Probably a bit late on this but I keep thinking about a Ukrainian couple I worked with, back in 2004, solemnly-smilingly handing out oranges to people to mark the Orange Revolution. That didn't change anything directly, but it was a thing they wanted to do. Livejournal is probably the only Russian product I have a choice in using (apart from the ( Read more... )

In other news, I've got an email here from an enthusiastic recruiter wanting to know some more specifics about my experience, for a job at a company making lithography machines. It sounds like an interesting company and the sort of thing I can do but the email's been sitting around for days unanswered because, well, basically because winter. I was ( Read more... )

Honestly, it's almost embarrassing. Four nights on a roll mat under a skylight is not only better than a week in a proper bed in the dark end, it fixes its ill effects. Not having light in the morning shouldn't totally negate the effect of the several hours of sleep before it, should it? And yet there I was on Friday, doing the walk and everything ( Read more... )

The 15th of October to the 26th of February. That's the period during which the angle of the noon-day sun in Rotterdam never reaches 29.7 degrees, which is the zenith angle of the sun on the shortest day of the year in Auckland. That whole four-plus-month period, in terms of solar efficacy, never exists in Auckland. This photo of long shadows at ( Read more... )

I was thinking of doing something about the changing skyline of Rotterdam today, but since the weather really wasn't suitable, I went shopping instead.

( Bij de markt )

Is there such a thing as a consulting feminist? Because I feel like I need to talk to one, on how I got to where I am, and where indeed I actually am, on gender issues. I don't spend a lot of time reading around the topic, and I'm not likely to either, but things come up where I find my experiences of being female, and of being a female that does ( Read more... )

I'm trying to work out what to do about going to see Clutch. They've cancelled a chunk of their European tour, including both the gigs in the Netherlands. There's one in Bremen I was hoping to go to instead, but it's sold out. That leaves:

• a festival in Münster, where they're on for an hour at 1am
• four gigs in the UK, but all on weekdays therefore ( Read more... )

(Because of course having broken the oh-I-haven't-posted-anything-for-ages barrier I can now stick something short up without having to think about all the other things I was going to put up)

“I’m so glad to meet an engineer,” she enthused, “all the other women I talked to here were in marketing or law or something. I thought it was meant to be ( Read more... )

I'm back from a week in Tenerife ( Read more... )

03-Jan: Move to Rotterdam ( Read more... )