~ ANNE! ~

First, the good news:

1). I have an interview next week for a job I would actually like, at the University of Edinburgh! (Admissions Office). Whether or not I get it (though I'm certainly qualified) I've decided to switch to applying to ONLY jobs I actually really want, as opposed to jobs I could do but will probably hate, i.e. anything that advertises itself as "Data Entry". The new plan is to go the websites of the U of Edinburgh, Napier and Herriot-Watt universities and apply for anything that looks remotely interesting and doable. I AM going to get out of this kitchen if it kills me!

2). My feet are dry! I spent all the birthday money from my parents on gorgeous Gore-Tex boots from Ecco... From now on the Edinburgh weather is welcome to do its worst.

The bad news is the stupid Americans voted for stupid Bush again. ARGH! Here's an interesting bit of info sent by Mr. David "Babe" Lloyd on the subject. Thought-provoking, though not being American it's difficult to know how much of this actually applies.

Laurence W. Britt, a political scientist, details 14 similarities in
Fascist movements in the article "Fascism Anyone?".

These similarities can be found in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's
Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and
Suharto's Indonesia. Most of these are becoming all too well known in
America as well.

Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
Disdain for the importance of human rights
Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
Rampant sexism
A controlled mass media
Obsession with national security
Religion and ruling elite tied together
Power of corporations protected
Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
Obsession with crime and punishment
Rampant cronyism and corruption
Fraudulent elections

And this goes some small way toward making me feel better...

In non-political, vegetable-related news, the mystery is solved! I'm sure this doesn't actually interest anyone else in the world, but I was seriously curious. From Valerie the Brilliant:

Hi Anne,

I was just checking your blog, and I'm sure you've already gotten some answers
(or maybe not- I don't know how many of your readers are keen on defining
vegetables), but I thought I'd see if my answer agreed with the others- I
think turnips are turnips and what they call swedes over there are actually
rutabagas here.

Aha! I've looked it up in my handy Collins english dictionary and I'm right!
Furthermore, they're also called swedish turnips and were introduced from
sweden to scotland in the 18th century (hence the name). And that would
explain why they don't seem to have regular turnips at all in Sweden, from
what I remember, and refer to rutabagas as turnips (though I don't remember
what they're called- might as well look that up while I'm in dictionary mode-
k�lrot!- And I've figured out how to get my computer to display swedish
characters...I am so clever I amaze me sometimes!)

And now you know THE REST OF THE STORY.... (and perhaps more than you had
bargained for...)

I really know ridiculously little about vegetables. Previous to this I had no idea what a rutabaga WAS. (I have started eating parsnips, though, and can even say the word without laughing now!) Hmmm, I think this blog is starting to get a little self-indulgent. I wonder if anyone actually reads this stuff?

Went out last night with Keri, Jen and Shannon, the girls from PEI, plus assorted Calgarians and some Brits thrown in for good measure. I had a ridiculously good time. I almost cried with joy when they started making Newfie jokes. Someone who knows what I'm talking about!! It's nice to hang out with people with the same cultural background sometimes. (Too bad they had to be from Cowtown... just kidding). Jen plays lacrosse here, so much of the party was lacrosse players. I find that quite bizarre, as it's technically Canada's national sport, yet until this week I had never met a Canadian who played. I may go to a game just to check it out... and if it looks like I could manage it (I'm worried about the hand-eye coordination aspect) maybe I'll try it myself! In the meantime, I'm happy to have good company and a social life suddenly.