Beginner Drawing - Class 2 of 4

So I spent Halloween drawing objects, learning how to measure and more accurately reflect sizes and distance between shapes. I am very slow, didn't come even close to completing the shoe last week and this week I was really enjoying the challenging shapes in the second composition but hadn't even finished the vinegar bottle by the time class ended.

Mildly Adventurous

Soooo, you want a low number - I guess that means you are more adventurous. I need to remember some of these for when I play this as part of a drinking game.

I am at SIX. Because I have never...
- Broken a bone (knock on wood)
- Been skydiving
- Had braces
- Given birth
- Gone scuba diving
- Been on a cruise
(Does having braces make you more adventurous?)

Let me know your number in the comments!! 

Go Team Go!

Yesterday was Isaac's Trek for Treats, the annual event held by Jason's sister for her son. I missed it last year because I was running an event for work on the same day. So glad to be a part of it for 2018! Teri and Greg came out, we had a little team going. It was a fun event raising money for Duchenne's research through Jesse's Journey. Looking forward to 2019.

Super Mario Party

It is here!! The new Mario Party!! When we lived together, Kristen and I played A LOT of Mario Party 8 for The Wii. It was so much fun, we beat everything, unlocked everything, and loved it. A few years later when the next one came out (Mario Party 9) we rushed to get it - but it was terrible! Such a horrible disappointment, they changed how the game worked, the mini games within it weren't good, we played it only a couple of times.

Mario Party 10 came after that but it was for Wii U which wasn't a system we had. Everyone had the original Wii though, at one point we had two of them! The latest Nintendo system is the Switch, which Jason got a while ago to play Zelda (I think) since it had good reviews. I have been patiently waiting for a Mario Party to get released for this new console. Even though I think the price tag of $80 is insanely high, I had such high hopes that it would be good like the first one I played.

Jason surprised me by ordering the extra controllers we needed with overnight shipping, so we were prepared when Kristen and Noah came to test it out. I can happy report that is it awesome!! The main section returns to the style of play seen in version 8, the mini games are hilarious, and there are extra things that are super fun on their own. I can't wait to unlock everything!

Beginner Drawing - Class 1 of 4

I am taking a Beginning Drawing class at ARTiculations, in The Junction on Wednesday nights. Here is what I did on my first night.

The image on the right is a recreation from a Degas sketch, we used a grid technique to draw it. This is the remaining aspect of drawing that I can still do, I can recreate when someone else has already taken something and made it 2D, black and white, especially when it is a sketch, even more so if a gird is involved. It was nice to end on that, helped renew my confidence.

Quotes From Alberta

As I mentioned before, Jason and I went to Alberta this weekend. We flew out Friday evening and came back overnight Monday to Tuesday. It was a quick visit but I got to see my GeoConnection girls, their spouses, Mike, Aimee and the babies. Here are some quotes from the trip that I found amusing:

----

Pointing out the car windshield...
Jason: Oh God! How cold is Edmonton? Is that a penguin?!?
Me: Huh? What?
Jason: That black and white bird that is waddling.
Me: Oh! That is a magpie, they are like my favourite! I don't understand how everywhere has them except Ontario.

----

(Said at various different times) Coming out from the changes rooms at the resort spa, wearing the hooded plaid bathrobes provided:
ERin: Ooo, I feel like I am at Hogwarts
Matt: Totally lookin' like a boxer here
Anne: Reminds me of Dementors
Sutik: Is this some sort of Illuminati thing?

----

Me: Are you just the cutest thing ever?!
Maya: I'm Maya!

Happy Weed Day

The day has come - Cannabis is legal in Canada. This has been a long time coming and I totally agree with all the arguments for legalization. At the moment there are still quantity restrictions and edible products won't be allowed for another couple of years, but we are totally moving in the right direction with this.

My one concern comes with driving under the influence. Impaired driving has always terrified me, growing up in a small town it was a huge issue that took many lives. While the breathalyzer is far from perfect it has provided a quick and convenient tool to assess alcohol impairment. It is harder to determine what is going on when someone is driving high. At the moment there isn't a federally approved fluid screening device that can be used roadside for cannabis.

On top of the testing challenges, right now, there's no set limit on the amount of cannabis that you can have legally in your blood or urine when driving. Driving high has always been illegal, and covered under Impaired Driving, but it doesn't get charged as much, even though drugs now show up more often than alcohol in blood tests of drivers killed in crashes. So scary.

I am excited to see the start of legalized cannabis but please - don't drive high!

Oh, And I Have Voted

So, another quick follow-up to my municipal election post: I voted.

Jason and I went to the advance polls, which close this evening so you probably missed them - make sure you go out on election day, October 22!! We got our voter cards in the mail and they had our polling location info on it - stopped over at a nearby community centre to cast our ballots on Thursday. We are away on the main day, doing a short little trip to Alberta.

Fun Fact: There are 35 mayoral candidates in the Toronto election this year and at least two of them are neo-nazis. (Actually, not a fun fact, frankly a disgusting reality.)

Really? That Many?

Decided to check out the statistics for Always Standing since I haven't done so in a while and I was blown away by what I found.

Firstly, I just used the little Stats tab on the Blogger homepage instead of going through the full on Google Analytics route so I don't get as much information as usual.

Secondly, as has been true for the past few years, Puns For Anna consistently gets tons of visits. I don't know how or why people find it but they do.

Alright, onto the shocking thing, in the past week my post about the municipal election got 45 page views! I did post about it on Facebook and in the past that has meant a decent uptake in views, maybe double the normal amount but nothing close to that number.

I have about 244 Facebook Friends (I think I need to cull that down) so does that mean that one fifth of them clicked the status update? I hope they decided to become (or return to being) regular Always Standing readers.

TB - September 2007

Throwback Thursday - Scroll to the bottom of the month and read up. Or click on the earliest post in the month (to view the post and the comments) then keep clicking Newer Post until you finish the month.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Settling into a full-time job, at GeoConnections, and going to school in the evenings (I am going to meet Erin AH and Jenn soon ... pretty sure they are both in the class I mention attending.) Looks like I signed up to help Kristen at The Charlatan and that I quit Subway, did I end up going back to Subway later? I have a hard time leaving that chain.

There is a quote from my dad! I don't exactly remember where or when or the context in which he was saying it but totally sounds like something he would say. Probably was on the phone. Sadly, I can no longer hear how his voice sounds in my head, it left quickly and I hate that it is gone. 

Noted Post: The I Can See!! post describes one of my favourite personal anecdotes, I remember it happening and I still laugh about it to this day.

Just Like Us

Driving home today, yesterday we visited Harvard and MIT campuses in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston. (We also went kayaking on that river and had a picnic lunch in Harvard Yard.)

Harvard Students - They are just like us!
Seen on campus: 
Student with an armful of obviously stolen toilet paper.
Overheard:
"Yo, if a girl matches you on Tindr means she is go to go!"

MIT Students - Less like us
Seen on campus: 
A juggling club practicing in a hallway with a variety of materials.
Overheard: 
"When you amplify the sample size, you decrease the error rate."

Salem In October

Yesterday we went to Salem, which is just north of Boston. (It is actually on their commuter rail system it is so close, but we drove.) The town is really busy in October and was so beautiful. I definitely want to go back. The historic homes are incredible, they have houses dating back to the 1600s. There was a lot that we didn't get to see, just being there for a day. It is a harbor town and we didn't even make it down to the waterfront area. We were mainly there to learn more about The Salem Witch Trials.

If you don't know about this strange point in American history, I really suggest you look it up. The Wikipedia entry linked above gives a decent overview but I am sure there are other sites as well. Both Kristen and I consider this a common knowledge point but there are so many historic events in the USA it seems it isn't as known about as I had assumed. There is also a lot of miss information, and the Salem Trials get confused with facts from those that occurred in Europe.

Here are some things I was surprised about:
- Not as many deaths as I had thought, they 'only' executed twenty people
- Trials are well documented, there are surviving transcripts from witness interviews
- They relied on spectral evidence, which was a thing
- It all ended when the Governor's wife got accused
- They didn't 'test' the women in water, might have been a European thing
- Starts with accusations from afflicted children
- Along with sexism issues, racism was a factor too

Road Trip!

Jason and I like to travel to the US during Canadian Thanksgiving. This year Kristen and Noah were interested in joining us. We have planned out a pretty intense road trip over to Massachusetts. We knew you can get there for a weekend, since we had done it for the playoff game in April. That had been a lot of driving but with an extra day I hope to be able to see some cool things, going to visit Salem and Boston. We are used to being in the car together. Besides the playoff road trip, the four of us have also driven together to Pittsburgh this past summer, well just outside of it, to go White Water Rafting. Road trip!

A Tiny Advantage

I won't get into how horrible it is that Premier Doug Ford, in the Provincial Government, has cut the size of Toronto city council. Basically it is a terrible idea, but on top of that doing it in the middle of an election is unethical. However, because The City is now 25 ridings instead of the previous 47, Vote Compass has been expanded to include city councillor races as well (maybe it was always going to do so for this election but I really like thinking there is some tiny silver lining in the disgraceful city council meddling.) In 2014 they had information for the mayor stuff, but the ward details are a great addition.

Vote Compass is an amazing tool, I love it so much and use it every election. So glad that I used it because the incumbent councillor (from my section of the ward, since there have been mergings) visited the house and I enjoyed talking to her. However, she isn't at all progressive and I didn't fully know her voting record. She voted to cut transit routes! So, good to get an idea of a more appropriate candidate for our neighbourhood. Here are my results:

This didn't tell me anything new for the mayoral race, I knew that I aligned more with Jennifer Keesmaat, she is an urban planner and I thought she was awesome in the role of Toronto Chief City Planner when she did it a few years back. I will be voting for her. However, I think John Tory is doing a good job and I will not be disappointed if (when) he is elected.

Grrrr Two

The cat has cost us over $1,200 this month! That is just medically, not even looking at food or litter.

It started early in September with a scheduled surgery - she has these strange Cutaneous Horns on her paw pads and they had reached a size that I decided to get them cut off/back.

Cutaneous horns are composed of keratin overgrowth. They may affect one or multiple footpads. Often thin and horn-like (hence the name), they may appear like second "nails" close to the nails on the digital pads. If not on a weight bearing surface, these lesions usually do not cause lameness. Cutaneous horns may be spontaneous, and this is often the case on the footpads. If the horns are not causing lameness the lesions are often ignored. The horny growth can removed by trimming, however, the horns will often recur. Horns causing discomfort should be removed and, if it is possible to do so without causing a large pad defect, the base of the lesion should be excised to prevent regrowth. -- DMV360 

They have be growing for years and were never something I felt comfortable trimming myself. This summer they reached a length that was bothering her when we were trimming her claws. I decided to have her into the vet for surgery and get them cut them down (they weren't able to dig everything out to prevent regrowth and they are already regrowing, but it helped). Also had them clean her teeth at the same time. That was $585 and she went in for it about a month ago.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I got concerned about a mark I noticed on her bum, because Binx had an abscess issue once that was awful. After a $85 examination it was determined to just be a scratch and I was told to watch it for the next couple of weeks but that it would just heal up and go away - it did.

Last night she tore a claw - another trip into the vet. She did it back in December too but I don't think we caught it right away back then because the fur around it was all clumped together. In December the vet had a hard time determining the issue, having to cut back the fur first. Last night we noticed it quickly (just by chance because both times she was walking fine) and I took her in this afternoon. They treated it and it cost $610. In December, it had been $470. The difference was that they didn't sedate her last time. I guess by the time they had trimmed and cleaned the fur she was in enough distress that they just cut back the claw, cleaned it up and gave her antibiotics. We weren't given a choice in the method at the time, she was taken to another room and treated. This time the vet explained that style to be a bit more 'down on the farm' and while it was an option since this time he could see everything and knew what needed to be done - sedation and pain killers were recommended. Of course I agreed, I hate pain why would I make the cat suffer.

Basically this rant isn't about the cost of veterinary services - because while they are more expensive in The City, it is an understandable increase for more expensive rent etc. Across all vet practices I find the costs are almost always worth it - I value the expertise and care. Mainly this is a rant at the fact that my particular cat keeps costing me money, or that it has all been concentrated recently. Luckily she is cute!

Follow Two's life in her own words with photos on Instagram - @twodeecat

One Study And I Added The L

I had read somewhere that including a middle initial on your resume increased the likelihood of being hired and having it in your name of an academic paper could lead to higher marks. It turns out that this has been written about a fair amount but upon review it all goes back to just a few studies by a couple of social psychologists.

Still, I wanted as much help as I could get so during my last job hunt I added the middle initial into my name on the letterhead that appears above my coverletter and resume - Christine L. Sweeton. (My middle name is Laura, after my late aunt.) I then also got it added to my business cards for the BIA.

There are a lot more studies related to gender bias in hiring (compared to the small studies on middle-initial-inclusion.) It is a complex issue but I suspect the fact that I have an easily understood as female name might have minuscule negative effects, but this is too depressing to think about. For now I will continue to take whatever leg-up my L. gives me!

New Look Too!

For the past two and a half years, Always Standing has looked like this:

Before making the design change to the basic burgundy appearance above, the blog was purple and had a pretty filigree-ish pattern.  I think this new one has humming birds in the background - I am almost always using a split screen on my computer so the window for the blog is too small to see much of the edges. What do you think of the new peach-coloured look?

It's Been A Long Time

I have been meaning to get back to posting on Always Standing for a while now. And I have known that I wanted my first post after this break to link to the Aaliyah (featuring Timbaland) song from 2000, Try Again. This is for the beginning section that says... It's been a long time, we shouldn't have left you (without a dope beat to step to, step to.) Well, maybe I shouldn't compare the writing on this blog to a 'dope beat' but the phrase 'it's been a long time' always brings to mind that song.

Also, it really has been a long time! My last post was at the end of May and I am now returning after four months. I looked through the archive and I have never even missed one month, let alone a streak. But I am back! Do I bother promising that I plan to post more or even try for everyday?