Maccas - ja oder nein?

One of the great constants in this world is McDonalds. I've eaten it in 6 different countries now (Australia, France, Italy, UK, US, and Germany for the curious) and other than some quirks related directly to the country, it's pretty much always tasted the same. The idea of Maccas being the same no matter where the location was confirmed to me by a friend of SwissChris who is a pilot for Lufthansa. Now McDonalds Germany is having a special with German-specific menu items! So help me decide which one(s) I should eat!

First up! The Big Roesti - beef patty with potato pancake, bacon, cheese, and cheese sauce in a bacon and cheese roll.

Kaesegipfel - deep-fried brie with cranberry sauce.

Okay, this is just wedges...nothing special

Die Nuernburger! Nuremburg sausages in a ciabatta with roast onions and mustard.

Schwarzwaelder beef - two beef patties with a slice of Black Forest bacon/ham with roast onions, cheese and mustard sauces

and finally, the Alpenchicken. Chicken schnitzel with a layer of cheese and bacon in the schnitzel. 

You see how difficult this is? Help me out please!

Dress poll!!!

After a year's absence, I'm going back to the races, and it will probably be my last Spring Carnival for a few years! Now tell me which accessories I should wear with my dress!

White hat and black shoes

 

Black hat and black shoes

 
Red hat and red shoes

 

The Eternal Dilemma - Rob Redford vs. Paul Newman

Bright minds get fascinated by some pretty diverse topics, and the really important topics get debated en masse. So when you've got a room full of Hons, PhDs and Profs in a room arguing about who is hotter, Robert Redford or Paul Newman, you know it's damn important!

As with many important topics, we could not reach a consensus so I'll throw it out to the masses!

*tumbleweeds fly past*

Look, just vote, okay? Here's some photographic help:

The Young Studio Glamour Shot

The Moody, Looking away from the Camera Shot

The Obligatory Shirtless Shot

The *Why yes, I did become a Silver Fox* shot

I hope that all helped.

Hollywood Hair - Redux

I've had long hair....pretty much all my life. I prefer it, it makes me feel nice and girly. But I do get tired of the effort I put in washing, blow drying, curling...not to mention all the hair balls when it falls out during those those events. So I've been thinking of cutting it short.

You know that that means. A trip back to the InStyle Hollywood Makeover site!!!

After a few goes doing a few styles that I'd never EVER wear...

Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks (Why do I look like a man? Don't answer)

Rihanna!!! Whitney!!!

I then moved on to trying other things out.

Mmmmm, I don't think a heavy fringe is me (Vanessa Hudgens)

Katie Holmes Aunty Hair

Camilla Belle Aunty Hair (with perm!)

Ashley someone bob

Jennifer Hudson bob with swept fringe.

I kinda think this might be poll-worthy!

Help please! + *bonus* new love!

Some people like to mark new phases of their life but cutting their hair off or getting makeovers or the like. For my periods of upheaval, I like to get glasses. Okay, that's not true. It's more like I realised my current pair of glasses are five years old. I have thus spent a bit of time looking for a new pair but have been hobbled by the realisation that while I *look good* in glasses, it is difficult to find a pair of glasses that suit me due to my round face and anime-esque features (kekeke, whatever).

But now that Pooey is back, we took a day out to try and find me a pair some suitable and suitably different frames. I require 2 frames, one for general wear and one to get transition lenses - lenses that change to sunglasses in sunlight for when I don't feel like wearing contact lenses. Help me choose, please!

These are the options (excuse the funny faces I'm pulling).

CK5189

CK5590

Face a Face 1

Face a Face 2

Denmark

Please pick your favourite two. I've allowed multiple selections so hopefully this will work.

Also, while we were randomly ambling around, I found myself gazing into the deepest, sweetest brown eyes I had ever come across and fell instantly in love. With those eyes came soft honey-blonde hair and beautiful floppy ears.

Unfortunately, I can't really keep a puppeh right now, so my heart was broken asunder and with a longing glace, we parted ways. *sigh*.

Time to give up?

Don't worry, this is not about my Phd! (Although I do feel it is time to give it the heave-ho). This is about when to concede that a garment can no longer be worn.

A few months ago, Pooey bought me a tierd skirt from Primmy. I really liked it and wore it a few times before throwing it into the washing machine. It came out incredibly wrinkled! No worries. I'm not terrible at ironing (hi Lydia!) but I had enough faith in my ability to make it presentable.

I'm not sure how many times I've attempted it, but I'm about to give it up and throw it out. This is what the skirt looks like.

But I don't want to concede defeat yet!!! I will admit I feel pretty stupid about not willing to give it up. Because Primmy is a store that sells things so cheaply that it probably utilises third-world slave-labour, the skirt probably cost about 10 quid at most (about $20) and the low quality work is probably contributing to why I can't iron it. So, should I bother trying to investigate ways to iron it or should I just chuck it out?

This poll will run for a fortnight!

Hygiene Poll

The Scenario - You have a boyfriend. He likes to ring you up for a chats. One day he lets slip that he's talking to you while on the toilet. You point out that might be considered somewhat unhygienic and not to do it again. He says he's done it before and the lack of knowledge never bothered you, so why freak out now?

Just in case anyone is wondering, the gf of the pair in question is not me. This poll ends in a fortnight!

Sure, whatever

A couple of weeks ago, I met a friend of a friend. She looked at some photos on my camera and asked me "Who is that?"
My reply was, "Errr....that's me."
"NO WAY!!!"
What followed next was akin to this scene from the 2001 spoof-movie classic (The first? The best?) when it was requested I remove my glasses and let down my hair.

(The audio has been disabled but you should get the gist at about 0:50 - 1:25)

Eventually though, the level of her incredulity moved me from being flattered to feeling a little insulted. Quite frankly, I like my glasses and it's more practical to have my hair pulled back when in the lab. Other people have since told me that the removal of my glasses and change of hair leads to a complete metamorphosis, most recently a gay senior researcher at work. I think I look pretty much the same but I'll concede that I may not be the best judge here.

So the poll is basically whether I should drop the geeky scientist look in favour of the glamour bombshell.

Ummm....okay

Caramelbear said this needed to be done, to prove once and for all that yes, I am the Asian Julie Delpy.

Okay, not the best pic of my mother but *shocked dog face.*

Hot vs. Cold

So last week I wrote about how record-breakingly hot it was in Melbourne (and someone wanted to point out that it was also really hot in Adelaide). Not long afterwards, London had it most severe blast of cold weather in a while. The snow resulted in snowmen, recreations of the War of Independence, and basically shut down the City because it threw the public transport into chaos meaning people, such as Kahuna, were stranded at home and couldn't get to work, resulting in billions of dollars worth of lost income.

But Pooey wasn't one of those slackers because she's walking distance to her place.

Anyway, this made me wonder yet again what's the better option? Heat that saps your energy and keeps you from sleeping? Cold that seeps into your bones until your bodily functions shut down? Bone-searing hot winds which can be quite pleasant until it burns you and makes you cry? Snow that can be made into snowballs resulting in fights and makes you cry? I personally think it's easier to keep warm than to keep cool, but I throw it open to the pack!

poll by twiigs.com

Vote - Who should Vanillabear put first?!

Vanillabear has smaller reader numbers than me so I have kindly agreed to post this poll on my blog. We're having a difficult time trying to decide which member of her Box she should rank higher.

In the red corner, we have Senor Gonzalo Higuaín, 21 yo Argenitian striker, who currently plays for Real Madrid.

Scorer of many goals.

Possessor of a very nice six-pack
.
And owner of a sweetly winsome smile.

And in the blue corner we have Mr. Henry Cavill, 25 yo from the Isle of Jersey. Here are some links to things about him if you want NEED it. (Last one is very NSFW!!!)

Seriously, this pic is so hot, it's almost unfair.

poll by twiigs.com

So vote!!!

Question to the crowd!

So an ex I haven't spoken to in nearly four years has invited me to his wedding. The breakup was not civil so at best, this is an olive branch. At worst, this is an insult.

poll by twiigs.com

The spirit of the season is alive and well...

...the spirit of competition, that is!!! I've said before, when you put a lot of intelligent bored people in the same place at the same time, we turn into puppies and get destructive. To stop this from happening, my dept. has a number of competitions during the year, the last of which is the Xmas Tree Decoration Comp.

The basic rule is that we have to make a Christmas decoration of some sort for the departmental tree, using only things that we have in our labs - animals and body parts not included. Competition is fierce but lately it's come down to mine vs. the lung yab. This years' judge couldn't decide the winner and declared it a draw. Well the Pom (who works in the lung yab) and I are, quite frankly, dissatisfied with that result so I throw it open to the interwebz.

So here we have the exhibits which basically came down to religious interpretation vs. secular.
Piece 1 - The Xmas train

Made from normal and microcentrifuge tubes, boxes, polystyrene, culture plates, foil, and cardboard.

Piece 2 - The Nativity

Made from normal and microcentrifuge tubes, pipettes, pipette tips, culture plates, mesh, cotton buds, bench liners, kimwipes, wire, polystyrene, cardboard, and foil.

poll by twiigs.com

I won't reveal which lab made which piece, vote!

A question for my readers

People, do you think my blog is too superficial? Would you actually like me to stop posting pics of various hot guys (usually athletes), and instead discuss more deep and meaningful things like politics or the credit crunch or literature? And by literature I mean more highbrow stuff than vampire romance?

poll by twiigs.com

I could probably write more analytical things but I feel my PhD is destroying my brain. Funny how things work like that.

Poll

,So I was discussing musical movies with the Grand Empress when she let loose that she though Zac Efron was hot. She clarified that it's only when he's in Hairspray and not HSM, but I...I....no. He's a BOY. And he probably curls his lashes and wears eyeliner. In fact, even without his day job, he probably wears more make up than me. But the Grand Empress is not to be swayed.

So I put it out to the (small) crowd.

poll by twiigs.com

Just a reminder, this is what he looked like in Hairspray.
(pics from rottentomatoes.com)

SHOWDOWN!!!!

Nickyliou and I were having a discussion as we were walking down to the city to get gelati: Who is hotter out of my favourite eye candies? I mean, sure, Dean absolutely smashed Sam. That's a no-brainer. But how does he stack up against one of the world's most beautiful people? I've also decided to include my *turner* for guys who can't make themselves assess the male appearance.

So vote!

more at twiigs.com...

In case you guys have forgotten....

Monica Bellucci

Dean Winchester/Jensen Ackles

Marat Safin (I was in the audience for this one!)

Poll to decide, once and for all

This poll will be up for a month. VOTE.

more at twiigs.com...

Just to help you guys out, here's a reminder of who's who.

Dean

Sam

Choose wisely, people.