Still clunking along; trying to relax

Tonight is my math midterm that I have been working hard studying for. I'm a little stressed out. Just trying to go with the flow. Should take an example from my fish, who like always is just chilling. Tonight is my friend Rob's birthday, and hopefully I will be able to get through my work so that I am able to celebrate with him after my midterm.

Explanation will come later

I've been up late lately, just studying or working on assignments. I use tea as a way to keep me focused. This one was a blueberry one. Delicious. Back to the books. Later

Organic Chemistry

I've been hard at work today messing around with population growth rates in calculus, and with benzene rings and VESPR models in organic chemistry. It's going pretty well, but at this point I just want to be back in the valley. I think that's all I really need at this point. A bit of relaxation with my family and friends. So close. Just ... seven more school days. Two assignments, one midterm and a lab quiz. Not too shabby. This is a photo of my chemistry assignment, backed by my desk lamp and a turtle pendant from Quebec City.

Mr. Nick Brown

Last night was a great night, my friend Nick came to visit Alyssa and I after pub. We all went for a little adventure and had a great night. I'm busy studying calculus now, I have a big old midterm quickly approaching.

Anything But Clothes

Tonight is a theme party night in my section called "anything but clothes" pictured is Maria Kearney and Curtis. This is the last night we're all together for pub, and it's going to be a lot of fun. Alyssa is back for the night too, and I spent the day at Mt A with Alyssa and a few of her friends.

Georgia and Kale

I took a picture of Georgia and Kale, two of my favourite people in the world. They're all fancied up for the athletic banquet later on tonight. It's going to be a really fun weekend, I'm off to Mt. A to visit Alyssa tomorrow and then tonight is the athletic banquet possibly followed by pub for a while. Should be a great weekend. I got a few hours of biology studying in today, and am really excited for Easter.

Rankin and Trucks

Todays photo is Rankin standing by the side of Chapman. There are shadows from the sun setting of Rankin and the truck. I've had a fairly hectic day, and am getting very excited to see Dad. I hope that he's here soon.

Uegff

Not feeling so great today, there's a bit of a stomach virus going around campus and I'm thinking I have it. I've been really out of 'er the last few hours. Though I am really excited to see my Dad tomorrow. Tonight I am working on a chem thing, and it is a lot of work. Almost done now thankfully. This photo is a view of the basement from the third floor.

Rainy Spring

Took this photo of a Leonard Messel Magnolia outside of Cox Institute. I had a really good day, just starting to get oriented to my new job with SU and I really like it. I can't wait to do more with it.

Messing about

Just trying to finish up some chemistry and some economics, it's going pretty well. Had the leadership banquet tonight, had an excellent time. I really enjoyed the guest speaker, and the food and atmosphere was very pleasant. This is a photo of my salt shaker, next to my clock. I was just messing around with my camera, with some different exposures and I like the way this one turned out.

New Jacket

My Uncle Bill from PEI sent me a new jacket yesterday. Uncle Bill is a civil engineer, and he graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1991 and is now working as an engineer. Uncle Bill is tall like I am, but is quite a bit more broad. Uncle Bill sent me an email the other day to see if I would like it, and I absolutely love it. It's very warm, and I can't wait to wear it around. It's a perfect fit.

Today I have my first meeting with the new executive council as well as the old executive council of the NSAC Students Union Executive. We're going out for supper after the meeting to celebrate at Frank and Gino's. It's going to be a great day. But first, I have to do some more work.

This one is for Christine

Went to Victoria Park, took this picture of a mitten that someone had lost. I thought immediately of my sister who would get a real kick out of it. Anyway, had an excellent day today. And am off now to have some fun with friends in Fraser House. Here's the mitten.

Bee! Flower!

It's early Spring, and how the signs are here. Here is a purple crocus, and a honey bee. They were spotted in the alumni garden this afternoon. I can't wait for spring to be in full swing. Out tonight in Halifax for pub crawl, very excited for that.

I miss the beach

One thing I really miss about home are the beaches. Here, it just isn't as easy to get there. Nobody ever seems to want to go, but there is nothing I would love more than to get to a beach and go for a walk for a couple hours with my dog. It's been a busy day, and still have a lot to do... playing with rocks isn't going to get me anywhere unfortunately.

Irish for a day

Today is St. Patty's Day and I am going out on my first school night ever. It should be a lot of fun, Mark, George and I dressed up. The campus pub is open for wet/dry so their should be a lot of friends there. I'm pretty excited. Photo credits go to Andree.

Day 75: Bubble Nest

Wow, can't believe that I have finished seventy five days of this. I had an extremely productive day today, so it feels good to be sitting here at 10:30 with a huge weight off my shoulders. I still have a lot more to do, but I took care of several important assignments, emails and tasks so that's a big positive. Today I've captured a photo of my betta fishe Krull's bubble nest. A betta makes a bubble nest when it is healthy, and wants to mate. If I was to introduce a female into the tank, they would breed by the male wrapping around her. The female would lay eggs on the bottom of the tank, and the male brings them up and drops them into the mass of bubbles. The mass is a little bigger in circumference than a golf ball and is raised about one centimeter above the water. It's really neat, and I am happy to see my fish happy.

Chemistry

Today I took a photo of my chemistry professor Dr. Nancy Pitts. She is one of my first year professors teaching me Chemistry 1000, and Chemistry 1001. She is a very interesting teacher who is very funny, and uses interesting examples and analogies to help the class grasp (and remember) important concepts. She's also helped me immensely with my application to Ethiopia, helping me decide what to include on my resume and telling me a little about her experiences in international development. I've defiantly enjoyed her classes a lot, and my understanding of chemistry has increased in leaps and bounds.

Day 73: Grass fires

Noticed today that across from our residence over the river that they were burning some brush. About an hour later Matt told me that it was out of control. Unfortunately missed the ten foot high flames, but I managed to capture the aftermath of the flames. The fire department had to come, it was kind of a big deal. Some more beautiful weather in Truro which I can appreciate. Now it's just time to get a little more calculus finished with. It's been an excellent weekend.

White Board

Today Ian is up, and we just got back from a walk to the stores along the train tracks. This picture depicts Mader writing on our friend Maria's door. Anyway, we're off to watch a little Rugby then go out. Just a little post, because I'm too excited to spend more time with E.

Feels good to be an Aggie

Really thankful that today's the weekend. There's been absolutely beautiful weather, and I've been trying to get outside. It's a Rugby tournament here at school, and that's a lot of fun to watch. It's going to be an excellent visit with all sorts of people visiting. Can't wait to see how it all turns out. Pictured are the grain silos located by the Ruminant Animal Centre.

Twin Weekend (Part I)

Today is a special day. This weekend Rob, Andree and I all have our siblings coming over this weekend. Andree is a twin, and I have a twin, and Robert has a brother who is not his twin but looks very much like him. It's going to be a really fun weekend. I start my position as external affairs today by working at the house challenge today, and cannot wait. A great weekend is sure to ensue.

Letter from Ellie

I kept this pretty late tonight, but I made it for twenty minutes to spare. Today was an excellent day as I won the seat on students union for the vice president of external affairs. It is something that I cannot wait to start, and I'm sure I will have more about it soon. Featured today in the photo is an envelope containing a letter mailed to me from my great friend Ellie. It features alpacas who are very happy and telling jokes. Ellie is the most creative person I have ever to met, and some of the things she thinks of are so amazing I don't even know how to begin to describe them.
Thanks Ellie

Today in lab, we analyzed American coins to determine the copper concentration within them. We used a device called a spectrophotmeter which is extremely accurate and measures things in terms of absorption. We created four standard solutions using a copper sulphate hydrate and then graphed a standard curve. Then we dissolved coins with highly concentrated nitric acid and analyzed the reminants for their copper content using the machine, then plotted them using horizontal lines on our standard graph giving us our amounts of copper within each coin. It was pretty cool. Pictured are the four standard solution and Jessica Trudeau standing behind them.

Laaaa-ammm--bsss

It's lambing season, and I went to the barn to check out the little guys and girls. They were pretty great little creatures, really friendly and curious. Did really well on a bio test today, and then went for a run later on in the afternoon. About to do a little more chemistry before I have to do more chemistry.

Sunset and Thorns

Alyssa went home today around three, and I've been looking through bio trying to prepare myself a little more for my midterm tomorrow. I think I have a fairly good handle on it already, but a lot of work still needs to be done. It's going to be a tough week in school without a doubt but I am looking forward to it immensely. Especially the weekend. I was messing around a bit with manual focus today out behind res, trying to get something I liked. Here's the best I could do.

March 6th, Lazy Day

Alyssa has been over today and we've just been laying low watching some movies and hanging around. This is one of the fishtank I took today and you can see the reflection of Trueman house through it.

bye bye Crayfish, hi Alyssa

So when I woke up today my crayfish was dead. I've contacted the pet shop, and have spent lots of time on the phone and corresponding via email with both the local and the national level haha. It's a bit ridiculous but kind of fun. Alyssa came down today on the train, and going out tonight to 38 and probably pub. Should be a great night!

My new pet

I've recently recieved a new pet from Alyssa for my Birthday. My directions were to choose something, so I chose this guy/girl. I haven't decided fully on a name, and am currently between Sha-neek-wa and Bernice. I just have the feeling it's a girl. It smells like a fish, and it's pretty cool. I like him/her. Studied a solid three and a half hours for biology tonight, and I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it. Though I cannot WAIT for the weekend.

Continuing the campaign

I'm still trying to get some promotional material out for my campaign. Here is my newest poster featuring organic breakfast cereal and Julie's hamster "Peanut"

Night time

Went out tonight with Matt Rankin messing around with exposures and trying to get a good train photo. Unfortunately still don't have a tripod, but managed to get a few decent shots, even if a little shaky. It was freezing cold and we waited over an hour for the train. But we finally got it. This one was taken up by King St. and is a little shaky but has an interesting composition.

Paul Manning for VP External Affairs NSAC Student's Union

VP of External Affairs, is the new name for the SU position formerly known as VP Communications. The main duties of this position are to organize, and facilitate the NSAC SU house challenges.

I'm a first year student, currently enrolled in my first year of a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture majoring in environmental science.

I'm from Canning, Nova Scotia which is a small town of c. 800 residents in the Annapolis Valley.

I'm an experienced leader within student organizations particularly student government .My most recent experience in student leadership my term acting as the first year representative at Student Representative Council here at NSAC. Additionally, I was on my Northeast Kings Education Centre (NKEC) student council from grade six to grade twelve. I spent three of these years on the executive council (co-president grade eight, co-vice-president grade eleven, co-president grade twelve). I spent the other four years serving as a grade representative. These positions are indicative of my experience and passion for student leadership.
__________________________________________________

I had a blast this year participating in House Challenges, but I am someone who believes that there is always room for improvement. I want to work hard for you, the student body population of Nova Scotia Agricultural College so that YOU have as much fun as possible.

1. Increase Attendance at Sporting Events
- As a member of the NSAC Varsity Mens soccer team, I know how tough it can be to play a home game with virtually no crowd. I would like to implement different strategies resulting in house points for those who come out to support and cheer for their fellow Aggies. As well as making special consideration of points for both number of fans, and the level of spirit that is there.

2. Integrate the Community
-As a small school, I recognize that a giant part of our enjoyment of the university comes from the feeling of community that we get from being such a small institution. If we can find ways to integrate the community into our aggie spirit (ie: partnering with local businesses for sponsorship, having a greater amount of community members out for school functions) then we will see an increase in student satisfaction across campus.

3. Make house challenges appeal to a greater variety of people
-Let's face it. People are good at different things; whether it be sports, music, being loud, school, art... everybody is good at something. I want the house challenges to reflect the diversity and uniquity of the student population, rather than being more focused on the same areas, time after time again.

4. Delegating RA's to promote school spirit
-RA's are required to run a program during each academic semester. If elected, I hope to encourage residence and conference services to allow one RA from each residence be in charge of getting people out to events. Generally, the more that show, the more fun is had by all involved. If each house is able to coax more and more students out to events, then the events will continue to be more enjoyable and more successful for all involved.

5. Inclusion
-Another problem that I see within house challenges is the lack of graduate student and international student participation. I would love to see the attendance of graduate students and international students climb at school functions, particularly house challenges.

Any sort of question is encouraged, and please feel free to approach to me at any time with suggestions or issues; hopefully I'll be able to address them.