Cerebral Discharge

So I wrote my last exam this morning….WHOOOOOOO!!!! What a feeling. It’s like a weight of 1000 tonnes has been lifted from my shoulders. What next? Geez, I’ve been trying to figure that out! I mean, I almost feel lost; now that there’s no more school, I have this premonition that the lack of routine is going to be a touch uncomfortable for me! Oh well, I _suppose_ I can allow myself to enjoy, at least for a few days. I’m planning to do absolutely nothing for the next couple of days, all the studying that has been going on for the last few weeks has left me a little drained!

I got a bit of an early Christmas present yesterday…Wednesday I received my final grades for my Reservoir Engineering course, I ended up with an 83 (or A-); now, although there’s no shame in an A-, in all honesty I was a bit disappointed with the result. I did very well in the course, aced the midterm, but had a bit of a weak final exam. Not to make excuses, but there was some family drama that was weighing rather heavily on me the day of the exam, the details of which I will spare you. Anyhow, long story short, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped to on a final exam worth 50% of my mark. Acting on the suggestion of one of my peers, I went and had a gander atmy exam on Thursday, hoping to find an extra mark or two, which would transform my A- into an A…success! That really raised my spirits going into the break!

I’m headed to Kelowna on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas and ring in the New Year with my family…I picked up Rockband for my brother, I’m sure he will be thrilled. I’m thinking I will do some sort of holiday dinner at my place for my friends and family on the 22nd or 23rd…I’ve really been craving a nice prime rib with mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, yorkshire pudding….mmmm!

Anyhow, I think I will sign off for now, and start enjoying my newfound freedom! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Well, yet another week has flown by! I really can’t believe how quickly the time goes!I had an absolutely wonderful weekend with my mother and brother, I’m looking forward to seeing them at Christmastime. In the meantime though, I have a few things to attend to: mainly 5 more final exams, which will be written next week. This week, I wrote a final worth 50% of my grade…not feelingtoo bad about how I did, but at the same time I think I might have been able to do a little better. We shall see…

I got my phone replaced on Wednesday with a brand new one…three cheers for Telus! I’m still trying to figure out what to buy my family for Christmas, hopefully I will have that worked out by the end of this week…no real plans for the weekend, I might get some people over on Saturday for a poker game. I really should study, but in all honesty my motivation hasn’t been at its normal levels lately. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the recent change in weather, maybe I should start ramping up the tanning.

Anyhow, good luck to everyone on your exams!

Now, if you know me at all, you will know that I strongly believe that we grow because of the challenges we face in life, rather than in spite of them. Let me tell you, this past day was a significant growth opportunity for me!

The day started out well enough…I woke up early to go to the gym (it was a leg day, had a _GREAT_ workout!), followed by a few hours of last minute studying for my Thermodynamics midterm. The exam went quite well, I’m pretty sure that I aced it. Ok, so far so good…right after my exam, I dashed home to throw some clothes in a bag, with the intent of heading to visit my mother and brother down in Canmore for a few days. I managed to make it out of the city around 4pm, which would have put me at the resort at roughly 8.

So what happened? Well, I should have known the trip wasn’t going to go quite as planned from the moment I got out of the city…I grabbed a pita for dinner on the fly, which leaked all over me while I was driving. Now, to make things much worse, the sauce in the pita was this sweet thai chili sauce, creating a rather sticky mess. Ok, maybe not too big of a deal, but a sign of things to come…

Roughly 20 minutes outside Red Deer,yet another snag! My phone decided tojust die for no apparentreason. Thiscreated a few challenges for me to overcome. Firstly, there was the matter of not having away to get directions to the resort. More importantly, Imy mother’s cell phone number was stored in the phone…luckily, I have a rather good memory, and was able to retrieve the digits from my ‘mainframe’.

Long story short, I ended uptaking a wild goose chase throughRed Deer looking for a Telus store that could have a look at (and hopefully repair!) my phone.Two anda half hours later, I decided to continue on to Canmore, broken phone in hand. Luckily for me, a very nice man let me borrow his phoneto give mom a quickcall to let her know I was ok, albeitbehind schedule. I suppose I should have taken it as a sign that I didn’t need my phone for acoupledays, but I can be pretty stubborn if I get an idea in my head.

Anyhow, the rest of the driveconcluded without incident. Iarrived in Canmore at about 10:45, nearly 3hours overdue.On the bright side, I’m here andit’s a gorgeous place!I plan to spend the whole day with mom and little bro, they haveagames room with shuffleboard, air hockey, and pool tables. It’s going to be a great time!

Well well, it’s a new week, and time to give you yet another blog detailing what is shaping up to be an action packed week! Yesterday was the 2008-09 NAIT Board of Governor’s Festive dinner…now, as much as I’d like to rave about how fantastic the food was at Ernest’s, I feel obliged to share something far more important with my audience. Preceeding our sumptuous meal, the Board held our year end meeting. At the meeting, a new policy regarding a rather contentious issue was discussed, and ultimately adopted by the Board. The issue to which I am alluding is smoking on NAIT campuses.

Effective July 1, 2009 ALL NAIT campuses will be COMPLETELY SMOKE FREE! Wow…it’s hard to believe we’ve come this far, it seems like yesterday I saw clouds of smoke billowing over the food court at West Edmonton Mall, in bars, and pretty much everywhere in between. Now, though this ban may seem a bit harsh, it’s intended to curb smoking at entrances, andcurb the pileup of cigarette butts that litter campus, while promoting a healthy, respectful learning environment. Smokers were given an opportunity to comply with a clean air policy implemented some time ago (respect NAITure), which stipulated no smoking near entrances. Now, all it will take you to see how seriously our clean air policies are being taken is to take a step outside any entrance of any NAIT building. I’ll bet you’ll see at least a few people smoking, most likely right next to the big no smoking sign.

Now, being a former smoker (actually, I still enjoy a cigar here and there) I have some pretty strong feelings regarding cigarettes; however, it’s still the right of the smoker to smoke. That said, they are more than welcome to continue their habit, off of NAIT property. I applaud the Board for their progressive stance, I have a hunch that other schools will move in this direction in the future. Really though, I’m looking forward to the day when we can actually start seriously talking about banning tobacco altogether. I mean, it may sound a bit ridiculous now, but I think that in the not too distant future society may be willing to consider it.

But I had better get off my soapbox, I have more to write about! I have an amazing rest of the week to look forward to, as soon as I make it through tomorrow! I have my first final of the year to write! It’s in Thermodynamics, I think I am prepared to do quite well! Right after my exam, I will be jumping in my car to drive down to Canmore to visit my mother, she is there with my brother and stepfather at the Jasper Gates Resort. I’m super excited to see them, I’ll be sure to post some pictures from my excursion! Ciao for now!

Well, let’s talk a little about the title of my blog! It’s been quite a week, lots has happened, and there’s even more to look forward to on the horizon! So, without further ado, let’s get right into it!

The weekend was the most relaxing that I’ve had in recent memory; most notable was the fact that I had a big group of friends over on Saturday for a bbq and texas hold ‘em tourney….I’m happy to report that I managed to win the first two games, only to lose the next three. That’s alright though, my winnings covered my losses, and some. Sunday was spent doing nothing except watching Calgary trounce the Alouettes in the Grey Cup…now that Macciocia has stepped down as coach, I can’t help but hope for MacT to do the same for the Oilers; time to end the M&M show, once and for all.

The school week was fairly calm, which was exactly what the doctor ordered. The only real notable of the week was the midterm that I wrote today…I absolutely destroyed it, and plan on celebrating tonight! I’m not out of the woods yet though, our first final is next Wednesday…is the semester over already? I can’t believe how fast this year is going by!

Speaking of next week, Monday next is the Board of Governor’s festive dinner at Ernest’s….now, though I have a snazzy suit to wear to the affair, I’m in need of an equally snappy (and festive!) shirt and tie for the occasion. I am a self admitted shopaholic, with a particular weakness for clothing; when you put dress clothes into the equation, it basically spells out the imminent demise of my savings account! I made my way to Harry Rosen to buy myself a shirt yesterday, and was pleased to find a beautiful white textured Hugo Boss shirt, which I promptly snapped up! The good news: the shirt was 30% off; the not so good news: the cufflinks I found, which I absolutely adored, were $195.00! Lucky for me I was able to walk away from them, and at least think about it before blowing that kind of money on something so frivolous! Maybe santa (ie. mom or dad haha) will bring me them. Too bad I need them for Monday Aside from that, I am geared up and ready to go!

In keeping with the food theme, I’m looking forward to my first E=mc2 event this weekend; (Edmonton Millenium Chapter Champions) We’re having a potluck at one of the laureate’s place! I’m super excited to reconnect with the people I met a couple weeks ago, and keep that positive energy flowing! I’m planning to bring my soon to be famous chicken satay skewers with spicy peanut sauce! Hopefully, no one has a nut allergy…maybe I’ll dial 9-1 on my cell, then the last 1 if anything happens! I’ll keep you posted!

Well boys and girls, when we last left our hero, he was still absolutely elated over his trip to Vancouver for the Millennium regional conference…returning home, I had something to look forward to; a celebratory dinner at Ernest’s to commemorate my Millennium award of excellence! Now, for those of you who aren’t hip to Ernest’s, let me tell you….their food is absolutely to die for! Not only was there a party to recognize the award recipients, my palette was having a little shin dig of its own! Now, thoughI’m a bit of a foodie,I’m byno means a food critic BUT I can tell you this: Ernest’s offers delicious food with a fantastic ambiance at a very reasonable cost. But enough about the food…the people are what made the occasion for me! I had the fortunate opportunity to meet with the dean of the school of Resources and Environmental Management, Dr. Bill Dushenko (right), as well as the dean of the school of Business, Dr. Kevin Nagel (left). The handsome chapfront and center just so happens to be none other than yours truly! Sabrina Giordano and Tina Taylor were alsoat the dinner, representing the student awards office. It was a real pleasure to be able to sit and have a conversation about world issues over a nice meal…

That’s about the peak of this week’s excitement; I work on Friday, then have the remainder of the weekend to relax…I must say, this weekend will be a much deserved rest, as I have been on the go for the last 25 days or so (see my previous blogs to feel my pain ha ha) I plan on doing absolutely NOTHING, and I’m completely ok with that! My 12 week BFL challenge will be complete this Sunday, just in time to celebrate the Grey Cup with some pizza and beer!

Well everyone, this weekend was…well, it was incredible. For the past three days, I had the opportunity to attend the Western Canadian regional conference for Millennium excellence laureates…I met so many amazing people! The theme of the conference was “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine”…the Millennium foundation was given a 10 year mandate by the Liberal government in 1999 to make post secondary education more accessible to the public; as we approach the end of the mandate, the lyrics to this Great Big Sea song seem quite appropriate for the occasion. Having never been to a conference of this type, I was not really sure what to expect, but I can say with conviction that it was one of the most uplifting experiences of my life! The positive energy that surrounded the event has left me energized and refocused!!! So many people are doing so many positive things in their communities, the attendees of the conference are going to be our leaders of tomorrow, in my humble opinion!

Ok, ok, so I have to talk a bit more about the conference…first, we were in a fantastic location, just a stone’s throw from English Bay; for those that aren’t familiar with Vancouver, this is a beach right on the Pacific ocean, not terribly far from Stanley Park, or downtown for that matter! We had the opportunity to participate in three of approximately 20workshops, as well as select a community involvement event to participate in. The workshops I chose were not only informative, but alsowere a fantasticopportunity to experience significantpersonal growth andself realization!

I participated in aroundtable discussion regarding peak oil and the problems associated with urban sprawl, twovery pertinent issues thathave the potential to become calamities…in our lifetime!This workshop really gave me a greater awareness of how our behaviors impact our carbon footprint, and how this relatesto the ‘big picture’; in fact, this workshop has gotten me thinking about pursuing education in environmental management, Ithink that would give some balance to myPetroleum diploma.

Thesecond workshop I attended was designed to help recognizethevalues which I hold most dear, and to learn more aboutmy personality, so that I mightbe a more effective leader and mentor. This workshop scared me a bit, as some of the personality tests I took yielded results far more accurate than Icare to admit!That said, I really feel that this workshopallowed me to identify my strengths and areas of opportunity for improvement.

The third workshop I attended was probably my favorite…I learned the basic theory ofmeditation! Ihave started to practice, and although I’m not _QUITE_ amaster yet, I’m having a good time learning! You have to be willing to go through the ‘novice stage’of things, we never start out as experts in anything we do.

I got a chance to flex some of my culinary muscle for my volunteer activity; I helped make a vegetarian chili for students at UBC; the chili turned out pretty good, even though we didn’t quite have enough chili powder for the batch we made. The food is made for the students by volunteer students with locally grown produce; I really got an appreciation for how much hard work it is to feed a large group! There were six of us working pretty well non stop for four hours, just to make chili!

The weekend was pretty packed with activities, but we did manage to get a bit of free time in the evenings…Saturday night we ended up going to a few clubs on Granville, which is like a tricked out version of our very own Whyte ave; Vancouver’s night life is phenomenal, so many people go out, it’s so different than our sleepy little city. The weather was fantastic, we got a little bit of a light rain Saturday evening, but that was about it! The temperature was about 14C, more than warm enough to have a dip in the Pacific! I actually did that X 2 !

The real highlight of the trip for me was the scavenger hunt Saturday evening…I got the chance to go out and explore the city with a really cool group of people, it was a great opportunity to bond with other students! Here’s a snapshot of us foolin around outside the war museum…

All in all, this weekend was very enjoyable; I can’t wait for the next event!

This past Tuesday marked a very special day in world history; it marked the 53rd anniversary of the unconditional surrender of the axis in the second world war. I took this time to reflect on the sacrifices of our forefathers, so that we might all enjoy the freedom to pursue our lives in peace. Both of my grandfathers were veterans of this ‘war to end all wars’, and although they were not very eager to discuss their experiences, I’m sure they had to endure hardships that none of us can comprehend. We must never forget their sacrifice…

It’s been a busy week for me, yet again…I made it through my second weekend of training at Enform, handed in a few assignments, and managed to get caught up on some housecleaning. I know, I know, so exciting! I had a BOG meeting on Wednesday, and without letting the cat of the bag, there’s some policy shifts coming in the new year that will affect most, if not all of the student body at NAIT! Pretty exciting stuff, I can’t wait to share!

I’m getting geared up for my big Millenium regional conference in Vancouver, I’m actually leaving this afternoon! I can hardly wait! It’s so exciting to get an opportunity to meet fellow laureates, I’m sure there will be some truly amazing people there! My goal for the conference is to meet as many people as I can, and just take in as much as possible….that, and relax a little! I’d love to get a little bit of shopping in on Granville (lots of stores in Van that are sorely absent in Edmonton), maybe hit up a few bars on Robson; we shall see! I’ve looked into the weather, it looks like I’m going to have a (relatively) rain free weekend!

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been in school for 14 straight days! I finally finished my well services BOP course at Enform this afternoon, I think I did really well on the exam! I decided to treat myself to some Red Robin as a reward for making it through these long past two weeks, I think I got french fry poisoning! Mmmm, Red Robin fries are so good, seems as though everytime I go there and have bottomless fries I end up stuffing myself past the saturation point! Honestly, I think I might turn into a potato! I posted a picture I took of myself earlier this afternoon, what do you think?

Anyhow, I thought it would be a great idea to have a nap prior to tonight’s shift at the curling club…unfortunately for me (and my employer, eep!) I didn’t get more than 5 hours sleep last night, and actually slept through my alarm…whoops! Lucky for me I was only a few minutes late, I managed to arrive ahead of my customers.

Earlier this week, I received my invitation for the Board of Governors Festive Dinner at Ernest’s…the invitation indicates I can bring a +1, with any luck I’ll find someone to come with. I received my mark for my Completions and Workovers midterm; 98%, not too shabby. I have two midterms to write this week, which is in effect the last midterms of the semester! Friday, I’m off to Vancouver for a conference for Millenium Award laureates….I’m getting pretty excited for it, I haven’t been to a function yet, should be a great time! I wonder how long this unseasonable weather is going to last, hopefully I won’t come home to snow! I’d love to make it out paintballing again before the weather gets too cold!

The BFL club held an informational meeting at NAITSA on Friday, thanks to everyone who attended! I received several emails requesting additional information, so I think my goal of increasing the club’s membership to 20 people is looking good!

I’ve got a poker game planned for later this evening, I’m hoping I can clean up! I doubttelling my adversaries that I would use their antes to buy them souvenirs in Vancouver would get me anywhere, so I betterplay tight! Lady luck be with me tonight!

It’s like the ‘Ironman’ of school…19 straight days of class. As the title of my blog suggests, I have made it through the first 7 days of my 19 day marathon of classes at NAIT and Enform. My week went fairly well, some highlights included writing my last midterm (Hurrah!) on Tuesday, and making sure the BFL club was represented at NAITSA’s club fair, also on Tuesday. I’m happy to report that over 40 people expressed interest in the club, pretty encouraging news! Just a reminder – everyone is welcome to join this club, regardless of age, gender, or level of fitness. If you’d like to know more, please attend our first meeting of the year this Friday at 4:30 in the NAITSA boardroom! Hope to see you there!

Between work and my trainingat Enform,I really didn’t get a heck of a lot of time to myself this weekend. However, I did manage to make it over to a friend’s on Saturday night for a housewarming party…I am hoping that I will get a chance to relax one evening this week; tomorrow I’m going to be having a good friend over for dinner, I’ll be working Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, then there’s the Enform thing again next Saturday and Sunday as well…I guess that leaves Tuesday and Thursday, or, dare I say, both!