DOOOOOCTOOOOR!!!

Happy extremely belated Easter! Hope everyone had a great time and pigged out on chocolate.

I got to spend my Easter down in Cardiff with five kids, four of whom are under 8. Now I love kids but I kind of suck at looking after them so I spent most of the time trying to communicate with them while keeping an eye on my shoes that were being tested out by the youngest a la Buster Keaton. They are adorable, really really adorable, and I love them to death. I'm just glad I'm not looking after them 24/7. But there was FOOD! Sooo much food! Pork roast, beef roast, Yorkshire pudding, parsnips, chocolate, wine gums, mmmmm.

I also went to the Doctor Who exhibition, which is a little slice of heaven in itself. The little ones were kind of scared going through the Dalek section, which I honestly can't blame them for, but other than that it was this nice array of props and costumes from the 10th Doctor seasons. I know there's more to the series than just David Tennant, but it isn't until his series that Cardiff features since it overlaps with Torchwood a fair amount.



Because I am not 6' tall and/or John Barrowman, I couldn't really cling to one side of the TARDIS yelling "DOOOOOOOOCTOOOOOOOR" as it travelled to the end of time. So I had to settle for, well, cuddling a corner of it.



Also, after watching the Doctor Who episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, I cannot look at an Ood the same way again.




Or a Dalek. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. I'll say no more or fanfiction writers will get ideas, if they haven't written it already.



But there's always the gorgeous Captain Jack. So omnisexual, the only way you can get original when writing about Torchwood is to create a heterosexual romantic pairing.

So that was the extent of my Easter weekend! Was definitely sad to leave so early, but I had to go home and prepare for the USC Highlands tour later that week. More to follow!

Recess

We are now on two weeks of recess, and since Parliament isn't in session, we get to use the time to chill out, travel, catch up on our research, and so on.

That doesn't mean we stop political activity though. Before I head off to Wales later this week, I've volunteered to help with campaigning down in Edinburgh South. I got my first taste of leafleting, which basically means taking leaflets and putting them through people's letterboxes.

I will admit, I was pretty nervous at first. I know this doesn't happen very often anywhere, but I've never just walked up the driveway to someone's house before without being invited, and thus I was almost expecting someone to pop out their door at some point with a shotgun or have a bunch of dogs bark at me like I was the milkman or something. I got lucky though, since most people were out at work, and any animal activity was limited to a single cat sitting under a tree glaring at me. I was successful with delivering leaflets to houses; however, getting into blocks of flats is much more difficult than in Hong Kong, where the security guard usually just lets you in anyway or the mailboxes are placed outside the gate. So that part of the delivery was pretty fruitless. Edinburgh South does look like a pretty place though, and I hope I get to walk around it a bit more soon.

Also: the office down south has a FOLDING MACHINE! You have no idea how happy I was to see this thing. It doesn't look brand spanking new at all, but I honestly have not seen one before, and after spending previous campaigns folding hundreds of leaflets individually by hand and risking dozens of paper cuts, it was such a relief to stack up sheets, pull a lever, press a button, and voila! 100 nicely folded leaflets ready for delivery.

Pictures!

Went on a lovely adventure today! Popped up at 7:30, which is always great, 'cause it's like I've gotten the gift of a morning to enjoy. Probably happens more often when the night before is less than exciting, but it's a trade-off I'd make in a second.

Wandered off to the National Gallery of Modern Art, which I really liked quite a lot. As well as a bunch of excellent surrealist pieces (mostly from the 30s) the whole second floor was a display of photographs by Diane Arbus, an American artist shooting in the 60's, mostly. A lot of the stuff came off as initially disturbing, as she tended to photograph people on the margins of society, but having all these works collected in one place gave a comforting sense of the breadth of humanity. I was very into it by the end (a quick google search will give a sense of her stuff).

Anyway, I took along the camera to chart my journey! It was the first sunny day in forever, and I loved it oh so much. It would take forever to cross-post all the photos, but here's a link to the Facebook album I put them in. It should be entirely open to the public, but let me know if you have any trouble viewing it (cpassare(at)usc.edu)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048802&id=1047210134

Much love from Scotland,

Chris

Diary of the First Half!

Howdy! For the Edinburgh programme, we have been told we must keep a journal to make sure we're making proper use of our time. I figured that I could post that up here to keep everyone up to date! It's not as exciting as fancy trips or anything, but if anyone feels like reading a whole bundle on exactly what's going on, here ya go!

Week 1
This week I got settled in Parliament while studying for finals; with tests on Friday and the Monday after, it was a bit of a juggling act to get acquainted with my 3 MSPs and prepare for the UK and Scottish Politics assessments. If I had any advice for future programs at this point, it would be to perhaps start the internship a week later, and cram all three assessments into one week (but at least we would be able to focus entirely on them during that time). Trying to read and analyse all these journal articles, even after keeping up with the reading, was quite difficult to squeeze in after dinner every night.
So far, though, the work has been satisfying! David Stewart MSP has me working on the Forth Road Crossing Bill, and I’ve been diving into the SPICe reports and other summaries helpfully provided by Liza (a researcher to the three Labour H&I MSPs). I’m now up on the issues at hand, the various proposals that were sorted through, the reasons for design decisions made, etc. Best of all was when I got to attend the committee meeting Wednesday and actually understood what was going on; they were throwing around all sorts of proposals for public transit options for the bridge, and knowing some of the answers to the MSPs’ questions prior to the answers by Transport Scotland and others was most excellent.
The only worry I have is that there’s not a whole lot I can contribute to the process. I can help go over David’s questions for him, suggest lines of inquiry, etc., but it’s not like I could actually do a research paper that forges new ground on this. The plans are already put together, the decisions currently made seem justified… besides helping with the procedural progression of the bill, the remaining work falls entirely to civil engineers, contractors, and the agencies that can actually conduct the sort of number-crunching that would be needed at this point.

Week 2
Peter Peacock MSP has given me direction towards what might work out to be a more viable project. He’s looking at the extension of broadband internet to the more remote regions of Scotland (being an MSP for the Highlands and Islands) and figuring out viable ways to make the leap from existing infrastructure to full access to the rural population. There is already an existing Pathfinder network deployed to cover schools and libraries in H&I, and any viable plan would be extending that connectivity to surrounding neighbourhoods.
There has been a successful program (known as the Tegola test bed project) that used relay towers to extend and magnify a wireless signal from a Pathfinder-connected exchange. Compared to the meagre 5km or so that standard copper wire can extend from an exchange normally, the vast spans covered by Tegola present a very real possibility for affordable, reliable connection across great distances and difficult terrain. My job, then, is to find out what other countries have attempted in this situation, how much public spending was required before private investment was viable, etc. Peter has seemed genuinely interested in my findings, here, and apparently this is work that hasn’t been exhaustively done but is something well within my purview.
I’ve also taken over RSVP duties from the other intern in my office, which is only reasonable given my extra-junior status. It takes a wee bit of time and organisation since I’m dealing with the diaries of three separate MSPs, but it’s nice to have something deliverable to handle when I open my email. Not bad at all, having an easy box to check!

Week 3
Continued work on FRC and broadband. I have had a few good experiences investigating constituent issues, like some disputes in Inverness about public busses being used as school transport; there have been questions about whether legal recourse can be taken by the Parliament or even the local councils if the educational authorities have not been supervising pupils closely enough on their way to and from school.
Also, I met with Kieran (the other intern) and Mike Robb, a Labour candidate to contend for a LibDem seat in the election. It’s currently held by Nick Clegg’s chief of staff, so a victory there would be most excellent. Hopefully we’ll get to visit the district and help with the canvassing operation as the campaign heats up!
Peter has also given me a massive amount of correspondence on the broadband project. I’m off in Inverness on Monday of next week (22 March) for a meeting with the entire H&I Labour MSPs organisation, which conveniently coincides with a meeting between Peter and some of the folks on the Pathfinder project. I hope that by poring through all those emails I might be up to speed and come with some questions prepared; this is my chance to actually break some ground on how the network is currently built and how much consumer traffic it might be able to support.
I’ll make an effort to write in the journal in various daily segments rather than once weekly, to make sure I don’t miss anything by jotting it all down on a Friday afternoon.

Week 4
Monday: With the Forth Crossing Bill Committee meeting for objections coming up on Wednesday, I’m looking through massive objective binders to assess the issues raised by the particular witnesses that will be at the meeting. This will be a great chance to draft some sharp questions, if all goes well, so I hope to devote myself to some critical analysis today and seize the opportunity to actually make a mark on this massive bill. Also continued sorting through the 25 Mb of broadband email from the last four or five months.
Thursday: Forth Crossing Committee went quite well yesterday; David had some excellent questions for Transport Scotland, making progress on hammering out some sticking points on the bidding process, but TS was able to address all the constituent objections rather effectively.
I’ve also been sorting through how different countries are approaching the rural broadband issue; Norway is promising.

Week 5
Went up to Inverness on Monday to meet the constituency team! It was great to get in touch with all these people that I’d met on the phone. I also had the opportunity to join Peter on his meeting with the Highland Council to find out of LEADER or SRDP (programs for rural development) funding could be secured for broadband, as well as if it was possible to gain access to Pathfinder for the project.
Besides more work on that, there’s been a great variety of things to do this week. I got to contribute some website design mock-ups for the Hill Tracks Campaign (to regulate the cutting of service roads), put together a wee sheet explaining how to get free energy-efficiency advice/consultation for the constituency office, tracked down potential celeb endorsers and their agents, and all sorts of other things. The diverse, accomplishable tasks are quite satisfying.
I’ve also been looking around for the last few days at digital literacy programs around the world. Between UK, EU, and other efforts there are all sorts of good practices that have been laid out for training people with ICT (Information and Communications Technology). If we can find gaps in Scotland’s efforts on digital inclusion, it would be important to patch them to make the most of the new opportunities being extended to rural residents.
Phonebanking on Tuesday night! Everyone was exceptionally polite, even when in opposition. All you weenies that chewed me out when I called you for No on 8, take note. A bit of courtesy makes such a difference.
Also, this’ll take a while to explain, but it’s another campaign I’m looking into. Basically, every five years, businesses are revalued. This valuation defines what share of the total business tax they pay; it doesn’t define independently the tax rate, but it defines what slice of the pre-determined pie they are responsible for, so the total tax revenue is fixed. Anyway, petrol stations have been entirely re-classified with the valuation being done on the amount of financial turnover rather than the square-footage that used to be the basis for the value, like all other stores. While this seems like a reasonable way to assess the tax (by profitability and value rather than… physical space), it was done in such a way that petrol stations used to be nearly tax free and independent owners could cope with gas taxes and things. Now, though, their valuation has doubled or tripled, and they’re suddenly responsible for a massive amount of business tax, estimated by some to be up to a 450% increase. In England and Wales, at least, there is a transition program that smoothes the move from the old rate to the new one. Scotland has no such program in place, creating a tax shock that will kill what remains of the independent petrol stations.
…whew. So yeah, I hope to find a better way to summarise that and get a bit of publicity for it, which will be fun.
Finally, I’m going off to Inverness to help campaign Monday-Wednesday next week. I’m excited, because it is just gorgeous up there.

Falcons!

4 of them! Managed to snap a couple of pics with my camera phone today...sorry about the shoddy quality.

I don't know if you can tell through the window, but today was beautiful, with a lot of sun (and a lot of wind)

Photos of Parli!

Mannn I have been behind on all this! Not a whole lot of individual events have happened, but I've been working lots. Here are at least a few pictures to make up for the break:

My office! It's a wee bit lonely out here, since Peter Peacock MSP is only in two or three days a week and he's often off at meetings and things. All the same, the desk on the right is mine, and his is the one behind the partition back there. At least the quiet means I can get proper work done!

Here's the view out the window, essentially over my shoulder from where I took the prior photo. I'm definitely a fan of the building. :D

Annnd this is to the right of the last photo, looking up at Holyrood Park, the Crags and Arthur's Seat. That truck at the bottom is a falconer's van, and just below the frame of this shot there are usually two or three hawks chilling. They're apparently for chasing pigeons away from the concrete/marble building.

Not a bad work environment, if I do say so myself!

London part 3: Ian McKellen, Roger Rees, Matthew Kelly, and Ronald Pickup!

Final part, whoo!

Picking up from Baker Street: so after we left Sherlock Holmes, we realised just how hungry we were. After much wandering around, we settled on the Globe, which has awesome fish and chips, and it was a very nice (and buzzed) lunch. By the time we were done, it was close to late afternoon, so we were considering going to see Buckingham Palace, but then we saw the ticket kiosk and wondered: why not take in a show?

So we went over there and asked about Oliver and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, since those were the two big shows being advertised. No dice. Except for £90 tickets for Priscilla, which was not going to happen. So we went to look for the bus stops again, but due to an unenviably horrible sense of direction, we couldn't find the right ones, so we decided to go back and see if there were any more shows of interest.

Chicago? Also nope. What about plays? There was Six Degrees of Separation (Jenn's suggestion since it had Anthony Stewart Head in it), and Waiting for Godot (with Ian McKellen in it). The lovely Bernadette at the kiosk made a few more calls, and lo and behold, there were two tickets for £28 for Waiting for Godot! Sweet!

The show didn't start till 7:30, so we killed time by some more touristy shopping and stopping at Pret a Manger for a bite to eat before heading to the Haymarket Theatre, just off Piccadilly Circus.


Front of the Haymarket Theatre, complete with poster.



It's a little blurry, but this is Her Majesty's Theatre, and Phantom of the Opera is still running here after 24 years.




Self-explanatory :)


I've never read the play, nor have I read anything related to the Theatre of the Absurd (Jenn had), but I LOVED it from start to finish. I wish I knew more so I could give a nice detailed intellectual analysis about how awesome it was, but just take my word for it. It was awesome. My only regret is that I wasn't there to see Patrick Stewart playing opposite Ian when he was around a few months back.

So after the final curtain call, I was curious to see if we could go backstage for autographs. I've been to musicals, and I know how backstage at musicals work, but those usually involve large ensemble casts and/or principals who are usually very happy to sign autographs and chat with the fans and take photos and all that. I almost glomped John Owen Jones once when he exited after playing Jean Valjean. This was a play with a small cast of men whom are older than your average musical performer; I wasn't sure what was the correct protocol. Glomping was definitely out, I knew that much.

Luckily we got directions from an usher, and there was a small group already waiting when we got there. It wasn't long before Ian (Sir Ian, I should say) popped out. I think I was dumbstruck because I didn't get out much more than "That was amazing!" while shoving my playbill at him while he searched for a Sharpie to sign it. Had I had more presence of mind I might have asked for a picture, but then he started chatting with some people he knew, and we decide to leave him to it. He left soon after signing everyone's playbill; he did seem tired. Roger Rees came out soon after and also signed the playbill before taking off rather quickly (though very politely).

Matthew Kelly pretty much stole the backstage show, taking the time to crack a few jokes and hold conversations while signing playbills. And to answer your question, Jenn, if it were appropriate I would have been rolling on the floor laughing because you guys had a hilarious interaction (octopus and all). It was adorable.

Ronald Pickup was the last to leave, and he also seemed pretty tired and ready to go home so he took off pretty quickly as well. There was one more cast member, the Boy, but he was hustled home by his parents earlier on, so no autograph from him.

But here's the result!




All in all, that was a great ending to a great weekend! :D

London part 2: Subways, shopping, and Sherlock Holmes

Despite staying up late (and almost falling asleep) watching the Olympics, I woke up bright and early to meet Jenn at Camden train station, since she had heard of a large market that she had been referred to by everyone and their mother. I figured an extra half hour would help since it was further north.

That would have worked out fine and dandy had the Underground not exercised its customary practice of shutting down half the lines on weekends for maintenance. This weekend, the entire Circle line was shut, stretches of the Bakerloo line were down (which messed things up for the trip to Baker St), eight different lines were partially closed, and the station that had been shut down on the Northern line? Camden. Yup. So while I was on the train, I was trying to figure out the closest way to get there, and they were saying to get off at Euston station, two stops away from Camden, which I did. Then I called Jenn, and it turns out she'd stopped at Mornington which was the stop right before Camden, so I hauled ass back to the train, and got off there instead, where we learned that the markets were only a short walk away. Welcome to the London Underground: there are multiple overlapping lines for a reason.


View of Camden Market from the bridge. There were a bunch of stores before that, selling more touristy stuff, strangely enough including various pipes, hookahs, bongs, and stocks of flavoured tobacco. And condoms with "I Love London" on the wrapping.



In addition to the shops, there were loads of food stalls and a couple of eating areas. But how many eating areas have scooter seats with a river view?



View down the market. They mainly sold clothing and accessories, but there were plenty of other things as well. Some of the stuff looked really good, but we found the two best answers to resist temptation:

1) "It's getting too hot!" (used in response to the temptation to buy nifty jackets)
2) "I'm too fat!" (used to ward off sellers of clothes that are adorable but we know we will genuinely never fit in even with Weight Watchers and Crisco)

After a good three hours of wandering around the market, we decided to head to Baker Street. This was also our first time on a bus, since it would be quicker than changing trains 9213907 times, and the bus came every 10 minutes or so.


Woo!



Even more woo!



A notice about Jack the Ripper, for authenticity.



A replica of Holmes's bedroom, complete with possessions.



The desk in the study. Watson's medical kit can be seen resting on the chair.



Fireplace! A little blurry, sadly. Note the hats on the table :)



Victorian-era potty?



Bronze bust of the great man himself.



The second floor consisted of artifacts linked with the stories. This glass case contains some of the weapons described in the books.



Voodoo doll used by an accomplice (can't remember which story though)



Some of the rooms also had figures of characters or scenes. The one on the left is from "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and the one on the right is from "The Musgrave Ritual".




Professor Moriarty, looking suitably evil and plotting something.





Um, yeah.



I think this picture pretty much sums up the experience. :)




Not only did they put a statue of him outside Baker St station, his profile adorns the tiles inside.

So I lied about there being two parts to the London post; it's gonna be 3 now since I'm getting really tired and there is a lot more awesomeness to cover. My energy levels have been at about 30% with this cough and hopefully this week's course of antibiotics will help, but the whole rest and fluids thing needs to be done as well.

G'night!

London part 1: Towers, dungeons, squares, and a LOT of walking

Hooray, the long-overdue update on LONDON! This will have to be broken down into two parts for easier reading.

I popped into Parliament on the Thursday to get my computer set up before hauling my stuff to Waverley, which left me surprisingly out of breath and realising that I need to hit the gym again once I'm healthy. Nothing particularly eventful about the train ride, although the taxi driver had a late-night brain fart and wasn't sure where the street I was looking for was until I told him the area. My moneysaver for the weekend was to crash at my cousin's place in Kensington instead of camping at a hostel. I was initially worried that I would be in the way, but it turns out that he often works until 2am, being an intense CompSci professor, so as long as I didn't mess up the place or change the channel from the Olympics it was ok. We did have some nice conversation the first night though over a late dinner.

I'd arranged to meet Jenn the next morning at Piccadilly Circus, where she was staying at a hostel. Jenn is the fellow intern whom I spent the summer with picking our way through old naval documents and enduring the verbal barbs from highers-up, and since she's in Belfast this semester, where else to meet up but London? So after meeting up with her (and her pet octopus Otto) we went for a full English breakfast while figuring out what to do next.

Now I hadn't exactly planned what to do on this trip. Jenn, bless her, had a list of landmarks AND restaurants of interest, so after consulting the map, we figured we'd start further out and work our way back to the centre. First port of call: the Tower of London.


Trebuchet in the grounds.



Yup, that's a hand. Someone had a sick sense of humour.



Barney, our lovely Yeoman Warder or Beefeater.



This is the Bell Tower, where Sir Thomas More was held after Henry VIII got pissed off at him. Also held here was Elizabeth I, since her sister Mary I didn't trust her, being a Protestant and Mary a Catholic. We all know how that ended.



You can't see the sign that well, but that's the gate to the Bloody Tower.



This pretty glass monument marks the spot for many private executions, including Anne Boleyn. Back then, if you were rich enough, important enough, or the king decided to have mercy on you, you would get...not a pardon, but a private execution. Otherwise you got beheaded on Tower Hill in front of all and sundry.



The ravens of the Tower. Lord knows what they do all day, the only thing that matters is that if they leave, the kingdom falls. Although one could joke that devolution is already helping that process along.



This is me holding the legendary Otto! Gnomes are so last year.



Classic shot of Westminster Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, and a red double decker in the background.



On our way back to Leicester Square/Piccadilly, we decided to walk the path that would take us next to the Horse Guards and Trafalgar Square. It doesn't show that well, but this was a really grumpy horse. I think it got a little antsy with the kids running around as well.



Trafalgar Square! But no legendary flocks of pigeons. :(


The rest of the day was spent wandering the area doing touristy window shopping in places such as Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue. While running around looking for Fortnum & Mason's, we stumbled upon Forbidden Planet, which is a dream of comic books, manga, graphic novels, Studio Ghibli DVDs, and a huge-ass Enterprise model hanging from the ceiling.

We then had dinner at an Indian place which looked pricey until they offered the set dinner for £9, which was a pretty good deal. We also ended up with a leaflet for a burlesque cabaret show. Now, we were actually quite interested, but due to our mediocre sense of direction, we never actually found it. Instead, we were back at Leicester Square, surrounded by cinemas. Solution? Let's watch Sherlock Holmes!

I had had my reservations about the movie when the trailer first came out, since I usually preferred my Holmes fully clothed and a little less scruffy. But Jenn, also a Sherlock Holmes fan, had seen it, and she loved it, so I was persuaded. (Jenn, I swear there's a pattern going on here...first you convince me to watch the new Star Trek movie, and now the new Sherlock Holmes movie?) And I actually really really enjoyed it. I was terrified for a while that Guy Ritchie was going to go crazy and use something of the supernatural, so I was very glad when there was a explanation for everything. But what made me really happy was the Holmes-Watson dynamic. No blundering, blustering Watson here. We have someone who's capable in his own sphere, actually serves some use as the detective's assistant, appreciates the friendship while criticising Holmes's faults, and can hold his own in a fight. I think we'd have to credit House for that, though.

We parted ways for the day, after that, I went back to Kensington. Surprise, surprise, it was midnight and my cousin wasn't home. No matter, the figure skating came on at 1am so I watched it for a bit before heading off to sleep.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

*COUGH*

So, I'm still kind of sick. I have this crazy cough that won't go away and which gets worse at night, and is definitely a distraction at work. I owe people a London post, so I promise I'll get it up once this paper is done!

One perk of working and having a regular schedule where you're pretty much done after 5 (extra research on projects is optional) is that I've been hanging out more with the flatmates, especially during dinner time and afterwards, which is pretty sweet, and hopefully we can have a flat-wide meal at some point.

I'm slowly coming to the realisation that this internship has about 7 weeks to go, which is pretty terrifying in a way. Normally I wouldn't think about it, but I was trying to plan out the scope of my project, and I realised that 7 weeks is pushing it for the amount I want to cover. I'm actually really really into this whole cancer research thing, although statistics was never my strong point, and I'm still working out my focus point at this moment.

On the side, the little administrative tasks do break the momentum, and I'm finally learning how to use the phone properly with referring callers to the right office and transferring connections and all that. Since Cathy spends most of her time out west and no one comes in Mondays, as of next week, I'll be helping out in the Labour campaign office....I'm curious to see how it compares to Hong Kong.

And after Friday....horse racing and dim sum! :)

Should be writing my paper, but...

One and a half weeks down!
I'm currently chilling in the library. Our last assessment for the classes is due Friday, in the form of a mid-size paper. There were two tests, and those are happily over and went rather well. Naturally, I can't wait until there's nothing to think about but parli work!

I've slowly picked up more duties in the office... I'm handling RSVPs, investigating little issues to see if they are worth a PQ (Parliamentary Question; an inquiry posed to the Government that must be answered by the responsible minister) etc. Also! I'm keeping track of who has spoken at debates and asked PQs for David, since he's the chief whip and responsible for managing the party's participation in the debates and votes.

Most refreshing of all, though, is a talk I had with Peter, another one of my 3 MSPs (I promise, it's entirely legit to call them by their first names). I knew I was working on rural broadband availability for him, but he had a chance to sit me down and go over what's been done, what more has to BE done, etc... This is probably what my formal research project will be on, even though I'm still involved on the Forth Crossing Bill.

Phew. I'm totally tired out, but very happy to be doing what I am! Hopefully going to actually get to bed early tonight. Enjoying the freedom. Also, going to Kelso for some horse-racing with the USC folks on Saturday! I'll try to actually bring the camera to that one, since I bet photos will be in order.

"Charlie bit me!"

I just had this encounter about half an hour ago. Please imagine the conversation with the girls speaking in Scottish accents:

Me: (walking down the Royal Mile)

(stepping around a bunch of little primary school-age girls chattering away)

Little girl 1: Excuse me!

Me: Mm?

Little girl: Don't you think he's ugly? *brandishes poster of Justin Bieber, some child singer I've heard about but don't pay attention to* He's ugly, isn't he?

Little girl 2: No he's not!

Little girl 1: Yes he is! Don't you agree? Look at him! He's ugly!

(At this point, I've stopped walking, and they're skipping along)

Me: Um, well, isn't he like 14?

Chorus of little girls: YES! (actually 16 now that I checked)

Me: Um--

Little girl 1: He really is ugly!

Little girl 2: No he isn't!

Me: Well, I've heard of him, but I don't really know that much...

Little girl 1: Oh...

(girls run off giggling)

Ah, kids.

More food discoveries!

I am finding weird ways to procrastinate. One is writing cover letters for internships. The other is making food. (The third is blogging and piggy-backing off Chris's posts.)

Crumpets.

They are amazing. Especially with peanut butter. The Scottish ones are easier to eat with, since they're flatter and more like pancakes in shape, so you put butter and peanut butter on top, roll/fold it up, eat. Mmmm.

They also work with (sounds a little weird, I know) pate. I've only tried it with the Scottish crumpets, but I might just give the regular ones a go.

....Okay, okay, back to studying, I know.

How to make UK ramen!

My dear flatmate Brad just showed me how they do ramen here (or Super Noodles, as it's branded). First and foremost, they have awesome flavors, including bacon! So, already, win. For cooking, though, you only use half a pint of water. With that, and boiling it longer, the gluten comes out of the noodles, thickens the water that hasn't yet evaporated, and you get actual NOODLES! I prefer this greatly to the soup-with-noodles-floating-in-it that results from US ramen.

Delightful discovery of the day!

First day at Parliament with legitimacy!

Hello, people! I owe you a London post, and it will come in due time because it was an AWESOME weekend, but between exams and papers I will have to wait a bit before I have time to sit down and write it all out.

Anyway, an awesome weekend was followed by a very horrible yesterday where I had both a cough and the cranky mother-in-law of headaches, to the point where I lay on the bed to rest while watching the Olympics and promptly passed out during the ice dance. At least I got a full 10 hours of sleep!

Today was pretty chill, though. I FINALLY got my security pass so I don't have to get frisked at the public entrance every time, and began tackling the various tasks available. For the record, I am working with Cathy Jamieson, whom is also running for MP this coming May, and while it hasn't been finalised yet, I will most likely be researching healthcare in the more rural areas of west Scotland, where her constituency is. I'm looking at cancer rates and treatment options, but I'm also curious about mental health and out of hospital treatment plans, so hopefully I can narrow that down to something more coherent. I will also be helping out occasionally for her election campaign, so I can't wait to get out there and explore the area.

Also, the cafe for MSPs and staff is adorable and has yummy food! And coffee is always a couple of hundred feet away.

Studying in the middle of this kind of blows, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow when Cathy comes in :)

First day of work

Howdy, y'all!

So, I've been sick. Blehhh. Slowly but surely, though, I'm getting better! This is a crazy week, though, 'cause we've got finals on Friday, Monday, and a paper due that next Friday.

...and on top of that, WORK STARTED! I was anxious as all hell this morning, understandably, but I have Direction and a Project, so I'm overjoyed, frankly. I got in, and they had a little folder for me with a briefing on the Forth Road Crossing, summarizing the issues that I should be looking into, with all the fancy reports currently put out by the SPICe (Scottish Parliament Information Centre). With the MSPs out, for the most part, it was supremely quiet. I got lunch with Kieran (I think that's how it's spelled) who's been there for about 6 months. He grew up in Glasgow, and is a fellow enthusiastic-young-dude. Besides making coffee and a few exchanges besides lunch, I got to just dive into the policy stuff!

(speaking of which, the rest of this post will be a lot about bridges. Surprise!)
I might as well summarize the basics of the project, since everything I do will probably be about this! Sooo basically, there are two current bridges over the Firth of the Forth, the big ol' estuary where the Forth river meets the North Sea. The picture below is taken facing northeast, looking out towards the open sea to the east of Scotland.

(photo property of Transport Scotland, our dear national transportation agency)
Farthest east (at the top of the picture), we have the Forth Rail Bridge, completed in the 1890s. It's big and red, made of tons of little triangles, and famous the world over for its incredible construction given its age.
The next bridge down (that looks a bit like a grey Golden Gate) is the Forth Road Bridge. This little thing is responsible for all the trouble that has to be solved. Constructed in 1964, it was supposed to last for 100 years. Instead, the main cables (the ones holding up the vertical cables) have corroded significantly, and the total strength has already deteriorated 8-10%. It also has to be repainted every single year at this point. While they've installed dehumidifiers (pumping dry air between the wires that make up the main cables) to prevent further corrosion, current estimates are that shipping trucks and such will have to stop crossing in 2017.

SO! Given how long it takes to build something like a bridge, that doesn't leave much time to act. This is where the third and final bridge comes in. The bottom bridge in the picture (with the three vertical pylons) is the proposed cable stayed bridge that would be built if the bill I'm assessing passes. It should take about 5 years to build, and the funding should be freed up by 2011 if everything works out. This no margin for error, though. So far (for one day, lol) my research has been to find out, first, if there is anything to do to ensure that the current road bridge stays in commission, and second, to look through the bill and find out what concerns haven't been addressed. Today, therefore, consisted of me looking through a whole bunch of bridge coatings to fix the paint problem and trying to see if there are any projects old enough to have proven the dehumidifier systems (there's not, really).

The more interesting and... sorta sad bit was looking through constituent objections. There were maybe two or three issues that could be sorted out; for instance, increased traffic on a road with several blind, right-angle corners could be fixed by installing some fish-eye mirrors, I thought. Besides that, though, they were all issues with the compulsory land purchases that would have to be made for the various service roads, however temporary they may be, and the tales of how constituents' children would have to deal with all the dust kicked up and their quiet lanes would no longer be suitable for playing. I spent plenty of time on Google Maps looking at each place they mentioned, scoping out if this thing could be moved at ALL, but these kinds of issues would be encountered wherever the bridge would be placed; there are adorable little hamlets all across the Lothian coast. *sigh* It'll be an adventure getting through all of them, and I hope there will be some that can actually be solved.

...I'm excited to go in tomorrow. :D

Last day of classes!

Yes, five weeks of classes are over! Now comes two weeks of juggling an essay, prepping for two exams, and throwing ourselves into the world of Parliament. Timing couldn't be better: given the small space of the classroom, we've been passing various seasonal ailments to each other so everyone is or has has been sick at some point.

Work starts next Monday, but until then, this weekend's trip: London!

Hello from Birmingham!

I am currently writing this while in a food coma courtesy of dim sum followed by a nice Chinese New Year's dinner. :)

Before setting out, we had an appointment visiting the Parliament media office and getting a little tour of the building itself. We got to meet with a chill guy called Eric, whom shared little tidbits about the MSPs he knew, and about the building itself. In particular, the £80,000+ reception desk that nearly cost one MSP his career for having to defend its construction during a press conference. We then got to visit the debating chamber up close, and other various parts of the building such as the walkways and committee rooms. Scotland has had its share of ghost stories, and the Parliament was no exception: There was one story involving the Union of 1707, a crazy relative, a roasting spit, and some poor kitchen boy.

So after all that was over, I lugged my backpack over to Waverley, and got there rather early, so I got some time to mill around. Note: there are no public rubbish bins (trash cans) in the station, due to the possibility of someone leaving a bomb in one. If you want to dispose of stuff, you hand it over to one of the staff behind the counters in the shops.

If there are any kids reading this (highly unlikely), I have just this to say: Vandalism is bad. Vandalism is not cool. Theft is not cool either. In fact, stealing the signal cable from a train station is definitely not cool. It causes trains to divert and makes night time commuters very unhappy.

I did get there in the end, thankfully, and it was nice to hang out with old family friends again. It was also nice to stuff my face with homecooked Chinese food. =P I will be back in Edinburgh tomorrow night, and to all those who get to spend Valentine's Day with their significant others, I salute you and envy you.

Sickness, and the battle with it

Soooo I got a wee bit sick. It all started when I left my window way open (which is right above my bed). This always makes my throat feel constricted and inflamed for a while in the morning, but this time it didn't go away. I think the best description of it is basically a "throat infection."

Today, then, was the day for combat. I woke up a smidge hungover alongside the typical spacey-ness that accompanies sickness and set out to load up on drug-store goodies. Unfortunately, this required a trip across town to the Barclays ATM, which is a mixed blessing: any OTHER ATM charges me a $5.00 transaction fee, so every shred of my rational being says I MUST make the trek to it. To do otherwise would make me a lazy weenie.

Once I got the money, though, I was able to get 2 litres of OJ, multivitamins (enough to last 'till I leave, honestly), and some mouthwash with numbing goodness intended for just my situation.

Since then, the day has been a blur of naps, 1.5 L of OJ, tea, Muppet Show, and Monty Python. Turns out the magic bullet for the throat has been a pack of fantabulous cough drops from the corner store, so I'm finally able to swallow and yawn without too much trouble. I'm just so so so glad that I get to deal with this on a weekend with nothing planned, once I've finished the work for the next however-long.

Tomorrow, though, I hopefully get to go to church with Lauren and then go have a little Valentines picnic at the Meadows. Hope the health situation facilitates that a bit! Now it's bedtime. :D

Got the pass, met the MSP!

I now officially have my security pass! It shouldn't be a huge deal, but it really feels like one; I now have full access to a seat of government 24/7, which is kinda trippy. My picture is rather cute, also!

Also, I met my MSP! First, some background on how the MSPs are elected: 73 of them come from districts that work exactly the same as our House ones; small area, and whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. There are 56 votes, though, which are allocated proportionally (the voter picks a PARTY for this, rather than a particular candidate). There are 8 regions for this proportional list vote (with 7 seats each, hence 56). SO! back to the relevant bit: David Stewart, my MSP, is one of the three Labour MSPs from the Highlands and Isles region (massive in area, but still about 1/8 of the population). The three of them work very closely together, so while I'm officially under Stewart, I'll probably get to dabble in anything concerning Labour's presence in the north.

The "local" office is up in Inverness, which basically the furthest-north city. It's about 5 hours by train, but they can get my travel paid for so I hope I can visit a few times! They tend to spend Mondays and Fridays in Inverness (as all the real parliamentary business is carried out Tues-Thurs) so I could probably stay a weekend there at some point. :D I've got to imagine the hostels aren't as expensive up there as they are in Edinburgh!



Also, fun thing, I might get to work on the Firth of Forth Bridge project: It's this landmark of a bridge that was built at the end of the 19th century that still serves as the rail link between Edinburgh and Fife across the Forth river. Needless to say, the thing is in need of renovation, and David serves on the committee to figure out what to do in the case of the classic bridge as well as the other crossings that have been built over the years.

*excited!*

Argh it's February!

We've been here a month!

And while it's been generally awesome so far, now that we're getting to know our MSPs and with just over a week before we start working down at Holyrood, I think things are going to get much more exciting. :)

That is all. Short post, but paper writing calls.

P.S. I will be down in Birmingham this weekend with family friends, since it's Chinese New Year, and I never realised just how much I missed good Chinese food until this past year. Mmmm...

The only homesickness...

It's interesting: the only homesickness I feel is for HOME-home. There's no culture shock or anything; I just really love the South Bay and my family. USC's great, don't get me wrong, but whether I'm in Los Angeles or Edinburgh, there's a certain comfort and sense of belonging in Mountain View and the surrounding area that I just can't recreate. There's nothing I'd like more than a sunny drive up to Alice's on Skyline right now (ideally with the fam) and there's nothing that could possibly substitute for it.

Again, I'm having the best time ever, but there are some things that just can't be replicated without familiarity and fond association. :)

One Month Roundup!

(By Chris)

Well, it is a mere day short of one month in Scotland! I figured this would be a good chance to run down some of the things I've noticed. First, the lame things, 'cause it's a much shorter list:

• Prices. I definitely had an oh-shit moment the other day when I checked my bank account, but most of that was one-time stuff (coat, gym membership, phone, etc).


• Her Majesty's Royal Mail decided that I was to pay over 75 pounds in customs fees for a box that essentially had t-shirts in it. The Royal Mail may send that shit home, 'cause I don't plan on spending $125 or so on such things. *grumble* Unfortunately, since Levi's cost about fifty quid over here anyway, I'm going to have to make do with limited pants. *shrug*


• ...man, I thought I'd be able to come up with at least one more complaint besides expenses, but I guess not.


• UPDATE 7/2/10: Actually, there's broken glass everywhere. They trust people with open containers and all, which is generally nice, but the amount of glass beer (and even wine) bottles that are crushed around on the roads and walks makes me a little antsy while walking around in sandals. Something to be aware of, for sure.

So! Things that are awesome:

• The frickin' haggis. At first when I saw recently that the FDA would reexamine the ban on haggis importation, I didn't care a whole lot; now I do. The stuff is so hardy and meaty and cheap and wonderful, I just have no idea what I'd do without it. I got back from the farmers' market just now (set in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle) and a stall there was selling venison haggis! It was even more flavorful than the normal kind. While I still prefer the sheep variety, the fact that someone could actually cover operating costs on a stall selling stewed deer offal just makes me happy.


• The beer. Most pubs have cask/"real" ales, which are dispensed through a hand-pumped tap. The nozzle goes all the way to the bottom of the pint glass, aerating the whole thing as it's filled up. Everyone always lauds a Guinness from the tap, but imagine a beer that actually TASTES like something being even MORE light and aromatic. Love. Also, the cheap beer here instead of Keystone and Natty is Stella Artois and Carlsberg, both of which are considered modestly-classy imports at home. It almost feels sinful to use the stuff for pong or any other games, but we have no choice!


• Everyone here drives stick. Seriously, besides the occasional Mercedes SUV, all the service trucks and everything are all standard transmissions. There are these top-heavy maintenance vans toddering along the cobbled wynds and alleys, with a STICK. Props to the Scots. We look like weenies in comparison.


• UPDATE 7/2/10: Parliament! We have a legislature that's only a decade old, and founded on accessibility and transparency. We attended a public petitions hearing, and the connection of the populace to the government is really inspiring (each MSP represents about a 10th the number of people that a House district covers at home).
• Little kids with Scottish/English accents! Seriously, I don't know why this is so adorable to me. But go watch 'Charlie Bit Me!' for an example of the cuteness.


• The cafes! There are independent coffee shops on each corner basically, the coffee is espresso-based (usually, instead of the tureens of swill that we tend to rely on in the States) and they all offer salads, soups, paninis, etc. for totally reasonable prices. They've found the perfect balance of comfort, simplicity, quality, and price. I'm a fan.


• Rock climbing at the gym! This isn't a Scottish thing but more of a University of Edinburgh perk... but they have a rock wall at the gym, and there's nothing more awesome and motivational than that. I'm getting good at it. :D


• Finally, I like the general courtesy. People hold the door for you, and if you hold it for them you get an enthusiastic "Cheers!" and genuine smile. The drivers totally don't stop for you, but the city's walkable and your fellow pedestrians can be quite charming.

Feels like that covers it for now. If I think of any others I'll have to make another real post!

A wee update

Many thanks to Chris for updating about the pub crawl! Things definitely got a little weird after pub...9? 10? Not sure. But I do remember that delicious 2-wiener hot dog from the French food truck. :D

Also: I got up earlier to make breakfast and saw SNOW falling outside the window. Snow! I haven't seen proper falling snow for years!

And yes, I was a very happy camper walking to class. Those from the East Coast weren't so jovial...and then again, I was also kind of glad it had stopped by the time class was over because the walk back home consisted of walking through dirty slush.

Okay, back to paper writing, I promise.

Richard, Loch Ness, and pub crawl!

(By Chris)

Richard was kind enough to come up from London and visit me the other day! We romped about on Arthur's Seat, had an excellent pubby time at the Halfway House, and enjoyed the most crystal-clear day I've seen yet.
We conveniently bumped into a few of the other interns, who kindly took pictures of us leaping about over Edinburgh. Many thanks to Bonnie, Sara, and Heather!
Then, since it was (another intern) Jackie's birthday, we had to go out for a pub crawl! There are 20 places on the 'official Edinburgh Pub Crawl,' and we sought out to do another one for Jackie's 21st, but ended up making it to number 15 before the city basically shut down. All in all, it was a great success.

This is closer to the end. You can tell because there are purses, boas, and legs abounding.

The next morning (poor planning, I know) we headed off to Loch Ness on a bus tour. The landscape was incredible, and there was Snow and it smelled like Pine and Heather and Awesome. Here's Lauren and I with a Bridge! (in Fort Augustine, right on the loch)

Supposedly there's a 1 million GBP reward for photographic evidence of Nessie! So... we had to try.

I'm doing work, too, I promise. :D