So Long, 2014
This year certainly has had its up and downs; however, the ups have absolutely outweighed the downs. Part of this is due to the fact that the downs helped lead to the ups.
For example, I had a hell of a time getting to Calgary in pretty much all aspects of the process (want evidence of this? Read my blogs from this spring/summer). However, ever since I’ve gotten to Calgary, things have just been wonderful…especially for the past month and a half or so.
The best parts of this year, though, are knowing that the goodness from the end of 2014 is going to bleed right into 2015 and the excitement that 2015 will be an even better year.
For the first time in a long, long time, I am very happy. I can’t wait to see what 2015 will be like, and that’s in great part due to the events of this year.
You did good, 2014. You did good.
The Dumbest Joke in the History of Dumb Jokes
Say there are two trees growing close to one another, one with slightly darker bark than the other.
One day, the lighter-barked tree appears to have a single sheath of bark that’s slightly darker than the other bits of bark and looks like it matches that of the darker-barked tree.
And the other bits of bark say to the darker bark, “Dude. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Crap, that isn’t even a joke; that is me with sleep deprivation plus a six-hour layover in Seattle plus the wake of a mini-freakout from last night when I woke up at my dad’s house and had NO IDEA where I was (I thought I was still in Calgary, but nothing looked familiar and I was scared).
I’m not sorry.
Hell, I’m not even coherent.
(Ignore this.)
Short blog is short
I have to pack for Moscow, but I totally don’t want to. I want instead to sit in my apartment and daydream.
(Hours later…)
Oh crap, I spent all day sitting in my apartment and daydreaming!
Worth it.
Silly Claudia Idea #3144:
What would happen if famous books were really all about statistics?
- The Trial would become The Bernoulli Trial
- The Count of Monte Cristo would become The Count of Monte Carlo
- Great Expectations would become Great Expected Values
- The Old Man and the Sea would become The Old Man and the C-Test
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would become The Wonderful Wizard of Odds
- The Bell Jar would become The Bell Curve…though of course, there already is a book called The Bell Curve, so how about this: For Whom the Bell Tolls would become For Whom the Bell Curves
- The Kite Runner would become The Code Runner
- The Sun Also Rises would become The Sum Also Rises
And finally,
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich would become One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is Not a Large Enough Sample Size to Allow Us to Make Claims About the Average Day of Ivan Denisovich.
MAKE IT HAPPEN!
(Sorry, I’m super nervous for tomorrow and thus am making zero sense today.)
In This Blog: Claudia Does a Dumb and Walks a Mile in -31 Degree Weather
I know that doesn’t sound like a very long distance, but OHMYGOD.
REALLY
FREAKING
COLD
It was really only like -8 or something (hahaha, “only” -8), but we were getting like 15 mph wind gusts—so with wind chill it was -31—and I had to walk directly into them to get home from the bus. It also didn’t help that there was snow blowing EVERYWHERE so it only took about 30 seconds for my glasses to get coated in flurry debris. Plus, it had snowed so much that it was hard to tell where the road was versus where the sidewalk was, so I was kind of stumbling around anyway, never mind that my eyelashes were freezing together and I couldn’t feel my toes after the first block.
Seriously, I have a new respect for cold now. I would not want to go back out in that.
(Except I kinda do.)
(It was exciting.)
In related news, this is going to be the first week I won’t make my mileage goal, mainly because the weather is not walker-friendly tonight and because it probably won’t be walker-friendly tomorrow. I’ll make up the lost miles after finals.
GIANT REDWOODS!
TREEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Dude. These redwoods are so freaking cool. I had no idea.
Some summarized facts from here:
- Redwoods have been around for 240 million years; the currently oldest living one is at least 2,200 years old (that’s one of the trees in my NaNo!).
- There are approximately 50 redwoods taller than 360 feet (the tallest redwood is also in my story!).
- The sequoiadendron giganteum, the “giant sequoia,” grows in California’s Sierra Nevada range and nowhere else on earth.
- The bark on a redwood can be up to a foot thick, and they are very fire- and bug-resistant.
Seriously, read about these awesome things (there’s a lot more on that site). I really want to go see the California redwoods now, even if I don’t stumble upon the Grove of Titans (coolest name or coolest name?).
WOO!
Boots: Claudia Style
Today I shall show you how to go walking in the snow/rain when you’re an idiot like me and live in Canada but haven’t bought boots yet.
READY?
Supplies:
- Two plastic bags (or two large Ziplock baggies)
- Pair of knee-high socks
- Pair of knee-high socks that you don’t mind stretching a bit
- Shoes
- Feet (not pictured).
Step 1: insert feet into pair of knee-high socks.
Step 2: put baggies over socks as shown.
Step 3: put other pair of knee-high socks over baggied feet.
Step 3.5: MAXIMUM CANKLE
Step 4: put on pants and shoes.
Step 5: ???
Step 6: PROFIT! Or go walking, either one.
What I lack in common sense I make up for in…um…interesting ways to compensate for my lack of common sense.
EDIT: WELL THAT WAS A SUCKY WALK. Even with plastic protection, I was NOT going to walk through five blocks of flooded sidewalk. Nope nope nope. Also my iPod pedometer app had a flip-out moment so I lost half my mileage.
I’m frustrated now.
More Spookiness – 2008 Version
So remember on Monday when I said I didn’t want to talk about the Idler’s Rest thing ‘cause it was too freaky?
I want to talk about the Idler’s Rest thing.
Actually, my original post on it way back in 2008 was pretty short and crappy, mainly because when I posted it I was still freaked out by the whole thing. But given that it’s been awhile (and given that I’m still thinking about those Reddit posts, haha), let’s relive some trauma, okay?
ALRIGHTY!
So this happened in the summer of 2008. Rob and I usually took my mom’s car on the weekend—either Saturday or Sunday—to go on our little “dates” because we didn’t want to go to my dad’s house and we couldn’t go to his house because…yeah.
Anyway, on this particular day we decided to drive out to Idler’s Rest and just hang out there for the day. I think we brought a tent and camped out until it got dark, and then just sat in the car.
Actually, we put the back seats down and just laid in the very back looking up at the stars through the moon roof. And no, there was no perversion; what we were actually doing was debating free will and determinism, haha. I remember our debate lasted for like 5 hours and by the time it had mostly worn down it was near midnight.
Anyway, we kept talking for awhile until all of a sudden we both got really quiet. I’d gotten this extremely unsettling feeling—like our lives were in immediate danger. I look over at Rob and he whispered the same thing—that he suddenly felt like something was really wrong.
It felt like there was something right outside the car. It felt like it—and we were both feeling like if we were to get up off the back floor the thing, whatever it was, would see us and attack.
I am not exaggerating; I know it sounds super dumb, but we were both actually shaking because we really, really felt like we were in danger. I don’t know if it was an animal or a human, but I’ve never felt so scared in my entire life. It’s hard to describe exactly what it was like, but it was almost as if we could sense it trying to look into the car to see if there were people in it.
(I’m getting serious chills writing about this even though it’s been like six years.)
So we stayed as still as we could for like ten minutes and the feeling never passed, so eventually we decided that we’d motor to the front seats, chuck the keys in the ignition as fast as we could, and gun it out of there.
Which is what we did.
Even on the ride back into Moscow that unsettling feeling didn’t go away for either of us. Later, after I’d dropped Rob off at his house, he messaged me asking if I’d gotten home okay. We still were both feeling really, really scared. I actually checked the newspaper the next morning to see if there had been anyone killed out at Idler’s Rest (or in Moscow itself)—that’s how strong the feeling was.
It did finally go away by that next morning and neither of us could ever offer an explanation of why we’d felt that way, but we’d both felt it very, very strongly.
It’s still the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me, even though nothing really happened. It wouldn’t have been so scary, I think, if only one of us had felt so unsettled, but we both felt it and we’d both started feeling it at the same time.
Blaughghghg. I’m freaked out just thinking about it again.
Haha, happy early Halloween I guess.
TUKEY TUKEY BO BUKEY BANANA-FANA FO FUKEY ME MI MO MUKEY…TUKEY!
I had a migraine earlier but now I’m hyper as hell.
I haven’t walked more than like four miles in two days, and I feel like GARBAGE. My long walks are necessary for my sanity, yo. I can fantasize AND be (sorta) productive.
Now, have some 99 Red Balloons played with…red balloons. His facial expressions are great.
A List of Things I’m Good At:
- Nothing.
In other news: Mammatus clouds!
\
We be gettin’ the Chinook winds, which explains why it’s so freakishly warm today.
More Canada Stuff
Here are some results from the 2011 Canadian Federal Election regarding some important issues. These are somewhat old data, but it’s all still interesting. Here are a few:
Man, B.C. is like “screw the US.” Meanwhile, Quebec’s over there whispering, “save us!”
Looks like most of Canada’s gun-ho! Get it??
This one surprises me. I’d think the Prairie Provinces would be all for the weed since there’s nothing else to do in the middle of flatland.
Quebec.
Quebec.
Alberta’s like, “Carbon tax? For what? What oil sands? What environmental damage? EVERYTHING’S FINE.”
Interesting stuff.
Um…can we call this the October List?
Did you know Bill Pullman has anosmia? I didn’t!
Anyway.
I have nothing interesting to say (do I ever?) so this post is going to be just a bunch of random crapola.
- Here’s an awesome list of some of the vault backstories in Fallout 3. Vault 106 legit creeped me out when I went in there the first time.
- I was going through the old photos on my camera and I found this picture of a pinecone smoking a cigarette.
Bad pinecone!
- The news is so snarky here. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not planning on attending that Climate Change Summit held a week or so ago. A day or so after I was watching the news and the little ticker said something like, “President Obama spoke at the Climate Change Summit for all concerned Americans…and apparently had to for all concerned Canadians as well.” Also, this:
- I’m watching Spaceballs. Because Spaceballs.
- A handy-dandy Wiki guide of Greek letters used in math, science, and engineering.
- I don’t know if I’ve ever posted this on here, but it’s definitely my favorite little clip of the AH boys “working.”
YAY!
Hmm…
So I really like Calgary.
I can’t compare it to Vancouver yet since I walked practically that whole city and have hardly walked like 2% of the city here.
But I really like Calgary. I can’t wait to explore more of it.
Is it December?
JUST A LITTLE BIT OF SNOW:
Holy hell, I stood out at that bus stop for an HOUR this morning. Why? Because right before my bus stop is the super busy intersection of 4th street and 16th avenue. The snow storm had knocked out the power to the lights and so it was being treated like a four-way stop.
During morning rush-hour.
It’s a damn good thing I like to get to campus early, ‘cause if I’d been waiting for the next #19 bus I wouldn’t have made it in time.
I would have just freaking walked to campus, but I don’t know how to walk there yet. It’s not a straight shot and you have to go some weird way to get there.
Edit:
Holy crap, so the snow has pretty much decimated all of Calgary’s trees, or their branches at the very least. There is debris EVERYWHERE. They’re saying it’ll take at least two weeks to clean everything up.
Looky
Hey fools, check out my new (basement) apartment:
‘Kay that’s all. Nervous about tomorrow.
I have no internet, and I must blog
UGH.
The only good thing that happened today was getting internet a few days early.
THE. ONLY. THING.
I have to go to the graduate orientation tomorrow (for all graduate students, not just the math/stat crowd), but for the rest of the day all I’m going to do is watch Achievement Hunter and scowl (though probably not at the same time, ‘cause the boys are hilarious).
ALSO, I want pasta, but the stove here is absolutely disgusting and I’m pretty sure it would erupt in flames if I turned on the burner.
ALSdkjfalkfhkghalgkjfdj.f..d.lsajfadf*blah*
OH MY GOD why is everything still going wrong with this whole process related to grad school? I’d give you a detailed list, but I already did that a month or so ago and I’m too angry to do it again. Let’s just say I’m super frustrated right now.
AND I’ll be internet-less until at least Saturday. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that I have to email a bunch of people regarding my finally being here (supervisor, etc.) and the only place I can get internet is campus.
I wonder if this is still the karmic backlash for that thing I did in 2009.
END!
(More of) Claudia’s Canadian Adventures…Continued!
YAY I’M HERE!
My “apartment” is a basement, but I guess that’s what I deserve. And at least it’s something. Once I get internet it (and all my crap put away) it should be tolerable. Hopefully.
Sorry, I kind of had a freak out this morning and don’t feel much like blogging.
Bye.
[insert generic title here]
[insert generic blog post here]
[I’M LIKE IN PANIC MODE TODAY OKAY SORRY]
Home, Home on the Interquartile Range
The 2014 ranking for the most livable cities is out!
By some voodoo magic, Vancouver is #3 (after Melbourne and Vienna). I like Vancouver, as you all know, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a livable city. It’s super expensive and the weather will destroy your soul. Also, its close proximity to Surrey should automatically disqualify it.
Toronto is #4; Calgary is tied with Adelaide for #5. No U.S. cities made the top 10.
Monay
So since the last time I’ve been to Canada (not counting Vancouver in May), they’ve upgraded their currency to not only get rid of the penny, but to produce polymer bills that are super freaking durable, colorful, and awesome. Check it out!
Also, they have unique quarters for each province, like we did for our states, but I can’t find any good pics of the whole set, so you get NOTHING!
Eigenblogger 