Potluck, Orthodontist, and Pirates

On Tuesday, some of the other researchers hosted a potluck for all the researchers who were around. They are from the University of Calgary, so we don’t see them around very often since they have to option of going home occasionally. The food was excellent. Since we brought half of the party with us, we also brought half of the food. Crisia and I made some cupcakes from a box. Paul and Tracy helped with the icing. Nikhil made his signature curry chicken. Edith made her famous brownies, and Kari made a strawberry and spinach salad. Tracy made banana bread even though she promised us potatoes, and Kurt made his famous homemade bread.

Kim, Darryl, and Amallia were there. Amallia put on quite a show by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABCs. She also Care-Bear-stared us for good measure. Our hosts were Hilary, who studies ungulates, Joanna, her sister and field assistant, Tyler, whom I think studies beetles, and his field assistant Josee. Although Hilary and Joanna are sisters, it is hard to tell because Hilary is tall with straight, dark hair, and Joanna is shorter with curly, red hair. Joanna’s music was playing in the background; it would appear that we have very similar musical tastes since a lot of what was playing was by The Arcade Fire and The Shins. I happen to be wearing my shirts from both those concerts right now. Josee was born in Quebec; she is also a huge Harry Potter fan. She, Edith, and I shared our theories on the new book that is to come out.

Just before we were about to leave, Pierre, who works for Parks Canada and who was invited to come by Tracy as he jogged by her cabin, showed up. He is a very worldly guy from Quebec City; he told us all about his backpacking trip to India. He is staying at the field station for the summer. Those of you read my previous post may remember that I mentioned another guy from Quebec City named Louis who was stuck here during the gas leak. Louis is Pierre’s friend, and that day he broke a window to get into Pierre’s trailer and took some beer and some Doritos. Pierre didn’t seem very angry about it; he was more amused than anything else since it makes for a good story.

On Thursday, I had to make a trip into Calgary to go see an orthodontist. I had forgotten my retainer in Montreal, and it turns out that my mom threw it out since she thought I left it because I didn’t need it. This was the craziest orthodontist office I had ever seen. I thought my orthodontist was rich. There were action figures everywhere. There was a greater than life size Superman bursting out of a phone booth, a life size Spiderman, and a Yoda telling you that not wearing your retainer was a sure path to the dark side. They had a PS2, a Gamecube, and an X-Box in the waiting room, as well as a touch-screen log in system. There were 5 chairs for patients, and each of them had their own computer and a Nintendo DS or DS Lite for patients who had to wait. They also had a fancy coffee machine that I got to take advantage of. I arrive half an hour early for my appointment; within 10 minutes, they had me seated at a chair and did the mold of my teeth, and 20 minutes after that, my retainer was ready.

I was hoping to meet up with Eliott’s aunt and uncle that day, but they both work, so Nikhil came with me instead. Nikhil and I went to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I had heard mixed reviews of it, so I went in with fairly low expectations. In the end, I rather enjoyed myself. The beginning was very confusing, and there was too much Orlando and not enough Johnny even though when Johnny Depp was there, there was often at least 5 more of him for no apparent reason. I liked Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow’s dad although it was only a very small part. I thought it was pretty cool that he played the guitar briefly. Keira Knightley wasn’t bad, but starring with Orlando Bloom makes me think less of her performance. Orlando was slightly less annoying in this movie than in the previous ones. I think I liked it better when he had cool hair and didn’t talk much rather than the ugly mustache and the self-righteousness. The movie was really long, but it didn’t drag on, as the action was pretty much non-stop and entertaining. Overall, the movie was better than the second one, but not as good as the first.