Acrobatic fun at Firefly

You could say that when Andrew and I get into something we really go whole-hog. When we took the intro to aerials in May, we loved it right away from the first class. I went so far as to ask our instructor at the end of the class when the next level would be starting up--I liked it that much. We took a stretching class in July. There were a bunch we were interested in, but being a wannabe writer and a PhD student means that we can't be out of our home every night of the week or we'll never get our work done. We also started going to the drop in sessions after the end of our intro class. We were by far the least skilled at the drop ins, but whatever, we wanted to practice the skills we'd learned so that we wouldn't be completely rusty be the start of our next class. So, when we were at one of the drop in sessions we heard about the special classes being held in September by a guest instructor. One week, 3 different classes. Which ones to take?

I think one of the reasons I love skating is the 'human powered flying' that can be achieved in jumping (I've always been a much better jumper than a spinner). Therefore, I knew right away I wanted to take the 3-night acrobatics course. The other classes sounded nifty too (Chinese pole--not stripper/pole dancing, and duo trapeze), but I wanted to do tumbling, handstands, etc. I think I send in my request to sign up about five minutes after we received the official announcement email (go smartphones with email alert). Classes were scheduled for 2 hour blocks in the evenings (M/W/F), the week of September 12th.

There were nine of us in class in total (several seemed to be signed up for the other courses as well) all with varying skill levels, although I think Andrew and I were the newest to Firefly. We worked a lot of handstands on the first day, plus back arches, and worked on assisted back walk overs. I know we also got some cartwheels in, although I don't remember what else. It was a pretty tiring class, but fun. The instructor, Chris Taylor, was very good. He teaches in Toronto, and is also a circus performer. He was very positive and energetic and was good at breaking things down so we could understand  how to do (or attempt) to do the moves. Our second and third days were in fact, quite similar, although we got to go in a harness and attempt back tucks.

By the third day I was tired.We'd been physicially active every day of the week and Andrew's stomach seemed to be quite unsettled, causing him to miss half of the class. A couple of people got to try back tucks without the harness (I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't one of them, but again, I was pretty tired by that point anyway). Andrew and I got shown a new balance/lift move (we had done a couple on the second day when we were just practicing the various things we'd been taught), but again, my arms were really tired and I couldn't get myself into the right position to achieve the lift. We've heard that Chris might be back in the winter, so we'll almost definitely sign up for more classes and hopefully I can work on my handstands and back arches until then.

Ciao,

Andrea

Kaleido Festival: free music and a good time

This weekend we (Andrew and I) and a friend of ours went to the Kaleido Festival, an outdoor street festival held on 118th Ave. It was our friend who suggested it, she wanted to go see the closing band Dehli 2 Dublin and was rounding up friends to attend. Since I'm pretty much always up for live music (despite having never really heard the band--but had heard of) we decided to go. Thankfully the good weather we've been having continued into Saturday so we only needed a comfortable hoodie to keep us warm as the sun went down (apparently last year was rather cold and everyone huddled around the bonfire). A large stage was set up in what I think was a parking area, with several rows of bleachers arrange out in front.

We got there a little after 6:00 pm and caught the tail end of Joel Lavoie's performance. He's an acoustic guitarist in, what I'd be inclined to say is, a soft rock style. I certainly found it easy listening and enjoyed the performance. At this point there weren't a lot of people around, but the crowd was appreciative with a few people even getting up to dance. An 'in between act' filled in a few moments between Lavoie and the next act, the Secretaries. I forget what they were called, but they were meant to be a sort of incognito performance where one guy pretended to be a sound check guy, while a group member sitting in the audience started yelling at him for taking to long and holding up the show. It turned out there were maybe a dozen or so group members sitting in the audience and they all got up and joined in a rap about how everyone thinks they're a sound technician. It was funny, but went on a trifle long for my taste.

Although I'd never heard of the Secretaries, I rather enjoyed them (and as it turned out the parents of the lead singer were sitting in front of us). They were accompanied by the Brass Holes (2 trumpets and a tuba) who also turned out to be their back up dancers--it was quite hilarious. They mostly just sort of swayed back and forth 'Diana Ross and the Supremes'-style, but it was made the more amusing because it was three guys. They also occasionally played tambourine. The bass player and turned out to be Colleen Brown. I've never seen Colleen Brown before, but I'd certainly heard her played on the CBC. As with most music I listen to, I have no idea what the musicians actually look like. I tend to go to a lot of classical concerts, not rock/folk/jazz whatever concerts, so most of my favourite musicians could walk by me on the street and I'd have no idea. That's probably still the case for Colleen, even though I enjoyed her performance and valiant effort to continue singing even after swallowing a bug.

The follow act wasn't my favourite. It was some sort of fusion jazz. At one point Andrew and I got up and checked out a nearby bakery which turned out to be delicious (I got a slice of cheese cake, Andrew an eclaire). We did dance a bit during this performance since they were turning out good beats. The warm-up before Delhi-2-Dublin was a local Japanese-style drumming group called Kita No Taiko. As it turns out, one of the drummers is also a Firefly student and is taking a 3-night acrobatics course with us. She explained that the show as a bit weird for them, as they weren't expecting to be preforming outside, and then were required to preform on the space in front of the stage rather than on the stage (so that Delhi-2-Dublin could set up). We enjoyed their show anyway. The drumming is quite energetic with lots of dancing around, switching drums and deadly precision.

The last act was Delhi-2-Dublin and by this time the concert area was packed. As the deejay introduced them, people were filling the aisle to get into the dance area at the front then flooded the space when the band came on. Delhi-2-Dublin is a Vancouver based band, made up of 5 members (4 guys, 1 girl), performing on a range of instruments that include guitar, sitar, violin/fiddle, 2 types of ethnic drums (the names I've forgotten), one guy handles sound mixing, and one guy does the lead singing. As you might guess, they have an eclectic sound that probably most profoundly borrows from Celtic and Indian music. They were super fun and super energetic. I'd wanted to dance, but when I saw the crowd go for the dance floor I was momentarily disappointed. This didn't last long since pretty much everyone in the rows in front of us also stood up to dance--problem solved. The played for seventy-five minutes pretty much none stop. There were a couple of slower songs in the middle where not all the band was required so the unused members slipped off for a quick break.

All-in-all a good show, and a pretty good night.

Ciao,

Andrea

Juan de Fuca trail: hiking the west coast of Vancouver Island

From August 24th to 27th, Andrew and I traversed the Juan de Fuca trail, a 47-kilometre hike along the west coast of Vancouver Island. The trail starts at China Beach (about an hour's drive from Victoria) and ends at Botanical Beach (2.5 km from Port Renfrew). There are a number of camping sites along the way, several on beaches, and you can more-or-less evenly stretch out your hike over several days in order to complete the trail. If you're not the hiking-camping sort, you can also just visit one of the sites (although you'll still have to do some marginal amount of hiking to get there), park your stuff there and go out for short day trips, or just hang out on the beach. We opted to take 4 days, and 3 nights, which I think was about right, although Andrew keeps saying it would have been better over 5 days, but I disagree. I'm generally not the sit around and do nothing type, so I think covering shorter distances each day would have made for boring afternoons (we have to carry everything we take with us, so it's not like we could have loaded up on books and games).

Anyways...the hike. When we got back people asked if we enjoyed the hike, or if we had a good time--I find this a difficult question to answer. Was the scenery beautiful? Yes. Was it awesome to camp by the ocean? Yes. Did we run into any aggressive wild life like bears or cougars? No. Did we have to climb enormous hills, just to go back down them and repeat 4-5 times in one day? Yes. Did we slog through mud (ankle deep at times)? Yes. Did I enjoy all aspects of this? No, not exactly, but would I do it again? Yes, without a doubt. I want to do the 75-km West Coast Trail next year, where Parks Canada requires you to take an 1.5 hour orientation session before you can enter the trail. So why, if I can't say I exactly enjoyed myself would I want to do something like this again? Because, as I repeated to myself several times while hiking up and down those hills: I choose to do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard (yes, that's what JFK said about getting to the moon). Also, it appeals to my sense of adventure.

We spent the morning of the 24th running around picking up things we still needed, such as a stove (which we had to leave at the Edmonton Airport--see lesson learned No. 1), pants and gaiters for Andrew, bear spray, etc. Then we also decided to pick up new poi (again, see lesson No. 1), which meant we didn't get to the China Beach parking lot until almost 2:00 pm. Thankfully, the beginning part of the trail isn't too challenging, so we were able to reach our first campsite by around 5:30 pm. We set up our tent, pulled out our food and settled in for the night. There's tons of drift wood on the beaches, which make for reasonably comfy chairs--a good thing, since there weren't any actual picnic tables (which there were on the Jasper Skyline). We had to eat off our knees, but we didn't mind since dinner was delicious (quinoa salad, with dried fruit and bacon). We tried to get a campfire going as well, but the wood was too damp and even dousing it with a little kerosene didn't result in a steady blaze.

Me, right at the beginning of the trail, the first suspension bridge we approached.

Also near the beginning of the trail, one of the first log-steps/ladders that we encountered.

An example of some of the beautiful scenery we viewed on the first day of our hike.

Seagulls hanging out at Chin Beach, the first site we stayed at, approximately 9 km into the hike.

We had great weather for pretty much the entire hike. It was misty most mornings, as can be seen below, but cleared everyday for the afternoon. Thankfully, most of the trail winds through the forest so we were never fully exposed to the sun; therefore I never needed sunscreen, and we also rarely needed bug spray--which was kind of nice. During the second day we covered the most difficult territory. At least four or five major climbs (I don't know the altitude gained, but it was pretty significant) were trekked and it took us 5 hours to complete 12 km. When we got to the beach at 3:00 pm we were worn out. Plus, that day my pack was really bothering me. I felt bad about taking less than Andrew (I get all the food, but he gets the tent, the cookware and many other bits and pieces) and had taken a couple of extra pieces of equipment leaving my shoulders and hips quite sore.

At Bear Beach (21 km into the trail) we soaked our feet in the icy water of the Pacific--it felt great despite the cold. We set up at an awesome site where the tent was enclosed with tree which was connected by a short path to a sort of 'living room' set up with large pieces of driftwood centred around a fire pit. We sat on the logs for almost an hour just watching the waves before we made dinner. This night we were easily able to get a fire going, a relief since it was colder than our first. It also got very misty and from our spot we couldn't quite tell if it was raining or just really foggy as we were sitting under tree cover. We ended up going to bed early. It was wet-ish, and cool, and we decided we were going to try for a longer hike on our third day and would therefore need to get up earlier.

The morning of our second day, before we'd managed to get packed up on Chin Beach.

An example of the scenery on the second day. There were lots of ups and downs this day.

The ocean at our second stop, Bear Beach, 21 km into the trail.

Our third day was a bit hectic. We'd planned to hike 12 km to the Little Kutchie campsite at the 33 km mark, which would have left us 14 km on our last day, plus a 2.5 km trek into Port Renfrew where we would catch a shuttle back to our car. Andrew was worried that we'd have to push too hard to make the 5:00 pm pick up time (the bus only ran once a day), so we agreed to carry on to Payzant Creek located at the 40 km mark. On the blessing side, once we got passed Sombrio Beach, the terrain eased out--a bit. Actually there's a lengthy section before the beach (probably at least a kilometre long) where the path is completely flat. It looked like it might have been some kind of access road. Andrew and I were able to walk side-by-side; however, after that short oasis, the ups and downs returned, although there were fewer and not as drastic, and it got really muddy. Thankfully I opted to wear my gaiters that morning (due to the weird mist the night before), so it helped keep my pant legs clean and dry.

I was exhausted by the time we reach Payzant. The last 3 km (we had a break at 37 km, unfortunately the spot was only a parking lot, not a campsite) were a blurr and it was pretty much just determination that kept me going. It took us 8 hours to cover 19 km, reaching our destination around 6:00 pm. The mud probably slowed us down a bit (pausing to look for ways around, instead of through it) and it left my feet really damp and unpleasant by the time we reached our site. I basically had the start of 'trench foot' developing and would have been in serious trouble if I hadn't been able to let my skin air-dry. Fortunately it was fairly warm at the forest campsite, so I was able to sit and make dinner without wearing socks, which helped immensely. My feet were more-or-less okay (aside from a bit of blistering on my heels) the next morning.

Sun shining through the trees on the morning of our third day.

One of the log bridges we crossed. This one had no hand rail, and hadn't been evened out on top.

The really big suspension bridge we crossed leading up to Sombrio Beach on our third day.

Another example of the great scenery to be had along the trail.

The Payzant Creek, the location of our third and final campsite 40 km into the hike.

We took our time pulling ourselves together on our last morning. We had a mere 7 km to get to Botanical Beach, the end of the trail, and another 2.5 km to Port Renfrew--the whole point of slogging through the mud the day before. I think by the time we'd had breakfast, cleaned up, and packed up, it was 9:30 am. This section of the trail was considered the easiest, which was a relief, although still quite muddy. We crossed a number of hikers in the opposite direction. Some out for just day hikes, some starting the full trail. A little after noon we reached Botanical Beach, by which point the sun was coming out. We sat on a log and had lunch--I had to put on sunscreen for the first time the entire hike (as it was the first time I actually sat in the sun)--and dipped out toes in the ocean again. Some time after 1:00 pm we agreed we ought to carry on and head into Port Renfrew.

The final 2.5 km was a breeze--along a paved road with only a couple of gentle hills. We probably could have attempted to hitchhike, but I figured we could manage the last bit on our own. It only took us 40 minutes to reach the town (village?), so we probably could have stuck to our original plans after all. We took advantage of our extra time before the shuttle arrived to relax at the Port Renfrew Hotel Pub. It was the prefect treat after 4 days of eating off our knees out of doors. The beer was good and cold, while the food was hot and tasty. We demolished a giant plate of nachos, then we each had a entree as well. We had plenty of time to hit the washroom, pay, and get to the shuttle pick up on time.

The scenery at Tom Baird Creek, just a km or two away from Botanical Beach. We sat and had a quick rejuvenating break before finishing off the trail.

Me and Andrew at Botanical Beach. We sat for an hour, had lunch, stuck our feet in the Ocean, relaxed before finishing the last km of the trail.

The ocean at Botanical Beach.

The pub at Port Renfew. Delicious!

Notes about the Juan de Fuca Trail:

1) There are covered outhouses at all of the campsites, which include toilet paper.

2) There are also food cashes (heavy metal boxes with giant clips to keep them closed) at every campsite, usually near the outhouse.

3) There are creeks near every campsite, so there's a source of water (once filtered) for drinking/cooking.

4) It was extremely muddy when we were there, so gaiters are a good idea.

Lessons learned:

1) Airlines do not permit camp stoves even as checked luggage, even if you're not packing fuel. We had to purchase a new stove at the MEC in Victoria.

2) 19 km really is too much to hike in one day (for us at least) while carrying packs and going over hilly, muddy terrain. We ran into this problem last year as well, but the lesson clearly didn't stick.

3) Camel packs are way better for hydration than water bottles. You don't have to stop and unscrew a lid to drink, encouraging more water intake; however, when you're sweating rivers, it's hard to keep properly hydrated no matter what.

4) I really shouldn't feel bad about carrying less than Andrew. At least one of the figures I've seen suggests that women should only be carrying about a quarter of their body weight, and men a third. Andrew weights more than me, and is a man, therefore he should carry more.

Ciao,

Andrea

Balcony garden update

Time again for another tour through our balcony garden. Lots of green things are sprouting (or perhaps more accurately described--growing wild...) in every container. We've been picking away at a few of the crops (like the parsley, strawberries [neither shown here]) and others are getting close. We're also making mental notes of what to include (and exclude) in our garden plans for next year.

Potatoes! The stalks are huge. We've had to prop them up they're so big (and they've been bent over in the wind). Shall I mention again how hopefull I am to have a decent crop of purple potatoes? As long as the aphids Andrew's found on the leaves don't eat up these delicious tubers before we do.

Carrots. We aren't going to continue with our carrot attempts next year. Sure, we have some stalks popping up, but they're taking a lot longer to mature than what they should and there's only about a dozen sprouts in each tub. We might replace the carrots with more potatoes, or more zucchini.

Tomatoes! No problem here. We have tons of tomatoes ripening on both these plants plus more on the two upside down, 'whimpy' tomato hangers. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these--maybe make a tomato-pepper spaghetti sauce?

Tomatoes in varying of states of ripeness. I wish they could all ripen at once so I could do a big harvest and make something substantial. Oh well.

Blooms on the beans, or are they peas? I'm not sure. It's one or the other. They're rather pretty at any rate, but no vegetables spotted on this plant as of yet.

Blooms on the other bean (I'm fairly certain about this one) plant. It's not as pretty as the purple flowers, but I've already pulled a few yellow beans off. Since my harvest was all of five beans I just chopped them up and threw them in a salad.

A full-view of the peas and beans climbing up their trellises. Some of the leaves are getting a little sun burnt as you can see, but otherwise they're growing quite happily.

Our over ridden red onion box. So here's a problem, we don't know when we're suppose to harvest the onions. The shoots are huge and drooping all over place, but how much is actually growing below the surface? I have no idea, I guess we'll leave them for now. More rouge peppers are popping up here (in the back is the mini-jungle of hanging tomatoes).

The blooms on the red onions.

Peppers. We have tons of these growing--beside the ones that seem to want to crop up spontaneously on their own (again, a product of using composted soil). If they reach full size we'll have plenty to roast up with the tomatoes into something outrageously delicious.

And then there's the red lettuce that decided to sprout in the pepper box--not that we put it there on purpose. It's grown fantastically, better then the lettuce we intentionally planted and seems to be a good companion plant for the peppers. We've been picking it periodically and adding it into our salads.

Banana peppers. We picked these up on a whim when we went to the Kuhlmann's Greenhouse and Nursery in the spring--they should probably be picked soon.

Rhubarb! I'm still occasionally picking stalks and adding them to my stash in my freezer. One day I will bake them into something fantastic, maybe muffins? I definitely won't have enough to do jam.

Ciao,

Andrea

Book review: two very different young adult novels

I don't often review books on my blog, but I thought during the summer lull I might take on the task. The two books I plan to focus on are both young adult (YA) novels, the main characters are both 16 years old, and I read them both on my trip to Pittsburgh, but that's where the similarities end. I was also originally made aware of both of these books through two of my favourite blogs, but again these blogs are very different.

First, Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the witty webmistresses of www.gofugyourself.com, which is of course where I heard about their book. Spoiled, is a fun and flirty read, which zips by without any trouble whatsoever. The tone of the book is reminiscent of the style of their blog, right down to their comments on fashions, celebrities and celebrity life. I fear the referencing to clothing, designers, actors and actresses might date the book quickly, but it could also serve as an amusing snap shot into popular culture of the 2010's. The plot is somewhat standard in it's course: two half-sisters brought together for the first time after the death of Molly's (the common-place mid-west born sister) mother. Brook (the LA glamour-girl sister) takes none-to-kind to having her territory invaded and a war of wits ensues.

Even if the storyline isn't original, it's no reason not to enjoy the book. The story is told primary from Molly's perspective (although some chapters are in Brook's PoV) and I immediately found her to be a smart, likable character. It was easy to sympathize with her over her difficulty of fitting in with the high-society of her new school and I couldn't help but root for the cute, understanding boy who popped up to make things a little more bearable for her. Also, the girls' father, Brick Berlin, is a riot. He's constantly on the phone with some agent or producer, struck with absurd movie ideas at random, and makes air-headed attempts at providing words of wisdom to his two daughters. The book doesn't, in fact, end all roses, which I kind of prefer, and it leaves things open for the sequel, Messy.

Since I completed three-quarter of Spoiled on the plane, then finished it the first night in Pittsburgh, I needed something different to read on the way home. When I wandered into the Hudsons in the Pittsburgh Airport I didn't have a particular title in mind, but when I saw Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children I decided to pick it up based on the recommendation of Jenn from www.epbot.com (she also writes Cake Wrecks). Actually, I had a short debate between Miss Peregrine's and the first novel in the Hunger Games series, both sounded intriguing, but after reading the first page of each I went with Miss Peregrine's since it seemed to have some link to WWII.

Miss Peregrine's is a considerably different read from Spoiled. The protagonist is a boy, it's more in the speculative fiction/fantasy realm and has a considerably more dark and mysterious tone. The story is about Jacob, a present day boy, born to a wealthy family, who doesn't quite fit in. He has a grandfather who used to tell him fantastical stories about his 'gifted' friends until eventually Jacob (primarily due to growing up) stops believing in them. As the grandfather gets older, he grows paranoid and seemingly delusional--only the monsters he sees are real, and one of them kills him right in front of Jacob. As you might imagine, this event spirals Jacob into a desparate situation where he winds up in therapy and eventually manages to convince his parents he needs to go to the island where his grandfather took shelter during the war.

The island is an obscure little place off the coast of Wales, I think, (I don't remember for sure), it's tiny, there's only one phone on the whole island, and one rentable room too. I can't go into many more details without spoiling the story, but Jacob succeeds in finding the hiding place of his grandfather's 'gifted' friend, still the same age as in the snapshots he was shown as a boy. I liked the story, there were a couple of good twists, and a hanging ending, which definitely indicates another book to come. The 'gifted' friends were an interesting concept, although there were so many I had trouble keeping track of who was who outside the main three or four. Each new character was introduced with a vintage photo, an interesting idea, but after a while I found it redundant to read, 'and Miss Peregrine had a photo...' (or whatever the line was). I also found the swearing a little much for my preference in a YA novel, but maybe that's my own prudishness coming out.

At any rate, I would recommend both of these books, although not necessarily to the same reader--unless like me you like a wide range of genres in your reading material. Spoiled is just plain fun, whereas Miss Peregrine's has a more unique idea behind it.

Ciao,

Andrea

Wetaskiwin, where the cars cost less

I understand from my native Albertan friends that this used to be a common jingle heard on television. Andrew and I didn't, however, go to Wetaskiwin to buy a car, although we did go there to look at them. Early on in the week, when the weather for the weekend looked less chancy I'd suggested to Andrew that we should go tubing on the Pembina River. However, as the week drew to a close, the predicted weather indicated rain and cooler temperatures so we had to re-vamp our plans. Instead we decided to go the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, about an hour's drive south of Edmonton. We'd heard from a few people that it was a good museum and since our time in Alberta is counting down, we thought it was about time to check it out.

The Reynolds Museum is a museum of old cars, farm equipment, and aeroplanes. We'd considered also going to the Alberta Art Gallery (as I still haven't been) and to the Royal Alberta Museum (which Andrew hasn't been too). What clinched the decision for us was that the Reynolds had a feature display of 1920's luxury cars. Both Andrew and I appreciate the aesthetic of old cars and Andrew especially finds the earlier cars appealing. I actually grew up around antique vehicles to some extent (unfortunately I didn't absorb much in the way of mechanical know-how) as my neighbour stored and restored them in his barn (the barn only housed vehicles, neither they nor we lived on a farm). I have a clear memory of riding around in the rumble seat of their 1932 (I think that was the year) Oldsmobile. Also, my father eventually bought a 1968 Dodge Monaco, which I...er...fondly (?) referred to as the beast (it's giant, it barely fit in my parents garage at the time, and it's pea green).

The morning started out grey and windy, although we saw no rain, so were quite happy to be spending our day in doors. I ended up turning off of Highway 2 earlier than necessary and came into Wetaskiwin along 2A, which was considerably less busy, although eventually we hit construction where the road went down to a single lane and had to wait for an escort car to take us across that stretch. Then as we approached the Museum we came across a mother duck and her ducklings who had ventured onto the road. It looked like mamma had started to attempt the crossing then realized it wasn't safe to continue as they were all huddled a foot or so from the edge. We didn't see any squished fowl on our way home, so I'm hoping/assuming they made it safely out of harm's way.

At any rate, the museum. The entrance fee is ten dollars for adults, which I think is quite reasonable for the size and collection on display. The first part of the feature collection was arranged in the entrance hall. I don't recall all the specific makes and models of the cars, although the last one before you entered the permanent collection was a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Posted with each car was their original newspaper advertisement, which were highly entertaining as they frequently aimed to flatter the intelligence or style of the buyer. They also listed the car's features and original pricing. The condition of the cars varied as well from fully restored to cracked windows, ripped upholstery and rusted bodies. Later on in the museum you can peek into the restoration work house and see cars in a range of states of repair.

An array of vehicles make up the permanent collection, ranging from bicycles, to motorbikes, cars that were basically a horse buggy with a motor, home-modified vehicles and farm equipment. I think most of the vehicles were purchased and used in Alberta. We started out taking our time and reading all the available information about the introduction of motorized vehicles to Alberta (including registration requirements, the lack of roads/signage, etc), but eventually recognized we were going to be there all day if we didn't hurry up. The home-modified vehicles were interesting--perhaps not surprisingly--largely having to do with making early cars hardy enough to endure winter. We rocketed through the farm equipment, not being quite as keen on tractors and combines, but slowed again to take a closer look at some of the remaining cars, and the second section of the luxury cars of the 1920's.

One of the luxury vehicles, I think this was the one that sat right up at the front, it was gorgeous.

Andrew standing proudly next to a Detroit Electric (one of the earliest electric cars, circa ~1910, I think). If we had the cash, he'd love to buy one, but they're rare and rather pricey. They're quite an attractive car.

One of the cars in the permanent collection.

A rather classy looking pick up.

Unfortunately we didn't make it out to the air hanger. It was close to 1:00 pm by the time we were done with the cars and we were both getting super hungry. When my parent's visited the Museum last summer they went to a restaurant called Huckleberry's Cafe, so we decided to do the same. We were seated and served quickly (probably thanks to arriving after the lunch crowd). The food was good (and cheep) and our server very friendly. After lunch we took a quick drive downtown to see what was there, there's a local history museum, but as it was closing in on 3:00 pm at this point we opted to head home. All-in-all an extremely pleasant day, nice to get out of the city and see a place we hadn't been to before.

Ciao,

Andrea

A trip to Pittsburgh: improving my skills as a librarian

I'm behind, I apologize. Thankfully, Andrew and I have been too busy to be up to much, so I haven't missed any, yet.

I don't blog often about work or librarianship, and I'll try to keep things succinct, since what I do as a 'non-traditional librarian' is anything but glamorous. However, I was quite pleased to be given the opportunity to attend a special health librarian session and thought it a suitable opportunity to talk a little bit about what I do. Two weeks ago I attended a workshop at the University of Pittsburgh titled: The Nuts and Bolts of Systematic Reviews for Librarians, a two and a half day course on systematic reviews.

Before I go any further I probably need to clarify what a systematic review is. This is something I've been doing for the past five years, since I began my job. The explanation I normally give is this: A systematic review is generally a large report where we collect all the possible literature for a given question, synthesize the evidence to answer it, and make recommendations for future practice in medicine. Wikipedia describes it as follows: A systematic review is a literature review focused on a research question that tries to identify, appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that question. Right, clear as mud? Yeah, I thought so.

The librarian's roll in this process is crucial, and so it's important that they do it right. It's their job to make sure all the possible information, be it journal articles, conference proceedings, government reports, association websites, etc., are located. If they don't do a good job, then it limits the conclusions and recommendations that the review is able to make. This is the reason why I wanted to go to this workshop, to improve my skills as a librarian and to build confidence in my ability to locate evidence for my co-workers. Also, if you recall, one of my birthday resolutions was to become a better librarian.

Okay, the workshop. First of all, I can't say enough about the instructors. They were all excellent presenters, obviously knowledgeable in the content, experienced in the actual practice of searching for reviews, at ease at presenting to a class (there were about 20 of us), over all friendly, and open to questions and comments throughout their sessions. The course was held in the health library at University of Pittsburgh, in a conference room, unfortunately with no windows (probably better as I'd be inclined to watch what was going on outside). We were seated in small groups, each with our own laptop to work on which were equipped with Internet connectivity, and a thumb drive with all the slides from all of the sessions.

The first day was pretty much review for me as I've been completely immersed in the world of systematic reviews for the last five years as a research assistant, and more recently as a librarian and project coordinator. However, not all the librarians there had actually done systematic review searching, and probably fewer were familiar with the entire review process, so it was a necessary discussion. On the plus side, I was able to provide comments/discussion from my own experiences, and hopefully I didn't annoy people by talking too much. Throughout the workshop they discussed the new Institute of Medicine Standards for Systematic Reviews of Comparative Effectiveness, which I appreciated both because it shows they're keeping their content up-to-date (the Standards were released this spring) and because we've been discussing them at work.

The remaining day and a half focused on the librarian's role in the systematic review, which as I noted above is extremely important. We covered topics like how to harvest search terms, which can be a lengthy and difficult process. In systematic review searching you have to undercover all the different 'official' index terms used by the databases, then you have to think of every possible synonym for your topic, and how it might be combined in phrases, etc. The second half of the day was primarily spent in a discussion of grey literature, a topic that I was particularly keen to learn more about. Grey literature is the hard to find, non-traditional literature that's generally not indexed in databases, and can include: conference proceedings, FDA reports, independent reports from specialized associations, etc. It was a long afternoon and a bit tiring. I need to go back over my notes from the entire day to refresh my memory of the topics and resources discussed.

The last morning was quite honestly something of a blur. My brain was tired (amazing what two days straight in a classroom can do to you, how did I manage as a child?), and I was looking forward to getting home and seeing Andrew. However, we still covered important topics including hand searching (reading line-by-line the indexes of particular journals of interest), and writing up the search for the methods section of the review.

All-in-all, it was completely worth it. I learned new methods, met new people, ate great food and visited a new place. I'll leave you with a few pictures of the University and surrounding area.

Ciao,

Andrea

The Cathedral of Learning, a beautiful, towering landmark at the University of Pittsburgh.

There were a couple of Carnegie museums around the University, unfornately they all closed at 5:00 pm, so I was unable to visit any of them.

A school for the blind.

Houses in the surrounding area.

A pretty gateway to someone's home.