vinegar

Thanks to my new colleague, I found a wonderfully easy solution to clean calcium build-up on my hot water heater. The water here is very high in calcium, and so many things get a calcium build up on them very quickly. The coils in my hot water heater are not very easy to scrub clean (due to their shape) and I have never been able to keep it very clean. Now I have a solution - white vinegar. Just pour it on and let it sit. Then a quick swipe of the sponge and whala - shiny and clean. I was very impressed. Due to the amazing ease of this solution I thought I would share this with anyone else who might have this problem.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost


I came across this old, familiar poem today, and I liked it.
I think it sums up my life, and how I am feeling, very well right now.

A day in the fields

Often I spend the weekend at my friend's house in the village. This weekend they had to go out to their fields to repair a fence and get rid of some weeds. In typical Kosovar fashion, as a guest I was not allowed to help work, so I brought a book along and enjoyed the great weather and wonderful views.

I love sheep. When we went over to try to pet them, they all ran away.

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I just finished reading this book. I loved it. Great historical fiction book that gives insight into what it was like to be a German woman during WWII, and then emigrating to the US.

Hmmm, too bad I have finished the two books I bought while I was in the states. I enjoy having a book to read before I sleep or when the power is off. I have tried downloading a book to listen to it on my iPod, but just doesn't keep my attention as well as reading words on a page.

I realize I am not posting much about my own life lately...but I have been caught up in the news and goings on of the world around me to write any stories of my own.

Here is an article that describes the people here. I liked how it was written and some of the history it describes. Read if you are interested. I thought it was good enough to share.

This is a fun new tourism website about the country here. For anyone interested in knowing more about the country I live in, click here.

There are some fun pictures on the site also.

In honor of yesterday being World Autism Day....check out this link to learn more.

* 1 out of 150 children in U.S.
* 1 out of 90 boys
* Affects four times as many boys as girls
* Lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism: $3.5 to $5 million
* Current annual cost to U.S.: $35 billion
* Estimated annual cost by 2010: $90 billion
* 1.5 million Americans affected

(From http://www.autism-society.org)

No power

(I wrote this yesterday....no power to post it)

Today is the first day I have just been absolutely frustrated with the power situation. Its on for 30 minutes, off for 2 ½ hours, on for 1 hour, off for 2, on for 30 minutes, off again. No schedule. No rhyme or reason. I know I am lucky that I have had such good power lately, with it being off only 1 hour at a time for the last week or so, and that was even limited.

But today I had a lot planned, a lot I wanted to get done, a lot I needed to do on the internet, a lot I wanted to watch on TV. World Autism Day is today, and CNN is showing little autism stories throughout the day….but of course this is the day I am without power. Why??? On one commercial last week about today’s programs I saw my former boss from Vanderbilt (when I used to do Autism research.) I want to see the kids I knew and what they are doing now at Vanderbilt.

Today I was on the phone to a company in America, explained my problem to one person, they transferred me, and I explained my story again. As this person was looking up my file, I glanced at the time, 2:59PM, I thought to say, “If I hand up on you in the next minute its because I am living overseas and my power might go off.” But I though, it just came on 30 minutes ago, it won’t go off now, why confuse this lady with the lack of electricity in this country. I didn’t say anything. As soon as she started talking, telling me what she saw in my records….silence…yes, the power went off. I felt bad that I didn’t warn her. Now I will have to call back later, and I will make sure its not near the hour or half hour, as this is normally when the power will go off.

So now its 7:12PM and I am hungry and trying to decide what to do. Go out and buy something to eat. Take a nap and wait for the power to come back on. Read my book with candle light. Listen to more news or stories on my iPod (this has helped my sanity today – at least I could still listen to my iPod and not just hear the droning noise of the generator outside my window.) And I am thankful I have a laptop with a good battery life. I can usually work on here for one or two hours…or watch 1 hour of a movie.

I think I will go for a walk now, listen to my iPod, and try to find something to eat.