Kelley Bromley

Got off work early today to get some stuff done and now our ceiling is fixed! But in other news…

We got pulled over on our way home from Superstore on Thursday (Jan 5) because our headlight was blown. We had to have it replaced within 8 days. When the cop looked at Lionel’s Newfoundland license he asked if we were going to be living here and we said we just moved here and he was fine with that, but we got Lionel a BC license today, LOL. It was “recommended” we switch it within 90 days of arriving, but within 90 days of arriving was exam time, then we went to Calgary, so we never got around to it until now.

After we picked up the license we went to Richmond, which has not only parking lots, but also a Liquidation World, XS Cargo, Michaels, and Canadian Tire all within range of each other *gasp!* We found 1.5 L mason jars at Canadian Tire for $13.99 for 12 – I’ve been looking for these forever to store our beans and rice and stuff in. Then we went to Costco and got a water filter, ciabatta bread, ribs, frozen berries, cereal, and a few other things that Costco is better than Superstore in terms of pricing. It was a long night! When we got home we had meatballs with Sweet Apricot Peri Peri Nandos sauce! Wooo! The South African store in Richmond was great! (more…)

Lionel woke up this morning to go to the washroom and he discovered our ceiling was leaking right above the toilet! Since we’re in the middle of a hirise, it’s unlikely that it’s due to the massive amounts of rain falling right now. It’s also leaking into the shower, but not as quickly. I would estimate 30 drops/min over the toilet and 15 drops/min in the shower, heh. At least it’s confined to the bathroom! It doesn’t drip directly into the toilet though, more like half in half out, so it’s still going on the floor… my newly cleaned floor!! I spent all yesterday cleaning the floors in the apartment :( On my way to class I put a report in so hopefully we’ll have a toilet again sometime soon… (more…)

We went to the South African store in Richmond today! It was great! It was amazing to see so many SA products in one place :) Talk about delicious! We got some Mrs. Balls Original Chutney, Extra Hot Peri Peri, Nandos Sweet Apricot Mild Peri Peri, Monkeygland sauce (a rib sauce), Aromat Original (a delicious seasoning mix), Ouma Buttermilk Rusks, Ouma Condensed Milk Rusks, Honey Rooibos, and a Honeybush/Honey Rooibos antioxidant infused mixed tea. Great haul!

After the SA store we went to Canadian Tire to buy a headlight for the car, then we checked out the Clipper Street Scrapbook Company down the road. It was nice, but like all Scrapbook stores it was way overpriced – I prefer eBay and Michaels :) I did get 7 3 yard packs of fibers which were out for 75% off (25 cents each!), but that was it.

Then came the task of navigating to Burnaby from Richmond… after nearly going on the highway to Seattle, and actually driving over a bridge to the Delta!, we finally found our way, LOL. That was an experience! We’ve never been on such a large bridge before, but I didn’t have my camera with me. Anywho, we returned our stuff to Walmart and picked up some supplies for the house. Unfortunately Costco closed at 6pm on Saturdays so we’ll have to do that another day. (more…)

No more electives! No more electives! No more electives!

I only need 12 credits for my degree instead of 18! No more electives for me! All I have to do is finish NRSC 501 and I have no more courses EVER! More lab work time!! YAY!!! Ok, so I’m being a bit odd, but after 17 years of studying and being tested I am about to be freeeeeeeeeeeee!!! WOOOOO!!!! (more…)

Ok, so I’m in a bit of a predicament. I thought I had to do 18 credits of course work in the first year of my program. NRSC 500 and NRSC 501 are 6 each, which means two 3 credit electives. I did Bioc 510 last semester, and was going to do Bioc 521 this semester, which is a research critique course, but it overlaps with the NRSC course which is core to the program. So my other option was to take Bioc 535, a course on genetic techniques used in yeast systems – would be very informative, but half the class usually fails the final (50%) and only one person has finished the final since the course was introduced, heh. The good news is that the undergrads in the course have 8 assignments, but as grad students we would only have to modulate class discussions then write the final, which isn’t too bad. It’s based on problem solving and is open book, but if you can’t think of something or you have a headache it might not go over well.

Well, anyway, Blair found out that if you go direct from Bachelors to PhD and get A’s in your courses that you only need 12 credits… so only the core NRSC courses. What we know is that you need to do 12 in the first year, but we don’t know if you have to do the other 6 credits later. Personally, I want to get all my courses over with so I can focus on research (the good stuff!). We all talked to Liz and she confirmed only 12 were required, but didn’t specify if 12 were for this year, so I emailed Dr. Vincent and hopefully he’ll straighten all this up! I really think Bioc 535 would be useful, but not worth the stress, so I might just audit it. (more…)