Dibasic

Bye Bye Blogger

2006-12-07T15:14:00.000-04:00

Please Change your bookmarks accordingly this blog has now moved:

http://dibasic.wordpress.com

New Dibasic Location

The posts and comments have already been moved :)

My last post...

2006-12-04T16:43:00.000-04:00

...About the Weather.

It seems that as the year is drawing to a close the weather has been alot more rainy recently and I can now think of a few days we have had when it essentially rained all day. But otherwise the weather has been relatively constant (warm and sunny), which makes it hard for me to think that we are already in December, or that most of the vistors to my site are now in winter clothing.

Even I know this won't be the last post about the weather.

Three exams to go

2006-12-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

Neuroscience(Monday), Physiology(Wednesday) and 1st year Comprehensive exam (BSCE1)(Thursday) of next week. Well it's coming up to the end of the year. It's funny just how fast time goes. This time last year I was dreaming about Grenada (What the island would look like, what the school would be like)

My Problem...With the Word "Blog"

2006-12-01T20:01:00.000-04:00

Now this may seem like it's coming out of the blue. But I don't like the word blog. Lets be clear, I have no problem with blogs in themselves. I don't like "blog" and I find all derivative words based on "blog" to be even more unappealing (e.g. "Blogsphere"). One of the things I have always liked about the internet is that the thing you are probably using to view the page right now is a 'web browser' and that they display webpages. Now the metaphor of the page is something which is nice and takes some of the work away when you are explaining the process of browsing webpages. Now I have to give some credit to microsoft and say that having considered it 'internet explorer' is one of the best possible names for a web browser, it tells you what it does unlike the name "opera". Don't get me wrong I understand how the word 'blog' was created through the contraction of the word 'weblog'. But to the uninitiated it may as well be called "obscureinternetthing"

My Robot...

2006-12-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

...Masters (The alternative title for this post was going to be "My Spam...Blog Offense").
Actually I had to laugh at this one. It seems my masters at Google wear many different hats and for once I am not referring to the Adsense team (who supply the adverts seen on the site). Actually this time I am talking about my masters over at blogger who have decided this is a "spam blog". Now the first question you might ask is what is a spam blog? Check here for the answer. These events have changed my plans for the updates I am going to add onto the blog for you. Now thanks to your friends at google I will holding back my planed poll. So that I can bring you a new fun poll for this week: Is my blog a spam blog. For your enjoyment here is the screenshot from blogger:

I almost forgot to mention the best part of this story. A robot suggested that my blog may be a spam blog. So google's robots are scanning the internet and I guess when the sense weakness the attack. Please vote in my poll!

This is not a spam blog and any sarcasm in this post was directed towards the blogger robot. I hope they built the ability to understand sarcasm into the robot.

Update: My Site has now been cleared by I assume humans. So my understanding is blogger no longer thinks this is a spam blog

My Parasitology ...

2006-11-26T21:49:00.000-04:00

...Exam.
We have the parasitology Final exam tomorrow. After which I should gave a new poll topic for this week. Hope things are going well for everyone. UPDATE: We have now completed the exam(successfully)

My Restaurant review...

2006-11-25T12:46:00.000-04:00

...revisited.
Having recently had some of Rick's Pizza fresh I feel my intial review was slightly too conservative and thus I am upgrading Rick's cafe.

My New...

2006-11-16T23:34:00.000-04:00

...Online Poll.
The original text of this post can be found at the bottom between []brackets.

Online poll archive

1) Content: Results, Poll

2) Search for "UCL": Results, Poll

3) Spam Blog?: Results, Poll

[Following the post on UCL my poll for this week is:

'I associate "UCL" with?'

The poll can now be found in the new left hand sidebar.
For more information on the poll topic read the post below]

My Search...for UCL

2006-11-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

As many of you know I did my undergraduate studies in chemistry at University College London. What follows is a list of different search results as returned by Google search for "UCL" (this is the first of many links):

• Many University College London Pages In fact this was the top link

• The next link is another educational institution Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, again this site had many pages turn up

• It turns out UCL is also software, a portable lossless data compression library if you must know

• We now turn our attention to California where Unfair Competition Law Practitioner has a blog

• Staying in North America we find Unique Concepts Limited Safety Systems, A company in Winnipeg, Canada which seems to make industrial safety equipment

• Yet another educational link Broward Community College, Florida University/College Library

• Here’s a chemical one Union Chemical Laboratories Part of Industrial Technology Research Insititute

• This a peculiar link from google letting me know that Yahoo finance does not have any US or Canadian company registered under the stock ticker UCL. I suppose this is a non-UCL link.

• I only searched upto page 31, if you know of any other UCL’s Let me know. from page 31 acronymfinder for UCL

I have to go now

They just keep...

2006-11-15T07:59:00.000-04:00

...Moving the Goal Posts.
Yet another rant about my friends over at Google Adsense. If I didn't know better then I would say that they implement more and more changes with the hope that small online publishers like me will fall through one of the hoops. They changed the minimum earning you need to make from advertising from $50 to $100 now they have a pin that they are sending out and if you don't use it then they will empty your account and put 'public' service ads on your blog.
I don't know what hoop my masters at google will have for me next. But I won't be the one to go ahead and start supplying the ideas.

My favourite...

2006-11-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

...Apple Mac programs.
I put together a little list of some the programs which I have found helpful.

Pretty much Omni-anything the people over at the omnigroup make great software which is really intuitive( I am a big fan of Omnioutliner which is essentially a listing program which allows you to dynamically nest information it's like having a computerised note pad it's great for making notes. )

Adium X (One great multiclient messenger. supports MSN, AIM, Yahoo and others)

Mplayer OS X (Great movieplayer which I much prefer to apple's offering quicktime player)

Please don't...

2006-11-12T12:38:00.000-04:00

...Read my profile.
This one is almost a public service notice. My profile is blank. It has apparently been vied 93 times so I'm guessing you all know that. But know you can't say that you were never told. Now that we've taken care of that...
...The problem preventing me visiting the blog has been resolved, so I can keep checking to see how the little changes I am making have turned out. I was also able to make very nice use of my in room connection using skype and I aim to be in touch with a lot more people via skype this week. That's is all the updates that I have right now. Should be more soon

My in Room...

2006-11-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

...Internet Connection.
Yes that's right we have finally been connected to the internet in our rooms. I will be on all weekend if anyone wants to skype me. If I see you online I will be skyping you. Seems to be working fine right now. EXCEPT it won't let me visit my blog page. I guess that means I will just have to stick to postings. I am also happy to report someone finally voted in the poll. Everyone else don't be shy.

My online...

2006-11-10T15:50:00.000-04:00

...Poll.
So I guess that you guys don't like my online poll. I don't know why all you have to do is select an option and click submit and then I will use your ideas for a post. I have seen that I've had alot of visitors recently. More posts soon

Five Weeks

2006-11-09T16:31:00.000-04:00

... Left of this Term.
Well I suppose this is the point where I say that time feels like it has been racing away. To my new readers I would like to say welcome. To frequent visitors I'd like to say thanks for visiting the blog. I'm starting off with a different way to get information from my readeres as you all seem a little shy of posting comments. Please take my web poll and let me know what I should be blogging about:

Apparently according to my masters at GOOGLE I cannot have the poll within this post so I have put it at the top of the link sidebar

If I get a good response from this then you can expect to see a lot more polls.
Things are going well this term and we have four final exams to take before the end of term. Not much else to report right now, we have just started parasitology. It's a really great course that makes you never want to have a pet or drink unflitered/boiled water ever again. Actually think I've already decided that I like the idea of having web polls and I think I will be having a new one every week. Anyway I have to go back to the books don't forget to enjoy the site and keep in touch

My...Off Campus Restaurant Reviews, Grenada

2006-11-04T16:13:00.000-04:00

I have put the restaurants into different categories £ , ££ and £££ (£1~$2 USD, this scale is based on each £ sign representing increasing units e.g. ££= ten’s of pounds) The ratings are based on my memory of what the price for two people. Ratings are based on personal preference: *, **, ***, **** (one star= I would eat there again if I was very hungry, two stars= I would eat there again if I was hungry, three stars = I would eat there again for a treat, four stars=I would eat there again for a special treat). The hotel restaurants usually require you to call ahead of time to make a booking. You will find when you actually go and eat that they are not full or overly busy.Another review

£($$) Student Food

Bananas (True Blue)**
They are just around the corner from campus. Very popular place, they also deliver which is a major plus. It can be a little stuffy inside the restaurant as they are pretty much inland. Also for a very view you get to look at the road.

Da Big Fish(True Blue) **
Only eaten here once.
The place seemed nice enough, also pretty close to campus. I don’t think it’s quite as popular as Bananas but it tries. Not much else to say no major complaints

La Boulangerie(Grand Anse) **
Again very popular. Lots of pasta and pizza (thin crust) dishes. If you are not in the mood for either then you should probably give it a miss.

Grill Master (Spiceland Mall) **
A lot of food for a low price, if you select carefully. The seating is foodcourt style and the same and right next too Chopsticks(see below)

Chopsticks(Spiceland Mall) *
Only eaten here once.
It was a while ago and I didn’t find the dish I had to my liking. I’m not used to chow mein having a very thick and crispy noodle. Like I said these reviews are geared to my taste.

Rick’s Pizza and Grill (Grand Anse Mall) ***
One of the many contenders for best pizza on the island. I’m not sure if I have the answer to that one. But if you are in the mood for pizza it’s worth a try. Some seating inside the store, some inside the mall and a few seats outside. Good for a quick bite.

££($$$) Wallet Stretcher

Le Chataeu (Grand Anse) **
Nice place for a sit down meal. The location and view aren’t excellent (It is build on the corner of a road and has roadside views on both sides with open mesh wooden frame). But overall I find that of the ** places I enjoyed eating here the most.

La Belle Creole (Grand Anse) ****
This restaurant is based in the sister hotel of the Spice Island Beach Resort(see below) : Blue Horizons. I have to say that I liked the Restaurant here better. It’s not on the beach But it is higher up and you get a nice breeze flowing through. It is also smaller which gives it a more homely/personal feel as compared to the wide open dining area at Spice Island. No booking required. The food was good and the atmosphere was very nice and brought me back for my second visit which I enjoyed more than the first. Ask them if they have the homemade coconut ice cream for desert!

£££($$$$) Good Place to have your parents buy you dinner :)

The Beach House **
Only eaten here once.
I know a lot of people who like this place. Personally I felt they were a little too gourmet restaurant like for me. I don’t always have a starter(I usually find I am full after having it and then find myself unable to finish my main course), I felt the main course portion was very small and I went home hungry.

Oliver’s @ Spice Island Beach Resort ***
Don’t get me wrong this is a nice restaurant it’s just that. I prefer the experience at Rhodes over it and if I was in the area of Spice Island Beach then I would prefer La Belle Creole over it too. Having said that the location and view are excellent the restaurant looks out over Grand Anse Beech and that provides a nice cool breeze. The eating area is wide and spacious and there are no real dividing walls which adds to that feeling. The food itself was good.

Rhodes @ The Calabash Hotel (Lance Aux Epines) ****
Only eaten here once.
Gary Rhodes restaurant does not disappoint. The set up of the hotel was very similar to Spice Land Beach Resort. The Food did pretty much live up to the hype. There was nice spacious feel to the place and it was open to the air with a fair breeze although it was quite warm. Also I don’t remember seeing any water but I did feel like I could hear it.

Updates...

2006-11-03T10:50:00.000-04:00

...Updates, Updates.
If you are a frequent visitor then you will notice that I have made quite a few changes to the site. I hope you like them. Post here to let me know what you think! On monday we have the Immunology final exam after that we begin Parasitology two weeks after that we have the Parasitology final exam and a week after that we have the Neuroscience and Physiology final exams and End of First Year exam, the day after that I'm flying home. If you don't hear from me in a while it's because things are picking up pace here as you can see above and I am probably somewhere studying. Unfortunately no update on internet in our dorm as yet. But we are expecting to find out today.

This post is...

2006-11-02T09:58:00.000-04:00

...Redundant.
I am changing this post because this information is now in the about my blog box at the top. I have also added a google search box, you can use it to search the internet or my blog. It's another adsense product so if you clicked on the sites ads then it would give me adsense revenue. I am prohibited by my masters at google from telling people to click on my ads but If you all start using my search box to do your google searches and you happen to see an ad you are interested in then I can't see how my overlords at google could be mad at me

All I wanted to do...

2006-10-30T14:21:00.000-04:00

...was read my email.
I'm in limbo right now as far as email goes. I already wrote about how my favorite email acccount has finally been overun with Junk mail, now I discover that the email client I am using is loosing my sent messages and who knows what else. I wanted to switch over to a different client and in fact downloaded mozilla thunderbird. But because it doesn't have built in importing from apple mail and has it's own eccentricities it will have to be a project for another time.
So if I don't respond to an email it could just be I didn't get it/couldn't find it.
More random postings soon

New update...

2006-10-28T13:40:00.000-04:00

...no new news.
That's right. I'm not afraid to tell you guys that I don't have any news. so this post is the equivlent of talking to hear my own voice. I can handle that. I would like to say thanks for all the replies to the emails it's always nice to hear how everyone else is doing. I also want to say that it's still not to late for anyone to be the first person to send me a letter via snail mail, if you need my address again just email me. Otherwise I have just been studying. But I think that is normal when you only have 6 weeks of term left and on the plus side I am getting to listen to a lot of music, they do say it helps with the thinking process. I'm not really sure how many people read this blog anymore. But thanks for reading if you still do

Stormy...

2006-10-21T14:07:00.000-04:00

...Weather.
Yes it is that time again. Weather update time. Today was the first day in a long while when the rain wasn't just heavy it was actually stormy. It also lasted a good two or three hours this morning and the sound of the wind and thunder was enough to wake me up.

Why do they call them midterms...

2006-10-16T12:37:00.000-04:00

...Oh yes because when you sucessfully finish taking them then you are half way till the end of the term.

Yes that means that in 8 weeks time we will be finished.
I have to get going, still have lots of things to do

"They found me...

2006-10-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

...I don't know how. But they found me." 'Who?' "the Spammers".
After over 7 years of having a personal email address safe fom unsolicited emails offering unwanted products and trying to get me to divulge passwords for banks I don't even bank with. I have lost the battle, be on the look out for email coming from me soon. I think it might be time for a new personal email address, if you get it please don't give it to anyone.

By the way bonus points for anyone who can tell me what the title is in reference to.

Reblogging...

2006-10-12T21:07:00.000-04:00

...History.
I guess this a new twist on rewriting history. But I decided that rather than put on a new post I would just tinker with this one. To be fair most of the information it contained is accurate. We had some network people checking the ethernet ports in our rooms and I hear that the routers have been mounted and installed ansd we are just waiting on Cable and Wireless to put us online. What now follows is the rest of the original post UNMODIFIED(or is it? Well it doesn't look modified to me)

I wish I had some new exciting news for you. But unfortunatley nothing new. According to the update we have now been given it might be a few more weeks until we get internet in our rooms. On an unrelated note we have about 8 weeks until the end of term.
I have to get back to the books...

One more midterm...

2006-10-09T13:09:00.000-04:00

...Five more exams, nine more weeks.
Hello everybody. More good news, I just successfully completed midterm number two and am now looking towards number three. We were all rained on before the exam but unperturbed we continued on.
I almost forgot the most important piece of news it looks like cable is begining to be put into my halls of residence so we should be on the internet in our rooms soon, more on this when I have the info...

You just can't make stuff like this up...

2006-10-06T16:24:00.000-04:00

... As a few people are probably aware I bought a USB flash drive from Amazon UK recently. The casing was poorly constructed and it broke within the first few weeks of me owning it. Seeing as I am not in the UK I was unable to return the item to Amazon for refund/replacement. After several emails ( Maybe 10 back and forth), the customer will receive compensation for the broken product.
Now all of that I could have made up but I could not have made up this from the confirmation email from Amazon:

" Dear Customer

Thank you for writing to Amazon.co.uk.

We are happy to hear you prefer to keep the damaged item."

Now I may be happy that I was able to negotiate a more appropriate refund than what was offered to me the first time around. But unless it was unclear I would have much preferred to have a product which was made properly.

Anyway enough diversion, some of us have exams to study for :)

And then there were Two...

2006-10-02T20:01:00.000-04:00

...yes, hello. Good News I have Immunology midterm successfully completed, forgotten and remembered again all in the space of a few hours :) Been taking a little time to relax. But now I hear the books calling louder than ever so I've got to go. It is always great to get hello emails when you're studying for exams they give you something to do on study breaks ( Hint Hint)

The Rainy Season Revisited

2006-09-27T18:29:00.000-04:00

Well. It has come to my notice that the primetime for rainy spells is between 3-6am and that they tend to be happening for about 1/2hour to an hour pretty much everynight. I know that some of you have a keen interest in the weather. This leaves us with mostly bright and sunny weather ( which we can only assume is also warm as it beams in through the windows onto our desks as we look through our class notes)
FIN

Dreaming of Mandarin ...

2006-09-25T17:18:00.000-04:00

... and horses playing polo.

This post is for a friend (Liz I hope this helps ?).

Update...

2006-09-25T04:08:00.000-04:00

... and we hardly heard anything from him!
Hello everyone now I know what your thinking. Why haven't we been getting regular updates? I think you guys know the drill by now, I've been studying, we do have midterms coming up. We are expecting internet access in our dorm rooms before the end of term ( This is a big deal, I can do my internet research in my room and I can call everyone on skype whenever I feel like it) The other two dorms on campus are already up and wired onto the net, we are still waiting for a date. I'm sure I'll be able to arrange a big update for that. Otherwise I'm good, I might even get to the beach this week, if I'm lucky
Anyway I had better go those books won't read themselves ;)

Do you think it's safe for me to mention Adsense ?

2006-09-19T21:01:00.000-04:00

Well I thought I would give you guys some more insight into my blog in terms of the Adsense:

Day with most clicks: 9th March 2006

Day with most money earned: 9th March 2006

Day with most page impressions: 9th February 2006

I AGAIN WANT TO STRESS I DO NOT ENDORSE OR ENCOURAGE CLICKING ON GOOGLE ADS!

As I'm sure you guys can tell I am well, thanks for all the emails I will try and respond before I get too much work.
Midterms are just around the corner now: October 2nd Immunology, October 9th Neuroscience, October 16th Physiology
I had better get back to the books

The day it rained....

2006-09-13T20:28:00.000-04:00

...All day.

Well if I was asked that describes today pretty well it was full of grey clouds and stormy weather in fact it rained so much that most of the field outside my building is waterlogged. It's funny all this was just as I was thinking that so far the rainy and dry seasons were not together all that different and to be honest they haven't been so far. Rain on the whole is still few and far between and warm temperatures and sunshine are by far the norm. What happend with messenger and email you all must have got busy all of a sudden, well you know how to get in touch.

Finished my first course of the term

2006-09-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
again sorry for the time between updates. This term the courses are Neuroanatomy and Physiology (Which both last all term), Genetics(which we just wrote the exam for and finished), Immunology(Which lasts from now until November) and then Parasitology( which is from Nov. Until the end of term). Other than that I don't really have much news. I was having some problems with my laptop a/c adaptor but they have now been resolved and I am still up and running. You guys know the drill, actually you seem to be better with emails this term, it's great to hear what's going on with all of you. Until next time

"We welcome our new google ADSENSE overlords..."

2006-08-22T19:39:00.000-04:00

... that quote is in reference to the very great internet site slashdot, check it out if you have a chance.

Today I recieved an email from the google adsense team:

"It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on
the Google ads found on your site(s). In the future, we may adjust your
payment for any days during which invalid clicks occurred in order to
properly credit advertisers for any invalid activity.

As a reminder, any method of generating invalid clicks is strictly
prohibited. Invalid clicks include, but are not limited to, any clicks
that are generated through the use of robots, automated clicking tools,
manual clicks by a publisher on the publisher's own web pages or a
publisher encouraging others to click on his ads.
"

My masters over at google have spoken, so for the record:

people are free to click or not click on the google ads on this blog as they wish. I do notspecifically endorse or encorage clicking of google ads. Any questions about clicking policy should be directed to "The Google Team"

N.B. THIS POST CONTAINS SOME SARCASM

2nd Week back, End of 1st Week of Classes

2006-08-19T10:31:00.000-04:00

I think the title says it all with respect to what has been going on. I am settled into my new room now (I wish I didn't have so much stuff though, it was a real pain having to go and colllect it all from storage). My two year old Nokia 6600 (otherwise known as my gadget phone) is misbehaving, it's hit and miss as to if the person on the other end of the phone line will be able to hear what I'm saying. I guess that means I will be getting and sending alot more txt's. Fortunately I still have skype which is unaffected. So far today has been grey and overast and rainy, more updates soon

Back to classes

2006-08-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

This term the schedule is slightly different and sees us having classes in the morning and unscheduled time in the afternoons. It's rained a couple of times since my last post. Seeing as the rain showers are short and brief it's quite hard to tell just how many we've had as I have spent some of the time inside. Well I was going to let it go but you guys know I couldn't finish off one of my postings without saying "don't be a stranger" you all know how to get hold of me. Until then TTFN

On Island

2006-08-12T20:45:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I am now back on island. I am staying in the new Halls of residence(Dorm) we just today got air conditioning which is really great. I've managed to unpack, I have food, I'm registered for classes. We start up on Tuesday(15th).
It's the rainy season now. So where as last term I seemed to focus on when it's rained I think this term I'll let you know about the streches we go without rain. So far and rained on my first and second days and hasn't rained for the last three days.
More info soon

My...UK based guide to SGU and Grenada

2006-07-26T05:46:00.000-04:00

1. Transport

Price does vary depending on time of year with flights being cheapest in the winter(flying out in Jan) and more costly during the summer(Flying out in August). It is really important to look around as much as possible to find a good price for your flight, the general range is £450-£850 for a direct flight. Try travel agents, online travel sites and british airways or virgin direct, it you start looking early and then check on a regular basis and then try and put a good price ticket on hold so that you can keep looking without risking the flights you want to catch getting full. I have not had much luck with the student travel agencies such as STA travel, from the quotes I've got from them you would probably better off buying a ticket directly from British Airways.

• Direct (fly on a jumbo [747; 777] all the way)

British Airways (Tues[year round], Fri[Late Oct-Late March]) stops in Antigua

Virgin Atlantic (Thurs[year round]) stops in Tobago

Excel Airways (Thurs[summer], Sun[Winter]) charter airline

• Indirect (jumbo to the first location then a small local airline)

Too many options to list here. Both Antigua and Barbados have daily flights from the UK and onward flights to Grenada from local caribbean airlines like Liat or Caribbean Star(these are small 'dash-8' twin propeller planes and have different luggage weight restrictions and you might have to collect your luggage and check into your connecting flight which you might not want to have to do)

2. Banking

• Nationwide FlexAccount

If at all possible get this account and you will get free cash withdrawals abroad you can then draw money as needed this saves the length process of opening a local account and finding a way of easily exchanging money to put into it.

• Forex / Exchange rate

East Caribbean Dollar(EC) is fixed to the US Dollar(USD) at a rate of:
USD1= EC2.67

You can get EC from the Post Office. But you get less money. As the rate is fixed I haven’t been to a business on the island which won’t take US Dollars. I would get US Dollars: half cash, half travellers cheques. You can also change money with Forex company Travelex. However don't do this at the airport as they will charege you a high comission. Instead go the Travelex website and see what rate and conditions they are offering (The make you pay for the forex online and then you collect it at the airport). It is always a good idea to bring a few forms of money even if you will be using the FlexAccount.

The rate to Pounds is flexible it follows the US Dollar, it’s approximately:
£1≈EC5.00

• Cash

There is a Bank and Cash Machine on campus which you can use to withdraw money:
Banknotes come in EC5, EC10, EC20, EC50 and EC100 denominations.

3. Medical Supplies

These are some links I found when I was searching for these things (e.g. stethoscope) when I was coming out to Grenada
• Scrubs
Scrubs are pretty popular for most of the students in the anatomy lab, I found that this company had a good price for them:

They have other supplies as well a good site to visit.

• Diagnostic Equipment
http://www.medscope.co.uk/ProductPages/Products/Kit_002.htm

4. Accommodation

• Halls of Residence

The on campus university halls of residence are shared room for two people with kitchen area and bathroom(shower only).

Internet is currently being installed in rooms in the dorms and is now complete in superdorms 1-3, you will need to pack an ethernet cable to be able to use it.
However it is available in the corridors and in the study room. On the island in general 240v is standard with UK plugs as long as you pack a few surge protectors to protect your electrical equipment.

5. On Island

• Customs

Tax is chargeable on various things but mostly they look for laptops. If you have a receipt tax is based on this if not the customs officer will decide the value of your computer. The rate is 10% and the payment is one of as long as you keep a copy of the payment receipt with you each time you travel.

• Register at the British High Comission in Grand Anse

I believe they are open between 10am and 1pm so you will want to try and get there before you start classes. Don't forget to bring your passport. Registration lasts for the entire time you spend on the island you just have to go let thm know when you leave at the end of term 4

• Call Home

The first of many times. Some people do use their mobiles to do this on a regular basis. Most people get headsets and use skype to call home for free. When it works the sound on skype can be clearer than the mobile it does however get congested at times. Grenada is in time zone GMT -4 and does not observe daylight savings time, the time in Grenada does not change. That means during British summer time, Grenada is five hours behind and at all other times is four hours behind.

To Call home:
01144- then the number you are calling without the first 0

To Call Grenada:
001473-then the number you are calling

• Mobile Phone

Two networks: Digicel and Cable & Wireless. It’s worth bringing an unlocked mobile that you like. During the first weeks of term both networks will be selling SIM cards which come with a small amount of credit for about EC30 with EC10 calling credit. They do also have deals on a new phone if you don’t have easy access to an unlocked mobile phone. You can get top up credit in multiples of EC5 on Campus at the student centre.

• Food

In the supermarkets (two of the university run busses go to the supermarket) the majority of the food is imported. However as the prices that things are based on is in US Dollars. Generally food costs about the same as it would in the UK. As things are imported they are not always in stock, thus most people buy the food they like in bulk when it is in stock (e.g. I buy fresh milk and then freeze it ). Again the selection is not what you would find at home.

Vegetables and Fish are available in the market in St. George's town, if you find time to go and buy there. I usually find my self just going to the supermarket

On campus there are 3 restaurants which vary in popularity depending on what you like to eat and if you mostly cook for yourself.

Off campus restaurants see my Review.

6. Did you find this helpful?

• If you have any questions please put them in the comments portion of this post.

• If this was helpful I would be grateful if you could click on my adsense ad at the top of the page

Long Time No Blog

2006-07-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I last blogged. Since then I imagine the majority of you that both read this and know me have seen me. For those of you who haven't, I have been well and in good spirits. Of course people keep saying what with the relatively high temperatures we've been having that at least I must be used to it, then I have to tell them that we have a nice cooling sea breeze and the humidity is nowhere near as high.
I've been busy working, going to a friends wedding, seeing people I haven't seen in a long time, looking for flights back to the island (I will never know why the prices are so high for summer travel when this is the off peak season for the caribbean), buying stuff I will need for this upcoming term. Then in between relaxing, it's been nice to just enjoy a few simple home comforts that you just don't get on island such as spending a day on the sofa watching tv.
Having said that I will be nice to get back into things again, that time which seemed so far away is now so close at hand.
New update soon

Raining once again

2006-05-21T08:49:00.000-04:00

For some of my more regular readers you will be pleased to know that my first new post for you involves the fact that it is once again raining in Grenada. You will be even happier to discover that it is not a quick shower but persistent rain the likes of which we haven't really seen much of around since we first arrived in early January. I will be leaving the island very soon for a few months off before continuing my studies in august. I know at many times I made threats to send out emails which I may or may not have had time to do, don't be surprised if you get a message asking why it's been so long since you have been in touch.

Ben and Jerry's FREE Cone day...

2006-04-11T23:25:00.000-04:00

...On the 25th of April free ice cream will be handed out at Ben and Jerry's Scoop shops. Check their site if you don't know where your nearest one is. We are talking about free ice cream here!

Time Zones

2006-03-27T01:22:00.000-04:00

Our time in Grenada doesn't change we are still at GMT-4 which means now that clocks have changed in the UK we are 5 hours behind. I know I have been out here for several months but the addition of this one hour seems to have made a disproportionate increase in how I percive the time difference. It also makes me think there is an increased chance that I can stay up late here and then call people in the UK before going to bed if I feel like it...I never said I would make sense late at night...
Lets see how many different time zones are represented in the readership post your timezone (give it relative to GMT if you know it). If I had the time I'd find out how you do a web poll but I have to sleep people!

The actual FACTUAL update

2006-03-22T16:13:00.000-04:00

I know I've been a bit flaky as far as the promised updates go. It makes you feel better I have been taking some time to relax now that exams are over. Overall I was happy with how midterms turned out and now I have to start looking towards finals. Any of you reading this and thinking about coming out here for a visit now would be a good time until about Easter time. But the best time would be after May 12th when I will have a lot of free time. I have been asked to point out that I've added more links to the sidebar on the right pay particular attention to those listed under things to do when you've studied too much. I think that's all for now...
...Well except to say please feel free to message me, I do respond.
N.B. Apologies to anyone who was confused by any of the medical/science related entries during the midterm period. It was just a way for me justifying taking that time away from studying for those of you who enjoyed those entries please watch this space, I might be working on a new blog...
BTW apparently this is post number 100

The update...

2006-03-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

...BEFORE THE UPDATE. This is mostly just an appology about my site being down. I didn't really notice because I haven't been online to check. I will try and put up a decent update soon. But right now I have to get going

Welcome back...

2006-03-17T13:06:00.000-04:00

...I made it through mid-terms successfully. Been busy this week and I will probably be more so next week as I start to look into things that will be happening a little further in the future. Tomorrow we are having sandblast which is a big daytime party held on the beach campus so more updates might be a little slow in coming as well.

Stay away from the ulnar nerve...

2006-03-12T22:58:00.000-04:00

...I may or may not get around to a post mid-term post for a little while if so please bear with me. Revision for Anatomy has been rather pleasing and in the main I am impressed by the ammount of material I have managed to retain. I all I can do now is make sure I get a good nights rest. The things I could tell you about the human body: the bones, the muscles, the nervous structures and the vascular structures supplying them. All building up to the structures of the body like the hand ( so simple looking hiding it's great complexity infact the majority of the muscles for control of the hand are in the forearm) and if I had the time I would tell you all about them...now if only I could make sure to put the axillary nerve in the quadrangular space I would be ok.

And then there was...

2006-03-10T14:29:00.000-04:00

...Gross Anatomy: 2 days away, 25 practical identification questions, 25 powerpoint slide ID questions and 75 written questions away from the end of midterms. Study and sitting of embryo was relatively painless and now it is all but a distant memory(even though we only sat the paper 20 or so mins ago).

Two down two to go...

2006-03-08T18:11:00.000-04:00

... got histology under my belt now, was happy enough with it. Now the road towards embryology and then anatomy begins

Nothing says: 'Goodluck in your histo exam today' like...

2006-03-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

... waking to the gentle sounds of powerdrills and hammering. I wasn't really too surprised, I expected the construction sounds to return at some point. Anyway really can't stay and chat have things to do. I might post later today.

Lower Glucose...

2006-03-08T01:48:00.000-04:00

...you guys should have seen this coming the ads appearing on my site seem to have changed a little since I did my little bit on the biochem midterm. Now I'm pretty busy studying for the Histology midterm tomorrow. However one of my new ads disturbed me I haven't had a chance to read the site but they claim to make a "medicine" which just 'controls' your blood sugar. (Actually insulin together with glucagon do control blood sugar depending on receptor sensitivy) Diabetes Mellitus is one of our topics we are doing this year and we will have some lectures on it later on but as far as I know no 'cure' has been relased as of yet so caveat emptor as far a diabeticine goes(N.B. I was too busy to read the whole site so this could be the real deal and in some kind of strange coincidence only be available on the internet like most of the most needed cures of degenerative diseases, they do say something about curing the root cause of diabetes)...this is the space I'm leaving to give you a histology intro, but I'd rather get more sleep so you will have to use your imaginations: There are 4 basic tissue types: epitheial, nervous, muscle and connective tissue out of which various systems are then constructed...I know I probably shouldn't have poked the bear in this case known as advertisers, I couldn't help myself (I know someone is bound to point out this rant post is most likely to increase the number of ads for 'cures' which apppear on my blog).But please don't let that stop you clicking on the google ads at the top, I mean thatI really appriciate it when you do.

One down THREE to go...

2006-03-06T22:46:00.000-04:00

...Got through Biochem. Next one up is histology which I had already been doing some preparation for so I'm also going to be looking at embryology and anatomy before wednesday rolls around. In two saturdays from now there is going to be a big after exam party called sandblast which will be during the day at the beach so that is kind of what is keeping us going at the moment.

'twas the weekend...

2006-03-03T21:04:00.000-04:00

...before the Biochemisty midterm. I've already really given you guys a run down of how my exam load is going to be for the next almost two weeks. I'm doing as ok as to be expected right now. Well stocked up with all the essentials so I wont be working without the right supplies (as any medical student will tell you glucose is very important for erythrocytes(red blood cells) and brain cells which is why your liver is busy keeping control of your blood glucose for those two tissue Using:

Glycolysis(The conversion of Glucose through reversible and irreversible steps into Pyruvate),

Glycongenesis(The formation of Glycogen from Glucose),

Glycogenolysis(The breakdown of Glycogen in response to hormonal signaling[Glucagon] to give Glucose-1-Phospahate which can enter glycolysis in muscle or in the case of the liver be released as free glucose into the blood to increase blood glucose as required),

Gluconeogenesis(The synthesis of glucose at the net cost of energy by use of substrates extracted from the krebs cycle)

That was a pretty long diversion, well that's all the time I have right now. Thanks to everyone who has been clicking on the GOOGLE ad above it is always appriciated.

Bell Hall at night

2006-03-03T21:01:00.000-04:00

Bell Hall at night
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Well ok here is another photo for you guys. Just a little taste of some night photography I've done here. This is where we have all our first term lectures (during the day time that is). When I get my tripod I should be able to get some more dramatic shots at night.

Cloud's On the Edge

2006-03-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

Cloud's On the Edge
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

I forgot to blog this picture for you guys. I'm really getting into the cloud's when I have more time again I'm really going to try and see if I can get some of the more difficult shots in terms of cloud's.

Study, Sleep, Go to Class, Study...

2006-03-01T08:47:00.000-04:00

...Sometimes life can take on quite a rhythm. Right before exams is a pretty strange time they start to get real close and you wish they were sooner so you could get them over and done with and at the same time start to wish there was more time to prepare. I might give some updates during mid-terms themselves. But they will most likely be short one line affairs. Hope everyone is ok and that some of the links I added to the sidebar have been useful/entertaining wish I could go surfing the web for some more. But study calls and I would be best to answer

studying

2006-02-24T12:16:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard from me recently and you're wondering why I'm still trying to get more study done for mid-terms (we are about 8 days away from Biochemistry(mon 6th mar)then on weds 8th we have Histology[which has a slide identification component] then fri 10th Embryology and the following mon Anatomy practical and written[both in multiple choice format]). That's my way of saying I've been studying and that this weekend that's what I'll be doing (we have a mock antomy practical this sat and mock histology one this coming monday). Just because I don't have time to write emails to all of you doesn't mean I don't have time to read them. Keep in touch all I want to know how it's going.

Landwards

2006-02-23T10:42:00.000-04:00

Landwards
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Food Heat Seal Machines...

2006-02-22T20:41:00.000-04:00

...I was just going to let it slide. But Google adsense is quite possibly one of the strangest forms of advertising. What I write in this blog is converted to keywords and any advertiser who's keywords match what is on my site and who is willing to pay the most to advertise is given placement in that little box above my blog. So I say that we all post to comments the more interesting one's that we see. I've started you off. By the way if your looking for well made good value scrubs in the visit medave link

Mid-Week update

2006-02-22T06:42:00.000-04:00

The update is mostly that I am still ok. Doing my best to stick to my plan in terms of study and resting. The sun did come out the other day and the weather has improved again and is back in terms of how it was when we arrived. After all this time I have begun to notice Coconut trees here on campus some shorter ones are by the black sand beach( they don't have ripe friut) and some Taller ones closer to me( with ripe fruit which are essentially unreachable without some kind of aide). I suppose my new objective is to be enjoying some fresh coconut by the end of the term( don't expect regular updates. But I'll let you know). As an aside the water that escapes when you open a coconut is perfectly sterile and high in electrolytes and has been used in short term intravenous treatment of a patient( the take home message is if you are dehydrated some coconut water will take care of you well). That's all I have for you right now, probably more on Friday, Thursday if you're lucky!

The dry season...

2006-02-20T09:25:00.000-04:00

...revisited. I know most of you are suffering under really cold temperatures [-17ºC(32ºF), is the lowest of anyone I've been in touch with recently] so mentioning the prolonged rain we are having might seem a little insignificant. We are not talking tropical showers anymore there must be some kind of weather system from across the Atlantic or coming up from South America, we just had persistent rain for about an hour and a half. I would look it up but I really don't have the time. I just hope we see the Sun today although it's not looking too promising right now. Otherwise things around here are pretty normal just gearing up for a good solid week of work.

"The toothbrush"

2006-02-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

"The toothbrush"
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

As promised here is a photo of the item. As we have no more leads we have now disposed of it.

Two weeks and a weekend...

2006-02-17T14:02:00.000-04:00

...away from Midterms. Next week and this weekend are going to be my main study points for midterms. That means I probably won't be putting up many updates. Except the usual sort of three line posts like: I'm ok, the weather is back to being nice again, been doing some well directed studying. I am still making the 6am, though today I feel rather tired. Looking slightly further to the future my Anatomy lab days and time will switch after midterms from being at 8am on Fridays to 10am on Tuesdays.

Dear site users...

2006-02-17T07:41:00.000-04:00

... I just want to make a small request of you. If you've enjoyed the information, the pictures or you are just generally obliged to do so by being a close friend of mine. Could you please click on the google ads in the top bar above my most recent post once in a while, that would help me out.

Shameless request over!

Water, Water Everywhere

2006-02-16T06:27:00.000-04:00

Well it's looking like a cold wet day so far which is unusual for here. Rained last night and this morning we've yet to see the sun. Feels like being in England a little.

Toothbrush: Update

2006-02-15T19:40:00.000-04:00

I know that you've all been waiting for an update and I would have given one if I had one. We have had no leads or suspicious activity in our room and we are thinking of 'disposing' of the 'evidence' as it is unpleasent to have it hanging around. I will take a photo and post it to this blog before it is disposed of. Other than that I don't really have much else to report for now.

Today was the day we...

2006-02-13T16:12:00.000-04:00

...the unified quiz is over and done with now. 25 questions on each subject so 100 in total over 2 and a half hours. Now we look towards midterms which a only about 3 weeks away. Think the updates will take a bit of a hit as we get closer to those dates.

Grand Anse Beach Panorama

2006-02-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

Grand Anse Beach Panorama
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

The last panorama was so popular that I took this one which is trying to show perspective.

Grand Anse Beach

2006-02-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

Grand Anse Beach
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

I took some time off yesterday to relax by walking along the length of this beach

Construction Update

2006-02-13T06:15:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I have been lucky and that aside from the scaffolding being put outside our window my sleep and or study has not been disrupted as of yet and we have the exam today so it won't be such a major concern for now. Unless they decide to stay another 3 weeks until midterms.

Morning

2006-02-13T06:12:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. Just following my usual morning routine for today so I was up at 6am and I'll be in the gym by 06:30 then start doing the things I have to do today. I will try to put in a post exam update as well.

Construction...

2006-02-11T13:47:00.000-04:00

...I don't know what they are doing but they have decided to move the scaffolding and general noise of construction outside of our room. Just in time to disrupt any in room studying or early morning sleep my roomate or I might have had in mind before our exams. For me I don't like to be inside all day so I usually take the chance to go study somewhere a bit nicer

You can all text me for free

2006-02-10T18:22:00.000-04:00

Hi all, you can all text me for free by sending an email to:
473*******@digitextgd.com
The stars are the rest of my mobile number which I already sent you.
Send me messages, no excuses now, don't forget to say who it's from!

Question from a prospective student.....

2006-02-10T06:50:00.000-04:00

.....Hey Super2,How is the work load so far and is adjusting to life down there hard?

First I just want to say that I decided to answer this question on here because the answer might be helpful to someone else as well.

I think I will answer the second part first: I am fininding life down here wonderful I love the change of pace, being able to wake up in the morning and see the blue of the sea, having classes just a short walk up the hill, having the gym even closer, Pretty much knowing what the weather will be like without having to think about it, the opportunity to meet so many new and diverse people. I could go on but I think you get the idea.
However what I want to say is there are things I've missed and are missing these will be different to other people just the same as my degree to tolerate them. I miss my friend and family. I miss not having internet in my room so I either have to sit in the hallway with mosquitoes(they don't have malaria, they just leave lots of bites) or go up to the computer room which they keep uncomfortably cold. I miss not knowing what will be in the supermarket before you get there( one of the lessons I learnt from reading other peoples postings on the web is if you see something you want at the supermarket you better get it now! It might not be there tomorrow). Again I could go on but for me I see these as temporary things that will be behind me soon enough and that it's better for me to focus on what is around me here.

My Answer to the first part might seem a bit lacking. To be perfectly honest I think it's a pretty hard question to answer so I might just duck under it for a bit but I will give you some links given to us in study skills sessions we've had which might be helpful. I think the key to your question is really about knowing how you learn best and then making sure that you are taking advantage of the learning resources which are available. Here are the learning styles descriptions :

Learning Styles Descriptions

and 44 page online quiz if you want to try and see where you fall:

Learning Styles Quiz

I want to finish by saying they don't just sign you up, give you books, give you lectures and then just tell you to get on with it. For the most part there is alot more support and guidance out there if you look for it. There is a department of educational services which arranges for students in the term above to teach review classes in the four disciplines also Anatomy and Histology who run labs keep them open and accessible on non lab days and weekends for you to go in and study they are also staffed for most of this open study time. I could go on and probably will if more questions turn up. Right know I have to go get reay for anatomy lab.

I hope this is useful, let me know.

Another favorite of mine

2006-02-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

Another favorite of mine
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Unified Quiz

2006-02-08T12:35:00.000-04:00

Basically after a months worth of classes here they give you a composite exam on Histology, Embryology, Biochemistry and Anatomy. It is not worth a huge part of your overall grade but is more of an indicator of how you are performing in terms of getting to grips with the subjects. For us this exam will be on Monday 13th Feb. In reality that doesn't really make this week any different to any other. We have new material to try and get to grips with and at the same time compare and integrate with what we have learnt already. The exam is a bit one sided as some of our more major exams as we go through will also have visual as well as written components which is important to remember. I will let you know how things are going on that front. Today is my biochem day so I will have to go spend sometime with that

Just Click on the Pictures

2006-02-07T21:38:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if you guys are aware that you can get a bigger version of any of my pictures by clicking on them

General campus view

2006-02-07T21:18:00.000-04:00

General campus view
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

This is your last one for today

SGU end of land

2006-02-07T21:17:00.000-04:00

SGU end of land
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

I tried to make a Panorama. The colour of the different photos was a bit off. You can see some of the different university buildings

End of the land

2006-02-07T21:15:00.001-04:00

End of the land
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Think this one is kind of self explanatory

Water Scene

2006-02-07T21:15:00.000-04:00

Water Scene
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Taken out and about today

Scene from SD2

2006-02-07T21:14:00.000-04:00

Scene from SD2
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Scene from outside our dorm

My Day Off

2006-02-07T21:09:00.000-04:00

I started late. I think I was about around 8am then I went to the gym. I went looking for my friend who wanted some help. I couldn't find my friend so I went out and took some more shots around campus. Otherwise I made time to do some studying, for embryology today and for relaxation I watched some sitcoms. That's pretty much it. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Rest is important too

2006-02-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

Haven't really been to the gym in the last few days. I've really just been resting. It's been nice to just slow things down a little and have a more regular pace for a few days. I'm sure to be back into my routine on monday though. I think at the moment I am finding it most easy to interface with self test questions than to just blindly read out of the textbook

The case of the missing post

2006-02-05T08:13:00.000-04:00

I know that I put a post the otherday which was a small update to the toothbush story. First of all I was wrong about the name of the dentist: Harvey Miller. The owner of the toothbrush has not returned to the room as far as we can tell. Nothing else has happended so far. We are safe and well.

Third week update

2006-02-03T12:36:00.000-04:00

Okay so today is the end of our third week of classes, in other words we have been in Grenada for almost 4 weeks. I don't really have an update about the owner of the toothbrush found in our room. We are safe and well just a little worried as to the origin of it. I know I haven't really written any entries in the last few days. It's very easy to get absorbed into what you are doing and make little or no contact with the outside world for a while. At the moment that mostly envolves going to classes and labs and making real efforts to be active. Some of you would hardly belive the amount of time I have been spending outdoors. The weather and scenary are so pleasent and provide a much needed counterpoint to the work. Next tuesday is a national holiday which should be nice so I'm looking forward to that. I might not really get those emails I was talking about out this week (I have to do some studying). But that's no reason not to send me one. I'm trying to think of any stories that come to mind from this week. I think in that respect this week has been pretty dull. Around this place I'm sure to be meeting new people all the way until the end of study but I picked up a few more names this week. I hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves and who knows I might be able to fit in a weekend entry.

The case of the unidentified toothbrush

2006-01-31T23:21:00.000-04:00

I don't want to scare anyone but I think we might have a daytime prowler visiting our room. Today when we came back from classes we found a green toothbrush which was personalised and said Dr. Williams on it in our bathroom. The room was locked and from what we can tell nothing was taken. However it is very disturbing to think that someone has access to our room and is using it. I will give more updates as we find out information.

I guess I must have run out of material

2006-01-31T11:17:00.000-04:00

Outside of talking about the weather I think I might be out of materual for you guys. It rained pretty heavily last night. The sun is out and bright again this morning. I was up early again this morning, we had anatomy dry lab (we do group problem solving) and now I'm thinking about getting some lunch before going to todays lectures. I need to get some fresh fruit soonI didn't really get any at the supermarket which I probably should have just done.

Campus living

2006-01-29T19:27:00.000-04:00

It's pretty easy for me to forget that living on a campus is a completely new experience for me. From an everyday point of view it's not very different from being in the centre of london in that you are able to walk to the things you want. It even seems to have some perks the school also has housing on the beach and this housing is between the school and a few supermarkets. The school runs a 'free' bus along the route so getting to the supermarket and the beach is really easy. It only starts to get a bit sketchy if you want to go to the cinema (haven't found one yet. But to be honest between studying, enjoying the outside activities(going to the beach, playing basketball, looking at the stars), Going to the Gym, Spending time with friends; I hardly notice it's absence. As far as how things are looking a little further ahead we have a whole day off on the 7th of Feb and then the much talked about unified quiz on the 13th of Feb. I hope everyone is doing well and I might send off a batch of emails next week(I have to study), thats what happens when you guys wait too long to write to me! (Thanks to all those who have been in touch recently).

A week is made up of....

2006-01-29T19:21:00.000-04:00

...seven days. I really liked the whole 31 days of posts on one page but I think it must be taking a long time to load up for some people. You can always go to the archives to see the great pictures.

Has it been two weeks already.....

2006-01-28T08:03:00.000-04:00

...well two weeks of class or three weeks of being on the lsland. Three weeks that's almost a month, it flew by. I suppose I am at the point where I've pretty much settled into the pace and way that things are done around here. I know that it's a saturday but I have some classes to do today, these ones are optional courses in complementary medicine (I like to keep an open mind so I'm going to have a good listen). I'll see how energetic I feel after the sessions before deciding if I can fit in another entry.

The Dry Season

2006-01-26T07:22:00.000-04:00

Since we arrived people have been telling us that this is the dry season and that it hardly rains. Even giving the light (one to two minute) showers the benefit of the doubt. The incidences of hard persistant (longer than 10 minutes of) rain showers has been quite numerous. If I had lots of spare time I would keep a special log of it. But between friends I think I can we can say that it has been at least once every two days and sometimes as frequent as multiple times within a day with a frequency of everyother day. That's it for the weather.

Skype: My Rant and My Rave

2006-01-25T18:30:00.000-04:00

I will start by saying if you haven't used skype yet give it a try along with google earth it's one of the coolest things to hit the net since the visual web browser.

Now for my rant: The quality of phone call you get is dependent on the speed and number of users of your internet connection, which now that I'm out in halls in grenada and everyone gets of class the same time and want to hit the net means that calling during the evening is a painful but free (or very cheap) experience. This means that early morning calls can be as clear as a whistle.

Now for my rave: You can call other people who have a net connection and some kind of audio input/output device for free for as long as you can stay up and as long as your computer can stay powered(for us laptop users). Think about that you pick up that mobile and call someone in the same country as you and you get a bill at the end of the month. I make an hour call home and get the piece of mind of knowing that technology I've already paid for is saving me from long distance rates.

Right now I just got off a poorly connected call but I'm sure to be in the rave section again soon and I'm sure all of you who have heard from me over the phone are in the rave section as skype was the link that allowed us to talk to one another.

Biochemistry

2006-01-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

After having been told for the last couple of weeks that internet is available in the bell lecture theatre here I am finally logged into it. In case you are wondering we are in a break between 2 lectures and for some reason my mobile phone isn't sending text messages. I hope everything is okay for all of you ? Email me and I'll send one back might take me until the weekend.

Tempus Fugit

2006-01-25T06:21:00.000-04:00

Well here we are already in the middle of the second week of classes. I am just about to head out to the gym for this morning's exercise before getting into some books. Friday is a really packed day for me now I only have the one hour for lunch off between 8am-5pm. However the starting days of the week are free from labs and thus have a good bit of morning prep time. The title is really no joke, we have our first real exam in two weeks from now which I think I mentioned so I suppose I better go and get on with it.

Internet

2006-01-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

We don't have the internet in our rooms which means we have to sit out in the hallway or go upstairs to the study room to use the internet. I suppose it's a mixed bag it means that when you want to get work done even on the computer you have to focus. However from a communication point of view it's horrible as you have to sit out in the hall to make personal calls over skype and if you sit in the wrong place then you can make quite a feast for the little mosquitoes. Also alot of the course information is online and it's a real pain to have to leave the room to access it. Being quite a net person I was worried about not having it right there but I've been so busy I've hardly noticed.

Routine

2006-01-24T07:45:00.000-04:00

I think I am begining to find a routine. I thought hard before trying to start this post then I realised that most of the ones with text probably sound the same. Rather than this being down to a lack of originality on my part it must just be routine. Somethings you get used to: if you want to order food on campus then leave a lot of spare time, If you want to sit near the front of the lecture hall then arrive at least 30 minutes before lectures start, if you want to have a quick basketball game then try dawn, if you need something from the bank try the ones at grand anse and the all time favorite around here if you see something at the supermarket you really like then buy it in bulk you may not see it again for a long time. I have to go have my breakfast least I throw off my whole routine.

Good Morning

2006-01-23T09:33:00.000-04:00

Well last week was just the intro so this is when the real work begins. I am quite relaxed right now which is good and I have learnt alot of new stuff as well as seen alot of very familiar stuff( which is reassuring). I think it might be a while longer before I have some photo's for you guys. I was in the gym again today, I realised I haven't done any weights for so long that I will have to take it pretty slow. At least I have a rowing machine to keep me going. Even though I've been working hard so far I have been enjoying learning and I am trying to expose myself to as much as possible which is why this saturday I will be doing the complementary medicine selective. I have also been making sure to have social time and meeting lots of new people ( I used to be quite good with names until I met 300 odd people at the same time and the total number in our entering class is about 360). I have to go study now.

Time is relative

2006-01-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

In this case the blog was set up on GMT and I have just changed it to GMT-4 unfortunatley before this I was manually correcting the time so all the time preceding this post i.e before Jan 22 2006 at 3:20PM must have 4 hours added to them to give the time I intended

Day of work

2006-01-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

I was up for a 9am visit to the anatomy lab just to have a visual overview of what had been done by the other groups since we were the first to start. I then spent the last few hours in undirected learning through the anatomy textbook to try and start consolidating the material we have learnt so far so that I can start condensing it. In three weeks we have our first proper exam which is know as the unified quiz and will cover all of the scientific subjects we are studying. The tests themselves are all multiple choice and that isn't the system I am used to so I am going to make sure that I do lots of pracitice between now and the end of next week to make sure that I am not learning the skill required on the hoof( would be a good anatomy pun, just not so good for humans).

Rainbow

2006-01-21T19:11:00.000-04:00

Jan62005.jpg
Originally uploaded by Tribasic.

Hard to capture. I saw two in one day.