The debut

Memory lane

Some time ago I was driving somewhere around Ithaca when I heard a song by the 70's disco band Dr. Hook on the radio. The song is called "A little bit more" and was one of my mom's favorite songs when I was a kid. I love to sing and as a kid, I picked up lyrics to songs in foreign languages almost as easily as I did to songs in Icelandic, the only difference being that I had no idea what I was singing about as I performed along with ABBA and Barry Manilow.

As I heard that old Dr. Hook song again, after not hearing it for decades, I was surprised to find that I still knew almost the entire lyrics, they just jumped into my head as the song progressed. I also realized something that I most definitely didn't realize when I was seven and learned the song, that it is about a couple making love the whole night through, and the guy planning to just blow his ladyfriend away by his astounding prowess in bed:




Today I finally made good on my promise to myself to buy Dr. Hook's music on iTunes. While I was there I suddenly got a Bolivia-flashback, and to an artist no less than Myriam Hernandez:



She was the diva of overdone soppy ballads back in 1991 and her music, tied as it is in my memory to my year in Bolivia, holds a place in my heart not usually reserved for any performers of such music (well, except for Jose Luis Perales (watch this one for a good chuckle and, to witness a remarkable change, this one too), but that's only because he also accompanied me through my year in Bolivia). And now, I have more Myriam Hernandez on my iTunes than I'll ever listen to. Aye, memories...

The new one

... and this one is for the office:

My old trooper

Trankaso

I am developing a headache. I wonder if it's all the philanthropy and my good moods?

Sine qua non

Matters in our own hands

Check this out. Neat! This approach to development aid really makes sense to me, what do you all think?

Update, an hour later: I am totally fascinated by this! Have already lent a whoopin' 75 bucks (!) to entrepreneurs in Samoa and Bolivia (of course). This is way more fun than shopping!!

From the lab

The IC that abandoned me for another lab. Right now it's making its way through some of my samples, patiently putting in weeks of work for me analyzing the anion contents of the samples I collected this year. This is hands down the best behaved instrument on Earth, and for that I love it:



Isn't it lovely??



I just wish all instruments were as docile and cooperative as this little beauty!

A small laumu-linguist hides inside

and it was most happy (and a little bit sad, too) reading this book:

I think those were tulips,

these precious blooms decorating the view from my window. A gift from my aunt Margrét in Cologne. I love it to pieces!

Apres skiing

The best coffee

Lunch II

Lunch

Busy

There's just so much to DO these days! I've lost count of how often my latte has become cold before I got a spare minute to drink it, or how often I've intended to call someone back in the homeland only to find that... oops... it's past midnight there!

So, don't worry/feel left out/shunned/orphaned if I haven't been in contact much. I'm basically swamped with work and stuff to do here. It's good, though, I'm learning a lot and having fun :)