HA!

I did it. Handed in chapter 3 at 23:40 last night (I even had 20 minutes extra!).
Now for some coding and chapter 2. That should be fairly easy though (just describing the data, shouldn't be too bad, no awesome conclusions to make or anything. Just a pretty chapter). And, after that, I only have 2 chapters left (I don't count the summary)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus editing the rest of course. But I choose not to think of that now. Those two chapters will require brain power though. So it will be tricky.

And, we're moving to Toronto! D first (when he starts his job), myself later, when the thesis is done (but I can see myself going there a few times after he has moved...)

Life is quite exciting! If I just can survive the defence........

4 Mars

Yesterday was my birthday as well as my David-anniversary - it was exactly 4 years ago since we met at St Andrew's airport! I'll never forget that day..! One should not dread turning 30, but instead plan for fun stuff that day (e.g. flying lessons). One never knows what will happen. Since 4 is my favourite number (and comes in yet another time: the name March comes from Roman god of war, Mars (and is called mars in Swedish), but is more importantly the 4th planet from the sun), I decided to just notice this ever-so-quickly in my not so very often updated blog.
This cutiepilot of mine decided to give me a Mac Mini for my birthday. I feel slightly spoilt... :) But I love it and named it Mac Mooi (=beautiful in Dutch).
For some reason I was happy like a kid this birthday, already the day before. That's much better than to most illogically resent "turning" older. As if one could change that anyways.
I also now own my very first orchid. Flower-alms from my mother provided that. It's very beautiful, and I'm very happy about it. It's a great addition to my plant collection.
Another awesomely awesome thing was the sushi place my supervisor took me and David to in the evening - Wasabi on Grant. Not a place for students if you want to be full. But full we became, both of the most magnificent sushi, as well as of the most excellent live jazz music. I'd like to come back for that music, but will have to make sure to be full beforehand, so as to not be tempted to get too much of their fantastic food.
An excellent day, in every way.

Monday is deadline for chapter 3.

More dairy talk...

If I ever get inspiration and time (no, scratch that, I never will, at least not before the summer. I have my allocated amount, and more than all of those hours should go into thesis work), I'd really like to report on the bit of life that was experienced during the Christmas and New year holidays. Fun stuff: Holland, Sweden, Canon EOS 350D for a bargain price, sleeplessness due to Dutch (lack of) heating and insulation, food, sweet food, Amsterdam, airport security of a never-before-observed amount. But for now, I'll report on one of the consequencies of said experience: Successful import of A-fil in two little bottles (small!) in carry-on. Yes. And it works. F-i-n-a-l-ly. Only with 3.25% milk though. 2% doesn't cut it, no matter how much on sale it is.

Also 5 excellent cheeses were imported (2 Dutch, 3 Swedish), as well as a bunch of chocolate (~1 kg fazermint from mum only starts the list). And pinda kaas (peanut butter), so we should be able to survive the rest of the winter. I think my Dutch improved slightly, but it didn't feel like it - all of a sudden people assumed that I understood more than I did, and the result of that was that I didn't understand a thing of the accelerated conversations. Ugh.

Yes. It's afternoon, and I should be working. Tot ziens.

The yoghurt incident

Followers of this exceptional (albeit rarely updated) blog might remember my fil- and yoghurt experimentation, and how important it is to not x-ray the culture if wanting to grow it. The following scenario took place at the Trudeau airport in Montreal, after an excellent Sinterklaas weekend south of the city, visiting David's aunt and her family. They have a farm, with many cows, and the milk is simply divine. With such milk, you can also produce excellent yoghurt. They also have free-roaming, tame and completely adorable hens, here demonstrated by David:

Sound effects should be obvious... (or click the image to be brought to said sound effects...)

My mission was clear: Transport a small amount of the yoghurt back home to Winnipeg, and try to make more in my nowadays well-used yoghurt maker. Easy! I just needed a small container. Astrid had just the one - 1 dl. Or so I thought...

To add some spice to the story, I was also transporting 2 packages of energy-saving lightbulbs from ikea for my supervisor. I did check a suitcase, but it was of the soft kind, and I didn't want to have broken lightbulbs and poisonous gas over all my stuff. However, these lightbulbs not only look dangerous, I'm sure you can do dangerous things with them, if you have those kinds of inclinations. So I thought it best to ask security before I checked my bag. The security personnel turned the bulbs over and over while the creases in their foreheads turned deeper and deeper. Finally they had to call for a supervisor, who immediately said it was ok. Wow. I was impressed. Checked the bag, went back to security, showed my see-through ziplock bag with hand santizer and yoghurt. Uhoh. That container might just be too big. The girl at security looked very troubled, trying to find an indication of the size of the container. She eventually found a miniature text indicating a size of 120 ml. Well, that's out of the question. Gah! My Yoghurt! Desperate times!

"But I only neeed about 3 table spoons, can't we just take out half of it?" No, that doesn't work, it's the container that's the issue, not how much liquid is inside.

"Can I put 3 tablespoons of it in one of your ziplock bags then?" No, it had to be IN a container. David now enters the conversation - he has a red pass, which will grant him access to all Canadian airports. And pilots can bring as much liquid as they please. Would that be ok? No, only if he wears his uniform.

At this point David gets a little irritated too, and mutters something about picking up a uniform at the nearest masquerade store if that is what it takes. The lucrative store nearby sells a package of airline approved sizes, for the bargain price of 11 dollars. Grr. What to do? David comes up with the excellent idea to empty the hand sanitizer bottle and squeeze the yoghurt into it. Yey! So the next 15 minutes, I spend at the washroom cleaning and squeezing.

(yoghurt into a hand santizer bottle, that is). Good thing we had a lot of time.

Approved! Going through detectors. But then they find some suspicious coiled rectangular shapes in my backpack. Backpack is searched, lightbulbs found, turned over and over while creases in foreheads turn deeper and deeper. The superior is being paged again. But this time it's another one, who also develops forehead creases. But for crying out loud, people! I already asked. I agree, I would probably be cautious about poisonous lightbulbs myself, but what else could I have done? Well, they eventually approve them and I'm through.

Now, I'm all for following regulations. But are these regulations completely sane? I could have brought with me 3 times as much yoghurt, as long as it was divided up into 3 containers of 1 dl or less each. Personally, I'd have turned down the lightbulbs and let the yoghurt pass. I really would like to find out now - just how much harm can you do with 120 ml yoghurt (urhm, or really, with the container thereof)? It's certainly an adventure to fly, with all the excitement taking place on the ground...

Tomorrow it's time again. A trip, which at time of booking consisted of 2 quick legs to AMS (leaving at lunch time), but after no less than 4 changes (!!) now goes via both Chicago and Washington with a departure at 6 am. Granted, American customs have improved the last yeara, but I really expect anything to happen.

3D movies and awesomeness

I had high expectations, mixed with a few low ones, due to some reviews I had read. But nothing was even close to the experience I just had, watching Avatar!

I'll confess - I'm a 3D fantast, and ever since I saw the adventures of Antoine de St Exupery at Fututoscope in Poitiers about 15 years ago, I've been waiting for 3D movies to hit the theatres. And finally it's here! The two movies I've seen so far, were both among the best I've ever seen. I don't know if it's only due to the 3D technique - I doubt it actually, but I guess I can't prove it. The first one was Up. What a piece of geniousness. The big bird was of course my favourite - you can't get much closer to a Lunicrax than that!!!

The second one I just finished watching, all 2h and 45 minutes of it. Not a minute too long... I know there are lots of cynical comments out there, but in my book, it's a piece of art. The message might be old and used, but judging from behaviour of humanity, we're in constant need of reminders. Oooh, there was just so much I loved in it - visually, it's simply astonishing. The nature, the ideas behind it, the flying scenes, all the little details. A favourite was the dialogue between the scientist (Sigourney Weaver) and the man behind the operations (whatever his name was) when she's trying to describe the research they've done and what amazing indications they've found. The guy doesn't understand what she's talking about, and obviously thinks the scientist is nuts. It's funny how often that happens, eh? Why should I try to learn something new, when I already know everything worth knowing? Down with the trees. Go on polluting the atmosphere. Scientists just follow their own agenda, and do it for the money (?! mighty wrong career to pursue if it's for the money, I'd say...). Well, I digress slightly... :) That's really for another post, if I ever get around to writing it.

Anyways, do go and see the movie, and let me know what you think...

The music was awesome too... I'm still totally in heaven!

And tomorrow is julafton! I wonder whether there's time to make a card... While the rest of the world is getting dumped upon, there's a minimal amount of snow in Winnipeg, despite forecasts promising the opposite.