I’m working my bum off with school and work (glad I was not offered a TAship this semester, I’m drowning as it is), the past few weeks have been especially rough after, among other things, a sinus infection, death in my family and increased work load. Looking forward to having Good Friday off next week!

And on another note, I’m increasingly distressed by the current political climate in my home country. What are you people doing!? Is a “controversial” health care bill really enough reason to hurl expletives at politicians? The n-word? Baby killer? F-word? And then to follow up your words with bricks through windows and threats of violence (not to mention the posting of home addresses of politicians to your angry and unpredictable followers)? I’ve blogged about this once before (when I saw a video of a belligerent woman calling an Israeli man a Nazi for discussing his support of the health care system in Israel) but really, this needs to stop. How can you have an intelligent debate with someone who wants to attack you, verbally or physically? How can we move forward as a people if we cannot communicate with each other? So to whomever will listen, stop condoning this behaviour! If you realize you are behaving in this way, please, take a step back and reconsider the efficacy of your words in effecting real change! By threatening and whining, are you really moving the debate forward or are you simply a roadblock? America has always been a country that is greater than the sum of its individual parts, stop this divisive crap. It is not, and should not be, an ‘us vs. them’ situation, only ‘us’.

I’ll leave you, dear reader, with a quote that I really like from Jamie Oliver. Many years ago, I watched his TV series about improving public school lunches and one thing he said has really stuck with me. “I want us to have a f—ing better, cooler, cleverer, healthier nation.” And that won’t happen if we don’t work together.

2009 was an exciting, challenging and at times overwhelming year, but I have grown tremendously because of it. Not that its been an easy go of things. That being said, I’m happy to put it behind me and move on. I’m not in the habit of setting New Years Resolutions (I tend to think that setting them ensures their failure) but I do have some goals and changes I want to make in this year. You see, I was stuck in my parents’ basement for a number of hours sorting through memorabilia of my past and I was put back in touch with parts of myself that I really missed. I’m also amazed at how organized I was back in high school! I still spend time organizing and setting up personal filing systems and schedule planners, but I’m not as good at sustaining them as I used to be. Work-wise, I’m fine and still maintain them, but personal life (and school life!), need to spend some more time on that. Goal #1

http://www.sketchysantas.org/

I have a great sketchy Santa story of my own, as told to me by my Mom. You see, I’m adopted and when I was very small the agency I was adopted through would host events for the kids they had placed (were we alumni? success stories? I’m not sure what to call us). One Christmas they had a party, and Santa came! Only Santa came in smelling like he had bathed in some sort of hard alcohol (come to think of it, I hope he hadn’t driven to the party). Well, this didn’t deter the tiny terror that was I. I thought Santa was awesome! Alcohol bath or not. So in one of our family photo albums there is a lovely picture of me giving Drunk Santa a kiss on the cheek. Next time I am home I shall have to find it and scan it…

B and I made it up to Ottawa for the first time a week and  a half ago (sightseeing, not so good, it was rainy and Parliament was closed to the public, but we did see this: 350 protest in Ottawa). I was going up for this: 1st Annual Global Health Research Learning Forum. I’ve been to conferences before (and I’ll be in Toronto for CBIE next week for work) but this was actually the first conference that I’ve been to specifically for my educational pursuits. Aside from learning about new assessment tools and ongoing research projects, it was so refreshing and so inspiring to be around people who were passionate about similar issues! Once I get through the backlog of work/class assignments, I can’t wait to get started on my protocol, research and thesis! God, I’m such a keener…

Meaning: 1 a successful result brought about by hard work

Ta da!

(Mom! Do not look!)

But, thats not what I wanted to share today. I have a huge addiction to cute animal pictures (I check CuteOverload.com religiously) and this gallery was just too cute not to pass along! May the force be with you, Chippy! It begs the question… how on earth did they get the chipmunk to sit still and wear an action figure?

I do have a bit of exciting news though! I’ve said before that I work at the University I graduated from, well… I will be doing my Master’s degree part time while working. It will be a Master of Arts in Applied Health Sciences. I have my first class tomorrow! Its a thesis based program and I have some vague ideas for a thesis but who really knows how many incarnations I will have before I defend!

On another note, looks like we will be having an election up here this fall. Joy.

Geeze I said I would try for a post every couple days and its been over a week! Shame on me… In my defense I must say life has been very busy. I might receive some very exciting news soon.

I would like to share something that has been bothering me for the past few days. I’ve said before I’m an American who lives in Canada, add in that my country is currently trying to change our health care system and I’m glued to the news. That being said… what on earth is going on with the conservative far right in my country!? I can understand being concerned about major changes, affordability of programs, and the sibling rivalry like behaviour that is generally observed in any Dem v. Repub debate… but… it is never, ever, ever appropriate to invoke the Holocaust and compare a leader that you simply disagree with to Hitler. I’ll go a step further, it is never ever ever appropriate to call someone a Nazi because you simply disagree with them… Last night I was sent a video where an Jewish Israeli immigrant to the US was talking about his experiences with nationalized healthcare in Israel. A woman who disagrees with Obama’s health care plan actually called this man a Nazi and mocked him when he became upset. I have never been so disgusted in all my life. Here look for yourself. I believe that debate is healthy and an integral part of lawmaking… but there is no place in debate for that sort of behaviour. It is disrespectful to the memory of those who died in the Holocaust and people who engage in that sort of behaviour should be ashamed of themselves.