Maybe you heard...

I'm one of the lucky ones.

PEI has been hit with an ice storm that's knocked out power to much of the Island, and at one point today about 96% of us were without power. Fortunately, I live between the airport and the hospital, so we were pretty quick to get the power back. I just watched the CBC news about it, and our power company (Maritime Electric) is really working hard. Really hard. This isn't Nova Scotia Power, where they say they're working hard, but they don't show it. These guys are doing 16-hour shifts, and are traveling across fields with snowmobiles and bulldozers to get to these poles. NSP could probably take a lesson from these guys.

The other major discussion on the news is the impact on communities. I saw it happen during Juan, White Juan, and those other major storms. All of a sudden, people start caring about other people. Volunteers show up at community centres, fire halls, legions. People go door to door to check on their neighbours. A lot of the Western part of the Island is still without power, and may remain that way till next week. But people are being looked after. Even the fire department is going around knocking on houses with no lights, checking on the residents.

I don't mean to be melodramatic. We had no power for a few hours, but it's mostly back on. I'm perfectly comfortable on the couch downstairs. I can smell tuna casserole cooking upstairs. I'm connected the the Internet on the laptop, and after this I'm probably going to check my favourite webcomics. But now I'm thankful for it all.

When you're bored on a Saturday afternoon

In the past, during the school year, I would find that Saturdays were usually quite busy, with schoolwork, errands, cleaning, everything that needed to be done. But the first few weeks into a co-op work term can leave it rather...boring. I wanted to do something today, and I ended up on one of my favourite cooking sites, 101cookbooks.com. I made the olive oil crackers, with variations of sea salt and cracked pepper, herbes de Provence, sesame seed, plain and barbecue. The BBQ I did by spreading BBQ sauce them before baking them. Great fun, took up a few hours, plus they're great for dipping. A warning, though. These make a LOT. Each of the dozen balls of dough in the recipe easily makes a dozen large crackers. And since these are whole wheat and thick, a couple of crackers will do you nicely. Of course, since they're crackers they probably won't go bad for a long time. Enjoy.
Another interesting taste experience I've discovered: citrus fruit dipped in olive oil. Try it before you knock it.

Like staring into a flashlight

I've been at a microscope all day. I've been isolating individual spores off tissue samples, all work that needs to be done under a dissecting scope. But I found some interesting fungi, and made a few slides and cultures to see what they are (My bet is Trichurus spirilis).

In even better news, I've got a laptop computer so I can do some work from home, including writing and preparing presentations. However, I'm still working on getting the Internet to work on a wireless network. If anybody has a ny ideas, here's the problem: I can connect (and ping) to the wireless network. However, MSN, IE and Firefox cannot browse the Internet with it. I have to be hooked directly into the router in order to browse the Internet (like I'm doing now) If anyone has any advice, please let me know!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it to Digg In. I'm very sorry about this. I was looking forward to going, but getting off the Island is rather difficult, especially for the timing needed. Hopefully, if the Fates are kind, I'll see if I can go to CbtS.

I'm not weird...

Perhaps you know a biologist. Perhaps you're even friends with one. In fact, if you're reading this you probably already are. Then you probably know that we find very strange things very interesting, and see beauty in the most disgusting things on the planet.
My case: I've gathered over 200 samples of fungus, and some of them are just beautiful. Nice colours of red and orange, and some even looking like a sunset. A very fuzzy sunset. Another, which really has nothing to do with my project, but I found it anyways, is a nice brown colour, strongly branched, with hints of other colours throughout the growth. The man that sits next to me in the prep room is studying a group of fungi that live in pond water. He's spent hours looking at branches under a dissecting scope. I asked him what it's like when he goes for a walk in the park, and he replied that his wife describes it like walking a bloodhound. He's all over the place, lifting things, looking at branches, insects, everything. I know what it's like. Yesterday I went into the Superstore, and identified Silver Scurf all over their potatoes.
For those wishing to do the same, here's what you do. Pick a couple of light-skinned potatoes. Look for dark patches on them. See if they're in tiny circles, or almost honeycombed. After spotting these, wet the potato and wipe the loose water away. There should be a silver gleam to darker areas, as opposed to a wet look on the rest of the potatoes. Congratulations! You have found either Silver Scurf or Black Dot.
If you'd like to tell the difference between the two, simply go to your local library and check out a book on fungal taxonomy. Don't be shy, be proud! You're performing Biology!

-Owen "gets lost in sunsets" the Fungal Pathologist

I love finishing books

I just finished John LeCarre's The Mission Song. It's pretty good, pulls along nicely, then starts to crumble at the end. For anybody who wants a fantastic read, read The Constant Gardener. Story of absolutely devoted love, and pushes you deep into Africa, and all around the world. The movie is almost as good as the book, and in fact helps clear things up. Probably the only fault I find With J. LeC is that there's so many supporting characters and correspondents that it's hard to keep track of them all.

It's rare that I actually finish a book nowadays. I tend to get two-thirds of the way through them, then they're put to the side. But over the past two weeks, I've finished two, this one as well as Evolution by Carl Zimmer. For anybody interested in the topic, it's a great book. It especially provides insightful and interesting commentary on the origin of humans and human society. Sometimes I feel like a horrible biologist, not having read The Origin of Species, but I know I'll get around to it sometime. Maybe even this semester.

For any Acadia people reading this, I'd love to know what people think about Dr. Gail leaving. It's so sudden, yet the few I've talked to are still pretty pleased. I'm just mad that it leaves us less time to find someone, orient them, and then place them. Hopefully Acadia will enter back into a golden age.

Tomorrow I've got piles and piles of samples to do; it'll probably take up most of my day. But, in good news, I might be getting a laptop tomorrow. If so, hooray!

In which our protagonist is hungry

I am. I'm writing this before supper, and my stomach is growling. I went to KFC and tried one of the L'il snacker sandwich things. For a snack, it's actually perfectly sized. If you're not hungry for lunch, try one of those. I had it for lunch, along with rice from home.

Last night I went to the College and Careers group at First Baptist Church, downtown. It's a large study group, and a mix of people from varying viewpoints. We started off the discussion with a short clip from "Twisted" a look at how the World has twisted a lot of the meaning of the Scriptures. That branched into a discussion about the existance of Satan, whether he is a real entity or someone made up to explain evil. From there, we explored the passage in Luke where Jesus is tempted by Satan:

5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

-Luke 4: 5-8

The biggest disscussion: "for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to" The conclusion reached is that, like in Job, God has allowed the Devil to be the prince of Earth, but the only way he can work is through deception. He can fool people, lie, plot, but he can't control them. God has severly limited his power. To cut him off entirely, or to destroy him, would make it seem like Satan was a threat to God.

Instead, He protects us with one weapon: Truth.

Do I believe in Satan? Yes. Evil is not human nature. We're made in God's image, and He was perfectly happy with us. We fall short, sure. But we're still good. There is somebody (or something) that drives at our fears and our anger and takes advantage of them.

In interesting science news, there's some evidence that dinosaurs had teen sex. Just to show again, dinosaurs are cool. Rebels are cool, and dinosaurs rebelled against their parents and society. They sure showed them. On the other hand, if teen sex is as wrong as we say it is, maybe that's why the dinosaurs are extinct.

Today I learned about another type of fungus that could Be. On. Your. Potato. Right. Now. Late Blight, and it shows up as dark areas on your tuber's skin. *gasp* Not to be confused with Pink Rot, which turns your tater into a pink sponge. Sort of. You squeeze, water drips out.

By the way, it is now after supper. I have eaten a meal of leftovers, plus a slice of delicious blueberry coffee cake.

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Just in case you were worried about my wellbeing.

First Post...and to think I never thought I'd start one

So...this is it. While I'm up and around PEI, I might was well write about what's going on here.

I'm working with Agri-Food Canada studying storage diseases of potatoes. It's pretty interesting, and stuff I've never done before. After this job, I'll never look at a potato the same way again. To think...I'm 22 years old, and have cooked plenty of times before. I always thought it was just dirt on those potatoes. Nope: it's fungus. Probably Helminthosporium. Yet, amazingly, after staring at mouldy potato after mouldy potato, I still will gladly eat french fries.

I'm staying with a nice family about forty minutes from work (an hour, if you take the bus). I live in the basement, between the computer room and the TV room. They feed me, and feed me well. They're also pleasant to talk with and sit down with for supper. The food's usually pretty good, and healthy.

A friend of Mary's (the woman of the house where I'm staying) took me to a church downtown. It's big, and there's a college study group there. I met one of the guys, and he lives nearby, as well as works full-time as well. It's good to finally meet someone close to my age here.

Hmm...I've got nothing else to say right now. This is the biggest update. I'll keep writing frequently. This could be fun.