Friday, January 20, 2012

2011 in review, Part 1

I have friend who always reviews his year on his blog, and it seems to me a good idea.

January
reproducing like rabbitsboats in Sidney

I submitted a linocut once again to the international print exhibit and exchange in celebration of Chinese New Year (this time for the Year of the Rabbit). I flew off to Victoria, do deal with some BigScience things, but I took the chance to visit with some great friends, though I was foiled in my quest to brunch at the Blue Fox. Craftster kindly awarded my 'Bumblebee' with their 'Best of 2010' in the printmaking category. I was interviewed by the lovely print and textile desing blog Okyo Love.

February
minouette-pillowscan of multimedia valentinealbino peacock in space

I went to the opening of the 'Year of the Rabbit' show at PROOF in the Distillery district (which involved much less alcohol than that sentence seems to imply). My 'Mercator' portrait got some press. RJH spoiled me on Valentine's Day, though I don't think he realized I would have been satisfied with cinnamon hearts. I survived a FIVE HOUR teleconference/planned mutiny (moral: never piss off large groups of scientists). I celebrated 900 Etsy arts, made a bunch of art, and did quite reasonably well, for my least favorite month.

March
CCGS LimnosHello Dolly! monoprint

In March, a magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit offshore Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami. The consequences were dire. To my knowledge, no one I know was injured or killed. Though I did spend some time thinking about how my research can or cannot be usefully employed in early warning systems. I also took a second job, looking into some land-based artic seismic work. I was invited to fly back to Victoria for a job interview. We went to Brampton to look at a boat, in the snow. My boss gave an interesting public lecture, at which no one was hurt despite the combination of cryogenics, flames and methane.

April
Inge Lehmann portraitphotographertorosaurus

My job status was unclear. I helped organize a craft show. I was invited to go to Halifax in the summer. Despite being asked to apply for the job in Victoria, no one bothered to tell me anything post-interview. I applied for a job in England. We really started to think about job opportunities, or lack thereof, for both marine geophysicists and photojournalists in any single spot, anywhere on the planet. The state of the apartment was pitiful, what with the leak to the tenants' downstairs and the storm gutters hanging like the sword of Damacles. RJH had a birthday. I read some books which made me so cranky I gave some serious thought to doing scientific visualization as a bigger part of my career. The Toronto Etsy Street Team had a craft show at the Gladstone, self-proclaimed centre of the universe.

May
moths2Ernst Haeckel portraitLaplace's Demonchild flees museum

I had a birthday. We had a very depressing federal election, though at least the surprising results for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition suggested that there is some appetite for change. I had a bad cold. The war against the moths got more colourful when I started printing broadsides. I also made a portrait of Ernst Haeckel and Laplace's Demon. We celebrated Victoria Day, and I had 1000 Etsy hearts. My travel schedule was suddenly packed. RJH and I went to Ottawa, where I explored the Museum of Civilization and he played hockey for charity.

June
lobster sou'westerPeggy's Cove lighthouse reflectionLunenberg fish signDigby horsesSaint John Reversing Fallskayak in Saint John riverSussex royal muralHopewell Rocksfossil treeNova Scotia mammothAi Weiwei's Zodiac AnimalsGuggenheimwunderkammer window

I went to a very inter-disciplinary ocean science meeting in Halifax (wherin I learned about cannibalism in fish, that "crazy" people 5000 years ago, who made the megaliths stopped doing so coincident in time with the end of warm water circulation in the North Atlantic, that the Labrador Sea is a major carbon sink though there's a price to pay in terms of acidification and assorted other things). The UNESCO World Heritage Site summer tour began, after my conference in Halifax, when RJH and I drove around Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. We visited Peggy's Cove and Lunenberg, then drove to Digby to take the ferry to Saint John, NB. We then drove to Fredericton, where we stayed with RJH's lovely friends, visited his grandparents' farm and I met his parents. We returned to Saint John to visit one of RJH's longest standing friends, then spent the night in Sussex. I was charmed by the murals, but not by the stroller-punks. The Bay of Fundy and Hopewell Rocks, and back in NS, the fossiliferous Joggins Cliffs were added to our UNESCO World Heritage site tally. I got badly sunburnt. We drove from Truro to Lunenberg (again), stopping to photograph a cheesy, fake mastodon at the world's least educational paleontology park. Then we flew home.

I was invited to interview for a university lectureship in England!

I went to New York city for a few days with my mother. We stayed in Queen's but explored Manhattan daily, saw two Broadway shoes, did some shopping (including a suit for my interview) and spent the day with an old friend I hadn't seen since grade 9. I dragged my mother to the amazing Alexander McQueen exhibit.

I returned to frantically prepare for our research cruise, which would immediately follow our trip to England. RJH and I were rear-ended when on his motorcycle. Neither of us, nor the bike were badly hurt, but it was scary.

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