The Edge of (In)sanity

Chicago!

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:51:00 +0000

So I’ve just switched over to Windows 7 (no, I have never been an Apple girl). I am not sure I like it but since I don’t really enjoy change, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. I’m testing out Windows Live Writer in the hopes that it doesn’t do to my blog what Windows Live Mail did to my MSN contacts. :P

Enjoy the photo. This was only a test. :)

Rambling...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:25:00 +0000

I suppose now is as good a time as any to use the blog for its intended purpose - namely the relieving of Writer's Block and/or acute frustration at having to do something I really don't want to do (in this case, craft several annotated bibliographies for my Comprehensive reading list and examination). I am currently in the process of writing about anthropogenic (human induced) climate change and providing rationalization for the necessity of the study of climate mitigation as it relates to social and environmental injustice. These are the moments when I sit here working away (albeit slowly) at things and I think to myself.... Good Lord...what the hell has life become?

I have been looking at Facebook updates and status changes lately, reading about the various ways in which people's lives have changed in the years following high school. I am (at twenty-seven) finally at that age where marriage seems to be en vogue and, for those who married earlier, so too are the first round of births. While children and parenthood have never piqued my interest (as a thing to pursue myself), as an avid reader of romance novels I must admit to liking the idea of weddings (weddings, not necessarily marriage) and engagements. Having been with my bf for just short of a decade, however, marriage still seems like a different life. Somebody else's life. Either way, that issue is moot.

What I really cannot help but marvel (and cry a little) at is how little my life has really changed in the past decade. Sure I've moved a little, but really only to the other side of a city. I have the same relationship I did when I left high school. I attend the same university I entered when I was nineteen. Sure I have two degrees under my belt and I am currently in pursuit of a third, but what does that mean, really, if I haven't used them to procure a "real job"?

Part of my problem is the fact that I am slow to change, slow to adopt change, and have difficulty embracing any form of difference, no matter how small. For better or worse this has kept me in a static state (academically, romantically, geographically etc.) For my fear and caution I have a decent sized bank account to show and I live under pretty great circumstances, especially for a student... But I can't help but wondering at the point of it all.

When I think about what I expected of my life and for myself, I realize that it was never this. I wanted to be successful, but never expected to be hindered by a wallflower personality that has difficulty interacting with others (to the extent that fear becomes a crippling emotion). I assumed that by twenty-five I would have bought my own condo in our bustling downtown metropolis, man or no man. In fact, I assumed no man because I figured I would have been loving the single life far too much to settle for anything that didn't sweep me off my feet. (In fairness to my bf, he is a great guy, but he really was supposed to be a fling...and so was I.) :P

After twenty-five I expected to spend years traveling, fulfilling one of my greatest passions globe-trotting and seeing the things that other people only dreamed about from behind their picket fences, between soccer games and PTA meetings and two-point-four kids. But reality hasn't lived up to that.

I bear my own shackles, the tightest of which is a PhD dissertation that, after a year of coursework, is only just beginning to get off the ground. Traveling comes far too infrequently in pursuit of such a goal as many students living on a student stipend would be only too quick to point out. Washington was amazing for precisely the reason that it was something different... unfortunately these experiences are far too fleeting in my life.

I love the fact that I am doing the work that I am doing... It's important, valuable and necessary work... But I hate the fact that it isn't life, nor should it be.

Most people (parents, professors etc.) have told me to have patience - that the future will come when it's supposed to and that all the things I want will happen in due course. Maybe they're right, maybe not. I don't know anymore. Perhaps that's why the dissertation is the toll on the soul that it happens to be...because it is a constant reminder of what isn't.

I have half a mind to spend a handful of my savings on a dream of a lifetime trip to the Galapagos and to say "to hell with it all...Life Happens".

But that isn't me.

And what IS me is sad.

Fitness: Day 1 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:24:00 +0000

So...here I am back at the beginning. I was pretty active over the course of my trip to Washington. In fact, I think I exercised more and ate better there than I typically do here, believe it or not.

As is typical, vacation always tends to break me out of my regular behavioural patterns but I am back (or at least trying to be!) The next week may still be a little messed up as I finish up final projects for the semester, but bear with me - I'm doing my best.

This is a repeat of the very last routine I did.

This workout consists of the following:

Start with: 10 seconds rest

1. Squat & Press Up Left Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

2. Squat & Press Up Right Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

3. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

4. One Leg Bridge Left Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

5. One Leg Bridge Right Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

6. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

7. Dips & Knee Raises – 30 seconds
(I don't have Zuzana's dip stand, so I used the bar at the gym and did ten hanging leg raises in each round).

10 second rest

8. One Leg Sit & Lift (left leg) – 30 seconds

10 second rest

9. One Leg Sit & Lift (right leg) – 30 seconds

I made it through 3 rounds of this routine, just as before but this time I doubled my leg raises and pushed myself during my pike jumps.

Pic of the Day...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:13:00 +0000

Just finished grading a pile of assignments....now I have a pile of final exams to grade. yay! :P

Got some really lovely feedback from some of my students this term. Kinda makes the experience worth it on the days grad school makes me want to tear my hair out.

More on tonight's exam invigilation later.

Pic of the Day... (and workout frustration)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 07:24:00 +0000

I have been neglecting my workout posts. In truth, I have been neglecting Bodyrock workouts in favour of hours of walking (or hiking). Gotta finish up some grading...then Bodyrock can start anew. I am happy to say that I ate really well in DC. I ate fruit, ate organic on occasion and did my best to stay away from heavily processed foods. On a different vacation I might have chowed down on fast food every night... Thank you, clean eating!

On the downside, working out frustrates me. I know it should be about how I feel, but I am pretty caught up with how I look. I am less concerned with how much I weigh (muscle weighing more than fat and all that) though I have to admit that sitting around waiting for the last six pounds to do something - anything - is annoying.

So...with all that said, I thought I'd post pics of cute chubby things, comfortable in their own skin(s), with more important things (i.e. climate change, habitat loss, species disruption etc.) to worry about. (A day at the zoo is a workout, too!)

These pics are from my zoo, not Washington. :)

Matschie's Tree Kangaroo

Pic of the Day...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:15:00 +0000

I don't know what it is but coming back from a different place really makes me lazy. I guess it's because I consistently expended a ton of energy while away. (I think it's also because I have a pile of marking to tackle...) LOL

Anyway, here's a series of a meerkat at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. This guy was voguing the entire time!

Happy (almost!) Friday! :)

Pic of the Day...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Aren't these guys the cutest things you've ever seen? They're birds of prey so I'm sure they could still take out an eyeball...but they'll look so adorable while doing it! :P

Pygmy Falcons

Pic of the Day...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:07:00 +0000

Hey everyone:

I returned from DC on Monday and have had the usual details to take care of since returning from the trip. Hope to get back to the usual swing of things shortly. In the meantime, I've been going through my pictures (all 1800 of them!) and thought I'd share a few. Here's the pic of the day, taken while visiting the National Zoo!

Golden Lion Tamarin

Exhausted

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:04:00 +0000

I came to D.C. with the very real intention of continuing my workouts...but honestly, this city is a workout in and of itself. For starters, there are a MILLION things to see so in two days, my friends and I have walked...and walked...and walked...for well over 13 hours. It may not seem like much, but when you walk for six consecutive hours, you feel it the next day. Today alone we saw:

The Hope Diamond (Natural History Museum), the Gutenberg Bible, drafts of The Declaration of Independence, the American Constitution and Bill of Rights (the Library of Congress), T-Rex (star of Night at the Museum), the FBI Building, the Navy Memorial, the US Capitol and a merry-go-round.

Tomorrow we plan to head to the Arlington Cemetary, the Pentagon and the National Zoo. (I'll be taking a "break" by attending a few of the conference sessions). :p On Sunday, I plan to wrap up the week at the Botanic Gardens and, if time permits, maybe the Museum of Crime and Punishment. :)

Here's a shot of the subway...taken with my phone. :)

D.C. Update

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:06:00 +0000

So I presented yesterday.

I am sure the presentation went better than I had anticipated, but I am only too happy to put yesterday out of my mind. Public transit is not my friend, no matter where I am. The trip from my hotel to the conference site was supposed to take 20 minutes (17 minutes) according to the Metro site. I gave myself 45 and made it there...just. Seems like my roommates experienced the same issues I did.

Oh well. No matter!

There is so much to see in D.C., I am currently drafting a schedule and mapping my interests for the next few days. I do have to make it back to the conference for a few things, but the pull of D.C. is strong. So strong, in fact, that I am actually skipping the zoo today (which really should have been my first stop!) to go see some other stuff.

Yesterday JP and I got to tour the White House. (Thanks to Dave and Rhonda for arranging this tour on such short notice.) :) We got to see the Vermeil Room, China Room, Library, Green, Blue and Red rooms, the State Dining Room and the East Room (which is where press conferences are staged and where weddings often occur.) As you might imagine, they don't really let you into the White House with much on your person, but they did allow cell phones (surprisingly with cameras) and allowed you to take pictures once you exited at the front door. So... here's a pic of the front of the White House. :)

I did not get to meet BoBama (my affectionate name for the Obamas' pooch). My friend said he should have smuggled in a dog whistle to lure him out but I am thinking that being questioned by the Secret Service isn't on the priority list for my vacation.

Not sure what I will get up to today. There are tons of geocache sites in this city and tons and tons of things to see. I suspect I have to take a picture of the escalators in D.C. I have been neglecting my fitness (and these neverending escalators prove how out of shape I really am...) You'll soon see why!

Bye for now!

Off on an adventure...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:03:00 +0000

Flight leaves this afternoon for D.C.

I am so petrified of presenting..it isn't even funny. I think I've gone numb from stress. On the upside, in forty-eight hours, it will be behind me, and I'll have the chance to enjoy a new city for a few days.

See you soon!

Cheaters, cheaters and more cheaters... (Did you ever watch that show?)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:36:00 +0000

As a result of SNL this weekend, in which Tina Fey roundly criticized "Bombshell" McGee, the other party in the Jesse James affair, the bf and I got into a spirited debate. I was of two minds after Fey's tirade in which she attempted to convey her support for jilted women everywhere by arguing that they shouldn't feel bad since "these" (reference to McGee) are the kinds of women they have to contend with taking their men.

Her points are well taken, I suppose, but I (and I will admit that I am a huge Sandra Bullock fan), have a hard time buying Fey's claim of celebrating womanhood while simultaneously calling any woman a whore, skank or slut, regardless of their actions. However well intentioned Fey's remarks might have been (Kristen Wiig donned a "Team Bullock" t-shirt), I'm rubbed the wrong way when a woman chooses to defame another woman - for any reason. Surely there was another way to show support for Bullock in this situation?

The bf's contention (if I understood him correctly) was that Fey could have easily criticized Jesse James instead (or even simultaneously) but that she deliberately chose to focus on McGee, calling her out on the basis of a lack of morality. But as much as I hate to see "Sandy" hurt by all of this, I'm forced to acknowledge that morality is a socially constructed concept that is not universal. Moreover, (and the boyfriend totally disagrees with me on this), I don't feel that McGee has any obligation to uphold the vows entered into by either James or Bullock. Marriage is a social contract, engaged by two people. Not two people and the rest of the world - especially with the diminished role of the Church in articulating marital values. Is it the rest of society's responsibility to keep James' John in his pants? Whatever touchy-feely notions we have about the "rules" by which marriages (or even relationships) are governed, I am not convinced that this amounts to any obligation on society's part. At best it is an expectation (realistic or otherwise) that others outside of the relationship will respect the confines by which the relationship (particular) operates. But to say that society articulates the parameters of that relationship? I'm just not buying it.

(As an aside, I had a conversation a few months back with a few relatives who were "gently" trying to get me to "see the light" where marriage was concerned, suggesting that relationships - marriages - that occur in performance - weddings - in front of family members and friends, are strengthened by the collective. Further to this is the notion that collective efforts are made to ensure the sanctity and longevity of the relationship. This argument really doesn't work for me, for a host of reasons, the least of which is the fact that most people don't know the details of a couple's relationship enough to put in any more than a token degree of effort. More often than not, intervention on behalf of "society" often results in dismal failures all round. But I digress...)

I will admit... most days I am not entirely sure where I stand on cheating. I don't do open relationships (read: have never done open relationships) and I've never cheated (by any of the definitions we're assuming in use here). But I do subscribe to the theory that life is short and, by extension, I am forced to acknowledge that as a result, people are inherently programmed to maximize their gain in a minimal amount of time. On top of that, I typically feel that monogamy is also socially constructed, especially with indications of successfully functional polygamous/polyamorous societies throughout time. Maybe cheating is just the "logical" course of action for a species that does not want to die out.

What say you? Who would you hold responsible? To what degree?

The cheater in the relationship
The cheater outside of the relationship
The cheater outside of the relationship (who doesn't know that Party A is married or otherwise involved)
Both, equally
Neither, equally

While I find it hard to absolve McGee of culpability in this instance, it's fairly easy to assume that had it not been her, it would have been someone else, if that was what James wanted. That just seems to be the way "cheating" works.

...Suffice it to say, between Tiger and Jesse, the conversations in our house have been numerous! :P

All that said, I have nothing but love for Sandra Bullock, abhor celebrity gossip, and must apologize for using this unfortunate story to extrapolate a larger discussion about relationships in general.

Formspring.me...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:51:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

I guess the new phone has inspired me to be a little more "plugged in" so I've signed on to a few other networking sites. Twitter is up and running now and I may post a feed here so you can follow along with some of the academic tweets I follow.

I've also just started using formspring. I mainly intend to use it as a quick way to respond to anyone who feels like chatting on my blog (but who doesn't necessarily have a comment for a specific post). Since it's linked to some other accounts, I'm sure other questions will come up out of nowhere. If you've got a question, feel free to formspring.me! (There's a widget in the right menu and a link to my formspring account above.) Answers to questions are in a feed below the widget. :)

Baby 'roo goes for a swim!

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:59:00 +0000

So cute, I had to share it. :) (Baby roos are super soft!)

Now on Twitter!

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:20:00 +0000

Guess I can get that cute little bird for my blog after all!

I am still not sure what to make of it. I made an account so I could subscribe to an academic/activist. I was surprised they even had a Twitter account. Still, it isn't Chat Roulette so I can't complain...too much. :P

If you want to follow me, here I am!

http://twitter.com/_malaviKat_

Geocaching adventures!

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:35:00 +0000

My bf and I have been talking about giving geocaching a try for a long time now, but as is typical of us, we just never got around to it. This is partly because geocaching requires a GPS unit and as we rarely drive anywhere (we have lovely commutes!) an investment in a GPS unit seemed a little frivolous.

With the recent purchase of our (arguably unnecessary? :)) new phones however, we finally gained access to a GPS system and thought we'd give it a go. We were really surprised to find that the Nexus One has a really accurate system and that made our first adventure a lot of fun. Here are some pics of the first two caches we found - also taken with the Nexus One camera. (I have to say, after waiting ten years to buy a new phone... I think I'm going to love this!)

Geocachers typically take a lot of photos. The friends and family I've got that also geocache love to do so with a little buddy in tow. We thought it appropriate to bring along Scooby Doo...since his forte is solving mysteries! Here's Scooby with our first cache and the logbook. A great find (and just challenging enough for first timers.)

The second cache was pretty tricky. For one thing, it's outside of a subway (so I'm pretty sure we weirded out a lot of bystanders.) For another thing, there's a corridor of hydro electric lines pretty close by that obscures GPS readings. The person who placed this cache had to take several readings and average out the coordinates. Nexus One pulled through though! It was "off" by less than a metre!

As you can see, this one was nicely camouflaged! :)

For more info, check out the following:
Geocaching (wiki)
Geocaching.com (official)

Fitness: Day 14 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Brief comments this evening... (I find writing blogs after working out to be pretty daunting because my body and brain are all jittery..LOL)

My workout buddy did this workout yesterday and she seems to have enjoyed it so I gave it a go. Working out after eating curry isn't...exactly...a good thing. I put a lot of pepper into it, so it helps get my body temperature up (which I need since I'm perpetually cold). On the other hand, you do tend to smell like garlic... haha

Good thing there was nobody else in the gym. :)

This workout consists of the following:

Start with: 10 seconds rest

1. Squat & Press Up Left Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

2. Squat & Press Up Right Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

3. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

4. One Leg Bridge Left Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

5. One Leg Bridge Right Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

6. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

7. Dips & Knee Raises – 30 seconds
(I don't have Zuzana's dip stand, so I used the bar at the gym and did five hanging leg raises in each round).

10 second rest

8. One Leg Sit & Lift (left leg) – 30 seconds

10 second rest

9. One Leg Sit & Lift (right leg) – 30 seconds

I made it through 3 rounds of this routine. I probably could have (and should have) done four but our building's gym closes at 1am and, quite frankly, those pike jumps are killer if you push yourself.

See you guys tomorrow!

Fitness: Day 13 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:05:00 +0000

I am really enamoured with Zuzana's Body on Fire routine. This workout exhausts me and makes me sweat - a lot. Plus it's pretty zippy and doesn't seem all that daunting (til I actually do it). But the fact that it's broken into four minute rounds really encourages you to push yourself each time. Four minutes doesn't sound so bad, right? (The last round is the longest four minutes of your life...) :P

Anyway, this is actually a record of yesterday's routine which I did when I returned from my last class for the semester. After I was done, I took a shower and headed out to get some stuff for next week. I am off to D.C. for a week for a conference that has me both excited and nervous. Once my presentation is done on Wednesday, I will be excited. Til then... I am a little panicked. In the meantime, I thought I should get some new clothes/shoes and present myself as a "proper" academic. Ah how the student life favours jeans and sweatshirts! ;)

I will be back later today to post today's routine... In the meantime, here's yesterday's workout with my modifications. I mixed stuff around a bit more than usual. :)

Workout details:
Set your interval timer for 6 rounds of 40 second intervals. This equates to 4 minutes and will give you time to get through the reps below once. You must complete this circuit 5 times to achieve your 20 minute routine. Enjoy!
1. Over and Under (from left to right) 40 seconds
2. Over and Under (from right to left) 40 seconds
3. Happy Dancing Crab 40 seconds
4. Tripple Knee Tucks 40 seconds
5. Pistol and Kozacek 40 seconds
6. Swimming Push Ups 40 seconds

Modifications:

The last two days I substituted squats in place of the Pistol/Kozacek. This time I did 40 seconds of V-crunches.
I modified the pushups a lot yesterday. During the first round, I did elevated pushups using the aerobic stairs in my gym. For the second round, I did pushups from the knees. During rounds 3-5 I did modified pushups by inverting my hands so I could work the outsides of my arms.
I love the triple knee tuck but I find that my wrists have been getting really sore in the past few days. (I suppose it's the dancing crabs, pushups and knee tucks working in tandem). So, during the final round, I omitted the knee tucks and did a squat/bounce instead, along the lines of the Air Chair.)

These past two weeks of working out have been absolutely wonderful. I haven't been eating as well as I should though. I find it really, really challenging to eat 6 times a day...mostly because I have never been a snacker. So while we have been making a lot of good food, I haven't been eating to a schedule. (Plus, my bf is enamoured with pasta and I've been on pasta overload.) Tonight I'm making curried chicken. It isn't in a recipe book - it's just good home cooking. :) (I'm from the Caribbean and there's a lot of clean eating to be had there!)

Back in a few hours!

Fitness: Day 12 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:05:00 +0000

Hey everyone:

I decided to repeat my previous workout because I thought it was so much fun. Once again the same modifications were in place but this time I really focused on improving my form (happy crab especially) and increasing my speed (over/unders).

This is a great workout. It goes by quickly but leaves you sweating and tired. :)

I am a little stressed out now that the semester is wrapping up. I am presenting at a conference in a week and like most grad students I consistently doubt my abilities to perform. Public speaking has never been on my list of "things I enjoy" and the fact that my panel consists of fully tenured profs (the likes of whom I should probably be citing) coupled with the fact that my presentation isn't based on empirical research... pretty much scares the crap out of me.

I will be giving a performance to my teddy bears over the weekend. I hope they're kinder critics than next week. :P

(I am, however, really looking forward to visiting D.C. The idea of checking out Washington really excites me. And I think I've found the workout for the week!)

Fitness: Day 11 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:06:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

My fitness posts have been missing for a few days as I skipped traditional workouts in lieu of several hours of walking/moderate hiking around one of our local parks. It's probably one of my favourite parks in the city due to its size and the variety of activities contained within. By no means does walking come anywhere close to the degree of challenge posed by Zuzana's Bodyrock workouts but it was good to at least get out in the fresh air and enjoy some (uncommon for April in Canada) bright sunshine.

For some reason (I'm not sure whether it was the hiking or a combo of hiking plus the last of Zuzana's workouts) I've been uncharacteristically sore. Because of this I wasn't really in the mood to do anything strenuous for most of yesterday or today. But as today wore on my body realized it was missing a good sweat, so before I knew it...I was back. I guess if you have to be addicted to something, working out isn't that bad. :)

My blogging buddy Green Eyed Girl blogged about this workout yesterday and I thought I'd give it a go. She wasn't kidding when she said this workout was tough. The easiest part of it are the Over/Unders (and even they aren't easy if you really push yourself). Suffice it to say I made it through the twenty minutes but only with some modifications. No idea how Zuzana (the machine!) gets through those pistols!

Workout details:

Set your interval timer for 6 rounds of 40 second intervals. This equates to 4 minutes and will give you time to get through the reps below once. You must complete this circuit 5 times to achieve your 20 minute routine. Enjoy!

1. Over and Under (from left to right) 40 seconds

2. Over and Under (from right to left) 40 seconds

3. Happy Dancing Crab 40 seconds

4. Tripple Knee Tucks 40 seconds

5. Pistol and Kozacek 40 seconds

6. Swimming Push Ups 40 seconds

Modifications:

Happy Dancing Crab - I only did the crab; no jumps!

Pistol - hahahaha! (I did squats).

Swimming pushups - I did a round and a half as proper pushups and then went to my knees. I have weak girly wrists. :P

When I got to round three, I went to show my bf this routine. I was explaining the Pistol while doing Over/Unders but by the time I got to the Happy Crab my bf was just laughing and shaking his head. :P

Music for today's workout:
Disturbed - Want

Hope you guys had a great Easter weekend. :)

Just bought a new phone!

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:15:00 +0000

Well I've finally joined the new millennium. I now have a phone that is less than a decade old. :) I am the proud owner of a Nexus One so I decided to give mobile blogging a go. Since I am typically long-winded, it is unlikely that this will become a regular feature...but I'm good for now. :)

Things I've shot...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:40:00 +0000

A couple of other pictures from the park... (I went again today). :P

Woodpecker

Cardinal...This guy was hard to shoot he was so high up!

An unexpected sight...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:05:00 +0000

I am not a birdwatcher but I want to be. I guess that's sort of an odd hobby for a twenty-seven year old cosmetic fanatic but it is what it is. :P

We happened across some interesting birds at the park today. I can't be any more specific than to say that one is a hawk and the other a woodpecker. The hawk in particular was hard to capture because it was so high up. I'm pretty happy to have spotted it at all though. :) If anybody knows what they are, please let me know!

Something more common, but I don't know what this is, either!

Things I've shot...

noreply@blogger.com (mKat) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:53:00 +0000

Spring/summer is my favourite time of year in Canada. I love, love, LOVE! spending time in our city's major parks or along the waterfront. While it isn't the beach I enjoy back home, Canada does have a lot to offer. :)

Here are a few photos from today. At first we were convinced that the park was devoid of life but we soon realized we just weren't looking in the right places.