Beginnings

I've always appreciated Lunar New Year because it's a holiday that actually signifies something-- the days will start growing longer and warmer now. Japan should have stuck with the old calendar for this one. Happy New Year everyone!

I'm leaving my job in two weeks, the last ties (ie visas and benefits) will be cut almost exactly a month from now. Hong Kong U hasn't been forthcoming on the project work that I discussed with them in November, but I've been talking to the Clinton Global Initiative here in Hong Kong about an internship, which I'm very excited about. I rewatched a bunch of webcasts from CGI's annual meeting, here is the link to the whole conference, care of the Kaiser Family Foundation, with forums on vaccines, maternal and child health, health care systems, and nutrition. Kudos to both parties for getting these discussions online.

Another conference, the WEF in Davos, has wrapped up recently, proceedings, which include a discussion between Bono and Al Gore on the link between global warming and poverty, are onlinehere.

Tufts has fostered several Vitamin A specialists, this lecture by Robert Russel, the outgoing director of the Mayer Nutrition Center was posted through the alumni assocation. Tufts Nutrition wrote about the work of Ram Shrestha in Nepal in their Spring 2006 issue, a PDF of the issue here.

Han Yan gave me the cherry blossom branch you see above. Her gift seems to have done the trick, I had a date last night with someone I know through a friend, again lots of talking, this time about geopolitics; we've made plans to go see Atonement. He said he likes Adrien Brody because of two films--the Pianist and the Jacket. I wasn't interested in seeing Atonement because I read Ian McEwan's Amsterdam and disliked the realpolitik tone. But a banker that wants to see a romance? That's something I gotta see :-). The Tasmanian, alas, has disappeared from the picture.