Tag: me

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Academics Careers / Work

Not the Good Kind of Shopping

Currently: Sitting in my Uncle’s Basement Suite (Where I am going to be living during my UBC Years) and listening to “21 Guns – Greenday”.

We all dread those summer times when those frightening commercials air on TV. Old Navy’s Back to School Clothing, Staple’s Back to School Supplies, and Best Buy’s Back to School Laptops. Those commercials just lay the foundation for the harsh reality of going back to School. (Or in my case, “Starting School”) Looking back at this summer, it has to of been one of the most expensive summers of my life. But finally, I am completely finished the “Back to School” Shopping. Here’s a very simple Doughnut Chart that I constructed using Excel to show how much I’ve spent JUST on school supplies / textbooks.

Now, let’s anaylze each of these money “suckers”.

UBC “Fan” Gear:
I thought that since I am proud to be attending UBC, that I should show it off. I already have a UBC hoodie with my nickname “Jords” (From my Chemistry Teacher) on the Hood. Now it’s time to take it to the next level. It was actually just today that I bought the Black UBC Clipboard x 2($6.50), a Blue UBC Water Bottle ($15.95), and a UBC Thunderbird’s Lanyard ($9.95). I’m ready to show off my UBC Pride.

Electronics:
Some of you MAY disagree that an iPod Classic 120GB is considered under the “School Supplies” Category, but I beg to differ. I am one of those workers who works best with my some bumpin’ tunes in the background. Therefore, if I have some tunes to listen to while I work coming from my iPod, then I work harder, and I get better grades, and life is great.

School Supplies:
I was originally planning to use my Gr. 12 Binders for school this year. (I like to be organized so I have a Binder for EVERY class) BUT, today while I was browsing through Staples, I came across a sale that I couldn’t resist. I bought those 1 inch “Durable” Binders that a lot of my friends used last year. I also bought the usual Red/Black/Blue Pens, 0.5mm Lead Pencil, Erasers, 0.5mm Lead, Highlighters, White Out, Small Clear Plastic Rulers, and Lined Paper. (SPEAKING of Lined Paper, if any of you people need some, The Staples on Campus by the McDonalds has 150 Sheets for $0.24!!!! When you walk in, look to your left/right I can’t remember exactly but their right by the entrance.)

Textbooks:
Here’s the big one. I bought all my books Brand New, just because I like new shiny things that come in clear plastic. The first day I went, I managed to get all my Books (Including Optional Stuff) except for ONE book. (The Integrated Resource Package for Chem 121). That was fixed today, for the Discount Book Store on top of the McDonalds on Campus has it! So for all you people waiting til Sept. 2nd to go back to get it at the bookstore, FRET NOT, go to the Discount Book Store and pick it up.

Here is the finished product (Note: My Integrated Resource Chem Book isn’t a part of this due to the fact that it is being held for me at the Discount Book Store)

For all you people that have finished your Back to School Shopping, Comment on your experiences! For those of you who still have some to do, HAPPY SHOPPING!

Categories
Wellness

Extraction of my Wisdom

This past Monday, I had to go through with the extraction of my wisdom teeth. My bottom two wisdom teeth were impacted (growing in sideways) and my top two wisdom teeth were rubbing against my jaw. Thus, the extraction of all four of my wisdom teeth. I went to a Dentist in Richmond, across from the Richmond General Hospital. To be honest, I don’t even remember the Dentist’s name. (Which probably isn’t a good thing) I was going to put to sleep for the extraction, but before I was given the Anesthetic, I was given a relaxation drug. This drug was the best feeling I’ve ever experienced in my life, I was so relaxed. About 5 minutes after that drug, I was put under. When I woke up, my mouth was completely frozen. The nurse that was taking care of me came in, and I felt a little nauseas. So she put a wet towel on my forehead and let me take a nap. I literally took a 10 minute nap on the surgery chair, but when I woke up, I was completely fine. They gave me my teeth to take home, and they are freakishly huge. No wonder they couldn’t fit inside my mouth, they were as big as my thumb nail. Prior to the Extraction, I did some research on what I had to do to help in the healing process. For those of you who haven’t got their wisdom teeth out and are going to, here are my tips to you:

  • Take the drugs they give you (Anti-inflammatory, Antibiotics, and T3s) with a glass of milk to aid in the digestive process
  • Eat nothing but soft foods for the first couple of days (Yogurt, Milkshakes, Soup, Pudding, Mashed Potatoes) until you feel comfortable with attempting harder foods.
  • Do not wash your mouth with any solution (including brushing your teeth) for the first 12 hours, after the first day make sure you wash your mouth with a Salt-Water Solution 5 – 6 times a day.
  • Do not use a straw or spit, this may re-open the gum and cause Dry Socket (The exposure of your jaw bone)
  • Elevate your head when sleeping for the first couple of days, to prevent excess bleeding.
  • Stay away from your parents while they are cooking your sister/brother food, you’ll hate life.
  • Apply an Ice Pack every few hours to help with the Swelling (Thanks to Eastwood for the reminder!)

For those of you that have already gotten your wisdom teeth taken out, leave a comment with your experiences!

Categories
Faculty Involvement / Leadership Recreation Uncategorized Wellness

Excitement for Science Frosh 09′

This past Friday, I registered for Science Frosh 09′. I had to register using my iPhone, due to an early shift at work the day that registration opened. I had to e-mail (from my iPhone) the Science Frosh Team to make sure my registration went through, but the Frosh team was on top of things and replied within the hour. For those of you know who are in the Faculty of Sciences and haven’t registered yet should go check it out. (The website to check out is: http://www.sciencefrosh.ca/index.php)We’re basically going to be getting together on a Sunday, and do some fun activities! There’s a 308 Student Limit, which could be already reached, but regardless, sign up and get on the Waiting List in case people drop out! The timetable for the day is:

9:00am Froshee Check-In
10:00am Opening Ceremonies
10:30am Morning activity – fun group activity
12:00pm Mentorship Lunch
1:00pm Afternoon activity – Campus / city-wide scavenger hunt
5:00pm Dinner Break / Free Time
6:15pm Load bus
6:30pm Bus departs for Downtown
8:00pm Evening activity – Dessert Boat Cruise
11:00pm End of day, bus departs to UBC (w/ one stop Downtown)

Looks like it will be a great day! I’m excited to meet new people and experience an entire day together!

On an another note: The first day of school is coming up, and I am excited to meet some people in my MUG Group. If anyone is in the MUG Group “Astatine” leave a comment!

Categories
Academics Commuting Faculty Uncategorized

The BB Adventure to UBC

Currently: Turning off my PS3 (was driving around doing stupid things in GTA4) and listening to my mom spazz that I’m going to see a movie at 10:45… apparently that is too late for a 18 year old kid to be out.

Before I dive into the tales of my adventure to UBC, let me give you some background information about the wonderful person I went with. She went to the High School of one of my cousins, and I finally met when we finally talked on Facebook Chat. We started talking and eventually arranged a shopping day (We both love to shop). We eventually found out that we were both in same Biology 121 Class  in Term 1(Bio 121 Section 122… Comment if you’re in the same class). From there, the nickname we gave each other is “Bio Buddy”, in short form “BB”.  We have pretty much the same schedule type (just different classes) and I’m glad to of met someone who will be experiencing the same hardship as moi.

Now back to our Adventure to UBC. As you all know, we had to go to the UBC Bookstore to get our UBC ID Cards. Me and my BB decided to head over together and get our ID Cards last Friday. We arranged to meet at the Broadway Skytrain Station at 11:00… but then she woke up late, so it moved to 12:00. Then, she texted me saying she’d be there at 12:30, but I was already on the Skytrain to Broadway from 22nd Street. It looked like I would be waiting for my BB. While I was waiting, something really strange happened to me. I was interviewed by a CBC Radio Interviewer, about “Critical Mass”. Critical Mass is apparantly about Biker’s who go and block roads all at once. The questions she asked were really vague, and more about breaking rules. I honestly don’t remember what I answered.

When we finally got on the 99 B-Line to UBC, we started timing how long it would take from certain spots to UBC. This is probably an innaccurate calculation due to the many variables that are more likely to occur in the morning then opposed to the afternoon. For those people who bus using the 99 B-Line from Granville Street, comment with a general idea of how long it takes to get to UBC.

When we finally got to UBC, we decided to go check out the Student Union Building… which meant a trip to the Starbucks. I got my favorite, a Tall Caramel Frappacino. Now, all you 2nd years and UBC Veterans may find this funny, but after that, we sat down and opened our UBC Map and figured out how to get to our lecture halls and the bookstore. We felt SOO lame looking at a map, for most of the day we tried to hide it. We got to the Bookstore, went through the process of getting our picture taken (I would post the picture of me on my ID, but its absolutely terrible) and then went straight to look at the Textbooks. I looked at some of the book prices, and thought to myself “I could buy four Stussy T-Shirts for the price of this book”.

For the rest of our trip, we went and looked in our lecture halls, and timed how long it would take to go from one class to another. My highest time was 8 and a half minutes to get from my Physics Lecture to my English Lecture, (walking at an above average pace) hopefully I won’t be too late for English. We started looking into our lecture halls, most of the time we were too scared to go into the buildings because the Geography, Math, and Chemistry Buildings look like medieval castles. The only one we could get a good look at was the Theatre at the Hebb Building. It was a surreal type of feeling standing and sitting in my future lecture hall. It’s going to be a fun (yet hard) year and I cannot wait to sit in that lecture hall with the 300 other students.

Hope to see you guys at UBC in 2 and a half weeks!

Categories
Wellness

Too Many Goodbyes

Currently: Watching someone set records on Deal or No Deal Canada.

This is the year in everyone’s life that is full of goodbyes. These goodbyes aren’t the typical “Hey, see you later” goodbyes you commonly say after a movie trip with your best bud. These goodbyes are the “I’m going to miss you” goodbyes you say when you aren’t going to see something/someone for a longtime, or even forever. I came into my Senior Year at High School knowing that these goodbyes await at the end, but I never would’ve imagined that they would be this hard.

Here’s a list of things I’ve had to say the “I’m going to miss you” goodbye too:

  • My High School, my second home (literally) for 6 years. (I went to my school in Gr. 7)
  • My years of very little responsibility.
  • My friends, going to school elsewhere.
  • My cousin, who went to New York for school.

All these things were hard to say goodbye too. Everyone says “It’s okay, there’s always Skype / MSN / iChat / E-mail / the phone”, but all those things aren’t close to the same. It’s also a big effort to use these various methods of Social Networking to maintain a relationship like the one you had before the “goodbye”. That effort combined with the UBC schoolwork, makes it virtually impossible. So try your best, but don’t stress over it. In reality, the things you said goodbye too aren’t likely going to return to the same way. It’s the harsh reality of life, and I felt like I had to share my revelation.

BUT! Remember for every goodbye, there’s an equally good “Hello”

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Uncategorized

New Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9

I acquired a second hand camera from my cousin today. She recently got a Digital SLR Camera as a wedding gift and offered to give me her old digital camera for a small fee of $50. I jumped on the deal and forced my mom to pay for it. (Thanks Mom) It’s a pretty old model of camera, but nevertheless I needed a camera to document some adventures for you guys. Thanks Taren for the camera! (I love my family!)

Categories
Uncategorized Wellness

First Post ~ “Quite the Selection”

Currently: Sitting at my desk at home, listening to “Best I Ever Had – Drake” and telling everyone about my acceptance onto the Blog Squad

Hello world, I am Jordan McGarry. I applied for the UBC Blog Squad within the month of July, and recieved my letter (which was actually an e-mail) of acceptance today! I’m excited to share the upcoming UBC experiences with the rest of you. Today, isn’t really a post about me (but that will come later) but I wanted my first post to be the “example blog post” that I sent in with my application. We were told to choose a topic (out of the three choices) and write an example blog post on it with a limit of 250 words. I chose to write mine about the reasoning behind my decision to attend UBC in the fall. Enjoy, and stay posted on the many upcoming posts to come!

Quite the Selection
University… which one do you pick? The list seems endless: UVIC, SFU, UofT, York, and UBC. But with all these options, how can you narrow it down to just ONE?  I’ve spent countless hours with my High School Counsellor, just looking at the possibilities for post-secondary life. Together we looked at the Pros and Cons of every University, and how it would fit into my life. From there, that list of options grew smaller and smaller, until finally… just one remained. The University of British Columbia, the school I would fight to attend with all my willpower. But why UBC you ask? It’s simple; it’s the only school for me. From the many clubs, the renowned Profs, the beautiful location, and its closeness to home… it was only right that I chose this wonderful school. But ultimately, it came down to the persuasive banter of my cousin, who already attends UBC that lead me to really want to attend. We would stay up until 2a.m. talking about all the good times that we would have if we went to the same school. We would hang out in between classes, cram for exams together, and take thousands of pictures on campus. Quite frankly, she pretty much gave me no other option, I had to attend UBC. In the end, I appreciate her convincing nature, because if I didn’t listen to a word she said, I wouldn’t be attending one of the best Universities in the world, this coming September.

Hope you enjoyed my “UBC Blog Squad” Spot winning post. Stay tuned for many more to come.

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