I slept for about ten hours last night and I am still exhausted. My brother woke me up at nine this morning so I didn't sleep in too late. If I had, my whole plan to adjust quickly would have gone out the door. But I can tell you one thing, I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I might have to go to bed earlier today....just so I can sleep in.
In my day and a half here (most of it half asleep) I have learned that my brother lives in a much different world than I do (and I am not only talking about the US vs. South Africa), there is a racial division (but not as much as I thought, but that could just be the veneer projected to fool us short time visitors), and I'm terrible with children. :-) Kenney and Frida are cute and adorable.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Getting To Johannesburg
For those that are curious, I am here safe and alive. I survived the two ten hours flights and one six hours lay-over. Right now I am extremely tired - since I really haven't slept much in over two days.
See, I left at about 6 Thursday night and we flew through the night to land in London the next day, 1:00 their time. My next flight left at seven in the evening and landed 6 in the morning in Jo-berg. I decided to deal with the time change, I was not going to sleep on the first flight to make myself so tired that I would sleep on the second flight, wake up when we arrived and therefore be on Jo-berg time very quickly. Well, in a sense it worked, I'm tired and I did manage to doze on and off for about six hours on the flight, but it wasn't very good sleep. So now I am waiting until this evening to fall asleep. Which is hard, I want to sleep.
So if we look at the clock, it should be Sat. at about 8am, I've had six hours of dozing since Thursday at 6:40am. But once I get a good night sleep, I'll be on Jo-berg time, um, starting tomorrow. Not bad for a 9 hour difference.
See, I left at about 6 Thursday night and we flew through the night to land in London the next day, 1:00 their time. My next flight left at seven in the evening and landed 6 in the morning in Jo-berg. I decided to deal with the time change, I was not going to sleep on the first flight to make myself so tired that I would sleep on the second flight, wake up when we arrived and therefore be on Jo-berg time very quickly. Well, in a sense it worked, I'm tired and I did manage to doze on and off for about six hours on the flight, but it wasn't very good sleep. So now I am waiting until this evening to fall asleep. Which is hard, I want to sleep.
So if we look at the clock, it should be Sat. at about 8am, I've had six hours of dozing since Thursday at 6:40am. But once I get a good night sleep, I'll be on Jo-berg time, um, starting tomorrow. Not bad for a 9 hour difference.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
My Job
I have to get a new job. There are various reasons (and many reasons to stay), but, during the past two days, I was given the final proof I needed.
My program had their annual conference/in-service yesterday and today. The project assistant has been extremely busy the past month putting this whole thing together. I've helped her when I could and my boss, well, she's been home. She's getting her house remodeled and needs to be there 24-7 (I can't figure it out, my parents didn't need to do that, but what ever). Nurses and program coordinators from the 11 counties in which out program runs, showed up. So thanks to the wonderful project assistant, we had a fairly nice conference with about 30 attendees (plus us) and some really good speakers. Admittedly I learned more about sexual disfunction in both older men and women than I really wanted to know. An hour was spent on each. Did you know there are implants for males if they having problems? We got an explanation of how it works, with pictures.
But no, that's not the reason I have to leave. My reasoning has to do with what I noticed as the male was talking about the implants....I work with nobody but post-menopausal women. I spent the past two days freezing and wearing a fleece, while most of the women were fanning themselves. Hot flashes I guess.
The sad thing is, I am almost not exaggerating. I am the youngest by ten years, the one closest to my age is the project assistant. All of the nurses are 50+ (except for maybe 2) and are always talking to me about how cute and perky I am. I felt like I am 40 years younger than everyone there.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind being the youngest (in fact I was mistaken for a 24 year old today. Darn) but I wished I worked with a greater variety of people. Maybe someone younger than me, someone my age, maybe even a male (!!!). There was so much estrogen in the place, I was beginning to thing think even the security guards were cute (okay, not really. But it was bad). It would be nice to work with others. I really need a new job. I really do.
My program had their annual conference/in-service yesterday and today. The project assistant has been extremely busy the past month putting this whole thing together. I've helped her when I could and my boss, well, she's been home. She's getting her house remodeled and needs to be there 24-7 (I can't figure it out, my parents didn't need to do that, but what ever). Nurses and program coordinators from the 11 counties in which out program runs, showed up. So thanks to the wonderful project assistant, we had a fairly nice conference with about 30 attendees (plus us) and some really good speakers. Admittedly I learned more about sexual disfunction in both older men and women than I really wanted to know. An hour was spent on each. Did you know there are implants for males if they having problems? We got an explanation of how it works, with pictures.
But no, that's not the reason I have to leave. My reasoning has to do with what I noticed as the male was talking about the implants....I work with nobody but post-menopausal women. I spent the past two days freezing and wearing a fleece, while most of the women were fanning themselves. Hot flashes I guess.
The sad thing is, I am almost not exaggerating. I am the youngest by ten years, the one closest to my age is the project assistant. All of the nurses are 50+ (except for maybe 2) and are always talking to me about how cute and perky I am. I felt like I am 40 years younger than everyone there.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind being the youngest (in fact I was mistaken for a 24 year old today. Darn) but I wished I worked with a greater variety of people. Maybe someone younger than me, someone my age, maybe even a male (!!!). There was so much estrogen in the place, I was beginning to thing think even the security guards were cute (okay, not really. But it was bad). It would be nice to work with others. I really need a new job. I really do.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Are Hybrids the Answer?
I don't know, and it bugs me that no one is asking. Every where I go I hear people talk about how wonderful the Prius is, how Toyota is such a great environmental company (which, compared to most car companies, may be true), how great the prius would be if it could be plugged as well, etc. But is the Prius really the answer? No one talks about the batteries. What materials are needed to make them, what are the costs of obtaining those materials, and what is involved in making them? Are they recyclable? Have we just replaced using fossil fuels with filling our dumpsters even faster (we, in California, are already shipping some of our garbage to China because we have no place for it here).
Everything we do has a cost. Using water for energy requires building dams that hurt much of the natural habitat, windmills kill birds, solar panels require a lot of energy and materials to be created. Some costs are easier to handle than others. Global warming is probably not going to be caused by a few less birds, but a few bird lovers are going to hate me for that comment.
That's why we need to either use less, or have fewer people in the world. Seriously, we could all drive hummers everyday, if there were only a million people in the world. That whole 6.7 billion thing makes a difference. But no one's talking about that. instead there are people trying to keep others from learning about or having access to birth control! How freaking silly.
But we can use less, we can all use less. I try, although I am not very good. I take the bus, but it's hard. I can't stay after work for any reason.... the last bus from downtown to natomas leaves at 5:38. No drinks after work, or yoga classes, or dinner or, well, you get the idea. We need more and reliable public transportation. And why are beer companies spending money on advertising not to drink and drive or to designate a driver (actually, I think they have to by law) when they can spend money on public transportation which will allow there buyers to drink as much as they want without the fear of dying. Hey, even the DD will be able to drink, cause, hey, there's the bus.
I bike to work to. Two - three times a week, 35-45 minutes there, same back. It's not a horrible ride, but the streets have pot holes, many don't have bike lanes, and many of the cars don't pay any attention. Only people who feel really comfortable riding, or are really dedicated, actually do, the rest, they will still drive. They aren't going to ride until its easy for them and is more accepted. But how do you do that?
There are other ways to use less. Such as turning off my computer once in a while. But we have to start thinking that less is better, not more (despite what our commericals and our culture tells us).
Everything we do has a cost. Using water for energy requires building dams that hurt much of the natural habitat, windmills kill birds, solar panels require a lot of energy and materials to be created. Some costs are easier to handle than others. Global warming is probably not going to be caused by a few less birds, but a few bird lovers are going to hate me for that comment.
That's why we need to either use less, or have fewer people in the world. Seriously, we could all drive hummers everyday, if there were only a million people in the world. That whole 6.7 billion thing makes a difference. But no one's talking about that. instead there are people trying to keep others from learning about or having access to birth control! How freaking silly.
But we can use less, we can all use less. I try, although I am not very good. I take the bus, but it's hard. I can't stay after work for any reason.... the last bus from downtown to natomas leaves at 5:38. No drinks after work, or yoga classes, or dinner or, well, you get the idea. We need more and reliable public transportation. And why are beer companies spending money on advertising not to drink and drive or to designate a driver (actually, I think they have to by law) when they can spend money on public transportation which will allow there buyers to drink as much as they want without the fear of dying. Hey, even the DD will be able to drink, cause, hey, there's the bus.
I bike to work to. Two - three times a week, 35-45 minutes there, same back. It's not a horrible ride, but the streets have pot holes, many don't have bike lanes, and many of the cars don't pay any attention. Only people who feel really comfortable riding, or are really dedicated, actually do, the rest, they will still drive. They aren't going to ride until its easy for them and is more accepted. But how do you do that?
There are other ways to use less. Such as turning off my computer once in a while. But we have to start thinking that less is better, not more (despite what our commericals and our culture tells us).
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Hope
I had an interesting discussion about hope yesterday. We all assume hope is good. I mean, we all need hope. If I didn't have hope for this country, I'd probably leave.
But does hope mean we are not happy in our situation? Instead of accepting what we have, we are always hoping for something better. If we are always hoping things are better, are we forgetting to live and enjoy what is going on now? I thought that was an interesting concept.
My response was - hope should define our actions, but not how we feel, if that makes any sense. I don't want accept the situation in this world, in my life, etc. I want to work to make things better. I need to hope that things can be better. However I also want to be happy with my life now and accept they way things are. I my hope for change and do things to make changes, but still live in the meantime.
But does hope mean we are not happy in our situation? Instead of accepting what we have, we are always hoping for something better. If we are always hoping things are better, are we forgetting to live and enjoy what is going on now? I thought that was an interesting concept.
My response was - hope should define our actions, but not how we feel, if that makes any sense. I don't want accept the situation in this world, in my life, etc. I want to work to make things better. I need to hope that things can be better. However I also want to be happy with my life now and accept they way things are. I my hope for change and do things to make changes, but still live in the meantime.
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