Party Like Its 1999

They say the life of a scientist is hard. Lots of experiments to do (and a lot of repeating of said experiments), lots of time in the lab, and when you're not doing bench work, it's all papers, papers, papers. I certainly can feel that sometimes - but then i sincerely love the job i do, so i don't mind. Of late, however, it's been something of a different kettle of fish, with me (and indeed my colleagues at work) being in attendance at a good number of parties in the last few weeks - and certainly with a handful more to come in the next few approaching weeks. Hey, i'm not complaining!

This weekend was double whammy of a house-warming party for my german workmate Nana - out on Folly Beach and in a very nice secluded, gorgeously quiet area. With stunning views of the sunset. And a short walk to the beach. Suffice to say, i threatened to move in and supplant Nana or one of her two housemates. There was a LOT of good food (Nana's housemates are Italian and French, and my goodness can they cook). There was a lot of good wine (and i took some good beer to make up for any other stuff they had. The night was fun indeed. This was followed Saturday with an MUSC social event - with vietnamese food (yum, yum, yum!) and some free drink as well. Suffice to say, a lot of fun was had their as well. I even ended up with some of the left over beer to take home (although it was Corona and Bud Light so it's still in my fridge). Needless to say, i relaxed a lot on Sunday. Hey, it's a hard life I know!

10 Things I Hate About.....

Okay, so after sitting and racking my brain for a number of days, i was hard pushed to come up with 10 things that i hated about something in particular (apart from, perhaps, the ongoing saga/boredom that is the US presidential election nominations - seriously, does anyone care any more?). Anyways, i decided to reformat this post somewhat to account for just general things that have recently given me cause to grumble and gripe. Which i do most days anyway. In no particular order:

1) Shop assistants who insist on giving you your receipt and then dumping all your loose change on top of it so that when you pull the receipt out (to put the money in your pocket), change goes everywhere. A word to the wise - if we're paying cash, we probably don't care about receipts!!

2) People who insist upon meeting/doing something at a certain time, only to be late/turn up late. Hello!! If you INSIST upon a prearranged time, please forgive me if i feel an urge to kneecap you when you're late!!

3) People who patronise you because 'you don't understand how it works over here'. Um, yes, indeed, as i'm from the back and beyond, we clearly don't have TV or the internet, live in cottages with thatched roofs and have no idea of what's going on outside of my own country. Sound familiar to anyone in the Midwest?

4) People who go to the gym but clearly aren't there to exercise - it's all about catching up with gossip or standing around looking like they might break into a sweat.

5) Those who use anything and everything they can find to excuse the fact that they're overweight. Okay, so all that cake, burgers, sugar, fat and other stuff has nothing to do with it. It's all about the plastic containers that you use!

6) In the same vein, people who wax lyrical about how they eat healthy and are still slightly above average weight, yet will happily cover their sandwiches in mayonnaise and oil, have cheese and high fat dressing on their salads, and have the 'occasional' (read: every other hour) biscuit.

7) People who use those headset phones that fit into their ear. Walking around looking like you're insane for starters is bad enough, but having a conversation at the TOP OF YOUR VOICE, in the queue at the cash register, at a table with your colleagues, or hell, just anywhere outside of your own office is rude!!

8) Reality TV - just stop, okay. Otherwise firebombs are in the mail!

Okay, so i could go on. Indeed, in a couple of weeks, i might very well do so again. But i think i've done enough venting for now. Perhaps in my next post, i might get back to something resembling coherence. Well, stranger things have happened.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Green is the Colour

And so March 17th arrives, bringing with it the annual tradition where everyone in the whole wide world suddenly realises they have Irish blood and starts drinking Guinness. Or, at least, people just start drinking Guinness - and talking in Irish accents. Or attempting to - it's rather amusing to here an American attempting an Irish accent, it has to be said (although not quite as funny as them trying to be English). Anyways, i completely forgot to wear anything green yesterday and have been the butt of plenty of comments from my colleagues and friends. Part of me feels i should point out that Ireland is actually not part of the UK (as some of them seem to think) but it's own country. Alas, i had far too much to do anyways to even worry about it. I'm planning on making up for it the rest of the week by wearing something vaguely green every day. Maybe. If i can be bothered.

Anyways, not so much a post about anything today, more just a rambling stream of consciousness-type thing.

Happy St Patricks Day!

In for a Pound....

Fear not, this isn't going to be some bitchy post about how the dollar is generally faring so badly these days, and that it's a pain for me (and indeed other Americans) if i have to leave the country 'cause all our wages are frankly worth squat when you convert them. Oh, no. I'll probably save that for another day. Instead, you'll be treated to a bitchy post about pounds, kilograms and other weights that they seem to interchange randomly. Not that it's a problem for me so much - hell, let's face it in the UK, we're hardly renowned for keeping things simple when it comes to weights and measures and we delighted in fighting the EU (successfully in the end) when they tried to get us to convert everything from price per oz/lb to price per kg. 'Cause, y'know, that was REALLY going to happen. Anyways, i'm fully aware that a lb is 454g and that there are 2.2lb per kg etc. etc. It's just that it gives me a headache trying to do the mental arithmetic sometimes and, as a scientist and in need of my brain and head most days, it can be something of a hindrance. On top of that, when i spend most of my days experimentally banging my head against a brick wall, the last thing i want to have to do is start calculating weights at the gym.

Yep, the gym - the cause for all this lbs to kg to whatever-the-hell madness. Last week they decided to wheel out a lot of shiny new weights for us all to use - not a bad thing, by any stretch of the imagination. Alas, in a fit of slight oversight, they chose to replace all the previous KG weights, with those in lbs. Now, i wouldn't grumble so much if the lb weights matched up exactly with kg amounts to at least compensate for it, but they couldn't even do that. Thus, we have 45 lbs (approx. 20kg), 35 lbs (a little over 15kg), 25 lbs (somewhat over 10kg) and then going down to 10lbs (4.5kg), 5lbs (2.3kg) and so on. Now, i know what some of you are thinking - what's a couple of lbs/kg here and there gonna matter in the long run? Well, when you're holding a heavy bar of weights over your head wishing that those couple of extra kgs would just go away, you tell me if it's going to matter or not. Either way, shiny new weights = good - just get kg ones next time.

A Matter of Identity

A conversation with a colleague yesterday brought up an issue which i had often wondered about over in the States - namely the matter of national identity cards and whether they would come into force. From what my friend told me, they had essentially been passed at the Federal level but some of the states (of which South Carolina is one) were fighting the introduction. It seems all but inevitable - the states can only apply for extensions as opposed to not introducing them at all - but they fight on never-the-less. Back in the UK, of course, the national identity card scheme is going ahead as the government had planned - and, as i understand it, once implemented (soon, i believe) whenever anyone renews their passport, they will be given the option of whether or not they want an identity card. Of course, they WON'T be given the choice of whether the 40 or so pieces of data about their person will be stored on the National Identity Database or whatever the hell its going to be called. And the fact that it's actually going to be three separate databases strung together is worrying to say the least.

Okay, so some European countries (and others for that matter) do have the identity cards in place. And they seem to work reasonably well, from what my colleagues from those countries tell me. After all, relying wholly on passports and drivers licences may not be enough if people don't actually drive or, indeed, intend on leaving their country. I'm not sure if this would be true over here - after all, everyone has a social security number - one that, originally, they were told NEVER to divulge but nowadays is required for almost everything when it comes to filling in forms. Is there really a necessity for such a card over here? These things aren't cheap to implement (although, naturally in the UK, the individual has to pay for the Government's idea - even though the majority are not enamoured with the idea another great one for democracy!). My main worry for all of these is that they are being touted as protecting the people from identity theft and such - yet surely having a single card with all that information will make it easier for people to get all required info? Also, given how administrations (all over the world) have such a great track record with keeping files confidential and not leaving them lying around or liable to get hacked, is it any wonder that we're not overly confident about it alll.

I Want My Hour Back

With the weekend arriving, it brings with it the annual farce....er....tradition of moving the clocks forward an hour to Daylight Saving Time or British Summer Time as we call it back in the UK (which is a joke in and of itself - British Summer? are you kidding?!). And naturally, the usual gripes and groans and debates of whether it actually does any good are brought up, talked about and then put in storage until next year - hey, at least it's recycling of a sort. Now, the idea of DST goes back to 1907 when it was first proposed by William Willet as a means to increase opportunities for leisure hours during afternoon sunlit hours - sounds like a good enough reason to me. After all, we're usually not all up at the crack of dawn so those sunlit hours after work are very welcome - makes me feel less of a vampire (even though i'm not overly found of getting up and it still being dark outside - but hey, you gotta take the rough with the smooth). These days, though, DST is nearly always trumpeted more as a means to save energy from lighting that would be needed during evening hours. But is this actually true?

Well, there are a few studies out there and the results are mixed to say the least. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the general consensus is that there is little over all difference. Indeed, some reports are suggesting that daylight savings time actually INCREASES energy consumption which makes that whole argument certainly less than convincing. Last year in the US, when the start of DST moved forward two weeks and the end moved back one week, US gasoline demand increased as well. Which is perhaps unsurprising if people are taking more time to travel and do leisure stuff. Of course, DST is most useful to retailers and other businesses - with plenty of extra spending and retail happening as a result of extra daylight. So i have to ask the question of whether it's really worth it our not? Can't we just comprimise and move our clocks back 30 mins and leave it at that instead of changing them? Or should we just leave them as they are right now? Given that there are countries, states and, indeed, counties here in the US that do and don't observe DST, won't it make it less confusing for all?? Answers on a postcard....

Oil and Vinegar?

So, after yet another mishap at my local Subway, this time being given Oil and Vinegar on my sandwich instead of Oregano. Okay, so they at least sound very vaguely alike if you weren't paying attention - better than the whole tomato-mustard debacle, but it made me think - oil and vinegar on a sandwich? Ewwwwww. Now, correct me if i'm wrong but i'm certain that this isn't something very common in the UK - at least not in the Subway chain there. I'm almost fairly certain that it's not de rigeur for the rest of the continent but then, having only done a little travelling in Europe and most of that when i was younger, i couldn't swear to it. I personally just find it a very unusual addition to it all. Thus, when you ask for a sandwich all the way, you get lots of salad stuff, mustard and mayonnaise, oil and vinegar. Whether you like it or not! A handful of times, i have made requests not to add the oil and vinegar and got some unusual looks but, hey, i don't really like eating oil that much.

Now, okay, i know what you're thinking - Chris, you're clearly losing it. After all, what are the main constituents of salad dressing - oil and vinegar of course. But i have to say i prefer them mixed with the other stuff rather than separately. I don't particularly like biting into a sandwich and having oil oozing down my finger. Or chin. Now, i guess a bowl of salad is a different thing - i did add some olive oil (very GOOD olive oil i shoud add) to my salads in Italy, but i stress it was minus the bread. And also, in my defence, i have borne witness to people getting sandwiches from Subway with no salad on whatsoever and getting it dowsed in oil. I mean, so saturated that you could set the thing alight. Okay, so also when you go to restaurants you get bread, and olive oil usually to put on a plate and dip it in, and i often do that myself. So i guess all in all, it makes the whole post here somewhat of a waste of time. Well, i suppose it's all down to personal taste. I suppose i'm just venting from the fact that the worker was busy chatting to her friend instead of listening to what i was saying, and completely didn't get what i wanted. I suppose the morale of the story is that i REALLY should stop going to this Subway!

Hablas Espanol??

After some ten years since i last took the time to do so, i decided that I was going to start learning another language again. I remember way back when, when i was joining college that i had wanted to keep up with the languages but, alas, science being the harsh master/mistress (take your pick) that he/she is, it wasn't feasible. I always thought it a shame given that i was once told that i was a natural linguist. So, after some deliberation and thought, i chose Spanish as the appropriate language for me to start learning. The main reason was that it was one that i had very little knowledge of indeed (aside from the obvious) which is always a good start - building yourself up from the bottom of the house of cards, as it were. The other reasons were that it opens up a lot of potential countries around the world to visit (21 speak it as their primary language), it's quite widely spoken in parts of the US ('cause of the large hispanic population), is one of six official languages of the UN (along with English, French, Chinese, Russian and Arabic) and, according to an article on the most influential languages of the world, Spanish ranks third behind English and French. On top of that, i also have a couple of Spanish colleagues so plenty of chance to practice - after all, use it or lose it, is what they say.

Thus, having chosen Spanish, i scouted around for Spanish classes to attend - and came across the Berlitz Language Center in Charleston (Berlitz are renowned for writing travel language guides amongst other things) and duly put my name forward for a class. The system is based on the idea of conversational learning in that if you are spoken to in the language and duly repeat it, then you will learn it quicker. Kind of an 'immersion teaching' but without actually going to the country in question. The teachers are all native speakers, and the classes can vary in size (my class has four people in and is the maxiumum size). For me, personally, i always find the reading and writing aspect of any language the easiest and it's the speaking and listening that's the harder of the four disciplines (listening probably being the most difficult). One good thing about the method is that they try to get you just to think of the language as it is, rather than translating back in your mind to your own language. This, i think, will make you a more proficient speaker in the long run. Okay, so i've only had the one week of classes so far (the course for each level is 12 weeks or 3 x 45 minute lessons, so pretty intense) but it was fun indeed and definitely reminded me of how much i liked it in the past. Watch this space.