Bunnies

Probably the most unique thing about UVic is the awesomely large population of bunnies. Other places on Earth have rabbits, but here we have bunnies -- the cute little kind that you may have for a pet:

I was thinking today that perhaps we should change our mascot from the Vikes to the Bunny. Sure, we may look defenseless, but you just go ahead and see what we are really made of.
*The above statements would be more effective if we were actually a sporty school (i.e. with tailgating).

Setting Up Ultimate

Today I investigated the options of playing ultimate frisbee as a weekly get together, and the situation regarding the fields is disappointing. Here are the options:

1. Rent out an official grass field for some afternoon, on a fixed schedule (ex: 11:30 on Tuesdays or 3:00 on Fridays). This is great except they charge $20/hr + 7% GST (and that is the student rate!).
2. Find an unofficial field on campus, perhaps by the residences. These fields might not be as flat as desired or may contain rabbit holes, etc. The problem here is that if anyone hurts themselves and I organized it, they can sue me for liability. Another problem is that campus security can shut down our game if they think a) we are damaging the field or b) it is a safety risk.
   
3. Find an unofficial field off campus, like at a high school or elementary school. Campus security mentioned Mount Douglas High School or Campus View Elementary School. I know where the latter is, and it is right next to campus (obviously) and has a nice field. They may rent out the fields, or the cops may come by and one day decide that we can't play there anymore. I imagine they only rent out the fields during the evenings. We'd just have to wait until school was sufficiently over for the day, but that doesn't give much time until it gets dark.

Well, I know better than to give so many options to a large group, so I better figure out something soon. I guess when I have time I will ride my bike around and check out all of the fields.

Squid?

Last Thursday was the last night that Rex's parents spent in the house. For the occasion, we went out to eat at a Taiwanese restaurant. There were four of us total, so we each ordered one item and then everyone shared it all. I have no idea what the other three ordered, because they ordered in Mandarin. At least I knew what one of the four items was.

One of the dishes that someone else ordered was a seafood mix. There was a piece of white seafood in the bowl, so I gave it a try. I asked Rex what it was, but after thinking for a while, he said that he forgot the English word for the animal. That was reassuring. Together we came up with squid, but he's not really sure that is correct. For the record, it was white, but it did not taste like chicken. It just tasted like any assortment of white colored fish (I can't tell the difference).

Mmm Cheese

In my quest to become the cheapest person on earth (read: "thrifty"), I decided not to pay for overpriced cheese that is already sliced. Instead, I thought that in the long run it will be cheaper to buy a block of cheese and a cheese slicer. I did this and after using the slicer, I washed it and put it in the drying rack.

The next day, Rex came to me holding the slicer and asked what it was. I told him it was a cheese slicer and he said that is what his father thought it was. But none of the three of them knew how it worked (Rex's mother included). They wanted a demonstration. So I went into the kitchen and with an interested audience of three, I cut the cheese. They were impressed with my abilities.

(I know Jonathon in particular will be proud of this part of my quest.)

Where Are the Pictures?

I was reading one of my many math books today and had a flashback to high school. At that time, I remember flipping through my dad's college math books and seeing no pictures. I was then glad to be taking calculus in 1999, and not some 30 years earlier. Thankfully I lived in modern times where there are full color pictures in every math book.

Now I'm trying to find a picture in my book. But really, who needs pictures?

"You Can Forget All Your Troubles; Forget All Your Cares, and Go..."

You guessed it, I went downtown today to run a few errands and boy was it exciting! This is what I saw:

• Government Street closed off for two caged-in street hockey games being played side by side.
• A fire truck with its lights on parked by the hockey, ladder fully extended high into the air with people in the basket videotaping the hockey.
• A protest march to support the U.S. war resisters. Remember, these people were not protesting the war, they were supporting the protest of other people who protest the war.
• Darth Vader playing the fiddle.
  

Day 23

I hate to brag, so I'll keep this short. Today I figured out how to use the microwave beyond pushing the "Quick On" button.

Road Signs

I have encountered both of these road signs (in separate locations) when pulling off of a side street onto a main street where there was no option to go straight. What is the difference? Why two different signs?
According to ICBC, the green one means "Right turn only" and the red one means "No left turns."

Buses (Not Busses)

The bus system in Victoria is outstanding. You really only have to wait about 15 min to catch a bus and can pretty much take the bus anywhere you want to go in the city, with maybe one transfer. It is also important to point out that the buses here are clean, and so are the people on them (one or both of these cannot be said about the NJ Transit buses). This along with the quantity of riders gives you a feeling of safety, even at night. Students ride them all the time to go anywhere in the city. Because they are so used, they are so frequent. My UVic card doubles as a free bus pass (I do pay $56 per term though, the price of 28 rides).

It is very cool to ride the double decker buses as well, though I think the coolness level might wear off in a few months. You can ride on top and sit at the very front of the bus, then you can hear the antenna on top whack the bottoms of bridges, signs, trees, and traffic lights (yes, all four).

Not only are the BC Transit buses found frequently, but so are the VW buses. I have never seen so many of them in one location.

Crosswalk Buttons

When you get to a crosswalk and push the button to cross, how many times do you push the button? I push it 3 times. Why do I do that?

Sinful

Last week I was told that because I am without a sin, I cannot be paid. So I sucked it up and applied to become sinful (that's the government for you). It's sad that I lust for money so much that it leads to sin.

Brought to You by the Letter Z and the Colour Gray

One of the things that I've been wondering about is whether or not I should be converting to Commonwealth English while I am in Canada. First off, I have no intention of changing from American to Commonwealth just for the sake of fitting in (slightly odd is fun). However, I wonder if people would see it as rude for me to not attempt to change. (One shouldn't go to Germany for a few years and refuse to speak German, despite most Germans knowing English.) If my plans were to live in Canada forever (or "for ever"), then I would not hesitate to migrate my English as well. But since I plan on returning to the U.S. in 3 or 4 years, I am stumped.

There are two sides to this as well. Not just the spelling, but also the speech. By speech, I do not mean accent (I have no intention of picking up a Canadian accent, just as I avoided picking up a South Carolina accent). For example, should the letter Z be pronounced "zee" or "zed?" I have one professor who is originally from the U.S. and who slipped and said, "zee" during a lecture. She then promptly stopped and justified this mistake by saying she had a conversation with an American the previous day and then continued using "zed."

So, leave a comment and let me know what your opinion is. I guess I am most interested in getting candid remarks from Canadians as to whether or not they think it is rude to not attempt to change, but I invite anyone to comment.

But That's Too Early!

At Clemson, the classes began at 8:00am and anyone with such a class would generally complain that it was too early. There's always the informal proposal that classes instead begin at 9:00am so that "people can be better rested." Well at UVic, the classes begin at 8:30am and there is the same general complaining that it is too early. I know that I now stay up an extra 30 min later at night than I did in Clemson. I've wondered this before, but now I thought of it again: Does it really matter when classes start, or will people always complain that the first class is too early? I suspect that even if they started at 9:00am, people would complain, though maybe not until after those that knew it previously as 8:00am had left. What do you think?

Random Thought

I just realized that my oven only gives the temperature in Fahrenheit.

Celsius

I'm still getting used to Celsius for the weather report. Brad suggested that to figure out how hot 20 degrees is, I should stick my hand in boiling water and then note that 20 degrees is 1/5th the pain level. I then suggested that I instead stick my hand on a block of ice and note that 20 degrees would hurt infinitely more times. Perhaps this calls for a weighted average...

Enemy Territory

Interesting thing happened to me at the barbecue today. I was talking to a guy that I had just met (a student from Canada) for about 5 minutes or so. Then it came up that I was from the U.S. and he asked if I was an American. I said yes and he said, "Oh, I thought all Americans were mean, but your personality doesn't go with that." I laughed.

Barbecue

One interesting thing that I've noticed is that the definition of a "barbecue" really changes based on the region.

Near Cleveland: A barbecue consists of what the south calls a "northern barbecue." Here, you put chicken on the grill and pour the barbecue sauce on while it is cooking.

South Carolina: Mention barbecue and immediately people assume you have a whole pig roasting for pulled pork sandwiches! Hopefully someone has homemade mustard based barbecue sauce!

Victoria: I'm sorry but this just loses the battle. I've been to 2 barbecues so far and neither one has had any barbecue sauce. Here, barbecue usually means just hamburgers and hotdogs. I think its just a synonym for cookout. (I actually mentioned this to people at the barbecue and they acted surprised and wondered why you would have barbecue sauce at a barbecue.)

Maple Cinnamon Apple Chicken

So today for dinner I made up this recipe that I think turned out well and so I'll post it here. You need:

• Chicken breasts cut into however big you want (I quartered what is technically a half breast)
• Cheez-Its, crushed
  
• Melted margarine or an egg
• Apples cut into slices
• Cinnamon, ground
  
• Maple syrup (cinnamon flavor is good)

Then you take a casserole dish and spray it with Pam or butter or something. Next put down a layer of apple slices. Then coat the chicken in margarine or egg and roll it in the crushed Cheese-Its. Put the chicken pieces on the apple layer. Then sprinkle on the cinnamon (the more the merrier) and drizzle the whole thing with maple syrup. Then bake at 350 for 40 min.

Ahh! All I talk about is food!

Mmm Sugar

My housing situation is interesting right now. My roommate is from Taiwan, but his parents own the house and live in Taiwan. They are currently on an Aug.-Sept. visit and are sleeping in my roommate's room. Thus, he is sleeping at a friend's apartment and works all day and evening. To make things more interesting, they don't speak any English, and I don't speak any Taiwanese or Mandarin.

Two days ago, I made a lemon pie that is basically just a pile of sugar. I offered them a slice, but knowing that their culture doesn't really eat that much sweets, I gave them a small piece. I tried to give the father an even smaller piece because I think that he is diabetic as well. I wasn't sure if they would like it, but my roommate was not home to translate. They gestured that they liked it, but I later asked my roommate if they thought it was too sweet and he said "how did you know?"

I don't know if I should offer a chocolate peanut butter pie, because really only the U.S. and Canada like chocolate and peanut butter together. From what I've heard, Europe and Asia seem to think it is gross. Maybe I'll wait until they leave before I make it. But I don't know if I can wait that long.

Grocery Store

With help from Rex, I made it to a "normal" grocery store that sells western food. I realized how spoiled I am in the US, as even this large store did not have near the variety of a Bi-lo. Things I noticed:

• No grits! (This is a good thing.)
  
• 3 different stores and none of them have margarine sold in 1/4 lb sticks. But, the closest I could buy was a box of 3 lbs of margarine in 1/4 lb blocks that are not shaped like sticks but rather short fat squares with no tbsp markings. Come on people, it's sold by the lb and recipes want tbsp, so what's so hard about selling the sticks?
• Crisco isn't sold in the nice big cardboard tubs, just in smaller more expensive containers.
• No saffron rice. (This is a bad thing; Jonathon got me hooked.)
• No completely lazy crockpot meals in a bag. Too bad, those were great.
  

Panic!

Among the staples in my kitchen is Cool Whip. Everyone knows you can't make a dessert without it. I went to the store today and Cool Whip is sold in 1 liter containers! My recipes say "1 container" or "1/2 container!" Panic!

I looked up a recipe and a container should have 8 oz in it. But, obviously if it is 8 oz of volume then that's just 1 cup. No way, so it must be by weight. The question now is, what's the density of Cool Whip?

*Update*
With a little searching, I was able to find that an 8 oz tub has 3 or 3.25 cups in it. The Kraft website cannot agree with itself. But I think there are actually 3.25 cups. Therefore, my container has 4.41 cups in it, or 10.86 oz. Thanks to Cheryl for helping solve this crisis!

*Another Update*
The container says "yields 5 1/2 cups." I'm not sure how that is possible. It seemed to me as I measured it for a pie that it was much closer to the 4.41 cups than 5.5.

Cross Country Trip

My trip from South Carolina to Vancouver Island was overall outstanding, though it had its moments of misery. I drove a total of 3412.7 miles (5492 km) and camped along the way at state parks. I preferred state parks over national parks because most national parks have no showers.

Photos can be found here: http://www.seandaugherty.com/UVicTrip.html

Tuesday, August 23, 2005
I left Simpsonville, SC to drive to Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Cadiz, KY on the eastern side of the Land Between The Lakes area. This is a nice place to camp if you have a trailer, but it only had 5 primitive sites and only 1 of them had a flat area for a tent. Thankfully I managed to get that site and it was a nice warm night, just the right temperature. I had time to take a walk to the beach and the boat launch area as well. There were about 6 other campsites taken of the total 78 sites. The park itself is huge and even includes a golf course and an airport. It is not well marked (no sign for the first turn), but I followed my mappoint directions and they worked.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005
I left to drive to Clinton State Park in Lawrence, KS. I had a nice drive and arrived just as a storm was approaching. The campground is not really that great as it is mostly a large field with a few trees. My impression is that they actually tore down the trees to make the field. There were a few tent campsites on the edge with trees, but the places to put the tents were already a bit muddy. I chose a site that was by a few trees and bushes in the middle of the field that would protect me from the fairly strong wind. There was not much to protect from the rain.

It started to thunderstorm and I went to bed. During the night, there was a lightning strike that was very close and I made the executive decision to run from my tent to my car and sleep there for the rest of the night. It was then that I discovered that the straps that held the roofbag on my car created small openings in the rubber seal on the doors because the hooks were inside the car. The rain then ran down the straps and dripped in a very steady stream into the car. Needless to say, my food box was wet as well as a box of picture frames (which in the end did not ruin inside the box). I quickly undid the straps for the night and tried to sleep in a wet chair that could not recline due to the packed car.

Thursday, August 25, 2005
In the morning it was still raining and I took down my soaking wet tent and rolled up my wet sleeping bag and pad. Furthermore, I spent 1 hour figuring out how to reduce the drip from the straps so that I could drive one of my longer drives to west of Denver. I got the straps to not drip while going 70 mph and was off toward Denver.

I stopped at a gas station about 30 miles west of Topeka and leaving the station I had to drive through gravel. Of course, one piece decided to engage my tire and gave me a rather large puncture. So there I sat at the edge of the small local road and got out to look at my hissing tire. I then pulled out the gravel and threw it very hard into the ditch. Calling AAA took a while as the woman could not understand that I was in Kansas and not South Carolina. But in about 20 min, a tow truck arrived and attempted to tow my car. (I did not want to change the tire on the loaded down car, nor did I know where to buy a new tire.) Joe then decided that his truck was too small and went back to get a bigger platform-style truck. Even that truck made my muffler scrape on the road a bit getting on the truck.

I was taken to a small town car repair shop and put first in line (compare that to Wal-Mart!). By about 12:30, I was on the road again headed toward Denver, a total delay of 4 hours for the day.

My goal was to make it to Golden Gate Canyon State Park before dark (8:30). With Denver 8 hours away and the park another 1.5 hours, not including stops for food and gas, that was quite ambitious. At 6:30pm I was still 2 hours to Denver and about to drive into a thunderstorm. I pulled over to check that my rain strap system was ok and the wind started to pick up and I saw lightning. I decided that I did not want to drive through the storm, so I sat to eat dinner and sleep just through the storm. I woke up at 8:45 and the sun was down. The decision was made to stay put and I slept nervously at the rest stop all night, waking up every 30 min. At least there was 3 RVs and 3 other cars spending the night as well, though they mostly arrived later.

Friday, August 26, 2005
The original plan for this day was to spend the day at the park hiking through the Rockies. However, I still had 3.5 hours to go. I waited until 6:30 to leave the rest stop so that I would miss the rush hour traffic in Denver. I made it to Denver and got stuck in traffic with some semi-truck blocking the middle of 3 lanes. Besides that, the drive was great. I was very glad that I did not try to make the drive when it was dark because the last bit was a very curved steep road cut through the mountains with no lights. Furthermore, there ended up being a detour for anyone who could not handle 19% grade (me). Plus I got to see a great looking mountain pond in the bright sunlight.

I checked into my reserved campsite and the entire campground is very nice. The sites are all spacious and the bathrooms are very large and clean. This campground began the practice of charging money for showers, which continued the rest of the trip west. I got to lay out my soaking wet tent and with the super dry air, it only took 1 hour to dry out my tent and sleeping bag. I spent the rest of the day walking around the campground and driving to Panorama Point where I took tons of pictures. I did not walk too much so that I would not wear myself out because the air was noticeably thinner.

Saturday, August 27, 2005
I woke up at 5:30 (after 9 hours of sleep) to start my longest day of driving. My ground cover was wet on the bottom, so at 6:00 I laid it on the picnic table to dry. Even though the sun did not begin to rise until 6:30, it was amazingly completely dry at that time due to the air.

The goal for the day was to make it to Antelope Island State Park, an island in the southern part of the Great Salt Lake. Basically, Denver and Salt Lake City are at opposite corners of an interstate rectangle. So, I could have taken I-70 through Colorado then shortcut US-191 to I-15, or I could have taken I-25 to I-80 and driven through Wyoming. The first (southern) trip is the most scenic, whereas the latter (northern) trip is rumored to be more boring. The problem is that the southern trip involves lots of mountains and after the Appalachian Mountains, I wasn't sure that I could make it, especially with spotty cell phone coverage. So I took the Wyoming route, which was not so boring for someone who had never driven it before. Plus, it was actually quite flat. The mountains were avoided in the eastern and central Wyoming, and were minor in western Wyoming.

I actually made very good time and could photograph the causeway coming in and had time to drive around and find bison and antelope on the southern part of the island. I was kind of surprised to find that Cheyenne is more of a town than a city.

Sunday, August 28, 2005
I slept in a bit, until 9:00 and then had to get a few things done before meeting up with Andrew H. (from High School) for lunch at noon. During that time, I did make it out to go floating in the lake. Despite the rumors of tons of brine flies, they really weren't that bad. They generally moved out of your way when you walked, whether on the beach or in the water, and they didn't really land on me either. It was neat to listen to swarms of them fly out of the way. It looked and sounded like little waves.

Floating in the lake is really an awesome thing. It took a while for me to brave the cold water, but it was worth it. There is seriously no effort at all required to float, and I do not float in normal lakes or oceans. Pretty much what they say is true: to find the out of state people, look in the water. Though the lake is 5x saltier than the ocean, the interesting thing was that the salt crystals seemed to be smaller than the ones in the ocean, there were just lots more of them.

Andrew came up from Provo (about 45 min he said) and brought a great picnic lunch to the campsite. After lunch, at about 1:30, I noticed I was bright red because today was the first day that I wore a super-human muscle shirt. I quickly put on suntan lotion, but that was too late. I really only got burnt on my upper arms and neck, none of which hurt too bad to sleep or anything.

After that, we drove around the island looking for bison and antelope, but only found bison. We did see lots very close though, as they just wander across the road whenever they feel like (like pedestrians in Canada).

For my second night on Antelope Island, I went to bed later (about 10:00) and heard the coyotes howling from each direction. I also saw jackrabbits with their long ears while driving around at night.

Monday, August 29, 2005
Today's drive was to Hilgard Junction State Park in southeastern Oregon. This drive was the least dense in terms of gas stations. It was easy to go 50-75 miles without a station. There was also a very strong headwind of about 20mph through Idaho, so it took a lot of gas to go 60mph.

There were some great views though, especially the ones coming down out of the mountains looking out over the valleys. Also, it was very nice to finally see trees again after about 3 days without them.

Hilgard Junction is pretty much sandwiched between I-84 and a small creek. It was originally a campsite along the Oregon Trail, so there are a few historical notes there. There are no showers, but it was nice for a quick stop along the way. I would not recommend it as a destination.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Today's drive was to Sequim Bay State Park, just 30 min from the ferry in Port Angeles, WA. I reserved campsite 80, which was probably the best site in the entire campground because it was private (trees all around) with a nice view of the bay.

The first half of the drive was one of the nicest drives of the trip. I went by I-84 to I-5 through Portland, rather than going on I-82 and I-90 to Seattle. This way I drove through the Columbia River Gorge. Here, I drove right beside (sometimes over) the fairly wide Columbia River, and immediately on both sides were some small mountains. It was neat to see the mountains go from no trees to fully covered with evergreens.

Driving up I-5, I was told that I should be able to see Mt. Rainier, but I never did. There were too many trees beside the interstate the entire way.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Today I drove to my apartment in Victoria. After stopping at the post office, I made it to the ferry at 9:30am. The next ferry did not leave until 12:45pm. So I had a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. The 90 minute ferry ride was not as cool as the one from Vancouver to the island. It was just open water the entire time. Near the beginning I saw seals or sea lions (I can't tell them apart that quickly). At the end, it was neat to pull into Victoria's inner harbour and see the entire city in a thin fog from a distance.

Customs was rather painless. I just had to wait until the entire boat cleared and then I got my study permit and was free to go.

Dollar Coins

With all the great things about Canada, one of the worst has to be the $1 coin. More specifically, the problem is the lack of a $1 bill. These things are heavy and make your pockets jingle so walking through downtown you are a magnet for beggars. Since the $1 coin is obviously here to stay, I am glad to see that there is a $2 coin that is thankfully not near 2x the size. At least the $2 coin looks really cool. And at least unlike in the US, the $1 coin does not look almost like a quarter.

Pop.

Pop. The signs say pop. The people say pop. The receipts say pop. Finally, someplace does it right.

Now, for 3 or 4 years I can no longer hear people ask "What kind of cokes do you have?"

American Cheese

Someone asked me before my trip whether or not you can buy American cheese in Canada. Well, I looked and sort of found it, but it is not labeled "American cheese" anywhere. It just says "Kraft Singles" with some subtitle like "processed cheese product." Of course here you would pronounce "processed" starting with the word "pro."

Measuring Canada

Canada is big. Coming to Canada, I expected to find the metric system in full use and to suffer from my inability to do the arithmetic to convert from the US system. (Despite having an M.S. in Mathematical Sciences, doing basic calculus in non-Euclidean metric spaces will kill any ability to do arithmetic.) What I found is an odd hybrid. Thankfully, distances in a car are all measured in km, though some people ask me about my trip in miles but I figure they are just being nice. Despite this, there are plenty of things that are measured in inches. Usually these are labels on packages that you buy such as bed sheets and paper, despite being made in Canada.

On to volume. Milk is sold in 2 liter and 4 liter containers and gas is sold by the liter, which is what you would expect. What is odd to me is the fact that when I see orange juice it is sold in 1.89 liter containers. This is 1/2 gallon as I am used to but it is funny to me that no where on the container does it say 1/2 gallon. The only marking is for 1.89 liters and I wonder if this seems odd at all to someone used to only metric.

Still, directions on packages of rice give the water in cups and the butter in tablespoons. And beer is sold by the pint. This creates a real mixture in when to use metric and when to use US, but I guess it will become natural.

As for weight, the most curious thing is butcher meat in the store. Now this could just be one store, but the signs hanging on the shelf for the meat give the price per lb. But then the sticker on the actual package says the price per kg. I guess that way you can get it either way. At the deli, the prices are per 100g. Being ignorant, I have no idea how much 100g is, but I do know how much I usually pay for meat so I figured it out that way. I'll just remember that 100g is 6-7 slices.

*Update*
The directions on packages of rice and such usually specify the water in ml as well as cups.
The butcher meat weight situation seems to be in all stores, not just the one.

Geography

I thought I'd say a little bit about the knowledge of geography. Hopefully if you are from the US or Canada, you know that there are 50 states, 10 provinces, and 3 territories. Maybe I'll give you a break for the territories since the most recent was added (1999) since I was taught this in school (1994). Anyway, I must say that the percentage of people in the US that I talked to who knew that British Columbia existed is far less than the percentage of people in Canada that I talked to who know generally where in the US South Carolina is located.

From the people in Canada I've asked (3), one had to memorize all the states and capitals, one had to memorize all the states, and one was just taught where all the states are located. My guess though is that Canadians in general know as much US geography as people in the US. (Notice that I avoid saying "American" due to dispute over this term.)

But, for the record, I can name 0 Mexican states, and never could.

Canadian, eh?

I think that there is no better way to start off a blog that for now will probably contain lots of things about Canada than with a few comments about "eh," eh?

I visited Victoria, British Columbia back in March for four days to see if this was a place that I wanted to live. Pretty much everyone knows that the stereotypical Canadian says "eh" to end every sentence. Well, I was shocked that for the entire four days I was in Victoria, I only heard "eh" used once. That was by a teenage girl in McDonalds. This left me thinking that using "eh" must be something that happens in Ontario.

Well once I arrived here a few days ago and got off the boat (literally), I was greated by an immigration officer that used what seemed like 2 eh's per sentence. Since then, I have long ago lost count of the number of times I've heard it. Very strange that I only heard it once when visiting.

For those keeping count (me), I've heard the following phrases the following number of times:
"all y'all": 0
"y'all": 0
"might could": 0