Return Flight Nightmare

Well I have once again lived up to my rep for being me. Some how I always seem to say the wrong (or dumbest) things, screw things up, or humiliate myself beyond believe. I have come to terms with this. On the bright side, I always make people laugh but usually at my own expense.

Last night I experienced another one of a kind, story-telling incident. Here is the short version. Everything started when I arrived at the Victoria airport with some CARCNET conference comrades (Connie, Arthur, Brian, and Chris). When I got there I manual tried to get my boarding pass from one of the ATM like machines except it kept saying that my flight wasn’t until ~4 hours later, which was wrong because it was supposedly scheduled to leave an hour later. With a bounding heart I expected the worst and approached a lady at the counter and explained my problem. Five minutes later she found my information and proceeded to tell me the bad news! I was not scheduled to leave Victoria that day (29 Oct 2006) but on the 26th of November (2006) flight. With this news, mine and all my friends’ mouths dropped, making us speechless. It turned out that their flight was booked solid, so I was going to have to fly out the next day. I was planning to spend the next 24 hours in the airport but everyone was trying to tell me to go to a hotel. The truth was, I couldn’t afford it. I had just paid more than $80.00 to change flights, bringing my bank account balance closer to $0. I could see on everybody’s long faces that they felt bad for me, probably because I looked like I was going to break down and cry (mainly due to the acute stress and lack of sleep I was experiencing). Arthur and Connie were the best though. Arthur offered to pick me up the next day and Connie tried to sell her ticket so that she could stay with me. That would have been a lot of fun, except that she wasn’t able to. In the end, the lady came through for me. First she got me on a 7:00 pm flight the next day (because it was cheaper) but then she put me on a standby for a 9:20 am flight that same day. That was the plan until another worker over heard our predicament and suggested that we take a connecting flight…which was brilliant. I ended up taking a flight a half our later than everyone else. By the end of the night, or should I say the beginning of the morning, I arrived in Edmonton around 12:30. The good news about this ordeal was that I was home; the bad news was that Edmonton was covered with snow!

A herpetologist meets Victoria

This pass weekend( 26 Oct-29 Oct 2006), I found myself in Victoria attending the yearly CARNET (Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Network) meeting. It was my first time visiting Victoria and attending the conference.

Victoria
This is a city that will always stand out in my mind. The thing that first jumped out at me was the perfection of the buildings and streets. If you dragged your index finger across the stone of any building, you would not find a speck of dirt or dust. The city is spotless, every building, sidewalk, lawn, or tree is flawless. During the day the buildings show their beauty through they exceptional architecture. By night darkness usually blankets buildings, however in this city, night is bright. Unlike cities I have been to, majority of the buildings are lit up. You have to see this city during the night and day to see how beautiful it really is.

The city contains a lot of cute things that can draw a person in. During Friday a bunch of us walked downtown, taking in every little thing. We saw horse and buggies (which included a zebra), jelly fish in the harbour, a wax house, museum, various little shops and cafes. My favourite store was literally 3 feet by 6 feet called Smoking Lily. This is a quant little shop containing exceptional clothes that are made by the owners. Every piece is unique and distinctive, giving individualism to every article. The best thing about the size of this shop is that there isn’t a change room but a drape that stretches across the entire room. I would have to say that the saying “size doesn’t matter” works with this store.

Conference
For weeks leading up to this conference I was so excited. This would be my first amphibian/reptile conference in Canada and I was not let down. These conferences are a way to meet herpetologists (professors, grad students and government/non government employees) from around Canada. During the weekend I ran into Jackie, David, Billy and other professors and students (including a cute new student) from Laurentian University, who all study herps. It was a great experience. I was able to catch up with old friends, build new ones, compose new connections, network through the herpetology world and learn about current research. I attended some great talks however I didn’t like how Sunday’s talks strayed away from science. In particular there was one girl (SA) who really worked the audience. By doing this she neglected her talk. She was funny yet annoying. Others didn’t have a hint of science in them, only an advertisement of their study site.

Saturday a bunch of students from U of A, U BC, and L.U went out to a pub called Sticky Wicket. Here we drank $5-$6 dollar drinks, danced and socialized with various ghosts, goblins, and witches, for it was the weekend before Halloween. We were all dressed up as grad students. The funny thing was, there was no cover charge at the door. However you had to pay $3 dollars to get onto the dance floor. I never ended up paying this ridiculous fee because the music SUCKED. As most of the girls danced, I caught up with Billy and Chris. In the end, all of us herpetologists had an entertaining night.

On another note, I have to say that there were a couple guys that caught my eye. There were two guys in particular; one had great manly arms that had large tattoos in which I found myself always staring at him, the second guy was tall dark and handsome, yum yum. Boy do I wish they went to U of A. You would think with a school as big as U of A, we would a least have more cute guys in the biology department.

Bridging the gap between Alberta and Ontario

This is my attempt to sever the information gap that exists between my friends and family outside of Edmonton (and friends in Edmonton). For those people that really know me, know how I hate not being involved with my friends and families lives. I am not a nosey person, I just like knowing what is going on, plus a little gossip never hurts. You have to admit, when you live four provinces away and your friends and family NEVER call you, yet they say that they will, well it hurts. It even angers me when I call them and ask the common question "what’s new?" and get responses that include, nothing and same old same old. Then months later, you find out second hand that two months ago someone won a large amount of money at a casino, got engaged, died or is sick. Now if they would have mentioned this when the common question (what’s new?) was initially asked, then there would be no merit to the anger and hurtful thoughts. Therefore, I will be posting some of my many happy, embarrassing, hysterical/comical thoughts and actions so that people can at least know what is happening in my life, even if they don't care to confront me one-on-one.