I love this statue

I saw this statue outside the Royal Palace in Budapest last August and just had to get a picture of it. It reminds me of my favorite poem:

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

--William Carlos Williams

I'm not much on plums (can't stand them, actually), but it was so hot outside that day that I might well have been tempted to steal one out of an icebox and eat it to finally cool off a bit!

38 down, 12 to go!

My thesis was my Valentine's date this year. Not very romantic. (Although we did break my bed together once...)

I finally got my head in the right place to work on it after a conversation I had with one of my friends a few weeks ago. She's in the same boat I am -- working 50% (for those of you in the States, that's 20 hours a week) at a job with a fair commute, tired and needing a break from work when she gets home in the afternoon, and having a hard time succeeding in putting aside enough time each day to do research. And not stressed out about it yet, since the written version of the thesis isn't due until mid-May, with the defense in mid-June, but definitely feeling guilty about not doing as much work as one thinks one ought to.

Where our stories differ a bit is that I already started writing the analysis portion of my thesis last summer, but got seriously bogged down with a pesky chapter back in October. I had a lot to say in this particular chapter, but hadn't really done all the research I needed to do and hadn't narrowed down what I wanted to talk about quite enough. And so I thought about it for a couple of weeks, decided on how I wanted to narrow things down, spent a couple more weeks taking notes, wrote the first few pages and then got completely sidetracked by life for awhile. Then I told myself that I would churn the chapter out during the week I had off for Christmas/New Year's... but then I got very sick with bronchitis and was too miserable to do anything but lie flat on my back in bed. And all the putting off and waiting and dragging things out made me feel guilty. And the more guilty I felt, the less I wanted to think about my thesis and the more paralyzed I became.

And then my friend and I talked about it, and I realized that I'm not in such a bad place. At the time of our conversation (late January) I had 28 pages already written and turned in, and I had an 8-page rough draft of the current chapter happily stored away on my hard drive. These 8 pages still needed a bit of an overhaul to get the theoretical argument structured the way it should be, but at least I had already spit out most of the chapter. And when I had to write a thesis for my BA, I didn't even start writing the analysis portion until April (with a mid-May deadline to turn everything in, just like my current thesis). So, 28 pages done plus 8 more in very rough draft form at the end of January wins out against 0 pages at the beginning of April, hands down.

Funny how getting rid of guilt can free you up so much. A few days after that conversation, I went to check out the last few books I needed to take notes from to finish the chapter. I spent two weekends taking notes, and then this weekend I sat down to put it all on paper. I finished the (now 10-page) chapter this afternoon and emailed it in as quickly as I could! That milestone felt so good.

So now I have just 12 pages left to go! It will feel so good to go to the library tomorrow and turn in all the books that have been sitting in my room these past few weeks.

Relief...

Spring is on its way...

Spring always seems to sneak up on me each year. My brain knows that the days start getting longer starting on December 22nd, but my conscious self doesn't pick up on the changes until, oh, say, this week. I heard little birds singing when I woke up on Monday... it's the first time I've heard that in months. Then, a few days later, I realized that the sun was still shining outside at 6pm. It was a beautiful moment.

Of course, winter is in no hurry to go away... it snowed a lot here on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and I woke up to five positively miserable pigeons huddled together on my windowsill. When I got up, they sort of nervously glanced over at me as though to say, "Please stay over there so we can stay over here. Please?"

But slowly and surely, spring is on its way...

Do you KenKen?

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/kenken.html

It's a brilliant new little math/logic puzzle on the New York Times website where you have to fill either a 4x4 or 6x6 grid with the right numbers. Here are the rules:

1. 4x4 grids must be filled with the numbers 1-4.
2. 6x6 grids must be filled with the numbers 1-6.
3. A number cannot repeat within the same row.
4. A number cannot repeat within the same column.
5. Each heavy outlined area (called a "cage") must be filled with numbers that make the mathematical equation correct. (For example, in a 6x6 grid, if you have a cage comprising two squares, and "11+" is written inside, you must fill in the squares with a 5 and a 6 in some order because 5+6 is the only way to make 11. If you have a cage comprising two squares in a 4x4 grid, and "3-" is written inside, you must fill the squares with 4 and 1 in some order because 4-1 is the only way to make 3.)

New puzzles posted every day -- try not to get addicted!

Where did January go???

I cannot believe that it's the middle of February already! January went by in a blur because I was sick. Two weeks of bronchitis, a week of a cough, and a week of bad allergies. I think I singlehandedly made Kleenex sales in Switzerland skyrocket...

Being sick didn't keep me out of trouble, though. Back while I had bronchitis, we had a business/social dinner with a VIP and his wife. I didn't have much time to get ready, and my ride came to pick me up early. She called me and told me to get my behind downstairs ASAP... so I threw on my skirt and boots as quickly as I could and ran downstairs to the car.

Now, mind you, having bronchitis meant that I could only talk like this. I could barely make myself heard to the person sitting next to me, much less to the entire room. Before going to the restaurant, we had a bit of a social hour, and I was stuck there in the middle of everybody, unable to say a word. Then, as we were leaving for the restaurant, my Swiss mom pulled me aside and said, "Hey... You know you're wearing one black boot and one brown boot, right?"

Um, no. I didn't know. And I think I would have been better off not ever finding out, thanks.

Then, when we got to the restaurant, I ended up sitting across from the VIP's wife. Right after we sat down, she asked me a question and I answered as loudly as I could. Her jaw dropped, and she exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, you've lost your voice! I was wondering why you weren't talking to anyone... I thought you were really aloof or shy or something." Nope, sorry. My vocal cords just don't work.

Between the mismatched boots and the whispering, she must have really thought that I was crazy... (!)

How to make an American birthday cake in Switzerland

1. Decide to make a cake for your coworkers to celebrate your birthday.

2. Put off that plan because nobody else is at work on your birthday.

3. Put the plan off some more because your boss broke her ankle.

4. Dig out the only cake recipe you have. Read the list of ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs, separated
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 oz melted bitter chocolate

5. Decide that this is, indeed, a feasible list of ingredients to assemble in Geneva. Oh, except the buttermilk. Can you make buttermilk from scratch?

6. Google "how to make buttermilk". Google hit #1 says to mix 1 cup of milk with 1 Tbsp of vinegar. Yuck. I don't like vinegar.

7. Keep browsing Google hits until you find a palatable buttermilk recipe. The winner? Mixing 1 cup of milk with 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Lemon juice is good for you.

8. Put on all your winter clothes and heavy coat. It's snowing outside.

9. Realize, just as you're walking out the door, that you don't know how to say "baking soda" and "baking powder" in French, and that come to think of it, you've never seen them in the store before, either.

10. Make an emergency call to your Swiss mom while she's stuck in a snowstorm in France. (How was I supposed to know that she ignored the French weather report that said Do not leave the house unless it is an emergency and went to Megève anyway?) Find out that "baking soda" is "bicarbonate de soude" and that you have to buy it at the pharmacy.

11. Wonder why on Earth baking soda would be sold at the pharmacy as you make your way out to the bus stop in the snow. (It was the French weather report that said to stay home, not the Swiss one!)

12. Pick up all the ingredients you need at the local Coop -- oops, except for the bitter chocolate. They seem to be out.

13. Go to the two largest Coop stores in town. Hmm. They're out of baking chocolate, too. Ask around and find out that they don't carry it anymore.

14. Silently curse the Swiss grocery store monopolies. Coop was the only grocery store chain that carried bitter baking chocolate. Nervously pick out powdered chocolate for crème dessert and buy it as a substitute.

15. Go home. Start feeling sick. Put off making the cake until you're well.

16. A week later, decide to make the cake. Assemble all the ingredients and measuring tools on the kitchen counter. Um... how big is a cup? I haven't seen one in over a year.

17. Decide that a cup is about the size of one of the glasses in your cabinet and pull it out. Begin reading the instructions.

• Cream sugar & butter.

18. Decide to let the butter sit out on the counter for half an hour, since you have to cream the butter and sugar by hand. Go to your room and take notes from Vinay and Darbelnet's Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais for your thesis.

19. Return to the kitchen. Cream the sugar and butter. Read the next instruction.

• Add vanilla.

20. Pry the teeny cap off the teeny vial of (fake) vanilla. Reminisce about the wonderful Mexican vanilla they sell in San Antonio.

21. Try (and fail) to pour the vanilla in the mixing bowl. Take a knife and stick it in the top of the vanilla vial to widen the opening.

22. Try (and fail -- again) to pour the vanilla in the mixing bowl. Shake the vial out of frustration. Oh, that's how you're supposed to get the vanilla out. Well, at least most of it made it in the bowl. Next instruction.

• Add egg yolks.

23. Hmmm. I've never separated eggs before. Will a spoon work?

24. Yes, the spoon works. Awesome. Three perfectly separated eggs.

• Add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk.

25. Oops. Forgot to make the buttermilk. It has to stand for five minutes.

26. Twiddle thumbs.

27. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk. Mix by hand.

• Mix in melted chocolate.

28. At least this part is easy! There's just a hair too little chocolate (had to use what little was left of my baking chocolate) but oh well.

• Fold in beaten egg whites.

29. Crap. (Am I allowed to say "crap" on my blog? It's an accurate representation of what I thought at the time...) We don't have a beater. How on Earth am I going to get stiff white peaks by hand?

30. Lose track of time as you beat the living daylights out of the three egg whites.

31. Holler out at your roommates in frustration, "Any of y'all feel like helping me in here?!"

32. Have your roommate pull out the beater that you didn't know you had. Let her finish beating the egg whites while you preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C, right? Don't feel like going to look it up).

33. Come to think of it, maybe I'll set the oven to 160°C. It cooks mighty fast.

34. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

35. Pull out your cake pan and realize that it's a 10" round, not a 9" round. Pour half the cake batter inside, decide that making a two-layer cake isn't going to work, and pour in the rest of the cake batter. Cross your fingers that it doesn't overflow in the oven.

36. Stick the cake pan in the oven. Check after 20 minutes (the oven cooks fast, remember?) Stick it back in for 10 more minutes. This time, the knife comes out clean.

37. As the cake cools, make the icing from memory. 250 g (1 cup) butter, 1 package powdered sugar, another vial of (fake) vanilla, heavy cream, and 150 g melted baking chocolate. No, scratch that last part. 90 g powdered chocolate, plus a little extra heavy cream.

38. Beat by hand and wonder whether your arms are about to fall off.

39. Once the cake has cooled and acquired a bizarre slant, ice it. Make the icing thicker in the places where the cake has sunk so that it looks flat on top.

40. Take the cake to work. Serve. Yum.

The end.

Help me help Hadassah -- February 1-3, 2009

Hi everybody!

I'd like to invite all of you who read my blog to join the Young Hadassah International cause. From 1 February to 3 February, we are holding a Facebook-a-thon with a goal of raising $5,000 for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

What is Young Hadassah International?

YHI and Hadassah International (the organization with which I work) are nonprofit humanitarian organizations whose goals are to spread knowledge about, and raise money for, Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Our membership comprises men and women from a wide variety of faiths and nationalities who work together to achieve our mission of building bridges to nations through medicine.

What is Hadassah Hospital?

Hadassah Hospital is Israel's premier medical institution, renowned for its commitment to treat all patients with compassionate care regardless of ethnicity or religion. From its humble beginnings in 1913, when two nurses sailed to Palestine to provide proper nutrition for mothers with new babies and to eradicate trachoma, the hospital has grown into a world-class healing, teaching and research facility. At Hadassah, five thousand health professionals work to treat nearly one million patients each year. Recent research and treatment breakthroughs at Hadassah have been made in fields as varied as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, orthopedic surgery and cancer research. Among other projects, Hadassah's worldwide outreach program provides training in treating and preventing HIV/AIDS for Ethiopian doctors and nurses, established the first pediatric oncology department in the West Bank, and trains health experts around the world in emergency preparedness and terror medicine.

What is the Facebook-a-thon?

From 1 February to 3 February, we are asking people to go to www.causes.com/younghadassah to donate $20 to help buy much-needed medical equipment for Hadassah Hospital's Center for Individualized Medicine. The Center represents the medicine of the future, where we treat the patient, not just the disease. As research reveals the genes that make each of us a unique human being, patients will be able to receive targeted treatments that match their genetic profile. The cutting-edge fields of molecular medicine and cell therapy play a pivotal role as doctors strive to formulate individualized treatments for cancer and immune-mediated disorders. The Center for Individualized Medicine comprises:

• the Center for Molecular Medicine, which provides doctors with the ability to analyze each person's genes and proteins individually;
• the Center for Cell Therapy, where researchers are looking into transplanting individual cells to repair and regenerate damaged cells instead of transplanting whole organs and laying down the infrastructure to treat diabetic patients with transplanted pancreatic islet cells; and
• the Center for Immune Mediated Disorders, where researchers are examining the mechanisms of autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, asthma, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and colitis to create specific patient-tailored treatments.

What if I can't donate $20?

That's okay! Most of Young Hadassah International's members and donors are students and young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35, and a lot of us have been affected by the current economic crisis. There are other ways for you to become involved, though. First, get informed -- check out the Hadassah International website to learn more about our activities and our relationship with Hadassah Hospital. If you're interested in receiving the latest news from the hospital and updates about YHI and Hadassah International's latest activities, subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter. And don't forget to tell your family and friends about us. The more people who know about us and support us, the easier it is for us to meet our goals and help promote peace through medicine.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and let me know if you have any questions. I've only been officially working with Hadassah International since October, so I'm still learning the ropes around here, but I'll answer everything you want to know to the best of my ability. Hadassah is a cause that I'm really passionate about, and I hope it's one that you become passionate about, too.

Kitty