Destination: Political Unrest

It took me a couple of days after the coup to get used to the idea that Thailand was not going to have a democratically elected government during our trip. Oh well, I can live with a curfew.

North Korea’s nuclear test is the icing on the cake. We have a three hour layover in Seoul, South Korea. Fun times!

Baby Proof

This is a quote I love from Baby Proof, a book I haven't read yet:

"Have you noticed how couples discuss the merits of having children early versus late? [...] And the main feature of each scenario is freedom? The freedom that either comes early in life or late in life? [...] If the best part of having kids early is getting it over with, and the best part about having kids late is putting off the drudgery, doesn't it follow that not having kids at all is the best of both world?" (Giffin, 2006)

Amen.

Crazy Visas

A surprise vacation cost was suddenly added to our travel budget. I knew we needed visas for most countries we are going to visit. However, I had no idea how expensive visa fees were.

-Visa cost for Laos ($42*2), Vietnam ($79*2), and Cambodia ($23*2)

-Given that personal checks are not accepted, we need a money order for each application (+ $28).

-We also need to FedEx our applications and include a pre-paid FedEx return envelop ($160).

-In addition, we need about a million passport pictures ($88) for each application.

Total: $564

That’s right. Five hundreds and sixty-four dollars! *gasp*.

Soon Boarding Flight to Phuket, Thailand

We finally finalized our Southeast Asia plans. Before our tour starts, we're going to Phuket for a couple of days. Look at the dreamy resort we booked!




Four days in heaven!

Now Boarding Flight to Washington, D.C.

From one capital to another, ah.

We had a blast in Washington, DC this past weekend. It was HOT. 100 degrees Fahrenheit hot! We spent the majority of our time sightseeing Capitol Hill and its surrounding. I was amazed by the grandness of the area and the ressemblance it bares to Ancient Rome. And well, we all know what happened to the Roman Empire, don’t we?

This is the backyard of the White House. If you stand too long in front of the White House, you'll start noticing security guards appearing all around you. Compared to the front, there is little security in the back.

This building is right by the White House. This where the overflow of White House employees work.

World War II Monument. "AMERICANS CAME TO LIBERATE, NOT TO CONQUER, TO RESTORE FREEDOM AND TO END TYRANNY".
Conquering or liberating... It's a matter of perspective, isn't it? Arguably, not for WWII. However, this motto has been used in other context.



Not to be mistaken for the Parthenon: The Lincoln Memorial.



Me, hot and sweaty, in front of the Capitol.



The Capitol

Capitol Hill

We dined at two fabulous restaurants: Bistrot Le Pic and D.C. Coast. Bistrot Le Pic (it's bistro by the way. Maybe I should have said something!) is located in "Georgetown", a trendy neighbourhood. Parts of it reminded me of Cambridge, near Boston. D.C. Coast is popular among politicians. Unfortunately, most of them are still on vacation so we didn't meet anyone famous. It's located by the White House.

For whatever reason, there is a strong French influence in Washington, DC...right down to their attitude (not a good thing!). Although I did encounter one friendly cockroach on the sidewalk, it is a fairly clean and safe city. The metro system rocks. Overall, I enjoyed my stay much more than expected.

Now Boarding Flight to Vancouver (Again)

I flew to Vancouver on Friday after work. We had dinner at Tojo's again. I can’t get enough of that restaurant. The sushis are to die for. They literally melt in your mouth.

We left early Saturday morning to Kelowna. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We had lunch at Mission Hill Winery . The views were breathtaking and the food was delicious. After lunch, we went to Cedar Creek for more tasting. Their wine is nothing to write home about. We stayed at Lake Okanagan Resort. The views from the resort were spectacular. The resort itself was a little too “summer campish” to my taste. It was definitely a family friendly resort (gah). We had a fantastic dinner at Fresco downtown Kelowna. The food was great, especially their tuna tartar.

We hit the road early on Sunday morning. We drove to Penticton and stopped by Hillside Estate, Nichol Vineyard , and Elephant Island. Nichol is a tiny vineyard that was recommended to me. Their wine is fabulous. Elephant Island produces “fruit wine”. In other words, they make wine with any fruits but grapes! The pear and blackberry wines were lovely.

We got back to sunny (!) Vancouver around 6pm and met with friends for dinner at Cafe de Medici. Good food. I flew back at 11pm. Another quickie on the west coast.

Pictures

Delusional feminism

At the conference (see previous entry), I encountered an undiscovered form of feminism. Even though it was extreme, I hesitate to call it “radical” because even radical feminists occasionally have a point.

The hoopla was about the evolution of the term “women violence” into “family or domestic violence”. According to them, this is the result of a patriarchal conspiracy plotted by your one and only government of Canada to disfranchise women. My chuckles were rapidly followed by an enormous sigh.

I was recently involved in a study about violence that we named rather innocently “family violence”. Contrary to popular delusional feminist beliefs, we don’t sit in a secret room and think: “how are we gonna screw women today”. Our decision to use “family” as opposed to “women” violence was empirically driven. I hate to break it to them, but women are violent. The type of violence they perpetrate (mostly psychological as opposed to physical) and the reasons for it may be different (often self-defence, but not exclusively), but they are clearly not always victims.

Although there are several known forms of feminism, I was compelled to coin my own: Delusional feminism.

Sociology and Me

I spent the week at the Humanities and Social Sciences Congress at York University. I was registered with the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA). The first two days were a revelation.

Two days of theory, radical feminism, and socialism…exactly what I vehemently avoided throughout university. If that’s what people think sociology is exclusively about, no wonder they are astonished when sociologists find jobs in the ‘real world’. I was vicariously searching through the program hoping to find sessions about real issues, real research, and real findings.

I was out of luck until I found the Canadian Population Society (CPS). I spent my last two days attending demography/quantitative sessions. That's SO my stuff! Love it, love it, love it!

This little adventure prompted me to reflect on what appears to be two completely different types of sociology. I knew they existed theoretically, but they were not practically so distinct in my mind until this week. Some relevant observations between the CSAA and the CPS:

• Demographics of Presenters/the Audience

CSAA: Almost exclusively academics, generally white females.

CPS: Some academics, but mostly from government organizations, males and females, several different ethnic backgrounds.

• Use of Technology

CSAA: Use overheads. I shit you not. They are still people out there who use overheads!

CPS: Power Point (duh!)

• Methodology

CSAA: Not much applied research presented and what was presented was a joke. A professor generalized data collected from FOUR individuals. Methodology was never well explained even for statistical procedures.

CPS: Rigorous methodology explained in details. Very cautious in their interpretation about generalizability and causation.

• Audience

CSAA: Back rubbing, ass-kissing audience. Never once did I hear opposition.

CPS: Challenged the presenter’s methods and findings ALL the time. I would be terrified to present to demographers while presenting to sociologists would be a walk in the park.

• Objectivity vs Subjectivity

CSAA: Presentations were based on opinion driven theory.

CPS: Presentations were based on empirical evidence.

• Relevance of findings

CSAA: Very little ‘real life’ application.

CPS: Concrete use for policy and population planning.

I know which sessions I am going to next year!

Harper, the ultimate anti-democrat

After banning the media from covering the arrival of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan, Harper took away a little bit more of our rights as humans yesterday.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

So in this spirit, and in order to fulfill two of his promises namely “accountability” and “transparency” (*insert sarcasm*), Harper decided to refrain from holding press conferences unless his staff gets to pick which journalists ask questions.

Who does he think he is exactly?

Bush (well that we knew)? Castro? Jiabao? Mugabe?

I cross my fingers that the masses will realize how wrong this is (and won’t forget about it within two hours), but I am highly skeptical. The same scheme worked very well South of the border after all.

Now Boarding Flight to Orlando

Feeling hot hot hot! What a fantastic weekend we had in Florida. The weather was warm (like 34C warm) and sunny). Friday, we hung out around Disney. At MGM Studios, we did The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I hate rollercoasters. I closed my eyes, hold my breathe and waited til it was over. We then took the monorail to Magic Kingdom where I met Mickey. We finished at Epcot where we had a great lunch at the French restaurant, checked out the World Pavillons, and tried out their new ride (Soarin).

Now on to the real reason why we went all the way to Orlando. R turned 30 this year. For the space geek that he is, only a trip to NASA would be worthy of his 30 year old birthday. Up until Friday, he had no clue where I was taking him (whee!). We were registered in the Astronaut Training Experience at NASA.

We got to chichat with Charlie Walker, an astronaut who went to space three times (3!). It was amazing to talk to him. He seemed like a well rounded individual. I asked him if going to space had changed the way he sees the world. He responded that he is even more aware of environmental issue now that he has seen from up above how thin the layer of air around the earth is. The second highlight of our visit was to SEE the space shuttle.

To our surprise, Discovery was on its launch pad, uncovered. This does not happen very often so we were lucky. We also did a simulation of two missions. I was a mission specialist and the public affair officer. R was a mission specialist and the flight director. Needless to say he loved his surprise!

We spent Sunday at the pool enjoying the weather. I cannot believe it’s only 11C here!

Pictures

The Power of Statistics (and I don’t mean statistical power!)*

The more I know about statistics, the more I understand why they’ve acquired such a bad reputation over the years. Statistics do not lie, liars use statistics. There are individuals who will deliberately use statistics to their advantage. No doubt, it’s bad. However, what scares me even more than a skilled dishonest statistician is an unskilled wanna-be statistician.

I recently discovered that quantitative analysis is a requirement in undergrad Communication/Journalism in some universities. Students learn SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) and the basic of statistics. Of course, one course doesn’t teach you enough to really understand stats, but it gives you just enough knowledge to make you believe that you can conduct your own statistical analysis.

Many crucial details will influence the results of an analysis, most of which people with limited statistics experience are probably not even aware of. Let’s look at one example. When you hear that a finding is statistically significant, there is a lot more going on than you probably think. There are literally dozens of statistical tests. Some are liberal (LSD), some are more conservative (Bonferroni). A relationship may be significant using a liberal test, but not significant using a more conservative one. The confidence interval you choose (95%, 99%) will also affect the significance. With a large sample size, most relationships will be significant anyway, but that doesn’t mean they are meaningful.

Statistics are extremely powerful tool. There is a reason why only trained professionals such as police officers are allowed to use guns. There is also a reason why only medical professionals perform surgeries and engineers build bridges. If statistics were left to statisticians (and trained sociologists/psychologists obviously!), the field would have a much better reputation.

* I feel the need to explain the title. It’s a joke! Statistical power is the probability of getting a statistically significant result. It’s the odds of confirming your theory when in fact there is a relationship. A large sample size, for example, increases your statistical power. It’s a good thing, but it may lead to Type I Errors i.e. the probability of saying that a relationship is statistically significant when it’s not. Using a 99% confidence interval decreases statistical power and your chance of making Type I Errors.

The Little Lucy Stoners In Me

Even after 2.5 years of marriage, I am still referred to as Smarties HisLastName. This really irritates the little Lucy Stoners in me. I kept my birth name (“maiden is another irritant of mine) because I hate doing things ‘just because’. I dislike traditions and I dislike patriarchal traditions even more. I have a career, two degrees, and publications in my birth name.

Most importantly, I kept my birth name because there are not enough valid reasons to change it! Here’s what I have to say to the 90% of women who use the following arguments to rationalize their choice.

* It’s tradition.

It’s an archaic patriarchal tradition through which women became their husband’s property after being their father’s property. Women also stayed home to raise children in the name of tradition. Thankfully, only a small minority of women still argue that this tradition should be followed.

* I want to start OUR family.

Rather amusing. If you really wanted to start "OUR" family, you would BOTH change your names (merge them, hyphenate, etc). By changing YOUR name to HIS, you are becoming part of HIS family.

* Unity of the family: I want the same last name as my children.

Here's a thought: Children don't have to be given their father's name. Why not the mother's name? Why not both? There are no legal rules about naming children, only traditions. The child can have your last name or even both of your names. It’s a common practice in Quebec.

* Children are going to be confused.

There were 1.4 million lone-parent families in 2002 (StatCan) . That’s 16% of all families. Add to this the number of step, blended, and other type of family arrangements we probably can’t even imagine in our wildest dream and you end up with several millions of confused children. That’s underestimating children’s intelligence to think that they will be confused. Even children living in complex family situations can positively identify their parents.

* I was given my father’s name at birth, what difference does it make if I take my husband’s name?

The difference is that you’re a grown up woman and you can make choices now. Should women who were abused by their father allow their husband to abuse them? Let me think. Hmm. No.

Another annoyance of mine is to be referred to as “Mrs.” which implies that I am a married woman. “Mr.” does not refer to a married man. Why should women be identified by their marital status?

And I am positively not Mrs. HisFirstName HisLastName. I did not change my last name nor my first name! For future reference, I am Ms. Smarties.

My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost
–Lucy Stone League

Now Boarding Flight to Vancouver

Another quickie on the West Coast. This time, Vancouver was the destination. I arrived Friday night at 8:30pm. We had a quick dinner at Blue Water Café in Yaletown. It was very good, too bad I was too jet lagged to enjoy it!

We had typical Vancouver weather on Saturday i.e. rain. We went to the Museum of Anthropology in the morning. It was a bit of a rip off. The museum is very small and displays lack descriptions.

In the afternoon, we hung out on Katsilano Beach, goofing around and loving each other. We had the best sushi ever at Tojo’s for dinner.

The weather was a little nicer on Sunday. It was very windy, but no rain. We went to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in the morning. $7/pers for a tiny garden is a mega huge rip off. We went to Stanley Park and English Bay in the afternoon.

We had great Italian food at Quattro on Fourth for dinner. R dropped me off at the airport at 9:30pm. I was at work at 10am. Red eyes suck.

Clicky for pictures

The cat is out of the bag

Today in the Globe and Mail


"OTTAWA — The Harper government's controversial decision to ban the Canadian news media from ceremonies honouring repatriated war dead originated in the Prime Minister's Office and was made primarily for political reasons, multiple sources close to the government said yesterday.

"It was not [Defence Minister] Gordon O'Connor's idea," one said. "Exactly whose idea it was is somewhere in the Langevin Block."

Several sources close to the Prime Minister's Office said the strategy originated with Sandra Buckler, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new communications director. She then sold it to Mr. Harper, arguing it would generate only "a week of bad publicity," after which it would be accepted as a fait accompli, sources said.

Asked whether it was her idea, Ms. Buckler replied in an e-mail: "Not true." She declined to say whose idea it was. [...]"

Harper the mini-Bush

Harper recently amended two decisions made by the former Liberal party.

Firstly, the flag will not be lowered for fallen soldiers. For Harper, this is a ‘return to tradition’. Secondly, he banned the media from attending at CFB Trenton the arrival of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan last week. According to O’Connor, this policy was implemented out of respect for families.

The reasons expressed above could all be sincere. They could also be part of a Conservative conspiracy to keep undesirable information out of public reach. Public opinion on the mission in Afghanistan is equally divided. The last thing the government wants is lose any support it may have. The media will report, but won’t show.

The U.S implemented a similar policy during the Vietnam War as the government was losing public support for the war. More recently, the Bush administration imposed a publication ban on images of coffins of American soldiers. There are 40 U.S. casualties a month in Iraq, who knew?

Unfortunately, none of the U.S. policies above were driven by family needs. Why would similar Conservative policies be motivated by family needs?

It saddens me that military families are being used as a political excuse to execute an unpopular agenda. The enormous sacrifices that soldiers and their family make daily for Canada should command no more than veneration from all, especially government officials.

“Out of sight, out of mind”? If the government starts controlling the information the public receives, we don't live a democracy anymore. What next?

Now Boarding Flight to San Francisco

The rain did not stop us from having a blast in San Francisco last weekend. On Friday, we did some shopping (Victoria Secret is a must!) in Union Square.

We had wine at the Nectar Wine Lounge and dinner at Delfina in San Francisco.

Early Saturday, we were on our way to Sonoma Valley.

The highlight of the day was Artesa Winery. The views from the winery are breathtaking.




We had a great lunch at Sonoma- Meritage Martini Oyster Bar and Grill and did some more tasting. The best wine we tasted was a 2001 Reserve Special cabernet sauvignon from Arrowood.

We then drove to St-Helena, Napa Valley for dinner. We had an amazing meal at the Culinary Institute of America.

Sunday morning, we started tasting before breakfast. Not good. I was drunk by 11am! We had lunch at Bouchon where I had the most amazing salmon tartar and mushroom crepe ever.

Most wineries were closed on Sunday (Easter Sunday) so we didn’t do much tasting. And this is why Napa Valley 2006 wine may not be the best!

We met R’s friend in San Jose where we had dinner at the Left Bank on Santana Row. Because I am huge Geek, I had to stop by Ebay!

We flew back on Monday morning. Short, but fantastic weekend!

For more pictures

Reproduction: Hardwired or upgradeable software?

The “nature vs. nurture” debate has generated much discussion in the past thousand of years. Most scientists would probably agree that both are accountable for human behaviour. Sociologists, my kind of scientists, would argue that nurture explains it better.

An instinct is an “inborn biological force that motivates a particular response or class of responses” (Shaffer, 1999). Instinctual behaviours are hardwired. Hunger is considered an instinct. What about reproduction?

I often hear people (well, women) say that having a child is so instinctual, so natural. I believe that these women are confusing the cause with the effect. Sex is the cause, babies are the effects.

Human beings seek pleasure. Sex is fun. Human beings naturally want sex. Sex is therefore an instinctual drive. In turns, sex leads to diseases and reproduction. Catching a STD is not instinctual. By that logic, having babies is not instinctual either.

Seriously, how long do you think it took the prehistoric man to realize that sex and reproduction were related, especially given the 9 months delay between the two? Hundreds of years later, when man finally put one and two together, his quest for contraception started.

Having children because of an urge to love is a product of our leisure society. Before, and still in many culture, much more practical reasons led people to have children. Among others, children were free labour and care for aging parents. The most egoistical reason of all, which is still very popular today, is that children carry your bloodline and your name. Yay, for Mini-Yous.

Because most people do reproduce at some point in their life, it is easy to wrongly assume that it is instinctual. In fact, society (e.g. culture, religion) puts an enormous amount of pressure on people to have children. After graduating, getting married, and buying a house, it is the next logical step. As our society becomes more liberal, the fertility rate decreases. It is certainly not because reproduction is any less ‘instinctual’ than it once was. Medicine and liberalism are allowing people to make a choice.

“Only humans rely on culture rather than instinct to ensure the survival of their species” -Marvin Harris, 1987.

Next time, he stays in the car

My dear husband is a little paranoid about my health problems. Every time I went to the emergency, he was away on business. He is worried that something similar will happen again.

Today, he came to my gynecologist appointment. Oh the embarrassment. I am not going to bring him to gynecologist appointments ever again.

First, he asked the doctor the same questions five times. FIVE times! He thought re-wording it would get him a different answer or something. No one knows what happened. No one knows if it can happen again. After answering the same question for which he has no answer FIVE times, the doctor finally said “just let it go” and laughed! Teehee.

The doctor asked me to show him my incision. As I am lying down, hubby gets ready to leave the room??? The doctor asked “where are you going?”.
Who knows!

Finally, hubby was so focused on his one and only question that he wasn’t paying attention to our conversation. Before we left:

Hubby: Did you have anything else to ask?
Me: No
Hubby: Yes, you had something
Me: Hmm no

[Now in French. The doctor does not speak French, but he sure understands it!!! ]

Hubby: Your period. [whispering]
Me: I asked about my period.

[Back to English]

Hubby to doctor: Is this normal? [That I have my period].
Doctor: [Laughing] Yes, she is allowed to have her period, once a month.

This was a 15 mins appointment. Thanks god my doctor is a young, super cool dude.

Back to Work

I went back to work last Wednesday. I REALLY didn’t want to miss my exciting structural equation modeling training. I am glad I went.

Friday, I had a doctor appointment. Apparently, I have anemia. Just what I needed. Buying iron supplement off the counter is about $7. Buying equivalent iron supplement with a prescription is $17, but my insurance will pay 80%. It comes up to less than $4 + paper work. How annoying is that?

I went out with ex-coworkers on Friday night. It was great to see everyone again.

I did a blood test on Saturday to check my evil white cell count. I am seeing my gynecologist on Thursday. He should have the results by then.

The home nurse should stop coming any day now. Apparently, because I haven’t looked yet, the wound looks “good”.

I am sick of talking about my sickness! It's crazy how being sick consumes your whole life.

We are searchable!

Searches for the month of March, 2006 that led to lasmarties.blogspot.com.

On MSN:

-political correctness gone too far (twice)
-holistic riding-near
-communism in cuba (five times)
-pregnancy risks at 34 years old
-everything about cuba
-infections caused by antibotics
-bug from antibotics

On Google:

-alimony ludicrous
-racism, otherism
-reasons for nick not to get alimony

On search-Blogger.com

-ovarian cyst
-appendix

The stuff people search for!