HIV/AIDS

We just had a chapel on HIV/AIDS. I am not going to claim that I am an activist or anything but I do wonder why more people don't pay closer attention to this disease. We had a speaker who was infected with HIV/AIDS something like 20 years ago and he made a point that really sticks with me. HIV/AIDS isn't like Cancer, or Diabetes or any of those diseases. Sure they are all illnesses that take the lives of millions of people world wide every year, but HIV/AIDS is different. Ya it takes lives. Did you know that in 2006 alone (and remember that we still have a good month to go before they year is over) there have been more than 6 million people who have died from this virus. 6 ooo ooo ooo. Do you realize how huge that number is?
And do you ever think about the ripple effect from the deaths of all these people? Most people living with HIV/AIDS are women and children. They are helpless in having it because the children get it from birth, and the wives are often left with the choice to be replaced by another woman or to have sex with their husband even though he is infected. They are completely innocent. And many of the people infected are living in poverty. The people who most need help and assitance in this world and they are left to fend for them selves with a disease that even we can't control in North America with all of our technology and medical advances. Its disgusting.
As each person dies as a result from HIV/AIDS they leave others behind. Dying mothers leave their children, orphaned and alone in a cruel world. Communities have to care for those who are sick and for those who are left behind. The loss of each person is tremendous to their families, to their communities, to thier countries, and to the world.
I know one person can't change the world. But I do know that one person can try to help raise awareness. If you get the chance ever, watch the movie "A Closer Walk". It is narrated by Glenn Close (of Cruella deVil fame) and Will Smith. It is a movie on HIV/AIDS and its entire purpose is to raise awareness. I know that it is a documentary and most people don't like documentaries, well neither do I. But this one is so powerful and teaches you so much about HIV/AIDS. (If you are interested, I believe Kings is showing it Friday sometime... it might be during the day but if anyone wants me to find out, let me know)
So I guess I just plea that people be aware. That we know what is going on. That we come to the relization that this disease is completely preventable and shouldn t be ravaging our world like it is...
ps. if you want stats from that movie, let me know. I ve got tons of them.

Update on my crazy week

Update on my crazy week?
Big english essay, still no topic, still no idea what I am doing for it, but I wrote my paragraph and now have till next week to do it! Sweet deal.
Bio poster? Have a topic, even done some research. Wrote her to ask for an extension, no response. But in class today I am 90% sure that she said we, as a class, could just hand them in on Tuesday of next week. In otherwords, I got an extension.
Bio Lab final? Just finished it a couple hours ago. We were given 2 hours and I was out in just over one, and I felt pretty good leaving then. There were some questions that I could tell you right now I have wrong, but a large number felt like they were right... Hopefully it turns out as good as it feels and I can maybe bring my mark up a bit.
Dutch 'quiz'. We get our study guide tonight and the next 48 hours will be CRAZY!!!!
Other than school, I am pumped about the game tonight. I don't believe it deserves quite the hype it has been getting, but I do love Oilers games and Chris Pronger is a star... too bad I am in class and the game is on PPV.
This weekend was fun. Hit up 3 house parties in two nights, Jennie had friends from Dordt crash for a couple nights and...
I LEARNT TO SPIN DONUTS!!! A friend has been trying to explain it to me for a while, so Sunday night I went out, with Jack(ie), and practised/learnt for 30-45 minutes! It was super fun and I can't wait to go out and try again to get even better at it!
Also, I am signed up to take SPANISH!!! Next semester for credit here at Kings. Super pumped. AND, it looks like I might be taking a for fun ballroom dance class via the UofA with some friends as well... Pretty pumped...
Thats all...
[Happy Jess??? =) ]

Oh the Stress

I can't believe how close to the end of the semester we are. In something like 3 weeks I will be done classes and quite possible done my exams as well. But before that there is WAY TO MUCH going on. Take next week for example. Tuesday I have my lab final along with the last lab quiz. That is also the day that my dutch prof is going to give us a study guide for our last midterm(yes mid term when finals are in like two and a half weeks). Wednesday I have a research essay due, a more than 2000 word paper that I havn't started to the point that I don't even know what it is supposed to be on. Thursday is the aforementioned dutch midterm- the one that we get study notes for a mere 48 hours earler, and due Friday is a big bio poster project that, yes I have picked a topic, but that is all I have done. So I am in three classes, and over the course of 4 days next week I have 4 HUGE assignments. Got to love crunch time!
I wont lie to you though, I am definitely going to ask for extensions on both projects. And I will ask with no shame. The only way I will be able to pull off either of them is to get more time for both. Otherwise it'll be hopeless.
So thats my vent. Gonna be an interesting week and a bit, thats for sure! Hope your end of November is going better than mine!

When It Rains, It Pours

I wonder if perhaps I could put out a request for pray. My family, immediate and extended, is going through alot of crap right now and prayers always help.
My little sister recently up and moved out of our place. We don't know exactly where she is going to live or what she is going to do or if she is even going to let us help her much, but we do know that she is 17 and as lost as you can be.
My sister-in-law, who lives in Denver with my oldest brother, has been sick for some time now. It took awhile but they have now diagnosed her with Gastro Paresis. It is scary because they don't know yet if it is a short term illness or a long term, becuase there are two forms of the disease. There have also been struggles along with this illness. Problems with getting medication, and issues with doctors being stupid and giving her reason to worry about thing she shouldn't be worried about. It is not a fun situation.
And last, but definitely not least, my moms best friends husband- whom I consider an uncle- was diagnosed with brain cancer about a year and a half ago (maybe a little more). They operated and radiated on a few tumors(two or three of them) and he has essentially been fine since. His 2 month check ups have been clear and finally he got cleared to take 6 months before that next check up. 6 months would have been in this coming January or February, but his family noticed something seemed a little off lately and he went in for an unscheduled CAT scan and MRI's... When the doctor returned with the results they learnt he didn't have a tumor but 6 actively growing tumors. With such a high number of tumors they are unable to operate and remove them and unable to use radiation, so pretty much there is nothing that modern medicine can do. Way to go technology... (do you sense that note of sarcasm, or should I find a way to make it more obvious).
So, for those of you out there who pray, please keep my family in mind. We are dealing with it all fairly well right now, it is just stressful, heartbreaking, and painful. Thanks in advance for the prayers.

Pics from Vernon

So, our big trip to Vernon last weekend, the pics are on the computer and I figured why not post a few.
On the trip there, we stopped at Frontier something and took some pictures. The snow flakes were huge and we had fun. Jennie is catching the snowflakes.












So, Jennie and I then jumped in on this picture, she is the cowboy and I am the one with all the curves... good times...









No trip to Vernon is complete without a visit to my grandparents. It was really neat because I have never been there without my family or a ton of other people around, so it was the first time that I have sat with them and really talked. Learnt alot about them and had a really good, four hour visit. They rock!











So, in an unusual move for me, I didn't take alot of pictures during the weekend, so this is actually the only one of my and Jeff, my cousin who had the birthday and was the reason we went there in the first place.










And now of our trip home
The three of them figured they would go walking for a while during our 2 and a half hour wait. They came back completely drenched! It was pretty funny. This is Jennie, our roommate, and her two friends who we picked up in Calgary. They are all from Vernon and surprised their families by showing up for the weekend.










The accident, as we passed it, I only managed to get one picture of it and to be honest I felt a bit like a weirdo taking even this one picture before we saw the worst of it. But, it was pretty bad.










After the accident we were passing cars waiting to drive by for the next 15 mins or so. All just sitting there, waiting to drive on. It was crazy. This isn't even a fraction of the cars that we passed and the line of cars goes around the bend in the road. Never mind the lines of them we drove by before getting to the accident, cars that had been let through already. If anyone knows about the drivers of the semis, like if there were fatalities or whatever, I would apperciate hearing about it...











And on a brighter note... Right after we passed the accident, the weather cleared up until Golden, so for a little while we had beautiful scenery of mountains and forests freshly covered with snow. It truly was a beautiful sight...













Thanks for looking! Take care and I'll talk to you later!

Home

It appears I might have jumped the gun just a little bit.
An hour after I wrote that post, one of the Tims employees who I had talked to a couple of times, a dear older lady, comes to our table and informs us that people had just told her they were opening the road soon. To say the least, we were out of there, in the car and on the way as fast as possible to avoid being stuck behind all that traffic. We drive for a couple minutes and then come to a line of stopped traffic. Listening to the radio we find out that they would be opening the road at 12 30 and be 'alternating single lanes of traffic'. So we wait for an hour, a wait that included a short snowball fight with soaking wet snow, meeting the people in the car behind us, and getting splashed from a car turning around.
Finally, a little after 1 (thats about an hour and a half of waiting in the line for those who are counting) they opened up and starting letting people through. I am pretty sure we were near the front of the line cause it sure wasn't to bad of a wait, but the drive to Golden was ridiculous. It took about 3 hours, driving 60 km an hour on roads that were slushy and it was snowing, on a road that usually is about an hour and a half(Revelstoke to Golden). On the way we had to wait at the accident for another 30 mins and Jack took over driving. As we passed the accident I couldn't believe my eyes. It involved several semi-trucks and what we saw included two trailers in rough shape and the cab of one of the trucks was crushed so bad that it looked like a piece of crumpled up paper. It was heartbreaking just to see.
From the accident to Golden it cleared up and no problems. After filling our tire(did I mention one of our tires had a leak, so on top of everything we had to keep that in mind to while driving) and grabbing some mac donalds, and cleaning the windows(no back windsheild wiper either), we were on our way and it didn't take long to start snowing. And wow did it snow. From Golden to just past the sign annoucing our arrival in Banff national park was one lane traffic, no one passing, everyone driving 60 or less, and the constant hope that the car in front of you would stay there so at least you would know where the road was going.
Just outside of Banff it stopped snowing and from then on the going wasn't nearly as bad. After filling the tire and cleaning the back window once more, we were on our way to Calgary where we spent the night. Our drive from Vernon to Calgary, usually about a 6-7 hours max drive, had become a 12 hour ordeal.
Spent the night at my aunts place in Calgary and returned home Tuesday. Those roads were fine too, until we actually got into Edmonton, where it had snowed alot over night and none of the roads had been cleared yet. Fun!!!!!
But I suppose, as my dad said, if nothing had happened there would be nothing to tell. At least now it is a story that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
And on the bright side, the time spent in Vernon (and kamloops and Kelowna) was definitely worth the drive to get back!
See ya

Stranded!

Leaving Vernon, getting out on time. No problems. Our plan was to leave the Vegts at 6 30, and at 6 37 we pulled out. Pretty good says I. After a quick stop, we were on our way, out of Vernon and on the highway by 6 47. Things were going ok until half hour out of 3 Valley Gap when it started to snow. It was fairly thick, but by driving slower and keeping my wipers on it was no issue driving. Pulling into Revelstoke we have to wait in a line of cars and then eventually get our turn to talk to the construction lady. No through traffic. It will be a 4-5 hour wait. An hour and a half later I got to check on things and now we can't get out of here until 3. That works out to more than 6 hours from when we first got here.
I guess there was an accident furtherup the road, between here and Golden. They have to get that cleared up and then get the roads plowed. Trouble is, even if we get out of here at 3, there is going to be SSOOOOOOOOO much traffic leaving from here. They have been stopping cars since like 7 30 or earlier this morning. It is now 10 30 and we are here till 3 still, so many more cars are bound to pull in... gonna be a ridiculous drive thats for sure. But on that note, I've got to get some homework done. Since we are now crashing in Calgary at my aunts place, there i even les time for me to do my homework. Got to get it all done while sitting in a Tim Hortons in Revelstoke... darn weather...

British Columbia

Hello from vonderufl vernon... Ok, bad joke but I couldn't think of a 'v' word that means wonderful... Anyways, I am in Vernon for the weekend. Jack and I, along with Jennie and two friends of hers that we picked up in Calgary, came down to visit some of my family for the weekend. It was my cousins birthday on Thursday and that was the initial reason(Happy birthday Jeff!!!) and then it is always fun to visit with my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins in the area. We spent about 4 hours at my grandparents today, Jack and I. It was really fun, we got to hear all about how they met and what it was like coming to Canada and all of that. I had never really talked to them about it since I had never sat with them when no one else was around so it was pretty sweet. They are really cool grandparents, we couldn't believe how long we had been there!!!
Otherwise things are sweet, we are hanging out with Jeff alot and then my couins Jason and their good friend 'cousin' Trevor too. Always alot of fun. Right now we are waiting on themt o come and pick us up for their hockey game tonight. Jack and I took some time to relax in hot tub with a couple of coolers. Stressful weekend I tell you... :)
Tomorrow we will probably drive the hour and 15 minutes to Kamloops to make it to the churhc where my uncle preaches. Only problem is we have to be there at 9 30 in the morning and hockey doesn't start till 10 15, never mind that we are going out afterwards. Oh well, thats life. And who knows what is in store for us after that early morning service. But on that note, I have to finish getting ready for the boys, and I'll talk to you all soon enough... I hope!

hello from me

One of the longest days of my life is now over. (Or almost over, I have plans for this evening but they will be more fun then the day will be). I had not one but TWO midterms today. Bio Lab and Dutch. Now, bio lab was only 5 % of my final mark and dutch 10% so take a guess what one I studied more for? Now guess how much more? I think I spent a total of like 15 hours or more on Dutch, because her 'quizes' are not 'quizes' they are longer and more packed with information than some diplomas I've written! (ok. Might be a bit of an exagerration). But I don't think I have ever studied so much IN MY LIFE! Meanwhile, biolab got about 45 minutes of studying and a bunch of that was during Bio class right before hand(no mom, I didn't just admit to not listening in class).
Now, I'll be honest, the lab test was way easier than i thought it would be and although it certainly didn't go perfect, it was way better than the last one. As for dutch... at least I did my matching in the right colum so I wont get 0/53 on matching again. Although there was another big mark page that I almost did all wrong. Again. But other than that, the sentences and the random words that I completly forgot, it felt like a pretty good overall test too... We'll see what the prof's say.
My advice? If you are ever thinking of taking Dutch at Kings with Mrs Richardson, DONT!!! Unless of course you don't want to learn how to speak it, just how to sound it out and write choppy sentences... No bitterness, I swear... :)
Anyways, time to go see 'Step Up' with a few of the girls, have to finish my long day on a good note. Take care out there, and remember, I'll be in Vernon on Friday!

my big purchase

Ok. So I did it. I bought it. I spent the money and am now making the necessary changes to fit it in. I. Bought. A...... MINI FRIDGE! Super pumped, as you can tell I assume... Thats all, just thought I'd share that with you. :)