| 19 Years - 23 Years In 1983 I went McMaster University and majored in Physics. For my first year I lived in residence on the third floor (Hooker House) of Whidden Hall sharing a room with David Smith. This was quite a lot of fun, a lot of partying and socializing. The food was absolutely abysmal and I quickly learned to eat it as quickly as possible. It was during my time at Whidden that my addiction to television started (successfully licked in 1989, the last time I owned a television). During the summer after first year I worked for a landscaping company, mainly cutting grass and tilling flower beds. Our customers were large townhouse complexes. I had a great tan by the end of ther summer. This was the last manual labor job I had (so far - 2001). Subsequent to this I have always had jobs that allowed me to sit in air-conditioned comfort - the true goal of a university education! In second year I returned to Whidden Hall (second floor). Because I made Dean's list I was rewarded with a single room. For some reason residence life was not as enjoyable the second time around, the noise and lack of privacy became annoying. In the summer after second year I remained in Hamilton and worked for Dr. Adam Hitchcock in the chemistry dept. I carried out experments probing the molecular structure of gases using Inner Shell Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (basically fling electrons at gasmolecules and see how much energy they lose). This was quite fun and I got to improve my computer skills and learn a bit about the lesser subject of chemistry (physical chemistry to be exact). I subletted an apartment in Camelot Towers (affectionately known as cockroach towers) with Brian Pedersen who I knew from my Whidden days. In third year we rented a house near campus from a physics professor who was on sabbatical. My roomates were the aforementioned Brian Pedersen, Steve something and Keith Summers. This was a pretty good arrangement, the house was about ten minutes from class. During the summer of 1986 I worked at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I worked under the supervision of Douglas Welch (now at McMaster University). In fourth year I lived in an apartment with Keith Summers. His girlfriend (Cindy something) and her cats moved in about half way through. They ended up getting married I graduated McMaster in 1987 and embarked on a 16 week trip of Europe with my (still - 2001) good friend Richard Peters. More specifically we visited England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Austrial, Germany and the Netherlands. Many cathedrals and museums were visited and many beers were drunk. Next Return to Biography Index Return to Philippe's Home |