My Roomates (Most Of Them)

Here's 1/2 of the members of my summer house assembled into one shot. The camera shy one is Jeff. The one in the middle is Jeff's girlfriend, Sarah. Finally, on the right we have Dan. Jeff rented out canoes on the Huron River all summer, and so did Sarah, who also helped coordinate Washtenaw County's recycling program. Dan traveled all over Lower Michigan doing environmental surveys, and Kris, featured in the previous photo, worked at a architectural firm as an intern.

Most evenings during the week were spent chilling on the couch in the living room, watching movies, TV, or playing video games...

GTA: San Andreas Claims Another Victim

This is Kris, one of my housemates in the place that I lived this past summer. I believe he's busy playing GTA: San Andreas. Yup, that game REALLY sucks you in. And I was only WATCHING others play!

Safia and Heather

On the left of Heather is Safia, the second intern that I worked with this summer at Humantech. This picture, as well as the previous one, was taken at an apartment-warming party back in May for Heather and Safia. They lived on Church Street close to South University Ave, essentially right in the middle of the University of Michigan's student ghetto. Good neighbourhood, good times!

Humantech, As Seen In Mid-August

This Spring, I posted pictures from my first days in Ann Arbor. One of those pics was of the exterior of my workplace, Humantech. On that day in Early January, it was foggy and damp. This is a frontal shot of the office, as seen in the middle of a sweltering Midwest summer. Believe me, it is much hotter then the photo suggests!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Hey everybody, Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you are enjoying good friends, good food, and a whole lot of cool stuff on this day.

A list of what I scored:

• Fully-decked out spice rack from Janet
• Ski card, also from Janet
• Digital Camera from Mom and Dad
• Guitar magazine and CD from Mom and Dad
• Hockey Player Orament from Meghan
• Hygiene products and necessities
• Lots and lots of candy and chocolate!

Have a great holiday, and expect more pictures on this blog soon, both from Michigan and from the new camera!

Lake Erie Beach Trip

On a hot day in August, I suddenly came to the realization that I missed the ocean. Oddly enough, I had been in Michigan for 7 months, and I had yet to visit a Great Lake. So I checked out a map and made for a state park just north of the city of Munroe, situated roughly halfway between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio. One thing that struck me once I waded into the waters of Lake Erie was how friggin' warm it was! I swore it was at least 25c in the water. Zebra mussel shells littered the shoreline. They look sharp, but stepping on them is no worse than stepping on the dry, coarse seaweed we have on our beaches back in Nova Scotia! Finally, it may not be visible in the pictures contained in this blog post, but off in the distance, two cooling towers from a nuclear reactor can be seen. Didn't see any three-eyed fish, but it made me think twice about swimming in Lake Erie again! If I get cancer in 30 years, I guess I'll just sue Detroit Edison!

Nickels Arcade

Nickels Arcade is a covered pedestrian walkway lined with high-end shops, stretching between State Street and Maynard Street near U of M. It was a welcome respite from the bitter cold last winter, when I was walking between campus and my house in the west end of the city.

Michigan Union

This is Michigan Union, where students meet to study, hang out, shoot pool, or eat in the food court in the basement. Legend has it that if you step on the M in the concourse, your academic semester will be a bad one!

Michigan Law Quad

This is the Michigan Law Quad, probably the nicest looking spot on campus...

Testing The Picture Upload Feature, Or My Summer Pad in A2

This post was to test Blogger's picture upload system, as I have previously used Picasa to place all my pictures on my blog. It seems to have worked rather well, as the test picture, the house that I lived in from May to Late August of this year, has appeared ata size that I am happy with.

More pics from Ann Arbor this summer, and my trip West to Alberta will follow shortly!

A Long Week Of Work Is Done, Just In Time For Political Death Match Goodness!

Just finished a full 40 hours of work at Sportchek this week. It was very eventful, with improvements in my selling of sports equipment, as I sold my first snowboard from the snowsports department. There is loads of money to be earned by selling stuff out of that part of the store, as we work via commission. Also, I ended up chasing a shoplifter on Wednesday. Didn't get him, but I got the getaway car's plate number. I hope the cops nail this lowlife crook!

I know I haven't been editorializing stuff recently, but I've been lacking inspiration. It's been so long since I've taken a stand on any issue lately, but I've been working so hard at finding a job in ergonomics, as well as being exhausted by by current "part-time" position.

However, I saw the first english debate tonight, and I was ... underwhelmed. Harper was his old robotic neo-con self, Mr. Layton caped his sentences with the talking point that we must elect NDP'ers to get anything done, Duceppe was the debate's star, despite the fact he wants to break up the country, and Martin made good points, which were subsequently obscured by layers and layers of complex language that I had a hard time unraveling in my head.

In summary: I'm voting for the Greens. It has alot to do with the fact that I live in Calgary, where the odds of a Liberal being elected are analogous to a snowball's chances of survival in hell. If you are in a riding where the race is close, vote for the Liberals to block the Cons. If the NDP has a great chance of winning, vote for them. Otherwise, vote for the Greens. Each vote gives them $1.75 to help grow their party. The Greens have a valuable message to convey to the Canadian public, and the sooner a Green MP is voted to Parliment, the sooner issues like climate change and peak oil will be given the exposure they require in debates and in Question Period.

Well, I guess I did get inspired this evening...!

Job Hunt Progress

So the first week of my part-time job at Sportchek has passed. So far, I like it quite a bit. I earn money via commission, so I can earn what I'm worth. On my second shift, I made enough sales to earn a rate of $9/hour. The base rate is $7/hour; not much, but better than back East.

As for the real job hunt, the folks at Boeing in Winnipeg haven't got back in touch with me, so I will probably be getting back to them this week. I also received information about a clinic job in Cambridge, Ontario, which is around Kitchener. I also expressed interest in that position, as it would expand my experiences further into the realm of Kinesiology. Finally, some guy that I was helping during my second shift at Sportchek happened to be an engineer at Nortel Networks here in Calgary. After telling him about my employment situation, he told me that Nortel is looking for ergo people for their facility in Cowtown! Needless to say, I will be phoning him on Monday!

I Get To Peddle Gear And Make A Commission At It? Sweet!

After 3 months of being a bum, I finally got some paying work again. Not in my field mind you, but it's a part-time job at Sportchek. Should be fun, and I'll still have plenty of time to look for that elusive ergo job...!

Web Site Of The Week (Or So): The Most Addicting Games Are Often The Simplest Ones!

I found a new time waster today. It's a game called, er... N-Game.

You're a ninja who has to collect coins and trigger door switches while avoiding death-dealing robots and mines. Sounds simple, but it's very addictive!

Don't say I didn't warn you...!