Gumboots

Today was cold and wintery. It should be summer! Where's that global warming everyone keeps promising?

Fan

Let's see how this Blogger beta works. In the meantime, here is a fan.

Window

Still on a U2 high

I'm still buzzing from the U2 concert.
It was awesome!! I have waited more than half my life to see them live and now I finally got the chance, and it was everything I hoped it would be.
The tickets said that no photographic equipment would be allowed, and like an idiot, I left my camera in the car. Of course nobody checked. I took some photos and videos on my mobile phone until the battery died.
We were way up in the nosebleed section, which we managed to climb without supplemental oxygen. It turned out that my friend is afraid of heights, and she nearly got a heart attack just getting to our seats. But we got there in the end. Sitting comfortably and watching all the people in the pit crowding, I thought to myself: I'm glad I'm not down there in the crowd since morning!
Then the show started.
All I could think was: OMG I want to be down there by the stage!!
But I enjoyed the show from the wuthering heights instead.
The band were great. The show was amazing. The crowd went nuts and sang along to every word. I was so excited, I cried during "Where the streets have no name", which was very emotional not just for me. At the end of the song Bono said, "Wow. What was that?! Whatever it was, I want more!". The energy in the stadium was palpable.
The show ended with Bono flying a kite tied to some balloons over the audience. For some reason he dedicated the song (Kite) to Cate Blanchett.
The show was over way too soon, I couldn't believe when I looked at my watch and saw that it had been about 2.5 hours...
I used to be totally nuts about U2. Now I am a bit older, maybe wiser, definitely more cynical. And still, at the show I felt like I was 16 again.

The Dalek Tree

Whenever I pass this tree I am reminded of a Dalek.

For now, photos

The U2 concert was amazing.
Unfortunately I don't have any time to write about it now.
In the meantime, here are today's and yesterday's photos. Both from the car.
A teacup and the Anzac Bridge.

Kangaroo Paws and a Butterfly

I suspected that

Australia in top five livable countries

Norway, Iceland, Australia, Ireland and Sweden rank as the best five countries to live in...

...and of these 5, I reckon Australia is the only country I'd actually want to live in.

The United States was ranked in eighth place, after Canada and Japan, in the report that rates not only per-capita income but also educational levels, health care and life expectancy in measuring a nation's well-being.

Go ahead, entertain me

One more day till the U2 concert.
Their first Sydney concert is tonight. I'm going tomorrow.

Oh my, Bono looks older, especially with that haircut.

Take a look at the set! It's HUGE!

"I'm very happy to be here, I'm excited," Bono says.

You're excited?!

U2 reunited in the studio last month to record a new song, Window in the Skies. It's one of two bonus tracks on a compilation album, U218, which they're releasing this month.

Sydney fans may be among the first to hear the song performed live when U2 play tonight.

"Have you heard Window in the Skies?" Bono says. "Wow, that's a big song."

Woohoo!!

2 photos

because I forgot to post yesterday...
By the way, you can click on the photos to see the (slightly) larger versions.

U2 woohoo!!

In just a few more days I will finally get to see U2 in concert. Oh I am so excited....

You see, I have my tickets for this show for nearly a year now. It was supposed to be in March but it was postponed... and now the fab four are here in Sydney getting ready to entertain me.
When I was a wee lass I was totally, utterly nuts about U2. Absolutely insane about them. I hang onto every word that came out of Bono's mouth as if he was at least some prophet or something.

Now I'm a bit older... and a bit wiser... and I've changed quite a lot, I don't have quite as many hormones rushing through my veins, and I tend to look at the world in a slightly more mature, sometimes cynical way.

So I was really pleasantly surprised yesterday when I saw Bono being interviews by Andrew Denton (it's a weekly interview type TV show). I missed the beginning of it, but from what I saw I could tell that Bono is indeed more than just a dumb celebrity rock star. And I was quite happy and totally fine with the idea of him being one, just as long as he makes good music and gives a good show. But what I got from the interview is this: that he is smart, eloquent, educated, passionate, sincere, and very much grounded. He doesn't try to pretend that he isn't a millionaire rock star leading a millionaire rock star's life. He seemed a bit surprised that it turned out that way, but he embraced it fully. Which didn't stop him being an intelligent, hard-working, well-spoken person who is doing his best to do some good in this world.

Another band that I used to be completely nuts about in the 1990's is coming to town: Pearl Jam. I used to think that Eddie Vedder was the bee's knees when I was a teenager. But unlike U2, Pearl Jam don't seem to have changed much since then, not in their music and not in their politics. I feel I have changed so much and they have stayed the same. I take that back; their music used to be much better. Ten was an amazing album and every album the made since has been steadily worse than the one before it.

It's a pity. Eddie has a great voice and he makes for good eye candy. But I won't be going to their gig.

Horse Feathers

Today was Melbourne Cup Day, that yearly event that stops the nation for a few minutes as everyone tunes in to the big race. The entire country stops while the horses run.

Personally, I don't see the big deal. But that's probably because I wasn't born here.

Everyone bets something, whether it's $1 in the office sweepstakes or the really big bets made by people in expensive suits at the race.

It's also an important fashion event, especially for the women who strut around in spring dresses and big hats. The latest fashion is to have a few feathers instead of a hat.


I always find it amusing to watch them walking to the races at the nearby racecourse with their high heels in their hands because nobody can walk in those shoes anyway.

Here are some New Zealanders at the race.

From the Quad gates

TGiM

Thank goodness it's Monday...
Yes, it's been a hard weekend. I was actually waiting for Monday, all excited about going to work. It's not that there's anything particularly interesting at work, it's just that everyone there is an adult.
It rained the entire weekend and we were stuck at home going stir crazy. Lately I am not handling toddler situations very well and I tend to lose my temper. Also, last Friday hubby took care of things on the home front while I went out to the pub with my work mates. I had so much fun! I'm not normally the pub type of person, and I don't drink beer, but still: I had a great time just hanging out with friends.
It made me think that perhaps, sometimes, you know, I don't actually, you know, enjoy being a mum very much. It's not that I don't love my boy more than anything in the world. It's just that sometimes, it's hard.

Baby grapes

from the garden.

Bondi

The things we get used to.

A conversation I had with a PhD student as I was helping her out with some equipment:

MW: Let's first remove this sample so we can put your sample in.
PS: What is that?
MW: I think it's a rat's inner ear.
PS: Ewwwww!
MW: What? You've got a snail proboscis in a test tube.
PS: (thinks about this for a while). Yeah, you're right.

No Dogs

Kangaroo Paw

Yet another "springtime on campus" photo.

The oval

This is used to roll the grass flat in the centre of the oval for cricket games.

From the graffiti tunnel

A digger

for Junior.

In bloom

These trees are blooming with gorgeous purple flowers all over Sydney. Here's one at the Quad.

Yerushalmi Kugel

Recipe is here.
Does anyone know how to avoid getting burnt noodles on the top of the pan (which becomes the bottom of the kugel after you flip it out)??

Flightpath

Yoga on horseback

The King David Stables. Sounds like a pretty amazing place. And this is very close to where we'll be staying near Jerusalem. (OMG! Just a few weeks left till the big trip!)
They offer good old horseback riding, and if that's not enough then there's horseback yoga and tai chi.
And I thought yoga was hard enough on a mat...

Bird of Paradise

Today I cannot blame blogger for not posting this yesterday.
What's my excuse then? How about having an opportunity to go to after-work drinks at the pub in Coogee? I haven't done that in ages!
And we didn't even need a babysitter. This must be the only country in the world with family-friendly pubs. One area of the pub is especially kid friendly, with a ball pit and toys and games. The place was full of families with prams and toddlers. And I got to have a glass of my favourite (Strongbow) (because I'm not 100% Aussie and can't drink a whole beer).
The occassion was a farewell party for a good friend who is moving half way around the world...

Today's pic

I love these freaky gargoyles.

Yesterday's pic

Happiness is (nearly) instant gratification

Blogger was being a lemon yesterday so I couldn't post my daily picture. I'll have to snap something new and see if I can download it here at work.
Meanwhile, I'm a happy camper! I finally gave in to my desire to buy an mp3 player. Hubby offered his old iPod by I tried it and didn't like it. It was heavy and clunky, the battery doesn't last long, and besides it has all of his music on it. So I bought an iRiver T30. It's so cool!!!! I plugged it in and Suse recognized it immediately. Drag 'n dropped my ogg files into it and voila! Perfect. And it's small and cute and (if you believe the company) the AAA battery lasts for 20 hours!
Since I could never get my sound card to work on Suse Linux, I have never been able to listen to music at work. So now I can! When you share an office with 4 other people, it's sometimes necessary to be able to tune out and focus.
I just need to get some comfy headphones instead of these horrid stick-in-your-ear thingies.
Oooooh I'm so happy...

Quad Gargoyle

A Uni intersection

Where are all the students? Studying?
My bet is they're all at the pub...

363 to go

Coral at the Sydney Aquarium.

1001 uses

I have some soda water left over from Rosh Hashana's kneidalach. I don't drink the stuff, so I started experimenting with it in the kitchen. So far I have had success.
As well as making fluffy-as-clouds matza balls, soda water also makes fluffy:
1. scrambled eggs, and
2. pancakes.

365 - I'm in

Noorster has started a photoblogging project in which, briefly, she posts one picture every day and has also challenged others to commit to similar projects.
Well, I accept the challenge!
I'll have to get used to carrying the camera around, but I reckon if it'll help me post more, and also learn more about photography, then why not.
I've wanted to learn more about digital photo editing and I never had the time to read about it as much as I'd like.
So let's see if I can keep this up. A whole year! wow.
First day: Boats in Junior's bubble bath.

You don't have to put on the blue light

Lately in Sydney the Electric Co. has been handing out free six-packs of energy efficient light bulbs. You can get them if you sign a form saying that you won't take more than one pack, and that you promise to install them in your home.
Like many people I happily took the freebie. I wanted to change the light bulbs in the dining room anyway because they were rather dim. But after about an hour with the weird bluish light of these new bulbs, I got hubby to switch back to the good old yellow ones. The blue tinted light is just weird, it messed with my eyes. I couldn't stand it.
We replaced the light outside on the porch, and also my bedside reading light, but that's it. The others we keep as spares.
Apparently we're not the only ones who didn't install them. And of course, there's quite a lot of politics and money involved in the whole story, and not just green concern for the environment.
When it comes to reducing carbon emissions and all that, I reckon the best bet is to invest in fusion technology. Australia missed the wagon but is now trying to jump back on, while France and Japan are firmly in the lead.
In the 19th century, people thought that cities reached their population limits because of the incontrollable amount of horse shit on the streets. Help eventually came in the form of the internal combustion engine. I think energy from fusion will one day--maybe in 50 years, maybe in 100--bring about a radical solution to our dependence on fossil fuels. I long for that day both for the political changes that it will bring, as well as the environmental.

Parallel Universe

I share my office with several other post-docs. One of them is a woman I totally admire. She's my age, married but no kids. I was talking to her when I suddenly got this bizarre feeling that I was talking to myself in some parallel universe.

Here is a woman who has had a similar education to mine, some industry experience like I have, has been in a relationship for about a decade like I have. And yet our careers are totally different.

She does great research. She's published a gazillion papers in the last year. I'm still writing the draft of my first one at this job. She is involved in committees ranging from simple university tasks to multi-million dollar government funding schemes. She does so much and gets lots of deserved praise for her hard work. And she works hard, long hours and weekends and business trips all over the place.

She was telling me about one of her committees, and then she asked me, "aren't you involved in anything like that?". No, I said. I don't have time.

I have to leave at 4:30 every day to pick up my son from day care before I get slapped with a $1 a minute fine. I can't work weekends and nights. I chose a completely different life, and I am a mother first and foremost.

But still, sometimes I think to myself: that could have been me achieving all that.

It would have been nice, but I'm not jealous and I don't regret a thing.

I just have to keep reminding myself that I will have quite a few decades left to invest in my career after the kids (yes, there will be more than one...) grow up enough to allow me the time to work as much as I need to. I guess this is a dilemma lots of working mums have...

Three years ago today

Today is Junior's third birthday. Much excitement; this is the first year he actually understands what a birthday is and everything that it entails, like cake, balloons and presents. We are having a small party at the day care centre this afternoon, and a big party this weekend. Which is odd because they will both invlove mostly the same kids. But still, I just had to do something on the actual day.

Since last night I've been annoyingly saying every once in a while, "three years ago right now, I was having contractions." I will be like a broken record till this afternoon, then it will change to "three years ago right now, I was writhing in agony" for a few hours, followed by "three years ago, my son, the doctors finally yanked you out since you absolutely refused to leave after overstaying your stay by nearly two weeks."

It was the happiest day of my life... and every day since as well.

Tzom Kal...

... if this applies to you, then I wish you an easy fasting and blessings for the new year.

Australian Jews don't need to take a day off this year for Yom Kippur, since it falls on a public holiday. I think it's officially Labour Day or something, but essentially it's yet another sports day. I'm not sure if it's the rugby finals, or the footy, or maybe both? They both look the same to me; big men running around in tiny shorts and violently throwing oddly-shaped balls. The tiny shorts occassionally cause other, more hairy, balls to enter the field. I think this is a ploy to get more women to watch the game. I'm not sure, I'm still figuring it out.

Anyway, so last week everyone was telling me about their plans for the long weekend. These mostly involve having friends over to watch the game and also a BBQ and assorted food.

Now, I'm not a religious person. I don't fast, and I don't go to synagogue. But still, having a BBQ on Yom Kippur just seems like a bit too much, you know what I mean? It doesn't mean I won't enjoy the long weekend... just not so blatantly.

So, if you are more observant than me then let me wish you once more, a happy new year and Gmar Hatima Tova!

The Return of the Goth Dentist

Last week was that time again - time to see my Goth dentist.

She is sweet, gentle, 100% professional, and also has all sorts of piercings, wears black leather boots, and listens to Death Metal while she works.

The Death Metal freaked me out the first time I heard it but really, it's the most appropriate music.

Junior got his teeth checked briefly - 100% fine - and had a ride up and down on the chair. Then it was my turn. I try to be positive and see it as an opportunity to lie back for half an hour without a toddler demanding anything from me. I also get to practice my yoga breathing and relaxation. Always look at the bright side!

Shana Tova

Hubby has been sick for the last week with fever and sore throat. Looks like I've finally caught the bug myself.

I decided to take care of myself and took an extended lunch today (Friday noon - Monday morning). It's the Australian way!

Happy new year! Shana tova!!

The return of the Jedi

I'm back from holidays, refreshed, happy to be home and happy to be back at work.

A family holiday is not always quite as idyllic and fun as you might think. It's not easy spending 24 hours a day with spouse and child in one hotel room. I finished off half a packet of Nurofen just for my headaches. But overall, it was really good to be totally away from the daily routine of home and work for a week. And it also makes everyone appreciate the little things that make home so wonderful: your own bed, a piece of toast in the morning that doesn't cost $26, and all those familiar little things that make you feel good.

Next trip will be a big one, half way around the world to the holy land...

PM&D

Sounds like some "women's thing" doesn't it?

Well no, it's the uni's annual staff performance review.
Seeing as I just wrapped up my first year here, I have the honour of going through this task. What it amounts to is a small mountain of paperwork, several meetings with various bosses, and such general jumping through bureaucratic hoops. Just the thing I need to squeeze in between sick leave and annual leave! Very convenient.

Actually, it's not bad to have an oppurtunity to reflect on what I've done in the last year. You tend to forgot a lot of the stuff and when you are forced to think about it, and write it down, you suddenly realize how much you have done. And it feels good.

(By the way, I am still listing 3 good things that I have done each day before I go to sleep. It's such a simple thing and yet really fun and surprisingly addictive.)

The problem is that I will have to also list my goals for the next year and spell out how they mesh with the university's goals. And all I really want to do next year is get pregnant and have another baby!
I haven't found the section in the form that deals with that yet.
Oh well, I guess it'll just have to be a surprise.

Frequent Flyers

We're going on holiday in a few days: a week in a nearby tropical island paradise... I can't wait, ah...
When we booked the trip it was damn cold and the thought of lounging by the pool on a tropical island sounded delicious. For the last week, however, we've had one gorgeous spring day after another. So I was happy to note on my ForecastFox that starting from tomorrow it will be cold and rainy once more, and winter has not gone despite the promises of the global warming doom-sayers.
Mean? Maybe.

I really need this vacation.

I have to jump through a lot of hoops at the Uni to get all the paperwork for our trip to Israel. It's all working out though. But, that trip will not be a vacation. I'll have a ton of work to do in a short time, and whenever I'm not in the lab I will be rushing around visiting relatives and friends. All great fun, don't get me wrong, but not exactly relaxing.
Not like spending a week lounging by the pool on a tropical island!

I'm still recovering from that annoying virus I caught, and I'm now at the Ugly Rash All Over My body stage of fighting it off. Oh, I wish it goes away before our vacation... as if I don't have enough to deal with, what with stretch marks and hairs and all the regular stuff.
It's not easy being a woman!

But sitting by the pool with an exotic drink in a coconut with a little paper umbrella will help.

Something that only happens to mothers of small children

...and probably old people too.
It happens to me way too often: I boil water in the kettle, put the tea bag in the cup, pour the water, and then go do about a million things that need to be done.
Two hours later I throw away a cup of very strong, cold tea.
*sigh*

Steve Irwin z"l

The man who was the face of Australia for most of the world has died.
He did so much for nature conservation and education. And he represented the "good old Aussie values".
It is indeed a cliche but he died doing what he loved most... and apparently he also died quickly and with little pain.
He left behind a wife and 2 children. His wife was climbing a mountain in Tasmania at the time of his death. I was quite shocked to read in the news reports that she had not been told yet, while all the news shows were running the story. I hope she was told by someone close and not by hearing the sad news on the radio.
Update: I just watched the opening of question time at the Parliament. Prime Minister Howard and Opposition Leader Beazly opened the session with moving words about Steve. John Howard had a close relationship with Steve and you could really feel his sense of grief. He was loved by all.

If only I could run Linux

then I probably wouldn't have gotten this annoying virus.
Fever, aches, itchy eyes, and now an ugly rash all over. Yuck.
I can't even sit long enough at the computer without getting all dizzy. Oh well, I'll survive.

Post-war and uni politics

My stress levels have gone down considerably since the cease fire. I'm not so naive as to think that this is the end of the war; indeed it was just one battle. But still.
Last week I met with a new PhD student who just came here from Israel. We talked about his research and the software he's using. Then he told me how his best friend from uni had died in Lebanon. He was the last soldier to be killed before the cease fire came into effect. He left a wife and 10-month old daughter. Then we talked about his scholarship, and a conference he wants to attend.
Later that day I just couldn't handle the whole surreal situation any more. I had to go out for a walk and a bit of a cry.
Here everything is going on as usual of course, the sun is shining and we're getting beautiful weather after a cold winter. Even the Swedish exchange student was complaining about the cold. Now we have a nice, early spring (thank goodness for global warming!) and flowers are blooming.
Things at the uni are also going on as usual. There are lots of "activists" handing out brochures and putting up posters all over campus. Most are by the Socialist Alliance and usually feature rather histrionic vitriol against Israel, the US, and capitalism. Apparently some Jewish students were harassed, spat on and yelled at. This morning we got an email from the Vice Chancellor warning that offensive behaviour agains Jews will not be tolerated. Not surprisingly, there has been no anti-Muslim behaviour.
I must admit that I sometimes feel scared when confronted with these crazy Marxists and their friends in some of the other student groups. I've heard that some Jewish students choose to wear hats over their kippas so they won't be harassed. I don't "look Jewish" so I don't have that problem, and I don't walk around campus all that much either. But it's sad to think that this is the situation here.

Bad thoughts

Hippy "Peace Now" activist in Tel Aviv: "This won't end till we annihilate Beirut"

I'm usually a very rational person who abhors violence in all its forms. But lately I find myself in a bellicose mood.

Yesterday while watching the news I could only think of one thing: one mushroom cloud over Beirut, one over Damascus, and one disproportionately big one over Tehran.
The war would be over that same day.

I don't like what this war is doing to me. I want to go back to my good old optimistic self.

Comfort food

Maybe it's the stressful times, but lately I've been preparing and eating more and more comfort food. For example, I bought some semolina and I've been spending quite some time in the mornings lately stirring pots of cream of wheat (I found out that this is what solet is called in English) trying to get a lumpless bowl of yummy cream of wheat, sweetened with cinnamon and honey, or brown sugar and vanilla. mmmm.
It reminds me of my childhood when grandma used to cook solet for me. It also reminds me of the hospital that we were forced to "volunteer" at when we were in high school. We would spend nights there on alert. In case of a chemical weapons attack from Saddam, our job was to wear plastic clothes and gas masks and shower the injured before they were admitted to the hospital. Looking back I'm appalled by the whole thing, but back then it was just one big co-ed slumber party. In the morning we'd have breakfast at the hospital dining room. The solet was lumpy and not at all as yummy as savta's.
Anyway, I've found out that you can make all sorts of things with semolina: bread, cakes and cookies. Yum!

What he said

An English translation of Ben Caspit's proposed speech for Olmert.

Now it's personal

My cousin has been called up for reserve duty. My brother-in-law was told to be ready to be called up any day. They both have pregnant wives at home.

It's a tough job

...being an IDF spokesperson right now.

Making life easy for academics

I'm writing a paper: a process that is long, stressfull, and fun. Paper-writing also reminds me why I love linux so much, and specifically Latex and Bibtex and all that good stuff that makes life easy for academics. Of course, they work on Windows and Mac too, but Linux is the ultimate enviornment.
I share my office with several coleagues and I constantly hear them grating their teeth, pulling their hair, and complaining loudly about MS Word and such. They spend so much time editing, formating, losing images, changing font sizes, and typing out bibliographies by hand. What a waste of time!
I'm not a Linux evangelist. I don't hide it, but I don't try to push it on people either (mostly for selfish reasons; I don't want them coming to me to solve all their problems if they do decide to try it). But I'm working on another paper that's mostly written by one of our PhD students, and I asked him if he would be willing to write it in Latex. Apparently several other students started looking into it and got hooked. Now if I could only get him to actually sit down and write!
Latex and Bibtex work best with a good frontend. I started out using Lyx, which is nice, but then I switched to Kile which I've been working with for years and really like. (I'm an avid KDE fan so Kile is a natural.) For bibliography management I use Jabref which is a Java Bibtex frontend. It's awesome!! It integrates well with Kile too (ctrl+L pushes a citation to Kile). It can do all sorts of neat tricks, like direct Medline search and import, journal abbreviations, automatic local PDF searches, custom Bibtex key automatic generation, and other cool stuff.
Having the right tools for the job makes life easy. But at the end of the day you still have to write the paper yourself!

Some good news from Israel, for a change

A heart-warming story about the transfer of two African elephants, Yoki and her son Yitzhak, from the safari in Ramat Gan to their new home in Hungary. Yoki was reunited there with an old friend, Ninio, who moved to Hungary a few months ago. (Sorry, the links are in Hebrew and Hungarian, but there are pictures.)
The Ramat Gan safari has had a huge success with breeding elephants; 19 sabra elephants have been born there. The airlifting operation was not simple but ended with success.
Yay elephants!

Pendant shock

I was window shopping at a local shopping centre today when something caught my eye at a jewelry store. There were several chains on display with swastika pendants. My heart skipped a beat. I didn't know if I should talk to the salesman or not, I decided not to because I didn't feel comfortable about it. I continued my window shopping and tried to forget about it, but I couldn't.
I went to the mall management and filed a complaint. I was pleasantly surprised at their reaction, since I wasn't sure how they would take it. Well, I had to explain to the lady what a swastika is, but once she got it, she was very understanding of my state of mind. She had me fill out a complaint form while another guy went to the shop to see for himself. They promised me they would take care of the matter.
I didn't stay around to see what they actually did, but I hope they do something.

Small world

Why am I not surprised to see this picture here and also right at home, here in Sydney.


Lisa has all the background info on this picture.

Tzippi and Condi

Two women I admire.
Condi for president!
Livni for PM!

We interupt this war and go on with life

I'm suffering from news overload. I am forcing myself to limit the amount of time I spend reading news because it's just depressing. If you get your news from the Australian media you would probably think that Israel is attacking Lebanese civilians and killing children for no reason other than blood lust. If you listen to talkback radio all you hear is the anti-Lebanese venom coming from Australian rednecks.
So, excuse me while I go back to writing about normal things for a while.

Wartime humour

"How was I?"
"Zilzal"

Stress and a rosy picture of the near future

I am suffering from news overload. Earlier this week I was spending hours reading news and blogs and getting way too stressed, so much that I couldn't work. I decided enough is enough, and I will limit my news consumption. It's not like I can change anything anyway. This morning I listened to NPR on the radio on the way to work. They were interviewing and Arab professor in Berkley and a NY Times journalist who is openly anti-Israel. I nearly puked. Then I remembered that I am trying to cut down on news consumption... I have a CD player why not use it? Hey, it brought my blood pressure down to normal levels.
Yesterday I made the mistake of getting into a tea-room discussion about the war with my colleagues. Big mistake and I regret it. I've decided not to talk about it here any more. It's no use souring relationships with people I have to work with.
At this point all I can do is trust in the people who, unlike me, do have the power to make decisions, and hope they do the right thing.
My most optimistic, rosiest dream for the near future: Hizballa will be shattered, Syria will be driven out of Lebanon, and the Lebanese people will get on with, once again, rebuilding their country. This time they will be in control, and the cherry on top: they will sign a peace accord with Israel. Money will flow in from around the world for rebuilding and the region with flourish. Oh, and the Iranian nukes will somehow be taken out. Amen.

The war is across the ocean

I'm deeply concerned about the war in Israel. Not like Kofi though. I really am worried. I'm sick of this low-grade war that has been going on for decades. I'm sick of a bunch of maniacs making life hell for millions of people whom I believe really do want nothing more than to live in peace. (I have to believe this, otherwise there is no hope for a solution ever.)
I'm sick of having to worry about my family and friends, having to ask who has been called up for reserve duty and where.
Yesterday I was listening to the news on the radio. First item was the war with Hezbollah and in Gaza. Second item was about the unemployment rate in Australia; apparently the past year has seen the lowest unemployment rate in three decades. The reality of it all hit me at once; my body is living in a sane, normal country, and my mind is at the other side of the world in a totally different state.
It reminded me a bit of the first gulf war. I was in high school and we were woken up every other night by the siren outside my bedroom window telling us to go into the sealed room. I would count 4 1/2 minutes from the beginning of the siren, listen for the muffled booms of the scuds (and later of the patriot missiles too), and then breathe freely in the knowledge that our apartment building is still standing. At some point my parents had the bright idea to send me to stay with my aunt and uncle down south, away from the threat of scuds. I stayed there for a few days. There, when the sirens sounded, the family would sit around the television and watch the news. I went nuts with worry. 4 1/2 minutes passed and I had no idea if my family were ok. I could take the stress, and I went home the next day.
Life is good here. The main news stories lately are about minor squabbles between the prime minister and the treasurer. But damn, sometimes I feel like a schizophrenic.

Gotta fly....

From Instapundit, check out kite flyers! They

are basically go-karts bolted to hang gliders, with giant engines on the back driving pusher props.

Ooooh that sounds like fun....
The main thing I miss about living in California is being able to fly... It's not impossible here, just inconvenient and expensive. So I haven't really flown since.. well since 2001. Wow, it's been too long. I've gotta go flying.

Gaza

It's hard to tell from the little reporting coming out of Gaza what's really going on. I presume we'll know more once it's all over.
My thoughts have been with the Israeli soldiers doing what they are good at in Gaza. May they and the 2 kidnap vicitims return home safe and sound... And it certainly looks like this time the IDF has been given the go-ahead to clean up a lot of the mess that has been festering in Gaza.
Hamas leaders arrested! I like that.
Sonic booms over Baby Assad's palace in Damascus! I like that too.

Like all (or nearly all) Israelis, I hope and wait for the day when the Palestinians establish their own free, democratic state side by side with Israel, with fill economic, political and cultural cooperation.
But this is not possible with crazy Hamas in power who want to kill all the Jews.
I'm afraid that there's only one way to solve this mess, and that's with war. It can be long and drawn-out, or it can be short and decisive.
Let's hope it will be short so we can get on with more constructive activities.

In the meantime all my thoughts are with the IDF soldiers, go and do a good job and come home safely, so you don't have to go back any time soon.

Socca

I'm not much of a sports person, but it's hard not to get caught up in the world cup madness. People here are going nuts, but in a good way, about the soccer (or 'socca' as the Aussies say). They stay up all night to watch the games, and then half the country takes a sickie on Monday because they can't get out of bed in the morning.
It's all good fun, and while everyone wants the Soccerroos to win, it's all done in that wonderfully light-hearted Australian way. "Goooaalll!!! Wait, who scored? Ahh, have another beer mate!"
I was happy to see the Ghanian player wave the Israeli flag, and not at all surprised by the childish and stupid reactions from the rest of the world.
I was also very happy that Australia lost to Brazil "only" by 2 points. I was worried they would get totally creamed. Nobody seriously expected them to win, but after the sensational win over Japan, people are starting to get optimistic. Even the Brazilians admit that the Soccerroos played a great game. All they need to do now is win or tie with Croatia, and we're off to the next round!
Go Soccerroos!

Baby Boom

The Australian government wants us Aussies to have more babies. At least three, in fact ("one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country"). Two years ago the government started paying new parents $3000 for every new little Aussie brought into the world. And it worked! People were cynical, and said that nobody would have a baby just for the $3000.... true, I don't think anyone did, but it sure helped them decide to have one when that was added to all the other reasons. In fact, more babies were born in Australia on July 1, 2004 than on any other day in the last three decades.

When the baby bonus policy was first announced, in the big-spending pre-election budget of 2004, the families minister at the time, senator Kay Patterson, was asked whether it would have been better to have announced and introduced the policy on the same day. She said: "Well, I don't believe mothers would put (their babies) at risk."

Yeah right!! Hardly any babies were born on June 30!
This year the baby bonus will be increased to $4000 and this time they are expecting another mini-boom.
I just hope the government is planning to increase the number of day care workers and centres because even now there is a 2-year waiting list for some of them, especially in Sydney.
I know what would make me keener to have another bub: better maternity leave benefits at work. The only reason I'm waiting with #2 is because if I wait a bit more, I'll get better benefits. I couldn't imagine having nothing more than 12 weeks off. What am I supposed to do, put a 12-week old baby in full time day care so I can keep my job? As it is, with the waiting lists I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted.
Having extra cash to help with the expenses involved in caring for a new baby is great. But I need more than that; I need to know that I'll be able to raise my kid and keep my job, if only part-time, until I'm ready to go back to full-time work.

Home?

I spent waaay too much time this morning reading this article in ynet. It's written by an Israeli who has been living in Canada for 10 years and will soon be moving back to Israel. Most of the time I spent reading many of the hundreds of comments. Roughly half say what I figured they would say: you are crazy for wanting to come back here, and can I please take your place? I was quite surprised to see quite a lot of comments welcoming the writer back home and telling her she's making the right choice. But the comments that scared me most were those that said "your children will hate you for forcing them to leave their home and growing up in a much worse country".
When we think of leaving Australia of moving back, the most important thing (well, the only thing really) that we miss is our families and good friends. It's hard to raise a child so far away from his grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins. And it's not fair to our parents to raise their grandchild so far from them. But will my son really have a better life there? What with the terrible education system and all? I look at Israeli kids and I see spoiled brats who walk all over their parents and teachers. I'm not sure I want that for my son.
I'm very, very keen to see with my own eyes what things are like "back home". I'm glad we have the opportunity to be in Israel for a much longer visit this time, because you don't get enough time to see and do much in the standard 2-week family and friends whirlwind visit tour.
I'm hoping that our visit later this year will answer a lot of questions, but I have a feeling that it will only create many new questions instead...

Henna

Sometimes I get an idea in my head that makes me do slightly crazy things. hmmm must be the 'compulsive' bit of my OCD...

Anyway, the latest craze was that I wanted to dye my hair with henna. Some of my friends used to henna a lot in high school but I was never into it. I think it was my hairdresser who gave me the idea, she offered a coupon for $5 a semi-permanent dye job and I took one look at it and threw it away. I don't dye my hair.

One week later, I'm in the Indian grocery shop buying $1.90 worth of authentic Indian henna.


I mixed it all up yesterday based on some recipe ideas I got from this great site, with lots of black coffee, some tea tree oil, a bit of ground cloves, and chamomile tea.
After brewing all night I finally got my chance to spread the stuff all over my hair. Junior finally went to bed for his nap, and I got all my plastic gloves and saran wrap and other gear and proceeded to smear goo all over my hair, and also my face, hands, sink, mirror, floor, and the inside of my ear. I think I made it too watery cause the foul stuff kept oozing down my face and neck. I finally managed to get it under control with a shower cap, 5 meters of saran wrap, and 2 towels.

After spending an hour cleaning up the mess I finally had a chance to sit down and turn on the TV. At that moment Junior woke up, so much for the relaxing bit.

Anyway, I'm done rinsing and cleaning and laundering towels with Nappy San, and now have rather orangy tinted hair. Hubby can't see it at all cause he's colour blind. The orange stuff is supposed to fade in the next couple of days and then the final colour will settle in. Good thing it's a long weekend, I wouldn't want to shock anyone at work with my new orange look.

Ding Dong, the Murdering Scumbag is Dead

I don't usually gloat over people's death, even of "enemies", but I was mighty happy to hear that the Zark finally got a big dose of karma, in the form of 2 x 500 lb laser guided goodness.
The only thing I regretted was that he died so quickly he never knew what hit him.
But!
Turns out he did indeed know exactly what hit him, and had a few coherent, if blood soaked, moments to have a bit of a think about it and to look into the eyes of the Iraqi and American soldiers who got him.
So now I'm even happier.

Next Year in Jerusalem

So a while ago I was reading through the automated emails that I get from the research office with scholarships, postdoc positions, and all that. And something caught my eye: a scholarship for exchange programs between my uni and the Hebrew uni in Jerusalem. They had postponed the deadline for application submissions, probably cause there aren't too many people lining up for a free ticket to Israel. So I applied.
And I got it!
They will pay for my airfare and accommodation... and I get to do some work in collaboration with Hebrew uni which is by far the best uni in Israel.
We're planning to fly on Christmas day, hoping for a less-than-full plane (at least for the first leg).
By then it will have been nearly 3 years since we visited.
I'm not looking forward to such a long flight with a toddler, but I am excited about seeing family and friends, and having junior spend time with his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. And seeing all my old friends. My Sydney friends are nowhere near as close as my friends from high school whom I barely saw in the last decade. That's the way it is.
But I'm also excited to see what it's like to work in an Israeli uni. I have very little experience working in Israel in an "adult" job (ie not babysitting and fast food work). After all, we left very shortly after finishing the army and hadn't had much chance to really live there as, you know, adults.
So it will be an interesting experience....
And if I get a paper published to boot, then that makes it all the more worthwhile.

Sometimes I need something to remind me why I love Linux

I've had the unfortunate need to use a couple of our Windows workstations for some serious number crunching that I had to do. What a pain in the neck! Jeeeez! I forgot how much grief working with Windows can bring.
On my desktop running Linux, I could open 2 files and crunch them at the same time. It took many hours, but it crunched until it was done.
On Windows, with much better hardware (an extra CPU, tons of memory), it would crash half way through one number-crunching session. And no, it did not save anything.
Luckily I'm married to a genius programmer who wrote some code to bypass the need for this time-consuming and cpu-consuming stuff.
So now I'm back with my lovely linux, and enjoying every bit, even though I do have to work on the weekend.

Army Fashions

Iran's crazy president backed by an entire army of men with the same unshaved stubble.
This reminded me of the old Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein, where everyone had the Saddam mustache. And the Syrian army where everyone has the Assad mustachio.
I don't think anyone in the Israeli army is going to take up the new defense minister's mustache style.

However, it looks like the IDF is having some trouble keeping the women's pants waistlines from plunging too low. (Yahoo News couldn't resist the pun...)
I remember, way back when, I took my army skirt to a tailor to have it shortened. It looked like a potato sack originally. And there were specific rules as to how low you could go. I reckon it's time to set some new rules regarding pants. Although, what with all the bureaucracy in the army, by the time they figure something out (or redesign the pants), low-riders will be out of fashion.

From Darkness to Light

After 14 days trapped nearly a kilometer underground, the two Tasmanian miners have finally been rescued.
What an amazing story! I must say that when I first heard the news of the mine collapse two weeks ago, I had very little hope that they would be found alive, especially after the body of their colleague was found.
It's rare to hear any good news lately, but this is an amazing story and the whole of Australia were watching and hoping for the miner's return to safety.
I think that's a primal fear that all humans share; the fear of being buried alive, with no air, light, water, and not knowing if you will be found and rescued. I don't know how those guys survived for so long. I'm sure they will write a book about it and maybe a movie will be made? They deserve whatever the get in royalties!

Happy Birthday Israel!

I was reflecting yesterday on the differences between the memorial days of my three countries.
When I moved to the US I was quite surprised that Memorial Day is not really about remembering those who gave their lives in the defense of the country, but rather a day of shopping and sales and barbecues. It really made me feel that I was, indeed, in a different country. I couldn't understand it (and I still can't), but it was nice to be living in a place where most people are quite removed from war and loss.
What a contrast to Israel's Yom Hazikaron, which affects everyone in a very direct way, simply because virtually everyone knows someone who lost their life.
Anzac Day was recently commemorated here. Australians are not as directly affected as Israelis are, but still they do not treat the day as a shopping spree. There are dawn services, and interesting documentaries, and parades. People share a sense of pride in the sacrifices and achievements of their soldiers.

Don't worry be happy?

It's impossible to read the news in the last few years and not be terribly worried about the state of this planet. Being Israeli, I think I have a good understanding of how this world works, and especially the middle east. Living in a sane country like Australia gives me the chance to look at things "from the outside". And yet, even oceans away, I can never be truly disassociated from what's going on over on the other side of the world. And especially so today, when events and happenings have a truly global significance.
Iran's nuclear threats worry me a great deal. I really believe them when they say they want to wipe Israel off the map. But at some point I have to force myself to stop worrying, since there's really nothing I can do about it. And I take solace in the thought that there are people who can do something about it, and I'm pretty sure they are worried too and are doing something about it.
This interview with the former Mossad chief helps to calm my nerves a bit; just knowing that there are good, intelligent people doing their jobs.
It's a rather long interview but highly recommended reading.

Political Compass

I've seen this one around before, but it's come to my attention again today. And seeing as it's the end of the week, and I have a lot of work to do but I just don't feel like doing it for long without taking a break, I decided to take the test.
The test aims to find your political compass, and show in which quadrant of the economic and social scale you are situated.
So what were my results? Not surprisingly, I'm not in any quadrant. I'm smack in the middle of the economic left-right line, and leaning toward the libertarian on the social scale.
I had always considered myself left-leaning when it comes to social matters. In the last few years my political views have seen me drift from left to centre-right without actually changing much themselves.

Positive thinking follow up

This article on the growing prevalence among psychologists to focus more on happiness and wellbeing reminded me of my own efforts to change my attitude to a more positive one.
I just wanted to let you know that yes, I'm still listing 3 good things that I did during the day, every night before I go to sleep.
It is indeed addictive. It totally changes my thoughts and my mindset as I get ready to sleep, and it forces me to think about all the good things that happen to me and that I do. I'm often surprised at how much good there is, although I usually have to think a bit to remember what happened even on the same day.
It's so easy to overlook the good and focus on the stressful and bad. I'm not ignoring the stressful, just balancing it out a bit.

Weird beard

The big story in Israel now is what to do with 3 MKs who met with leaders of Hamas.
Interesting enough, but all I can think about is, dude - WTF is up with that beard??

I mean, is it natural? Or do you colour it? Is it some new fashion among metrosexual Palestinians or something?
Whoa.

OK, so I was being a lemon

...but I got over it.
Passover was briefly cancelled due to extreme stress and hurt feelings. But luckily things did not escalate into anything too nasty.
We ended up having a lovely Sedder with friends, at our place, with lots of food (all vegetarian! except for the gefilte fish) and even a Ma Nishtana sung by the kids.
I love Pessach, and I'm so happy I didn't end up missing out this year.
Chag Sameach.

Wombat's Rule of Working Mothers

There are three things in life: career, home/family, and sanity.
Choose two.

Actually, it's not quite like that. You can have varying degrees of each.
For instance, in my case, my current status-quo in life has the following:

Work: 75%.
Why? Because by the time I drop off Junior at day care, and hubby at work, and find a parking space, and get to my office, I have about 6 hours left to work before I have to leave to pick up Junior. (This includes lunch.) So, if I work 6 hours out of the 8 I'm supposed to, that comes out to 75%. At most.

Home/family: 60%
Why? Well, Junior is at day care five days a week, 9-5. I pay a lot of money for cleaners to clean my home. I hardly do any yard work so it looks like a jungle. I do grocery shopping, and basic cooking and cleaning, and lots of laundry. So let's call it 60%.

This leaves me with:
Sanity: 65%
(200 - (75+60))
which is about right, and a level I'm willing to cope with.

This Passover I offered to host the Sedder, and the balance was tipped quite heavily towards the home/family side of the triangle, which would have caused a small dent in my work, and a huge dent in my sanity.
So I decided, bugger it all, I want my sanity, and so declared, one day in advance, that Passover has officially been canceled this year.

I'd write more but I have to go pick up Junior.

Gold fisks Fisk

Here's an interesting review of two recently published books: The Great Ear for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by none other than Robert Fisk, and The Long War For Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East by Barry Rubin.
The reviewer, Alan Gold, proceeds to fisk Fisk:

...he cannot see beyond his prejudices. To compound matters, his book contains serious errors of fact. To describe King Faisal of Syria (later he was made king of Iraq) and his brother King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan as members of a Gulf tribe denies them their birth as Hashemites in the Kingdom of the Hejaz, which is the other side of the peninsula; the Iraqi monarchy wasn't ousted in 1962 but four years earlier; and the UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 in 1967, just after the Six-Day War, not in 1968 ... and so on.

Minor points, perhaps, but it shows that Fisk's ungovernable rage gets in the way of his need to check facts.

...

...instead of looking ahead, Fisk dwells alongside his Arab victims on the past.

...

Rubin, on the other hand, believes that every Arab country as well as Iran has been led by dictators who have failed to deliver any promise or substantive benefit to their people. They have succeeded by repression, corruption, the use of anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric and playing ethnic politics.

Radical Islamists who share this world view are today challenging these dictators and want to substitute Islamism for Arab nationalism. But, according to Rubin, a small band of liberals in these despotic societies has begun to emerge as a weak yet important alternative.

...

Rubin believes these liberal voices, rather than an imposed democracy of the West with its sometimes anti-democratic outcomes, will provide a long-term solution to the dangers of Islamism. He is confident Arabia will be democratic within the next 50 years, but not within the next 10.

Hiatus

Wow, it's been a while since I had time to write. I've been quite busy.
Last week was the official graduation ceremony where I got my PhD diploma. It was nice, the ceremony was not too long, and it was nice to see everyone celebrating with excited friends and proud parents. I was one of only four PhD graduates, and got to wear the funny hat and everything.
I've been busy at work too, but in a good way: the kind of busy that makes you look at your watch for the first time and gasp because it's already past 16:00 and you have to leave but have so much more to do.
This weekend I was wondering, as always, what to do in those precious 2 hours when junior has his nap. Should I cook? Clean? Paint? (I recently took a short course in abstract painting.) Yesterday I took the easy way out and took a nap myself. Today I decided to use the time to make some jewelry (I also just finished another course at the evening college: beading and silver wire work), and I even have some time to blog!

Project Jerusalem

Opportunities are there if you look for them....
I signed up for a bunch of uni newsletters: events, talks, grants, stuff like that. Usually I skim and toss them. But a few weeks ago an item caught my eye -- an exchange program between my uni and the Hebrew U in Jerusalem. It's open for students and staff. At first I ignored it. But then I saw it again; the deadline had been extended. I assumed there weren't too many people lining up to go to Jerusalem.
So I applied.
I made contact with some people there and we thought of some interesting, short-term projects we could work on together.
The grant pays for airfare, which is much more expensive than I thought, and accommodation there.
It will be a few weeks yet before I find out if I got it or not.
It would be great if I get it. We haven't been back home in over 2 years, and if someone can pay for my ticket, and I can get a paper published as well, it would be awesome.
And if I don't get it, that's fine too. It would cost quite a lot for the three of us to fly there, and the thought of a 24-hour flight each way with a toddler, who will then be jet-lagged in freezing Jerusalem, is enough to make me want to stay home and enjoy the summer break here.
I'm also really excited about the opportunity to see what it's like to work at an Israel university.
Hubby and I left Israel before we really had a chance to work much and be "grown ups" there, so we don't really have a clue what it's like. And while we're perfectly happy here in Oz at the moment, there is always that nagging thought: are we going to move back?
This would be a research project on more than one level!

My Dream Votes

Tzipi Livni for PM.
Condi Rice for Prez.

I'm pretty happy with Howard (and I actually voted for him!) I would say Australia is doing just fine. But Israel and the USA deserve better.

Perfecto

Over the last few months I've been making a conscious effort to change my life; to be more relaxed, to expect less of myself. I've seen a huge improvement already. I feel better physically: I have less headaches, less muscle pain, I eat less chocolate and take fewer pain killers. I also feel better emotionally: I smile and laugh more, and most importantly I'm having a lot more fun with my son. I don't yell at him as much, and I'm letting myself relax and enjoy being with him without having to worry about things that really don't matter that much. So he wet his pants? That's fine. He wants to go to the park after day care and all I want to do is go home and have a cup of tea? No worries, we'll go to the park and I'll enjoy it... I'll even swing and run around and sing "nad ned" and won't give a damn if people are listening.
This is a fairly huge step for me but it's been great.
I'm also doing other things to help myself. I've agreed to hire a cleaner. I'm taking evening classes to promote my artistic, creative side. I starting seeing a chiropractor to get rid of the tension headaches.
I've been trying (not 100% successfully) to come to terms with the fact that I can't be at work 8 hours a day but I can still get all the work done. Work is one of the toughest things I had to change my attitude about. For the first time in my life I have a job that I really love, but I can't give 100% to it because I'm a mother, and I have a child to take care of. I have enough guilt feeling with putting him in day care for 40 hours a week, and I wouldn't want him there for longer even if I could. But this of course means that I can't be at work 40 hours a week because I have to take him there in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. So I try to make up for it by taking less breaks, chatting less and working more efficiently.
Mostly, I am trying to teach myself that it's ok not to be perfect at work, and have a perfect home, and be a perfect mother and a perfect wife.
Today I noticed this article and which really sounds familiar. At least I'm not alone! Apparently, lots of perfectionists suffer from problems like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I went to a therapist exactly once in my life, and in one session she told me that I have a mild case of OCD. I was shocked. I thought people with OCD wash their hands 40 times a day and do stuff like that. But then I started thinking about it and it was very clear. And just being aware of it helped me so much. But I needed to take that very real step of actively trying to change, in order to see improvement.
I guess writing this blog is also a form of therapy. And oddly enough, knowing that nobody is reading it is rather liberating: I don't feel like I have an audience to write to. But on the other hand every blogger wants an audience, so if anyone actually does read it, that's great too. It's a win-win situation!

Uni

The new school year has started and the uni is swarming with students. The halls are awash in bewildered first-years, clutching campus maps and asking for directions.
So when I was fed up with work yesterday (programming! I hate programming! Dammit Jim, I'm a mechanical engineer, not a programmer!) I took so time off and went wandering around campus.
I had to walk on the roads because there was no room on the sidewalks, what with all the students. I finally found a place of peace and quiet: one of the university's museums (there are several). I had a wonderfully relaxing time browsing the exhibit; all sorts of Australian animals and birds, some extinct. Old scientific instruments like microscopes, and even part of the first Australian computer, Silliac, that was built here. Photos and artifacts of the local people on the mainland and in the Torres Straits. In the gallery there was an exhibition of jewelry made by Sydney artists, inspired by the items in the museum. It was all very civilized and relaxing.
I love working at uni. Even when the work itself gets boring, there's always something to see and learn, and the atmosphere is buzzing with learning.

Cholent Woes

For the first time in my life, I agreed to hire a cleaner. I've always been against it but since I decided to try and relax more, the house started to get really dirty. I just don't have the time or energy to clean the house. So we hired cleaners to come in every other week. It's expensive but worth every penny. Except....
The cleaner got a bit too enthusiastic with the outside of the oven and erased all the marks on the controls! So now I have no idea how hot the oven is. I suspect this will make baking a problem. It's already caused me to mess up a cholent.
Now, cholent is hard to mess up. Even a vegetarian one. You put everything in a big pot (potatoes, beans, pearl barley, yams, eggs, spice), cover it with boiling water, and stick it in the oven on low temperature for 8-14 hours. How many hours? It doesn't really matter. It's done whenever it's done.
But this time, I suppose I set the oven temperature to way too low, because when I opened the lid after about 12 hours it was still full of water and not really cooked well. I was flabbergasted. I actually had to finish cooking it on stove because that was dinner and I couldn't bother to cook anything else.
It just doesn't taste the same now. The eggs are cooked, but not brown. It's just not the same. Oh the shame...

Ashes and Snow

Gorgeous photographs.

Pierced

After several months of internal debate, I finally did it.
I got my ears pierced. Again.
I had them pierced many years ago, and got terrible infections in both ears. After that I didn't want to hear about any piercings. But lately, I've been noticing all those pretty earrings... and the more I noticed the more I wanted, and I kept thinking about it.
Yesterday I finally did it. This time I went to a doctor who specializes in body piercing. So far so good... I was surprised that he told me to clean the lobes with salt water once a day. And also that it will take 4 months (!!) to heal properly.
As he was creating unnecessary holes in me, he told me that people often ask him what it's like to work with beautiful women who want to get pierced in various body parts. He replies that inevitably, they all end up saying the same two things to him: it was really quick, and I didn't feel a thing.
And these are the two things no man ever wants to hear from any woman.

Partly Cloudy

A few days ago I had the opportunity to meet an interesting character at the uni. He was supposed to have retired about a decade ago, but he's not the type to retire. He's an engineer and has many decades of experience in academia.
He brought a photocopied graph that he found in an article in Scientific American from a couple of years ago. It shows levels of CO2 and methane in the atmosphere, as well as the change in temperature from the previous millennium, on a scale of about half a million years. Every 100,000 years or so, the earth goes through a period of warming that lasts about 7200 years. We're now smack in the middle of one of these periods.
Now, he wasn't arguing for or against man-induced global warming. He just thought that this was an interesting graph, based on precise measurements, that raises some questions that he thinks should lead to good scientific debate. Are we putting off the next ice age? How can we rely on recent measurements and predictions of small changes in temperature and sea level, when the sea level at the same point in this climate cycle has varied by nearly 200 meters, without any human intervention?
He told of a recent presentation that he gave, in which he showed this graph and asked some of these questions. He asked why we don't hear more debate on this. What was the response? The session chair told him that his time was up (it wasn't) and that he should step down and end his talk. He was stunned. Afterwards he asked why he was silenced like that, and was told that there are so many applications for government grants that nobody wants to say something that "they" don't want to hear.
The graph is from this article, written by James Hansen, who is by no means a global warming skeptic. On the contrary.
So what do I think of global warming? Well, I'm no climatologist, and there are plenty of people who know more than me on the subject. Unlike many journalists and pundits, I have no problem saying this. But I am a scientist and an engineer, and I know about modeling. I know how hard it is to get a good model of, say, a biological system. The model is only as good as what you put in it.
Planetary climate on a long-term time scale is just so immensely, utterly complicated, that I doubt that any of the current climate models are worth much, and especially not predicting global temperatures 100 years from now. There are so many variables, we have no idea how many there are and how they interact. We're learning new things about what affects climate on this earth every day. Each of these things factors in. We can't even explain past climate changes adequately; how can we claim to predict the future?
The big question is not whether climate change is happening or not (it is and always has) or if humans affect it (we do and always have). The question is what are we going to do about it. And that's where politics, biases, money and a host of other things unrelated to science, come into the equation. Academics wanting grant money. Journalists wanting a headline. Hollywood producers wanting to sell movies. Bush-haters will blame Bush, Howard-haters will blame Howard. The Greens will blame everyone.
I personally don't give much of a damn about it all, but I do care when scientists and academics are silenced.

The male-female brain continuum

... that's what this BBC test calls what it claims to measure.
I found it via Samudrika's blog that I just had the pleasure of perusing...
Nu so how did I do on the test?
Well, it claims that my personal brain score leans slightly to the feminine side.
Other than that, it told me a bunch of things I already know: I have pretty good spatial ability, I can't judge people's emotions all too well, and I find masculine faces attractive.
Waste of time? Sure. But it's better than working!

Crash

I was in a car accident yesterday.
I was driving to my son's daycare center to pick him up, thinking about how well my sessions with the chiropractor are going, and listening to the radio.
The light turned green, I started driving, and then a squeal of brakes, turning my head I saw for a split second a car racing towards me, and then crash.
The first person who came up to my window was, I think, from the pub on the corner. He handed me a bottle of chilled water. Then another 2 people came and asked if I'm ok. They said they saw that I had the green light and they helped me get the car out of the intersection.
I was frozen in my seat and shaking.
The driver that slammed into me came out and started shouting that he had a green light. Then he came over and asked if I was ok...
Hubby rushed over from work to help me.
The police, and the insurance company, were pretty convinced that I had the green (and I did) because I had 4 witnesses to back me up.
When the police officer was done writing the report, he saw hubby taking out the car seat and pram from the car, and he was rather shaken until I told him that Junior was not in the car. He told me to go home and hug my son.
And that's just what I did.
Our wonderful friends picked up Junior from daycare and took him home with them. They made us dinner and gave us their spare car. What would we do without them??
I hugged my son so hard.
You know, for several weeks now I've been working on improving my attitude to life and trying to be more relaxed. And it's really working well; I'm calmer, happier, I smile and laugh more, I eat less chocolate and have fewer headaches.
But yesterday's crash gave me a real quick attitude adjustment.
When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was, how wonderful to be alive.
And there are so many good people in the world, from strangers that hand out water and a helping hand, to good friends who are there for you when you need them, and most of all the family who loves you, supports you, and needs you.

nu?

Nu? So am I keeping up with the 3-things list every night?
Well, yes and no.
Yes, I'm making the list, but no, I'm not actually writing it down. I'm not sure how important the writing down bit is, but it is a good excercise and I'm enjoying it! It really does make you feel good.

Attitude shift

One of the things I enjoy most about driving to work is the chance to listen to the radio. Usually there are some pretty interesting programs on AM talk radio. This morning I heard an interview with the president of the American Psychologists Association. He was talking about teaching people to be more optimistic and happy. He said that until now psychologists have focused on depression, anxiety, and disorders, and still in America today more people than ever are depressed, and at a younger age too.
He reckons we should shift the focus to the study of happiness, contentment, and optimism.
I thought this was very interesting since I'm a rather stressed-out person generally, and lately I've been quite stressed and this of course has an impact on everything in my life. I had suffered from depression once in my life, when I was in my early teens, and I was starting to feel that I was getting awfully close to falling into that trap again.
The radio speaker said that our mind was analogous to our tongue, in that it moves around and around in the mouth looking for a cavity or a sore, and when it finds it it stays there and dwells on it so that we can't think of anything else.
He suggested a simple strategy to help people become happier. Every night, write down a short list of three things that went well for you today, and what you did to make them happen. He said it didn't have to be long, but it was important to get 3 things.
According to a big study he just finished, most people respond really well to this technique and show significant improvement in their outlook on life within 6 months.
He also said that this turned out to be a rather addicting activity, which I was happy to hear since my biggest problem with these types of things is sticking to it for longer than 2 days.
Apparently by using this simple technique, people learn to change the way their minds think about life and our place in the world, and learn to focus on the positive contributions they make instead of on what's wrong.
So, I have resolved to try this starting tonight. Let's see if I can keep it up...

Tim Tam

Ahh, Sunday afternoon and the boy is taking a nap.
A cold iced tea with fresh mint from the garden. Galgalatz on internet radio. A few minutes to relax and get ready for another week.
And here's a reason to celebrate: yesterday at the supermarket I picked up a pack of the new Tim Tam Latte.
Tim Tam is a yummy chocolate biscuit, with chocolate in the middle and on the outside. It's nice on its own, but if you want the true experience then you have to do the "Tim Tam Suck".
First you nibble a bit of one corner, then you nibble a bit of the opposite corner. Then you dip one of the nibbled corners into your hot drink (coffee, tea, whatever), suck on the other end until you feel the drink in your mouth, then in one quick deft move, you put the whole thing into your mouth.
The sensation of melting chocolate has been likened to a chocolate orgasm.
It's guaranteed to cheer you up if you are under the weather...
The original Tim Tam is with milk chocolate, but there are lots of variations. Double Coated is for people with acute depression I reckon. The other flavours are ok, but my favorite is Classic Dark.
Tonight I'll try the new Latte flavor and let you know the verdict.

A tale of three countries

Sunday morning, and it's my turn to sleep late but due to a 6:30 AM tantrum by my son I couldn't go back to sleep. So I sneaked into the office and now I'm enjoying some quiet time at the computer. Now, I didn't have any caffeine this morning so please take that into account.
We live a comfortable and good life here in Sydney, and still I find myself going over the same dilemmas every day it seems. Is this where I want to live in the long term? Is this where I want to raise my family?
I've lived in 3 countries and all three have a lot to offer. Let's start with where I am now, Australia.
I think that the thing that I like most about Australia is how 'normal' it is. It's a free country with an established democracy, a great economy, wonderful health care, good education. People spend a lot of time participating in, talking about, and watching sports. The people are relaxed and polite. On a personal level, I have a job that I actually enjoy (the first in my life!) with colleagues that I like working with. All in all, it's a great place to live.
So what's the problem? I guess it's more of a personal thing. Why are all my friends here Israeli? I can't seem to connect with Australians the way I do with Israelis. I have no problem with English, and I try to immerse myself in Aussie culture (I even tried to learn the rules of cricket, but I still only see a bunch of men standing around on the grass for 5 days, scratching themselves), but I still can't seem to connect on a deep, personal level.
In Israel I have friends I can call at any time and talk about anything with, even though I haven't been living there for 10 years. Here I just don't have that, and it's hard.
Now in Israel, there are numerous problems and a long list of things that make me cringe when I think of moving back. Terrorism doesn't scare me so much as such, but it's the secondary effects that are a daily problem: people are stressed and aggressive, they drive like maniacs, the economy has suffered immensely, there's not enough money or time to think about things like education or health care, because of the more immediate security issues.
On the other hand we have family there, and good friends, and that support network is missing from our lives now.
The third option is to move back to California. Life was good there for us, and there's a lot more money to be made than here. But that comes with a price: you have to work long and hard to get it. In Israel people also work an incredible amount of hours, but get a lot less in return. Australia certainly takes the lead when it comes to work-life balance.
The important question, and the reason why I am thinking about this so much in the last 2 years, is where do I want my son (and his future siblings) to grow up? I know that once he starts school, he won't remember any of the Hebrew he's learning now. I'm not religious, but it's hard for me to see him at the day-care centre end-of-year party, singing Christmas carols and getting a pressie from Santa Clause. I know that in Israel he would get the language and culture that I would rather have him know.
Oy.
There is no good answer. Having too many choices sure makes things difficult.

Oh yes, I'm going to the U2 concert in April

This is old news, but I haven't been writing for a long time so I forgot about it for a while.
I got tickets to the sold-out U2 concert!!!
I had missed out on the first concert and was all bummed out. Then they announced a second concert and this time I was ready. As soon as tickets went on sale (actually an hour before) I was ready at their web site and with phone in hand, it was "reload" and "radial" over and over again for about 4 hours. Just as I was about to give up, I got 2 tickets!! Granted they are on the 6th level and on the side, but so what?? I'm finally going to see U2!
When I was a kid I was the hugest U2 fan ever. Totally nuts. At some point in the 1990's I switched to Pearl Jam. Today I hardly listen to Pearl Jam any more and I think Eddie Vedder is rather pathetic. But I still listen to U2, oh yes...
Anyway, I was their hugest fan in Israel but by the time they finally performed there for the first time, I had just moved to the USA and so I missed them.
Getting the tickets has already caused a bit of a fracas. Hubby's friend's wife is also a huge fan and didn't get any tickets. I had already asked out my good friend, who doesn't especially like U2 or anything, to go with me as a birthday present. Some mild catfighting and attempted bribery ensued, but eventually I managed to diplomatically sort things out.
My Ph.D. graduation ceremony is one week after the U2 concert, and I can tell you that I'm much, much more excited about U2.

Is there a Starbuck's there already?

A pristine "Garden of Eden" was found in Papua, untouched by humans. Dozens of new species of animals, birds and plants have been found.
Interesting that they also found an echidna, and some kangaroos that don't look at all like kangaroos. Amazing!!

I miss flying

Last week I attended a training course and the other attendees were all from a company that does aviation-related work. At the breaks they would talk about planes and helicopters, and swap stories about test flights and all that.
It's been several years since we moved from America to Australia, and I haven't flown at all since then (except in commercial airliners but that's not real flying). I had forgotten how much I missed it. Not just the flying, but being part of the aviation community.
The flying was so great, what an amazing feeling to see the world from a different perspective... but the friends I made and the feeling of belonging to a really tight-knit community was what I enjoyed most. Being active in the flight club, "hangar flying", washing the planes, going off to new and weird airports that we found on the map and never went to before, just to see what's there. Whenever you get 2 or more pilots together, the conversation immediately shifts to flying stories and they will be happy to talk for hours and hours.
General aviation just isn't as developed and wide-spread as it is in the USA. There are fewer airports, planes, clubs and instructors. Flying is much more expensive. In California I could get in my car and be at the airport going over my pre-flight checklist in 20 minutes. Here I'd have to drive an hour and a half to the nearest GA airport. And then there wouldn't be a whole lot of places I could fly to just for fun, or for the proverbial "$100 hamburger". It wouldn't be anywhere near $100, and there would probably not be any veggie burgers either.
It's just not the same unfortunately. Australia is a wonderful place to live, but there are certainly some things that I had to sacrifice for the privilege of living here.

Stab

I just read about a stabbing on a minibus in Petah Tikva, my home town. This was on the main street from the city to Tel Aviv, and of course I know it well.
Just as I was thinking to myself "how nice to be living in Australia", I saw that there was a stabbing at Bondi beach as well.
Both stabbers were men of Middle-Eastern Appearance.
The world is indeed a small place and it seems there aren't many places left that are unaffected.
:(