Category: Fun stuff

Random fun things

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CREATESouth

Weekend plans, I haz them.

CreateSouth.png

You can haz them too.

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Big Screen, Big Trek

I’m going to be at the Terrace Theater‘s new Hippodrome (the former Charleston IMAX theater) on May 7 for the new Star Trek movie.

Starts at 7PM. See you there.

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Penguins at the Aquarium

One of the perks of being a volunteer at the Aquarium is getting the inside scoop on new exhibits and animals. Needless to say, I thought it was pretty exciting news when I heard a few months ago that the Aquarium was going to be getting a penguin exhibit.
Now that Penguin Planet is officially open, I figure it’s safe for me to show off some of the pictures I’ve been taking over the past couple of months.
Here’s the penguin enclosure just after it was delivered to the Aquarium. The old touch tank on the first floor was removed to make room for the Penguin Planet exhibit.
Penguin enclosure just after delivery
A couple of weeks later, the enclosure moved into its final resting spot and the exhibit space was getting framed out.
Penguin Planet exhibit being framed out
Here’s the exhibit space all framed out. Life support systems for the enclosure have been installed and the enclosure filled with water. No leaks!
Penguin Planet exhibit framed out and filled with water
The walls have been put up and covered and waiting for the final touches on the exhibit. Penguins have moved in and are getting used to their new space (you can see them hanging out in the top left of the enclosure.
Penguin Planet exhibit
The completed exhibit.
Penguin Planet exhibit
Here are three of the four penguins. None of them have names, but they each have wing bands with different colours so staff can tell them apart.
3 of the 4 penguins
These particular penguins (Magellanic penguins) are pretty buoyant and don’t dive very deep
Penguins swimming

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Glass Onion meetup

Tonight’s meetup at The Glass Onion was pretty well attended, with about 21 people showing up. Seemed like everybody had a pretty good time, and it’s always nice to see new faces at the meetups.

The food? Oh yeah, it was really good. This is the braised pork belly and grits that I had. It was all kinds of yummy.

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25 random things

Ok, so I’ve been tagged a few times by this now, so I guess I might as well do it. In no particular order:

  1. Up until high school, I got so nervous on the first day of school that I’d end up throwing up.
  2. I played viola for 7 years starting in 4th grade. I was reasonably good too, but not good enough that I could ever make a living out of it. I somehow made it into Orchestra B as first chair though (D was for beginners, A and AA were for the really good players).
  3. I studied French for 8 years starting in 4th grade. I was part of an extended French program that was supposed to go from grades 4-12. By the time I got to high school, the program was terminated and those of us left were put into the regular 6 year French program (grades 7-12). We were 3 years ahead of those students though, so I got bored pretty quickly and dropped it in 11th grade.
  4. By the time I was in 5th grade I was reading high school books.
  5. I decided I wanted to be a physicist before I made it to junior high school.
  6. During high school and my first two years of undergrad, I wanted to be an astrophysicist and study stellar and galactic evolution.
  7. I’m a visual and tactile learner.
  8. I think in images.
  9. In school I was one of those really smart but lazy kids. I could get good marks without having to work very hard. That changed in undergrad though. Boy did it ever change.
  10. My 10th grade math teacher almost kicked me out of her class because she didn’t think I was paying attention to her. I would do the homework assignments while she was teaching, then spend the rest of the time reading. Apparently this did not make her happy.
  11. I was an avid cyclist and runner until I moved to the US. There were no safe cycling routes in any of the places I lived. Working on getting back into the cycling thing again.
  12. There have only been three girls that I have ever been wildly head over heels for.
  13. I delivered newspapers for 5 years during junior high and high school. I still have nightmares about having to deliver papers, but not being able to remember what houses to deliver them to.
  14. I’ve read Lord of the Rings at least 15 times. Probably more.
  15. I took 3 years of food studies in high school. They were the best classes I ever took during high school.
  16. I learn things very quickly and see patterns that help me generalize concepts that I can apply to other things. Women still confuse me though.
  17. I didn’t own my first car until I was 26 when I moved from Edmonton to Detroit.
  18. I’m intensely introverted. Social interactions tire me out. I can spend weeks without ever having to see or interact with anybody and not be bothered by it.
  19. Pizza is my favourite food group. I’ve ordered pizza for the sole purpose of having cold pizza for breakfast the next day.
  20. One of the guiding principles I live by is KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.
  21. I used to be an awesome dodgeball player. It was always one of my favourite games growing up. Next to hockey of course.
  22. When I’m depressed, I watch Star Trek.
  23. I can’t look at anything without seeing an equation flash through my head.
  24. I know how to use a slide rule. I used to do some of the calculations for physics assignments using my slide rule just for kicks and giggles.
  25. I’m a big science/tech geek, but am usually one of the last to acquire gadgets. I still have no cell phone.