Paprika flavored Pringles are exclusive to Europe, and are the best flavor of Pringles on earth! Today I went searching for websites that cater to Europeans in the US. Unfortunately I could not find a site that sold paprika flavored Pringles, loads of Walkers flavors that most Brits seem to miss. Not me, give me paprika flavored Pringles goddamit! So, I went to the P&G website and filled out their feedback form. I feel a little better for voicing my opinion, but I don't think it will do much good; there won't be paprika Pringles in the grocery store next time I look.

The buffalo grass is looking better, and yes, we have runners; the plugs have cute little green strands that are spreading out. If I'm lucky the area will look like a real grass lawn in a couple of months, or so. Only my grass will need less water and just need cutting two of three times a year.

Well, my birthday came and went; what a weekend. I never did lose the 8lbs I needed to be the same weight as I was in 89. May be over the summer that can happen. My weekend can be described in wine.
We drank a wonderful Chateauneuf du Pape on Friday; my favorite. On Saturday I was banished while the house was done up in black, purple and grey balloons, black table cloths and napkins. While out of the house I had a couple of glasses of pinot noir. On returning home to the festivities I switched to Cabernet Sauvignon, I lost count of the glasses, but survived the night. Sunday was an alcohol free day, partly because I wanted to stay awake; we had tickets for Les Miserables. So, I think my entry into another decade was decadent enough.

I was always a bad speller, but after getting a higher degree, I felt I had proved myself intelligence-wise and so didn't worry too much. Then I moved to the US from the UK. Now I'm confused with words I thought I knew how to spell. Does it have an "s" or a z", double "l" or single... Recently I decided to sign-up for Wordsmith's A Word A Day in an attempt to, not only improve my spelling, but also expand my vocabulary. Generally the e-mails are informative and helpful, and there's always a sense of satisfaction when it is a word I know "Ha, people don't know THAT word, I must have such a good word-range". Then, there are words I didn't know and cannot imagine in my wildest dreams why I would ever want to use them. Take for example today's word, retromingent (re-tro-MIN-jent), an adjective meaning, urinating backwards (like a raccoon or camel). I can't really imagine using such a word except in an insult "You retromingent, you!"

It's been just over 2 weeks since I planted buffalo grass plugs; some are looking great, others are a little crispy. Conditions have been good and I have been lucky with the weather, mostly 60's and 40's overnight, so hopefully the crispy ones are normal We have had some rain too, in fact we had 7 inches of snow at the weekend that is equivalent to 1 inch of water. I looked for runners yesterday; seemingly when the grass starts to take hold it sends out runners. Rest assured I will post a "runner sighting" immediately I see anything remotely green and growing.

My plan was to get back to the weight I was in September 1989 by my next birthday. Alas, I'm only a few days away from D-day, or should I say B-day, and I am still 8 lbs away from my goal. I believe 8 lbs was what I wanted to lose when I made my New Years resolution five-months-ago! The upside is I haven't gained anything in 5 months! So, in the last few days before B-day I will be starving myself in an effort to get down to a weight that I thought was too fat 14 years ago! It's amazing how perception changes over the decades.

Just noticed an interesting article called Gagging the bloggers. It is about the fact that despotic governments are now taking notice of bloggers (and what they are saying), as blogs are an outlet for many without fear of censorship. However some individuals in China and Iran have been arrested for posting their comments online; no freedom of speech there! Of course this type of news is to be expected, but sometimes I'm surprised when I hear stuff like this. I have all the facts, but don't always put all the pieces together, or forget that censorship exists in many part of the world.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!.

Ah, May Day and the start of watering season in my part of the world. I planted buffalo grass last Friday, I used plugs from a super way-cool place called High Country Gardens. The grass is genetically engineered to be greener than natural buffalo grass. It already looks greener; I just hope that it takes root before the hot days of summer arrive. Then I can smugly look at my happy green grass (that, BTW, only needs watering every 2 weeks), while everyone else’s bluegrass is looking dried and crispy. I’m getting very environmentally conscious in my old age.

The Vespa desire is dwindling, as the company I work for may not move downtown. That will be a big bummer, but I guess I’ll live with it and the $4,000 I’ll save from not buying a scooter. My car will be paid off this month too. What will I do with all the extra money? Ha!

Homesick
There are times when I feel homesick for Scotland, there are times I feel homesick for my family and there are times I feel homesick for my chosen career; the biosciences. I left research and all things academic in 1995 partly due to an ignorant boss and my own stubbornness. I had become so sickened and disillusioned with research. I tried to do the right thing, but was accused of not putting my heart into my work. I was essentially asked to leave because I was “playing” too much on the computer. A few years later I found out the lab had adopted a similar route of analysis similar to what I had tried to do. Now, 8 years later I could probably get a peon position in a very obscure, undistinguished lab, but not much else. I always hoped that working in multimedia I would someday have the opportunity to work on a Web, CD ROM or video project where my knowledge of the biological sciences would help. So far that hasn't happened. But I haven't given up completely, I still hold a modicum of hope that one day I can merge my past life and current life into something in the future. In the meantime, I periodically ready papers and articles about my chosen career.

The BBC News website has some interesting articles about the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA.
My aunt, the DNA pioneer an excellent article about Dr. Rosalind Franklin, who should have got the Nobel prize in 1953. And an interesting article praising the simplicity, symmetry and serendipity of DNA structure. DNA: A design icon

Today the US terror alert was downgraded to yellow. Just because Saddam has been run out of Iraq and the US and UN are starting to bring democracy to that part of the world I don't feel there is less of a chance of terrorism. What we see on US TV, Web and paper is what the US news wants us to see. I am sure there are still a lot of Iraqi's that are not happy about what has been done. There must be people loyal to Saddam's fascist regime who are planning retaliation on the US, they are just waiting for us to relax so they can catch us off guard. I disagree with the terror alert downgrade.

The latest e-mail joke-virus going around:

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy,the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', Dick, and Colon (Colin)"

We e-filed our taxes last night. Every year I say, "that's it, no more procrastinating" and every year we leave it to the last minute. Well, I really mean it this time, "no more! not gonna happen, I will file in Feb next year" really, I will.

Test-rode a Vespa this weekend. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, temps just below 80, the trees are just starting to bud and give a green leaf haze. It was a perfect day for a scooter ride. I think after looking at the Honda Metropolitan, the Yamaha Vino and the selection on eBay, I have come full-circle back to the Vespa. Now I definitely want one! I want the ET2 in alabaster with matching helmet and top case. The fact that the Vespa place even let us ride one is a big plus; both Honda and Yamaha don't allow test-drives!

Ah, I can see myself now...riding to work on my Vespa, white silk head-scarf flowing in the breeze, red lipstick and looking like a scene from an Elvis movie.

It's the hubby's birthday today. The young boy is two years younger than me... ah, younger men!

I'm at work wondering if it is as nice as it looks outside my office window. It is. There's clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s. I checked to see if it will be this nice tomorrow, it will. We'll have clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s. And if you are wondering if "clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s" will describe the weekend, it should.