The ending of the food binge

When I walked into work today the most common comment I heard was on how much we ate during the weekend. I told one colleague to treat the next few days as a "mini-Ramadan" as he resists the urge to eat - of course, I ran into him as he was going out to smoke!

On Sunday morning all the groups from the previous day's discussions reported. The "eliminate," etc. framework worked reasonable well at the beginning. Of the 9 presentations the most interesting one was the first (perhaps b/c my mind was fresher then). The group was on nurturing students and they presented ideas on how to engage students and to get rid of the current examination-based system. Whether it will happen is another issue. The discussion of facilities mentioned parking several times. For a university that is advocating a sustainable environment it was hard to imagine that building a parking garage is a wise move. Included on the want list (although I suspect the presenters saw the wants as needs) was more child care centers, better health insurance, dental insurance. So wants are the same every where. I also learned that the typical teaching load is 3 courses year!

After the session ended I rendezvoused with Kevin (my younger brother who lives in Jakarta) and his family. Just before they arrived the battery fell out of my room safe. Kevin arrived before housekeeping; he fixed enough for me to get my passport, keys, and money. We spent the afternoon wandering around the neighborhood. We started at a seafood restaurant for drinks and returned later for seafood. Gwendolyn was in "seventh heaven" when she spotted the lobsters; she ordered two. I had a little - lobster tastes better when you don't have to work to get to the meat. After stating that I didn't like food that you had to work to eat I ordered butter prawns. Each prawn had to be peeled - clearly I would have an easier time if Mooi Lian had been there to order. Between drinks and dinner we stopped and had another round of drinks/snacks. As you can see Pudgie's, Alexandria's caretaker/nanny, ice cream treat was color coordinated.