It just struck me that TEDx Victoria is only a few days away and I am going! I have never been to one of these conferences before, but I have watched a large majority of the TED talks that are up online. TED seems to get it right by having really interesting speakers. Talks on subjects that I am not even really interested in are good.

I am pretty excited for Derek Jacoby’s talk titled A hackerspace for biology. He sounds like a pretty interesting guy, and like myself has a strong interest in both computer science and biology. Another speaker that got my attention is Beth Campbell Duke, who is giving a talk titled School is a Waste of Time. That is something that I am starting to agree with as I am spending more and more time self-educating and less time on my actual school work.

As someone who finds lectures in school to be almost unbearable, it’s weird that I’m excited to sit in lectures for a whole day. See you on Saturday….

So, I ruptured my achilles tendon during a rugby practice last Thursday night. Thanks to Canada’s healthcare system, I had it surgically repaired the next day.

The injury was actually a neat experience that I feel the need to document. I was scrummaging on a machine similar to the one pictured below. I hit the machine a few times, and was well warmed up. After one particular hit, I felt the sensation of being kicked in the back of the leg. Upon turning around and asking my teammates who kicked me, I soon realized that I had not been kicked, and something else was going on. I tried to walk, but my heel wouldn’t come off the ground, and it felt like my knee was going to fall forward over my ankle.

On the night of the injury, my foot was plantar-flexed and put into a cast. Without an achilles tendon, my foot was permanently dorsi-flexed, and I could not feel the bottom of the cast. That was another really weird sensation. Now that my achilles has been repaired, it is reasurring to be able to put pressure on the bottom of my cast.

Here is a video demonstrating the quick diagnosis of a ruptured achilles tendon:

Here is the surgery that I just had done:

I was out for a run around Elk lake in Victoria, BC and had to stop for this photo op. The water-level is pretty high right now from the coastal spring runoff. It was lucky that I had my iPhone with me to take the shot. I took my socks and shoes off and waded out to the bench. I think it made for an awesome pic.

Check out this great grandfather’s clock that I found at Value Village. The best part about it is that the weight and pendulum are nonfunctional and purely cosmetic. It also has a great feature in that it doesn’t make any noise.

and check out the complicated mechanism…

I found this Darth Vader trick or treat bucket in the discount bin at my local zellers. I immediately thought, “Wow that would look great with a snake plant coming out of the top.” I proceeded home and transplanted one of my snake plants into the repurposed bucket. It now is a proud member of my living room.

…. because Moms would probably be good at this as well … 

I’m off to plant trees. Be back in a few months….

I just spotted the original super soaker for sale at Zellers for $19.97. I was pretty tempted to buy one right then and there, as this brings back lots of childhood memories. It looks like this updated version is pretty much unchanged from the original, except for the redesigned water reservoir.

I just handed in my last assignment of the semester, which was satisfying for only a few minutes until I realized that I have my first final exam in 3 days. My last exam is not for another 3 weeks, so April is looking like it’s going to be pretty fun.

Anyways, I have made a major change to my working environment to combat distractions, because I should not be doing anything besides consuming caffeine and studying. I have moved my computer out to the living room. I now have to walk 20 feet to get some procrastination done. Also, my comfortable office chair remains in the room where I study, and my computer is in front of a stool that is too high, rendering marathon internet sessions uncomfortable. I am hoping that this will cut down on being distracted by incoming emails and tweets, which happens all the time when my computer is 30cm away from where I work.

For those of you who don’t care for words, I have derived an equation to show this principle mathematically. Letting d = the distance between a computer and my place of study,

Anyways….it’s time to go hit the books…

[comic via The Dapperstache]