Weekend Review: Microwaved Salmon, The Magicians, & Physics

I've had a nice, generally uneventful week. The weather has gone from 30 °C to 10 °C, so I'm sitting here in a blanket hoping that summer makes a comeback. Otherwise it's been the usual -- ward, eat, sleep, repeat. I've been avoiding the elliptical because my back is still killing me (I'm understanding better why we had to sign a waiver before trampolining last weekend) but have been walking plenty. Anyhow, here are some things that I appreciated this week:

1. salmon -- If you live in Western Canada you need to get yourself to a Save On Foods stat and buy a wild pink salmon for $0.27/100 g. Fresh salmon is so dang expensive in Alberta and I've definitely been missing it! I'll happily be eating this one for the next few days and freezing another.

   

   The only thing in my fridge (because travelling soon!).

   

   And I was lazy and stuck this in the microwave. It's actually so easy and turns out awesome -- microwave ~3 min per side, then serve with lemon juice.

2. redecorating -- Inspired by all things wonderful on Pinterest, I made a few schedules/signs this week for our residents' room and printed this calendar for our bulletin board. We also put up our Paint Nite paintings. We spend a lot of time in our basement room; it may as well look nice(r).

   

   So many rounds...hence the need for a (pretty) schedule!
3. electrical tape -- I finally stopped by the dollar store to pick up electrical tape to reinforce my fraying laptop charger. Hopefully this keeps it going for another few years :S

   

   Of course, the electrical tape only came in 2-packs :(

4. thoracentesis -- Procedure-wise, this week I got to drain fluid that had collected around a patient's lung, which was really interesting and fortunately went well. See one (thanks YouTube), do one.
5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman -- I finished reading The Magicians this week, which I picked up intrigued after hearing a friend describe it as a "sex, drugs, and rock and roll Harry Potter". Sure, the characters attend a secret magic college in New York, but that's where I think the similarities to Harry Potter stop...the rest of the story is more a cross between the Chronicles of Narnia and Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. The Magicians is certainly creative and entertaining, but I don't think the characters are particularly well developed (or likeable), and I think I'll take a break before (if) I get to the other two books in the series... What are you thoughts, if you've read it?

   

   (http://www.amazon.com/The-Magicians-Novel-Trilogy)

6. physics -- I'll be spending this afternoon studying physics, which is on this list because physics is actually my favourite and I'm super excited that we get to learn radiation physics this year :)