😯 holy crapola. the price of Lego! awesome looking mind!

*wishing he hadn’t given all of his away to his nephews*

you needs.

[/URL]

simples.

any you’d recommend Viv?

liking the idea of dogfighting…destructive…flying…objects.

For a very long time, I was in a long term relationship with someone who on paper, seemed perfect, in reality, was a nightmare. Mentally exhausting, abusive and controlling. But irritatingly beautiful. With quite simply the strangest family dynamic with her well-to-do parents that I have ever encountered. I needed out. But was terrified of the consequences sharing many mutual friends, living in a foreign country, one becomes loathed to lose them, them being under her thumb as much as me. She liked high fashion, spending (everyone elses) money, and being the single most important thing in the room, with 100% unadulterated attention focussed on her.
We couldn’t have been more opposite.

In May, I went to the other side of the country as part of my research, to the mountains and Boreal of Northern Alberta. There, being the solitary Englishman amongst a collection of Canadian researchers, I was approached, by a cute, unfathomably modest, girl who made her intention to bed me on a particularly drunk evening, all too clear. 🙄

Que a Summer of biting insects, bear encounters, northern lights, the blackest yet brightest skies I have ever seen in my entire life, and all of it, shared, with this girl. I have never laughed so much, in my entire life, it hurt my insides we laughed so much. Both of us knew it was just a Summer fling, the distances too ridiculous to consider doing anything about it, the pair of us too realistic to consider it ever becoming something.

I returned to Ontario to finish my further degree, her to Vancouver to finish hers. Both of us returning to being typical university students, seeing others, but still, thoughts and feelings lingered. We talked and talked and talked some more, and actually got to know each other, somewhat having done everything else in reverse.

…In 5 weeks, I’m driving the width of the Canada to see her, to go winter surfing at Tofino at her invitation.

Coming with me, in my jacket pocket, is a ring, in a box. 😯
In my other pocket, alot of nerves. 🙄

Sometimes. You just know.

To me it doesn’t matter which gender the third party is/was, or even the fact of the sex itself, it’s the lies. When your partner is talking to you and you’re thinking “I have no idea if you’re lying to me or not”, trust gone.

Funny, over the years it has always been the psycho jealous possessive ones who have been unfaithful. All the shouting and screaming that I was playing away from home (I was not) and there they were, at it themselves! You gotta laugh, eh?

I think you’ve hit it on the head there Karin. It is the lies that I couldn’t deal with. Or the lying for that matter. The physical act, while it is usually repulsive to think about, can be gotten over, but the lying 😐

Strangely enough I’ve been in one of the aforementioned ‘two lady’ situation, a long, long time ago. I wouldn’t reccomend it to anyone. And haven’t ever as such.

On the other hand, I’ve been cheated on once, she phoned to tell me, and then did me the favour of discharging herself from our relationship saying she felt ashamed, I was a better person than her, and she didn’t think she’d done me justice with her silly, albeit drunk actions.

That was during freshers week…in my first year of uni. Quite the favour she did me there 😉

Contractors extending the nuclear reactor on campus: Noise considerate

Contractors replacing the tandem accelerator: Definitely not

Forested Canadian peatlands are losing resilience to natural disturbance. Disturbance is fundamentally changing ecosystem type from wetland to upland.

End result: Risk/shown increase in monsterous wildfires because of increased fuel loading/lowered water table.

Blame: Changing precipitation patterns.

emailed you ian 🙂

BSc (Int) Geography at University of Leeds (2005-2009)
MSc Hydrology at McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) (2009-present)

Leeds – Loved every second of it, nearly dropped out when I fell in with a shit crowd in my second year (lame friends, more than a bad influence) so I ended up on an exchange year (to Canada) out of desperation to ‘get away’ turned out to be the best thing I ever did, met friends for life doing that, who are all still a very tight group. Leeds was a cheap, fun, sporty city, even if a student did get murdered 4 doors down. Regardless, I wouldn’t do it differently. The dales were a 10 minute bus ride away, and my buddy ran the downhill BUSA team.

As for the degree….varying degrees of usefulness, hence persuing a masters at expense of the Canadian government with guaranteed job prospects out here.

Left Leeds with about 23K debt..largely due to being ‘poor’ before I went to uni, and the LEA throwing loan money at me. Since paid 2/3 of that off. I was the very last year on the ‘pre-tuition fee’ system. I’d do it again yes, but with the new proposed fee infrastructure :/ not so sure, probably not.

As a sidenote, if anyone wants details on immigrating to Canada/studying in Canada as either an undergrad or post-grad, let me know.

Isherwood

😉

TJ acadamies are part funded by the private sector so they funf the costs,and put in viable buissness plans to to raise money and promote growth.

PFI and PPI. Ahh yes. The darlings of Conservative thinking, mutilated and enjoying every kickback under the sun courtesy of New Labour genius.

Project – You've never read Private Eye have you, or the Oxford English dictionary? – Business, academies, fund.

Given the line I've quote you as writing above, I'm going to guess you're a sub-30 something who took GCSE economics.

It's a shame you never progressed beyond that.

Now do everybody a favour, and pipe down. Or better. Shut up.

Thanks.

or rather. it is getting progressively more and more awesome.

2007 – Took a year abroad in Canada as part of undergrad degree. Made alot of friends in Ontario and beyond, made even better friends with people I'd never met before from the same home university.

End 2008 – No clue what to do with myself. Finished uni in a matter of months, had been offered a min-wage salary job as the manager of a agronomics laboratory. Turned it down on account of a control freak 'i built this from the ground up' MD despite gaining plenty of job experience from summers working there. Lots of friends, but no direction whatsoever. Applied for some masters courses, all various geography related courses, all over the place – looked at a map of europe, and just started picking places out that I thought would be nice to study at with international scholarships. Seriously.

August 2nd 2009 – e-mail in inbox. accepted into a program at the university I'd studied at previously in Canada. Term started in September.

i've never completed a visa application so fast or for that matter used so many fax machines. got there having forgotten everything, nowhere to live etc. was soon back on my feet with old friends and a mrsgibbons (Syrian/Canadian ginger!)

if there is anything i've learnt, if there is an opportunity to do something rash, probably ill-thought out, cash poor, potentially dangerous (ought to see my wildlife company at field sites).

then do it.

regret the how, the who and the what later.

and by no means do I think canada is better than the uk, bitter is nearby impossible to come by and there is no such thing as a chocolate pud (yoghurt) in the local supermarket, they have stop signs instead of giving way and perogies are fairly rank…but they do make for some of the most generous, voraciously competitive and truely loving folks I've met in a long time.

n.b. i am generally penniless..canada is expensive, and i paid off my loans from undergrad (silly me…) through working every summer since 2000 odd. parents never helped a penny, father didn't even know what course i had done until i graduated… felt the need to say that before anyone felt the need to snipe. 😉

funnily enough…

it isn't meant for repairing metal ductwork, you're meant to use metal tape for that.

so says Mike Holmes and he's the daddy on all things Homely related.

(mrgibbons…from Canada way..)

😉

take it to Billys, but ask specifically for Gabe (Gabriel). he'll do it properly and most likely on the spot. tell him Shez sent you his way.

he loves his biking and doing things of a mechanical nature properly. rather than butchering it. failing that, take it down to the ben haywards workshop by the Millpond, the guys in there are pretty legit.

Previously worked as…a lab assistant (university) both in the UK and abroad, also worked as field researcher and an assistant lab managaer.

One was crop science based i.e. commercial, fast paced, very labour intensive and broad in terms of roles i.e. fielding calls/on the spot crop testing/putting together results presentations/being interviewed by Farmers Weekly. exhausting but rewarding (+100 hour weeks during harvest). The experience/qualifications needed were next to none, as on site training was provided in protein testing, LECO machine use etc. However I had already an extensive 'working in labs' portfolio of work from my undergraduate degree.

Second areas have been institutional (large UK university and medium sized Canadian university), very different focus, very much needed to know what I was doing (where degree becam useful!) and be able to be left alone for long periods of time, often repetitive, boring work. Very little social interaction. And work that one couldn't really not focus on, although the more you learnt about the projects respectively, the more interesting it became. – http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/groups/trobit/

In general, lab assistant work (depending what field) can pay very well, especially if taken as a second job. However, quite often a bit dull, solo work, mp3 player required.

Qualifications: degree, lots of various other training mostly inhouse, presently doing an msc.

It'd be worth your while collaring a member of staff on their lunch/fag break and asking them, as to be honest depending what you're doing, it can vary infinitely in your experience of it.

Any questions, just ask 🙂 Done some 6 years of various lab work…

-31 C presently (3.30am)

Meanook Biological Research Station
Athabasca
Alberta Canada.

*mutters something about pansies…*

😀

Funny kimbers…being that we watched PMQ’s beforehand.

We’d be first to freely admit that the value of a UK degree is near enough worthless, we’re just lucky that those abroad haven’t realised how devalued they’ve become.

BigDummy.

2 of us are starting funded 2-year MSc’s abroad (Netherlands and Canada)…one in September, one in February.

1 has a job starting with Goldman Sachs in Paris in August..

1 is going on holiday for a year.

The other two are looking for options (abroad if they can help it)

All very well you saying that, but contemplate the number of graduates this year who are going to find themselves in a similar position. I’m by no means suggesting ‘oo aren’t we daring..rebel against the system..etc’ please, spare me such rudeness.

I am saying that not everyone like yourself can laugh things off when they see little prospect of being able to get a mortgage or a real job over the next few years, and not for the want of trying.

What terrifys me the most, is the totally speculative growth figures. from which has allowed Darling to massage the deficit figures.

Personally, I think it’s absolutely terrifying. More terrifying is when the actual growth figures come out…watch the markets sink the pound and massacre any gilt sales – from which they reckon they can raise £220 billion…minimum. Remember the last gilts sale…didn’t go very well.

If that fails, we’ll probably lose the AA+ credit rating as a country.

As someone under 25…about to leave university. I would (as I’m sure all my other graduates and indeed recently made redundant non-graduate friends) LOVE to know exactly where these magical jobs they’ve suggested are coming from?! I can’t say I’ve heard of any around here! Are they just making this up as they go along?! Especially given that too many of the graduate schemes have shut up shop/put on hold/not recruiting until 2011/firms gone under entirely.

A brilliant comment just made on Sky news – ‘Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic’.

My uni house – with 3 apparent labour supporters from the North after watching it as a house… have all unanimously just decided, all 6 of us are going abroad, yes we’re running from the problems, but hell, **** paying for everyone else’s future pensions/future mess and future debt. Out of the 6 of us, we’ve already paid off £30,000 between us towards our student loan debt, because we’ve worked every summer, because we’ve worked during term time, we will pay off what we owe, but we are not going to pay for an incompetent governments mistakes for the next decade.

We’ve contributed Tax and NI that we’ll never see the benefit of because it’s paying for everyone’s else’s pension who (for them luckily) made money when times were better.

Time for a stress relieving ride in the Dales!

anagallis_arvensis, druidh and jambo

the post was meerly to incite discussion in good humour around whether it was right (privacy wise)/necessary/waste of money for Manchester Constabulary to be funding such things.

i didn’t say i was leaving the country, and i certainly wasn’t looking for any ‘well if you don’t like it, stuff it and live somewhere else’ vein of thinking remarks…a little early in the morning for you three?

ditch Pizza Hut for a well known global restaurant chain, it’ll say pizza hut on your CV anyway.

i’m assuming you’re half way through your geotechnical engineering MSc? if so….talk about what skills you have learnt, and if that particular experience in the field of geotechnical stuff is lacking, explain what you’ve done to make up for any lack in experience i.e. reading of publications, awareness of what GEMS are doing at the moment, how you can add to that…give them impression you want it…very badly. and also. given them a phonecall, have a friendly chat about a week after you’ve sent in the application, probably worth sticking a passport photo in with the app so they remember your face…

🙂

alas yes. to little avail.

spot on alwyn!

thanks alwyn – i’ll keep you updated. picking one up thats been in california all its life for about £2k next week. i might even start a blog or whatever. i’m timetabling for a full body restoration inside of 6 weeks with 3 mates roped in for help every evening for 3 of those weeks all paid with a keg each 🙂 £300 for 3 peoples labour…for 21 days…bargain. they’re certainly stoked about it as a project as am I. LSD for the rear and *potentially* an RB26 lump for the front. although that entirely depends on insurance issues – still getting quotes. going to be lovely to take it drifting. (queue the ‘you supermarket carpark chav’…ironic being i live down the road from a disused airfield..)

certainly a little different. looked for an old C110 skyline like this http://cornerbalance.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/kpgc-10-for-sale-at-bingo-sports/ but lets be honest. they’re rarer than hens teeth…balanced on a needle in the middle of a hay barn.

email me – geo5jhs AT leeds DOT ac DOT uk if you want any info about the datsun or some direction for rust free examples of an MG 🙂

eat the cake.

alwyn. do it.

i’m in my final year, had a lot of money saved to pay off my student loan in full (worked partime/fulltime in holidays) to do so. f*ck it. why not. if you have the opportunity.

as a result i’m buying a 240z for restoration to give it a g-nose conversion so i can get it looking like this. http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/240z-c-fairlady-withflairs-gnose.jpg

doable with a not infinite amount of money either.

can’t say the mgb tickles me looks wise, i’d be more inclined to get a classic ford or something.

Innocent but deep down she didnt know Quagmire was within me…and shock and awe wasnt far from my mind….. ;oD

Just caused a coffee to keyboard interface and a smile from the cute girl sat opposite me in the Leeds Uni Library. Oh the irony!

make a light curry with some ‘weaker’ spices, cumid seeds, corriander, mango and a few other bits. Just avoid the ‘curry powder’ and you’ll be fine. does make for a dandy curry by the way, or just roast it and have some fairly glorious sandwiches!

happened on the Leeds Uni ISP network

been using http://www.ixquick.com in the meantime or just do direct urls to sites. pain in the ass mind you!

My brother had a chimney fire in his house last week. put some candle ends on it which were left over from Christmas (tit) entire flue caught light – its a huge Yorkstone lined barn conversion, massive chimney, could practically walk up it. Basically the wax allowed the soot to catch light.

Cowling on the top of the chimney to stop rain/birds melted, stone cracked half way down the chimney. Fire brigade called…

Big…big clear up job…smoke damage to half the barn..

For god sake get it swept!

chakaping – you’re forgetting i do ‘colouring in’

Geography BSc student. Skipping the jobs front and going straight into a scholarshipped MSc in Hydrology….in Canada come July. I was working as a part-time lab researcher (circa 15-30 hours a week) during term time, until the university collectively fired 11 of us. They’ve seen their ‘endowment stash’ considerably affected given 80% of it was in ‘share assets’, they’re now seemingly trying to kerb costs everywhere around the university.

search function other than that. it feels alot ‘fresher’

to ‘claim his son’

are children deemed ‘property’ of the parents until 16?

marsdenman, where is the 2009 posting/info on this?

ta