Category: Personal

Anything and everything about me and my life. You’ll have to hunt a lot for gossip-worthy tidbits, though.

UI Design Makes You Happy! [en]

A collegue at work gave me User Interface Design For Programmers to read. It’s written by the guy who does CityDesk, if ever you cared. It’s really worth reading – but this is not the point of this post.

Read the first chapter, even if you’re not into software or programming or anything technical. Joel tells us about his first job, about learned helplessness and how Controlling Your Environment Makes You Happy.

I decided to control at least some little part of my environment right then and do the washing up. It made me feel much better.

Early Riser [en]

A wasp’s recipe for getting people out of bed on time.

  1. In through the open window, down to the room where the sleeping person lies…
  2. A couple of stings on the shoulder just before she awakes…
  3. Buzz noisily in her ears just after the alarm clock has rung…
  4. Soar out of the window to escape from the deadly cat!

If wasps continue zooming in and out of my neighbour’s shuttered window, I’m going to have to take legal action.

Heat [en]

Today is beyond doubt the closest swiss equivalent to indian “waiting-for-the-monsoon” heat. It has been unbearably hot for over a week now, and I can’t remember when it last rained.

“Unbearably hot” means something like 30°C+ at night. It means you don’t sleep well at all (if you sleep). Remember, no A/C or fans in swiss houses, and no high ceilings to allow for air circulation.

I spent the last days dumping water on my balcony and living with the blinds down most of the time (apart from strategic moments like the morning where I open everything up to let the cool air in). Bagha spends his days stretched out somewhere on the floor, snoozing.

There is now a lid of misty clouds high above our heads – could it please rain soon?

Life News [en]

My appointment at the hairdresser’s was last week, not this week. I learnt that when I called to say I would be a little late because my car battery was dead.

By some sort of miracle (somebody had just canceled their appointment, somebody else managed to make my car start, and I set a record for the distance Lausanne-Vevey) my hair is now somewhat shorter than it was this morning.

This is an important point, because I have my judo black belt exam tomorrow afternoon, and my hair was really getting in my face.

Other than that, I almost completely ripped out the phone cable – I guess another miracle left those two tiny wires connected. I’m astonished the ADSL works.

Aleika and Akirno are coming to spend a few days with me next week. Plans: a trip to France, watch Girl Fight, see some judo (for her) and maybe roll on the mats a bit (I can imagine Akirno tearing round the dojo while we do that), learn how to give punches to a punching-bag. Oh, and talk talk talk talk talk. Of course.

International School of Lausanne aka Commonwealth American School [en]

I spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday, attending the 40th anniversary celebration of the International School of Lausanne (which went under the name “Commonwealth American School” when I was a student there).

If you were a student at the ISL/CAS, or know anybody who was, please fill in their alumni page. The school has also signed up with three alumni sites (I got lost in the first somewhere in the registration process, but the two others were ok.)

Votations [en]

J’ai voté le week-end dernier pour la première fois depuis très longtemps. La raison? Le canton de Vaud a enfin adopté un système de vote par correspondance simple et efficace.

L’enveloppe qui nous parvient avant chaque votation a été légèrement modifiée: elle s’ouvre comme un paquet de corn-flakes, de façon à  être réutilisable; elle contient une carte de vote à  dater et signer, ainsi qu’une enveloppe et les bulletins de vote. Remplir les bulletins, les glisser dans la petite enveloppe, signer sa carte de vote, glisser le tout dans la grande enveloppe qui repart direction l’urne. Hop, le tour est joué! Plus d’excuse, maintenant.

Bilan des votations: l’avortement ne sera pas illégal en Suisse (ouf!), les fonctionnaires ne seront plus nommés (pauvres profs—mais bon, faudra encore voir ce que ça donne en pratique), les députés ne seront pas indemnisés plus que nécessaire, et les cantons de Vaud et de Genève ne fusionneront pas.

Oui, on peut me reprocher la qualité de mes sources journalistiques. J’ai bien peur d’être mariée à  24 Heures pendant quelque temps encore.