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.

I generally don't get home sick, but today on the BBC website I saw some news about Only Fools and Horses a TV show I used to watch. Now wouldn't you think that in these times of global communication through Internet and satellites that someone in the US would be able to buy DVDs of TV shows from anywhere in the world? Wrong! I haven't totally given up my search, but I'm pretty pessimistic about finding anything. What is the real with regional encoding? There should be a better way to reduce copying and still allow a true global marketplace for DVD sales.

Looked at Vespas at the weekend :-). I want a 50cc one that I can park anywhere, but I'm not sure about the 2 stroke oil burning engine in the ET2. After sleeping on the idea I have started looking at Honda's Metropolitan, it's a 4 stroke engine and is a leeetle bit cheaper than the Vespa, and has storage space for a helmet.

I got caught by an April Fool's joke yesterday. I learned a valuable lesson too; no matter how fast you need to leave work, never forget to either shut down or lock your computer. Yesterday I was greeted by sound bites of Barry Manilow singing "Oh Mandy" whenever I opened an application or received an e-mail; I hate Barry Manilow. It was funny at first and then his voice started to grate a little. When I eventually went to reset my sound set-up I found the culprit. Note: if you are going to do this sort of joke to a workmate, don't link the files from your own computer :-)
Other than that I survived April 1 okay!
I bought some Shimano Groovasaurus SH-SD60 sandals at the weekend - they arrive tomorrow....I can't wait!