Archive for August, 2009

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I’ve been thinking for a few months that it’s about time to get back into painting again. I used to paint a fair bit, even had a proper studio at one point with a lovely easel and everything required to stretch my own canvases. Well, apparently the world agrees that it’s time to start my paint motor, because as I was in the laundry room-cum-flea market this afternoon, a young lady came in and dropped this off:

I debated with myself for some time before emailing Jonathan about it, but the decision was truly made when she returned a half hour later with two stretched and gesso-ed canvases.
Brilliant.

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About a week and a half ago, Bai Yun over at the San Diego Zoo gave birth to her 5th panda cub.  She’s been such a good doting mommy ever since that despite obsessively watching the Pandacam , I hadn’t been able to get a good clear view of the new (as yet unnamed) cub.  Today Bai Yun finally decided to have a wee snack, and while she munched, her baby sprawled in plain view.

babypanda

If you’re having trouble picking out the baby in the grainy den camera image, let me assist you:

babypanda_highlight

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Today was a little bit stupid.

I decided to be terribly lazy this morning, and after sleeping in, I watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  It was okay, but uninspired.  I like Michael Cera, even though he only seems to be able to play one role.  I guess I just like the one role he plays.  The music was excellent, of course, which was the whole point of watching it.  Must get the soundtrack.  I give it one happy truck for having a song by The Cure as a ringtone.

happy

Went to the greenhouse for a bit to check on the few remaining caterpillars, one of which was dead.  I suspect that it just didn’t get enough food - the spider mites had completely taken over its tree.  Sad, but not entirely unexpected at this stage of the experiment.  If they haven’t pupated yet, they’re not likely to do so successfully.

I had an appointment to give blood today, to I stopped at the chip truck on campus to fuel up

chiptruck

Their poutine is surprisingly decent, mostly thanks to the fries.

poutine

After filling up the tank with tasty grease and starch, I drained all of the good stuff out of my arm

blood

That small pouch of blood is the first bit they siphon off for testing.  The rest (about a pint, as I recall) is in a much larger bag under the arm rest.  I think they keep it out of sight on purpose so you can’t see how much they’re taking.

I also learned an important lesson today.  Even if you’ve ridden up that hill in the dirty stinking August heat a thousand times, even if there’s nothing at home to cook for supper and the grocery store is just a few blocks past the crest of the hill, even if you think you’re a tough cookie, for pete’s sake don’t do the ride while lacking a pint of your precious bodily fluids.  I ended up sitting on the sidewalk in the blazing sun for half an hour because I couldn’t stand up without chucking or passing out.

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Today I cleaned out my locker,

locker

and played with my dead cicada.

cicada

Then I went to the greenhouse

earthsciences

where i found a fly,

fly

a wasp

wasp

and a lot of spider mites

spidermites

and then put a newly-emerged adult gypsy moth into the freezer.

freezermoths

Afterward, I wandered

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around

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campus.

trinity

I stopped to play with birds

birds

hugged a tree

bark

and discovered that squirrels really like nachos.

squirrel

Later I went out for thai food

thai

and found some really tacky but ultimately irresistible panda paraphernalia.

pandas

Seriously, who couldn’t use a panda Matryoshka doll?