Eight treadmills

I lost myself in a book last night. The story entranced me so that when I checked the time it was 5.45 am. Needless to say it was hard to get up so. So tired and am heading for home.

Check this out before I go: what would you do with eight treadmills?

Wednesday morning

I have changed offices because of the new Programme Officer which is fine - glad he's here. It's lovely to have another Irish person with whom I can talk. However now I'm in an office which is used for a conference room. That is fine but you have to go through mine to get to the other Programme Officers office and nobody closes the door. If you walk into someone's office and the door is closed do you not close the door after yourself. I spent most of my time closing doors and it can get irritating. Oh well such is liff (geddit?)

Watched American Dreamz which is bloody hilarious although it gets the usual Liberal/Conservative bashing on IMDB. I think a friend of mine was offered the role of Omer back in 2003 but refused it because he did not want to be typecast as a terrorist. It sounds exactly like the role he was on about in New York.

Apart from that, here it rains and I have stopped using air con at night - it's given me a cold. Might go for a massage at lunchtime as the new chair in the office is backbreaking.

Laterz

Arg

I'm being lectured by some 25 year old pissant secretary on how to write a formal letter. I am so pissed off. Bloody protocol all I want to do is scream my frustration but in Asia you can't - have to save face as if I give a flying fuck about all that.

Very pissed off

My friend and the spiders

What I did last weekend

We had our workshop in Sihanoukville for Wednesday to Saturday of last week and it was mostly good. Sihanoukville is a coastal town so there was quite the beach atmosphere even if it rained like Kerry in November. It was not cold of course merely pleasant and wet. I swam in the Gulf of Thailand and enjoyed it muchly.

I was giving a presentation on sexual harassment that was well received and prompted many questions from men and women alike. The most boring presentation was of course the one given by a government official from the Ministry of Planning. He abused Powerpoint severely and bored us all for 90 minutes by reading off his slides. I was doing the summary of the day and had his part completed before he had finished reading off the second slide, the second of 42 I add.

The only issue about the workshop was that the Cambodians stuck together at every opportunity. There was no mixing. The first night we wanted to go to a western restaurant and they refused to go and left without a backward glance. Their idea of compromise the following everning was to go to a Khmer place.

A Filipino told us how once dinner was organised at an Indian restaurant on his agency's night out. The Cambodia staff brought their families but when they arrived and saw that it was Indian they accused the head of agency of poisoning their children, and again, they left en masse. It seems like they think their children will really get sick unless they eat Khmer, which as I have mentioned is marinaded in sugar.

On Saturday I went to Kep which is as close to paradise in Cambodia that exists methinks. I stayed in a wooden cabin in the middle on a rainforest next to the ocean. The view was specatular and I really enjoyed myself. I met up with friends from Phnom Penh as well and met some new ones.

We have a new boss here - Mark - from Kildare, lovely man. It's great to have another Irish person around.

That's about it - I wish it were the weekend again cos I need sleep. Because of the workshop there was no lie in this Saturday. I want to rest in the arms of Morpheus.

Switch off

1. Don't forget to switch off the lights when you don't need them. Switching off 5 lights in hallways and rooms in your house when you don't need them can save around € 60 a year and avoid about 400kg of CO2 emissions per year.

2. It makes sense to switch to energy-saving light bulbs: just one can reduce your lighting costs by up to € 60 and avoid 400kg of CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the bulb - and they last up to 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs. Energy-saving bulbs are more expensive to buy, but cheaper over their life span.

3. Remember not to leave appliances on standby - use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.

4. Have you noticed that the charger of your mobile phone, plugged into the wall, is warm even when it is not connected to the phone? This is because it is still draining electricity. There are estimates that 95% of the energy is wasted when you leave the charger plugged in all the time.

5. Air conditioners are real energy gobblers - an average room air conditioner operates at 1000 Watt, causing around 650gr of CO2 emissions per hour and costing around € 0.10 during this hour. Fans might be an alternative, otherwise use air conditioners sparingly and look for the most energy-efficient model.

6. By switching to green electricity in regions where citizens have the choice, you'll help strengthen renewable energy sources. Currently, only 14% of Europe's electricity is generated from climate-friendly renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, wood, biogas, solar etc. - and demand creates supply! You may also want to think about fitting solar panels on the roof of your home.

7. Make sure to use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full. If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.

8. Try to use a tumble dryer only when absolutely necessary - each drying cycle produces over 3kg of CO2 emissions. Drying clothes naturally is by far the best way to do it: your clothes will last longer and the energy provided is free and non-polluting!

9. If you only boil just enough water for your cup of tea, you could help save a lot of energy. If all Europeans boiled just the water they needed, thus avoiding 1 litre of unnecessarily boiled water per day, the energy saved could power one third of Europe's streetlights.

10. Covering a pot while cooking food can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!

11. Did you know that you save hot water by taking a shower rather than a bath? It can require up to four times less energy. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.

12. Purifying water for human use takes up a lot of energy. If you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, you can save several litres of water.

13. A dripping tap can waste enough water to fill a bath in one month, so make sure to check that they're turned off.

You might find that certain measures you take result in greater or smaller benefits for the climate system (and your purse). All the data used is based on averages, but the energy consumption of household appliances, the fuel consumption of cars, the size of homes varies greatly, and so do energy use patterns and even electricity prices in the EU. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use to which the information may be put, nor for any errors which, despite careful preparation and repeated checking, may have occurred.

Ta Mok

Ta Mok is believed to have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. Ta Mok was expected to be one of the first people tried for genocide and crimes against humanity at UN tribunal which will start in the next few months. Yet he is given a hero's funeral. They say that because his ancestors were educated and moral people, there is no need to look at recent history. His death means that only one Khmer Rouge leader remains in custody. Of course the majority of KR officials and soldiers will never be brought to justice and even now when the tribunal appears to be finally going ahead the defendants are succumbing to age and dying off. Those KR officials in the highest levels of government say they support the tribunal but everybody knows who they are and what they avoid.

Of helmets

On Friday I had drinks with friends and we talked about how two of them were knocked off motorbikes and one girl looks very battered, and another would have sustained brain damage without the helmet. The battered girl got knocked off the next day by young thieves who stole her handbag. After that discussion I bought a helmet. I feel a bit weird having a motorcycle helmet on something that has the power of a moped but here I think safety first and it might cut down on the relentless mocking also.

My neighbour is moving to a less pricy place and has given me her oven on permanent loan. I am delighted. An oven will make a big difference. I'll be able to cook stuff - yay!

Happy birthday to me