Canadia, I made it

Ugh I shouldn't have waited this long to write my next post as the past few days are a total blur, but I just didn't have the strength to write earlier. Dealing with a 12 hour change in time is somewhat difficult, and I am trying not to rely on temazepam too much to see me through (largely due to my finite supply). I am hoping my stinginess is going to be of assistance tonight, as I went for a huge walk after dinner to find a NovaScotia bank ATM so I didn't have to pay a withdrawal fee, so hopefully the exercise will have tired me out a bit (although perhaps the cake I had on the way back counteracted this). I decided to take out a somewhat hefty sum to see me through for at least some of the time while I'm out doing my field work, not realising that ATMs here give you cash in 20s and now my wallet won't close.

I've been in at uni since Tuesday trying to get my head around the LOPC (laser optical plankton counter) that we'll be using for the rest of the month in Ontario and it's been a real struggle. I won't go into the details as I'm trying not to think about it again until I'm back in there tomorrow, but I have to ask - why do people developing these new technologies insist on fitting them out with serial cables?! This wouldn't normally be too much of an issue but Montreal seems to be going through a PCMCIA serial port card drought. Got my machine talking to the LOPC today though so should be ready for business by the time we leave for Ontario on Sunday.

Today was actually quite a cultural success in many ways, as I sussed out Canada Post, signed up for a Canadian mobile plan, drank some Canadian mojitos (well, they were made by a Canadian), saw someone getting arrested by the Canadian police, and learnt where the local soup kitchen bus works their magic. Oh and I found out today that my abstract has been accepted for oral presentation at the NALMS conference in Lake Louise in November!

Right well I'm going to try and battle the sandman now, good thing I'm still reading my Neil Gaiman book.