Wrong Number Karen

The Holly Saga continues, sponsored in part tonight by her "dear friend" Karen.

In case you haven't heard, the person who previously had my cell # was named Holly.
In the past I have been privileged to meet several of her "friends" including several late night drunk guys, and a British relative.

Tonight I met her "dear friend" Karen via text message. This is how it transpired:

Karen: Get off ur phone and pay attention to ur numbers. ;) (I am assuming she was referring to lottery numbers???)
Me: ? Who is this? Do you have the wrong number?
Karen: As if. Its karen. Lmfao!
Me: I dont think I know a Karen, who do you think I am?
Karen: Hahahahhahaha
Me: Seriously, i think you have the wrong # but hope you have a good day anyway!
Karen: Holly! Look at kat!
Me: This isn't Holly, it is someone called ShariAnn, but this must be her old # because I get calls for her all the time even though it hasn't been her # for over a year now.
Karen: Ok, sorry. Hav a good nite.
Me: no prob, you too.

I kinda feel sorry for Karen. Clearly she thought she was good friends with Holly, apparently not. Hope she had a good night anyways, and maybe next time when she sees Holly she will tell her to tell her friends when she gets a new number.

Advent Peace???

I can now say with (almost) certainty- “I’ll be home for Christmas!” both Kuiper Christmas and actual Christmas, barring any unforeseen circumstances of course. It will involve lots of driving, and hoping for good weather but I will be there. Hurray!

I have been really worried about the long drive by myself, especially if the weather turns nasty- I have to drive through several snowbelt regions. To top it all off I had some recent issues with my car that had me rather anxious. But the weather report looks clear enough and my car was given a clean bill of health so now I am looking forward to good food, good fun and family!

 Christmas is always an interesting time of year; so full of magic, and wonder, and excitement, and also so stressful in many ways. As people gather with their families to celebrate there is also the rush of shopping, and stress of preparing meals, and interesting family dynamics that emerge amongst family members that haven’t seen each other in awhile.

In my advent posts I haven’t been so good at following the traditional advent format (Peace, Hope, Joy, Love) but this post is about advent peace. Peace is sometimes hard to find at Christmas. Stores are busier, we are busier, and it is all too easy to forget about Peace. I frequently remember as a child my mother declaring that the only Christmas present she wanted was for us children to just get along for once. We hear about peace in Christmas songs, and read about peace in stories and on Christmas cards. But something about that version of peace is too syrupy sweet and unrealistic. It sounds nice in stories but in reality I think it might be a bit fake.

  

I remember one year I spent a lot of time and effort to cultivate that Christmas card-type “peace” in my family. I thought it meant evenings spent around a beautifully decorated tree, or advent wreath, singing songs, reading stories etc. My intentions were noble but the reality was much less idyllic. Siblings were grouchy, Christmas tree lights got tangled, and eyes strained trying to read stories by candlelight. The result brought a whole new meaning to when Jesus said he came, “ to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law…” (Matthew 10:35)

There is no magical formula for Christmas peace. But I have a feeling it might involve a bit of smiling through family photo shoots and settling for Chinese food instead of turkey. Today I bring you the song “Just for Now” by Imogen Heap. I love the way she captures both sides of the holiday experience. Enjoy!

Since Advent is also the time of anxious waiting for the (second) coming of Christ we can also anticipate the Peace that will come. For anyone who has read Revelations it is clear that kind of peace wouldn’t fit on a Christmas card either- plagues, wars, bloodshed, tears and violence abound but at the end there is a city, and a river and a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, and there will no longer be any curse, and the Spirit and the Bride say “Come!”

Guess what Scarecrow- I have a Brain!

     (I wrote this blog post on Thursday, but since I didn't have internet then, or all weekend for that matter, you don't get it till now.)

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come to the end of the peat. Please wash and stack your trays and make your way out of the freezer to the nearest supervisor for your next task.”

Yes, that’s right I may finally be done with the peat. Hurray! Not that peat processing was so bad, it was actually interesting. I really enjoyed seeing the differences in peat layers and locations- permafrost and palsa cores were by far the coolest. But I will enjoy not needing to wear my long johns to work everyday.

I really shouldn’t be celebrating too soon though, there are a few more peat cores in the building, but they weren’t on any of the sample lists I was given. So I made a complete inventory of all remaining peat samples and left it in the hands of my supervisor, who passed it on to the research scientists, who are currently determining who gets what, how they will be processed or if they will be processed at all. Since it is a busy time of year, and scientists can be absentminded, and deliberation involves input from a variety of collaborators scattered across the province in various universities and research institutes, I think it is safe to say I won’t be headed back to the freezer for a few more weeks.  

In the meantime I get to do something else. In my internship last year I quickly learned that there is always something else that needs to be done, and often that something else is no better, if not worse than what you were doing before. For now I narrowly escaped being assigned leaf-litter sorting duty. Imagine spending your day using tweezers to separate deciduous leaves from conifer needles and miscellaneous forest debris- it gives a whole new name to tedious and time consuming. (But it is part of an important long-term scientific study.) Last year I suggested they contract this work out to a Buddhist monastery; they could make it part of their meditation practice- unfortunately this idea did not fly. Another job I narrowly escaped was sorting and processing national forest inventory (NFI) samples. NFI samples aren’t so bad- there is a lot of samples but at least there are a variety of methods and treatments to keep you busy. But the lab manager saved me from these tasks and assigned me to the biochem lab to perform FTIR analysis on the peat samples. (Hurray for being one of the few technicians that can do both field and laboratory work!)

I am excited about working in the lab again. It makes me feel like a “real scientist” rather than a trained monkey and I enjoy the opportunity to use my brain, especially this week since we are working on method development. FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) is a useful method of analysis for characterizing functional groups (-OH, CH₃, -COOH, etc.) in a compound. In organic chemistry we used it to elucidate the structure of pure compounds. With soil samples it is a bit more difficult. Because soil is made of many organic and inorganic compounds the peaks in our read-outs are not as clear, and in many cases come out as broad bumps. It is still a helpful tool, especially to see differences between different soil samples, however the clearer the peaks and the better the signal to noise ratio, the better and more defensible our data is when we use it in a scientific publication. Today I was tweaking our methods to see if there was any way we could get stronger and clearer peaks. It was fun because I got to try a bunch of different things to see how they affected the read-outs. A few methods provided a slight improvement, however I think the real limitation is our instrument itself. Anybody got a spare few hundred thousand dollars they want to donate in the name of scientific research?

Advent Action- SEEK JUSTICE- (for Attawapiskat)

As Christmas approaches our thoughts often turn to gift giving and gift receiving. Our focus is on our families and friends, and on our homes. One of my favourite traditions is decorating the Christmas tree and my family has several ornaments that are "my tradition" to put up every year. This year being away from my family around Christmastime- and being unsure how much time I will be able to spend with them over the holidays, my thoughts turn toward family, and Christmas even more. (I will be home for Christmas, but I may have to miss several family gatherings- needless to say the song "I'll be home for Christmas" is particularly poignant to me this year.) How often we take for granted what we have until we realize what it is like to not have it. This has become all the more clear to me considering some events making news in Canada.....

I have been loosely following the news about the situation in the community of Attawapiskat. (a Northern Ontario First Nation's reserve) The news of their housing shortage and dire living conditions has struck me deeply. (My own housing frustrations and worries over the past two years pale in comparison!) I have watched several videos about their community's plight and it angers and saddens me to see this sort of thing happening in Canada. I know Attawapiskat is not the only First Nations reserve or northern community in this kind of situation, but their story has impacted me personally.

I have never been to Attawapiskat myself, but just last week I finished processing a bunch of peat samples that came from the Attawapiskat area. Perhaps it is that connection that has piqued my interest and concern, or perhaps it is the national news coverage they have been receiving as a result of their band declaring a state of emergency. All I can say is that it is clear that there is injustice, that their is great need, and that something needs to be done.

So I am putting out a call to everyone reading to SEEK JUSTICE. Justice takes on many forms. In this case one of the basic needs is adequate housing and emergency supplies which require some financial inputs. As a result I have included a link to the Canadian Red cross Attawapiskat Appeal, but money alone cannot solve this problem. I urge everyone to SEEK JUSTICE- whether that means educating yourself more fully on the situation in Attawapiskat and other northern communities, or whether it means writing a letter to your local MP or MPP urging them to take action on this issue. Perhaps justice also involves re-evaluating your own prejudices and preconceived notions. Above all else I urge you to pray- for the community, for those providing aid, for the government, for wisdom, and for justice.

Consider these two verses one as a call to action, and one as a warning:

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)

(interestingly enough some translations say "correct the oppressor" instead of "defend the oppressed" if you do a little research into Attawapiskat's situation you will find either interpretation applies to this situation.)

 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? (Jeremiah 5:27-29)

Tough tidings as we enter the Christmas season.
Advent is a time for waiting, anticipating and preparing for the coming of Christ celebrated at Christmas, and also Christ's second coming. Are we ready?

 http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=41676&tid=001