-It has become noticeably more Wintery in the last few days. Instead of just wearing a sports coat, I have actually started wearing an insulated jacked, scarf, and hat. A few days ago we even had a few snowflakes fall, though we managed to avoid real accumulation.
-I went for my Swine Flu vaccination shot today. Dalhousie was providing a free shot service so I thought I might as well stop by. What was particularly impressive about the whole thing is how well organized it was. They were moving people through quite quickly, the result being that when I went there wasn't a line even though a steady stream of people kept arriving. So far my arm and I feel fine. I am expecting that by some point tomorrow I will start to feel something in the arm where I received the shot.
-My big news yesterday was that I submitted my SSHRC graduate fellowship application. SSHRC is a federally funded granting agency, and one of the main sources for graduate funding in the social sciences and humanities. While it would be great to get a SSHRC fellowship I am not holding out much hope, the odds are not in my favour.
-We had a tofu stir-fry for dinner yesterday night. I thought it was pretty tasty.
-A few days ago I was thinking about writing about the people that borrow my fountain pen and are then able to use properly. I was going to comment on the seeming universal inability of the current generation to use fountain pens. Of course I ended up loaning my pen to two younger students today and neither of them had any problems. Good thing I didn't write was I was thinking about writing as I think it turns out that it wouldn't have held up.
-All three of my classes have come through with extensions for their essays. Though this means I won't have much free time before my Christmas departure I think it will generally be a good thing the quality of the essays.
-On Saturday we played a hard fought game of Ultimate. While we were leading at halftime we ended up losing by a point.
-I should get going, it is already much too late.
Showing posts with label Fellowships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fellowships. Show all posts
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
And it only took me 8 and 3/4 years to get here
In early January 2001, six months after finishing high school, I attended my first university class (a Thursday morning Spanish class). For the next number of years I, somewhat half-heatedly, plugged away at a BA, which I eventually completed in December 2005 (though I didn't convocate until May 2006). I then moved on to an MLIS at McGill which I completed in 2008 and then an MA at Dalhousie, the requirements of which were just completed about three weeks ago. During all of this time I held a variety of jobs to cover both living and tuition costs.
Now, almost nine years after my first university class, I have finally made the transition from the amateur, fee-paying ranks to the professional (or fellowship receiving) ranks. I find it both a odd and satisfying notion that I am now being paid to be a student, which is such a change in practice from these past few years. I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. It almost feels like a more definitive student-based accomplishment than finishing a degree.
To celebrate my change in status I decided to treat myself to a few new pairs of socks to replace a few other pairs that I have worn out over the past year. After a brief examination of the selection at MEC I ended up settling on two pairs of the same make and model (though in different colours) that I have purchased a number of times in the past. I was convinced to go with these largely because the pair of this variety that I purchased in July 2005 is still going strong and showing almost no signs of wear. And for those of you that are curious, these socks are 40% merino wool (a key sock component).
After completing my sock purchases I thought that I might consider looking into getting Neil a birthday gift, something I didn't manage to take care of on or around his birthday for a number of reasons. Based on some earlier thoughts about what I might like to purchase or him I decided to head to a local comic book and games store called Strange Adventures.
As I entered the store I saw something about them having a "Big Sale," though given store traffic I assume that this related exclusively to their comic book related stock. After checking out the board game section I made my way to the counter to take a look at a few of their card games. Only when I was standing at the counter did I start to grasp the breadth and depth of their "Big Sale." It eventually became clear to me that everything in the store was 50% off, and that the discount will be increasing to 90% over the coming days.
Not surprisingly, the comic book aficionados were going nuts and purchasing stacks and stacks of books. Once I understood what was going on I too modified my shopping strategy to take full effect of the sale. I ended up buying four items. The total, after tax price was less than the pre-tax cost of the two most expensive items, a detail I found to be both relaxing and satisfying. The other notable consequence of my taking advantage of this sale is that it allowed me to start my Christmas shopping, something that I normally wouldn't even begin to think about until about the second week of December.
Given that I have made the point of highlighting my student status is seems reasonable that I consider hitting the books (or printed articles) so that I am able to continue with my new student status for more than a single term. Unfortunately, it now seems quite likely that I will have to take at least a few minutes out of my planned reading time tonight to crack into a few of these games. I just hope that I am not completely sidetracked by these purchases.
Now, almost nine years after my first university class, I have finally made the transition from the amateur, fee-paying ranks to the professional (or fellowship receiving) ranks. I find it both a odd and satisfying notion that I am now being paid to be a student, which is such a change in practice from these past few years. I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. It almost feels like a more definitive student-based accomplishment than finishing a degree.
To celebrate my change in status I decided to treat myself to a few new pairs of socks to replace a few other pairs that I have worn out over the past year. After a brief examination of the selection at MEC I ended up settling on two pairs of the same make and model (though in different colours) that I have purchased a number of times in the past. I was convinced to go with these largely because the pair of this variety that I purchased in July 2005 is still going strong and showing almost no signs of wear. And for those of you that are curious, these socks are 40% merino wool (a key sock component).
After completing my sock purchases I thought that I might consider looking into getting Neil a birthday gift, something I didn't manage to take care of on or around his birthday for a number of reasons. Based on some earlier thoughts about what I might like to purchase or him I decided to head to a local comic book and games store called Strange Adventures.
As I entered the store I saw something about them having a "Big Sale," though given store traffic I assume that this related exclusively to their comic book related stock. After checking out the board game section I made my way to the counter to take a look at a few of their card games. Only when I was standing at the counter did I start to grasp the breadth and depth of their "Big Sale." It eventually became clear to me that everything in the store was 50% off, and that the discount will be increasing to 90% over the coming days.
Not surprisingly, the comic book aficionados were going nuts and purchasing stacks and stacks of books. Once I understood what was going on I too modified my shopping strategy to take full effect of the sale. I ended up buying four items. The total, after tax price was less than the pre-tax cost of the two most expensive items, a detail I found to be both relaxing and satisfying. The other notable consequence of my taking advantage of this sale is that it allowed me to start my Christmas shopping, something that I normally wouldn't even begin to think about until about the second week of December.
Given that I have made the point of highlighting my student status is seems reasonable that I consider hitting the books (or printed articles) so that I am able to continue with my new student status for more than a single term. Unfortunately, it now seems quite likely that I will have to take at least a few minutes out of my planned reading time tonight to crack into a few of these games. I just hope that I am not completely sidetracked by these purchases.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 357
-We had another nice day in Halifax today, though at times it was a little on the cool side. Fortunately, it wasn't cold enough that a brisk walk wasn't enough to provide the needed heat to be comfortable.
-It seems that I have been away for a few days, which can largely be explained by the fact that I have had a number of engagements/commitments that have drawn me away from my computer or kept me relatively busy.
On Monday I started my regularly scheduled courses (though I had had a session on the previous Wednesday). The real time sink was the paper that was due on Tuesday afternoon, which I was able to submit with a about two hours to spare (actually, I think that the professor was a little surprised that I actually handed it in on time). On Wednesday I had the pleasure of having two several hour seminars, the first of which started at 8:30 AM. The second seminar, the one for which the paper was due, ended at 5:30 PM, a solid nine hours after the first one started. A little later in the evening Neil and I had our first Ultimate game of our Fall season (we tied). Then on Thursday I helped a friend with some things before heading into school for a SSHRC doctoral fellowship information session. Immediately after the SSHRC event I made my way across campus to meet with a professor (the one for whom I had to write the paper) and ended up talking with her for almost 2 hours. After dinner (tacos) all three of us went back to campus to attend the weekly trivia night at the student bar. After trivia we made our way to Bubble's Mansion, hoping that this would be the location of the new Trailer Park Boys movie's premier after party. As it turned out that Bubble's Mansion wasn't as active and happening decided not to stay. In the end, for a variety of somewhat complex reasons, we ended up heading to another establishment. Unfortunately, the beer we ordered wasn't so great so it took us quite a while to drink it. In the end the only thing that really got us moving was that they turned on the lights and were clearly sending us the message that they wanted us to go. Anyway, these events meant that Thursday night was much less productive than I hoped it would be. Then today, I had to head into school to check on a few things before heading out to the Kempt Road area with Peter to buy some bulk dried goods (mainly beans) at good prices. Then tonight, because of our earlier shopping adventure, Peter came over for a dinner that was at least in part based on this afternoon's purchases. Anyway, all of this is just to give some insight into my noticeable absence from the blog. I really wish that a number more of these reasons related to academic eagerness, but unfortunately such reason were only part of the reason for my absence.
-Earlier tonight I noticed that the watermelon plants seem to be infested with something (hopefully not spider mites). Soon after this discovery I destroyed the infested plants plants and sprayed the others than had stored in the vicinity with pesticide. Hopefully this somewhat prompt action had curtailed the spread of whatever it was on the plants, though I fear that I may have been too late, which would really frustrate me quite a bit. Anyway, I guess I may try to do a bit of cleaning tomorrow and then have to wait and see whether anything comes back.
-I feel that there were quite a number of other things that I wanted to comment upon but that I can't seem to remember at the moment. Maybe when I have a little more time tomorrow I will try to work on a slightly more complete re-cap of the past few days.
-It seems that I have been away for a few days, which can largely be explained by the fact that I have had a number of engagements/commitments that have drawn me away from my computer or kept me relatively busy.
On Monday I started my regularly scheduled courses (though I had had a session on the previous Wednesday). The real time sink was the paper that was due on Tuesday afternoon, which I was able to submit with a about two hours to spare (actually, I think that the professor was a little surprised that I actually handed it in on time). On Wednesday I had the pleasure of having two several hour seminars, the first of which started at 8:30 AM. The second seminar, the one for which the paper was due, ended at 5:30 PM, a solid nine hours after the first one started. A little later in the evening Neil and I had our first Ultimate game of our Fall season (we tied). Then on Thursday I helped a friend with some things before heading into school for a SSHRC doctoral fellowship information session. Immediately after the SSHRC event I made my way across campus to meet with a professor (the one for whom I had to write the paper) and ended up talking with her for almost 2 hours. After dinner (tacos) all three of us went back to campus to attend the weekly trivia night at the student bar. After trivia we made our way to Bubble's Mansion, hoping that this would be the location of the new Trailer Park Boys movie's premier after party. As it turned out that Bubble's Mansion wasn't as active and happening decided not to stay. In the end, for a variety of somewhat complex reasons, we ended up heading to another establishment. Unfortunately, the beer we ordered wasn't so great so it took us quite a while to drink it. In the end the only thing that really got us moving was that they turned on the lights and were clearly sending us the message that they wanted us to go. Anyway, these events meant that Thursday night was much less productive than I hoped it would be. Then today, I had to head into school to check on a few things before heading out to the Kempt Road area with Peter to buy some bulk dried goods (mainly beans) at good prices. Then tonight, because of our earlier shopping adventure, Peter came over for a dinner that was at least in part based on this afternoon's purchases. Anyway, all of this is just to give some insight into my noticeable absence from the blog. I really wish that a number more of these reasons related to academic eagerness, but unfortunately such reason were only part of the reason for my absence.
-Earlier tonight I noticed that the watermelon plants seem to be infested with something (hopefully not spider mites). Soon after this discovery I destroyed the infested plants plants and sprayed the others than had stored in the vicinity with pesticide. Hopefully this somewhat prompt action had curtailed the spread of whatever it was on the plants, though I fear that I may have been too late, which would really frustrate me quite a bit. Anyway, I guess I may try to do a bit of cleaning tomorrow and then have to wait and see whether anything comes back.
-I feel that there were quite a number of other things that I wanted to comment upon but that I can't seem to remember at the moment. Maybe when I have a little more time tomorrow I will try to work on a slightly more complete re-cap of the past few days.
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