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Yesterday Scott and I went to view a potential new apartment. It’s a brand new condo in Vancouver with a big big big balcony. PENTHOUSE BABY! We loved it and are hoping to sign the lease this week. We will move in mid-May. Having a dishwasher and our own washer and dryer is very very very exciting for us.

I think I am finally going to upgrade my phone this week too! I’ve still been using an old 2008 Nokia hand-me-down phone from Scott’s sister and it’s been working pretty good still but now it is time to enter the world of smartphones. It will be hard to give up 5 day long battery life, and $12/month prepaid “plan” but I wouldn’t have been able to keep that up much longer if I expect to work on-call for a hospital anyway. Future Shop has a good promotion on the Nexus 4 so I’m gonna pick that up after my midterm on Tuesday I think. :D

This website is pretty cool: http://maps.stamen.com You can make pretty watercolour versions of your neighbourhoods. I think they would look really neat printed out.

ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS OF SCHOOL!!!! Then exams.

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Scott and I had a very fun and funny Saturday night last weekend. Thanks to Janine we had VIP tickets for the Canadian Videogame Awards. We also went to the awards last year but this year was way better because Janine was actually able to come! (She works in Toronto).

Scott and I took a quick look around the FanExpo and then awkwardly waited on the red carpet for a good time to go past the photographers into the awards reception area. There was a guy with a whiteboard who was announcing who everyone was by holding up a sign. I wanted to tell him to write Tetris but I am too shy. Eventually we found out we could go behind the media area and then finally we were in.

my red carpet experience


The reception was good, they had hors d’ouevres and wine for us like last year. No free t-shirts for Scott though, haha. We met up with two more of Janine’s friends and got a nice central table for the awards show.

not sure why scott is being so shy

kate, janine & me

a dude from Battlestar Galatica giving out an award

The awards were pretty interesting. It’s neat to see all these Canadian made games. We actually have a pretty good presence in the videogame industry.

I think I asked Scott 50 times if he played about 5 different games. I kept forgetting which is which since they all seem to end in “3” or “2”. Far Cry 3 and Mass Effect 3 won everything, pretty much.

elias toufexis, david hayter, commander shepard (he and she)

the rocketeer

A lot of the same people as last year were there. Like The Rocketeer and Snake.

me and my awards

Janine had about 1000 drink tickets so things started to get pretty silly from this point forward. That’s me with some awards I stole off the Ubisoft Montreal table. :D Kidding, I asked.

elias toufexis & scott

scott with the shepard’s (nice face dude)

scott comparing his shoes to aaron douglas’s shoes

scott and chief galen tyrol from battlestar galatica

It was funny, Aaron Douglas REALLY liked Scott’s shoes and offered me $100 to make a Batman pair for his wife. We ended up spending the whole rest of the night partying with him and his (real life) wife. They are both very nice. We are now BFFs.

I drank about 900 glasses of wine and we stayed out pretty late. And then Scott ran the Sun Run the next morning!!! I didn’t even wake up until he had already raced!!! He ended up doing super well anyway and even got a new PB. I am proud of him.

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It was a pretty good collection of food this time except for a few little slips. Ah well.

I don’t have many recipes linked for you this time because we either didn’t use a recipe or it was from a cook book I got from the library. The book is called High Flavor Low Labor and seems to have some interesting recipes. I was really intrigued with the idea of eating meat and veg with hummus instead of a starch, I would have never come up with that on my own. I love getting cook books from the library because you don’t have to pay a cent!!

Favourite recipe #8: Budget Bytes tuna casserole with olives. It was just so creamy and comforting. I loved the addition of kalamata olives!

april 7th, 2013 – kokoda

This turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself.

april 8th, 2013 – black bean and sweet potato burrito

april 9th, 2013 – sushi special and miso

(No I cannot eat all of that at once. Sushi for breakfast!)

More after the jump…

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I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday.

I’ve still been sneezing all week… stupid trees. Kate thinks I might be allergic to birch because there is a big birch tree right outside our bedroom window and birches have a lot of pollen. I googled birch allergies and all sorts of frightening articles came up about “oral allergy symptom” where people with pollen allergies also develop sensitivities to lots of fruits and vegetables. UGH. I noticed today that my mouth felt more itchy after eating an apple. I will continue my study for the next little while.

Work has been a little bit crazy the past few days. As we get further and further along in my program the more we are expected to do on our own. The other day they had a staff meeting and me and the other student had to keep scanning while they were talking. AHH!! (We could easily go and grab a tech if we needed one, btw). Sometimes I feel like I am doing quite well and sometimes I feel like I suck. I have noooo idea really. I wish I could fast forward until September and just find out if I get hired anywhere or not. GAH.

Ever since I got back from Fiji I have been following a weight lifting plan from a book I got from the library. I lift 3 to 4 times a week and that’s it! I love it. The rush you get from being able to lift a heavier weight than the day before and the physical changes you can see in your body are very addicting. My plan is to stick with this all spring/summer and then by next skeleton season I will be much more capable.

Dad and Kate’s visit to Vancouver was very nice. Very short, but I will take what I can get! We rented a car so we could bring them to and from the airport and we met up with Winnie and ate delicious sushi. That and sleeping and them washing off 2 weeks of Fiji sweat pretty much encompassed their whole visit, haha. They should definitely come back.

This coming weekend should be a good one. We will get to hang out with Janine tomorrow, and go to the Fan Expo and the Canadian Video Game Awards on Saturday. I finally get to have my neck ultrasound (apparently I have an enlarged thyroid), and I don’t have too much homework. WOOHOO!

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My calendar for the next couple months just went from empty to exciting. I’ve got some great events coming up in Vancouver that I am really looking forward to.

1. Canadian Video Game Awards – April 20th, 2013 – Vancouver Convention Centre

Scott and I are lucky enough to get to attend as VIP again, thanks to Janine (my roommate from way back in first year of university). And this time she will actually be there!! This is more fun for Scott but I am also looking forward to the free wine, cool demos, and Canadian B-list (C-list?) celebrities.

2. Eat! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival – May 24th to 26th, 2013 – BC Place

Eat! Vancouver is back!!! This was one of my favourite events I have been to EVER! It only costs $14 if you buy your ticket online and is totally worth it. Last year Rosemarie and I ate so much we had to waddle home. We ate more than 50 samples! LOL.

There will be tons of vendor booths giving out free samples and if you still have room in your stomach you can buy appetizer-sized plates of food from local Vancouver restaurants for a couple dollars each. There will be a wine, beer and spirits tasting area, and this year there will also be a special area dedicated to gluten-free food. If you want to take a break from stuffing your face you can watch demonstrations and seminars by Food Network celebrities and chefs!

And when you leave you get a goodie bag filled with more samples and lots of coupons! If you love food, you really should go to this festival. (BTW, my spiel is a little long for this one because this year I get to attend as press! Go blog go!)

3. The Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting – June 8th to 12th, 2013 – Vancouver Convention Centre

This last one is a bit nerdy. The Society of Nuclear Medicine is the American professional association for nuclear medicine techs and doctors. Every year they have a big conference and this year we are so lucky because it is in Vancouver! AND students get to attend for free!! I think it will be along the same lines as the Society for Neuroscience conference I got to attend in 2007 and that means lots of posters, vendor booths, talks, and other science-y delights. It will be really interesting to see how far the rest of the world has taken nuclear medicine because Canada is actually very behind in it in a lot of ways. I am excited!