How to live in America (and not go crazy)

Summer Heat....

2008-08-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

COMING SOON

Summer Films

2008-08-08T11:36:00.002-04:00

Okay, so there have been a few films of interest out in the summer months and it would be remiss of me, as something of a film fan/addict, to have not seen some of them. Suffice to say, i've been a few times to the cinema of late and have a few thoughts on some of the films i've seen - both blockbusters and otherwise. SO here they are - reasonably succinctly.

Prince Caspian - an improvement on TL, TW and TW (which was average IMHO) but doesn't have a patch on recent fantasy like TLOTR trilogy. Is strikingly violent for a 'childrens' film

Indiana Jones 4 - Both fun and nostalgic, but not really a patch on the earlier trilogy of films. There are some fun moments to be had, but a few ludicrous ones as well.

Sex and the City - if you're a fan of the series, you'll love this. Otherwise you may not find much to raise a smile.

Mongol - a gem of a movie about Gengis Khan. Stunningly shot, with an epic scope. Gripping from start to finish.

WALL*E - further evidence that Pixar are one of the best studios turning out movies. This is pure joy to watch - even if the pesky humans do detract from the main character. The opening (dialogue free) 20-30 mins are stunning.

Mamma Mia - entertaining and very funny, particularly if you like ABBA. A lot of froth and little substance, but i don't think you'd expect that from a film like this. Meryl Streep can sing, Pierce Brosnan tries.

The Dark Knight - perhaps THE film of the summer. This is how blockbusters should be done. A dark, brooding, crime saga with a knockout performance from Heath Ledger as the Joker. This is how comic book films should be done!

So, that's my two cents worth of thoughts. Feel free to agree or disagree. I'm sure there are a couple of films that i've forgotten to mention as well. Overall, summer wasn't as hit and miss as previous years (Pirates 3 and Spider-man 3 last year for example). Let's hope that the momentum keeps going as we head in to the 'awards' films of the fall.

Coming up on Three (updated FINALLY)

2008-06-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this was intending to be a post on how the three year anniversary of my arrival in Charleston was approaching, and how i was going to be celebrating it with my annual cocktail party (with three parties in a row - this is officially a 'trend' in scientific parlance). Anyways, as you've probably guessed if you've been checking the site out from time to time, i've been extremely lax in updating my blog of late. This is not through lack of want, nor of lack of interesting things happening to me. Nor, surprisingly, is this because i've been over run with work (okay, so i have had work to do, a fair amount, but still, it's not all been that). No, this is that typical confluence of events where small amount of lots of things add up to a great big amount of stuff going on, or rather, a great little amount of free time and/or energy where i actually want to spend time thinking about what i'm going to write. Anyways, profuse apologies all round. I will hopefully do better of late.

So, the "Three years on" party went well - much drink was had, as was much fun - especially that involving the plastic camel. Yep, a plastic camel. It's something of a tale, but suffice to say it's entirely the fault of my boyfriend Mark. However, given it's popularity at my party, i have been subtly trying to make him think that actually, it was my idea all along and it was he that took some convincing. I don't think it's working though - and if he's reading this now, well, i'm definitely screwed. So, i plan on following this with a couple of quick posts to fill you in on some of the things going on right now (promise!) and with any luck, i'll get things up and running again soon.

El Presidente

2008-06-19T17:16:00.001-04:00

With the establishing of the MUSC postdoctoral association last May, i had volunteered my services as an executive officer (secretary officially) to try and help get the association on its feet and start things slowly moving. As you can imagine, this is often an uphill goal - a lot of postdocs want things to be done for them without putting in effort whereas others feel that it diverts time away from the lab which is where they should be (in some ways, a point of view i can agree with). With the first year all but over and done with, the time came for elections to be held and some shuffling in the 'cabinet' as it were. Some of us decided we were happy to stay on for the next year (as we'd actually be here) and the voting was done pretty quickly (a smaller group of people means that things do get done decisively for a change).

So imagine my surprise when i was nominated, seconded and voted in as president for the next year before i could even catch my breath. Looks like i've got a busy year ahead of me. Still, one has to have a positive outlook on things - if i can use this year to make a difference at MUSC, even if only a small one, then i guess it will be something. I've also lined up a meeting or two with my other executives in the next week or so to try and establish solid goals to work with for the next year. I guess we'll just have to watch this space. Now if only the 2008 Presidential election could be decided this quickly, then we'd have a lot to be thankful for!

Gassing about Gas

2008-06-14T13:15:00.002-04:00

Of course, things in the world being the way they are right now, it comes as no real surprise that one of the major topics of conversation both on the news, around the watercooler and, frankly, anywhere is the rising cost of petrol over here in the US. Now, i'm sure i've commented before on how the price of petrol over here seem to fluctuate wildly and sometimes on a daily basis. I'm sure i've also covered how i often point out to my American colleagues on how much petrol is costing back home in England right now (of the order of $10 a gallon, i think) and let them know that we do have it lucky over here in that sense. However, the problem lies elsewhere in that the cars have generally bad gas mileage over here compared to other places in the world. And also that people like to have the big cars that squash pedestrians as soon as look as them which doesn't help. They haven't quite got the economic sensibilities yet.

However, the main gripe to bear over this (and keep in mind that i walk to and from work every day so it's not that much of an issue for me) is that fact that the oil companies are walking away with record profits - that are set to keep on increasing it seems. How could it be such that in the volatile world environment that is pretty much with economies teetering on the brink of recession, can the oil companies be getting away with this? You would've thought that someone high up there would maybe suggest cutting some of us down here a little slack, but then i guess if there pockets are so well lined that they can afford their own prices, then they don't really care. And it's not just the gas prices that are the problem - of course, everything is going to slowly creep up in price. At work, we're trying to minimize orders to cut down on shipping costs. And the response is to try and increase production (of oil). Great in the short term but sooner of later it's going to run out. We need to start preparing now for that day and at this rate, it'll be here far sooner than they think.

Logic, May I Introduce You To This Window

2008-06-10T20:56:00.001-04:00

With the Democratic Presidential candidate finally decided (and congratulations to Barack Obama), i guess the only thing left for us to do is settle in for the long, hard race to November. Already the sniping has begun (admittedly on both sides) and the battle lines are being drawn. With such a political atmosphere at the moment, it's perhaps no surprise that virtually everyone is talking about it in some way, shape or form. Despite my best efforts to, frankly, ignore it all, i finally admitted defeat and began to listen to other peoples opinions. Suffice to say, i was rather surprised by some of the attitudes out there.

Take, for example, the gentleman (Republican supporter, naturally) who said he could never vote for Obama because his name just SOUNDED arab. When coupled with the SC church who had the sign 'Osama and Obama. Coincidence?' outside and the mind boggles. But not only are the Republicans bitching about the candidate. I was talking to a couple of self-proclaimed 'life long Democrats' who were going to vote Republican at the next election, because Clinton didn't get the nomination (their preferred candidate). When i challenged them about this, whether Senator McCain was more in line with their beliefs, they outright said no, but they would rather vote for him than Obama. When pushed further, they could give no convincing reason, other than the fact that Clinton didn't win the vote. It was at this point that i told them they had no further right to discuss politics or anything with me, if they threw a hissy fit like that. Never mind the fact that Clinton, herself, is throwing her support behind the party candidate. Honestly, with voters like that, is it anyway wonder that the last administration stayed there for 8 years? Answers on a postcard.

Identity Crisis

2008-06-06T20:47:00.001-04:00

A (somewhat random) thought occurred to me the other day, as is often the case. As i was laying on my bed half asleep, waiting for my eyes to eventually close, i was busy stroking my cat Jasper as he paraded back and forth in front of the bed. As i stroked him, he meowed at me, so i scratched behind his ears and then his back. I was somewhat surprised to find that when i stopped, he meowed at me until i started again. This, coupled with the fact that i used to play fetch with him when he was a little younger bought me to the conclusion that Jasper is having an identity crisis and thinks he's a dog. Now, perhaps it was the drowsiness talking, but it seemed like a perfectly logical thing to think. Of course, the main thing now is how to make him think more like a cat again. Any suggestions? Write them on a postcard and send them my way!

Monkey: Journey to the West

2008-06-01T22:18:00.001-04:00

With the Spoleto Festival 2008 well underway, bringing with it the usual influx of artists and (more annoyingly) lots of tourists, i decided that this year i was actually going to make an effort to go and see some of the shows. Thus, when some of my colleagues suggested going to see the titular show, i jumped at the chance. Approaching this with absolutely no real knowledge of what i was going to see, i was more than happy to find that it was an impressive, compelling show with some amazing production values. The musical is performed in chinese (with handy subtitles) and combined a mix of chinese opera, with acrobatic feats, some anime and a general sense of fun all round. This recent version, i was surprised to find, was the brainchild of the two driving forces behind the Gorillaz - perhaps no surprise given the design of the characters on the poster. I should really have realised beforehand.

Anyways, the story is based on one of the most famous stories in Chinese literature - the Journey to the West which comprises 100 chapters and details the travel from China to India of a group of heroes to obtain the Buddha scrolls. The main character in the play is a Monkey born from a stone egg - and is given the title 'Monkey who knows emptiness' pretty early on in the show. Combine this with visits underwater, into the skies, a fight with Princess Iron Fan to obtain a fan to put out fires, and naturally an appearance by the giant hand of Buddha (for a moment, i thought it was going to go all Monty Python and it would be followed by a giant foot) and you can imagine the sort of feel the show was going for. The fact that, i think, we had the best seats in the house meant that it was an all-round great experience. With shows like this, i think i may have to pay more attention to Spoleto next year.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

2008-05-24T11:21:00.002-04:00

With the summer season of movies now well underway, it is perhaps of no surprise to anyone (unless they've been living under a rock for years) that the vast majority of so-called 'tentpole' movies happen to be either a) sequels; b) remakes of old films; c) films based on previous material. Okay, so at the moment, i'm struggling to think of a remake of an old film that's out this summer (although i would put money on there being at least one) but as for the rest, wel that's definitely the case. It's at times like this that one wonders if there actually are any original ideas left in Hollywood. Actually, there seem to be - but given that the result is such high class calibre as "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (Adam Sandler needs to just go away) or "Hollywood Chiahuahua" (I saw the trailer for this in disbelief that someone, somewhere thought this was a good idea or a movie), i guess we're going to have to make-do with what we have. But then you can only go to the same well a certain number of times without quality dipping, right?

What is perhaps even more unsurprising is that this trend is showing no signs of abating. Thus, in the future, we are going to be treated to a trilogy of new Terminator films (the first of which is shooting right now under the watchful eye of McG - the director of the 'Charlie's Angels films - kill me now!), as well as potentially a Spider-man 4 and 5 (to be shot simultaneously it seems). With the continuing Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter series, as well as The Hobbit and it's subsequent film to bridge the narratives between it and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (in all fairness i am looking forward to this one). On top of all this, it appears that a sequel to Donnie Darko (a refreshingly original film) is to be made with no involvement from the original writer-director at all. I ask but one word: Why??? Okay, so the answer is pretty obvious - money. But creativity is either sacrificed or just non-existent to begin with. It's virtually guaranteed these days that if a film makes a lot at the box office, a sequel will follow. And then the writers will say that 'a trilogy was always planned' (rapidly becoming a cliche). Thank God, then, for Pixar who at least are trying to push the boundaries of their storytelling. And i salute them for actually coming up with stories to tell, rather than just letting the animation do the talking. Long live "WALL-E"!!!

Going round in circles...

2008-05-20T18:06:00.002-04:00

So imagine it's a Tuesday lunchtime and i'm, frankly, ravenous after having a ridiculously early breakfast and not being able to squeeze in my usual mid-morning snack owing to experiments (rather inconveniently) getting in the way. Having made my way over to a cafe on the other side of campus, only to find a large queue, i decided to head into the hospital and get a sandwich there instead. Anything for food. I approached the revolving door (rather narrow one at that) and followed someone else in close behind. Lo and behold, what should happen but the person in front of me met someone he knew coming the other way and then promptly STOPPED right in front of the exit meaning i couldn't get out. Not a problem, you would imagine, if the revolving door wasn't automatic. With the door rapidly coming up behind me, i cleared my throat only for him to give me a blank look, whereupon the door had almost hit me so i had to go around again. With the man in question looking at me all the more blankly. And yet STILL not moving from the spot.

At this point, i had had enough (i think it's a good job i didn't have to go around again or there may have been murder at hand). When it came round to the exit again and he was still merrily chatting away without a regard to his surroundings, i just walked straight through the pair of them. What made it all the more staggering was the snatch of 'some people are so rude!' that i heard him say to his friend. I felt like turning around and replying with 'And some people are just so idiotic as to block the exit to a revolving door'. Suffice to say, he didn't find me at the best of times. But then some people are just completely oblivious to anything that's going on around them.

The Shape of Things To Come???

2008-05-18T11:30:00.001-04:00

Last week may very well turn out to have been a landmark in the Gay Rights Movement when the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage in the State of California. The decision struck down two laws - one in 1977 and a more recent one from a referendum in 2000. This followed the appeals of a handful of parties, and the city of San Francisco who wanted to recognise gay marriage and, indeed, had done so for a short time in recent years. Given that California is often regarded as a gateway state for the rest of the US, in that laws that pass there often come to pass countrywide, this is considered a big step forward. As the most populous state in the US (55 million people of 350 million), this is by no means small potatoes. Could this be the start of something bigger? It is hoped so but then let's not get over-excited here.

Yes, the ban has been overturned and, given that it is based on the California consititution it cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court of the US. Unfortunately, though, the ruling itself is potentially fraught with a number of problems. While the justices wrote that there is no legitimate basis to discriminate based on sexual preference, a point also raised was that the people of California at this time clearly did not favour gay marriage given the results of the previous referendum. Of course, there are no proceedings underway to add a referendum for the November 2008 elections favouring an amendment to the CA consitution barring gay marriage. Thus, the fight is likely not over. As for my views, i think this is a good thing, but i do agree that this coming in such a way is likely to cause a lot more problems. What happens is such a constitutional amendment is passed? Will the courts be brought in again? Ultimately, whilst i am for the idea of gay marriage, i also do not like the idea of the courts telling the people how they should live. And in other respects, given the upcoming presidential election, the timing of this decision now brings it to the forefront yet again - which may turn out to do more harm than good. I guess we can all just watch this space and see.

Somebody just END it already....

2008-05-14T23:09:00.002-04:00

Another week rolls by and with it, the continuing debacle of the Democrats trying to pick a candidate for the presidential election in November. Not only are neither candidate refusing to drop out, by frankly neither candidate is going to win outright either given that they can't reach the required number of votes to be candidate. On top of all this, the daily calls of others urging either Obama or Clinton to drop out means that it's frankly refusing to leave the news headlines. And i for one am sick and tired of it. I go on in the vain hope that one of them will realise that all this continuing fighting amongst themselves is doing more harm than good, and that in order for the Democrats to win the election in November, then providing a unified front is going to be crucial. This time next year, if the democrats have lost, it's almost certain they will blame the fact that they chose the 'wrong' candidate. Chances are that it's because they're stretching it out too long.

Of course, as i'm not American, i can't vote - so naturally, i'm going to be weary of all this long before anyone else. But i'm not the only one. Even die-hard democrat friends of mine are changing the channel, or turning the TV off altogether, whenever the news stories come up. Let's face it, after a few months of campaigning, everything that the candidates are now saying is likely to be something they've said before, and are just repackaging for a new crowd. Frankly, they're pissing off a lot of people now. Voters are apathetic at the best of times but after this onslaught, it wouldn't surprise me if voter turnout is an all time low in November. People are just past caring. The way i see it, the sooner they decide who is running, the sooner they can actually come up with a good focused campaign for November. And preferably one that isn't going to be long, drawn out and tiring.

Team Trivia Final

2008-05-11T12:31:00.001-04:00

After some 20 weeks of visits to the nearby Applebees and Necter bar on James Island, the trivia league rounds finally came to an end a couple of weeks back and the qualifiers for the final were announced. Having notched up an impressive tally of results, the team i am on (named "Crystal Methodists") had ended up in 6th place and were thus automatically through to the final which was scheduled to take place on the 10th May (yesterday). With a first place prize of $2000, this was nothing to be sneezed at and, duly, the 32 teams involved in the final arrived at the venue in plenty of time. The format itself is simple - six rounds of three questions with a half-time question, and a final 'gamble' round. The first three rounds have questions worth 1, 3 or 5 points (you have to use each point value once, and be strategic in your scoring). The same goes for the last three rounds except the values go up to 2, 4 and 6. With the half-time question, it's usually multi-part with your team netting 2 points for every correct part (normally it's 4 parts, in the final there were 11 answers - thus, 22 available). After the game had played, everyone was pretty evenly matched and so we approached the gamble round with trepidation.

The last round is usually a single question where you can gamble up to 15 points. If you're right, the points are added; if wrong, the points are subtracted. The principle was the same in the final except we were given TEN questions and had to use point values of 1,2,3...up to 10 (again, each value was used once). Thus, with 55 points available, anything could change. And it did. We aced the last round and got 51 points (getting only the 2 point question wrong) and ended up tied for third place (after a minor quibble). Thus, with a tie-breaker (closest to the answer question), we managed to use logic and reason to win third place and $300 - between six of us. So fifty bucks - better than a smack in the face - and more importantly a team trivia t-shirt (Season 4: Best of the Best). With all that brain energy, we were quite exhausted by the end of it all - but little time to rest on our laurels. Season 5 starts on May 18th!

Cash Back

2008-05-08T13:30:00.002-04:00

So, after a couple of weeks of impatient drumming of fingers, and clicking of my tongue, i was very happy to realise that my bonus tax rebate, courtesy of the "Economic Stimulus" package had arrived (I use inverted commas as i'm not sure if it's going to have any effect the way that the economy over here is right now). Having had my tax refund paid directly into my account before, the same method was used making my life a little easier. Amusingly, the next day I received a letter from the IRS telling me that my stimulus package was being processed and should be with me soon. In some way, it's reassuring to know that parts of the administration still function as slow as always.

Anyways, having the cash in hand, so to speak, i have been umming and ahhing about what to do with it. The news reports that the vast majority of people are likely to use it to pay off credit cards, bills and other such constants of life (at least over here). Everyone is pretty much feeling the pinch (as i noted a few posts ago). Fortunately for me, my good money sense (thanks Dad!) and general Yorkshire-bred thriftiness has left me in good standing financially (that and the fact that my only dependent is a cat). Thus, i feel that in the spirit of the stimulus package that it is my patriotic duty as an alien in America to spend (some of) the money given back to me. New clothes anyone???

Welcome to the 21st Century

2008-05-04T13:30:00.001-04:00

A couple of news stories this week that a colleague told me about and rather struck me. The first concerned some parents who decided it would be fun to teach their 2 year old how to smoke a joint. Not only that, they filmed it on their cell phones and sent it around to their friends. You would think that there would be reasonably severe punishment for doing this, but it seems that all they have to do is to attend 'Parenting classes' - maybe they'll end up writing lines 'I shall not teach my child to smoke weed' 500 times should do the trick, do you think??

This is to be contrasted with the case of a substitute teacher who was fired in Florida (I think it was). You might wonder what this was for - perhaps striking a pupil unnecessarily, maybe an inappropriate relationship or something like that. No, none of those. It seems that the teacher did a magic trick - in actuality, i believe they made a toothpick 'disappear' in class. The official reason given for the sacking? The teacher was 'promoting wizardry and witchcraft'. So i guess David Copperfield is going to be in court next? What about David Blaine?? What boggles my mind even more here is that, presumably, a child went home and said 'oh, my teacher did this neat trick. He made a toothpick disappear' and someone, somewhere said 'Oh My Goodness. This is horrendous. He's turning our kids into dearranged people who want to become evil wizards.' and decided to do something against it. It makes me wonder why they didn't just say 'to hell with it', take us all back to the dark ages and burn the guy at the stake. And here was me thinking it was 2008.

Misadventures in South Carolina

2008-04-30T17:14:00.001-04:00

Okay, so there was at least one thing with my brother's visit that i was going to have to relate (with apologies, again, for the delay). With my brother being here for our birthday on the 25th April (we have the same birthday, albeit three years apart), i decided to take the day off work and we went for a ride up the road to Myrtle Beach - about 90 mins away, as my brother had a thing for wanting to play miniature golf and apparently Myrtle Beach has about 50 of the damn courses. All was going well, we went for a walk on the beach, had something to eat, played a round of golf (my brother lost :-) ) and then headed back, as we were going out for dinner and drinks that evening. Suffice to say, we ended up taking a wrong turn in Georgetown and on highway 17A instead of highway 17 - but all was not lost as we were still going in the right direction. And then we got a flat tyre. Now, not one to stress, i knew i had a spare in the back, and also a jack but had overlooked that fact that we didn't have a tyre wrench. Having turned down help from a truck that had stopped to ask if we were okay (on account of the rather redneck-y appearance of the inhabitants), we had no other choice but to flag someone down.

Fortunately, we were lucky - the gentleman in question was very helpful - given we were stuck in the middle of nowhere (a few minutes before i had commented on how i would like the peace of living out there, but not the 'being so far from everything'). Anyways, we hoisted the car, loosened the nuts and...the wheel wouldn't come off. So, i used the man's phone (mine had no battery!) to call my insurance recovery who said they would help, and then we decided to move the car off the road more (as my sister-in-law Wendy had suggested a while back). Whereupon the wheel loosened. Thus, not wanting to wait 45 mins for recovery, we swapped the wheel (the spare had low air) and headed back up the road to put some air in, then back to Georgetown - where they were unable to repair and couldn't replace the tire. Thus, we drove back the 60 miles to Charleston on the spare (at no more than 50 mph). In the end we were only two hours late and had managed to rebook the restaurant and let everyone know the time change (by quick calls and text messages!). The most amusing thing of the whole event was that my brother was convinced we were about to be set upon by banjo twanging South Carolinians a la 'Deliverance'. Suffice to say, i told him that SC folk don't usually play the bango...

The Visitors

2008-04-17T22:26:00.001-04:00

Okay, so i confess that i got a bit sidetracked of late. This post was meant to be about the fact that my brother and sister-in-law were coming to visit, and were soon to be arriving (I intended to write this post on the day before they got here). Alas, as is the way, i got distracted by tidying up, Spanish classes and a rather attention seeking cat. Thus, before i knew it, they were actually here and i got completely swept up and occupied indulging in touristy stuff with them, and staying at friends' houses so they could stay in my apartment downtown.

Apologies all round.

Anyways, now that Andy (brother) and Wendy (sis-in-law) have come, seen, and gone (as opposed to conquered), there isn't really much to say about it all. I enjoyed having them here, and showing them of the sights. I hope they did too - they certainly had good weather to do it (only one really off day as i recall) and much eating and drinking was done all around (i'm still vaguely recovering from it). Now i've settled back down into home and work again, it's a bit blah right now - 'cause it's slow going for now (things should be back up to speed soon). Still, their visit made me realise that i need to take a little more time for myself, rather than just work, exercise and more work. Hopefully i'll be able to keep this up in the future.

Temperature's Rising....

2008-04-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

With the middle of April approaching, the mercury begins to head North. However, i for one am not complaining. It's nice to finally shake away the last vestiges of cold and enjoy the sunshine whilst i can. At least before the humidity rises and gets unbearable as it tends to do in the middle of May. Of course, i'm sure most of you back in the UK are experiencing wonderfully varied weather such as snow, rain, wind, sleet, dark and cold. Hey, what's new? I won't bother going on and on about how nice it is here right now - i'll just suggest that you visit instead!

Feeling The Pinch

2008-04-10T10:45:00.002-04:00

With the end of the financial year approaching (April 15th if you haven't got your tax returns in over here), it seems an appropriate time to consider how things are going at the moment. I think it's safe to say that its not going too well over here at all. The stock market is shaky, the interest rates are getting changed in leaps and bounds (it seems to be at least 0.5% every time now), the housing market is not doing well (foreclosures everywhere) and gas prices are at an all time high for the US. Okay, so that, admittedly, isn't that high compared to other places but given how many people drive here, and it's often necessary given the lack of public transport, you can see how it's hard going. In short, it's tough times. Economists are predicting that we're either in a recession, or on the verge of a recession. And people are probably going to be relying heavily on their tax rebates, as well as the extra money coming sometime in May, in order to live. I heard recently that there was an increase in the number of American citizens planning to use their tax rebates to pay off debts or credit card bills this year than previous. I guess everyone is feeling the pinch.

It's hard to know, right now, how this is going to change in the short term. Sure, some people are going to spend the rebate cheques heading their way, and if not those, then probably the additional ones in May. But is it going to be enough to stimulate the economy as intended? The high gas prices mean that the truckers are feeling it hard - there were protests this past week in Washington DC where the truckers all sounded their horns outside and around Capitol Hill in hopes that they were not going to be ignored. With high petrol prices, there is increased shipping and goods in stores increase in price - which means that people may not want to buy them. It's a vicious cycle. And when the oil companies are reporting record profits, it's hard not to see where to point the finger. With increased tensions in the Middle East lasting, this isn't going to help things either. If funding perhaps went into looking at renewable energy sources, perhaps increasing public transport here and there, maybe the oil prices would steady, perhaps even drop. WHo knows? It's a mess, really, and i guess that the best way to go would be to consider long term possibilities rather than short term solutions. Something has to give sooner or later. I just hope that it's not the economy.

Idiosyncracies in Idiomas

2008-04-06T18:31:00.002-04:00

Having recently started learning Spanish (I'm now about 6 weeks in to my evening class), and, indeed, working in a multi-national lab as i do, the little idiosyncracies of other languages have come to be something of a topic for discussion at lunchtimes and parties, and so on. Personally, I love learning other languages - and with now learing another language again, it made me realise how much that i missed doing it. I can't really put a finger on why i enjoy it so much - i find it both interesting and fun. Anyways, with me learning Spanish, and my Spanish friends (and other colleagues) wanting to improve their English, you can easily see why we talk about language a lot.

It's interesting, really, what we find difficult about learning other languages. For example, one main thing that all of my non-native English speaking friends find hard to get right in their heads (and, hey, most ENGLISH speakers have trouble with at times) is the fact that we often pronounce letters differently for different words. Such as cough, through, plough, thorough, though, tough, thought. All words using 'ough' but in all cases, the ough is pronounced differently. Another one that is a source of confusion is that we have a lot of words that are spelt differently but read the same (yet mean different things). Such as their, there and they're; or need , knead and need; steak and stake. The list goes on (we have found about 30 sets of words so far like this, and i'm sure there are more). For me, i guess, the hard things to learn about Spanish are the masculine and feminine aspects - LA silla, EL telefono (although what makes a telephone more masculine than a chair??). And although i've yet to reach it thoroughly, i'm told that Spanish grammar is hell to learn. Now, this just doesn't extend between English and Spanish. It works for others too. French, German, Bulgarian, Italian. And that's before we even get to the 'tonal' languages such as Japanese and Mandarin. I guess it just goes to show even further that we're all uniquely peculiar in our own ways. Particularly when it comes to language.

All About the "News"

2008-04-03T13:41:00.002-04:00

A couple of days ago, I had taken my car to a nearby garage for a general check over and an oil chance. As I had finished work for the day, i elected to sit in and wait with a book to read as it was going to take about 90 mins for the car to get seen and sorted out. I was happily reading away in the waiting area, where there was a TV on in the background with the FOX Channel News on. Now, i'd never really taken the time to actually bother watching FOX News before as i'd heard that it was rather politically slanted to say the least being somewhat pro-Republican. Indeed, some of my American friends had confirmed this in the past. Given the current events in politics (the 2008 US presidential election in case you're not aware of it), it was obvious what was going to be in the headlines. Namely Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Although i have to say that this was probably biased in itself towards Barack Obama - maybe they see him as the main threat to John McCain. Who can say?

Anyways, the topic of discussion at the time was about a questionnaire that Mr. Obama had filled in about 12 years ago in which he had expressed his opinions at the time. What was presented as 'horrifying' to the viewer by the newsreader was that he was, at that time, even MORE liberal than he says he is now (I believe he is said to be more middle of the road these days). The female newsreader went on that 'he was AGAINST capital punishment in all circumstances, and wanted to BAN all handguns'. What struck me more was the tones of absolute disgust that she read these in - like it was just horrible to even consider. Now, i was sat there thinking 'And this is a bad thing, how?' but they even wheeled in 'experts' to talk about this in a similar fashion. The one person who they had that seemed to defend the position or, at least, point out that John McCain has changed his mind in the past and why were they not having a go at him, was pretty much talked out of the discussion and looked down upon. When i told my friends about this after the fact, they laughed and said 'Yep, that's FOX news for you'. One has to wonder though, with such an 'impartial' media outlet, is there ever going to be a fair vote these days?

Party Like Its 1999

2008-03-30T10:29:00.000-04:00

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.....

2008-03-26T10:00:00.001-04:00

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!!!

2008-03-23T09:08:00.001-04:00

Green is the Colour

2008-03-18T20:45:00.000-04:00

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....

2008-03-14T20:56:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-12T11:40:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

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?

2008-03-04T18:05:00.002-05:00

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??

2008-03-01T12:19:00.003-05:00

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.

....and Delayed.

2008-02-27T11:39:00.001-05:00

Just when we all though things couldn't get any worse, we had to be re-routed through Chicago O'Hare. Anyways, after having gotten up on Monday at 5.45am Germany Time in order to have breakfast and make the shuttle to the airport, we got on to our first flight with no major hiccups. Well, actually with one. For some reason, both Ashley and Arelis were able to get boarding passes for the second flight from Chicago to Charleston whereas i wasn't which meant extra hassle when we got to Chicago and we had a particularly close connection. As it happened, it turned out not to be a problem. We got to Chicago some 10-15 mins late, and made it through Borders and Customs with no real problem. Collecting our bags, we went off for Ashley to check her bags on to the next flight and me to sort out boarding passes (Arelis ended up going through extra customs checks), we found our flight was delayed a couple of hours. Joy. I sorted out my bags and pass, and off we went to the gate (where we caught up with Arelis). Suffice to say, Ashley and I wandered off to get some food and have a large glass of wine!

ANyway, the time for boarding came. We got on the plane, it got de-iced, then had to be jump started, then had to be de-iced again (cause it took too long to jump start and the deicer had worn off). We pulled back from the gate and sat there for about 10 minutes, only to be told there was a problem with the plane and we had to go back to the gate. At this point, a woman on board demanded to be left off and wanted her luggage back so we all got off the plane for 45 mins, then got back on (at which point the snow and wind had gotten worse) and, you guessed it, the flight was cancelled again. Severely pissed off at this point, the three of us managed to get seats on the later flights (an hour after) and, fortunately, the snow had eased off some. Even so, we finally took off an hour later (9.00pm CHicago Time) and got back to Charleston at 12.05am early Tuesday Morning. I can't remember that flight much cause i passed out. Anyways, we FINALLY made it back after some 49 hours of travel. I don't think i've ever had anything like that happen to me and, y'know, i could do without it again any time soon!!

Delayed....

2008-02-24T05:30:00.002-05:00

After having a good, but intense week at the Gordon Conference in Tuscany, I was somewhat looking forward to getting back to Charleston - not least because i had some good feedback that stimulated new ideas about my work. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men....and all that, came to naught with the cancellation of my first flight out of Pisa. Having arrived at the airport at 6.30am (or therabouts) and checked in, we hopped on to the bus out to the plane and boarded. We were sitting on the plane for about 30 minute when the captain came on the tannoy and announced that the visibility outside was too bad for us to take off and we were going to wait to see if it got any better. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, things had not improved and so the flight was cancelled. Of course, the amusing thing in all this was that the Captain told us that Pisa does not have an electronic system for measuring visibility but rather 'a man who stands and looks out of the window'. At this point, we weren't sure if he was being serious or not.

Anyway, after getting back to the terminal, collecting bags and waiting in a queue for two hours (after one hour of which, the mist had all but vanished i should point out), we were told that we could not get back to Charleston today. Instead, we were going to be on the evening flight to Munich (as per our original flight plan) and then get re-routed on a flight the next morning. At least one thing was that they were going to put us up in a hotel. Thus, after a day of sitting around in Pisa airport (very boring, believe me) and getting to Munich, we had to wait around for about 45 mins as they sorted out our tickets and hotel, and we FINALLY made it to the hotel at about 9.45pm. Suffice to say we're all pretty tired (we being me, Ashley and another friend Arelis, who has had quite the journey from hell already) and ready for bed. Alas, it's an early start tomorrow though to get the next flights. And with any luck we'll get back to Charleston tomorrow.

Wine, glorious wine.....

2008-02-22T12:01:00.001-05:00

Having waffled on about Italian food for a whole post, i guess it would be entirely appropriate for me to now spend a few moments to dwell on the alcohol side of things. And why not. Given that Italy is pretty much as renowned for its wine as much as its food. Also, one of the conference excursions yesterday was a trip to a local winery for some tasting. The winery itself was pretty small, at least in terms of production, though they had 170 hectares of land. They produced four wines - one red, two white and a sparkling white, as well as a dessert wine and, of course, grappa - an Italian liquor that is distilled from the skins, stems and mush of the grapes left over from the wine making. It's quite potent. A couple of the PIs at the conference indulged in a little too much on one night and were missing (presumed hungover) for most of the morning session the next day.

The wine itself at the winery was not bad - the red was a little thinner than some of the more robust californian wines that i tend to have back in Charleston - although was still nicely flavoured. The dry white was fantastic, whereas the sweeter chardonnay was a bit more of an acquired taste. The dessert wine was amazing - very easy to drink - and the grappa pretty much blew your head of. So was well up to snuff. The major concern i had after the afternoon of tasting, was the fact that the measures served were generous to say the least. Suffice to say, when we got back, i had to go lie down for twenty minutes and drink a fair amount of water to stop myself from developing a mother of a headache. So all in all, a good afternoon all round! Added to that, some of the local olive oil and farm-baked bread, and it was an Italian experience all round. Bene!!

Food, glorious food......

2008-02-20T10:07:00.004-05:00

Of course, no trip to Italy wouldn't be complete without lots and lots of eating, and it's perhaps no real surprise that i've been happily embracing the tradition. Okay, so i havenb't been quite as bad as when Robert De Niro ate his way through the country in order to pile on the weight for the filming of 'Raging Bull' but there has been a lot of food availabler (in terms of variety) and so i've been quite happily trying it out. One of the more unusual things i have heard whilst being here is that the Italians don't really do breakfast and so they put out what they think other people want to have for breakfast. Given that the conference i was attending was very multinational, this led to their being a lot of stuff. The mainstay was a lot of breakfast cereal - surprisingly this was quite high sugar, so i guess they think we all have a sweet tooth. THere was, naturally, lots of coffee (good stuff) and then the usual fruit juice, yoghurt and fruit. On top of all that, though, there was a large amount of very sugary and sweet pastries, lots of prosciutto (cold cured ham), cheese and scrambled eggs. In short, almost anything and everything you could consider earting for breakfast. Except grits. Thank God.

For lunch and dinner, naturally, the Italians are little more at home, and there was also lots of good stuff to be had. To list it all here would be rather long winded and, quite frankly, would make me hungry. And probably you as well. Suffice to say, it was largely all pretty good - despite not being 'really italian' as our italian friends at the conference would have it. I guess this is mainly as it's made on a larger scale. However, none of us were complaining as it was pretty damn good. Suffice to say, i suspect i shall be hitting the gym when i get back. And certainly not eating pasta again for quite some time!!!

Viva Italia

2008-02-18T02:52:00.004-05:00

So, after some 24 hours or so of travelling from Charleston and the usual joy of having one day bleed into another that accompanies overnight flights across the Atlantic, we finally arrived in Il Ciocco, the hotel here in Barga where the conference is to be held. Suffice to say, the scenery is fantastic - the hotel itself is situated some way up a hillside affording stunning views of Barga and the surrounding hills and mountains. Yes, mountains as we are close to the Apuan Alps. It's quite a new experience for me to look around and see snow capped mountains in the distance but i'm certainly enjoying it. To get to Barga from Pisa we took the train - a little over an hour's journey through some similarly wonderful scenery. You can certainly tell that it's a different region of the world.

Since arriving, its pretty much been a combination of science at the conference mingled with trying to sleep off the jet lag as well. I'm still kind of groggy and not 100% sure whether i'm coming or going quite yet. Hopefully it'll be the end of it today. The conference itself has been good so far - the chance to meet and chat with some of the bigger names in this specific field. But when you've got that scenery outside, it's quite distracting to say the least. Anyhow, having now digested breakfast, i guess it's time for me to head downstairs to the morning lectures. Fun, fun, fun. Hopefully there'll be some of the Italian coffee to keep us from nodding off to easily....

Bon Voyage Again

2008-02-16T07:26:00.000-05:00

Just a short note to let you all know that i'm vanishing off to Italy in the next few hours for a conference and (frankly) some rest and relaxation. I will have email access over there and will be taking my laptop with me, so i'm sure i'll be able to update you on how wonderful the Tuscan scenery is, how fantastic the Italian food is and how good the Italian wine is. So, i'm probably making you even more jealous, right? Good good. That's what i like to hear.

So, until next i type from Europe.

Ciao, for now!!

Cash in Hand

2008-02-13T19:58:00.000-05:00

Now that we're well underway in 2008, my thoughts had turned quite quickly to the annual chore that is filling in the tax returns. Of course, these days, it's considerably easier than it used to be with the advent of e-filing and such making it far quicker and convenient to get your taxes sorted, and frankly costs you less. If you earn less than $57000 a year net pay, then you're entitled to file federal taxes for free and you are usually charged a nominal fee (around $10) for filing the state tax returns (of course you have to file both for state and federal which, i imagine for some people means a hell of a lot more paperwork). Suffice to say, with the help of my previous year tax return as a guide, and all requisite information, it didn't take me long to sort out my returns and file them. And i got the cash in the bank account this week - one of those nice surprises when you go to check your balance and you have more than you anticipated. Quite frankly, i don't mind the effort taken to fill in the tax returns if you get money back in the end - it's certainly money that I didn't account for in my budget and i may use it for a holiday of sorts.

Now, this year promises to be even better for a lot of people across the US. With the US economy teetering on the brink, the government has put together an economic stimulus package whereby according to your tax returns filed, you will get some amount of money extra back as a rebate - i think about $600 is the set limit for the average worker and $300 for retirees living on the state. The aim, of course, is for the recipients to put the money back into the economy and hopefully give some stability. Suffice to say, with the bill being signed this week, i was quite happy to go clothes shopping today - and spend a fair few dollars on some nice shiny jeans, trainers and tops which (hallelujah) and less than half the price than what i would pay if i was back in the UK. Did i mention how much i like living over here sometimes???

Flights of Fancy

2008-02-11T20:14:00.001-05:00

With my trip to Tuscany less than a week away, i was somewhat dismayed to receive a phone call from United Airlines asking me to call them back with an appropriate reservation number. Why they couldn't email me to ask, i guess, is besides the point. Having never flown with United before, i wasn't sure what to expect, but never-the-less gave them a call back to see what the score was. The message had mentioned something about a 'schedule change' which in the past has meant an alteration of 15 minutes or so here or there and nothing much to worry about. I hoped it was to be the same here. I should be so lucky. My flights to Pisa go from Charleston to Dulles (Washington DC) to Munich to Pisa - quite a long route admittedly but the most convenient and cheapest (leaving at 2pm on Sat 16th or therabouts). Well, I was informed that my first flight had changed, i was now on the 7.15pm flight to Dulles. "Oh, and by the way, you're not going to make your connections to Munich and Pisa." (This was how it was phrased - i kid you not). Rather perturbed by this, i asked what could be done and was given two options - one to route through Chicago (not an option - Chicago O'Hare is renowned to be a nightmare) and the other to get an earlier United flight to Dulles at 10.22am.

Okay, so now colour me stupid here but given that i'd made the reservations and the connections as they stood, you'd think that i'd actually WANT to catch those flights. So why go through all this hassle to call me and have me get back in touch to faff around with flights when they coulda just put me on that flight to begin with. Not only that but two friends i am flying with - who would also be in that situation - were not contacted at all. So if it hadn't been for me hearing, they would've shown up at the airport none-the-wiser (as, indeed, would I) and had no option but to wait around for the later flight. So, after some much running around and multiple calls to my friends and back to United (I was unable to change there seats, so they had to sort it themselves), we FINALLY all got the mess sorted out. I can only hope now that the flights by United work a lot better than the ticketing!! Watch this space!

Visa Vexation

2008-02-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

With my trip to Italy for a conference rapidly approaching, naturally my thoughts turn to making sure all the paper work i have is in order, so that i can get back into the country hassle free on my return. In doing all this, it brought to mind, once again, all the accompanying annoyances of being a non-American living in America on visa can be. Apart from all the initial woes that i have bitched about at length in previous posts, there is also the occasional xenophobia from some of the less enlightened locals, and at MUSC, there is the joy of dealing with the International Office. Now, given that there is a lot of paperwork that must go with dealing with internationals, i can understand that the job must be pretty laborious at times, yet i have never met people who REALLY don't seem to like the people who they are serving and helping. It's like getting blood from a stone at times.

THe other day, i called them up further to an email i had sent to them two weeks prior (one which, incidentally, had only just managed to make its way from one office to the other, all of a few metres a way). My reason was that i had to get my visa form signed to show that i am in good standing at MUSC and can re-enter the country. Now, my visa was an initial 3 years and was later extended to 5 years - or at least the paperwork was. When i asked about sending my passport off to get the visa in there amended appropriately i was told that it wasn't there job and that i would have to sort that myself. OF course, i could get around that by not leaving the country after the visa in my passport expires (June 2008). This was, again, reiterated when i went to get my form signed. When i pointed out that i would like to have it sorted anyway, i was given the kind of reply of 'why do you WANT to leave the country anyway?' and some kind of disbelief of the fact that i do actually like travelling in places outside the US. For me to get the visa sorted, i have to leave the country, go to a US embassy and then have an interview etc all over again. Until recently, it seemed possible that i might be able to do this in Canada or Mexico. Now it appears i may have to go back to England to sort it out. Anyway, my overriding impression of all this is that given the amount of crap and hassle that I, as an international, have had to put up with (and bear in mind this is just a first level visa), is it any wonder that people try and enter the country illegally instead of going through the so-called 'normal' channels?

Back to Reality???

2008-02-04T14:51:00.000-05:00

With the Hollywood Writer's Strike still going strong, the vast majority of shows have now run out of new episodes to air. Thus, we're currently being treated to the delights of either re-runs, inane quiz shows (such as the recent 'Moment of Truth' - a lie-detector based 'game show') or, you've guessed it, that old chestnut the Reality Show. Yep, they're back with a vengeance - ok, so they never really went away over here - and with the writers showing no sign of leaving the picket lines at the moment, unfortunately they're probably going to be here to stay as the viewing figures are going up. Now, i wouldn't mind so much if these shows actually required some modicum of talent to be on, or actually involved normal people acquiring skills of a kind (Dancing With the Stars is still relatively tolerable as, at least, they have to DO something). Alas, it's largely not the case and we are landed with incredible amounts of airheaded, whiny people on the screen moaning about how they SO deserve to be doing something and its just NOT FAIR that they can't. Never mind the fact that i have more talent in my little finger than most of them put together.

Of course, I guess Europe is to blame for this in the end. I seem to vaguely remember that the original Big Brother (in Holland?) is responsible for the resurge in all this cheap, tacky crap. Then, of course, the Pop Idol of England heightened it - but then at least we came to our senses (somewhat) after two series of that. Alas, American Idol is still going strong over here and shows no signs of stopping. I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't drag it out for ever with the preliminary rounds and then the RIDICULOUSLY slow elimination. What makes this even worse to bear is that all water cooler conversation ceases to be about anything remotely interesting and focuses entirely on this for the time it's on. I can feel my eyes glazing over at the thought of it already. I, for one, am PRAYING that the writers resolve their differences soon and we can actually get some decent TV back on again. Oh, and if the creators of 'America's Most Smartest Model' are reading, it's not big and its not clever. Now just let it drop!!

State of the Union

2008-01-31T20:18:00.000-05:00

So a couple of days ago, the USA was treated to the final State of the Union address by the current 'lame duck' president George W.(the name they give to a president who is leaving office at the next election). Of course, there are some that would argue that he was a bit of a lame duck throughout the last seven years he has been in the White House. Who am i to disagree? The general consensus from what i have read is that the ideas and issues presented and 'discussed' in the speech were pretty much recycled ones from the past few years - it seems that the Bush administration is becoming 'environmentally friendly' after all. The major difference was talk of the 'economic stimulus' package that is hoped to be passed in the coming weeks - an attempt to bolster the US economy by getting people to spend money. Of course, the increased panic caused by the recent half point decrease in interest rates to go with the three quarter point decrease of a few days prior hasn't really helped (the largest drop in the shortest period of time in US history so i believe). So what, really, is the State of the Union??

1. A struggling economy and a collapsing house market.
2. A rich-poor divide that has grown in the last few years.
3. A war in Iraq, costing an estimated $10 billion a month.
4. A markedly diminished reputation around the world.
5. Issues with immigrants that are suggested to be solved by 'building a big fence'
6. Large numbers of citizens without healthcare
7. One of the largest national debts in US history
8. A president who is openly mocked by US comedians and others around the world.

Now this is just a small number of things that spring to mind, or a cursory browse around the internet can find. I'm sure there are many other issues/problems that are still yet to be considered or addressed. It seems that the State of the Union is a bit of a mess. With the oncoming elections in November, will things only get better? Let's hope so because i just don't know what will happen if they get worse.

A Load of Balls

2008-01-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

For the past few Sundays, it's been the volleyball intramural competition at MUSC and this week, it came to a close. At least for my team it did. Yes, having once again been roped in to captain (i guess it's my height), and spending the last few weeks practicing and playing, it all came down to the game yesterday where we, unfortunately, lost although did manage to take the game into overtime. Overall, i was particularly pleased with how we played yesterday both together as a team, and in terms of the attacks that we set up. However, it seems that luck just wasn't with us this year. However, i feel in large part that this was due to some rather shocking lack of consistency in the refereeing of some of the games we have played. This is not to put down the teams that beat us - some of them were definitely better. However, there were a couple that we could've beaten pretty easily had the decisions been made more fairly.

As an example of this, one of the cardinal rules of the game is to steer clear of the net. Any touch of the net, be it a graze or a full blown 'fall into' results in the point being awarded to the other team. Thus, we were rather dismayed to be called on minor grazes of the net, when the opposition seemed to get away all too often with some quite serious incursions. Yesterday, for example, a player on the other team went up to spike the ball and did so, but virtually took the net with him. When we pointed this out to the ref (it's not like it wasn't obvious), he wasn't having any of it. The same goes for 'carrying' the ball - all contacts are meant to be brief and extended holding on to the ball is not allowed. A couple of weeks back, we were playing a team with one guy who thought he was playing basketball seemed to enjoy getting the ball and slam dunking it over the net - despite the fact that in order to do this he held the ball for a good 2-3 secs. The ref didn't bat an eyelid. Anyway, at this stage, there is not going to be any use in complaining about it - what's done is done. It just feels rather frustrating that after taking the time to practice and improve our game a lot, we lost out on some crappy decisions. I just guess that's life sometimes.

Conversation Piece...

2008-01-25T19:16:00.000-05:00

Picture, if you will, a busy 'Subway' in downtown Charleston and me, quite frankly, starving as i stand in the queue waiting to be served. There is obviously quite a line as it's a busy restaurant and there aren't too many staff on hand. But still, the queue is moving reasonably. I get to the start of the counter and ask for a foot-long Club sandwich (told you i was hungry) and then shuffle slowly along to to the vegetable part of the whole process.

Server: Lettuce, Tomato? (pronounced 'Tom-ay-to' of course)

Me: Yes. Lettuce, tomato, green pepper please.

Server (having not added tomato): What else?

Me: Tomato as well please.

Server: Mustard only?

Me: Excuse me? No. No mustard. But i'd like tomato as well please.

Server slides sandwich along to co-worker: Mustard only.

Me: No, no, no, no!!

Voila, a large dollop of mustard gets added, i promptly bang my head again the glass counter. Okay, not really. I pointed out the error and the first Server insisted that i had asked for Mustard Only, but the sandwich was remade and all was well and done. After being here for two and a half plus years now, i had grown accustomed to my accent being misheard, but this is the first it has happened in some time. I guess it was a combination of the noise, and how busy the place was, added to my insistence on saying 'Tom-ah-to' that confused matters. But how Tomato sounds like mustard only? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Thankfully, i got my sandwich and that was all that mattered.

More to the manners???

2008-01-22T20:01:00.000-05:00

As is often the case at lunchtimes, i nearly always end up having to wait in a queue. I'm not overly bothered really - after all, queuing is something of a national past-time in the UK. Hell, there's a whole culture and etiquette of how to stand and behave in a queue that's sprung up around it. But I digress. As I was waiting, I was indulging in my usual hobby of people-watching (and listening) and something struck me as rather stand-out. Namely, the way that many of the customers (if not all of the ones in my immediate vicinity) were speaking to the workers. Out of the many people in the queue, I would swear that I was the only one who uttered the words please and thank you, as my sandwich was being prepared (this was in the Subway queue, i should add). Everyone else seemed to enjoy communicating in short, terse sentences. Not only was there a lack of any politeness what-so-ever, but the tone of voice often used was not particularly pleasant either - there were those who were generally talking down, those who were speaking to the workers as if they were talking to a child and so on. Given that i know what it's like to be on the other end, i find it rather annoying in the extreme.

As I stood there growing more incredulous at the minute, it did strike me that there might be more to this than meets the eye. Aside from the 'talking down to a person who is perceived as a lower class of worker' that might be the obvious explanation, I did wonder if there actually might be some basic racist aspect to the whole thing. Y'see, the majority of workers behind the counter were hispanic or african-american. Ok, now i might be over-interpreting (having recently taken a course in Diversity issues, this is rather on my mind at the moment) but also remembering that this is the South, and so this subtle racism doesn't seem too much of a stretch. Indeed, its certainly something that i've commented on before. However, this is often the hardest mindset to change. After having to endure this for merely a few moments in a queue, it felt like there's an awful big mountain to climb.

And so it goes on....

2008-01-18T20:46:00.000-05:00

And what better way to start this new chapter in my blog with a look at the chaos that is the 2008 presidential election. Or rather not, as this is still just the prelim of selecting a candidate. To say that TV and new coverage is rather saturated with the whole shebang would be an understatement. Barely a newspaper is printed, or commericals go by without there being something said by some candidate. Now, as a non-US citizen, you can imagine that it's rather frustrating given that i can't do much of anything about it, but i also get the sense that a lot of my american friends and colleagues are just sick of hearing about it all already. Given how much exposure the public have to this kind of thing, it actually seems no real surprise that by the time the real elections roll around in November, the voter turnout is low. I'd quite frankly be sick to death of it all.

That aside, this race is shaping up to be reasonably interesting for both parties as there has yet to be a clear leader of the pack. For the democrats, we have the competition between two potential firsts - the first woman and the first black man run. For the Republicans, well, if i'm honest i don't pay much attention to them as they're frankly far too conservative for my tastes. Suffice to say, it's still all up in the air. However, as with all political races, both here and back in the UK, there nearly always seems to be some focus on sniping and putting down your opponents rather than selling yourself well on your ideas and platforms. After the months of campaigning and watching the same commercials again and again, with the same speeches again and again, I ultimately reach the conclusion that all politicians are the same. Which is not a new one at that. And, in the long run, despite all the promises and pontificating, i doubt that very much is going to be different after all is said and done.

He's Back...

2008-01-15T13:48:00.000-05:00

Well, dear readers (if i actually have any), i decided after an extended break that it was high time for me to pick up my....er...keyboard and fill you in, once again, on the daily goings on of a British research scientist humbly trying to survive in deepest darkest South Carolina (okay, Charleston) without losing my sanity. Or at least the little bit of sanity that i claim to have left. Suffice to say, it's been a rather strange few months without the outlet of regular posts on here. At times, i've found myself with entirely too much time on my hands, yet at other moments, i've been glad not to have this taking up precious moments required for sleep and other such necessary activies (like Christmas parties). Still, i've currently got a handle on things all work and life related (famous last words, i'm sure) and fully intend to try and update this at least once a week. Maybe twice, if you're lucky. I'm sure there is going to be a wealth of material to discuss in the coming months, what with the craziness of election year already well underway (complete with the accompanying apathy) as well as the general wackiness of the Southern folk to contend with. And a trip to Italy come the end of February as well to keep me (and hopefully you, dear reader) entertained.

For now, the shackles are off, the electricity is running and there seems to be life in this (relatively) old dog yet. It's good to be back!

Hiatus

2007-04-13T19:37:00.001-04:00

Well, I guess many of us saw it coming sooner or later. After some 380 posts and coming on to two years of blogging, i've decided that i'm going to have to put the site on temporary hiatus. Its not that i don't have the subject matter to talk about - indeed, plenty of things in recent weeks have been worthy of discussion here. It's more just the fact that i simply don't have the time or energy to order my thoughts long enough to compose a post. Work is pretty hectic, as usual, but i find with the gym and other commitments, that by the time I do have a few minutes to spare, my brain just wants to sit and read, or relax and generally just watch the world go by.

Rest assured, this is not the end. The show is definitely not over, but there will be a short intermission.

Keep watching the skies!!!

Death Wishes

2007-04-11T16:37:00.000-04:00

At the moment, for me, it seems to be something of a common occurence for me to have near misses, or relatively near misses, when i'm driving around Charleston. Now, you may think that this is me admitting that i'm a bad driver - when, seriously, i'm actually very safe when you consider a lot of Charleston drivers (on second thoughts, best not consider cause you'll just shake you head and wonder how they managed to get a licence in the first place). Au contraire. It seems that no matter where and when i go, i seem to attract an inordinately large number of crazy people in the vicinity of me. It seems that a lot of people in Charleston either have too much faith in the drivers here, or have a serious death wish about them. - for this is mainly restricted to pedestrians and not other cars.

You may remember a while back, me talking in a post about how dangerous and vulnerable i felt as a pedestrian, given the amount of idiots on mobile phones here. Well, it seems that the Charleston pedestrian has evolved into something completely different. Thus, yesterday on my return from the supermarket, I was trundling along at 20mph (10mph below the speed limit) when a man came running out of a side street and straight across the road in front of me without so much as a glance. I had barely gotten over this surprise, when someone following him came out doing exactly the same thing. These two men then proceeded to run down the middle of a one-way street, going THE WRONG WAY! And this is just one example of many - the lady with the pushchair who decided to stop in the middle of the road so she could pull her cellphone out of her bag and answer it, the group of builders who were sauntering across a busy road in rush hour, never mind the large amount of traffic jam they were causing as well as the fact that drivers in the other lane were coming off the James Island connector at about 60mph. All in all, it seems, there are some seriously crazy pedestrians out there as well. I just count myself lucky that i haven't hit one!

More Apologies

2007-04-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

As repeat visitors to this site will notice, i've been a wee bit behind on updating. This is, in some part, cause i haven't had as much to talk about lately (fancy that!) but is also because work is going into crazy mode at the moment. This is, largely, because i am taking a week at the end of the month to have a flying visit to England for a friend's wedding (I may have mentioned this already). Thus, i am trying to get as much done before i leave as i have my next lab meeting on May 10th - all of 10 days after i am due to return to Charleston. There's nothing like an impending two hour session in front of your colleagues to motivate you!!

Thus, with a lot of long days in the lab, the gym, keeping in touch with the folks back home, socialising and a couple of parties with friends and colleagues, it's no real stretch of the imagination to see that the rest of my time is in bed pretty much. Or eating. Sometimes both. Anyway, i sincerely apologise to you Constant Reader, and will endeavour to update a bit more regularly. Suffice to say, I am alive and well, and everything is going pretty smoothly, if not busily. Hopefully you'll hear from me soon!!

The Rite of Spring

2007-04-04T09:38:00.000-04:00

With April well and truly upon us, i had braced myself for the inevitable upturn in weather here in Charleston - and the switch over from jeans and sweaters to shorts and t-shirts...

Literal Interpretations

2007-04-01T11:54:00.001-04:00

Somewhat further to the post on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', last night I attended a gathering organised by the MUSC Gay-Straight alliance; it was the spring social and so a chance to mingle, and gossip, as well as enjoy some nice food and have a drink or two as well - essentially just what the doctor ordered after the trials and exhaustion of the run on Saturday morning. What was quite interesting is how in depth discussion got in general - with one topic of conversation frequently recurring being the whole issue of the Bible, religion and homosexuality. Now this is something that i have talked about quite a lot with friends and colleagues, and it's certainly something of interest. The main reason this came up from my point of view was that my friend Kellie had given me an email that was a reply written to a Dr. Laura Schlessinger - a radio personality over here who is rather obnoxious, very conservative and narrow-minded, and more often than not says things to be 'shocking' rather than for any moral reasoning behind them.

One of her central tenets these days is that any observant follower of religion could read the bible and see how homosexuality is not to be condoned in any way, shape or form. The writer of this email in reply to this gives the letter a gushing tone of thanks to Dr Laura for her clarification on such matters and then proceeds to ask her advice on other things mentioned in the bible. For example, one point says that the writer wants to sell his daughter into slavery as sanctioned in a particular book, asking Dr Laura's advice on what a fair price is these days. Ultimately, it's very funnny and highlights just how selective religion can be in picking and choosing what it's followers want to believe. Now, you may think from all this that i'm anti-religion. I'm not - i have a great respect for people who have a faith, as it's not something I have in that sense of the word (although i do have my own beliefs). I guuess my frustration is with the people who use religion as a means to an end, a tool for to justify their own actions or for their own purposes. Unfortunately, this day and age, I don't see it coming to an end anytime soon.

Cooper River Bridge Run 2007

2007-03-30T19:53:00.001-04:00

With the weekend approaching, i found myself with a sense of trepidation (and a little dread) as with it came the 30th Annual Cooper River Bridge Run - a 10K run that starts in the Mount Pleasant side of the Cooper River and ends in downtown Charleston taking in the Ravenel Bridge on the way - for pretty much the middle 2 and a half miles of the race. Having decided way back in September that i was going to run this year, i had done quite a bit of training to make sure that i was actually able to run the required distance and also did a few runs over the Bridge itself to get used to the incline (i believe it's 4% uphill for a mile or so). Of course, i hadn't been able to put the two together but i figured that i would be okay on the day itself. With an 8am start for the race, and shuttle buses leaving downtown from 5.30am to 6.30am only, it meant that an early start was a pre-requisite and so i ended up in bed at about 10pm on Friday night, ready to get up at around 4.30am in the morning. Staggering out of bed at this time (and being regarded with a bemused look by the cat), i managed to wake myself up before heading out. Naturally, reaching the appropriate point at the start (I had put myself in the 50m to 1h group) meant that there was a good hour or so waiting around for things to happen.

Anyway, long story short, the start came around and everyone crunched up even more (35,000 people is an impressive sight, i can tell you) for the gun and then we were off. After spending the first mile or so to the bridge dodging people (very annoying as some of the slower runners and walkers had pushed their way to the front), the bridge came around and EVERYONE slowed up. Despite having a stitch develop on the way up, I was happy that it disappeared soon enough and i was able to complete the rest of the course pretty well. Crossing the line at 47:53 and placed 1465 overall (out of 35000 is rather good i think), i was pleased to see that my chip time (the actual course time as measured by an electronic chip that was triggered and stopped by the start and finish lines) turned out at 47 minutes exactly. I think i'm going to run again next year (despite the fact my legs are going to kill me tomorrow) although i plan to run a bit more consistently throughout the year. And i am definitely putting myself in the next category up - hopefully being able to avoid all the hold-ups and dodging. All in all, a fun - if tiring, event.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2007-03-28T14:52:00.000-04:00

This afteroon, I attended an interesting discussion on the US 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy with regards to homosexuality and serving in the forces. The crux of the policy is that you are welcome to serve in the forces, but if you are found commiting a homosexual act (which includes telling someone that you are gay) then you will be discharged. The other side of this, as well, is that the commanding officers are not allowed to forcibly interrogate someone about their sexuality. Essentially, this discussion came about because a couple of senators are attempting to get the policy repealed whereby it ceases to be an issue and an opposing senator stated something along the lines of 'The military cannot condone anything it sees as immoral'. It's certainly been a matter of heated debate over a few years since the policy first came into force (during the Clinton Adminstration).

On the one side, I can perhaps see some of the arguments that would be used in support of the policy - along the lines of 'It's a predominantly single sex environment so there would be considerable more opportunity for sexual encounters to arise'. There was one officer who has suggested that comfort and trust was the important issue i.e. many people feel uncomfortable around gays, and don't trust them. And you need trust in the forces' and so on, and so on. Now these are valid points of view - although certainly on the trust thing i would have more trust for someone who is open and honest, instead of someone who has to hide and be secretive. However, I feel that it's somewhat flawed. The forces generally frown on sex and sexual acts between people serving period, so why the specific need for a policy singling out homosexuality? Certainly, there are current estimates of 65,000 gays serving in the military (and i believe that it's an underestimate at that). Bottom line is, if there are people willing to serve, protect and die for their country why ostracize some of them?

Wedding Shower

2007-03-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

Sunday rolled round last week and, with it, an invitation to yet another party - never let it be said that scientists don't know how to have a good time!! The occasion this time was the impending nuptials of a colleague Norma to her fiance Andy. The wedding itself is taking place in Norma's home country of Argentina and so, in order for us all here to have some kind of a celebration, a 'wedding shower' was organised. Taking place at a workmate's house (Nabil and his wife Kelly's place in North Charleston), the stage was set for a pleasant Sunday afternoon gathering and, indeed, was as it turned out to be. Naturally, the weather was immensely co-operative in providing what felt like the hottest day so far this year (and I mean low 80s and sunshine. At the end of March. God, i love living in a semi-tropical climate!). One rather amusing highlight of the afternoon was a game that started early and progressed throughout the afteroon whereby everyone was given a peg on a part of their clothing. The aim of the game was to try and get as many pegs as possible from other people - and to do this, you had to get them to say 'wedding' whereupon you could remove all the pegs that person had. Suffice to say, this led to some VERY amusing attempts to get people to say 'wedding'. Naturally, the bride-to-be was one of the two top prize winners - mainly as absent-minded people forgot about the game (after one or two glasses of wine) and happily chatted to Norma about the wedding ceremony and such. Anyways, a fun afternoon all round - and Best Wishes to Norma and Andy for the future.

Pulling Out

2007-03-23T13:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, so my original intent for this post was a general rumination and pondering of the recent developments over here with the passing of a bill by the House of Representatives whereby all American troops would be removed from Iraq by the fall of 2008. Basically, this was going to be a diatribe on the fact that the bill itself contained all sorts of 'pork' (as they call it) in that a lot of money allocated in the bill was for things that matter to a lot of people - and if their representatives want to do their job properly would HAVE to vote for it. It was also going to cover, what i think, is the lunacy of the idea (whilst I do agree that the Iraqis need to have more control of THEIR country, I also think that the US made it's bed over there and they have a responsibility to lie in it, and see it through rather than pulling out just cause they're sick of it - for once, on this front, Bush and I are somewhat in agreement). Anyway, after having posted this subject and 'COMING SOON' nearly a week ago, i've just grown so tired and weary of having the whole thing being repeated, and discussed, and criticized, and idolized, and God knows what else on CNN that i've just had it up to here with it all. In short, it's been done to death and i think that in the few sentence above, i've summed up my position quite succinctly. So i'm going to leave it at that (and i'm sure you're all glad as well!)

Sake It To Me

2007-03-21T20:47:00.000-04:00

After the Ceramide conference in California, a former visiting post-doc, Hiro, returned to Charleston for a week or two to tidy up some experiments for a manuscript that he and a couple of others had written based on the work he had done in Charleston. Hiro works for the National Brewing Institute in Japan and, as a consequence, is very interested in yeast research - particularly with regards to lipid metabolism within various strains of yeast. Anyway, being from Japan and being a scientist means that Hiro is used to working long hours (they say it's even worse there than here in the US). However, with only having a limited time in Charleston before he had to go back home, it meant that he worked even longer hours than normal. Thus, it was no surprise for me to stroll in at my usual 7-7.30 am (I prefer to be in the lab early and leave a bit earlier if i can) and find Hiro there, nor for me to walk past his temporary desk to see him slumped over asleep.

Anyway, today was his last day in Charleston - he is flying back to Japan tomorrow - and so a group of us (20, no less) went out for a dinner at a local Chinese restaurant - Palais De Jade (I may have mentioned it before). The last few times we've been there, they didn't have an alcohol licence and so we couldnt have a beer or glass of wine with dinner. This time, though, it's different and they do, and they also has SAKE, much to Hiro's delight. Suffice to say, it was the drink of the evening and lots of interesting discussion was had on sake, the process of making it, the ways they're trying to produce different flavours and a lot of Japanese customs and traditions. Such as, if your employers (or, indeed, anyone of a higher status) buys you a drink, it is rude to refuse it. Now this sounds like a place i could live! Anyway, here's to you Hiro! Long may you continue producing sake.

Fun With Flights

2007-03-19T13:53:00.000-04:00

With having two visits to the UK in the next few months (one at the end of April for my friend Phil's wedding, one in August/September for my cousin's and brother's wedding - not to each other i add), i've spent an awful lot of time recently browsing the numerous travel websites out there in search of a reasonably priced flight back over the Atlantic and have come to one conclusion. These days, there just aren't any. Actually, that's not strictly true, if you hunt around a lot, then you can get good deals but, to be frank, i haven't got the time or the energy to do just that. Okay, well maybe i have the time on occasion but it's such a grinding task that leaves you with your head tangled in knots over airport changes, times, different time zones, connections and any number of other things. Of course, the fact that i've now joined a specific Air Miles program doesn't really help matters much, despite the fact that it doesn't really limit my choice of airlines (there is some Skyteam alliance thing whereby a number of airlines all give air miles to the other's members as well as their own).

Anyway, after spending much time going cross-eyed and banging my head against a brick wall, i finally managed to sort out flights for my trip back home in August (the flights for April were booked sometime ago and were a bit less of a headache). Some reasonably extensive searching and cross-referencing allowed me to book flights separately from Charleston to Boston and then to London Heathrow (instead of my usual Manchester) via Paris Charles De Gaulle (which should no doubt be an experience). Okay, so there's an extra change in there but it gives me a couple of extra segments for the air miles (they're important) but also a few extra miles as well. Plus, it was $200 cheaper than the best alternative i could find through the various travel websites. I guess it just goes to show that shopping around doesn't hurt. Now all i have to do is survive my brief stay (a couple of hours) in France. Shouldn't be TOO difficult for an Englishman!

Happy St Patricks Day

2007-03-17T11:56:00.000-04:00

To all Irish, Irish-American, Semi-Irish-American, Possibly-Irish-American, Wanting-to-be-Irish-American and Pretending-to-be-Irish-American-to-get-drunk-today, a very happy St Patricks Day to you.

I advise going to this link:

The St Patricks Chin Song

A colleague at work forwarded it to me. It's kinda freaky but also very funny. Now i'm off to kiss me blarney stone and drink some guinness. Top of the morning to ya! :-)

Surveying

2007-03-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

There is something of a reputation in the States for pretty high standards of customer service - largely, as it seems, they usually hold true to the adage of 'The customer is always right' as opposed to 'the customer is right when i WANT them to be right' that seems to be followed in a lot of UK shops (along with the 'The customer is an irritation to my standing here doing nothing' that goes hand in hand with it). Generally, i haven't had too many complains about the staff over here - apart from their tendency to harass you when you're just really just browsing and that they carry on conversations with colleagues either around you, or sometimes through you. But, hey, those things are rife in the UK in places as well (apart from the harassing maybe). However, one thing that i don't think has caught on fully in the UK yet is the chance to offer feedback - often by the placing of customer service forms in prominent places in the shop.

But, of course, here in the US, things go even further than that. A few times, now, i have been to a variety of shops for various services and then received a call a day or so later from a representative with a 'follow-up' survey as to how my 'shopping experience' was. Not only does this come down to phone calls, but also e-mails as well. I got an e-mail from the hotel where i stayed in California (where the conference was). Not really wanting to bother with it (it seemed to be rather length), I deleted it only to receive another email (deleted), a third email (deleted) and finally, after getting a FOURTH email within two days, I caved in and filled in the survey. I just wish there was a question about 'How did you find the subsequent email harassment for this survey? a) satisfactory, b) very satisfactory, c) who cares, cause we're not gonna look anyway. And that's the$64,000 dollar question really. Do these surveys actually go somewhere and get analyzed meaningfully? Or do they merely get glanced at and ignored. The cynic in me says the latter, but i'm not sure what everyone else thinks. Maybe i should take a survey of my own to find out...

Lost In Time

2007-03-13T12:20:00.000-04:00

One facet of my recent California trip that was a new thing for me was the fact that I was going to be travelling within the same country, yet was going to be in a completely different time zone - losing three hours in the process. Or rather gaining them, depending on your perspective. Thus, the joy of jet lag was awaited - although as usual was far worse for me coming back to Charleston than when flying out to San Francisco. The analogy I usually give is that in living three hours again, for your body, it's really just like you're staying up late, and then still getting a full night's sleep. The bad thing with coming back is when you have your day considerably shortened (it's even worse going back to the UK when your whole night becomes condensed into a 6-7 hour flight). This whole thing probably explains my grogginess this week.

Anyways, to top all of this off as well, the administration over here passed legislation recently to extend the period of Daylight Savings time (or British Summer Time as it is known in, well, Britain). I'm not 100% sure of the reasons - i think that work efficiency or something factors into it along the line, but it got somewhat lost in the rest of the explanation. Suffice to say, this last Saturday at 1.00am, the clocks were moved forward 1 hour. Now, add this to the fact that it was the last night of the conference, we were all getting up relatively early for our flights back to Charleston AND we were going to be losing an additional three hours as well, then it's small wonder that our bodies didn't know if they were coming or going. Certainly, i have been sleeping a little longer than normal since coming back (always a good thing!). Of course, this now means that I am currently only 4 hours behind friends and family in the UK at the moment - at least until they put their clocks forward in, I think, a week or so. Confused much? No, me neither.

Asilomar

2007-03-11T19:03:00.000-04:00

And finally, some shots of the Monterey Bay area - where the conference proper was held. The venue was a place called Asilomar - a proper conference ground venue next to the town of Pacific Grove and close to Monterey. As you will see, there was a beach a short walk away from the grounds. Enjoy.

A shot of the beach from the conference grounds

Close-up of the beach and lovely choppy ocean

Part of the conference grounds in the California Sun

Looking across Monterey Bay from the Aquarium

Another shot of the grounds - note the sea in the distance

A sunset shot taken on the last evening. Awwwww

California Dreamin (2): The Golden Gate

2007-03-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

Of course, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without a closer look at one of the famous landmarks here: The Golden Gate Bridge. For me, whenever I think of the Golden Gate Bridge, it's usually in reference to the James Bond film 'A View To A Kill' where Bond and the villain have a fight on top of one of the Bridge cables. Very impressively done. Anyhow, the bridge is a Suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate - the entrance from San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. Costing over $27 million dollars, the bridge was constructed from January 1933 to April 1937, opening in the May of that year. Given that this was during the Great Depression, the bridge was sometimes thought of a a beacon of hope that the US would recover from it's economic slump. It is sometimes also cited as an example of US determination - essentially, if they can build a bridge like this during the Great Depression, then the sky is the limit. For me, I just think it's an incredible structure - very recognisable and more a feat of engineering. Whatever you may think of it, it's certainly worth a look.

A view of the bridge from Pier 41

Approaching from Route 101

Crossing from South to North

Your humble author, at the North side

The Bridge from the North Side

Pretty impressive, don't you think? If there was one thing that i wanted to see whilst in San Francisco, this was probably it.

California Dreamin...

2007-03-07T13:51:00.000-05:00

As mentioned previously, I was heading off to a conference this Wednesday - taking place in Asilomar, California - close to the Monterey Bay area (about 100 miles SE of San Francisco) and was looking forward to seeing some of the California scenery and, of course, a bit of San Francisco. Naturally, lots of photos were taken, so here are some of San Francisco for your perusal. Enjoy!!

Downtown San Francisco (in the California Sun)

Alcatraz - out in the bay

San Francisco is famous for its Sourdough bread

One of those famous San Francisco hilly streets.

The San Francisco Bay Area - breathtakingly pretty

The San Francisco Sea Lions - Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf.

More to follow later in the week.

Magnolia

2007-03-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

With the lab having it's first, for some time, potential post-doc candidate visiting, you can imagine that a lot of us were interesed in taking the opportunity to go out for dinner or lunch on work - a chance to try some of the nicer restaurants in town and not worry overtly about the cost. Fortunately for me, I was given the opportunity to go out to dinner and had selected a restaurant in downtown Charleston that has a reputation as being one of the nicer places in Charleston to eat whilst not being ridiculously extortionate. The place is called Magnolia and is one of three restaurants owned by the same people - they have one that is slightly cheaper and one that is more expensive. Now, having said that the prices aren't too bad, it can also be said that it would be extremely easy to drop a large amount of money there - a glance at the wine list reveals a good number of bottles of over $100 and much much more. Fortunately for us, our tastes aren't THAT expensive, so the main concern was whether the reputation afforded the restaurant was accurate or not.

I'm happy to report that the food certainly did live up to the word of mouth. The style of cooking is something of a Southern cooking that has been given some upscale dressing - basically, it's high class Southern food (even with the grits, i might add) that works very well I think. I'm not sure if i would rush back to the place again, given that there are also a couple of other places in the vicinity that do a similar style of cooking for a slightly more reasonable price (it was no surprise to any of us that we were right at the limit of our budget). However, overall, i'm happy that i have had the chance to eat here, and would certainly go back. Provided someone else is offering to pay!!!

Baby Shower

2007-03-03T18:47:00.000-05:00

Saturday arrived and with it, the chance to attend a celebration at the house of Yusuf (my boss, and chair of Biochemistry) and Lina. The occasion was for Chiara and Maurizio (they of the great parties) who are expecting their first child in a month or so. Thus, a baby shower was arranged - somewhat akin to a small gathering where the soon-to-be parents are given a whole lot of advice by other parents, as well as being given the necessary items required.

Chiara and Maurizio were somewhat happy to be partaking as they, by their own admission, completely unprepared for the arrival of their bambino (they are having a son). Once the nibbles had been eaten, and the champagne drunk, everyone gathered round as they went through all their gifts and, all in all, it was quite overwhelming for them - with both getting a little teary overall. The highlight of the afternoon, though, was the game we played whereby we were given a list of attributes (height, weight, hair, eyes etc) and had to guess who it was that Chiara and Maurizio wanted their baby to take after. Suffice to say, the biggest argument was as to which soccer team they wanted their baby to support. I think they're still 'discussing' it.

Return of the Returns

2007-03-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

In order to determine which of the 1500 tax forms we have available for use, please answer the following questions.

1)a) Are you human? If the answer is yes, please go to question 2.
b) Please list your kingdom, phylla, class, order, family, genus and species. Then go to table SP1 to find which form you must use. If you are a blind organism, please refer to our braille tables.

2) Are you a) American - if so, give yourself a pat on the back and pick form EZ - 'cause we know how hard it is for you to fill these things in.
b) Not American - if so, you should REALLY consider filling in the mountain of paperwork it takes to become a citizen cause, you know....well, you just should, ok. Anyway, you have to pick another form - one that's gonna be confusing as all hell, cause it's in American.

3) If not American are you a) European, b) Asian c) Australasiasiasi....obsessed with barbeques d) Mexican (please enclose a bottle of tequilla with your form as proof), e) English but liable to be mistaken for all of the above and more? This won't affect your form, we just want to know where you're from so we can decide how closely we're going to check your taxes.

Once you have found your form, please fill it in as accurately as possible.

1) Please write your annual income. If this is above $96,000, please enclose at least 1% for 'administrative costs'. If this is above $150,000, add an extra 1% for 'charitable purposes' If this is below $20,000, you should get another job and see us again next year.

2) Please write the number of dependents you have. This means children or the elderly. This does not mean cats, dogs, fish, orangutans, fleas that you may have for lack of washing or tapeworm - unless it's above 5m long, then we can call it a 1/2.

3) Multiply the number of dependents you have by the number of days till your next birthday and subtract the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Divide by your total number of digits and limbs, and then multiply by $5,500 to get your total tax free allowance. If this is above $5,500, subtract the appropriate amount to get it to $5,500 and write the difference in the 'charitable gift to Federal government' section. If this is less than $5,500, then great.

4) Subtract your allowance from your gross income and then add on the date that you're writing this out in simple form i.e. January first means add on $101, February first - $201 etc. multipled by the number of beers you can drink without falling over. If this is more than 12, please donate 15% of your income to Alcoholic anonymous and enlist immediately.

5)Calculate how much tax you should have given us from the Tax tables provided. Then calculate the difference between how much you owed and how much you gave. No matter what sign this comes out as, make sure that the government always takes less.

6) Send us your cheque. If we don't get it by April 1st, we'll send some guys round to break your kneecaps. If you're lucky. Otherwise, we'll just drop a laser-guided bomb on your house and release a statement that it was a stray missile from Iraq. Or something.

Disclaimer: The above is intended to be a humorous look at the filling in of tax returns over here in the US and absolutely does not represent the true process at all. In reality, it's much worse than you think!

Remember - Tax return deadline is April 15th!!!

How did I do???

2007-02-27T20:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, so a bit later than i intended, but with the back-patting and glitz of the Oscars over and done with, I can look back at the predictions i made last week to see how well I did. Whilst award ceremonies aren't perhaps the most enthralling of viewing anyway, it has to be said that the Oscar ceremony nearly always plumbs new depths of boredom at various points nearly every year. The same was true here with considerable gaps between the actual awards meaning that the ceremony over ran by quite some margin. Anyway, as a big film fan, I was determined to stay up for most of the proceedings and managed to just about get through it - though it was touch and go. Anyway, if you look back at my thoughts from a week ago, you'll see that I was pretty reasonable in my predictions - accurately predicting 7 of 9 (somewhat strange that i'm watching 'Star Trek: Voyager' right now) categories.

My overall thoughts were generally positive - I feel that the people who deserved to win did so (particularly Helen Mirren) and that Martin Scorsee got his long overdue award (which he really should've got back in 1991). Of the five films up for Best Picture, it was pretty much a clear cut thing that 'The Departed' was going to win - it is certainly a very good film indeed (if rather gory). I was rather saddened that 'Pan's Labyrinth' did not win Best Foreign Film - after seeing this today, I can recommend it highly. However, as i have not seen the other films (or the winner) guess I have nothing to compare it too. Anyway, the whole thing is over and done with again - and i think that next year, I may just wait to see the results the next morning. There's only so much self-congratulatory Hollywood guff that can be digested in one evening.

Queue Jumping

2007-02-24T14:31:00.000-05:00

It is probably something of a known fact worldwide that queuing is one of the British national past-times. No matter where you go, or what you do, the chances are that you're going to have to endure a queue at some point. And, of course, the usual round of bitching, complaining and gossip that goes on in such lines. In one of the 'Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' books, a character is named Fenchurch. Why? I hear you ask. Because she was conceived in the ticket queue at Fenchurch Street Train Station. It's amazing what people will do to pass the time in these things. Anyway, it is perhaps also unsurprising that a general queue etiquette has formed at the same time - and this mainly focuses around the major point of queues in that 'everyone has to wait their turn' and there will be hell on if someone jumps in the queue ahead of you. Of course, everyone is tempted by this at some point or other - it's the law of the universe that if there are two queues, the moment you join one, then the other two will start going quicker. Move into one of those and the same thing happens again and again. I speak from knowledge believe me.

Well, over here things are much the same to a degree - at least in terms of the queuing (although there is CONSIDERABLY more bitching and complaining than in the UK. At least in my experiences here). The only difference is that a large number of people just don't seem to GET what a queue is for and will happily just wander in at any old point they want. This not only applies to pedestrian queues, but also traffic queues where anyone with a large truck will just shove his way in 'cause he's so damned sure that no-one is going to mess with him (unless, of course, its someone bigger. Or perhaps with a firearm in the cab). Take, for example, the other day when I was in the queue at a Subway (in the canteen) when a rather arrogant young doctor left the queue (after telling his friend he was getting something else for lunch instead) and then proceeded to spend about five minutes wandering around the place only to return and state his intention to rejoin the queue. His friend (bless her) noted how big the line had got in his absence and suggested they go to the back whereupon he said 'You were saving my place. And besides, i'm a doctor so i'm allowed to cut in line in the hospital canteen' Suffice to say he got a very withering look from me (just behind him) and then ended up going somewhere else anyway. I like to think it's cause of my expression, but i think he was just an impatient fool. Now all this may seem petty (and i guess it is to some degree) but I guess being British, the whole queuing thing is just part of my sociological make-up whether i like it or not.

The Long Wait...

2007-02-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

It was with some dismay a couple of weeks back that I decided my car needed to pay a visit to the garage as it had begun to play up. Initially, i thought it was the damp (it had rained heavily and the car hadn't been used for a day or two) but the problem persisted. Basically, the engine had begun to stutter, sometimes cutting out and generally just being hard to drive in low gears and speeds. However, on the way to the garage the problem seemed to right itself, at least for a day or so - until the 'engine check' light came on and the engine began to have unusually high revs. So, off I went to the Hyundai garage on Highway 17 (that heads out to Savannah) to see what they could do. After arranging an appointment the following Wednesday (this was the 14th), I dropped the car off early (8.00am) and they said they would be in touch by the end of the day. Of course, this didn't happen but I got a call around 8.30am on Thursday saying that they had identified the problem (the air intake or something) and had sorted it. Great, I thought, and then as garages do, they told me of other problems they had found - the rear brake pads were 'getting thin' and the drive belts (fan belts) were cracking (I found out after that this was indeed the case). THey had the parts - it would be ready by the end of the day.

So, I called later "Oh no, it's not done. Definitely tomorrow." Nothing all Friday. I called in the afternoon "Oh, yes, we made a mistake. One of the parts we thought we had, was wrong. I misread the serial number. It's on order, here tomorrow. The car will DEFINITELY be done before noon." Guess what. Noon came and went, off I went out of town and came back - nothing at all. Sunday, they're closed and Monday was a Bank Holiday although I believe they were actually open. So, Tuesday morning I finally get a call from them saying it was ready - and off I went at lunchtime to get it back before they changed their minds. Once I got their, I was told I owed about $537 - to which I politely told them to go jump. Perplexed, they asked why whereupon I pointed out they originally quoted me $425 for it all, and assured me it would be done in two days whereas they had now been in possession of my car for a week nearly. After some humming, they agreed to knock $50 off the bill and that was the best they could do - so I took it. Thankfully, the car is driving smoothly and all is well at the moment. The ironic thing is that this particular Hyundai had recently won awards for its service and record. All I'll say is, if the best in Charleston takes 6 days to sort your car out, I feel very sorry for those people who go to the worst.

Things That Need To Go Away

2007-02-20T19:34:00.000-05:00

As always in life, there are things that just seem to be everywhere and, to be frank, need to go away. At the moment over here, there seems to be something of an upsurge in the number of things that, quite frankly, I need to stop hearing. So they need to disappear, vanish into Room 101 or something.

1. Britney Spears - Okay, so she went 'crazy' and is in rehab. Like so many other young females who are exposed to fame at early ages. It doesn't mean I want to hear about it all the time.

2. Anna Nicole Smith - Okay, so she died and was quite young - it is tragic, but I'm sure that i'm not the only one sick of the 'soap opera' style court cases that are continually being thrust into the news. Do these people have no shame? Can't they just let the poor woman rest in peace.

3. The Iraq Issue - So, the current administration misled the public to carry out an illegal war in Iraq. Everyone realises four years to late and now the Democrats decide that they're going to do something about it - basically blocking the current administration's plans (not necessarily a bad thing). Fine and dandy, except the Democrats don't seem to have a strategy themselves (other than running away and leaving someone else to clean up the mess). Whilst I appreciate this is a major issue, I tire of the fact that all conversations on this subject are just going round and round in circles. Enough already!

4. The current administration - And whilst we're at it, the current administration just needs to disappear from the annals of history all together. Of course, is the next one going to be any better??

5. David and Victoria Beckham - so Becks is moving from Real Madrid (one of the greatest football teams on the planet) to LA. And it's about the football??? Hmmm. Seriously, they've barely got here and already the news and 'entertainment' channels (I use the term loosely) are falling over themselves about it. Oh, for a really world class psychiatrist!!

6. Advertisements - Not only are they on an obscene amount of times over here (4 commericals in a half hour show! 6 times in an hour long) but they're either incredibly annoying, inane, just plain stupid or all of the above. In particular, i'm sick of adverts for local law firms touting for business, and car adverts. Just as bad over here as back home.

Ok, so only a handful of things. I could go on but we'd probably be here all night. And, naturally, this is by no means comprehensive. If anyone else wants to add their own thoughts about what's driving them crazy right now, please feel free to add. Apart from Britney, of course.

Murder Mystery Fun

2007-02-18T20:57:00.001-05:00

For a change of pace this weekend, I had recently accepted an invitation by my friends Ashley and Jim (they of the great cooking and parties) to go out of town to Winnsboro, SC - a small mill town (i.e. essentially it was built because of a mill) in the vicinity of Colombia - the capital of South Carolina state. This was just for one night - so not too long but still enough time to feel like you've gotten away - and was at a B & B that they had visited a few times. The occasion was for for a murder mystery evening - you know the kind, where everyone in attendance assumes a character and has to act out events in the aftermath of a murder, whereby things are revealed gradually as the game and rounds progresses. Having been to a smaller one of these at Ashley and Jim's place some time ago (I remember mentioning it on here), it sounded like it would be fun so I had jumped at the chance.

The place itself (Winnsboro) is very quiet and pleasant - some nice scenery and a train line running through (I almost had a shock when I heard a train passing by; it's not a common sound over here). The B & B was very nice and old style with very high ceilings and nice decor. The food was nice enough (the package was $72 - about 36 pounds and that include dinner, breakfast, accomodation, and some wine and cheese nibbles prior to the game as well). The game was very entertaining (my character wasn't too much of a stretch being the only Englishman there) and, this time, I wasn't the murderer although I was quite proud of myself for guessing who was and partly getting the motive and manner in which it was done (it was a very complicated plot). Fun all round was had, and on returning to Charleston I felt somewhat refreshed from having gotten away for a bit.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle....

2007-02-15T20:42:00.000-05:00

You might be surprised at the number of bicycles and amount of cycling that goes on here in Charleston - especially given the stereotype of Americans as being car obsessed, petrol (gas) guzzling fiends who will hop in the car to drive all of a 5 min walk down the road. Okay, so the latter largely holds true - but it remains that I have noticed quite a few bikes on the roads since I arrived here some 20 months ago (is it really that long?). Perhaps since getting a car of my own, I may have noticed it even more - and certainly since returning to the gym (where a large amount of people go on a weekly club to ride their bikes in a stationary position, before putting it in the back of their cars and driving home. I know!). Anyway, as usual I'm digressing, as the point of this post is not really the surprise at seeing bikes over here, but more as to how stupid the people who are riding them seem to be.

First things first and it's looking at the law - which does not require you to wear a helmet over here (both on push bike and motorbike, can you believe), and an awful lot of people don't - on both kinds. This is especially crazy given how bad some of the drivers are here. This is also incomprehensible when we go to the next point - namely how bad some of the cyclists are themselves. We have those who ride around at 8pm in the pitch black without lights, or reflective clothing or anything at all to let the drivers know they're there. And they do the stupidest things like riding across a junction when the lights are about to change red, or veering across the road randomly (without indicating) or, get this, driving down the wrong side of the road straight towards the oncoming traffic and often in the middle of the road itself. This occurs both in daylight and in the dark, I should add. It seems that the cyclists hand the responsiblity of their safety to the drivers who have to brake hard, or be ever aware that they're going to do SOMETHING stupid at a moment's notice. Taking the cars out of the equation for the moment and regarding the dual 'foot/bike' path crossing the Ravenel Bridge (that i have been running over in training) and you have the idiots who think it appropriate to go hurtling down the path which is crowded with pedestrians, without a helmet or a bell (to let the people know they're coming) or indeed any cares in the world. all it takes is one mis-step along the way and they're toast. So forgive me if i decide not to join the biking club just yet.

Oscar Predictions

2007-02-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

Of course, it's that time of year with awards ceremonies being held like it's the end of the world or something. As usual, by now, we've had the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Emmys and goodness knows what else and now attention is focusing on the big one - the Academy Awards, yes that annual ceremony where all of Hollywood comes together to pat each other on the back and basically say tell the world how wonderful they are, and all the movies they make are as well (despite the fact that 90% of them are complete and utter dross). Not only is this a major event in the movie calendar, it's also a biggie for all movie journalists as well - who will be no doubt sharpening their pencils (or tongues) ready to ridicule the Academy for some of their more dubious choices. Hey, it wouldn't be the 'Oscars' if everyone didn't bitch about at least one of the awards. Like when Tom Hanks won Best Actor for 'Philadelphia' over Liam Neeson in 'Schindler's List'. It's clear to many whose was the better performance, yet the Academy felt a need to 'mark' the first major Hollywood film that dealt with HIV and AIDS. Never mind the fact that it just wasn't very good. And these days, it seems to be all about who has the most money rather than who has the better film - like when Miramax spent a small fortune (a few million dollars) promoting 'Shakespeare in Love' which managed to triumph over 'Saving Private Ryan' - a much better film in this writer's humble opinion.

Anyway, i digress. Enough with the bitching and so forth (I know you've come to expect it of me!). There are a few clear runners in the major categories this year - so i'll give you my opinion on who will win what. Naturally, any bets made on the back of these predictions are completely at your own risk and i accept no responsibility whatsoever. Unless you win a considerable amount of money, in which case, e-mail me and we'll come to some arrangement.

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (won a lot of awards already, so a likely favourite)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen (as above. Even Dame Judi Dench, one competitor, has talked of putting money on this)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed (He deserves to win one, and has for some time. It's a black mark against the Academy that he hasn't won yet. If he doesn't win here, then they all need killing!)
Best Film: The Departed (then again, they may give him this as a consolation prize)
Best Supporting: Eddie Murphy (actor) and Jennifer Hudson (actress), Dreamgirls (this is what the Globes said - generally considered the most reliable Oscar indicator)
Best Foreign Film - Pan's Labyrinth (I'll be VERY surprised if this highly rated film doesn't win something)
Best Screenplay: (Original) Little Miss Sunshine (a consolation prize, perhaps?); (Adapted) The Departed (I think this will be the 'Big' winner for 2007).

So, there you have it - my ha'penniesworth for what it's, well, worth. I, for one, shall be tuning in to see what happens - although i suspect my remote control finger will be a bit over active for most of it (the speeches!!).

Soundalike

2007-02-11T12:18:00.000-05:00

Some of you may remember that way way back in my Blogging history (around post 120 or so - feel free to go and check, cause i'm not going to !), I mentioned the peculiarity of seeing people in Charleston who were doppelgangers for people that I know back home. I' m sure that i'm not the only person in the world for who this has happened but there it is. However, more recently, i have encountered a new twist on this phenomenon (again, i'm sure others have felt this too) whereby I have met people who are entirely dissimilar in appearance to friends of mine but when they start speaking, i have to do a double take (almost) as their voices are exactly the same. Now you may think i'm being crazy (it's plausible, I grant you) or that my ears are just in need of a good waxing (less plausible, but still) but i kid you not. I also add as credentials for my superior ears the fact that i can play the violin, and have been involved in a lot of musical groups during my childhood and school years - thus, i like to think that i have a good pair of ears (even if they sometimes do look like satellite dishes on the side of my head).

I guess it's just one of those things really - but i still find it un-nerving nonetheless. The other night I was at a friend's house with a few other people and i had to put up with three such cases at the same time. The friend in question sounds exactly like my friend Tracey from Oxford (how someone from Sedgefield and South Carolina can sound so alike is beyond me, but there you go). Of the other people present, one sounded very much like my friend Michael (also from Sedgefield, and a friend of both myself and Tracey), and to make it even more strange, another person sounded like our mutual friend Emma (whose wedding we all attended last August). Now, meeting three such people at once is strange enough, but the fact that they all sound like people who are all friends with each other and me. Bizarre indeed. Rest assured, if I find out that there was some mysterious planetary alignment (like a Syzygy - see 'The X-Files' for details) or what-have-you the other day, i would not bat an eyelid.

Conference Approaching

2007-02-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

With January already having flown by it seems like 2007 is set to be yet another of those 'blink and you'll miss it' occasions or, perhaps, a 'drink and you'll miss it one' given the amount of parties that i seem to have been attending recently!! With my Dad's visit over and done, and the remainder of January been somewhat filled with work stuff - like seminars and the like, I was quite relieved when February came along, only to then realise today that the next big event on my scientific calendar is fast approaching - namely, the Charleston Ceramide Conference (aka CCC) which takes place on March 7th-11th. The timely reminder came with an e-mail confirming that my abstract had been accepted for a poster presentation (another one to add to the CV) and reminded me that i had actually better start putting something together - given that it's only three and a half weeks away now.

Of course, an added advantage of this conference is it's location. The CCC is so named because it originated here in Charleston in 2001 - and was spearheaded by my boss Dr. Hannun as a conference for discussing sphingolipids (my labs primary research area). Since then, the conference has been held every other year but has not been restricted to Charleston. In 2003, the second conference was held in Italy (I forget where, but the place began with 'C' to keep the CCC up), was back in Charleston in 2005 and so now for 2007 will be at another destination - namely, Carmel in California. Thus, along with the conference this will be giving me a chance to hop over the West Coast for a few days. Whilst my plans to spend a few days in San Francisco (the nearest major city) on the way had to be shelved (owing to a late decision to go back to the UK for a week at the end of April), it will still be a nice chance to see a little more of the country - and, hey, with no major trips back to the UK for 2008 planned, I think i may hop over that side again soon enough!! So, without much further do, i think i'm going to sign off and start preparing my poster - if i can find the abstract i wrote, that is!!

Cold(s)

2007-02-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

It has to be said that my Dad certainly picked the right time of the winter months to make his visit to Charleston. When he was here, the weather was undeniably pleasant. Whilst perhaps not as warm as the last January (which, as I recall, was unseasonably so), the sun shone and the sky was clear and, on the whole, it was pretty damn nice - apart from his last day or so here where it rained a bit, but that's bye-the-bye. Fast forward over the next three weeks and we're still stuck in the middle of a cold snap that, to be frank, is beginning to get on my nerves! Okay, so being from the UK, you'd expect that i'd be used to that sort of weather but after 20 months here (nearly) can you blame me if my body has adapted?? Suffice to say, with my early morning going into work, i've been wearing a good many layers I can tell you (four the other day) and have taken to carrying a travel mug of coffee in with me as well (partly to help keep my hands warm!).

Of course, my sensitivity to the cold hasn't been helped by the fact that i've had a cold for pretty much the time since my Dad left - and i have to say that i'm blaming him wholeheartedly for the fact. I suspect that he bought some robust British virus overseas with him or, at least, caught something on the plane (I always seem to end up getting a cold after flying - i'm waiting for the day where i get my revenge and get to give everyone else on the plane my cold instead!). Suffice to say wherever it came from, it ended up being passed on to be, and i've felt lousy for the last few weeks (as i may have mentioned earlier). Still, this week (at last!) it feels like the light may be at the end of the tunnel. My nose has stopped running or being clogged up (or both!) and my voice now sounds less like my vocal chords have been scrubbed clean with sandpaper, and more like my normal dulcet tones (who's sniggering at the back!). I just hope that i don't have a relapse. Now where did i put that vitamin C?

From Court to Diamond

2007-02-04T18:05:00.000-05:00

So, the day of the play offs arrived and with it, the knowledge that if we won our match, we would be playing in the final two hours later and if we lost, then i would be hurrying out to Mount Pleasant to take part in the Biochemistry team's first intramural Softball game. Suffice to say, it was going to be a tiring day whatever happened. And as expected, the other team turned out to be rather too good for us to prevail. I would've been happy to take them to a third game but as it happened, even that was expecting too much for us. They were quite simply just to good. On that note, I have to say that I think it's extremely pathetic on their part - here are a team where all 6 players clearly had college experience volleyball where the two girls were much better than any of us, and the four guys were beyond them. Why on earth they were playing in the Non-competitive league is beyond me - other than the fact that they must have just wanted to win. I mean, what's the point? Of the nine teams in the league, seven were all of a similar level, and two (that ended up in the final, quelle surprise) were just streets ahead. It really sucks all the fun out of the game when you have a team like that - and then they start getting really picky and accusing us of being dishonest about things. I mean, give me a break!!!

Anyway, rant over, and with losing the game, it was off to Mount Pleasant and the softball. As with last year, I was team pitcher and was surprised by how much i could actually remember about doing good pitches. I managed to strike one person out and also did some good runs and throws to get a couple of people out at first base. Of course, all this would've been for nought if we couldn't score runs ourselves and again I surprised myself by actually hitting the ball pretty damn far. I was so stunned that I momentarily forgot I had to run, but still ended up on second base afterwards - and was bought home by the next hitter. Good stuff all round. However, we ended up tying the game - despite the fact that the opposition had an illegal team (we just wanted to play but they didn't have the correct amount of players or some such thing) and AGAIN were being really picky about certain rules. What is it with all these double standards?!

Play Offs

2007-02-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Now you may remember that I'm currently captain of a team in the intramural volleyball competition at MUSC (the non-competitive league). Well, finally after five games (3 wins, two losse), we were on to the final week and sat with our fingers crossed hoping that we would make it through to the play-offs. Why the uncertainty, I hear you ask?? Well, this was due to the organisers of the competition being rather badly....well, organised in allowing five of the 9 times to play six games, whilst four only play five - and happily saying that this is all fair and good, and just the way it is - when we query how this is going to be considered fair when calculating which teams go through. Suffice to say (and as i had predicted, I should add), two of the 9 teams were clearly through to the play offs (having won 5 games respectively, one team out of six, one out of five played) and my team, plus two others were going to end up on 3-2 (wins-losses).

We had been told, in this event, that the teams to go through would be decided on 'strength of schedule'. When asked what this rather cryptic phrase meant, we were given a description that sounded rather like trying to explain the offside rule in 100 words or less. Suffice to say, it wasn't very clear at all. Anyway, this is all a long roundabout way to let you all know that my team was selected to go through to the playoffs and will be playing our match this coming Sunday. Which is the good news. The bad news is that we are going to be facing a team that we have played already, and that we lost too (although to be fair to us, we did not give them an easy ride). However, we have practiced tonight, are practising tomorrow and hopefully will be at least able to give them a decent match, and maybe even a run for their money. Here's hoping. On the other side of things, though, we got further this year than we did last, and so we should all be very proud of ourselves. I shall keep you all informed of what happens.

Unfinished Business...

2007-01-30T18:47:00.000-05:00

What with living in Manchester before I came to the USA, I was rather used to the general building site atmosphere that pervaded the city - what with it being a major up and coming part of the North-West of England. You couldn't go down any street without seeing either something being put up, torn down, redesigned, reimagined, and any combination thereof. What you could also see was any number of builders feverishly working away. The same seems to be true of Charleston in some respects. Whilst there are perhaps not so many building projects on the go as in Manchester, those that are (such as the new hospital opposite my work) have gone up incredibly quickly. The same goes for the new apartments being built a stone's throw away from my work (that will no doubt be snapped up by new doctors, mark my words). Anyway, in both cities, it has to be said that the same is not true of the roads.

Now previously on this blog, I have had cause to bitch immensely about the state of both roads and pavements. If you can really call them that. My father has now had the joys of being driven down some of the Charleston roads, and he can tell you just as well as I that they are somewhat lacking in surface, and somewhat overflowing with potholes. So imagine my joy when, on the day of his departure, the road was closed - and they were obviously taking off the old surface with a view to redoing it. Well, that was what i hoped. A week later, and they FINALLY decided to put a new layer. Only for them to cover half of the road and leave the other half twice as bad as it was before. Well, would you believe that it STILL is only half done. After nearly two and a half weeks. I can. I now am fervently hoping that they manage to complete the job before my NEXT visitors arrive. Which will probably be in late 2007!! Keep your fingers crossed.

Economic Models with Cows

2007-01-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

A little something that my friend Fiona sent from Manchester. I passed copies round my lab and it had us all laughing. Enjoy!!

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows, and you give one to your neighbour.
COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.
FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.
NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.
BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away...
TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.
ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull.
A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows because you're sobering up and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.
A CHINA CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.
AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.
A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.
A WELSH CORPORATION: You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive.
IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy....

I particularly like the American, Japanese, Russian, British and Welsh Corporations.

Apologies

2007-01-27T20:51:00.000-05:00

Dear constant reader (if there are any),

I'm sure you've been wondering about the lack of posts this week. This is partly cause of that little ol' thing called work - the usual thing that interferes with my days of procrastination and thinking up things to talk about on here. Owing to some rather pesky rapid growth of cells, and my overambition, I ended up with a considerable number of experiments to do (with the help of my student Michael). Anyways, when all this was done, i was left somewhat intellectually drained (whose that sniggering at the back) and it was all I could do to drag myself home and actually cook something to eat. On the other hand, I was unfortunately waylaid with a rather nasty cold this week starting with a mother of a sore throat on Sunday and going all the way through to today with a nasty blocked nose, sneezing and coughs galore. It wasn't a pretty sight (especially with the dryness and the cracking of the lips - probably the worst thing i hate about a cold). Thankfully, it may be on the way out (or at least i hope so) after some rest, lots of vitamin C (i.e. fruit juice). With any luck, this will give me renewed vigour and imagination to have plenty of things to talk about next week. Maybe. Possibly. Or perhaps not.

Till then, constant reader.

Good night!

No Smoke...

2007-01-21T14:39:00.000-05:00

It was something of a milestone event that took place in Charleston last week when the local council read for the first time a bill that will ban smoking in restaurants, bars and public buildings. Whilst this does not mean it will become law - it has to go through the process another two times - it is a significant step in the right direction. Of course, this has been met with the usual reactions on both side of the argument - happiness from the anti-smokers, with anger and cries of hypocrisy from the side of the pro-smokers. Being a non-smoker, i'm of a tendency to side with them anyway, but also given that i have worked bar in the past, i am far more on the side of such workers. Whilst I agree that it is entirely up to the individual if they want to smoke or not, i do not see why workers in places rife with smoke should be subjected to it, particularly if they do not smoke themselves. Of course, the pro-smokers point to their being no real evidence that passive smoking can lead to lung diseases and all that, and indeed some studies say otherwise (paid for by the smoking companies no less). Regardless of this or not, just because they wish to inhale the 100s of chemicals in cigarettes, doesn't mean that the rest of us have to as well. Some bars have complained about the law - saying that it will affect their business, yet this does not seem to be the case in California or places such as New York when such bans occurred. Indeed, it seems that people were considerably happier being able to go out and drink, and dine and not come back with a thin layer of tar over their clothes, and that horrible smell that hangs around for an eternity. No, I think that a smoking ban in public buildings is all good. Let the smokers hang around outside and maybe, just maybe, people will come to their senses and realise exactly how damaging it is to their health in general. Here's hoping.

All Done

2007-01-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

So, after eleven fun days with my Dad, the day finally arrived when he had to go back to reality and the UK - probably a good thing given that the weather the past couple of days had been somewhat reminiscent of home. Anyway, at 9.30 or so, I duly left work to give him a ride to the airport. After a quick coffee, and news of delays thanks to weather at Newark airport (wind, snow, rain - the usual suspects), I headed back to the lab and left Dad to his fate. Of course, I naturally spent some time at my computer repeatedly tracking his progress at various points on the way (i love using the real time flight trackers - very fun!) to make sure he got back in one piece. Thankfully, the number i gave him to call me seemed to work this time so we managed to speak when he had got to Newark in one piece. As I type this now, he's somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, or rather he should be - according to flight trackers, he's delayed. Anyway, for me it's been a thoroughly fun two weeks (or therabouts) and now, i guess, i have to really throw myself back into work and try and get as much done before i head off to California for a conference in March (seems like a long way away, but it'll soon be here, believe me). Hopefully, now, with my Dad having made it over here, other friends and family won't have so much of an excuse not to come and visit me themselves. Anyways, here are a couple of pics from the last week or two. Enjoy.

Dad, attempting to look American and blend in.

Me and a new friend.

My Dad trying to find the right way home.

On Food....

2007-01-17T19:48:00.000-05:00

Of course, with having a visitor in town, this is the ideal excuse to eat out on as many occasions as humanly possible. Well, perhaps not quite - after all my Dad is a Yorkshireman and is naturally thrifty so i've also been doing some cooking myself, but we've still dined out for lunch and dinner on a fair few occasions. Alas, we haven't been anywhere new to me - so i can't offer my opinions on a different dining experience. Not that this is a grumble at all - the places we have been are some of my favourite and have been very good indeed, both in the food, the atmosphere and largely the service as well so no complaints at all. My Dad's favourite place was Basil - the Thai restaurant (considered the best Thai restaurant in Charleston) and so we're due to go back there tomorrow night for his last evening in town.

One thing that has made me smile throughout all this has been Dad's reaction to the size of the portions on one hand, and the sheer number of food outlets on the other. He has frequently mumbled about eating more here in the last couple of days than he would eat in a week at home! I also managed to persuade him to try some American and Southern things - fried green tomatoes, grits, cornbread, Key lime pie, Pecan pie and of course iced tea (something that he had sworn never to try). They all went down pretty well. It can certainly be said that he's had a good variety of food - and all of it excellent quality. For some reason he seemed surprised that i knew so many good places. I wonder what he was implying.

The Queen

2007-01-15T17:50:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I had wanted to do whilst my Dad was over here was to go to the movies a couple of times. It's not the sort of thing he tends to do back in the UK by himself, so I thought it would be a good chance. Thus, the first evening he was here, we went to see James Bond (apologies if i've mentioned this already) and yesterday I thought it would be a nice idea to go and see the film 'The Queen' given that it was on at a local cinema that caters to the more independent films crowd. Thus, off we went. Whilst the theatre initially looked like it was going to be virtually empty (we were the only ones there with about 10 mins to screen time), it actually filled up pretty quickly such that it was about half full. The only slight annoyance throughout the film was the presence of an American gentleman behind my right ear who seemed to think it necessary to offer single sentence pronouncements at random intervals throughout the film. I had to resist the urge to turn around and give him 'a look' (TM).

I quite enjoyed the film as a whole - and it certainly bought back a lot about the time of Princess Diana's death (for those who don't know, it depicts the week following the accident and the behind-the-scenes wrangling between Downing St and Buckingham Palace) - it actually surprised me how much I could remember about it. Whilst it is indeed a fiction based on real-life events, it is a reasonable extrapolation of what could have happened; certainly, some of the headlines and issues bought up in the film were very familiar about the whole time. The acting is largely excellent - the gentleman portraying Tony Blair is spot on, and Helen Mirren is fabulous as her majesty. At the end of it all, though, when we were leaving the theatre and i was half-listening to other's thoughts on it all, I was certainly left with the impression that both my Dad and I, being British, appreciated the film on a couple more levels than the non-British. I guess that's to be expected. Anyway, i certainly recommend the film.

Wanderings

2007-01-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it has to be said that since my Dad arrived in town, we've done a fair amount of walking about. The day after his arrival, we went driving off to various points in and around Charleston and did a good deal of strolling - along the beach; round the malls (looking for a digital camera for him, and trainers for me) and around town. The other day we went for an evening stroll that turned into an evening three and a half mile walk. Suffice to say, SOMEONE'S grumbling about it (and it isn't me!). The next day, we went off to the Isle of Palms beach and then up over the Ravenel bridge and back - as you can see from the photo.

Today, we made it down to Savannah, Georgia (for my second time there) and in a dramatic break, we got a bus tour round the city. However, after that we resumed strolling down the river front and around a good number of the squares before we headed back up to South Carolina. Of course, my Dad has been doing a good deal more than I - when i've had to go to work, he's been content to stroll around town on various routes. But then i am doing lots of running for the 10K Bridge Run so i reckon it evens out. Anyway, I have to say that it reminded me how nice it is to walk - something that I, perhaps, have been neglecting to do from time to time. I think I may have just formed a belated New Year's Resolution!!

What's in a name??

2007-01-11T17:43:00.000-05:00

There are many things that i have wondered about over my time in the US but, in all honesty, i've not got round to writing about. One of these was something bought up my Father on one of our few driving trips around the city - namely, the American habit of naming almost anything possible. Okay, so naming buildings and bridges after people is fair enough - I don't have a problem there. Putting up memorials to people or plaques on buildings telling people information about famous people or historical figures who have lived there is also fine with me - even if the joke along the Eastern seaboard of 'George Washington slept here' seems to be somewhat ironically true wherever you go. What I find more perplexing is the naming of the roads. Now don't get me wrong, naming streets are roads like, say, Sam Rittenberg Boulevard (Highway 7 here) or Calhoun Street, Jonathan Lucas Street seems okay. But for some reason I don't know how thrilled the right person would be when he has a section of, say, Highway 526 named as the '...' freeway or expressway. It just feels a bit....tacky?? Is that right, I don't know.

What I find even more amusing is the naming of interchanges (junctions) of the freeways after a people - thus we have the Lucille... interchange at the end of the Ravenel bridge. And it doesn't stop there - dotted along Interstate 26 are a number of named interchanges. It makes me wonder if the so-named dignitaries were present at the ceremony of the opening/naming of their interchanges. And then, I have to say, should we stop there. Why not name park benches, or litter bins. Perhaps a few lamposts or traffic lights could be monikered for some local dignitaries (I certainly can think of a few such 'deserving' individuals). In all this, I am reminded of an old computer game for the Amiga - 'Colonization' whereby the score at the end of the game is interpreted into the naming of an item after the person - be it an insect, bridge, drink, card game, illness or you name it....(excuse the pun!)

Otherwise Engaged (Apparently)

2007-01-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

It seems to have become a common occurence lately for many of the locals to ask me if i'm married or something along those lines - how long have i been married, where is your wife, does your wife like it here etc. etc. etc. Somewhat perplexed at all this initially (and, indeed, this has been going on for some time before hand as well) I would reply that I was actually not married, which would then elicit apologies and so on and so forth. I then realised that the reason for this was the fact that i wear a ring on my right hand that is in fact a men's wedding band. Now I won't go into why i wear the ring too in depth - in short, it's to remember my grandmother (my father's mother). When I wanted to get a ring, I wanted a plain gold ring and the only one's I could find were wedding bands. However, I wear this on my RIGHT hand, albeit on the 'wedding' finger. It seems that a number of Americans are aware that in some European countries, the rings are worn on the right hand and not the left, and so assume that it is the same in the UK, which is fair enough I suppose. In some cases, when i've replied that i'm not married, people have then gone on to think that i'm divorced.

In general, I don't mind people getting confused with the whole ring on hand thing - it's an honest mistake. What perhaps surprises me more is that perfect strangers feel quite comfortable just turning around and asking me something relatively personal as 'how does your wife like it here' etc. etc. This is certainly something that I don't think would ever happen in the UK (correct me if i'm wrong) and so I find it unnerving in the least. I mean, it's not like I meet someone over here and automatically start inquiring about aspects of their personal life after a few minutes. Okay, if the spouse happens to be present, then fair enough (at a party, say) but in the middle of the hospital restaurant this tends not to be the case. At least for the staff. In short, this post is perhaps about the difference between some Americans and the Brits in terms of how forward people can be. Whilst I consider myself to be quite open and extrovert, I still find myself somewhat taken aback by this. What do you think??

The 'Old Man'

2007-01-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

So, with January 8th all but upon us (i.e. TOMORROW), I'm looking forward to welcoming my father to Charleston on his first trip out of the UK for, ooooh, about 14 and a half years (if memory serves me correct, it was in July of 1992 when we visited Menorca). No surprises, then, that this will also be his first trip to the USA so it should definitely be an interesting one. Looking at the tile, he's probably going to kill me for it (in my defence, I did but ' ' around the old man bit, but i don't think that'll matter. Oh well. I'll try and explain it's a term of endearment). Anyway, with his visit impending, I have duly tidied and scrubbed my apartment from top to bottom (well, from about my height downwards as he won't be able to see any higher) and am praying that Jasper doesn't go on a crazy 'destroy everything' rampage tomorrow when i'm at work. By my watch, it's less than 22 hours till touchdown in Charleston so if he does, i guess i'm screwed!

Of course, this trip is not without it's concerns from my end. Whenever my Dad has flown before, he's not been overly fond of it and they were considerably shorter flights (3 and a half hours and less) compared to the 7 hour one facing him tomorrow. Added to that the fact that we only ever had direct flights and that he has to change tomorrow and you can understand my apprehension. I guess i should be glad that he's flying in and out of the same terminal at the same airport so there's not TOO much room for error. I just hope that he remembers to get on the plane to Charleston, SC and not Charleston, West Virginia (this happened to a friend of mine when she was in a hurry one time) although i've told him about 15 times in the past three days so he should remember!! Anyway, if my postings are a bit less frequent over the next few days, you'll know why. However, given that i am pretty accustomed to the US, this may give me a resurgence in material as I get the chance to observe my Dad's reactions to everything. Watch this space!!

Resolutions

2007-01-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

Of course, with New Year comes the age-old tradition of making a few resolutions that you intend to stick to for the coming 12 months and usually make it through at the very most 12 days before everyone of them has crumbled and you can spend the remainder of 2007 wallowing in your own guilt and self-pity. A friend of mine once decreed that New Year resolutions were utterly pointless as, if you wanted to resolve to change your lifestyle in some way, why on earth wait until New Year? I did try and point out that people see New Year as a 'fresh start/new beginning' type of thing but he (quite accurately) pointed out that it's just an excuse and people who use it are rarely taking things seriously. That said, i usually try and make one resolution myself - although these are invariably not along the lines of 'I will do this...' but more 'I will continue to do....' whatever it may be. I tend to find that these are more successful. That said, with a number of people back in the UK suggesting that I may becoming more americanised (ha!), I thought i would make a few resolutions on here (with you all as witnesses) to ensure that this is not the case.

1) I will not consume McDonalds, Burger King, Arbys, Ruby Tuesdays, Hardees, KFC, Taco Bell or any other food that you can get within less than two minutes and rarely tastes better than it's cardboard or plastic container.

2) I will resist the urge to drive everywhere including anywhere within a radius of 20 minutes walking distance. If people offer me lifts, I shall politely decline and say that I want to walk.

3) I will not drink more than 10 cups of coffee in a day.

4) I will not drive whilst on my cell phone, whilst clearly intoxicated, and I will use my indicators at all times. Furthermore, I shall not splash unsuspecting pedestrians with water 'just for a laugh'

5) I will not pay for anything less than $10 total value with my credit card and then wonder why the overloaded person behind me is getting somewhat angry when it keeps getting rejected and i have to go through all of my other 8 credit cards.

6) I will not cheerfully ask 'how are you doing?' when I am really just being polite and do not want to hear a response. Further to this, if I do say this by mistake, I shall listen sincerely to the other person's woes and not launch into my own diatribe.

7) Finally, I will not insist that "American Idol" is the best show on TV and will further resist calling in repeatedly in case they decide to renew it for another 15 seasons.

And there we have them. If anyone has some more resolutions to add to this, please feel free to do so.

Indications

2007-01-03T18:47:00.000-05:00

These days, it seems that every time i sit down to write something for my blog that i end up back on my current recurring topic of driving in and around Charleston - particularly how bad it seems to be. Now, I stress again, that the driving in the UK is far from perfect, and the same probably goes true for many parts of the world (Italy take note). There are, frankly, bad drivers wherever you go in the world but, at this very moment in time, a large amount seem to be congregating in and around Charleston. Which brings us to my current pet hate - worse even than the incessant chatter of people on cell phones as they drive, the annoyance of people changing lanes at a whim, and even more of a pain than the drivers who seem to delight in speeding up as i attempt to cross the road. Yep, i'm talking about the singular lack of use of indicators ('turn signals' as they are monikered here) by all and sundry. No matter whether they're turning right, left, pulling over, pulling out, parking in a car park, or you name it, virtually everyone seems incapable of taking the second or so it takes to flick the indicators on. And, hey, they don't seem to realise that cars will actually turn the indicators off and so they don't have to expend those extra few calories reaching up themselves.

Now this may seem like me being really petty but i would put good money that i am not alone in this opinion. The fact that you are left confused as to why someone is slowing down when they're doing so to turn, when you have people cutting in front of you at junctions. In the latter case, this happened to me recently in the dark with some stupid idiot who thought it would be also useful to have his lights off as well. The fact that his car was a dark colour, and that he decided to leisurely crawl across the oncoming traffic not withstanding, I was lucky that the area around him was reasonably well lit (itself unusual in places) and I saw him well in advance otherwise it could've been nasty. In a country where so many cars are bought purely on their size and power (i'm talking about the people carriers, the SUVs and the huge trucks), it makes me think that people are so convinced that no-one is going to mess with them that they can do what they like, indicators be damned, and everyone else has to like it. Well, in such cases, i fervently believe that what goes around comes around.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

To all readers - wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2007. I know for many that the sooner 2006 is gone, the better. Let's hope the next one turns things around!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Scrubs

2006-12-29T12:58:00.000-05:00

With having spent most of my professional life (from PhD onwards) working either in or in close proximity to hospitals, one tends to get used to seeing medical doctors wandering about. This was the same both here and in Manchester - although there seems to be one major difference in terms of the manner in which the doctors dress. Whilst in the UK, consultants, registrars, house officers and such were nearly always dressed smarrtly with white coats on (if necessary). This, too, applied to the surgeons and the theatre staff - at least when they weren't in the actual theatre. There was, indeed, the odd occasions when you would meet staff dressed in scrubs, usually with a white coat on over the top - but that was it. This is in sharp contrast to over here.

Whenever i go to the main MUSC hospital building here, it's to either eat in the canteen or to drop off DNA for sequencing or, on occasion, to buy a coffee at the Starbucks there. What seems to be somewhat de rigeur is for all Doctors, nurses and theater (note the spelling) staff to be happily walking around in scrubs, with hairnets and even with face masks still on. Be it in corridor, coffee shop or canteen. This, perhaps, isn't so bad (despite the large number of people in these places) but what is even more amazing to me, is when you see these staff happily sat outside eating sandwiches, walking to other buildings, or SMOKING. Even when i'm at the gym, you often see a number of obvious clinicians lifting weights, running on the treadmills and such in their scrubs. Now, whilst i'm sure all these people are concietious and will obviously wash up well, and, indeed, these clothes are probably used for such a purpose as being out of the the normal confines, so there is no problem. Personally, though, I find it rather disconcerting and would wish that they at least spend a few moments switching clothes before they go walkabout. I'm sure that i'm not alone in that either.

Christmas Photos

2006-12-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

So, as promised, here are a handful of pictures from Christmas Day - taken at the home of Jola and Aleks, my polish friends/colleagues. Note the large variety of foods on the table - it was a very unconvential, multi-national dinner. You may also see a glimpse of the trifle that I made as well!

Vivi and Jola take time to pose whilst cooking.

The Christmas Tree - isn't it pretty!

The traditional Christmas stuffing of faces.

Eat, eat, eat!!!

Jola and Aleks' Cat (whose name i shall not attempt to spell!)

Kaz, attempting to mime 'Hip's Don't Lie'. I wouldn't ask!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

2006-12-25T10:52:00.000-05:00

To all readers, wishing you a very Happy Christmas indeed.

Lane Hogs

2006-12-21T17:22:00.000-05:00

Now, i'm sure that regular readers of this site will be more than aware of my opinion of a lot of the drivers that i have encountered on the road here in Charleston. Even before i got a car, I was already laying into them somewhat for the many near misses that i'd had as a pedestrian when someone nearly hit me, nearly always as they were busy chatting on the phone at the time. I don't think i mentioned the near accident I had just before Thanksgiving where a driver behind me swerved into a ditch at the side of the road to avoid hitting me - bear in mind that I was at the end of a queue of stationary traffic, it had been raining all day, she was travelling far too fast, and was also on the phone at the time (as well as having a CD going). Plus, it was early evening dusk - and you can say, is it any wonder that she was in a position where she was going to hit me to begin with. Add on to this that the lady in question was 8 and a half months pregnant, and you can see why I was so shocked at it all. Anyway, I digress. One thing that has been bought to my attention of late are the sheer number of lane hogs that there are over here. Now, whilst this is not to say that no such drivers exist in the UK or anywhere else (they do), it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as bad as over here in my experience (maybe as there are far more two and three lane roads here)

So, you know the drill - you're driving along and meet someone trundling along in the middle or outside lane at 40 mph (despite there being a MINIMUM speed limit over here). No matter what happens, they absolutely refuse to move over - be it left or right, and you end up either stuck behind them or having to undertake them. This is particularly infuriating when you end up with two cars in each lane with both travelling at pretty much the same speed and so you can't do a thing about it. What i find even harder to believe is when these drivers have a steady stream of cars undertaking them and pulling back in front of them to carry on - they really don't get the hint or idea that they're basically being a nuisance. What then makes things even worse, is the fact that you end up with a lot of lane weavers who perpetually scoot from one lane to the next and back again in order to get around them. In short, driving in the US means that you have to have your wits about you. So much for the highway code!

Biochemistry Party 2007

2006-12-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so as promised, here are a few photos from the Biochemistry Christmas party that took place last weekend. My brain is somewhat worn out this week, though, so it felt like too much effort to add humorous captions to go with them. Please feel free to make up your own instead.

Kathy, and husband Dwayne

Youssef (aka U2) and Viviana

Chris (left), Tom (front), Jim (back) and Ashley (right)

The three stooges - Kely, Viviana and Kaz

Rosemary and Yusuf (the boss!)

Stefka (left) and Chiara

Lights Lights Lights

2006-12-17T18:45:00.000-05:00

With America being the land where things have to be done bigger and better (particularly in Texas), it comes as no real surprise that this also applies to the decorations to be found in people's homes and gardens around Christmas time. Well, i say around Christmas, but nearly always about a month or so beforehand (I'm sure i've had my yearly rant on that already so i'll not go into it here). I find it surprising that people put the time and effort in decorating their houses from head to foot in lights - particularly given the amount of electricity it must take to run them (amazing how all environmental considerations and such go out of the window at Christmas). Suffice to say, driving around Charleston has become quite an experience of late. Head down to Marion Square and the town lights are the major focus point (a cavalcade of white lights), head out to some of the James Island suburbs and the houses are definitely competing with each other as to who can give off the biggest glow. In fact, I was hoping to have a few pictures of some of these creations for you to peruse but, alas, whenever I attempted to take them with my digital camera, all i got was a rather over-saturated glow. In this case, you'll just have to take my word for it. Thankfully my landlord has a bit more sanity (and taste, i guess you could argue) and has arranged merely three or four strands of lights instead of the whole store. At least it means i can get some sleep on a night!

Hectic-ness

2006-12-15T07:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so im sure that regular readers of my blog will have noticed a distinct lack of updates this week - and for this i apologise profusely. You can probably guess that im going to blame work for this, and you'd be right, but then around this time of year, there isn't always a lot to talk about aside from Christmas, and Christmas parties (am still going to do that - watch for photos of the Biochemistry Christmas Party next week). I have a few things rattling around in my head that would probably make amusing posts of a kind - but need to have the time to sit and let them properly form into thoughts rather than just letting them loose all at once (chaotic, let me tell you!). Anyway, this is my apology to all you frustrated readers out there who haven't been able to get their regular fix of Britishness in America.

So, what's going on at work? Well, aside from the Christmas parties that keep popping up, there's all the experiments i'm trying to cram in before the holiday - basically to give me some breathing space in January when my Dad is coming to visit (I know! He hasn't flown for 15 years!). On top of this, i'm finishing up revising my grant proposal which has to be submitted by 11th January, and am also sketching outlines for a seminar that i have to give at the end of January (may seem too organised, but with the old man visiting...). Suffice to say, it's busy, and add in the time at the gym (yes, im still going after three and a half months, it's amazing!) and practicing volleyball (my team are in a good position to go through to the play-offs), as well as entertaining the ginger gremlin (aka Jasper), it's all busy busy busy. Next week, hopefully, things will wind down a bit more (at least i hope they will) and i'll have a bit more time to post - in between all the baking i'm going to be doing (for lab lunches, and christmas dinners). Hopefully get to see some of you then!