jenniferdebeer

Something I´m frequently not sure about re madrileños: when people speak loudly I´m frequently not sure if they are just having a conversation, or whether they might be arguing. It´s not just about raised voices, but also body language that seems hostile. What surprised me recently was that I had adopted this "hostile" stance when speaking to someone recently. If I were back in Cape Town my attitude in this situation would have been interpreted as confrontational, here in Madrid (or is it Spain?) it doesn´t have the same gravity.

Some other news that I tried to blog yesterday, but couldn´t. A story on cities wanting to have their own TLD (top level domains). Specifically, some persons in Berlin want .berlin See the story "Berlin wants its own domain" at http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,69827,00.html
But note the concluding quote:
"Another lawyer familiar with ICANN's TLD-review process cast doubt on the chances for .berlin. It's not the people with the best ideas, but those with close ties to ICANN staff and board members who get their ideas approved, said Michael Froomkin, professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law and editor of ICANNWatch.
"The insiders always win," said Froomkin."

So, have a look at ICANNWatch (there´s a blog also). See ICANN for Beginners: http://www.icannwatch.org/icann4beginners.shtml

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Lately I´ve been making voice recordings, but only for people close to me i.e. friends and family. I could venture into podcasting since I have the tools, but I dunno. Maybe after the holidays I will go into casting my voice :) For sure I will feel more relaxed and up to speaking out loud and talking nonsense(?). When I was little (age 4 or so) my dad used to make reel-to-reel voice recordings of the kids, also of parties. What a swell time that was. But I hated having my voice recorded. I do have photographic proof of the event. Then, when I was 11 my parents had a telephone (landline) installed for the first time, and I used to absolutely avoid answering the phone then. But of course, when I turned 13 all of that changed :) since obviously my incentive system for answering the phone changed at about the same time that boys became mildly interesting.

Given the above initial silence, who would ever have imagined that I would end up studying telecomms. Well, not my parents, that´s for sure.

I think by now I have sent all the cards, and Xmas/New Years/Eid/Season´s greetings that I needed to send/dispatch. I´m almost sure I didn´t forget anyone, so here´s a record of names:
Lishan, Jos and Valentina, Daan, Dirk, Johann, Hilda, Anton, Christiaan, Hans, Netta, Alma, Ursula, Sandra, Willem, Martin, Phumzile, Hennie, Henri, Jan, Miema, Ashraf, Benette, Gary, Hussein, Susan, Dale, Herbert V, Imma, Jorge, Colin, Berta, Heidi, Siegfried, Alan, Ben, Melissa, Lilian, Eve, Robert, Philipp, Christophe, Ron, Adele, Emile, Denise, Chanel, Mary, Ashley, Nicole, Sean, Gail, Howard, Doreen, Carol, Lyn, Sarah, Amos, Shirley, Herbert C, Nasima.

posted by Jennifer A. DeBeer @ 18:37