Category: Travel

The Bigvinny Relocation Project Day 1

by Drvinnyt, posted in Graduate School, Travel

Day 1:

Plan: Leave SD at 5:00PM to get to LV by 10:00PM or so.

Actual time left: 8:45PM

Here’s what happened: There’s a ton of crap that I own… and it all needs to fit into my modestly sized sedan. Well, we didn’t finish packing up until about 7pm. All the while having friends and family come by to wave us off… Sorry guys!

7PM. Should leave now right? NO….. Not without car keys! So goes the search for car keys. Everything gets unpacked and double and triple checked, the apartment gets combed through…. I go into the dumpster diving around for my keys.

8:05PM Rui suddenly shouts out that he finds it in the side pocket of a backpack that I swore I had double checked…

Me: Knee deep in rotten milk/water/hot garbage mess of a dumpster feeling relieved and extremely exasperated at my ineptitude. I hop in the shower and contemplate tossing my Rainbow sandals. Family and friends commence re-packing the car.

8:15PM Get into the car, key into the ignition, turn….. No start. Dead battery from the lights on while looking for keys and repacking. Extreme Frustration.

8:20PM Run around asking neighbors for jumper cables, realize roommate has cables in his car, fetch spare keys to get cables. Car is up and running. Hooray! Wait. New Daytime running lights Dad installed stop working.

8:45PM Finally 3h45m after planned departure, tearful goodbyes and farewells. Off to Vegas, embarking on the trip of a lifetime.

Bonus: Tripod mounted D300 set on interval timing shooting to 5s intervals 999×1 shots all the way through. Hence the in-cabin cam. Look for Time Lapse Video soon!

 

1:35AM Arrive in Las Vegas

2:30AM Crazy coincidence, running into Brandon Katz at the Venetian. Put down $10 on red at Roulette, double my money.

2:45AM Tats comes back from checking us in, we start to play Craps. Play the minimum Pass Line, $15.

3:45AM Up $200 on the night playing craps. Tats wants to walk away. and Sleep (after all he had been up at 3:00AM and run America’s Finest City Half Marathon. I disagree

4:30AM Up 360 on the night after playing craps and Black Jack. I look at Tats and laugh. We go up to the room and sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Completed. I used up all my bad luck in SD, replaced it with $360 reasons to smile in Vegas. Next up, Salt Lake City!

The Bigvinny Relocation Project

by Drvinnyt, posted in Graduate School, Travel

Leaving SD…. Quite an experience. After a wonderful weekend with the family laying out by the pool, I packed up all my things in my car and embarked on a 5 day, 1800 mile international Road Trip to Edmonton

The plan:

San Diego, CA to Las Vegas, NV – 331 Miles

Las Vegas, NV to Salt Lake City, UT –  420 Miles

Salt Lake City, UT to Helena, MT – 475 Miles

Helena, MT to Calgary, Alberta, Canada – 409 Miles

Calgary, AB to Edmonton, AB – 186 Miles

Here we go!

University of Alberta

by Drvinnyt, posted in Graduate School, Travel, Uncategorized

My blog posts are scarce, I know!

Here’s a little bit of news: I’ve decided to attend the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to continue on for my PhD!

 

 

 

 

First impression…. even before I landed……. DANG IT’S COLD! The captain came on the announcer and informed us it was currently -20F…. I literally don’t know what that meant until I got off the plane!

The view of the frozen tundra that is Alberta
One of the many snow covered parks on the Medical Campus. Stunning

I visited the campus in mid-February, and met some of the people I’d be working with; namely, my future adviser, Dr. Michael Stickland- a well known and up-and-coming PI in exercise and gas exchange. His primary responsibility is to the Pulmonary Research Group, in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr Stickland showed me around the University and I was quite impressed with the extent of the laboratory space, and most of all the collaborative efforts between clinicians and academic research staff.

The newly built Edmonton Clinic, a beautiful building, isn't it? http://www.edmontonclinic.ca/

Alberta is known for their oil, their beef, and beer! Interestingly, the Northern Oil Sands are the second largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_oil_sands Unfortunately, you can’t just stick a pipe in the ground and wait for oil to come out, the oil sands require extensive and expensive extraction techniques. Now that oil is well over $100 a barrel, the need for oil has really afforded the province of Alberta a great wealth of revenue! The Alberta Heritage Trust affords research and educational funding coming from the revenue from the oil production up North. The result is a trickle down effect that benefits everyone.

Downtown Edmonton, a great view from my hotel room. Lit up, just on the edge of the river vally is the Capital.

Some more details about my future at University of Alberta: I’ve been offered full tuition and a nice stipend, in return for student teaching and work as a graduate research associate for Dr. Stickland. I will technically be a PhD student in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. My work will be in pulmonary physiology, studying exercise and gas exchange. I hope to be able to bring in my previous work in exercise physiology here at SDSU and UCSD and make significant contributions to the field!

The Butterdome, Home of the UofA Golden Bears and Pandas!

Until next time…

Vince

Corbett Hall, one of the many Clinical Research Facilities on Campus
The University of Alberta Hospital