A question

If a company hires an expert to do a specific job, why reject all their suggestions? I don't see the sense but maybe it's logical in bizarro world.

You hire an expert on kittens, for example. You pay a lot of money for their expertise. They provide a sensible plan on the care and maintenance of kittens. They work at it for months. You've shelled out thousands of dollars and then you decide you know best. You reject all of the expert's suggestions.

Personally, I don't get it.

Better than coffee?

I have made a most startling discovery. It has been tested on a sample group of one and 100% of the group agree that X is better than coffee for waking me and staying awake.

Coffee is

is a social binder, a warmer of tongues, a soberer of minds, a stimulant of wit, a foiler of sleep if you want it so. From roadside mugs to the classic demi-tasse, it is the perfect democrat.

What could possibly replace coffee, that nectar of the gods? Certainly nothing as simple as a cinnamon stick in hot water. Alas yes, while I still love my black bitter coffee, I alternate with cinnamon water - that sounds revolting. How about : tisane de cinnamon (sounds pretenious)? Cin keeps you up all night (open to misinterpretation)? Cinnamon tea is what I'll have to stick to I guess. Try it and let me know if it works for you or whether it's just me!

Caught between the tiger and the crocodile

Via Juliana Rincón Parra

Cambodian sex workers talk about their experiences, and their views on the law.



The popular opinion is that the the 2008 law to outlaw sex work was an election game and a strategic international move to curry favour. Whether this is the case or not, the police are using the law to imprison sex workers in "rehabilitation" centres. Money must change hands to secure a release.

The police strategy is to lock up women who carry condoms, assuming they are sex workers. Putting aside the issue of how messed up that notion is, it clashes with the 100% condom use campaign to reduce HIV transmission. The 100% condom use was working although there are issues of secondary sex workers and police harassment. The HIV infection rate is declining in Cambodia.

There is much more I could saw on the sexism, discrimination and human rights violations that the police are a part of. Instead, the sex workers speak for themselves. Too often sex workers are silenced but Cambodians are using the net as a easy way to get information out there.

When you've watched the vid, check out more from sexworkerspresent - vids made by sex workers all over the world.

Broken heart? Stay at home

From Reuters

Lovelorn staff at a Japanese marketing company can take paid time off after a bad break-up with a partner, with more "heartache leave" on offer as they get older.

Tokyo-based Hime & Company, which also gives staff paid time off to hit the shops during sales season, says heartache leave allows staff to cry themselves out and return to work refreshed. "Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick," CEO Miki Hiradate, whose company of six women markets cosmetics and other goods targeted for women, told Reuters by telephone.

Staff aged 24 years or younger can take one day off per year, while those between 25 and 29 can take two days off and those older can take three days off, the company said.

What a fabulous idea! Now that's an understanding employer. So much better than staring at the ceiling and biting your lip to stop the tears. But how many of those employees will be in work in 15 February?

Could do with some of that here. According to my horoscope, it's heart in a blender time!

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
If you're looking for a challenge, you've found it! If you're looking for an "unconventional" relationship, you've found it! If sweet, loving, tender, committed, long-term relationships seem "boring" to you, then you won't find this one dull! If you're looking to have your heart pummeled in a blender, it's your lucky week!

Luckily I don't believe in astrology.

Misogynist

Don't you think it's almost worse when a misogynist hides behind a veneer of equality instead of admitting it up front? If you hate me for being a woman, don't try and hide it under respectability.

I was cornered by a man, I thought I knew quite well, on Saturday night. This man had slept with two of my friends unbeknownst to his girlfriend. He treated one of them really badly. He wanted information from me. He wanted to know who had told the world about his cheating.

He spoke to me as if I was unaware of the facts. Both women had told me their story. I was there when he pursed them. He pursued them ruthlessly and constantly and then cried like a baby when I said that I did not believe that he felt guilt over his cheating.

He believes that both girls tricked him into faithlessness. Yes he actually believes that. He claims that both pursued him. But I know better because I was a witness to both 'courtships'. He's re-enacting 'blame the woman' that game that we have been on the receiving end for time immemorial. Eve gave Adam the apple but he chose to eat it. Surely the patriarchy isn't claiming that he didn't have free will. Secondly, it's a myth. Get over it.

He is obsessed with finding out who spread rumours about his dalliances, afraid that his partner will find out. It is strange that he wants a name, someone he can threaten, even two months later, despite copious public displays of affection.

Of course he believes that only a woman would spread gossip like that. Of course he is wrong.

He demanded information from me. He was messing with the wrong person. So I let him feel the sharpness of my tongue. I called him on his misogyny and his lies and his treatment of my friends. I let him feel every piece of anger I had stored up instead. He denied it for a while but I broke him. Did he honestly believe, knowing the whole story, that I would side with him, a person who blames my gender for his actions? Never.

In his professional life, he preaches tolerance. In his personal life, he seemed full of hate and blame to me. I never would have thought it of him.

The politics of clothes

Why can the men in my office come into work with an opened neck shirt when the women are required to wear jewellery and make-up? Talk about a double standard. Of course there is no specific obligation to dress a certain way. The organisation I work for is very accepting but I feel the eyes of judgement on me when I reject the "woman as decorative" mindset and wear whatever I damn well please.

At staff meetings, I want to scream at the glances I get. Yes I am a woman. Yes I am not wearing make-up. Yes I am not wearing jewellery. No you cannot fucking judge me, especially not in your open toed hippie sandals and an open necked shirt with stains. My body is not public property.

The decorative role of women is demeaning. I reject the standards set by society but I still feel the humiliation of non-compliance. In a casual office setting, all should be set to the same standard. If men can come in dressed without ties, then women should be able to come in without earrings.

I understand that office professional is in vogue all over the world. I understand the politics of interviewing for the job. I wear earrings at most of my jobs but here I wear a motorbike helmet and often lose earrings putting it on and taking it off. It is a practical consideration in addition to a feminist equality rant.

Now I'm not dissing the "look good, feel good" point of view. At home I dress up cos it makes me feel good but I'm in Cambodia now. In Cambodia, one is always sweating; one's tailor can never get the clothes exactly right; security warns you not to wear jewellery because of thieves (one does anyway); one feels so far from home that fashion is the least consideration.

My work clothes are perfectly acceptable, but I lack accessories. I also lack the money to sparkle myself up, which I can live with. I prefer to spend my extra cash on books and entertainment, especially considering my job.

Nobody sees me in my office where I am hidden behind huge piles of paper. Why should I wear heels when nobody can see my sneakers? Why wear make up when it will, firstly, sweat off and, secondly, get mixed up with the twenty years of dust I blow of each piece of paper? A little practicality please!

The only dress code is in the judging eyes of my co workers. I will continue to ignore it but I do wonder... Will my dress sense work against me? Will my boss remember my sneakers when he's writing my reference? Will I be always remember as the woman who didn't wear the matching earrings, necklace and bracelet? Maybe I will and if I am, j'emmerde le monde!

The future

Is this the future for aid/ development workers?

How do you spend your money?

I am absolutely disgusted with this article from the Economist

If women decide to spend their 20s clubbing rather than child-rearing, and their cash on handbags rather than nappies, that's up to them.

The author's attitude is appalling. Not only does he (assuming gender) demonstrate a profound disrespect for women through his clubbing and handbag remark, but he also reduces women to baby making machines.

There are a number of issues to be tackled here. Firstly women have the right to spend their money on whatever the hell they want and should not be reprimanded by some patriarchal notion or by paternalistic second rate hacks. How magnanimous the author is with "that's up to them". Yes how we spend our money is up to us and no permission is required. Who the hell do you think you are to label women as either "baby maker" or "superficial and selfish" and then presume to permit us to choose how we spend it?

Secondly how dare he assume that women have the sole responsibility for spending their money on childrearing. Is childrearing not supposed to be a partnership? It seems to me that this is the kind of attitude that wants the little women barefoot and uneducated in the kitchen. I am not amused.

As a women in her twenties, I reject utterly his puerile statements. I, like the majority of women I know, spend my hard earned cash on further education and my career. I live in developing countries from from my family to do so. I do not intend to make babies just because I can. Apart from the other issues, it is irresponsible to bring a child into the world without proper consideration. Just because something is possible, it does not mean that one should engage in it - armour-piercing bullets for instance.

Let's all write letters to the editor and express outrage at the attitudes towards women. I've already composed mine.

1st May

Well 1st May is an auspicious day. It is significant in many cultures. In Irish tradition Lá Bealtaine or May Day marks the first day of summer and there are many traditions associated with it. Few are practised nowadays. As Yeats wrote, romantic Ireland's dead and gone. It's with O'Leary in the grave.

The other celebration today is International Labour Day. This celebration concerns many millions of workers all over the world. Marches are taking place to demonstrate solidarity or to protest conditions or attacks on union officals.

In Ireland, the unions are marching.

In Cambodia a call for justice has been issued. The statement has been endorsed by 242 groups in Cambodia and by 82 countries worldwide. It calls for a full investigation into the assassination of Chea Vichea, Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy, all presidents, either local or national, of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC).

Hy Vuthy's assassination, which took place in February of this year, followed at least nine violent attacks on union leaders in 2006. No one has been brought to justice for these crimes.

Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun have been arrested, tried and imprisoned for the murder of Chea Vichea but they are scapegoats. International human rights organisations and even multinational corporations are calling for their release.

Cambodia is developing but to undermine the unions is to create a climate of fear. It does not help to imply that their murders and union activities are a coincidence. It reflects poorly on the situation when corporations such as Adidas are insisting on labour rights. Eighty percent of Cambodia's exports are garments from the factories located around Phnom Penh. The industry and rights of the workers must be protected if Cambodia wants to develop.

Filing

Why is it impossible for a geek to invent a logical content management system? All the tech I've seen is for internet publishing. There has to be something better than

Folder -> subfolder 1a -> subfolder 2 -> subfolder 3 -> ad nauseum

I like the open source content management systems that are out there but I need tweaks. Maybe there's a whole corner of the net dealing with all the sort of programme I'm after but I ain't seen it.

When will there be the equivalent of Del.icio.us for file organisation? Sometimes I wonder why people buy software when the best stuff is open source. Unfortunately open source follows the most coveted stuff.

I just want a logical filing system.

Screwed again

Once again the organisation I work for has screwed me over. This is about the sixth time in three weeks (they should be buying me dinner). They systematically rip my benefits away quoting rules and regulations. If I didn't love my job and host agency, I would seriously consider quitting.

This time they have decided not to reimburse my return flight from Ireland to Cambodia. The lackey in headquarters seems to enjoy depriving me of all benefits. It's driving my local representative mad - he's foaming at the mouth on my behalf. And now it appears that our local lackey (or Lackey 2) knew about this, due to secret correspondence, but failed to mention it at any stage.

Neither my rep nor I knew that there was a danger of losing the cost of the flights. We were not copied into the email but Lackey is quoting from his own email to Lackey 2 and saying he can't do anything, "there's no provision in the conditions of service and it's not possible to treat it as an exception case". Half the problems in the beginning were his lousy English.

Oh well, there's not much I can do. I'll have to wait till next month to buy the bare necessities, over 30 days because of idiot Lackey. However, I am composing a strongly worded letter that I will send to each person in headquarters along my particular chain of command up to the director. It's not acceptable to treat people as I have been treated. It will not change a thing but I want to make my opinions known. It won't be the first time :-)

Life oh life

Well I'm calmed down a tad since yesterday and have accepted the fact that I'm not getting the $5000 I thought I was getting, and had already mentally spent. The loophole turned out to be irrelevant. The whole issue was miscommunication and poor English on behalf of the lackey. Maybe some sort of English proficiency test might be in order. Oh well at least I have a job. That is the best part - I get to continue my career.

Tonight I get to party my troubles away because the first weekend of the month is here and that means Elsewhere party and I have plans for it. Tomorrow I will become a cheerleader for the first time since I ran the Erasmus students' football team - Real Erasmus - in Bilbao. Bryn is playing hockey and I'm going to watch and maybe even yell myself hoarse as was the usual in Spain.

Happy Friday all

So very angry

I am so angry with bloody international organisations right now. The Powers that Be are trying to screw with me and my entitlements. Because the contract was issued the day after I arrived in Cambodia they are saying that I am locally recruited and so miss out on 25% of my already meagre salary. The difference is less than 24 hours. The lackey in HQ is insisting on following the rules exactly - no exceptions. The sums we are arguing over mean nothing to the lackey, who has never had an original thought in his life. He's beyond such puny pocket change as my salary.

Argggggg

Nevertheless I think I have just found a loophole - I'm going to fight this thing!

It's Friday

As my penultimate week in this job draws to a close I feel tired. I'm glad that I only have next week to work in a rat infested office and then *holidays* secure in the knowledge that I have a job waiting for me.

It's too hot here during the day but the evening is nice and pleasant now. Cambodians are wearing fleeces and the expats are strolling around in vest tops. Quite the contrast.

So tired zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

WOO HOO

*does the dance of joy*

Argggggggg

The day started really well as I got my Prince2 certification first time!

Then I did the worst interview ever. None of what I prepared came up and I've been preparing for days. It was all on the position rather than my ability to do the job. And it was all done with me smiling manically at a crappy webcam over a dodgy skype connection.

I really wanted that job - it was perfect for me. Stupid phone interviews with webcams - there's no time to think and you hear your voice echoing which makes it impossible to think clearly.

Well it's the dole queue for me in a few months I guess...

Well I'm off to drown my sorrows in beer and chocolate.

Work so bloody frustrating

I share a printer with the office assistant and the intern and I occasionally print out my work to proofread in the old-fashioned way or an article that I am particularly interested in. Each time the fucking office assistant will look at what I've printed out and ask where I got it and what am I printing. It is so bloody frustrating. I can't ever think to print out something personal. I have a separate office so he always gets there before me.

Today was the last straw. I found him and the intern with a page each in their hands reading something I had written and cultural differences be damned - I finally told me to stop looking at my stuff. He got offended by Cambodian standards which means he dimmed his smile a fraction and doesn't seek me out as his personal career counselor. This will last a total of one hour. Its so frustrating to always have to pretend to be bright and sunny for every shagging second in work

Going to scream *SCREAMS*

Life

The streets are quiet. It feels like an early Sunday afternoon at home. The UN are the only people at work today because of the festival of Pchum Ben. It is the Cambodian equivalent of All Saints Day and most of the residents of Phnom Penh have gone to the provinces. It is so peaceful here - also hard to find a motodop. Going to do a shop today as tomorrow *nothing* will be open. My bosses are considering letting us go at lunchtime - that would be excellent.

I am sure everybody has heard about the coup d'état in Thailand. As one of Thailand's closest neighbours, Cambodia remains unconcerned. Friends of mine are heading tomorrow towards the military coup and martial law when the general rule when it comes to civil unrest is participate or get the hell out of the way. Speaking of I hope D is OK in Budapest.

As there is no way to extend my contract here I am job hunting again. It seems like its all I do - hunt the wily job. I've already had an offer but they wanted someone immediately and it was part time. I want to finish out my contract here and then walk into a plush salary and a penthouse in Manhattan!

Anyway have a great weekend - eat, drink and be merry cos tomorrow there may be bird flu!

HELP - computer literate people out there

My IT guy just quit on me and left an unfinished website written in Macromedia and and CSS which may be the same thing for all I know.

Does anybody want to help me out by taking on unpaid work and finish the site? It's almost complete according to what he said. The job is relatively urgent and so if you don't have time - please don't offer!

Thanks! I'm on skype if you have questions

Slurping politely

Why does my colleague come into my office just to slurp his coffee at me? He doesn't drink it so much as slurps it out of a spoon.

I can't tell him to fuck off because it is not culturally acceptable where I am.

I'm trying to be polite and put up with it but eww gross