New sensations!

As Willow is convinced she is on a constant diet, she relishes the rare treats she gets. Two of her favourites are licking the inside of crisp packets and anything spicey. So you can imagine her joy when she was permitted to lick the inside of a packet of Sensations' Thai sweet chili crisps - especially as they are a large packet.

Annual bath and catch-up

I got the first draft of my dissertation in on time and have got some feedback on it. I have lots to do on the results section, but otherwise I think it's going ok-ish. I've planned my time so that I should have the review essay, the final dissertation and the webpage finished a couple of days before their respective due dates. I've also received feedback on the general essay and I got a 19 which I was pleased with (20 is the most you can achieve with Aberdeen uni's marking system).

My time management seems to have improved anyway as I even got around to giving Willow

her Christmas bath. She wasn't impressed.

Just like the movie 'Saw...'

Thought I'd post a photo of Gareth's ankle a couple of days after he got the stitches in from having the screws removed.

I'm a student with procrastinating to do, what can I say?

Ticked off

Aarg! I'm so fed up with ticks! I can't wait to be done with the little acarid buggers. The end is in sight however, as the first draft is due on the 10th December and I've already written a rough intro, materials and method, outlined my results and am writing the reference list as I go (don't underestimated how long the last can take), so I have the discussion to do and general tarting up.

I'm actually looking forward to writing the 6000 word review essay! I also have to design a web page based on the tick project, but I quite like learning HTML so I'm looking forward to that too. I feel I may be eating my words soon enough though.

Well, it didn't take her long, but I caught Willow constructing a bed from the laundry:

Screw loose

After over three months, Gareth finally got the screw taken out of his leg today. The day didn't start well though with a mix up between two of us in the building ordering taxi's for the same time, but After just a three hour wait, Gareth got his op under local anaesthetic and was ready to go after a couple of hours observation (the op itself only took about 10 mins). That's when the paperwork got involved, or rather didn't. After arriving in hospital at 9:30am, we didn't get home till gone 7pm as the doctor took about five hours to chase up the one section of a form required before the nurses would discharge Gareth - the nurses were great, and were equally irked by the tardy form.
Once home, I realised in the excitement of freedom that I left Gareth's air boot (the inflatable boot that helps him walk) in the reception, so hopefully it'll turn up - although it's a forty min walk there so not looking forward to that! The other downside is that we don't have any hot water. Our boiler was leaking so we got a plumber out who declared the emersion tank was split, drained it of hot water and left, telling us he would call when he could get hold of another tank. Hmmm. What with the fiasco with BT I think we should rename this flat Bermuda Triangle, Basement Right.

Serious munchies

As Draco has been growing (he's over 3' now), his food has had to be increased in size too. He's now pretty much on adult mice.

It looks greedy when you watch him dislocate his jaw, but if you only got fed once a week and someone waved a sandwhich under your face, you'd probably do the same!

Slow on the uptake

I finally got a photo of Willow residing beneath the radiator. I think I mentioned previously that she's only just realised she could sleep under it. Though I think she's sulking here as we refuse to move her bed there. We're just waiting for her to steal the clothes from the clothes-horse for a make-shift bed.

Smug blogger

I don't have anything to blog about; just showing off that I can blog at home!

End of her tether

All I get is their leftover yoghurt pots and scraps.

Wow. We have finally got broadband at the flat! It's a bit odd having internet access at home to be honest. It does mean that I have an endless array of excuses to procrastinate about my Honours project now...

I had to buy Willow a new lead yesterday. We were on the way to the beach when the clip suddenly snapped from the metal part of the lead. Willow stopped, looked back at me with an expression as if to say 'see, I told you you pull too much.' She now has a fetching lead with a barbed wire pattern and a second lead for training, which is less fashionable, but equally dear! She's been quite expensive today as I also got her xmas present (a toy with three stuffed fish threaded through a larger fish, the aim is to remove the smaller fish from the large one. I'm sure it makes sense if you're a dog), and her Cartrophen/arthritis injections are due next month.

Idle chat

Thankfully this period of fireworks is at an end! Willow can now relax a bit before the Christmas and January displays. She's been doped up on dried valarian root the last couple of nights, so she doesn't really mind right now. I wonder if she hallucinates with it too? She does get a manic sort of expression before falling asleep. She's also realised, after 3yrs of being in the same flat, that the gap underneath the heater is actually quite warm and a nice place to lie. Strange animal.

I went to Kung Fu yesterday for a drills session. I do enjoy form, but sometimes its nice doing something different. It was really good, even if I do have the coordination of a drunk spider, I still enjoyed it.

My dissertation is going ok. I've written the rough draft for the materials and method section, and am doing the reading for the introduction. Tomorrow I'm meeting someone who is pretty good with stats so then I can progress a bit more with the data analysis and results section. I showed my supervisor the PCR visualisations, and he thinks they are ok, and no need to redo any lab work - hurray! It looks like I have two definate postives for Borrelia burgdorferi (spirochete that causes Lyme disease), and a further two possibles. Bit of a relief as it gives you more to talk about! Although not great if you live near the sites the ticks were collecte in.

Last day of labs, wohoo!

I'm about forty minutes away from being finished with my lab work! The disaster that was last Wednesday's PCRs may be salvaged as I'm running 3 of the possible positives for lyme disease in with the site I'm working on today; and today's work has gone ok so far! I was a bit concerned about contamination between the sites, but I think I was careful enough not to accidentally touch tubes with contaminated gloves etc. Anyway, I will find out soon enough!
The last PCR wasn't that bad to be fair, just a little blurry and ambiguous in places.

Kung fu last night was good. I've been back three weeks now after missing two months due to field work, and I'm starting to get used to the pain again! It's a bit embarassing that a lot of the new people are now exceeding me in terms of form, but I'm slowly getting there.
I haven't been for a run for about a week, and it's seriously doing my head in!

Gareth is recovering well; he even went upstairs to check the post yesterday! He gets the screw taken out of his ankle on the 20th November, then he is almost there!

Just realised how sparse this site looks regarding photos, I'll have to bring some on the the pen to put on - yep, BT have still not shown up, so no phone-line or internet at home yet. Grrr. Except it's got to the point I just can't be bothered to be angry anymore.

Aarg!

After spending 8 and a half hours preparing and waiting for PCR machines/gels, I just found out I forgot to turn the gel on properly (there was a red light on, what more did it want!?). I now have a further wait of half an hour. Looks like I'll be able to go home at about 18:30. Long day - not used to that! The worst part is that the excess wait without the gel running may have caused my samples to evaporate and it may mean it won't work properly.
I naturally blame Willow as she was dreaming about fireworks or something last night and kept me awake scratching at the door and pacing. Think she's been at my valarian tea.

Hallucinogens and tick soup

I'm halfway through my lab work now. We've (me and the girl I'm working with) homogenised all the ticks we're using (essentially making them into tick soup) and we've started the PCRs for the one's we're using in our projects. Apparently the one's we've done previously don't count as they were practice. What a waste of two days that could have been used for something that actually counted!
It's my nephew's birthday today and I have yet to send him his present - my sister moved recently and I don't know her address; I wonder if that was intentional! I think he'll like it. Gareth, his mate and me all think it's ace anyway! It's times like family birthdays that make me wish I lived closer to home. This last year seems the worse for missing family though, but at least I only have about eight months left.

The fireworks have already started around our street, and Willow woke up because of them two nights ago and jumped on the bed. I don't know how long she'd been there as I didn't wake up immediately, but she wouldn't budge from Gareth's side until he almost rolled on her. I was disorientated anyway as I'd taken a valarien tea as I've not been sleeping but it makes me hallucinate if I wake up in the middle of the night. Before trying to remove Willow I spent a couple of minutes trying to flick fish from her bed.

Progress

I got the results for my blood test and they are came back as 'satisfactory' to use the exact word. Not as reassuring as 'clear' though! I guess that means that I just stress too much. One of the recommendations for reducing stress is to 'take a step back from the stressor.' Yes. Well, I'm sure my lecturers will understand me taking a breather! Fourth year isn't the best time to learn to relax in all honesty.
On the plus side, Gareth made it to Tesco and back yesterday. I'm not sure how much of that was due to me refusing to buy him tobacco though.

Blah...

Not a great deal going on right now, aside from working on my honours project and essays etc.
Although this Saturday I'm having my photo taken with Nat and a couple of friends as she won a photo shoot in a Woolworths' competition. Bit bizarre! Apparently we have to bring props. Of course, Willow will be my prop as a photo without her just wouldn't be complete!
Gareth had a bad day yesterday. His crutch slipped on Willow's bed and he almost fell; instead he put all his weight through his broken leg. Ouch. Sort of thing that makes you wince when you hear about it and you know you have no idea how much it hurt.

Birth- and liberated leg-day

It was Gareth's birthday yesterday, and the highlight of his day was going to hospital to have his cast off! He now has a removable plastic 'boot' that inflates with air to help him start walking again. He still needs crutches and his zimmer, but at least he's on the way to walking. He hadn't been outside for 7 weeks, and the Aberdeen weather, in true form , rained unrentlessly (it had been sunny and bright for the preceeding week)!
Gareth's new past-time, as he is getting increasingly bored with his current indoor pursuits, is peeling the flaky skin from his leg. Nice.

Saint Willow

After her less than obedient swiping of the pizza, Willow must have decided that some sucking up was due. Getting home yesterday at 5:30pm after spending 8 hours doing PCR, and forgetting my lunch (long day on a mueslie bar and a Mars bar!) Gareth and I decided to get fish and chips for supper. I figured it would be best to run Willow first as she hadn't been out for three days. I didn't think she would get far (we're re-training her lead work as she pulls a lot and it involves a lot of abandaned walks if she pulls too much), especially as I have to carry her over our steps at the moment as someone smashed the bus shelter outside out flat and there is glass everywhere, and the excitement of that would normally be too much for her. Instead, she was the epitomy of obedience. She never pulled once, and was out for forty five minutes. By which time Gareth and I were starving. Maybe it wasn't sucking up but her cunning plan all along...

Spare time

I'm halfway through my first day of learning how to perform PCR (polymerase chain reaction). There's a lot of waiting involved so not sure how much of this technique I will use for my Honours project. I suck at chemistry, so this isn't my idea of fun (especially when having to use ethidium bromide which is a known mutagen - not that I intend to drink the stuff).
Unfortunately I've entered fourth year with a less than enthusiastic attitude, so I'll just be gald when I've finished and can find other things to stress about! It probably hasn't helped that not only did I not get my top choices for my honours project, I have also not got my first choice of the review essay. It's on a first-come-first-served basis. It's difficult motivating yourself to work on something that really isn't in your field of interest. Grr.
Willow has been having a good time though. Yesterday she stole a mueslie bar from one of Gareth's friends, and later stole two halves of leftover pizza when I was in the study room and Gareth in the garden. She's already had her tea so we couldn't compensate by not giving her her kibble! Conversely, Draco is hungry as we forgot to feed him yesterday - I guess that's why Willow grabs food when she can in case we forget to feed her...

General chat

I'm now one week into fourth year, and it's been a bit of a farce with various 'careers day' sessions etc. that would have been better placed in third year. I got back from a team building session last week. It was kinda fun, but after spending 6 weeks away on field work I just want to spend one week in my own flat!
Gareth is doing ok with his leg, and he gets his cast off on his birthday (9th October). Sucks that he'll be in hospital for his birthday, but at least his leg will be liberated - though possibly recast again.
Willow had a major sulk with me because I gave her a bath two days ago and I'm just starting to be forgiven. I also groomed her and there must have been enough fur to make a second Willow out of it!
I went to the Doc's on Monday (after putting it off for four months) as I've been feeling a bit odd. The headiness etc. has progressed to forgetfulness and losing track of conversations. The Doc seems to think it's stress related, but I've had a blood test for thyroid, glucose, liver and kidney function and infection (all standard!) just in case. I should probably take this as an indication my body wants me to slow down - not good timing with fourth year just starting! I should get the results this Monday coming.
I also went back to Kung Fu for the first time in over two months yesterday. Ouch!

Yes, I'm a natural blue.

After spending two months in dirt, vegetation and being peed on etc. by rodents, the first thing I did when I finished the field work was get my hair cut. I went for a bob that slopes forward (sure it's got an official name) and had it dyed a blacky blue. I originally wanted it black with electric blue tips, but the hairdresser said that it would be difficult as I have dark hair. The end effect isn't as dramatic as I wanted, and the photos don't really show off the blue that well - I will attempt to get some that show it a bit better. Willow naturally took the opportunity to have her picture taken too. She is somewhat confident in front of the camera

I've also added a photo of Gareth in his cast. He's getting very fed up now as he hasn't been able to do much aside from the Xbox, read and watch TV. He'll be relieved when he can get out beyond the flat! Still, it is amusing that he's 25 and has a zimmer frame! Willow somehow managed to appear in this photo too.

Of voles and shrews.

Here are some photo's of the mammal trapping - the midgie net may look daft, but it proved such a good idea! The midgie densities were unreal in some sites.

This was a shrew happily chomping on my finger whilst I searched it for ticks. Shrews are great! They're really easy to bribe too - you feed them maggots and they stop fidgeting whilst you process them.

And here is a field vole. They were the easiest to work with as they struggle when you first pick them up, then kinda sit there in a 'bugger it, it's all too much effort' way. Not too unlike hamsters!

Catch up

Sorry about the huge gap betweem posts! I have spent the last few weeks away in various parts of Scotland for this field work - most of the hostels don't have a great internet service, or are too expensive to be worth using. I now have one week left and thankfully it's within driving distance of Aberdeen (seeing more of Scotland is great, but I kinda miss being home in the evenings - plus I'm getting paranoid of the nature/tick association!)
Gareth has broken his leg since I last posted. Nothing heroic; one too many beers and fell over funny on his ankle. I was away at the time so had to come back whilst he had his operation. Since I've had to go away again, his mates have been brilliantly!
The posts should hopefully get more regular in the coming weeks once we get a phone line and internet sorted in the flat - if BT ever pull their finger out. How can a communications company be so crud at communicating? It's been about three weeks now.... grrr!!!
Anyway, just a quick catch up as I'm knackered - got back from Braemar today. It's not hugely far from Aberdeen, but the sites we were using were all on mountains so much hiking was done! I even managed to fit in a run on one of the days!

Update. And ticks.

Well, I'm three weeks into my field assistant job working with ticks and it's knackering! Hence the infrequent posts!
I am enjoying the work though - dragging fleece blankets through vegetation and then counting the collected ticks and trapping (live) small mammals and examining them for ticks. I'm getting to see lots of Scotland that I haven't had a chance to view yet; including the scenic West coast. There are some really nice walking/running areas until you realise the places we are looking at are areas reported to have lyme disease. Kinda puts you off being at one with nature a bit. It's making a little paranoid re. getting bitten and the end of the day finds me examaning myself, clothes and possessions for vagabond ticks - especially as the larvae are only about 0.2mm.
I have a week off this week and then five more weeks before I return to uni to analyse the data and do data entry/tick species identification. Unfortunately most of the sites render me away from home (and Gareth) from Monday till Friday, then I'm too tired to be civil on Saturday and spend Sunday packing for the next week! Gareth is putting up with my sultry attitude well though!
On a positive note, we are actually getting married next August! Hurrah! After 6 years! I'm very excited and my head is full of wedding dresses, cakes and what-not. I'm especially pleased as my sister has agreed to be my matron of honour - it took me a while to ask her as I figured she would take it as read that she would be the important bridesmaid, until mum hinted that perhaps I ought to ask!
It's going to be a manic year with my final university year, planning a wedding and deciding what our next move will be after Aberdeen!

Hebden Bridge, York

The holiday was fantastic! We stayed in a cottage right in the middle of the country with access to the river and woods from the front door.

The back of the cottage we stayed in

We went on loads of great walks, and despite the worry with the recent flood warnings, the weather wasn't too bad. Willow thoroughly enjoyed herself; I think she's gone off us for taking her back to Aberdeen.

On one of the days we decided to give her a rest due to her arthritis, we were all heading out the door and Gareth threw a bribery-biscuit into one of the rooms for her, she looked at him, looked at the room then shot out the door!

Hebden Bridge itself is a nice place too, talthough it takes some guts to brave the roads as they are rather narrow and take some skill in negotiating by car! Unfortunately Gareth found a shop selling fudge, and has found out they are going online soon. Oh dear.

It was one of those holidays that you need to recover from once you get back from them...

From student bum to just bum...

It was Gareth's graduation yesterday and it went really well. The ceremony was nice - though in Latin so I didn't have a clue what was going on! As with most graduations, your hands are sore from clapping complete strangers and you get a 2 second glimpse of the person you came to see - although my best friend was in the same ceremony, and Gareth's best friend, so a total of 6 seconds out of an hour and a half!

The photo below left is of Gareth and his best friend outside the hall. The umbrellas indicate that Aberdeen's weather held true and merrily rained for all photographs - it was perfectly fine weather during the indoor part of the ceremony. The photo to the right shows a what a true graduation in Aberdeen looks like;

After the years hard work, and last months events, I think Gareth has

certainly earned his degree. We are also off to York tomorrow for a weeks' holiday with Gareth's mum and her partner, so I think the break will do us both good - and then the work for my dissertation begins when I start the tick job and start collecting data... should really start deciding on a title!

prattle

Not really been up to much recently, enjoying not having anything to do, but I have to admit that I'm getting bored already. Gareth and I are going to York next week for a holiday with his mum and her partner. It should be pretty good; lots of nice walks etc. (Willow is invited too, so she'll be happy) - although the recent flooding everywhere may make the walks more wades than anything else!
I start my tick job in about a month, and I still don't know what my project title is for Honours. I'm reading some papers for inspiration, but really need to get a move on.

Race for life

The race for life was yesterday, and keeping in true Aberdeen fashion, it tipped it down with rain the entire time and the Windy City lived up to its name. Ironically, the days straddling the event were fairly dry, despite being cold! It left me regretting having two black sports bras

instead of buying a white and black one when I realised the event T-shirt was white, and the weather outlook for June was not the best. Despite this, the event itself was great. The atmosphere was good and I was pleased with my run considering this was the first race I've entered. I wasn't incredibly fast, but I think there were about 40-50 people in front of me (considering there was 1500-2000 people there, I was pleased with this)! It's different keeping your training pace with everyone about you running at different paces, but I think I have the racing bug now and am looking into my next event. Although I have a weeks' rest from running before any big plans!

Hurray!

Gareth will be home tomorrow! He should be back around midday, assuming nothing goes wrong with flights etc. I'm running out of things to fill time with today - it's really dragging. Had a huge bake fest and went running with Willow, but it's still dragging. Guess that leaves the oven and sink to clean; impatience does wonders for the cleanliness of the flat!

Never work with children or animals

Draco was looking very regal and photogenic on his new hide. By the time I'd got the camera he'd shifted into a less aesthetic position. He has a knack of doing this. I managed to get a fairly ok picture of him, but I guess I'm going to have to lament the one I missed!

Untamed country

The garden seems to have taken full advantage of my being away for a few days and has erupted in huge weeds everywhere. They are quite impressive.

Although Willow wasn't too impressed with them; she'd just woken up so wasn't impressed with much.

Not been up to much really, finished my last ever Sunday at Homebase yesterday, so just next Saturday left to work.

Gareth might be back on Thursday too, all going well. It's been odd without him in the flat. Pretty rubbish really.

Ho-hum

The start of the summer break is a little odd. Gareth has to stay in Plymouth until things are sorted there, and so he won't be back until after 20th June. I'm just pottering about trying to fill time until he comes home. You'd think after the last year of working 7 day weeks I'd enjoy time off, but I don't really know what to do!
I've been getting back in training for the Race for Life this month as I had about 2 weeks off over the exam period, and hadn't gone Kung Fu for three weeks - didn't hurt as much as I was expecting!
Well, guess I better go fill more time with stuff, maybe scrapbooking (I'm putting off the big-time tidying of the flat as that is a never-ending task)

Exam results

I got my results for this set of exams:

Animal care: 19
Animal behaviour: 16
Infectious diseases: 15
Marine ecology: 15

Its out of a possible CAS of 20, so some of them I'm a bit disappointed with (15 is equivalent to a low 2:1). Although third year marks don't count toward your final degree, and at least I have got into fourth year. I'll be working harder next year anyway!

Fourth (and final!) exam

That's my last exam of the year out of the way (Animal Behaviour). One of the ones where you don't know if it went well or not. I finished just after the last half hour, so I couldn't leave the hall but had to sit there, bored.
Well, travelling back to Plymouth on Monday for a few days, so I've had a bit to organise such as snake sitters and bonsai sitters. Luckily the snake shop will babysit Draco for the week. I have to take him there tomorrow (I'm at work all weekend so won't have a chance then) in a pillowcase. He's going to be so annoyed.
Gotta go and back my ticket home, then going to enjoy a bottle of wine and do some scrapbooking to celebrate end of exams. I might go to the pub briefly with some people on my course. Still deciding as I'm not good with people and end up spending half the time worrying!

Third exam

Thats the third exam out of the way (Animal care and welfare). I actually quite enjoyed that exam! I was able to answer a question on dog training, so I was in danger of overrunning the time I'd allocated that question!
Gareth had some bad news from home, and has had to travel back to Plymouth to sort things out. He doesn't know how long he will be back, but I will probably be going back for a few days next week. Frustrating it can't be longer as I'd like to be there for him, but I still have to work my notice at Homebase.

I have a photo of Draco enjoying his new hide which I'll post when I can - I started feeling guilty that he only had egg boxes, so splurged out on some (expensive) plastic - mould into a shape and you can double the price it seems. He seems to like it anyway.

second exam

Just finished my second exam (Biology and control of infectious diseases). Hmm. Not really sure whether it went well or not! I had a really good question that I think I answered well, and a really bad one that I know I answered badly, the other two were somewhere in the middle! I guess I'll find out soon enough.
I'm taking the rest of the evening off from revision as I don't want to burn out; I'm going to compose my notice for work and deliberately not do anything else!

Exams

I've just finished my first exam of this set (Marine ecology and ecosystems). It's my worst subject - not due to the material so much as the volume you're expected to retain! - and I don't think it went too badly. Although I did have verbal diahorrea for the last question (four essay questions in three hours; I guess it's not surprising)!
Anyway, not much aside from revision going on, which would make pretty dull reading. I'm handing my notice into work in the next couple of weeks, so I'm quite excited about that - I think spending a year of working 7 day weeks with not much time off is catching up, so just another couple of weeks and I can try and relax a bit before fourth year takes hold!
Just off to take a couple of hours off before revising some more for Thursdays' exam - still, at least I can forget about exams tomorrow during Kung Fu.

Revising

Quick note

Still trying to arrange a project for honours. I need to think of a project title for the tick job, to be honest I just want to try and get something sorted so I can focus on revising for the exams which are in two weeks.
I haven't really done much the last couple of days aside from uni work or Homebase. So not much to write about!

Honours update

In all probability it looks like I will be doing the Tick job as an honours prokect. It will probably work out better than the dog one as I figure it's easier to get solid data - the problem with working with canine olfaction is there is a lot of subjectivity, and you cannot control what scents invade your study area! I'm still going to talk to through with with a lecturer.
The tick job will allow me to do PCR (polymerase chain reaction) which amplifies DNA and aids identification etc. of species - just one of the applications of this process anyway! It's a valuable skill which will help with future jobs/studies.
All in all though I'm not too impressed with how the honours allocations have been handled. It's basically just a mad scramble for whatever you can get; there is no choice system - I could've ended up doing something with plants despite my degree being in zoology. If I hadn't got this studentship then I would probably be stuck with a topic I had no interest in. Whinge whinge whinge.

Blair Drummond

Blair Drummond was pretty good. A lot smaller than I was expecting, but at least the animals looked happy. Except for this penguin receiving a beating:

Though I have to say my highlight of the day was the meerkats. As they aren't used for breeding, the park kept 6 males as a bachelor family. They looked rather podgy and I was reminded of the Budweiser adverts a lot of the time!

The world hasn't ended!

I've found out that the studentship I applied for has been successful! Very excited - bit odd I guess as it involves trapping ticks and mashing them.

I've decided that not getting the honours I wanted isn't the end of the world I thought it was at the time. There's a possibility that I can make up my own project (with guidance of course!) so it may work out better. I've hoping to do something with the dog's sense of smell; probably a preference test, but we'll see. If that doesn't work, then I may be able to do something with the tick job.

Well, I've got a field trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park now, so gotta go get on the coach!

Full of pro-bioitics...and Willow

This photo typifies Willow after she has been given access to a natural yoghurt pot:

...and this one displaying her angry red eyes is typical when she realizes someone has gotten too close to said yoghurt pot...

Great start to the week

I've just found out that I didn't get the honours' project I really wanted. Gutted doesn't even cut it.

'Life is like a train. You expect delays from time to time. But not a derailment.' - Willie Stargell.

Field trip

I spent yesterday on a field trip with the Animal Care and Welfare course, which doesn't count toward the overall mark and there was no write up involved. So it was just a jolly really. The morning was an interesting trip to the Forfar Guide Dog Centre, which was pretty cool. I was surprised to find that they are one of only four centres that provide all of the UK's blind and partially sighted people with dogs. I was impressed with their kennels, as kennels in general tend to get a bad rep due to poor environmental enrichment etc.
In the afternoon we went to the MaCaulay Land Use Research Institute. There's only so much you can say about watching sheep, cows and red deer. Although a lamb fell down a rabbit hole and got stuck till someone from the course fished it out. That was amusing.

Gareth is highly stressed right now as today is the hand-in day for his dissertation and he's having problems getting it bound before the dead-line. He's cleared it with the department, and as long as it's in today it's ok. I expect he will crash till tomorrow afternoon once he's home!

I got my new trainers, so I'm very excited about my next run, unfortunately they didn't have the Mizuno's I wanted in my size, so I'm trying some Brooks - they seem comfortable enough. Though they are a rather in-you-face blue with yellow stripes; as long as they do the job I'm sure they'll be fine, with zero points to whoevers in charge of aesthetics!

'Everybody was Kung Fu hobbling...'

Kung Fu last night was a total killer! I couldn't get my legs to work during form practise after the first part of the session. Dragon stance was a nightmare (that's where one leg is crossed in front of the other with your knee 2" above the ground, and 2" behind the front foot), and after horse stance (a rather undignified-looking position where your feet are set wide apart with your knees over your feet) when they tell you to sink lower for the last 10 seconds, it's more than 10 seconds - I counted! Still, it's really enjoyable even if it does leave you knackered. I didn't quite manage running home as I normally do after Kumg Fu; partly because my legs were rather upset, and partly due to the lack of trust I now have in my maimed trainers.

My number and sponsorship form arrived for the Race for life yesterday, so once I've replaced my trainters on Friday, I'll be upping my training a bit - certainly gives direction and focus to your running!

Stress levels

The process of hunting down decent honours projects has begun! I certainly don't want to be landed with a project such as my sister had for her chemistry degree... rifling through silage doesn't appeal! Unfortunately the project I want to do has rather a lot of interest in it, so I've had to write half a page on why I'm interested etc. Hopefully it'll work out (it's on biochemical measures of stress in animals). If not, I'm finding out about a couple of others that look interesting. I'm still waiting to find out if I've got the research studentship I applied for for this summer, as that will govern to a large degree what projects I can do as some of them ask for the practical work to be done over summer. Arg!

End of an era

Well, one week after finally getting around to entering the Race for Life, I've totalled trashed my trainers. To be fair, their natural life probably ended 6 months ago, and drying them out on top of the radiator wasn't exactly the best idea - the insoles have completely shrivelled and the uppers have melted. As I've been running for several years, and haven't changed my running shoes for about 3yrs, I knew they were on their way out. It's just annoying that it wasn't my choice when I replaced them!

The honours list has finally been released at uni. So now there is the fun of fighting for the ones you want to do instead of getting lumped with something like the ecology and distribution of polychaete worms. All good fun...

Back to uni

Well, after having a particulary lazy Easter break, I'm now back at uni wishing I hadn't been quite so lazy. Suddenly I have an essay, a seminar to prepare and a group project to work on in between revising. Still, I don't regret taking the time as I don't ususally allow myself much free time.
I spent most of my Easter cross stitching my nieces' sampler in the hope I would have it finished before her christening as I couldn't make it there myself. Unfortunately I didn't complete it in time, but it's reawoken my enthusiasm for cross stitch! Shame I can't seem to reawaken any motivation for uni. Oh well.

Yesterday was my first night back at King Fu after having my legs destroyed by my loving fiance. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but still, ouch!
I'm now on Easter holiday from uni though so far I haven't had a day off as I've had overtime at work since Friday. That'll teach me to whinge about being bored! At least I have a day off tomorrow. I doubt I'll be out of bed much before 11am!

Its fun until someone gets hurt...

Gareth and Willow enjoy winding each other up in our garden. They initially start by playing with a 'ball' (or rather ex-ball as it's more a flappy bit of plastic now) which soon progresses into Willow running manically around the garden and Gareth pretending to catch her. It become more interesting with two trying to catch her though!

It doesn't always go well as this picture illustrates. The ground was quite muddy and Gareth fell over. Still, Willow was good sport and consoled him; either that or she's gloating.

St Patricks update.

Well, the meal went without issue, and was the first St Patricks that we all got together for and nothing went wrong (possibly because we met the day before St Patricks instead of risking the actual day!). It was a really nice catching up with everyone as we hadn't really seen each other much recently. Two of my friends are in their fourth year and highly stressed, and another works very hard 6 days a week, so spare time when everyone isn't stressed or asleep is quite rare!

The curse of St Patrick...

Tonight I'm meeting my friends for a meal as it's St Patricks Day. At least that's the plan. So far, since coming to university, all our past plans of doing something on St Patrick's have ended less than successfully. Last year, for instance, resulted in us waiting at casualty with a friend. Still, it was entertaining playing spot the ailment and creating a story behind the people waiting to be seen. Though the guy waiting with his finger in a plastic bag was too fascinating to bother with anything made up anyway!

So, I'm looking foward to tonight, but would not be surprised if something were to go wrong. Why break a tradition!

Spare time

I have now started both my courses for the second half of the semester (the second one only started today) and I seem to have a lot of spare time. Most of my zoology courses leave me with very little time outside uni except for sleeping and eating, but it doesn't seem so with these courses. I should probably be pleased, but I'm more confused than anything. I don't really know what to do with no extra work. Ho-hum.

Man's best friend?

Willow recently decided that the bin would be better as an open topped free-for-all. To make her point, everytime Gareth and I have left her on her own the last couple of weeks she's taken it upon herself to systematically empty the bin's contents throughout the flat. It brought to mind a quoate my mum cited to me (source unknown, unfortunately):

'If you do not employ a border collie, he will soon become self-employed'

All very well if your dog isn't worked or anything, but Willow is trained and run reguarly (though this does highlight a further problem with having an intelligent breed - she's now learnt how to open the kitchen door to get to the bin). So we've now upped the stakes in her training and trying some more complex tricks and pushing her a bit more with her obedience work. Whether this will deter her from amusing herself by spattering fish tins and old meat wrapping is yet to be seen. Like people, sometimes temptation is just too much.

On an unconnected note, it looks like I will have to miss Kung Fu tomorrow as my legs are still sore from the fatigue session last Thursday. Unfortunately, most of the stances in Kung Fu involved maintaining low positions that hurt like hell even when you aren't already aching!

Read the small print

A while ago I volunteered to be a subject for Gareth's dissertation project on fatigued muscles and performance. Yesterday was the third and final session and where the 'fatigue' became more apparent. After spending over half an hour doing 100 plyometric jumps from a small platform in order to basically kill any will to live in my leg muscles, I was allowed a half hour rest before running on a treadmill at various paces. Ok, my legs felt a little sorry for themselves after, but not quite as bad as I was expecting. After this, Gareth and I returned home, threw some food down ourselves before heading out to do our fortnight shop. As you can imagine, two weeks worth of food is pretty heavy; even if you are catching the bus. By now, my arms and back were beginning to have more sympathy for my legs, instead of the smug mocking they had adopted throughout the fatigue session.
Well, that was nothing compared to the burning ache of today! After melodramatically climbing the stairs from our basement flat and walking straight-legged to university, I was then faced with the depressing fact that you never realise how many stairs and inclines there are dotted about unless every muscle bites you.

Somehow I don't think I'll be running home from work tomorrow.



I was watching Draco watching me a couple of days ago and found it amazing how a three-foot snake can manage to fit himself under an egg box with relative comfort;

He's always had eggboxes as a hide, trouble is he's getting too big for the largest ones available! He's a bit more alert now as he shed recently and is sporting his new shiny skin. Just a relief he's not grumpy as he gets tetchy when he's about to shed. Fair enough I guess, as snakes' eyes go cloudy before they shed and I think I'd be irritable too if I couldn't see properly and my skin was too tight!

The source of all headaches...

Well, having suffered from severe headaches and migraines for the past year or so, I think I've finally worked out whats causing them.
I'd always put them down to being overtired and staring at computer screens for too long (studying for uni, of course!), but they still seemed to persist despite trying to get more sleep and reduce time on the computers (and the reduction in work that entailed. Oh well) . I've noticed a correlation between eating and my headaches/migraines. If I don't eat for a while then I get the start of a migraine that continues to develop the longer I don't eat, I also get a bit heady and feel like I'm passing out. Well, after trialling eating regulary for a couple of weeks my headaches are lessening and I don't feel quite so naff all the time. It seems highly ironic considering my past history with food. It probably isn't helped by doing kung fu and the amount of running I do which means I burn energy faster than I used to. In short, I think a fast metabolism is to blame. It's not all it's cracked up to be actually, as it's pretty inconvienient having to eat frequently.

This is the most recent photo I can find just now that

doesn't involve me dressed up as Medusa for Hallowe'en.

It was taken in March 2006. I've put it in its own

post as I can't for the life of me work out how to put it

in my profile - the university computers retaliate against

any attempt at downloading useful software!

I don't think Willow was too happy about staying still

in the snow. Can't say I blame her - it was pretty windy too.