Nippy

Boy it's been chilly in Vancouver. Maybe I've grown accustomed to the nice warm summers we've been having but I thought I sensed a bit of Winter's nip in the air today. It's particularly disheartening when it's wet, cold and still dark out but it's already 8 am.

Yet all is well when I get my early morning cup of hot cocoa! I've weened myself off of coffee. In fact, I get far too jittery to concentrate when I'm cranked up on adrenaline, chronic cortisol and caffeine to top it all off. Right now I'm sipping a large mug of thick cocoa from Soma generously sprinkled with cinnamon. It also takes some of the stress away probably because it's so very comforting.

Lets backtrack for a moment back to the first day of school at UBC--Imagine Day. I bumped into my bioinformatics prof this year, Joanne. She's part of a the Terry Project and was telling everyone about K'Naan coming to the Chan to do a talk/spoken poetry. I went and to my surprise he was extremely humble and so honest that it was really funny. He even did a couple of songs for us. I'd like to quote/paraphrase what he said as he reached behind for his Starbucks, "Now I apologize. I feel like this is the 'justice crowd'," as he raises the cup, "Sometimes you're stuck between your ideals and shit that tastes good."

Watch K'Naan at Terry UBC here.

By the way, Dr. Allen Sens in the video is an amazing instructor and is much more engaging in class. I highly suggest taking ASIC 200. It changed my approach and perception of every socio-economic-scientific issue since then. It forces me to see the bigger picture at all times.

Weekend Birding

As part of my ornithology class, we have to survey the bird population of 2 to 3 areas. While setting up our area at Pacific Spirit Park, we were lucky enough to spot a male Pilated Woodpecker.

*Apparently quite a few people we encountered at that particular park has seen it at one point or another. A few people have even tipped us off about the bird songs they hear that we haven't yet identified--like the Northern Flicker. If you see three girls standing around in a park with binoculars, please come and say hi.

Back in Action

Gee, where did the time go? I swear I had been meaning to blog (and there was so much to blog about!) but I had been so busy. Believe me, I have a million post ideas written down and floating through my mind and it's frustrating not being able to put it all down. So expect a post where it's just photos with short captions.

I wanted to start blogging again with something witty, something catchy and something to set the tone for a new (school) year but that would have taken so much effort. And it's not because I don't have a lot to say, on the contrary, I have too much to say.

"The Unicorn"
-would love to credit the artist but I lost their name so if you know who it is please let me know

Yet instead I felt compelled to post this before it totally slips mind:

Unicorn:

Six Easy (Rainbow Colored) Pieces: Essentials Of Unicorn Physics Explained
by Richard Feynman

Publisher's Note------------------vii
Introduction by Charles T. Unicorn----ix
Moonbow Preface-----------------xix
Feynman's Preface----------------xxv

ONE: Unicorns In Motion (red)
Unicorns: how do they work?
Anatomy of a sparkle
Magic and happiness reactions

TWO: Basic Unicorns (orange)
Unicorns before the internet
Horn particles
The subatomic unicorn

THREE: Unicorns As They Relate To Other Species (yellow)
The lesser ungulates
The horned ungulates
Narwhals: a special relationsip
The pega-corn question

FOUR: Conservation Of Magical Animals (green)
Kinetic and potential unicorns
Unicorn states: full-on double rainbows and more
What happens to prismatic dung

FIVE: Unicorn Theory (blue)
Hoof motion and flight
Jewel's Law
Horn spirals as The Mandelbrot Set
The tapestry experiments
Rainbow Brite: the confusions

SIX: Unicorn Behavior (indigo/violet)
Mane mechanics
An experiment with giggling
An experiment with soft focus
An experiment with manga
First principles of total fucking awesomeness

Epilogue: They'll actually eat corn from your hand!

^ THIS being a comment for a blog post by Dave Ng who is beyond awesomeness. SOMEONE WRITE THIS BOOK!

Dave was my prof for ASIC 200 and it changed my whole university experience. Dave also blogs for the Science Creative Quarterly and has a wicked Twitter account(s). To top it all off, he's part of the Terry Project.

Appeal to your inner nerdiness and indulge in all these links -- I promise it'll be worth your time and you'll feel more intelligent, more socially conscious and wittier after reading.

narwhals & bifurcations

Consider this an homage to Joy Cho of Oh Joy! . She has an amazing design and food blog that I frequent often. There are regular posts where she draws attention to the similarity in design of two mutually exclusive items and they're titled "This and That".

Well here's my version of Joy's "This and That" but with a nerd-tastic twist.

Narwhal & Bifurcation

Speaking of narwhals, I'm about to release a new 'series' of posts called "addictions". I'm a collector of sorts and I'm very particular about my things. The posts will be about my attraction to various things. For example: narwhals. You'll see what I mean later ;) 

I don't exactly know how I became a fan of narwhals. I suppose it's their connection to the mythical unicorn that draws me to them. I adore all things equine and that, sadly, includes unicorns and by association--narwhals. But it's not until my Chaos Theory enthusiast/friend who introduced me to this famous bifurcation graph that I realized that I started to see narwhals in very unlikely things. Hence my geek version of "This and That".

Radio Interview

Justin, myself and a couple of the students were interviewed by Shelley from CBC Radio today. Less than half way through the interview I remembered why I loved doing this camp, why I got involved and why I did it in the first place.

Every student is different. Every year, every class, every location has a different vibe and energy to it. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to be stuck in classes full of enthusiastic nerds such as myself. I loved it. It's not every day now that I find teens struck by awe of the fact that bacteria can indeed take DNA from their external environment and use it. If I was told that at their age, I would have been floored. In fact, I would spend hours just pondering the possibilities and smiling at the fact that it's even possible. I still lie in repose on the grass some days and just smile at the small but incredible things organisms are capable of.

Maybe I'm just weird.

---
Friday, July 23

Kamloops was an amazing camp. They certainly have a different quality to them than the Vancouver camp. Both were great in their own right :) I gotta say Kamloops was much more fun and easy-going.


In any case, I can't wait to get home today so I can get up nice and early for windsurfing tomorrow. After windsurfing I'll either be at the beach enjoying the fireworks or at the Pit Pub at UBC chillin' out to the smooth beats of our DJ friend, Greg.

Kamloops

Currently in the 'Loops for a work trip and I'm staying at the Conference Centre at the TRU campus. Being here is more than just spreading the good of word of science and genetics, it's more than planting seeds of interest into the minds of the young and the bright, it's more than just work--it's a vacation for me (well, sort of).

To be quite honest, there isn't much to do here but that's exactly why I like it. It's my time to be healthy, sleep early and take care of myself. This is especially doable since my coworker/room mate happens to be a captain of a triathlon team and he's super enthusiastic about leading a healthy lifestyle.

Yet the first night we arrived, I met a guy in the commons kitchen and he asked for my number. I brushed him off for the next couple of days and then finally I agreed to come out for an hour or two. We chatted a little bit and he seemed pretty bummed that we'll probably never see each other again. I'm not really phased. I'm still hung up on a guy I met a few months ago and will probably never see again. I guess it's only fair...

But I digress, I have an amazing view of the river and the valleys from my room. I love waking up in the morning to streaming rays of light coming through the window.

Justin and I make gourmet dinners for cheap. We did a cedar plank salmon on the outdoor patio BBQ at TRU. Amazing, n'cest pas?

One of my favourite experiments that we do with the students is bacterial transformation. I think it has the ability to teach them a few important concepts about experimental design and offer insight into what microbi research is like. Maybe I'm extrapolating this idea too much but it's what I would have fantasized about in Grade 10 during a class like this (honest to goodness).

I've also started to run outside in Kamloops. The hilly terrain is much more difficult but it feels good. Justin took me to the tracks at the stadium. It was amazing. The view of the football players were great, oh and so was the vista ;) He told me to take off my shoes and run on the grass, saying "It's so liberating. This is my Wreck Beach." I'd have to agree. I ran a couple of laps and walked every surface at the stadium barefoot just to feel the difference in texture beneath my feet. It was insanely liberating.

My First Book

Ok, no, it's not really my first book but I did co-author it with Mandy Chan. It's an educational booklet about the disappearance of bees.

Mandy has much more credibility than I do. She works with Dr. Leonard Foster at UBC on the life cycle of bees. We never actually met each other in the making of the book but we did lots of email :) You can check it out or better yet purchase your very own copy through genegeek.

Nicole also cowrote a book on the Mountain Pine Beetle for educational purposes.

Just thought I would mention that :)

Intelligence Deficiency

Have you taken your vitamins yet?

DNA and RNA are essential for life! There isn't a doubt in my mind (or anyone else's, hopefully) about that. But to take DNA and RNA supplements is nuts. Most everything you eat contains DNA and RNA.

Srsly?!