daughter of an (almost) famous dad

I love that my dad, the man I used to argue endlessly with about such things as politics and the environment (and my curfew...), is now uber involved in saving the world by nuking nuclear waste. See below, or read the full artcle, "Haste to make waste into energy: New high-tech conversion methods are popping up."

A research team in Trail, B.C., for example, designed a facility to clean up hazardous waste from a Second World War plutonium production site in Washington state.

The project is run by an international management group, AMEC Inc., which owns the global rights to a process called GeoMelt. The technology uses temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees to melt contaminated matter that, once hardened, becomes an inert, glass-like solid that can be buried or recycled.

"It is a unique application for nuclear-waste treatment," said Brett Campbell, unit manager at the plant in Hanford, Wash. "We're doing something that no one in the world is doing."

Though the technology was first designed decades ago, it has been evolving and improving since. Now it is commercially available through AMEC, which hopes to attract customers in a variety of sectors.

"It's applicable to a mixed waste stream, not just radioactive [waste]," Mr. Campbell said. For example, he said, it could be used to treat hazardous materials such as asbestos.

John Stephens is senior project manager in Trail and part of the team that designed the Washington facility, which was completed this summer. He said the $90-million (U.S.) project will run over two years, enough time to prove to the U.S. Department of Energy that the GeoMelt technology is efficient before earning a contract to help clean up the site by 2028. He has no doubt it will pass the test.

"It's amazing that there is the technology that can deal with a problem that a lot of people have been agonizing over for 50 years," Mr. Stephens said, referring to the dilemma of what to do with nuclear waste.

"Somebody unlocked Pandora's box and now we can actually put a lid on it."

a miracle: a new post

I have been told by certain people to "Update your stinkin' blog!" but that my "blog doesn't really stink.... except for lately when there's been no updates." Now, I note that that same person is slightly ill with a terrible head cold (ahem, karma?). So, to give said person some reading material, here's a new post.

I feel as though blogging is a little hard right now.... There's so much that's different about life right now, and so much that's the same. It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things that aren't (a) being with my husband, (b) taking care of general house business, and (c) catching up with people I've missed hanging out with in all the wedding hullabaloo. A short list of random things to get the blog energies flowing again......

1. Since having spare time to, umm, think I've taken up reading again. Right now I'm making my way through The Captive Mind. It's a supercool book that is written in the form of case studies on some prominent artists and writers in the satellite countries in the beginning of the Soviet Bloc. It's interesting to read how, one by one, they submitted their art, and their minds to the Centre.
2. We still don't have a couch (did I even blog about that mess???). But, wonderfully, it's going to facilitate a larger housewarming party than would be possible if we did have a couch.
3. A lesson. If you take your belly-button ring out because it doesn't look nice under your wedding dress, put it back in right away.
4. I watched to movie Casanova, and was pleased to find out that, indeed, there really was a real Casanova, who was even cooler than the one in the movie. Turns out the real guy was soooooo controversial because he was a sexual revolutionary who promoted the idea of "partner-pleasure." (WHAT!! You mean, women can actually enjoy sex??? Scandalous!)
5. I think Halloween is much smaller now then it was when I was little. Mind you...I have gotten bigger.

Still to come:

• Wedding photos (we're still waiting too!!)...although my dear husband has some on his blog.
• Books I can't wait to read
• Adventures in plumbing
• The division of labour