Have yourself a very merry Christmas

Generally I like buying presents. Some people inspire an endless list of present possibilities and other people leave you feeling cold and clammy, this is when I hope I'm not there to see them open whatever I gave them after painfully chosing something not quite good enough. When I say painfully I mean it, I will sweat for hours in the accessory section of Debenhams over what colour bag to get someone who probably doesn't even want a(nother) bag.

This year I decided to ask some of my like minded friends (you know who you are) to do something a little different (but not too different). Some of us rather than swapping presents will 'do' something instead, probably spending more money in the long run but also spending that good old 'quality' time together.

First booking is with a girly mate who loathes everything 'Christmas', we are off to The Dorchester for Afternoon Tea (cucumber sandwiches, scones, cakes, champagne...oh yeah and tea). Fantastic.

I can't wait, I'd much rather spend a few hours chatting and swigging champers with a mate than sweating in Debenhams.

ho ho ho

Dr.Watson

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7050020.stm

The Science Museum has just cancelled an evening event with Dr James Watson (nobel prize winner - structure of DNA) promoting his new book 'Avoiding boring people - and other lessons from a life in science' due to comments he recently made about intelligence between races:

'The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a decade.' (http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece)

I don't know where I stand on this one, I don't necessarily agree with his comments but I do think his statements should be publicly challenged. The Dana Centre is a place where the general public can meet with scientists to ask questions and define opinions, should we shy away from such controversial issues?

Too tempting

A friend has just suggested a holiday to Oregon to visit a friend and do a road trip next year. Aw man, I so have no money but I so miss the USA and my friend it's just not possible to say no. A girl's gotta have something to look forward to, no?

So let the saving begin, who cares about getting into debt...

See you on the other side.

Who's da Boom King?

Royal academy of engineering - dana centre event - touch
Originally uploaded by Gaetan Lee

I have to spend about 5 nights a month attached to Flavio by cable at the Science Museum's Dana Centre.

I do it for the money!

Losing my religion

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it

REM got it right. This week I became a Godmother, the timing wasn't the best as I have spent the last month trying to exit 'God' stage right. Unfortunately (or not) I have discovered that I have been totally indoctrinated and try as I might it just isn't that easy to walk away from something that big.

So I said my vows (on behalf of a small and beautiful creature) hoping that I can keep them for her sake at least.

You make the rules

Apparently 37% of us send more than 10 texts a day (that sounds about right for me).

Helio has created an fun online guide for texting etiquette:

http://heliosocial.com/rules

Enjoy, and remember, don't drink and text!

Heat Camera @ the Science Museum

Alex and Jo with hot drinkies
Originally uploaded by MuseumGirl

This is one of the exhibits I am working on for the new Launch Pad gallery which opens in November this year.

It is a thermal imaging camera. We took some pictures to use on the website. This is me holding a cup while my collegue Alex pours some hot water into it.

See how cold my nose is!