Insomnia. I can't sleep. Nothing else to do, I suppose, but blog about it.

The past two days have been grueling. At the end of the month, applications for SSHRC grants are due. So, like most every other student who is applying, I have to go through the whole rig-a-ma-role of putting the application together. This includes, among other things, former professors are contacted to reference letters, transcripts from previous and current academic institutions are ordered, and a single-spaced, two-page proposed program of research is drawn up. Well, around 1:30 this morning at saved the first full draft, and second attempt at a draft, of my proposed program of research and then fired it off to my supervisor for his comments. It is to my infinite misfortune, however, not to be able to simply switch my mind off and on at will. As a result, I find myself here, in front of a keyboard at 4:30 in the AM, with all my mental cylinders firing at 110% capacity. My body, on the other, is dropping is the expected places. I can feel my facial muscles protest and my reflex-response time to external stimuli is significantly impaired. It is as if I were mildly inebriated, expect I have had nothing to drink.

SSHRC kept me from posting a few pictures from a lovely afternoon spent with Brian and Jen, who vacationed in Montreal for the weekend and were good enough to spend a bit of time with me. Their hotel had a pool on the roof, which I where I spent the afternoon on Sunday. It was my first chance to see what Montreal looks like from above.

The hotel was downtown on Sherbrooke Street near McGill. Here is Sherbrooke stretching off into the west of the city.

A view of Sherbrooke directly below.

And a view of Sherbrooke as it makes its way east. If you look closely, the Olympic Stadium can be seen against the horizon. The second squat, square building on the far side of the street is the Humanities and Social Sciences library where I spend a lot of my time. The greenry just beyond marks the entrance to the McGill campus, but the angle the picture was taken at prevents you from being able to make very much out. The stone colonade, a portion of which you can see between the trees, must be passed through if you want to drive on the campus.

One more picture, for vanity's sake. Here I am cutting an a figure of some sort or other against the city of Montreal as a backdrop as I squint to keep the sun out of my eyes. The buildings over my shoulder on the left belong to McGill and the green space in front of them is a soccer/football field. The McGill campus is large enough to extend the width of the picture, from the buildings over my left shoulder to the trees down in the bottom right-hand corner. But most of it is hidden by the office complex directly behind me.

Okay. Let's try this one more time and see if I can't sleep.