And thats it

Today was my last class of term 2 - Yipee. Next week I have 3 final exams, and then I can say 'ahhhh' for a couple weeks. Then it is back at it for another 4 months - though it will be the last four months, and it should be much smoother than this last term.

I must say that this second term has been very intensive, and sometimes, even stressful. However, hardwork and dedication do pay off in the end. January and February brought most of the work and stress, but I reaped the benefits these last couple weeks of classes. When everyone else is working like a dog to get their papers, and group projects all ironed out, I was enjoying some much needed 'sleeping in', and computer games. It was awesome. Not that I didn't have some papers and projects due, I just seemed to spread the work out accordingly throughout the term. It was awesome. I am not even worried about my finals. I have my first one on Monday, and I don't think I really need to prepare all that much for it.

I look forward to a relaxing weekend, and the relaxing weeks ahead of me.

Unofficial, but still exciting news

Check this out. Apparently, Futurama could be renewed for 26 episodes. Wahoo! I can't wait.

Neutral

A couple of days ago, Jeff & I watched Mirrormask. I have been contemplating what I should write about, hoping that something would pop into my head.

A friend of ours highly recommended it, so I was pretty excited about seeing what it was all about. I had heard nothing of the movie, and I am always intrigued to watch movies that haven't been cannibalized by the media.

Well....hmmm....hmmmm....

Nor did I really like it or really dislike it. I am neutral. I was mildly entertained. That is all I really got.

Perhaps I was expecting something different, or perhaps it just wasn't my kind of movie. Althought, Jeff & I both agree that it wasn't a waste of our time.

Success

I did it! Wahoo!

The Indoorman Triathlon went over very well, considering I had an awful sleep last night. I woke up with a headache and felt unrested. However, it did not seem to effect my performance one bit. I must have had a little adrenaline on my side.

The organizers were a little unorganized...so the entire thing got off to a slow start.

My swim went fairly well - 500 metres: 11min 24sec - and I was able to keep a steady pace throughout the 10 laps. Carla passed me on her last lap, but I figured she would as she always swims faster than me. However, I wasn't the last swimmer to finish in our heat. There were still a couple others going when I finished.

Once the swim was over, Jeff(what a trooper and supporter) carted us over to the fieldhouse where the bike and run were taking place. The bikes were set up on a computrainer that was fed into a computer software program and then projected on the wall, so that we could see our progress. There was 5 of us in the first bike heat, and it was pretty cool to be able to monitor how far you had gone, how fast you were going, how fast others were going, who was in the lead, how fast you were pedaling, etc. I biked pretty hard...a lot harder than I anticipated I would. I figured at I would take it easy for the bike so as to make sure I would make it through the run without walking. But when I noticed that Carla was only 0.05km in front of me, I pushed ahead to pass and ended up holding fourth til the end. I figured I had to beat her at something, and it sure wasn't the swim, and it definitely wasn't gonna be the run. The both of us worked pretty hard, and were sweatin' like pigs once it was done. The bike was 8.05km at I finished in 18min 47sec.

We didn't have more than 5 minutes to drink some water and eat our fruit snack and we were down to the track for the run. I was hoping for at least a 10 minute rest considering I had just biked like crazy, but there was no chance of that. I guess that was good in a way, I was able to really test my endurance. I positioned myself at the back of the line, as I knew I would be the slowest, and off we were....13 laps in lane 6. I managed to finish the 3km run in 18min 16sec. The other 5 lanes were full of 'oldies' (yeah, I know that isn't politically correct...but I am not) going the opposite direction. The run was pretty unexciting. There was one girl that lapped be 4 times. She was in the bike heat with Carla and I, and she was bouncing along like a little deer on the track. I sure didn't have her energy. I, of course, was the last one to finish the run in my heat, but I managed to run (jog) the entire 13 laps. Wahoo for me!

At the end of it all I was tired..but not so much that I wanted to die or collapse. I guess I have built up a pretty good endurance.

Never in my life would I have though I would complete a triathlon, it has been fun. I even have a certificate to prove that I did..I finished 14th. There were about 24 participants, however I think my ranking is based off only the women who participated and I don't know how many there were. Ah well, it wasn't about the ranking anyways.

Apparently there is the Bridge City Duathlon coming up at the end of April. Both my girlfriends from school are entering, so it looks like I am going to join them. However, I think I will opt for the shorter Sprint Event. I just don't think my knees can take that much running.

I think I can...

Tomorrow is the big day - Indoor Man Triathlon.

It is all indoors, and I am swimming, biking and running.

At the PAC, I swim first - 500 m at 8:00am. Then it is over to the Fieldhouse for the bike and the run. I bike first - 8 km at 8:45am, and then run - 3 km at 9:15am.

I am pretty sure I am gonna be wiped by the end of it all. My goals are:

1. To finish
2. To run(jog) the entire 3km. No walking for this girl.

I have faith that I will be able to achieve both goals. And if I do it in a decent time, that is a bonus, as I don't really care about that. Afterall, it is my first triathlon.

Lets hope it is a good experience.

Finally

After what took me way longer than it should...I finally got one of my own pictures up on my banner. I also found this cool program that allows you to edit your pictures in various ways right on-line.

I had actually forgotten about this picture, and had stumbled upon it as I was looking through my pictures yesterday.

I think it is quite a beautiful picture. I took it last February when Jeff and I were driving back to Nanaimo from Tofino. We were just driving along the road, and I had to stop to take the piture, it was so beautiful. And the picture turn out even better than the scene was.

Progressing along

I had my weekly meeting with my supervisor yesterday and all is well. I sent him my research proposal, that is due for my research methods class, for review, and he had good things to say. The largest portion to date of my research proposal was my lit review, that I have spent considerable time on to date. I managed to incorporate the suggestions he made at our meeting last week, and he seemed to be very pleased with the result.

I think I am a little surprised...at me, and at him. From what I have heard from other master's students, supervisors are known to heavily critque the writing process. I am really not sure if he is just leaving all his critquing til we get further into the project, or I am just doing a good job. I highly respect my supervisor. He has done tremendous work in academia in his short life. Dr. Grant Isaac has completed his B.A. and M.A. in Economics at the UofS, and received his Ph.D from the London School of Economics. He will also be taking over as Dean of the College of Commerce as of July 1, 2006. All by the age of 35.

So...

When my supervisor says 'this is good,' and 'I really like it,' I think I need to take him seriously.

I will continue to develop my literature review, so that the framework I develop will produce the best results possible for my client. This thesis has become my core focus in this program.

Out of steam

After a weekend dedicated to getting my research proposal complete, I think I am spent. My proposal is due on Tuesday, and I get to present it on Thursday. I hope to feel some sense of relief after it is over..not that I won't be continually working on it and revising it more over the next 2 months. But the fact that I will have completed a major portion of the final paper, and that I have completed the final project this term in my research methods class, makes me feel good.

Only a few more weeks, and then I can let out a DEEP BREATH..well, at least for a few days. Then it will be back to work. Our program's 2nd term ends on the 31st, and we are done exams around the 10th of April. We have a small break and then we are back at it April 24th for the last 4 months. The countdown is on.

I thought to myself the other day, 'what am I gonna do with myself when I don't have school.' I have spent some much of my 'free time' focused on school, I think I am gonna feel a little lost come September.

Randy & Mr. Lahey

Rob & I went to see Randy & Mr. Lahey perform at Louis last night. It was a good show. There was definitely a lot of comedy that revolved around poop and shit, but it was funny none the less. They also did some great impressions of the other characters on the show. I, of course, was giddy just to hear the Bubbles impression. Oh how I wish he had been there.

Rob also got a picture taken with Randy & his gut, though you may need to check out her blog to view it. That is if she posts it. It is a pretty awesome picture.

It was a great evening of fun.

Team Building? Are you sure you call that Team Building?

Tonight was the 2nd session of what is to be a 3-part team building workshop arranged for the MBA students. Apparently we have some issues..oh, and of course, as our program director would like to tell, 'is for your personal development.'

OK...

I understand the importance of teams, working effectively with others, dealing with conflict, understanding differences in personalities, perspectives and cultures, etc., etc., etc...I taught it for 3 years. Please tell me something I don't already know. Now I understand that I may have a little bit more experience regarding the topics and the concepts that have been discussed in the last couple of sessions, but when the 'facilitator' (and I use that word loosely, as I am not sure what she was facilitating) starts regergitating concepts, theories, topics, etc. that our professors have discussed over and over and over again, it gets REAL annoying.

Tonight was only slightly better than the first session. The first session involved 17 MBA students listening to the 'wisdom' of the 'facilitator' for 4 1/2 hours. Wow, what a way to apply all that learning that I have stuffed into my head over the past 6 months. There were no group tasks, activities...nothing. Now, I won't argue the fact that we are a hard group and our level of involvement can be limited at times. But it is a little difficult to participate when there really isn't an open forum, no questions being asked of the group, no solicitation of feedback...NOTHING!!

The session tonight began the same way in which the first session played out. We got to listen to the 'facilitator' jabber on for an hour and a half about concepts we had discussed way back in the fall. And then, to everyone's amazement we ACTUALLY got to become involved in a group activity, where we could apply all of these concepts and theories that have been shoved down our throat for the past few months. Who'da thunk that when taking a business degree of any kind you would actually step away from the academia part of it and get down to the important stuff - APPLICATION. How do they expect us to be GREAT MANAGERS if they don't integrate some sort of application into our learning? We are gonna leave university with a bunch of theories and academic knowledge and we aren't gonna know what to do with it once we get into the 'real world.' Cuz you know, I have never experienced the 'real world.'

I know I am being critical..perhaps too critical. And maybe that comes from my role as a facilitator. As you noticed, I did not use quotations. Mostly because I think I was a good facilitator. I would make it a priority in all of my seminars that individuals were engaged in the seminar, no matter what the topic. It was important to me that people enjoyed themselves. I found that was the best way to learn. By creating a fun, exciting, and enthusiastic atmosphere people don't even realize they are learning. And they often learn more than if someone just SAT and lectured at them.

You would think that a session on team building would actually contain some sort of activities engaging people in teams and allowing them to use the concepts previous discussed. Geez!

Ok, I think I am done with my rant.

Done Good!

I had a meeting with my supervisor and co-supervisor yesterday regarding my project. It seemed to go well. He was happy with my literature review, considering it was my first crack at one. But of course, there were changes. Mostly nit-picky ones like a reference page, introduction, etc. I had planned on doing these things anyways, I just didn't think I need to rush to get it done before I handed in my first draft. Plus, I will likely organization the review slightly different, so I would have had to re-do an introduction anyways. I need to fix up my in-text citations as well, as I was not sure the proper way to do it.

Overall, I think it went well.

We were able to discuss some other components of my project, like my research proposal that is due next week in my Research Methods class. I am still a little short on some information from PharmaVentures that will help me fill in the background and the purpose, but I am confident my supervisors are gonna get that info for me before next week. The research proposal that I am doing for my research methods class is going to be slightly different than what goes into my final thesis. Mostly due to the time constraints. I am sure I will have refined things a bit more over the next couple of months, than what is spewed out in the next few days.

We also discussed my preliminary ethics submission, which is due next week. I quickly wrote up something last night, and refined it this morning after receiving some previous letters from my supervisor. I think it looks good, and should hopefully get my exempt from having to go through the full ethics approval process.

I have got another week full of activites and schoolwork. I think I will be glad when this term is over. It has been fairly hectic.

Hurry Hard!

I went home this weekend for the ladies curling bonspiel in Biggar. Myself, along with 3 of the girls from the MBA program (one also being from Biggar) went and curled a fairly good set of games. We had 4 games in total, and ended up winning 3 of our games. The rules/scoring were 'fun', in that each end had a random scoring rule. Sometimes we scored it as a regular end, other times the team with the most rocks in the 12 ft circle would score one point for each of their rocks in that area, or the team closes to the button gave away a point, etc. It was a good 'fun' bonspiel for us less experienced players.

I think the best thing I got outta the weekend was my increased ability at curling. I think I am able to say that I am not that bad a curler. After much instruction on in-turn, out-turn, inside & outside throw, heavy or light ice, sweeping, and a little bit of skipping, I think I actually play pretty good. I am no provincial champ, but I done good.

I think that I would be apt to curl more often now that I know what I am doing, and can actually make judgement calls on what should be done differently, or how to improve my game.

The fact that it was a 'fun' bonspiel meant that everyone was gonna win something, which is a nice way to end it off. The teams ranked according to most total points accumulated, so the winnings weren't dependent on the ranking of the teams (we ranked 11th out of 18 teams). Every team got to randomly pick and envelope with an undisclosed amount of money. Our team got $50, but the highest amount was $250, and $200. I wish we would have got that...that would have been nice. Also, every curler got to pick a prize that had been donated by various business from Biggar. Since 2 of our teammates had left, Carla and I got to pick twice each. I got myself a pretty nice backpack, and Carla got some nice shampoo and conditioner. We picked up a fleece blanket, key change, and coffee beans for the other girls.

All in all it was a fantastic way to spend the weekend. Now I just need to get back to the schoolwork.

An interesting read

I spent some time reading Scott Adams blog (Dilbert comic strip author) sometime ago and have once again gotten back into it.

It is an interesting and humourous read.

Back at it

Over the past couple of weeks the girls (MBA friends) have gotten me into swimming over at the Education pool during lunch hour. We have been trying to go 3 times a week, and it has been working out as planned.

It is refreshing to be back at it. I used to swim lengths and attend aqua aerobics a lot about 4 years ago. And I also used to swim a bit at my gym downtown when I was still working.

It is definitely a great way to spice up my exercise routine, as it was getting pretty regular. I am still trying to get to the gym 3 times a week, squeezing in cardio and strength training. I have also gotten into running the track, but that training is mostly for the Indoorman Triathlon I will be competing in on March 25th. The track isn't SO bad, but I would much rather do some other type of physical activity.

Ah well, it is all good for me, and it is definitely getting me back into shape. It has been a pretty slack winter, and being in school doesn't help. I stayed in shape much better when I was working and was on a more regular schedule.

Knitting Post

A couple of nights ago I finished off the second sock to the pair I have been working on over the last week. It hasn't actually taken me that long to knit two socks, I just have been busy with a number of other things that I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as she did on her Team Canada project.
Not that this project would have qualified me to participate in The Knitting Olympics, I am pretty proud of my socks. It is the only the second pair that I have done, and it went much smoother than the first pair. Amy helped me out at Christmas time when I was knitting my first pair, as I was having a little trouble. I couldn't figure out how to do the heel, and apparently I had begun knitting the sock inside out. However, it was comforting to know that I wasn't the only one that had made this mistake. Secondly, it is my first project where I have used 2 colours.

I think I will work on a third pair for Jeff, as it is a fairly easy knitting project to keep busy with, and I have a bunch of old yarn to use up.

For you knitters: One sock is unlike the other, can you see the difference?

Best Turn-Out Ever!

Tonights' hockey brought out 19 guys, thats awesome. I think that is the most we have ever had. We had enough to play 4-on-4, and had 2 lines, it was great.

Plus, I managed to score a goal, thanks to T-ass and his strategically placed foot. Thanks again T.

Update

On a previous post I rambled on about the endless amount of work ahead of me.

To date I have completed:

1st Draft of Lit Review - 13 pages
UK Country Analysis - 5 pages, and presentation
Biotech assignment - 7 pages

There is some relief to being done this work, but the relief doesn't seem to last that long, as it has been replaced with additional work. Yuck!

Done!

After spending 8 1/2 hours today writing the first draft of my literature review, I am done. Phewh! I just emailed the 13 page draft to my supervisor, and I now await my fate. I am actually looking forward to his criticism, as I have never really done a literature review. At least I don't think I have, and if I have it was never called that.

Anywho, what a day. I am so glad that I have that off my desk...for a little while anyways.

I was just a tad worried

The great motivation and determiniation from last week was starting to fad earlier this week, and I was beginning to worry. Although really enjoyed the beginnings of my lit review last week, I was avoiding picking up where I left off. Granted I have a million other things to do, I did set a deadline for my first, and very rough draft for Friday. With a presentation today taking up my evening last night, and today being busy, yet feeling not very productive I was worried as to whether I would actually make my self-imposed deadline.

So...

I set aside 3 hours this morning to finish up typing my notes into what is a very loose outline, and I managed to finish, with 1/2 hour to spare. I am now back on schedule, and can devote my entire Thursday to reviewing my loose outline, and make an attempt at writing it in a coherent, concise, and hopefully integrated manner.

Perhaps some well deserved computer gaming is in store for me later this evening.