Monthly Archives: March 2007

Our fat society continues to live wastefully and pollute the earth. Seems that we are beginning to pay the price in ways we never thought possible.

As an example, bees are disappearing all over the country – those tiny, under-appreciated pollinators of the U.S.’s immense agricultural bounty, which was once thought to be inexhaustible. I find a lot of dark humor in the fact that our obese nation’s food supply may now be threatened. We Americans are beginning to acknowledge our dependence on small, fuzzy flying insects. Only now it’s too late.

It’s like a story of two college roommates – one does all the shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc. while the other one sits on the sofa all day watching TV, farting, burping and making a huge mess, all the while reaping the benefits of the other one. One day, the industrious roommate just up and says f*** you and then leaves. The fat one can only lie there crying and slowly starving to death. By the time the fat one realizes he needs to apologize, the other roommate’s already in Buenos Aires and never coming back.

I’m now packed and ready to get on the plane this evening. We’ve checked out and are waiting for our driver. Will arrive home tomorrow night (Friday).

Besides all of the work we’ve accomplished, of course, I’ve also had many adventures during this trip to Nigeria. Today we had half a day free, so the Principal Investigator of the study took us on a shopping trip to the fabric vendors. We also made a stop at her personal tailor so she could take our measurements and design dresses for us. We’ll pick them up when we’re back in Lagos in May or June.

Our car broke down today, so we got out and pushed to get it started. This brought back a lot of memories from Gabon. We were also on the lookout for a laundry detergent called “Miss Bimbo”, which one of my FHI colleagues wanted to purchase as a gag gift for friends. So we drove around to all the little kiosks selling sundries, and our driver shouted, “Miss Bimbo!!” out the car window to the shopkeepers. They would all came running. Eventually we completely bought them out of Miss Bimbo detergent.

Last night we had our ‘last meal’ at the Sheraton at the fancy restaurant called Pili-Pili. I had “teppanyaki ostrich in black cherry sauce with buttered root vegetables”. Dining at the table just next to us was Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin and one of the richest men in the world. I sat about 3 feet from him all evening. He even made eye contact with me.

One of my favorite memorable billboards from the trip was for a restaurant called “Big Tasty”. Their motto is, “It’s like a treasure in your mouth!”

See you all soon!

I made it to Lagos last night (Tuesday evening, Nigeria time zone) after a very long but immensely pleasant couple of flights with my co-workers Vivian and Nicole. We flew on Lufthansa this time, and I think their business class is even better than KLM’s. The seats were high-tech and very comfortable – even had massage feature! I must have watched a dozen movies. Boarded first, of course, and enjoyed bonbons and champagne in cool, spacious comfort while the ‘riff-raff’ back in coach schlepped their bags, boxes and babies past us and into their tiny allotted spaces.

Today was our first day of work. All day we verified chlamydia and gonorrhea lab results, as well as the “informed consent” forms in the study participant files, at FHI’s HIV program office. Now we’re back at the hotel and waiting for dinnertime. Hope you all have a good evening.

House numbers!

Originally uploaded by crystalandclinton.

Clinton taught me how to use the electric drill. After putting up the house numbers, I installed three curtain rods and two curtain tie-back brackets. Then I made my first attempt with the caulking gun: I caulked the frames of the back deck doors to prevent water from damaging the sub-floor. Sweet!

Revive the cleaning power of your dishwasher

You’ll need: rubber gloves, small crescent wrench, two liters of white vinegar, scouring pad, dish soap

1. Put on rubber gloves, and open the dishwasher.
2. Slide out and remove the bottom dishwasher rack. Remove the upside-down basket-looking thing from the bottom of the dishwasher; to do this, you will most likely need to unscrew the little bolts using the crescent wrench.
3. Once you’ve removed it, examine the basket thing and any other removable parts from the bottom of the dishwasher. Are they covered in slimy blackness or food residue resembling curdled cheese? Probably. Scrub these parts in the sink with hot water and soap until they sparkle.
4. Check out the area of the dishwasher from which you removed the basket thing. Is it clogged with old food and nastiness? Probably. Scoop that stuff out and throw it away.
5. Reinstall the (now clean) basket thing and any accompanying parts.
6. Put the bottom dishwasher rack back into the machine.
7. Pour 1 liter of white vinegar in the bottom of the machine, close it, and let the dishwasher run on its normal cycle.
8. Once the cycle is complete, repeat step 7.

You will notice that your dishes come out much cleaner!

Make your coffee more delicious: 7 steps to coffee maker maintenance

Over time, coffee residue builds up in your coffeemaker. You’ll know this is happening when you notice that your coffee tastes a bit dull. For this mini project, you’ll need: tap water, white vinegar, and about 45 minutes’ time.

1. Remove old grounds from the machine, and rinse out your coffeepot.
2. Fill up the water reservoir of the machine 2/3 full of water and the remaining 1/3 with white vinegar.
3. Turn the coffeemaker on.
4. When coffee cycle is complete, discard the used water and vinegar mixture and repeat steps 2 and 3. Important note: be sure to let your coffeemaker cool for 10 minutes between each cycle! Let the vinegar water sit in the pot while it cools to loosen any coffee residue that might be in there.
5. Discard the old water and vinegar mixture.
6. Do two “rinse” cycles using water only. Don’t forget to allow for 10 minute cool-down periods in between.
7. Finally, wash the coffeepot itself in warm, soapy water. As an alternative, you can also run the pot in the dishwasher.

Enjoy! Your coffee should taste much better now!

Organize your glove compartment and trunk

• Gather your car registration, proof of insurance, roadside assistance information, and any other important documents you may need to access when on the road. Paperclip them together, or better yet, put them in a folder like this one.
• Throw away all those crumpled up gas receipts, B&B brochures and tourist maps which you don’t need to keep and will probably never look at again.
• File away any receipts and documentation from past oil changes or repairs.
• Purchase an inexpensive, sturdy crate for your trunk, and use it to organize your automotive necessities. The crate keeps the stuff from rolling around and getting jumbled up. Keep an extra crate handy (they are collapsible) for groceries or other purchases.
• Suggested trunk items should include, but are not limited to: jumper cables, tire iron, rubber gloves so you can change a tire without ruining your nails, windex, paper towels, large road atlas, flashlight, extra flashlight batteries, several clean towels, a change of clothing including socks and shoes, and a large jug of spring water + economy-size box of energy bars for emergencies.

Put the pizazz back into your closet
If you’re anything like me, you’ll actually avoid wearing clothing that requires any amount of maintenance, particularly ironing. After a while, our clothes closet starts to look droopy and depressing. Ever wonder why we so enjoy looking at new clothes in the store? My guess is that it is partly due to the fact that new clothing is neatly steamed and pressed when on display.

You can give your wardrobe a little “oomph”: simply pick five shirts or pairs of pants and whip out the old ironing board. Use just a touch of spray starch (“Faultless” Regular is my favorite) to help the clothes hold their shape. For stubborn wrinkles, spritz ‘em with a bit of water. Not good at ironing? Practice is the only way to get better.

Woke up not feeling so great again. Sore throat, low fever, congestion, headache and very, very tired. After Clinton went to work, I fell asleep again until noon. It’s kind of lonely being sick. No one around except for the dog and cat. I tried reading, and actually started the first few chapters of three different books, but eventually put them back on the shelf because they all seemed sad.

In good news, this has been the most time I’ve spent so far in the new house. Get to watch the sun come in the livingroom windows during parts of the day I don’t usually get to see. West-facing deck gives me a view of the sunset.

Woke up this morning all congested and with a bad sore throat, so I stayed home from work. Spent the day doing low-energy type stuff. I think I’ll go to back to bed at 6:00 tonight with the help of my blue-green friend, Nyquil.
This afternoon I did make it out of the house, however. Took some nice photos of our new house from the backyard, from the street and of most of the rooms. These pictures will be similar to ones you may have seen before, only this time they have *our* stuff in them, rather than the previous owners’.

Night-y night!