Sunshine!

Jerry's so good to me. He was out at Sunshine Ski Resort (in Banff) yesterday when I texted him about my exam. The exam didn't go so well. I had some very expensive mind blanks and I'm not sure if I passed. I was feeling rather down (although Mom cheered me up some).

Later in the afternoon, he asked if I wanted to go up on Sunday.

So, here I am on Libby (check out the pink helmet - $30 on sale at MEC). My next upgrade will be pants. Mine work but they're a bit big and awkward.

I was really surprised at how well I did. I was expecting to fall a lot but it came back right away. Did 7 runs (all green) and I'm exhausted.

Had a few spectacular somersault falls that shoved snow in my

face but those didn't hurt since it was in powder. I did have a couple really hard falls on some less forgiving snow and I'll have bruises on my hip and knees tomorrow. I also smacked the back of my head a couple times (thank goodness for helmets) but I'll be fine.

After I got home, I jumped right into an Epsom salt bath. I'll take some ibuprofen and rub some red flower oil (similar to tiger balm) on my sore muscles tonight.

Sunshine is a really special place for Jerry. He spends most winter weekends there and he has a group of people he often snowboards with.

He was really excited when I was game to play in the snow and although his jacket collar is in the way, he actually has a huge grin on his face.

So, I got to see why he gets so antsy when fall comes and he got to show me why he loves that place so much. I'll be able to do quite a bit of snowboarding there this winter - maybe 2-3 times a month as he can get half-price tickets for me. He has a season's pass.

I'll let you know what the final result of my mid-term was. I still have time to do a rewrite before my semester is up without having to get an extension.

Have a great day!

Prom

So, here we are at prom. I've resigned myself to helmet hair (aka very flat). I did fix my bangs a bit later once I found a mirrot.

And Jerry was so sweet! He got me a corsage because he wanted me to have a proper prom. I have them in my freezer now to preserve them. I think he's caught on that I really love flowers.

I ended up wearing the gold dress. It was the perfect dress for this type of thing. Because of the odd hemline and brightness, it's something you can only wear to a few events. And with the eclectic, individualistic crowd, it worked perfectly. And it was easy to bike in.

The prom was at the local bike messenger hang-out bar. There was a very loud band that played some type of heavy/thrash rock music. Whatever it is where you can't understand the lyrics and the "singer" screams into a microphone. It's not my taste but if you listened to the voice as if it were an instrument, it made an interesting blend with the guitars and I did think they were a good band. It was also the world premier of "The Courier Always Bites Twice." Yep, a really bad zombie movie. Jerry and Keith (roommate) were zombies and it was quite funny. Once it goes on YouTube, I'll let you know. Not appropriate for younger audiences.

After prom, we went for Chinese. There's a restaurant near Jerry's place that's open really late. We got there about 1:15 am and we were the last customers to be served. The food was really good - definitely hit the spot.

...and I still want to hold Jerry's hand (but maybe he won't want to hold mine)

Women lead in bacteria, hands down, according to study of 51 college students
Module body

Mon Nov 3, 6:59 PM
By Randolph E. Schmid, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies.
A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.

"One thing that really is astonishing is the variability between individuals, and also between hands on the same individual," said University of Colorado biochemistry assistant professor Rob Knight, a co-author of the paper.

"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," added lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor in Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers aren't sure why women harboured a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to do with the acidity of the skin. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women.

Other possibilities are differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said.

Women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing, Knight added.

Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."

He stressed that "the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial ... the pathogens are a small minority."

The researchers took samples from the palms of 51 college students - that's 102 hands - and tested the samples using a new, highly detailed system for detecting bacteria DNA.
They identified 4,742 species of bacteria overall, only five of which were on every hand, they report on Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The average hand harboured 150 species of bacteria.

Not only did individuals have few types of bacteria in common, the left and right hands of the same individual shared only about 17 per cent of the same bacteria types, the researchers found.

The differences between dominant and non-dominant hands were probably due to environmental conditions like oil production, salinity, moisture or variable environmental surfaces touched by either hand of an individual, Fierer said.

Knight said the researchers hope to repeat the experiment in other countries where different hands are assigned specific tasks.

While the researchers stressed the importance of regular hand washing, they also noted that washing did not eliminate bacteria.

"Either the bacterial colonies rapidly re-establish after hand washing, or washing (as practised by the students included in this study) does not remove the majority of bacteria taxa found on the skin surface," the researchers said in their report.

While the tests could determine how many different types of bacteria were present, they could not count the total amount of bacteria on each hand.

The research was funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
-
On the Net:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org

Dress choices

Hi! So, I need your help. I took pictures of me in my dress and have a bunch of formalish occasions to attend. Ignore the terrible posing and camera angle - I wanted to show off the dress. Each dress has a matching organza wrap. All of them also have fabric in the back that turns into a belt & bow. The back is also plain - nothing interesting.


It's a red-orange colour. No sequins (I removed them) but some interesting fabric patterns. A very bold dress.


Sequins and fun fabric. I really like this dress.

There's some beadwork along the horizontal lines of the dress but it's hard to see in the photo. The detail on the side is a flower. Not entirely sure if I like it.

Super fun dress. It changes colour in the light but it's mainly gold to magenta.

Here are the events:

Prom (on Friday) - Jerry is wearing grey and steel blue. I could wear the grey to go with his clothes. I could wear the red to stand out from his clothes. Or I could wear the gold because it's fun.

Akita Christmas party - I think I'll wear the green

Jerry's Christmas party - quite a bit more informal than mine. Maybe the red. Can't wear the same dress as at prom.

possible political holiday party - not sure of formality. Could wear a dress but if informal, I have suitable clothes.

New Years - have no idea for plans. Likely can't wear the same outfit as prom or Jerry's Christmas party.

Valentine's Day - Will likely be on a snowboarding weekend. Could pack one of these dresses - surprisingly they pack down very easily. But weather may dictate a warmer outfit.

All dresses are bikeable. That was one of the criteria. All are very comfortable and I have fabulous shoes to go with them all. And, in the summer, I can wear them any time I want to feel pretty.

So, if any one them catches your eye or looks more suitable to an occasion, please let me know. Or, if you think any of them are tacky/hideous, you can also tell me. Trust me, I won't be offended. After all, I could turn it into a costume for Hallowe'en next year. lol - I know I have a weakness for sequins and sparkles.

A cool morning

Hello Everyone,

I’ve finished the cleanse and I’m back to my regular food. Carb portions are a bit smaller but I’m happy again. Although it did help me lose a couple pounds (and most are back – stupid water retention), I don’t think it was worth it. My skin played havoc with me and it’s only now starting to recover. My hair was oily and I had a number of break outs. Jerry was happy with it though so I told him he would need to plead his case to convince me to try it again.

Had gorgeous weather for Hallowe’en. Only had 1 real trick or treater – a cute little princess that might have been 4. The other was my upstairs neighbour’s niece, a pink bunny. I had a great time at a Hallowe’en party and the weather meant I didn’t need to throw on a bunch of extra clothes to keep warm.

My dresses from ebay have arrived. I’ll take some pictures. I think I’ve chosen my prom (hee hee) dress but I’d still like your opinion.

Having a lot of troubles focusing on studying. My midterm is on the 22nd and I’m very behind. I’m going to test a theory tomorrow. I’ve invited Jerry up for dinner and he’s going to watch tv/play on his computer while I’m working. I suspect the reason why I’m not able to study is I get distracted by too many things at home. As well, I need noise to study. With him there, I’m more motivated to study since someone will be keeping an eye to make sure I’m working and the sooner I’m done, the sooner I get to spend time with him. I have no idea if it’ll work, but he was game to help me out.

I have a new chair at work – it’s a swopper stool. It’s designed to help build core strength. It has a spring in it so you can bounce up and down and tilt in different angles. Basically, it’s a stool designed to work like a balance ball. So far, it’s very comfortable, my posture is better and I find my desk height is no longer a problem. I was uncomfortable in my old chair and was getting pain in the area between my shoulder blades. Hopefully this chair will help with comfort as well as improving my muscle tone.

Have a great day!