Verglas et souris, entre autres

Wow, what an eventful and exhausting day. The weather has been completely insane here in Montreal. Last night it was "raining" ice pellets the size of skittles. It's just warm enough for the rain to be liquid, but the actual pavement was below freezing, so the rain freezes on impact. The result? About half an inch of rock solid ice covering everything this morning. It was horrific. Also, hilarious. I regret not having had my camera on me (some memorable shots: people walking bow-legged on the sidewalk attempting not to fall, the crooked lamp-post where a car had crashed the night before, the hordes of police and firemen who were posted at every intersection to help people cross...). Some pictures can be found here. It's a good thing my camera wasn't in my bag though, as I wiped out really badly quite a few times (a friend thinks she saw me wiping out on the news... she's taping it for me!), and the camera would undoubtedly be broken. I already had to take my phone apart and let the components dry separately!
So the sheets of ice were not appreciated when I climbed UP des Pins and DOWN Peel street (or, rather, slipped), only to discover that my class had been cancelled.
I did find out that I was still expected at work, so off I went, laboriously climbing back up the mountain! Work was exhausting today, but amazing. I finally finished running my gel! I feel like such a big girl, even though my adorable lab partners held my hand the whole way through. The results were pretty poor as far as results go, but I'll cut myself some slack as it was my first time.
I also met the mice today. And killed them. It was so much harder than I'd expected. My friend Heather just stood there uncomfortably and told me that I'd get used to it eventually, but you've really got to ask yourself if what you're accomplishing is important to justify animal sacrifice. It's pretty tough on the morale, but at least we gas them now, as opposed to breaking their necks. I can't even envision myself doing that.
As for dissecting their ovaries! Ha! That's finally something I did last summer that's paying off. It's comforting to know that I'm not completly inept in a lab!

In other news, I dyed my hair blue (I changed my profile picture), managed to get a bank card (finally), and went to a Feist concert last night. It was amazing! What a voice!