Thursday, January 26, 2012

Published author: A Sneak Preview!

Remember a small project I started working on back in, ehm, 2003? Also known as the Annotated Bibliography? I spent weeks upon weeks writing it, together with three scientists, of which one retired in the process... Once we were ready for publication, we were told it needed to be edited and translated.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the whole process was delayed, but finally, I can now provide you with a sneak preview of our much anticipated Annotated Bibliography of White and Red Pine: Silviculture, Management and Ecology, 1960-2007.


I have to admit I am quite proud. Finally a publication with my name on it ;) As Nolan put it: you're now a published author. True!!
It turned into a project of patience, but I think in the end it was well worth it. If all goes well, I should have the official PDF version by tomorrow (Friday), and paper copies should be ready for distribution by Monday. And trust me, I'll be promoting it far and wide!

In other news, we officially started our marathon training, and actually signed up for the Ottawa Marathon as well. Sunday, May 27th, so at least we still have a few weeks to get into shape. We will need that time. Absolutely. But so far so good, and with our treadmill, it will be hard to come up with excuses of not to run!

Yesterday I spent most of the day facilitating at the Collaborative Management Day (if you want to know more about it, search for #GOC3 on Twitter), and even though I was somewhat nervous, it went quite well. It was a great learning experience (you don't get to facilitate groups of 80 people very often), but the theme (collaboration) was also very interesting and relevant to my job. So all in all, an exhaustive but good day.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

For better or for worse...

The start of the new year has been pretty good, until I got sick on Tuesday. Normally when people in the office are starting to cough and show runny noses, I just keep doing my thing and avoid any of those symptoms. That was, until this year. I felt down and blah for three days, had zero energy and just felt plain miserable. Thursday night something 'broke' and I came down with a full blown cold, which for some reason made me feel better! Well, to some extent...

On top of not feeling fit, we finally got hit by a hint of winter this week. Thursday we were treated to an extended period of freezing rain, which switched to snow Friday morning. After all said and done, we received about 20cm of snow on top of a layer of ice. Falling snow always has something romantic. Until the snow plough comes by and it takes about two hours to shovel the end of the driveway. The driveway itself is not a problem. In less than half an hour, everything is clean. But since we're on a corner lot, we get snow from two streets which simply amounts to a lot. And we haven't even had a real serious snow dump yet!  The mess we faced on Friday was about 3 ft high and 4ft wide (~0.9m and 1.2m). Not fun!
We're now seriously considering buying a snow blower. Not so much for the driveway, as just for the snow dump from the street ploughs. Maybe lazy, but if you're stuck it's nice knowing you can get out in a hurry if need be, without having to spend hours clearing a path...

Nolan taking a break in the snow bank after shovelling

Nice view from our living room

Kids playing hockey on the street


After the nice dump on Friday, temperatures dropped significantly on Friday night, with a high of -18 degrees on Saturday... Even though I still didn't feel great, we decided to get out on the snowshoes anyway, and I think that 'fresh' air has actually done me well.


We walked to the Greenbelt (literally 10 minutes away), put on our snowshoes and went! We both love getting out there, watching the sun through the trees, making our own paths in the freshly fallen snow (we stay off the regular paths so not to hinder cross country skiers), and just enjoy being out there. And even though it's 'chilly', as long as you keep moving it's really nice!

Sunday morning, our typical running morning, was even colder. I wasn't sure if I'd be up for a run, but I felt much better, and decided to try at least 6 k. We dressed warmly (almost overdressed!), and we ended up doing just under 10k. Not bad considering I hadn't done anything for a week!
And just in case you're curious, your lungs won't freeze when you run in -23 weather! We cover our nose and mouth, but once you're going, that comes off as well. You should try it!



And this one just because I'm a crazy cat lady :)