Hi All,

One of my best friends is a woman who was raised in Poland and she is really a fascinating person. Weird, but really exceptionally worldly and bright. She lived in England and did a lot of things including getting her pilots license and worked in jewelry for a while. Now she's a mortgage broker. She's got a college degree too. She's not a Dr. somebody, but she's as good as I think.

Anyway, she told me maybe 18 years ago that I needed to finish absolutely everything by midnight on New Years Eve. The laundry, house cleaning, paying bills, washing the car, you know, EVERYTHING. She said that anything left unfinished would carry that theme into the new year, so if you didn't get your laundry done, all of the next year you'll be plagued by having laundry you can't seem to finish.

At first I really didn't pay too much attention to it, but I did try to get some things accomplished and as each year went by I came to know she was right or the old wisdom was correct and that carry over was really more of a burden than I realized. It might be good to drop off a bad relationship before the new year as well, honestly.

So, to you scientists, get your papers finished. You wouldn't want to spend all of the next year not being able to finish your most important works. Gosh forbid. And for the rest of us, whatever it is, we only have 30 days left or so to get our act together. I started tonight. I bought some binders a few months ago to get organized with our research project and guess what... I didn't, so now I have to work really hard to get caught up. Don't procrastinate, be efficient and finish your stuff.

2006 may prove to be a really interesting year though I personally feel very uncomforable about the quake situation. Guardedly unoptomistic might be a good term(s). While some good research will develop and bare fruit, we may also see some other stuff we'd prefer waited until someone elses lifetime. IE: The middle of the night earthquake may be our own and I pray all who attend will dress well in front of TV audiences. John always dresses well, so I have no concern about him, but if he's up there and not down here, then it's up to the guys here without benefit of clothing critiquing to make it on their own. Someone should get that red flannel shirt away from the guy in Menlo and roast it.

And next year I would love to imagine people who select a new color in wardrobe. Ditch those brown Dockers an get black ones. Just be different, not so cookie cutter, brown on brown. Men who wear gray slacks, white shirts, a little open at the collar and medium blue sport coats have got my vote any day of the week. While we no long have Abercrombie and Fitch to rely upon for that Out of Africa look, there are other sporting stores who can pitch in when needed. Khaki is still good as long as the shirts have epilets on the shoulders and plenty of pockets. Move away from plaid cotton shirts and get narrow stripes or new color choices. They even make pink and aqua for men now. Those are great to bring on the sparkle in the eyes and tone up skin color. I really am on your side on this clothing issue. You can look every bit as good as those from space sciences with a more modest budget.

Last,but not least, I prepared and mailed my annual bitch letter to someone at the AGU about no place for earthquake safety education and suggested they put on the grand finale at the 2006 Fall Meeting and close out the year in style. By then all the members of the Centennial Alliance would have done their thing and the AGU can put a bright finish on this year long endeavor. They can you know, but the will may be weak. I gotta find a higher up to talk to during the year.

I put it this way: " Six years ago I couldn't understand why there were no presenters in the posters section ready to discuss earthquake safety and awareness. I see these years later nothing has changed. While scientists have taken space to talk about relief work after a disaster or have presented papers about how difficult it is to estimate the dead after an earthquake, educating the living presents a strange void."

You who can contribute to seeing earthquake safety at the 2006 Fall Meeting, get with it. Apply some influence. You know it should be there, but it's going to take a few motivated doctors to raise the bar.

Earthquake safety education is like a pebble tossed into the river. The rivulets go out a lot further than where the stone entered and for every outward movement it spreads and in time everyone is touched by it. Anyway, that's what you do when you can't walk up and hug people anymore. You need voices and little stones and lots of water.

Petra