| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
|
| "0900 Bird Flu speaking, how may I help?" |
| Tuesday 13 June 2006 |
Katatonikova rang: a friend of hers has a dead bird in her garden, and wants to know who to call for a) disposal and b) pathology/testing.
I know the hotline in NZ for ‘suspicious animal health related incidents’ because it’s the MAF Emergency Pest and Disease Hotline on 0800 809 966 (should any of my darling kiwi readers be noticing a rainfall of cats/dogs/frogs/birds/horses/cows etc.). Mum, Dad, the Queensland one is the Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888 .
So it’s obvious innit? A hotline through which calls related to animal/human health incidents that are regularly presented in the news under the headline, “what to panic over now…”; the Czech Republic must have one. Right?
Wrong. Believe it or not, when we’d finally hunted down the copies of the appropriate public health announcement style leaflets, turns out you call either the police on 158 (!) or your local veterinarian (!!).
Which, understandably, led to the following exchange:
Nomes: Is anyone keeping track of these calls, and the subsequent investigations?
Boss: I think it’s likely the police have a system.
Nomes: Mm-hmm [sounding a little doubtful]. Do the police ever share their data related to concerns of a public health nature with the National Institute of Public Health (which is where I’m based, folks!)?
Boss: Um, no.
Nomes: [nods sagely while boss answers phone]
Right. So I now know what I'd like my surveillance system project to be.
Unfortunately though, apparently, the CR don’t have the sort of money required for these ‘early warning’ systems that involve (pretty much) syndromic or rumour surveillance. Well…due to the international health regulations new edict, we’re gonna have to source some money from somewhere, it’s gonna be mandatory from Jan 2007. Which (if we get the money then) gives me 10 months to set the system up, analyse the first bits of data, see if it’s of any use whatsoever, write a report to say that it won’t be much use until we establish a base line of ‘rumours’ and then disappear into the void after EPIET.
But it might be something to keep me out of the Herna bars and Beer Gardens for a while…
Of course, it’s gonna have to wait until after the World Cup. I foolishly printed out a draw sheet yesterday (thanks to Ben.UK who filled in all the scores from previous games) and now I have to see all the matches.
Okay, maybe not ALL of them, but there’s a few highlighted that I’ll try to get in front of a screen for. For my friends, stalkers and fans: of the first round, I shall be watching Group B, E and F games as follows:
England vs Trinidad & Tobago (15th)
Czech Republic vs. Ghana (17th)
Brazil vs Australia (18th)
Sweden vs England (20th)
Czech Republic vs Italy (22nd – this one’s gonna be tough as it’s during work!)
Japan vs Brazil (22nd)
Phew. By then, I might even have figured out the off-side rule, and be able to yell things like “are you fecking blind?” when the ref fouls one of my players following an opposition player cartwheeling to the ground despite my player having been nowhere near him. Oh yes. The force will end up being strong in this one. Dad’ll be saying things like “Nomes, I am your father…”.
Second round viewing dates will be available as and when the draw is decided…
P.S. Remind me to stop handing out my blog address when plastered (feel free to send random, sporadic, texts to remind me…). A quick ‘hi’ to the lovely River…should he have meandered in this direction today.
P.P.S. Mx: get MB to look for Science jobs in Europe...and then come over here! The flat will rent itself out, and we can go skating (complete with windmilling arms and squeals of 'uh-oh' as dogs on leads carry small children across our ankles) along a waterfront somewhere (give me ample warning to locate one). As for what are you good at...I can't even begin to list your skills and strengths, but hugs are definitely high up on the list. However, this skill rarely correlates to a career unless you feel like dealing with sick people (or animals). And they smell. And don't appreciate glitter *!!!*. Or false eyelashes... *sigh* |
posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, June 13, 2006   |
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