, Garrett exchanged a book he got for his birthday because it was missing 50 pages. Not only was it missing 50 pages, but the previous 50 pages were in duplicate! The Chapters employees thought it was pretty funny and gave him a straight exchange with no problems.

Anyway, after an hour and 40 minutes, we hadn't got a call back from Fountain Tire, which we were supposed to get when the car was ready. We drove back because Bonnie wanted to go home, and we figured the car would be done soon and we'd just wait there until it was done. However, when we got back, we saw the car hadn't moved. 'Uh oh,' I thought.

Sure enough, the car wasn't fixed. Here's the kicker: when we went up to the salesclerk, he brought our sheet out and told us we gave him a key to a Toyota, whereas Garrett's car is a Honda. 'No we didn't,' we told him. 'We gave you a key chain with several keys on it and a remote car alarm/unlocker majig.' (Ok, we didn't say 'majig' but I don't know what it's actually called. Garrett said that part).

He seemed a little confused and went to see if our keys were around. He came back. 'Are you sure you gave us the keys?' he asked. 'YES! We definately gave you a whole key chain,' we replied. Hmmm...he went away for another five minutes.

Meanwhile, Garrett and I are getting annoyed that they may have lost his keys. Not only would he have lost a bunch of keys he needed, but the spare keys are back at my house, some 70 blocks away. Plus, we didn't want to waste more time today waiting for the tire to be fixed. AND - why didn't the salesclerk call Garrett when they noticed they had a TOYOTA key for HONDA? He had Garrett's number and was supposed to call us when it was done anyway.

Eventually the guy found our keys on another vehicle's chart. 'We found your keys, your car will be ready in 15 minutes,' he said.

An hour later, the car was finally fixed and we went home. So annoying! Do not go to Fountain Tire on 33rd Ave in Edmonton. You'd think that keeping track of keys at a car repair place is a pretty important and common occurance.

Heavy movie

Tonight we watched the George Clooney movie called 'Syriana'. It was interesting, because it portrayed American Oil Companies as underhanded, money-grubbing, middle-east political interfering rednecks. George Dubya would not have liked this movie. The more I think about it, the more I liked it, although it started out very disorganized - it shows a number of different people doing a number of different things, all of which don't relate to each other. However, eventually (I mean it, eventually) it all gets pulled together. It's a heavy movie, in terms of thinking and politics and terrorism, so don't watch it if you're looking for something light, but in the end, it's worth seeing.

Survivor night

On Thursday nights Bonnie and I watch Survivor: Cook Islands. This is an activity stemming from years ago, when we both lived in Vancouver and had a weekly 'girl's night' to keep in touch. In summertime we'd often do outdoor activities, like go for coffee, go out to a movie, watch a baseball game or go to the beach. In winter, we'd watch Survivor or other tv shows. Thus, I have a special place in my heart for Survivor, even though I recognize that every year the show is basically exactly the same. Now that Bonnie lives in Edmonton we have reinstituted our Survivor watching, complete with dividing up the players and putting a few dollars on who we think will be the winner. Garret is also in our pool, although he isn't able to watch the show with us, due to his being in Fort Mac during the week. We divided up the players after a few episodes, so that we each had 6. So far, Garrett has already lost 3 (ouch!) and I have lost 1. Bonnie still has all her players! Anyway, it's a good time and nice to meet up every week consistently during our busy schedules.

Fairly boring

I don't have anything interesting to write about today. It was a busy day at the lab, but not very exciting. Today, tomorrow and friday I have to repeat the same thing - harvest my cells, isolate several different parts for analysis. BORING! But it has to be done. Not all (any?) lab work can be exciting!

This evening I was pretty boring too. Just hung out with the cat, made some dinner, washed some clothes. I talked to Deanna on the phone for awhile. We caught up, I got some more details about her upcoming wedding in Cuba - sounds like it will be very nice!

Well, hope everyone else has slightly more interesting days.

Snow!

Today there was snow when I got up. SNOW! It was only on the ground in some spots, and I guess it wasn't that surprising considering it snowed all day yesterday (although it didn't stick to the ground at all). My front steps were super slippery. I recall this was a problem last year too. I wonder if there is any sort of grippy stuff I can buy to make them less slippery. Probably. If anyone knows what it's called, let me know. Anyway, I guess I can't complain too much - I mean, we could have had snow a month ago. But it is colder than average, so that's a bummer. I have already started wearing my gloves and scarf, although haven't resorted to a toque yet. I did, however, wear this headband ear-covering thingy when I rode my bike the other day. That wind - brrr!!

Addendum:
I hate the treadmill my upstairs neighbours have. They are very nice people and for the most part, I have no troubles with them. We get along quite well, and take care of each other's cats when needed. But a few months ago, they got a treadmill. They put it in their living room, right above my living room. Right now, as I type, the treadmill is running. Or rather, someone is RUNNING on the treadmill.

Now, I understand wanting to get exercise, but there is a time and a place for it. Like a gym!! Not in a place where someone lives directly below you.

As well, I have a thing against treadmills in general - people, go outside for exercise! (Ok, I know I just said it snowed today, but still...they had this sucker in the summertime).

Very very ill

Sunday arrived with some very sick individuals. Kris was hurling Saturday night, even before bed, an act which he continued when he woke up Sunday morning. I, too, was not feeling so well. It was a long drive back to Edmonton.

Congratulations Kathy and Jamie

My old friend and roommate from UBC, Kathryn Bruggencate, married Jamie Kenny this Saturday. Garrett, Bonnie, Kris and I drove down to Calgary to attend it this weekend.
The wedding was held in downtown Calgary in the Knox United Church. It was a beautiful church with fantastic stained glass windows. It seemed like something you'd see in Europe. There was a harpist playing the music for the ceremony, which at first I thought was a little pretentious, but it turns out that harp music is really beautiful and functional - they can play anything on that thing! Here we are waiting for the show to start. We thought we were going to be late, but the ceremony actually started late, so in fact, we were EARLY. Ya!
Kathy walked in with her Mom and was actually balling the whole way down the aisle. However, after that, she managed to keep it together for the rest of the ceremony. Her dress was just beautiful.I particularly loved the lace over the skirt.We weren't allowed to take any pictures during the ceremony, which was short and sweet, but we got a nice one of Jamie and Kathy walking back down the aisle together.Here is my friend Lauren, who was one of the bridesmaids. She is walking with one of the groomsmen - I don't know him though.After the ceremony, we walked back to the hotel, which was the super luxurious Fairmont Palliser. Very very nice. I was totally impressed, and we only had to pay 112$/night because my friend Lana got us a friends and family rate. Score! We met Lana and her date, plus my friend Mike (and husband to my friend Lauren) in the lounge for some drinks and catching up.
We headed over to Fort Calgary for the reception, which was quite close to the hotel. We were all seated at the same table (smart girl, that Kathy):Here are Bonnie and Kris:
Garrett and I:Enter bride and groom. Their first dance:The speeches were a little long (we didn't hit the dance floor until after 11pm) but all of the speeches were very entertaining and funny. Below, is a picture of Kathy bouncing on Jamie's knee. Kathy's godmother told her that if she couldn't recite the German poem Kathy was taught as a child, Kathy would have to ride Jamie's knee like a horsey while Sam sang the poem. So bounce, bounce, bounce Kathy went:The cake-cutting:The bouquet toss. Bonnie and I are in there somewhere:The rest of the night was really fun, as we all hit the dancefloor and boogied down until we shut the party down. Good times and great to see some old friends.

Cryptic

We came up with a good idea for our Halloween costumes - we are going as a group. A bunch of my friends, that is.

I am going to give you a puzzle. Guess what our costumes are. I will give you two hints:

1. wheelchair
2. superheroes

Those are two very bold hints. Someone has to get it.

Now tell me, how bad is it to hide a hospital wheelchair until Halloween?
The wheelchair was abandoned in my building by someone else, several weeks ago. I did not steal it from the hospital.
I didn't steal it from some old granny who needed it (Garrett suggested I might have done this. I did not!)

AND! I plan to return it to the hospital when I am done. That's more than was happening with it before I acquired it. That's not bad, is it?

Let me know. I would really like to know.
Oh yea, let me know what your guesses are about our costume idea.

Zoom Groom!

Upon Amanda's advice, I bought Pumpkin a zoom groom. This is a purple rubber cat comb, with large rubber purple nubbins to pet the cat with. Amanda's cat Kappa has one, and he absolutely loves it. It doubles as a de-furring tool and kitty massage bar. So, since Pumpkin hated her current cat comb, I decided to try out the zoom groom.

I tried to introduce the zoom groom to her slowly, because she didn't really care for it off the bat. When I tried to comb her with it, she would walk away, while simultaneously getting as low to the ground as she could, to avoid the comb. Hmm...

This went on for a few days, when I stumbled upon a solution - she loves to be pet when she is eating her food. Weird, I know, because most cats hate to be touched when they are eating, but food makes Pumpkin so happy that she is happy to be pet as well!

So, when I fed her dinner today, I also started petting her with the zoom groom. She stayed put (well, of course, her food was there!) and she seemed to enjoy the pets.

Later, I was laying on the couch and Pumpkin was laying on my stomach. I started petting her with the zoom groom again - SUCCESS! She loved it! She was so happy, getting her little kitty massage. Hopefully, her love for the zoom groom is longlasting. I like to get rid of her fur before it's on the furniture.

Geo-caching

Today, Garrett, Bonnie and I went geo-caching. This is like a high-tech treasure hunt. People hide little boxes (usually tupperware or plastic containers) with little trinkets in it and a log book, where you can sign your name when you find it. People hide these containers all over the place and log the coordinates on their GPS. Then, they put the coordinates on the internet, with or without some hints, where others can download the coordinates and try to find the cache.

We searched out four geo-caches today and found three of them. 75%, not bad! The first two were quite easy to find. Both were in the river valley park, hidden in tree trunks and covered with bark. One of these just had trinkets, none of which we wanted, and the other had magnets, again, none of which we wanted, but we did leave behind two magnets ourselves - a styling 'All-Weather Windows' magnet, and an 'Epcor Save Power' magnet.

The third cache was the one we couldn't find. We walked a long ways down the trail, to figure out that it was up the hill somewhere. Luckily there were stairs nearby, which we climbed up and then climbed off of into the bushes. We wandered, we searched, we were led astray by the GPS (bad signal in the trees) until we finally decided we weren't going to find it.

The last cache required us to drive across to the other side of the river and then disembark to go down into the ravine. The last cache was tricky to find as well. Garrett climbed a hill twice before he finally found it (Bonnie and I worked hard down at the bottom of the hill, er...searching). Garrett called to us from up top that he'd found it. We told him to hide it again so we could find it too! And we did! In a tree stump (like usual). This was the coolest cache so far, because it was a movie-swap cache. We brought a 4$ movie that Garrett bought awhile ago, called 'Excalibur'. Inside the cache were a number of other movies: Garfield, Shrek, Exit to Eden, and some other great numbers that I can't remember (all VHS). We left our movie and took 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail'.

Then, instead of climbing back down the hill and then back up the ravine again, we decided to keep going up the trail we were on, feeling confident that this well worn trail must go somewhere. We climbed for awhile and came smack across - someone's backyard. A very pristine, groomed backyard of a very large, well-windowed mansion. Hmm...

We stood there for several minutes debating whether we should run through the yard or go all the way back down the trail, then all the way back up the stairs to the car. Bonnie wanted me to act like a handicapped person so her and Garrett could walk me through the yard - I declined. Finally, we decided the worst that could happen was whoever lived in the mansion was home and might yell at us. Garrett climbed through the hedge (which I might add, it was apparent others had done before), and I was following suit when we heard a voice 'I would prefer you didn't do that.'

Stupid rich guy was home. He was probably watching us the whole time as we decided whether or not to cross his yard.

We turned around and went back down the hill. We were pretty tired by the end of our trekking, but had a good time overall.

Thanksgiving dinner

We went to Garrett's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night. Garrett's mom made a delicious meal, complete with turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, buns and vegetables. Plus, there was homemade pumpkin pie for dessert! Very good. I was pretty full when we were done.

After dinner we relaxed for a bit, then we realized that Heather's cat was missing. Heather's cat, Josie, is a rag-doll kitty - she is a cute little white fluffy thing, who is super bendy and pretty placid. In any case, Josie is not supposed to be outside (they live out of town and the coyotes are in full force) but she somehow managed to sneak out the front door (we realized this after searching the entire house and turning up nothing). When we looked outside, we saw her on the front porch. The bunch of us dashed outside and started chasing the cat haphazardly around the porch. She darted underneath is, but Joel managed to get a hand on her tail. 'I've got her!! I've got her by her tail!' he shouted. Others ran and pinned her down, and thus, Josie was brought back inside. She didn't look very happy, but it was a pretty funny chase. I found it very entertaining.

After that, we sat down and played a game of dominoes. We had a really fun time, joking around and laughing a lot. Overall, the night was really nice and fun, and I look forward to more like it.

Double Knockout Night

On Saturday night, Garrett, Bonnie and I went to watch a boxing match!

That's right, we're all tough and down like that.

Jessica was supposed to go with us, but unfortunately she lost her wallet and spent the evening cancelling her credit cards and annoying stuff like that.

The match was downtown at the Conference center, and there were actually 6 matches, the finale being 'The Re-match' between James "BIG MAC" Cermak and Carl Gathright, current holder of some title (I didn't catch what it was) for which he was wearing a big belt - yes, just like on TV Wrestling. The funny thing to me, is that grown men do not seem to feel silly wearing these belt things.

Anyway, the first bout we watched was the featherweight division between Chicago and Vancouver boxers. They both weighed 124 or 125 pounds, but I swear they were only about 4'11". Their four rounds were a good introduction to watching boxing for me, because there wasn't a lot of big, really hard hits (because they're just little guys) and no one seemed to get really hurt. You could tell who was winning the match and who was getting more tired, but it was definately entertaining. In the end, Vancouver won.

I didn't really like the next match too much. It was between another American guy (I forget where) and an Edmonton guy, who called himself 'The Pride from the North Side' and represented the Avenue of Champions. I found their names pretty funny, especially since the Avenue of Champions is actually the worst street in Edmonton - it's where there are a lot of drug and gang problems, and where you can find all the prostitues. American guy weighed 7 pounds more than Edmonton guy, however Edmonton guy was much taller. In any case, the weight advantage didn't count for much because Edmonton was a way better boxer and knocked the other guy out in 1min and 24 seconds. I didn't like it at all because the American guy couldn't even really defend himself. He travelled all the way to Edmonton and then didn't even really get to fight. I didn't like watching it. As well, the Edmonton fighter was a jerk. While American guy was still laying on the ground after being hit down (he was down there awhile, so I don't think he was doing too well), Edmonton was prancing in the other corner, air boxing and showing off. Then, when the ref held his arm up to announce his win, he did this silly bull-pawing-the-ground thing with his feet. I thought it was pretty silly and that he shouldn't be so cocky after beating someone who was not his equal. Oh well.

The next few bouts were better matched and lasted for all of their 4 or 6 rounds. The heavyweight fight was probably the most fun because they had some really big hits. We thought for sure this match wouldn't last for all 6 rounds, because the hits were so big and hard, but these guys were tougher than we gave them credit for. The heavyweight fights were more exciting than the lightweight ones, that's for sure. These guys were HUGE! 225 pounds and 6 feet tall, minimum. Slower pace but big hits. Another Edmontonian fought against a guy from Cincinnati in this bout, however Cincinnati won (he deserved to, he was a better boxer).

The Re-Match was a good fight too. It went for 8 rounds and was exciting the whole time. These guys were in the cruiser class. I'm guessing this is just below the heavyweight class, because they weighed around 200 pounds. Big guys as well. They had fought 8 months ago for the title that was now being rechallenged. Edmonton's James "BIG MAC" took on the current champion Carl in front of a very very rowdy crowd. It seemed to me that James wasn't going to be able to win the match, because he seemed to be more tired and get in less hits than Carl did. However, in the end the judges scored him as the winner by a close call. The crowd was pretty excited about it.

The other funny part about the fight was the ring girls. Just like you might expect, there were three, er, ladies...dressed in bikinis that climbed in the ring between each round and walked the edge holding up the sign that said 'Round 3' etc. Lots of whistling for these ladies, as you might expect.

Just like in the movies, though, you could see the spit and sweat go flying off the boxers when their opponent got a good hit on them. It was sort of gross, but we were sitting far enough away that we had no fear of being sprayed. I can only guess that the people sitting closer may have got showered a few times, and the judges (who sit right beside the ring) must get hit all the time! Gross.

It was an interesting night and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Normally, I don't like to see people hitting each other - I don't really like battle or war movies. However, it wasn't so bad to watch boxing. It wasn't like the fighters were trying to hurt each other specifically; it was more that the other was simply a moving target that they had to hit. The boxers were scored based on how many punches they connect on the other person. So, except for the knock-out fight, the other ones weren't brutal or cruel. I would even consider going again sometime.

Rip-off!

Garrett and I went to the pet store tonight to look at those carpet kitty gymnasiums. You know what I mean. What is the proper term for these things?

Well, currently Pumpkin uses my couch as her kitty gymnasium, which has resulted in some damage. Since my couches are pretty crappy and covered by slipcovers, it's not too tragic. However, someday I will have nice couches and will not want her to tear those apart. Thus I am starting now with preventative strategies by giving her an alternative structure to climb.

However, once we got to the pet store, I quickly changed my tune. Guess how much a waist-high carpet covered stupid contraption costs? 120$. ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DOLLARS! For some boards covered with plastic. They aren't even built well!

Anything taller than waist high jumps up to 180-220$. Who pays this much?!! It's a mondo rip-off.

I am working on alternatives to buying one of these. My friend Deanna's dad used to build them. As well, I might be able to convince my Dad to build something and send it out to me. I will keep you all updated. It's my new little project.

Treachery!

Today I was killed.
In the sock murder game.
I have been all by myself in my lab for nearly the whole week, which means that I have to wander the halls by myself, at the risk of being killed.
Today, I had to go to the bathroom.
I went into the hall, and sitting near the bathroom on the benches there were a couple guys who are normally in their lab at the very far end of the hall.
I was suspicious.
'What are you guys doing?' I asked.
'Nothing,' they replied. 'What do you mean?'
'I don't trust you,' I said. 'I think you're going to kill me.'
'Are we that obvious?' they ask.
'Yes,' I replied, as I went back into my lab, the safe zone.

However, I did have to go to the bathroom. So after holding it for a couple of minutes, I peaked in the hallway. They were gone. Phew!
I went to the bathroom.

As I left the bathroom to head back to my lab, I peaked out the door again to see if anyone was around. The coast was clear. I started walking back to the lab and WHAMO! George jumped out from around the corner and hit me with a sock.

I admit it. I screamed. Very shrilly. My girl scream has become this very high-pitched sound in recent years. I think it's a pretty funny sound.

So I was dead. People came out in to the hall to see who had been killed - my scream tipped them off that something had happened.

I didn't even kill my own target! He was really hard. I passed on my target to George, and wished him happy hunting.

After 5 days, half the people in the game have been killed. My department has been having a great time with it and people are very keen (vicious?).

Lastly, I have to write something for Joelle, who was killed in her own home Wednesday night. Our friend Sarah had Joelle as a target, and they live near each other. So Sarah walked over there the other evening, went in without knocking, silenced Joelle's boyfriend with a finger to her lips and hit Joelle in the kitchen, where she was washing dishes. She had no chance. Very devious, I must say.

Sock Murder Game

Two years ago I ran this game in my department with my friend Graeme. This year, Joelle and I have revived it a second time (with the hopes of it becoming an annual event). I originally played this game in residence during my undergrad. I took the rules as I remembered them (and check the internet a bit to confirm) and typed them up as follows:

Sock Murder Game Rules

Goal: To be the last man standing or to have the most kills.

1. Everyone will receive the name of their target on a slip of paper. You may only kill the person who is your target at that time. Your kill is not complete until you email Joelle or Kim with your target’s name and notice of their death.
2. The name of your target is confidential information. You cannot trade targets with anyone else.
3. You must hit your target with a sock to kill them. If you miss, they are not dead. Benefit of the doubt goes to the target.
4. Only you can kill your target (no ‘hired assassins’). You must be holding the sock when you hit your target. You cannot throw the sock at your target. You may ball up a second sock in the end of your sock, but you cannot put anything heavy into the sock. You cannot have your sock on your foot when you kill your target.
5. You cannot kill your target if anyone else in the game is present and can see either the killer or victim at the time of the kill.
6. Once your target is dead, their target becomes your new target. Dead players can still witness murders, so kills do not count when dead players are around.
7. Safe zones are areas where you cannot be killed. These include (on 1st floor MSB, or 2nd and 6th floor HMRC):
a. All labs.
b. Bathrooms, cold rooms and hot rooms.
c. Offices on these floors.
8. Both feet must be in the room for you to be safe. Additionally, if someone is actively working (i.e. carrying film to be developed, bacterial cultures to warm room, samples to cold room), they are also safe. If someone is carrying an empty tube around as an excuse to avoid being killed, they are not safe.
9. You can block a killing blow with any object that is not your body. For example, you can block it with a bag or a book, and as long as the sock does not touch any part of your body, you are still alive.
10. The game is in effect until a winner is declared, i.e., kills can be made anytime and anywhere (in exclusion of safe zones).
11. Kim and Joelle will solve all disputes, should they arise.

We charged people 2$ to play and managed to sign up 60 people. The prize money will be distributed to the 'Last Man Standing' and the person with the 'Most Kills'.
In the two days the game has been going (it started Monday), 20% of the people have been killed! People have taken to the game like crazy and it's progressing at a faster pace than the original two years ago. In fact, not only is my department very into the game, I got an email from another department that wants to start their own game and needed the rules from me. I feel like I will have started this legacy at U of A for the Sock Murder Game. Pretty cool, no?

Random tidbits

I have some random stuff to post about today.

First, I got called by a nice Constable regarding that car accident I saw a month or more ago (see 'Crazy Day' August 27th). He asked me to describe the incident to him over the phone, which I did, but I also told him that I had already filled out a witness statement form for the accident. He was surprised and didn't seem to have my statement with the file. He told me he would look for my statement, and if he couldn't find it, would I be able to come fill another one? I said yes, thinking that the police department should be a little better at keeping their files straight, seeing as they have to make cases against criminals all the time. Hmm...

He called me back later to say that he had indeed found my statement, so I didn't need to do another one. Good. It was annoying to get down there during their office hours.

The second thing to add about today is that I'm starting to get a cold, which has manifested itself as a sore throat. Unfortunately, I can't help but talk a lot (it's in my nature) which further aggravates it. Our department has a prospective student visiting right now, and I'm the student liaison for him during his visit. This necessitates that I talk to him at least a little while he's here. Plus I'm running a game in our department right now (see tomorrow's post on the Sock Murder Game) so I have to talk to lots of people. In any case, my throat is sore and I'm putting myself to bed early to try to curb this thing (yes Mom, I Vicks'ed myself!). One good thing about today and the talking problem is that I was the only one in the lab this afternoon, so I didn't really need to talk to anyone except in spurts (although it is a little lonely. I'm getting used to it though. I sing and dance with my music when I'm alone).

Lastly, tonight I went to the monthly Collip Club seminar and chowed down on prime rib roast and buffer style food for a cheap grad student fee. I love this seminar, because the talks are usually quite interesting but not too science heavy, and the food is abundant, cheap and relatively good. The roast is really good, some of the salads and dishes, not so good (cold!). I am hoping that eating a big healthy chunk of meat will help my body fight my cold. This has worked for me before; last winter I was feeling the start of a cold, so Garrett and I made this huge steak dinner, complete with baked potatoes and salad. I felt better instantly and didn't get a full-blown cold. Not bad, hey?

Good boyfriend

Who has a good boyfriend? I do!! Look at the lovely roses he got me last week:They're beautiful. Brownie points for the G-bus!

Dodgeball round 2 - Out of control

Tonight was our second game of Dodgeball. It was WAY different than last week, that's for sure. Last week, we played a team that was also full of rookies (as we are), so we learned the rules together and had a good, friendly yet competitive game. This week, we played a team that had obviously played before, and I think they felt it was their job to take it to us. Not only did they throw the ball harder than anyone I've yet seen, they didn't ever hold back. For example, in one round, Mel was the last player left against two male players. These two players, however, did not throw strategically to take her out gently. Rather, they both threw it as hard as they could and hit her in multiple spots - completely unnecessary. The ref actually stopped the game to point out that the teams shouldn't be doing this, to make sure it didn't happen again. He stopped them a few other times to make them play clean too - once because one player kept throwing high fast balls at the extra players sitting on the bench. It's kindof scary in there with a team like that - balls are flying everywhere, really quickly, and you are definately not safe when you are on the bench for that round.

The other problem with the team was that they wouldn't play honest - if they were hit and it wasn't really obvious or we didn't yell at them after they were hit, they would just stay on the court. Annoying! So we had to hound them each time they were hit, to make sure they stayed honest and went off when they should.

We still managed ot have fun, but not as much fun as last week with the other team - and it's not just because we won last week. The score tonight was 15-9 for them. Not that bad, but not like last week, that's for sure! We can only improve from here.

Pumpkin party

Isn't this the cutest thing you ever did see?
And yes, I did buy the mini pumpkins specifically for this purpose. (For those who don't get it, my cat's name is Pumpkin).