Archives for : finished

The Omen

Posted by :David Manly On : April 7, 2009
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Category: Do the Dew, finished, Surprise

Well, it’s done … sorta.

Last week was the last week of classes for the program, and all of us survived. Twenty-one walked through the doors at the beginning of the year, and 21 walked out on Friday.

It was a hard, hard year. And a rough last day, when I had to be the second in command in charge of a newscast. That’s right, I was our version of Commander Ryker.

It wasn’t easy telling people what to do, how to do it, what to change, and the like. I’m pretty sure I pissed more than a few people off with my popping into their editing booths. But, if it wasn’t me, it wouldn’t have been done and the newscast wouldn’t have turned out so well.

But, I have learned a lot and enjoyed things I never would have done if I would have stayed in Biology. I got to edit sound, create a radio documentary about snow shoeing, TV newscasts, video editing, and many more.

And I got to find out stuff that I enjoyed doing that I never would have found out, like copy editing or doing camera work.

So, once classes were done, we all got together for a farewell party and had a good time. Drinks were had, hip flasks were exchanged, fruit was hanged low and songs were sung.

Then, the reality set it. While others were done, I still had a 600 word assignment and a 15 page essay to write. FUN times.

Fast forward to today, when I was finishing up my 15 page paper and other assorted stuff (other assignment will wait until tomorrow), and I was sitting at my computer reading over my essay.

When, the case of pop on my desk spontaneously fell to the floor with a CRASH! My head bolted up, and upon noticing it, I relaxed and decided to pick it up.

As I got out of my chair and bent down to pick it up, when out of the blue, there was a loud BANG! Followed by another … BANG!

My heart probably missed about 2.5 “lub-dubs” until I realized what had happened.

The pop cans … in their box … had exploded.

The very same box I was a mere six inches away from.

As if by some sort of divine intervention, only two had exploded out of six, and the damage was contained within the pop can box.

In conversation with a friend, she said it was an omen.

Me – An omen for what? That my brain will soon explode like a can of Mountain Dew?
Her – Or….your summer will be an explosion of fun
Me – How? I don’t even have an internship yet …
Her – Or, how about an explosion of surprises!
Me – I’ve had enough surprises for today, I’d settle for some bland-ness
Her – Not with a sudden explosion of flavour!
Me – Hahaha, “Do the Dew” Indeed

Maybe it was an omen, as I am leaving for home tomorrow. And, like the Queen christened ships, so must my floor be blessed with the spilling of the pukish green liquid that is the Dew.

The following is a mock-up of what occurred, with the faces and clothes changed to protect the innocent victims.

Four Months later … and I’m still alive

Posted by :David Manly On : December 4, 2008
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Category: finished, Journalism, portal, Sleep, Still Alive, thesis

Well, I finally did it.

I survived the first term as a Journalism Master’s student! It was tough, both mentally and physically, but I survived.

If you have been following my blog, you know that this term has been exceptionally hard for some of us in the Master’s program. You know the ones. We are the ones with no real experience, we possess degrees that give us unique knowledge, but don’t help us in journalism. We stare blankly when people talk about ethics or the law and we always need serious help thinking up story ideas.

I have enjoyed my first term here in Ottawa. But, things could be better.

For instance, I live in an area densely populated with young families and the elderly. Seriously. Not a single person in my program lives relatively close to me.

Therefore, it is a real pain in the butt for me to meet anyone anywhere. I must always take the bus for at least 30 to 40 minutes to get anywhere, not that I mind too much. It just that sometimes, I just wish I could walk for like five to ten minutes and be there. Sometimes, in battle in my head, my tiredness or impending workload overtakes my need to be with my new friends. But, I still go out, just not as much as I would if I could.

My apprenticeship, where I am working at a prestigious science and medical journal, begins on Tuesday. This will be the TRUE test of if I can mesh two things:
my love for science and my improved (?) journalistic skills.

But, I am DONE for the year!!! A special song will be low this post, and I suggest everyone listen to it. It is called, “Still Alive.” It is from the ending credits of a video game, and even if you don’t get all the references, it is still absurdly funny.

Now lastly, I will address a request of a friend of mine.
She asked me, “David, why don’t you blog about your thesis work last year? You totally should.”

First off, to properly blog about it, it would take me a LONG time. However, a brief overview of my intense thesis work can easily be provided.

WAY back in second year university, I took a course about animals and I became friendly with the professor. I would sit outside the lab and read what out labs were about before we did them, and the professor would always walk by and we’d chat for a few minutes. Quickly, I learned a lot about him, and how we shared many similar interests. This was good news for some of my female friends, as they had MASSIVE crushes on him, and would giggle and swoon for any new piece of information.

Through our conversations, I mentioned to him that I wanted to become a Herpetologist. That is NOT the biology of Herpes, ok? NOT ABOUT STD’S!
It means the study of reptiles and amphibians, because I absolutely love reptiles.

I would continually seem him throughout third year, and in fourth year I took his fourth year course during the fall.

Then, over the Christmas break, I received an email from him. He said that he knows I am taking a fifth year to do my thesis, and that he would really like me to work with him. HE roughly came up with experiment, and through further conversations, I flushed it out and here it is.

I would be working with a species of frog known as Xenopus, AKA the albino clawed-frog. They have little claws, no pigment, mouths that look like they belong to Muppet’s, and translucent skin. Yes, you did read that right, translucent skin!
That means that when I would feed them, I would see the food going into their bellies and stuff … it was kinda gross.

My experiment was based off of salt on the roads. During the winter months, Ontario over-salts the roads to reduce ice, but when the surrounding snow melts, the water (with a lot of salt) flows into our rivers and streams. We wanted to test how high the salt concentration would have to be before the frogs died. Because, frogs are an ‘indicator species,’ if they die, others die.

I would examine a few things: The ion content of various organs, their protein content, their blood and muscle moisture, as well as examining different cell properties under the fluorescent microscope.

I already have a picture of one of the slides I made up on a previous post. Here is the link:
http://davidmanlysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/biological-lament-and-realization-of.html

And now, I am going to sleep in and NOT set my alarm. That will be the first time since I got here in September when I did NOT have something to do … pity it won’t last!

And without further ado, here is the song: