Summer is here!

After a long winter, summer is finally upon us. The struggles of the past year seem like distant memories as we enter a period of long sunny days and a fully functional lab (knock on wood). Summer is my favorite time of year on the academic calendar. My teaching duties ease and grant deadlines are off in the distant future. Now is the time to get some things done in the lab and shed some of my 'winter coat/belly' as it were. As a first start, I've been relearning the sacred art of 'patch-clamping' which is a great stress reliever when you want to get a project finished. Maen has been making fantastic progress on his project and I was called in as a hired gun to add an electrophysiological component. As a second start, Filip, Guy and I tackled the Grouse Grind this morning. 835 meters straight up the side of Grouse Mountain. Holy! That was a fitness wake-up call. I guess patch-clamping doesn't bring about climbing fitness. We don't need to discuss the times of those involved but lets just say that we have left some room for improvement.