Publishing

Just to show off, it's now possible to read my post "health" (in danish) on the website of Jyllands posten.

Sunshine....from the wrong side of the window

The weather has been beautifull lately. Unfortunately I haven't been able to enjoy it, since I have been either in the lab or sick.
Yes, I have (again) caught a cold, which is rather impressive, since I'm not actually chasing the damn things. The result is nevertheless that I now have been besieging my couch for three days and by now can tell you exactly what's on tv any time of the day. Also I'm going mad, slowly but steadily. And poor, I curse onlineshopping!!
So I really hope that I'm good again tomorrow, and if not I hope it's cold and rainy.
Sorry everybody! :-)

Healthy?

The Danish parliament has appointed a commission to investigate the possibilities to increase the life expectancy of the average Dane. And here’s what they’ve come up with: Everything that is fun is also unhealthy and should be forbidden.
Your life is no longer your own, it has become communal property. Every citizen is a statistic, a factor that should be controlled and regulated, a number in the system, en expense that should be kept low.
According to the commission a Dane should go without whole milk and sugar in their coffee, quit the snack with the coffee, wean himself off meat and skip the soft drink at birthdays. Speaking of which you shouldn’t smoke or drink on that occasion either. If you insist on pouring down anything ethanol containing fluids you may do so in a bar, situated as far away as possible from residential areas and people that could be affected by the sight. Additionally you should exercise at least one hour a day. This will probably drive people to the fitness centers since most team sports aren’t able to accommodate such a demand.
This way every Dane should life on average three years longer. Quantity instead of quality.
While I imagine my life, where coffee, red wine, good steaks and dark chocolate has been replaced with a fitness center, low fat cheese and sparkling water, I start to wonder when enjoying your life became a crime.
It is not yet decided whether these suggestions are going to become actual bills, that will pass. Nevertheless they reflect a tendency in this society, which is mainly concerned with regulating the life of the citizen so that he or she can spend a couple more years in a wheel chair.

Feelings??

Today is the big day, the day of the Durban II conference, UN's anti-racism happening! Despite the pronounced wish of many muslim countries to include criticism of religion as racism, delegates from Denmark still showed up.
Several times I have aksed myself the beautiful question: "Why??" Racism is a word confined by it's origin, it refers to racial discrimination. Since religion has nothing to do with your racial/ethnic origin this conference should not treat the subject.
Of course I understand that ridiculing and mocking religion can hurt peoples feelings, sure. But we are talking about feelings!! People hurt my feelings all the time, when they question or make fun of my beliefs. That's life!!
Lucky for my Denmark and several other countries chose to walk out during the conference due to an anti-israeli tirade wonderfully performed by the iranian president Ahmadinejad.
Now I am happy!
:-)

Waiting

Allthough very politically incorrect vacation does have a downside; everybody else is also in vacation meaning that I have to wait ages for my ordered reagents to arrive. Untill then I can spend time wondering about how I can make my reactions more efficient and consider the reaction following the present one (meaning: surfing on facebook).
If people wonder how you can get through a master thesis without a serious psychiatric problem, it's the waiting that keeps us alive. ;-)

Vacation....that's what they call it

Chemist's definition of Easter: a beautifull excuse not to show up on the lab, mainly becuse nobody else will be there.
Truly I have not been in the lab for three days in a row, allthough I was considering to work up a little reaction on thursday. Luckaly I made it on Wednesday and could spend thursdah cleaning my appartment. How great is that?? ;-D
Also I have spent a lot of time in the sun, feeling like summer. Sadly the feeling was no more than a feeling, and I might have fallen a bit ill. Nevertheless it was totally worth it!! :-)
This is consistent with the behaviour of most danes when the sun hits around spring: we become sunloving, out-door vikings!! Nothing will stop us from throwing on shorts and dresses and sit outside in the sun sipping coffee and licking ice cream. It may be cold, it may be windy, it may even be raining, but we're not going to miss the first rays of sun because of that!
So if you see a dane strolling around in their best summer outfit, smile at him or her and I will guarantee, you'll get a smile back. ;-)

Welcome to the new Prime Minister

The recent days have been all about one thing: Election of the new Secretary General for NATO. Since our former Prime Minister has been the inofficial candidate, the media has been all over the place to answer such important questions as to when, why and how his whereabouts could be remotely connected to the NATO-meeting.
Finally a decision has been reached; Ander Fogh Rasmussen is the new Secretary General for NATO and replacing him in the office of Prime Minister is another Rasmussen, Lars løkke.
I personally welcome this change, since I was getting rather tired of looking at and listening to our previous goody two-shoes version. Generally I like that our Prime Minister actually enjoys a beer once in a while. And that he is not sports and health-obsessed.
They don't all have to be like me, you know. ;-)

NMR-trouble

Receiving an NMR-spectrum can be the most exciting event in the course of a lab-day. Especially if you have waited the entire weekend for a result. The more deviastating it is that on your arrival to the lab monday morning, you find that your test-tube has been marked as run, but no spectrum is to be found.
What does the frustrated chemist do? He (or she in this particular case) replaces evaporated CDCl3 in the test-tube and puts the tube to another run. The rest of the day is spent in eager anticipation of the spectrum.
So now imagine, that by the end of that day, which has been spent mainly with waiting, you receive your long awaited spectrum and conclude....there's nothing in it. Except TBAF, but that was not exactly what you were looking for...
I think I'm going to go home now, or I will smash some glassware to get rid of my frustrations.

Optimism

A couple of days ago, while I was listening to the radio (which is something i always do), the news were on. They were running a story about the public sector which suddenly is flooded with applicants. An HR-manager is asked and happily declares that people now finally are realizing the advantages of being a public employee.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not surprised at all that people are looking for at bullitproof, secure job in the middle of a crisis. And how great is it really, that people only apply for jobs in the public sector during times of crisis?? Just asking...