A few of my favourite things.
Some much needed down time has been the highlight of the last few weeks and I'm very thankful to be given liberty to just blob out for a while. I've been reading a good book about the Chinese interior, but I've discovered that reading for long stretches gives me headaches and/or stuffy head syndrome, so I've decided to cut reading sessions to rather more short periods.
While hiking the Overland Track, I was told that I say 'my favourite' a lot... Being away from everyone with whom I enjoy spending time and everything that is familiar has given me pause to reflect on just how much I do say 'my favourite'. I've decided that I like this state of mind because havings lots of favourites is better than having lots of 'don't likes', and I've decided to share the positive thinking with some of what I can think of at this moment... In no particular order:
Flying; wearing my uniform; long hual flights; Kennedy Space Centre; ski racing; skiing; learning about anything; learning how to do new things; finishing off an entire bar of soap so that no part of it gets thrown out, or at least what's left is small enough to get crushed down the shower grate; chewy cookies; the feeling of putting on a down coat when it kind of 'poofs' as you slip into it; getting up early enough to see the sun rise; Christmas morning with family and friends; rockets, the 'go up' and the eating kind; watching movies; snow; rain; green things; laughing so hard my face hurts; reminiscing; classical music; the Snowbirds; an organised room, but it may be my own filing system unintelligible to others; going to watch airplanes at YYC; reading; thunderstorms; power outages in the country; taking pictures; dogs; cats; mountains with snow on them; hangin' at airports; getting my hair cut; rebuilding airplanes; Sunday morning mechanicking at Andrew's;
The list could go on... While kind of flowery and even a bit mushy, that's a sampling anyway. Actually after reading it over, it occurs to me that some sound distinctly obsessive-compulsive.
Finally, I have some exciting news! This post has been saved as a draft for quite some time awaiting some significant something-or-other to occur. So: for those I haven't told, I have formally accepted the offer of the scholarships to do my Ph. D. I won't find out how deep the hole is that I've dug for myself until 15 May, when I officially start. I got that confirmation mid-last week.
New Bike! New Bike! Going from a life where I practically lived out of my car to one where I haven't touched the controls of one for over three months has been a big adjustment. However, that adjustment was eased this week when I combined a trip to the movies with a trip to the Big W to buy a bike. 'A bike,' you might say; 'How's he going to travel independently with a bike!?' As you all know, I can store it at Bruce and Helen's and when I have my own place for Ph. D-ing in May, then I'll take it with me and be up a personal mode of transport. I've had it out on a few rides so far and it is wonderful to be able to move fast again... My brain is slowing down without airplanes, cars, and engrossing activity to keep it busy. However, my butt-bones are already paying the price for those rides and with the standard bike seat that comes with most bikes, my prostate is likely to follow. Sorry for sharing that, but if you do ride a lot of bikes, I highly recommend a saddle that has the groove cut out along the middle axis of the seat. You will thank that little bit of money for doing you a world of good!
Expect more Shakespearean-inspired word creation to come ;-)
The exciting news is that I just booked a tour to the 'family' rock and surrounds from Adelaide starting on the 8th February. I fly out from Melbourne on the 7th and rendezvous with Helen's sister in Adelaide. I will be setting up her new VCR and solving various technical and computer issues to earn my keep for the night. On the morning of the 8th, the tour starts and we drive north through the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound (a big highlight for me), the Oodnadatta Track, Coober Pedy, Uluru, Kata-Kjuta, King's Canyon, and Alice Springs. You can read all about it:
Face the Outback, Wayward Bus Touring Company.
Should be fun. I'll be sure to tell you all about it. Sorry about the delay from the last 'humourous' post, but I just haven't done too much that would classify as interesting.
Oh, I like the way they have all the 'z's replaced with 's's: organised, civilised, monopolises... It's great syntax.
Lastly, dapper Dixie poses in her customs garb before a socialisation outing.
I leave you with some dog-bliss to relax the senses:
Mr. GB
Mr Gingerbread's quest to meet his maker was interrupted by an
unfortunate spelling error.
Can't think of a Witty Title... if any of the previous ones were witty.
About the 'Plattery' or 'Platypusary'... It is an enclosure in the Melbourne Zoo where they keep their platypi. They cannot be kept as pets... In a rather surprising condition, most native Australian wildlife is protected even if population numbers don't yet warrant protection. How's that for forward thinking? Anyone want to go hunting for wolves? Grizzlies? Anyway, male playpi have poisonous spikes on the insides of their hind limbs, so you wouldn't want to hug one too closely. Regarding T-dawg's letter, I got it on Monday! Thanks for the pics and expect it back in the mail soon! What a treat to get some mail from you guys!
A one-day cricket match runs about $73 for deluxe seats - Bruce and I really went to town... - but TicketMaster advertises other seats for $5 (kids under 16) up to $58 otherwise. If you want a multiple day pass, you could pay $92, which would give you admission for all three one-day matches at the Telstra dome (13 & 20 Jan, 3 Feb). However, the seats are no bigger than typical Centrium seats, except that most have a 'comfy' padded coating, so a single one-day match is lots for most people's boney tushies. Hi and thanks to Chris G.!! How's he doing anyway? I do miss him!
I forgot to mention the 'hoons' that were at the cricket... There were two people taken away in handcuffs and a couple of fists thrown in anger a couple sections above us... Rowdy friggin' cricket fans... Jacob's gonna speak gooder French than me when I get back.
Other than that, 'kayak' is a palindrome.
Sorry, just had to get that one out. I have an interview on Friday for a hotel job in Melbourne. That should be interesting. Frankly, I don't think they'll be interested in me after I mention that I have to be done working at the end of March. I wasn't expecting it to take this long to navigate the vagaries of employment agencies, but I guess I'll see what happens.
*Post Updated to reflect my failing recall abilities.*
Cricket Without Pain
Nothing much happened on Thursday - we had a grandkid over visiting, while Bruce and I finished installing some shadecloth over the back porch. They don't have much for hardware stores here, so finding a 13 mm deep socket to finishing tensioning the cloth was a challenge. It ended with Bruce buying an entire set, just for the one socket. But, as I get my attitude toward to tools from you-know-who, I think it was a good thing to buy the set. They need a Canadian Tire here: hey, that sounds like a good business... I'll export all the Arnott's Brand cookies back to Canada and import the Canadian Tire label to Australia! Get ready for Tim-Tams.
Then, on Friday, Bruce, Helen, Grandkid 1 (Tash), and I went into the Melbourne Zoo for 'Beastly Breakfast'. They open up the zoo at 0730 and you can be there while they give the animals their morning feed. It's not yet hot enough at that time of the morning to chase the animals into their burrows or shady hollows, so everyone gets a good view. The first up were the gorillas; what a treat to see them up so close, yet inwardly saddening because they are caged like that. Zoos for me are a bit of a mixture of keen interest and profound sadness. The language has changed though - they are no longer 'cages', but 'enclosures'.
That being said, the enclosures are much larger and are made to be more ecosystem/habitat-like. Next were the tigers, then the elephants - hefalumps to those Pooh fans in the crowd. We rounded out the morning with a multiude of reptiles, giraffes, zebras, roos, wallabies, koalas, butterflies, etc. The butterflies were in a cool 'hot' room so that they were all out and fluttering around. They were very pretty and some of them quite large.
We left the zoo around 1100 to get back home. Then Bruce and I quickly turned around and drove back into town to go to a one-day cricket match between
Australia and Sri Lanka! The match started at 1415 and ended at 2200. Cricket fans are a dedicated bunch... We watched the entire game after first fighting our way through the hoardes of parking cars, the security kiosk where they found a pocket knife in my bag and told me that I couldn't have it, and the maze of seating arrangements in the
Telstra Dome. I enjoyed it, but more importantly I never took a cricket ball to the groin! There are a few 'drinks breaks' for the players and a long 'tea break' when they stop for supper, but other than that, they play for the entire time. Australia won 5/318, to Sri Lanka's 7/202 - Sri Lanka forgot to show up.
Lastly: you put dogs in a kennel, cats go to a 'cattery', so where do platypuses go?
Now, from the comment file: what's the trip to Seattle? Sounds fun! Do you need another escort officer?
If there's still some moving in to do, I'll gladly help... Seven years is just about right!
Update complete!
'Paperwork' or 'How I learned to screw up my extended summer vacation'
So, there hasn't been too much to entertain the listening, rather reading, public ear lately. Since New years, I went on a three day, two night hike to an area called the Bogong High Plains with Adam and two of his friends. You may remember Adam from such adventures as the Overland Track and the Walls of Jerusalem. Same one. On 3 January, we drove up to a place called Falls Creek, which is at the base of a ski hill! At least I was
on a ski hill this season! However, those of you following this adventure by atlas probably won't be able to find Falls Creek because it is so small, so look for Wangaratta and that's close enough. The park is called Alpine National Park and in Victoria, you don't have to pay to enter or use the National Parks. Notice the flies buzzing Adam's head... God do they have flies in Australia.
The hike was a good one initiated by a small climb up to the High Plains altitude and followed by three days of relatively flat, but cool high altitude walking. The first night was down in a little valley along a creek where the temperature got down to low single digits. What a relief because the rest of northern Victoria was scorching in high 30s... The next two days were about the same, but with one of our group developing some rather severe foot problems. Adam cheered him up though and took a lot of ribbing, but after the hike was thanked for organising it.
We finished on 5 January, and I arrived home around supper time expecting to find Bruce and Helen, but they hadn't arrived home frmo Sarawak yet. Around 2300, they got back and we looked at pictures and chatted about their holiday. They brought home some 'Sarawak black pepper and chilli sauce', which is worth importing if anyone is into that kind of thing...
The next morning, we went to pick up Helen's first post-retirement project. She's become an Australian Customs Puppy Walker, so for the next 12 months she is in charge of a golden lab. Customs provides all the food, vet services, formal training, checkups, etc., while she (we) are in charge of walking, feeding, sensitising, soicalising, and playing. There was an hour talk before we got the dog where the customs people went over all the information about raising one of these dogs, and we all went to that.
It's been fun and the puppy is just how I remember them from my slightly younger days.
The next couple of days were pretty calm, we slept in a bit, watched Australia win the cricket, then on Monday, Helen and I went into town. Helen and a friend went shopping, but I went to see a Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image. It was really excellent and left me with dreams of film-making filling my head as I went to bed that night.
As for the title of this post: yesterday I travelled down to Monash University and committed myself for the next three years. There is a lot of paperwork involved and doing the project involves cutting my travels short at 15 May of this year. Not completely sure how I feel about it, but if I'm clinically insane three years hence, you'll know the final outcome. I spent the balance of the day wallowing in self-doubt: I'm quite worried that some of the other things that I really want to do will be out of the question by the time I finish it, but it's too late to secondguess now, so I guess I'll be able to tell you in about three years and 6 months.
In other news, I opened a bank account with
Westpac yesterday. They have this cool savings account linked to a standard no-fees transaction account. The savings account gives 5.25% interest, so I'm going to try put something in there while I'm away. Government people responsible for bonds should have a gander at that and make some bonds greater than 2% soon...
I applied for a Porter job at a 5-star hotel in Melbourne the other day. Haven't heard anything back, but the job is through an employment agency, and they said to expect a week before hearing anything. I'm terrible at getting jobs, though, because at home I've always kind of been handed them and really had nothing to do with applying. In fact, the first and only time I've ever used a resume was to get my job at the airport, but that was airplanes and showing keeness and enthusiasm about a job involving them is second nature.
Beyond that, I'm trying to get a hold of some new headphones to replace the ones I have for my MiniDisc. I went through a reputable on-line store (
digitalHome), but I'm having trouble getting them delivered. Their entire sales office takes about three weeks off over Christmas (23 Dec to 16 Jan), which is frankly quite baffling to me. An on-line business is a 24-7 business and to have your sales people gone for that long is a bizarre level of corporate stupidity. I've now gone so far as to accuse the company of fraud, and I'm waiting to see if some desk-flying retail bigwig spits his coffee into his underused keyboard to refute that claim. I hope it was a hornet's nest I stuck a stick into.
I leave you with some train scheduling hypocrisy...
Update Complete!
Post Christmas Pope's Eye and Kyle Melts
Christmas was a unique experience for a Canuck in Australia... It was a lovely day with lots of sunshine and plenty of heat. Bruce, Helen, and I finished preparing lunch and at 1130 Sarah, Shannon, and the kids showed up. We ate, opened 'pressies', chatted for a while, then 'the kids' carried on to see other family for the rest of the day. It was sure nice to have a family to spend Christmas with. The rest of the day was just laziness: we went into town to get a paper, but the only gas stations that were open were sold out of papers. It wasn't as still as I am used to, though, but it is the middle of summer afterall. What got me the most was the length of the day and the quality of the light. Just like Christmas in July. The rest of the week was mostly reading a couple of books I got for Christmas. Also, Bruce and Helen left to Sarawak on Wednesday. However, a few weeks ago, Andy offered to take me diving and on Thursday, we did go!
There is a plethora of diving in Port Phillip Bay and the dive we did is called The Pope's Eye. Even that wasn't to escape from mild fiasco, though. We picked up my equipment from a dive shop near Andy's home on the east side of Melbourne, and confirmed our booking for two dives that afternoon. I didn't try anything on because the shop owner didn't really provide opportunity to do it, but that won't come into play until later. Anyway, we went back to Andy's place to pick up his gear, then headed off all the way around the bay to a place called Portsea, where the dives were supposed to leave from. We got there after 1.5 hours! of driving, but with it being Christmas holidays and itself a 30+ degree day, there wasn't any parking in the town of Portsea. We dropped the equipment at the docks, then Andy went to park the car in the country-side while I guarded the equipment. When he got back, he ran out to the dock to checkin on the boat, but couldn't find the boat... We phoned the operator and he told us that 'oh, we're not going out today, there weren't enough people booked to run the trips. Sorry.'
We weren't about to give up after all that driving, so Andy went into a local shop and found a trip that still had two spots open. Success!! However, we got only the one dive, but what a dive! We had lunch before we left, then suited up and walked out to the boat. This is where I found out that my wetsuit was a little to big, that my fins had a tear in the rubber foot receptacle, and that an inflation hose attachment point on the BCD was torn off... I was starting to have serious concerns about the quality of maintenance on the gear that was to support my life while submerged. However, the dive site is only under 12 metres of water, so in any event, I could drop my weight belt and head up.
Those of you who know me know how much I weigh. When they give you a two-piece 7mm wet suit to wear, and you don't have enough mass to counteract that extra bouyancy, you need a lot of lead so that you will sink. I constantly surprise even the most experienced dive shop with how much lead they need to give me. I carried 15 kg for this one (33 lbs), but we figured out after the dive that I should carry 18 kgs. My body always thanks me for the workout of SCUBA diving.
The dive left me absolutely speechless! As my first in 6 years, and my first salt-water dive, it was a bit of a fight to figure out neutral bouyancy again. After all that, I could focus on the wondrous sea life that filled the sandy vista around me! There were cuttlefish hiding in rock nooks, fish that sat on the bottom that you could go right up to and bump noses with before they'd move, fish of all colours that would brush your hands as you swam past, and some little black ones that would charge you as they defended their territory! It was marvellous! The tide was ebbing, and it was surprising to have to fight that strongly against the current! I had to get all fours in swim mode a few times! After the dive, we went past a seal colony and snorkelled there, too. The seals enjoy the company and hopped off the colony to swin with you in the water.
After that, I caught up on sleep so that I may spend New Year's out galavanting.
I've seen thermometers get close enough to the bottom end of their scales, or at least know a few people who have witnessed such events. However, nothing could have prepared me for yesterday afternoon (31 December): the air temperature was 42 degrees, but the thermometer sitting in the sun was topped out over 50 degrees! I've never seen that much red stuff running the length of a thermometer tube before. Anyway, I was enclosed in a dark cave... I kept all windows shut and all curtains closed while I carefully attempted to avoid the heat. Luckily, Bruce and Helen's house stayed a little cooler, until the late afternoon hit. However, by that time, Sarah, Shannon, and the kids came to check up on me and found the airconditioner to plug in and help cool off the house. Sarah said they were coming to see if I were a puddle yet. Shannon said: 'Summer in Australia has arrived.' And how...
Anyway, yesterday I decided to brave the 500,000 expected New Year's revelers in downtown Melbourne for the festivities and fireworks. I caught an afternoon train into town and joined the crush migrating toward Federation Square. All public transport was free from 1500 31 Dec until 0800 1 Jan. I got to the square with lots of time to spare and staked out a spot on some grass to listen to some live music. The first fireworks were at 2115 and they were quite a spectacle. By that time, the sun had been low long enough to cool things off a bit. It was about 27 for the rest of the evening, but that's positively chilly after 40 degrees in the shade! Of course, being in a city, there is that
standard measure of funky city folk. This guy was dancing up a storm and performed on the paving stones in front of me. The fireworks at mid night were absolutely jaw-dropping. The fireworks were staged to go off from about 6 different spots - three on the Yarra river, one from near the Royal Botanical Gardens, and two places atop different buildings around the CBD. There were fireworks everywhere for 15 solid minutes!! Just stunning.
Then the adventure of getting back to Sunbury was upon me. Everyone was told that there were hundreds of extra busses servicing all the suburbs, so I checked into it and there certainly was. However, apparently that didn't include the night rider bus to Sunbury. Would have been nice to indicate that before I tried to catch the bus! The first one of those didn't operate until 0415 - Melbourne's Public Transport failed miserably there. The service was entirely non-existent to Sunbury, even though they advertised that the service was there.
Anyway, to get home before 1200 this afternoon, it involved a chance encounter of more stranded Sunbury residents and a lucky phone call that actually got through to the flat-out taxi services everywhere in Melbourne. So, my 'free' public transport included a $20 taxi ride - cost neutral, I guess ;-) Anyway, I rolled back to the house at about 0430, watered the parched plants until about 0500, then finally got to bed at 0530 after finding, eliminating, and cleaning up an ant infestation in my yoghurt jar.
Anyway, what fun! Update Complete!
Happy New Year to Everyone!! I wish all the best for health, happines, and peace in 2006. All my love...
New Bike! New Bike! Going from a life where I practically lived out of my car to one where I haven't touched the controls of one for over three months has been a big adjustment. However, that adjustment was eased this week when I combined a trip to the movies with a trip to the Big W to buy a bike. 'A bike,' you might say; 'How's he going to travel independently with a bike!?' As you all know, I can store it at Bruce and Helen's and when I have my own place for Ph. D-ing in May, then I'll take it with me and be up a personal mode of transport. I've had it out on a few rides so far and it is wonderful to be able to move fast again... My brain is slowing down without airplanes, cars, and engrossing activity to keep it busy. However, my butt-bones are already paying the price for those rides and with the standard bike seat that comes with most bikes, my prostate is likely to follow. Sorry for sharing that, but if you do ride a lot of bikes, I highly recommend a saddle that has the groove cut out along the middle axis of the seat. You will thank that little bit of money for doing you a world of good!
Lastly, dapper Dixie poses in her customs garb before a socialisation outing.
