A little update

Has it really been almost a year since I last wrote something here?

Briefly, we spent last Christmas in the US with family in New York, Kansas and Colorado. We also went to D.C. (my first time there, believe it or not) for a conference. After that we came back home for a couple of weeks, then started work again.
I've really been enjoying my job. I can't remember if I've written about it or not. At first I decided I wouldn't because it was all new and I didn't know whether it would be appropriate. I think I've figured that out, and if I have time, I'll write more about my work later. It's been a fun and very exciting experiment - one I look forward to continuing.
The house is all but done, and we're enjoying living in it. We're going to replace quite a few windows and do a couple of other things to make it more energy effecient soon, but there's nothing that HAS to be done.
We've had quite a few visitors over the last year, and are looking forward to seeing more (including Rachael!) next year.
I started going to the gym again a couple of months ago. I hadn't realised how much I missed that - I hadn't really worked out since I moved here (well, I mean other than the noraml everyday biking and walking.).
I also discovered Facepage and have found a few old friends. I'm still looking for some, though. Anyone know where these people are? Cyndy Robertson, Jim Eldert from Santa Cruz, Sonrisa (who knows what her last name is now?) or any of the other people who lived on boats moored in the Monterey Bay harbor circa 1979-82? Anyone who used to work at Casa Maria or Tillie Gorts? Allen Posey from SF? I know there are others ... I remember reading that if you list the people you're looking for on a web page, when they google themselves, they might see it. So, there you go.
More recently, I've been sick for the past 2 weeks. It started as the flu, then turned into pneumonia. Nothing serious or painful, it's just worn me out enough that I can't go far from bed for awhile. As odd as this sound, I feel relatively strong for having pneumonia.
More than anything, I'm just bored. (Hence, this post, I suppose.) And my back hurts from being in bed for waaaayyyyy too long. I think I'm on the mend though.
I'm going to try to write a bit more. I've missed it.
After I get done with grading exams papers, we're going to Prague for a week. My camera has all but died - it still takes pictures, but the view screen doesn't show anything. As a result, the pictures are completely hit and miss. I'm going to think about whether I need another one before the trip or whether I'll wait awhile. The trip is pure vacation for me. Ian's been asked to speak at a conference there, then teach for a week, so he'll stay longer than me.
I need to come home, though because I have Dutch lessons starting up again. I'm going to try a program in Amsterdam this time. My Dutch is improving all the time, but I'm still not speaking as much as I should. I guess I'm just shy that way...

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Work and a new bike

So much has happened this last year. Much of it has been taken up with work. I don't think I've written much about it. I've edited a couple of books, but the English Language European Law School in Maastricht is mostly what I've been busy with. I'm teaching some really bright students from all over Europe. That's the best part of the job.
The program is new; the first of its kind, at least here in Europe. It's a grand experiment, one that I think will be successful. The aim is to teach a systemless form of law to students from a variety of backgrounds. It's an alien concept here, but in reality, it's not so different from the way I learned law in the U.S. The US has 50 states, each with their own law. Next to and over all of them, there is another Federal law. We certainly didn't learn the laws of all these systems. Instead, we learned how to research - how to FIND the law.
So that's what I'm teaching the students to do here.
Here's a link to a student's blog I ran across - from there, you can maybe explore more of Maastricht and the university, if you're interested. Oh - and if you're British, have a background in law and are looking to teach - give me a holler.

I'm going to be in the U.S. for awhile soon. Part of it is to attend a conference in D.C. A great perk! Another was the new bike I recently got. The commute to Maastricht is about 3 hours door to door. There is a 20 minute bus ride on my end, one a little shorter in Maastricht. By bike, it's faster. To help with the commute, I got a new fold up bike that I can ride from my house and the university to the train stations, then can carry with me on the train for free. It's all courtesy the Dutch government - a way to promote the greening of the country.

Here's the bike - and I would highly recommend it if you're looking for a good one.

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Why I haven't written

I'm not mad at you, I'm just busy.
I got a new job in Maastricht,

we've been to Paris with Natalie,

saw Janine and Chris get married,

and spent a day with Lieke and Gert-Jan in Rotterdam.

I'll try to be better at this. Soon.

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Tales from the Public Domain: BOUND BY LAW?

I think I mentioned I'm teaching law in Maastricht. This interesting link to an on-line comic-book was in my University email inbox:

A documentary is being filmed. A cell phone rings, playing the "Rocky" theme song. The filmmaker is told she must pay '10,000 to clear the rights to the song. Can this be true? "Eyes on the Prize," the great civil rights documentary, was pulled from circulation because the filmmakers' rights to music and footage had expired. What's going on here? It's the collision of documentary filmmaking and intellectual property law, and it's the inspiration for this new comic book. Follow its heroine Akiko as she films her documentary, and navigates the twists and turns of intellectual property. Why do we have copyrights? What's "fair use"? Bound By Law reaches beyond documentary film to provide a commentary on the most pressing issues facing law, art, property and an increasingly digital world of remixed culture.

See the whole thing here.(Duke University School of Law)

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Batavus, mijn fiets.

We did it. We broke down and ordered a couple of decent bikes.
We won't have them for a couple of weeks, but just knowing they're on their way makes my butt feel much happier.

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Things that give me a headache

Turning fort-eight pages of this:

"Especially the care and education are the rights from concerning which the expression of the views of the child who is capable of forming these views and taking into attention them according to the child's age and maturity have the greatest importance."

into this:

"The views of the child capable of judgment, given the child’s age and level of maturity, are of the greatest importance, especially when considering the rights of care and education."

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A new year and a new job?

I've been busy, sorry there've been no posts for awhile. Mostly I've been editing from home. I've also been doing some baking. Ian's folks gave us an oven for Christmas. It's pretty darn wonderful.
Wichita was hit by an ice storm, 67,000 are still without power. 17 degrees Farenheit. Everyone should have power back by this time next week.
(Taken by Michael Kuss on his property in Butler County, Kansas)

I called my renters and my house is fine. Although they lost power, it was only for a couple of hours. Luckily, all the trees made it.
Pat is without power, though. She, Sid and Molly are staying with Sid's mom for the duration. "At least it's not a Tsunami," says Pat.
Mom has power, but her doors are frozen shut. She said she burned a piece of toast and couldn't open a window to get rid of the smell. Not good, but she was also counting her blessings; it wasn't a tidal wave.
Meanwhile, the weather here has been great. Ian and I took a stroll down the old canal the other night. It was really nice - the Christmas lights are still up in the trees and on the bridges over the canals.
The news - I think I'm going to take a new job. Ian and I met with the President of Translegal today, and really liked what he's doing. It's too early to talk about it in detail yet, but I think what he wants and the types of things I want to do are a good match. If everything goes well, I'll make a trip to Stockholm next month to train, then start. I hear February isn't the best time to visit stockholm, but I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been to Sweden before, and I've wanted to visit. Lucky you, more pictures!

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Happy Birthday to Me!

This morning, my brother called at 6:30 in the morning to wish me a Happy Birthday. Gee, thanks, Ken. He was in Colorado just getting ready to go to bed. I was glad he called - we caught up with each other a bit. He had recently been in New York to see his daughter, Nicola, dance. She's been with the ABT since graduating from high school last year. He was also calling to find out more information about the wedding. Nicola's dancing on the 20th and 21st in NYC, so Ken will go there first and see her, then fly into Amsterdam. He thought he might have to spend the night in London, but I think found another flight that will be easier on him. Still, it looks like he'll get in to Amsterdam at 6:30 AM on the morning of the wedding. I suspect he'll fall asleep by the time dinner is served on the boat.

(Jancy also gave some news last night, but for now I'll just say "YOU ROCK!" and leave it at that. She and Bobbi still plan to come.)

So after talking with Ken I rolled over and went back to bed.

An hour and a half later, Ian woke me up by singing Dutch birthday song. He also delivered flowers, chocolate croissants, coffee and orange juice to me in bed. (Have I mentioned how much I love my life here?)

I stayed in bed a little too long. E went to work and I got out of bed and read emails. I've been reconnecting with people (cousins included) that I don't see nearly enough.

Anyway, I'm now at work. I'm sitting here taking a break from editing a report on French Parental Responsibilites (which the French reporter insists on referring to as "autorite parentale" instead of parental authority or parental responsibility. It's an English report, so I'm going to gleefully do a global replace when I start wroking again) and listening to Khachaturian's Sabre Dance on Launchcast. It's becoming increasingly apparent that I've had way too much coffee. It doesn't help that I'm listening to Khachaturian. I'm starting to think he had to have been a frequent cocaine user. That piece is just insane.

It wasn't just Ian's coffee that got me in this condition. In the break kitchen here at work they have this great little coffee machine that makes all kinds of coffee: Espresso, regular coffee, cappachino, mocha, plain hot chocolate. And it's real coffee. The Dutch have a long and intimate relationship with this particular drug.

OK - this break is over. Back to the editing... Or maybe lunch?

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More pictures from work

I spent my Thanksgiving at work, along with the rest of the people who work in this country. No holiday here.
Ian's in Belgium at a conference, so when I finished for the day I came home to a very nice bottle of wine and a microwave-in-four-minute-meal.

It was really cold this morning - the bridges were frosted over on the way to work. It was also very foggy. Remember this picture of the view from my office window?



Today, it looked like this:


As I was taking this picture, I suddenly realized I have a corner office. That obviously doesn't mean the same thing to the Dutch it means to Americans or I wouldn't have one. I still like it, though.
Until today I hadn't thought about exactly where in the building the office was, if you looked at it from the outside. The stairs confuse me, and there are twists and turns to get to where I work. Anyway, today I thought about it. See the windows the arrows point to? That's me. Up in the tower. And no, I absolutely will not answer to Rapunzel.




I'm not sure who picked the interior colors of the office, but it wasn't a gay man. At least not one my age. It's all so . . . Swedish, or something. I've seen this color a lot over here. It's usually complemented by cantelope orange.


And finally, I had my camera with me, so I took a picture of this bike. Luckily not mine. I've never actually seen anyone in the act of putting a bike over a bridge, but I've seen lots of bikes hanging precariously from the bridges. I think it must happen at night...


I hope those of you who remembered it was Thanksgiving today all had a happy one.

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Pictures from work

It's good to be working again, although my stamina isn't what it was when I last worked, 4 months ago. And no, I'm not spending my time at work taking pictures and blogging. Well, ok, I took a couple of quick pictures from the window, but I've suddenly got so much work to do that I'm wondering how people who work have the time to write and post anything at all. Ever.

The work is at least as interesting as the views. And I'm in love, too. However did I get this lucky?

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A job!

I got a job today editing some legal text for Ian's University. I haven't started working on it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It'll be good to use my mind a little bit, and I enjoy editing. American English is a little less formal than British English, so it will be interesting to see if I'm able to keep the tone they want. I always feel, as someone once said, that if I had more time I would have written less. Most written legal text doesn't follow this philosophy, and British legal text is so convoluted it makes my head hurt. Oh well. I don't think I'll have a problem. How hard can it be to make the heads of others hurt?

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