techgirl

Acoffeelypse Now

I threw a mug of coffee at Kevin this morning.

Now, honestly, “threw” implies a level of planning and intent that I’m typically incapable of at oh-dark-thirty*. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I was bringing Kevin a mug of coffee when my thumb slipped off the rim, resulting in a caffeinated explosion of java and Splenda all over Kevin, the wall, the carpet and floor,and  various books, papers, and what-have-you in the vicinity of our desk.

It was not a pretty sight. › Continue reading

The Staff of Life

My dreaded to-do list is growing ever longer: write, read, prepare for classes, do taxes, do paperwork, clean house, work on websites…. So what did I do today instead? I baked.

IKEA has a wonderful mix for Lingonbrod, a rye/whole wheat mix with dried lingonberries. It’s wonderfully nummy (I know what I’m taking for Brotzeit tomorrow!) — and it’s a welcome retreat from everything else. › Continue reading

Erster Mai

This coming Saturday is the first of May. So what? › Continue reading

It’s spelt Eyjafjallajokull…

but it’s pronounced FLIGHT CHAOS! Thousands of people all over the world have been effected by the volcano in Iceland, affectionately known as “The Big Belch” (well, no, not really, but what it IS known as I can’t write in a PG-13 blog!). From where I sit in central Germany, the only physical evidence is a bit of a haze on the horizon and dusty windows. Some of my Brit friends at NICE on Friday were pooh-poohing the whole mess — “oh, it’s not that bad really, they’re overreacting” — and complaining about the inconvenience — one of Sheridan’s friends is stuck in Seattle, for example. Apparently, however, those with means have avoided too much inconvenience.

So what’s the big deal? How does an invisible cloud of ash cause so much havoc? It’s apparently not a health hazard, except to those with respiratory conditions, although it can harm grazing animals. The worse effect is on our food supplies — food imports have been effectively closed for the time being.

Originally, I thought the airlines had grounded themselves for safety reasons, but I’ve since realized that the flight ban was instituted by the various European governments. Airlines are losing millions of dollars a day, and grumbling about not being allowed to fly… even though the risk is considerable.

What would you do? Would you risk flying through this cloud, knowing it could effectively kill the jet engines and make the airplane’s windscreen impossible to see through? Of the thousands of flights a day, it’s likely that only a few would be affected. but even one out of a thousand is too many. Should the airlines be allowed to play Russian Roulette with their passengers’ lives?

I think I’ll stay home and eat local produce for a while.

1600 words…

I’ve set a new goal for myself: 5 pages a week on the dissertation, even if it’s dreck that I’ll have to rewrite once DZS tears through it. At least with something I have something to improve on! I managed to get a few pages written today. 1600 words, about 7 pages, which doesn’t sound like much, but comparatively, I feel like I’ve written a book! I would have done more but I need to prepare for class tomorrow. I do have free time between classes tomorrow, so I’ll write then, maybe get a bit more done. Yay! › Continue reading