Riding the herd mentality

Everybody who takes a train in China knows the scale of rubbish/waste treatment issue that China has.  It is a great idea for Quangzhou to charge excess waste (still a trial though), not only because people will produce less garbage, but also because people litter more in a more littered environment. 

On the other hand, I found myself a neater hippo after living with Mr Hippo, who has a lower tolerance for a messy environment :)

Spin like a Yo-yo

I know it is a bit challenging to imagine a hippo spinning like a Yo-yo, but that is exactly how I felt in the past 1.5 months.  Most of the time I managed to do it as elegant as a ballet dancer; occasionally, however, I found myself being a clumsy figure skater, losing my balance and cracking the ice at the same time...

 It was definitely a busy (and dizzy) period, so my sincere apology for those of you who has been eager to read my new posts ;).  I just realized the last one was dated March 7, although it felt like not long ago.

So what kept this hippo spinning?  Let's see, where should I start?

Aha, travel.  Somehow I managed to travel to Melbourne three times, Sydney once and New Zealand once during this period.  Even though most trips had multiple destinations, in total I spent about 3.5 weeks away from home... Surprisingly enough, I haven't picked up any flu virus yet (knock, knock...).  But I wouldn't have had time to be sick anyway :(

I spent the majority of the 1.5 months organizing a workshop, whether on the road or at home.  It was the final workshop for a research project I've been working on in the past two years, and 25 people from all over Australia attended it.  I pretty much organized everything logistic for the workshop, including things as minor as printing name displays and as major as setting the agenda for the two-day workshop.  I was also the contact for all the attendees, who had to come to me for their flights and accommodation.  This logistic side of the workshop turned out to be very time-consuming, and I finally understood why "event organizer" could be a full-time job.

The research side of the workshop was not as demanding time-wise, but it was definitely a lot more challenging and stressful.  50% of the stress came from the fact that as the facilitator of the workshop, I was the one who had to face and react to  participants' immediate responses.  The other half of the stress originated from the new tools and techniques we used, including an instant audience response system, a Structured Decision-Making model constructed with a new software, and a spatial-explicit bioeconomic model that produced some wrong numbers the day before the workshop.  

In the end, the workshop went fairly well, even though there was half an hour or so on day two, I lost most of the participants when trying to explain how to do swing weighting...oh well, something to work on in the future!

I am still recovering from the workshop and the spinning period, but I will try to blog (and back-logging) industriously at the mean time...

We might be able to swim in our garage soon!

I haven't blogged for more than two weeks, partially because I was busy with work--I was in Melbourne the week before last, but more because I don't feel like doing a thing...it has been so rainy and gloomy in Canberra and I struggle to even pull myself out of bed.

Never lived in a rainy area, I finally got the feeling of "under the weather" last Saturday, the fifth wet day in a row.  Bad weather can certainly make me sick, and the only constructive thing I managed to accomplish on that day was to make hot chocolate for Mr Hippo and myself, twice.   We did plan to go out, looking at a couple of houses, but it was too much work to keep warm and fuzzy...so stayed in.

Grown up in London area, Mr Hippo feels perfectly happy when it rains.  He enjoys watching thunderstorm on our balcony and taking his umbrella out for a leisure stroll when it calms down a little.  "This is just like home," he often says with a big smile on his face.  "Actually it is a lot warmer," he added, in an effort to make me feel better...

Oh well, at least one of us is happy when it rains.  Um, let me try again.  At least Mr Hippo is extra happy when it rains, with an umbrella in one hand and a cup of "decadent" hot chocolate in another. 

 

Yesterday, the sun finally appeared in the sky.  The last time when it had such a seven-day-long-leave was 60 years ago! In terms of rainfall, the ACT hasn't had as much in seven days since 1950 (details)!  If that is not enough, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts sodden days for Canberra in the next five days as well!!!  

At this rate, we might be able to swim in our garage soon and by then Mr Hippo will be in heaven.

I am on way to get more hot chocolate...

Aha, it is the sand bubbler crab!

This picture was shot during our trip to Cape Tribulation, Queensland in 2009, when we took my visiting parents to the Great Barrier Reef.  That was Mr Hippo's toes, intended as, um, not so accurate scale because he got enormous toes.

I guessed it was some beach dwelling creature who created the elegant loving pattern, but only until now did I learn it was the sand bubbler crab!  I have to admit, I have never thought about the possibility of a crab being an artist...

I was extremely lucky to capture the heart-shaped pattern before it disappeared in the next rising tide. The crabs scour the sand for food, forming it into inflated pellets.  Comparing to other artworks we saw, this pattern was rather small.  So it was probably just a byproduct of an afternoon tea ;)

About labels

Apart from reading while sunbathing, Ms Hippo loves cooking in her spare time. So when you see the blogs with a label of 'Chop, chop / 食不厌精', she is in mass production again in her kitchen. Also, she enjoys growing her own food. Even though she only managed to grow chilies, tomatoes, potatoes and a bunch of herbs (basil, thyme, sage, parsley, mint, and chive) on her balconies, she certainly dreams about tending her own veggie garden with her 'Green toes/ 辣爪摧花.'

When having a good chunk of spare time, Ms Hippo loves traveling far and near with Mr Hippo most and together they have trampled new tracks / 到此一游 in 11 countries (America, Australia, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, Thailand, Korea) so far. They like to 'Play by ear / 随心所欲' en route instead of having fixed plans. When Ms Hippo is tired, she 'Simply wallows / 打个滚呀滚' to recharge herself; but once in a while, she prefers to have 'Time to sink / 静夜思,' when she can seriously ponder the meaning of life...