weekly musings
It's been a fairly normal week here. I've been working on some data analysis at school, which is going well. We think we have a good handle on what happens with Cyclorana australis during the dry season (you'll have to wait for the manuscript to get the full story). We're still working out some holes in the water exchange part, but it is looking pretty interesting right now.
It has also been a good week for sports stuff. As usual, on Monday I played a bit of ultimate. We had a good game, though we were a bit light on players at first. for some reason, there has been a dropoff in the number of people playing lately. That mostly just means more playing time for those of us who want to do some running around. Some new guys showed up with some athletic ability, so that made the game interesting. I have also been playing volleyball with the university reserve team. For those of you used to US college sports, this isn't anything like that. It's more like a city league team with the university as a sponsor. That has been interesting. They play with a completely different strategy from what I've ever played before, but it seems to work. They have me setting, which involves a lot of running around, and a lot of strange placements, but it's keeping me active. Of course, we've lost every game so far, but we're starting to play as a team finally. This week we played a group of cocky young guys with a lot of height. Needless to say, I was happy when I got several solid blocks on guys several inches taller and fifteen years shorter in the tooth than I am.
I've also been setting things up for the next round of travel. I went to the travel agent today to talk about my next round the world trip. She was apparently new, and her eyes bulged a bit when I gave her my itinerary. Good training, I say. As part of this, I've been working on getting new visas, and such. Turns out that if all of my travel plans work, I may need extra visa pages in my passport. Never thought I'd fill up a passport, especially one that is only 3 years old! The problem is the places that use an entire page for the visas. I've got 2 pages taken by Australian visas, and I'm applying for another class now, which will probably take up another page. And for some strange reason, South Africa requires two facing pages. Not sure what that's about, but there you go. They don't really dwell on these issues on travel shows, or things like the Amazing Race. All part of the fun, I guess.
I've also been busy congratulating folks on babies. Seems that Christmas was a popular time to give birth. Must have been something about the end of March that I missed. Anyway, for those of you who have budded (or are budding) and reading this, "good on you" as they say here. I've also now had friends with a whole host of natal issues. One friend was pre-eclamptic, and then eclamptic, with seizures. Both she and baby are now fine. Another friend got stuck somewhere in the middle, and ended up with a C-section that got infected - and she's allergic to a bunch of antibiotics. A third friend has had some unsettling test results suggesting her baby may have Down's syndrome, and another actually did have a baby with Down's. Then there were the premature twins. Yikes. Of course, they all say it has been worth every bit. Good luck all!
Oh, one interesting thing happened yesterday. I found a wallet in the middle of the road. It looked like it had seen a few tires before I got to it. Big fat thing with something like 50 cards of various shapes sizes and colors. Actually it was truly impressive how much crap was in this woman's wallet. Well, the rest is pretty boring. I checked the phone book and found the woman's number after a bit of searching, and she came to get it. She said thanks, and that was about it. No undying gratitude, lifelong debts, huge cash rewards or anything. A bit of advice: leave your phone number in your wallet somewhere. I almost couldn't find the number to call. I suppose I could have turned it into the police or something, but it seems much more straightforward to just phone the person directly.
That's about it from here this week. More later.
It has also been a good week for sports stuff. As usual, on Monday I played a bit of ultimate. We had a good game, though we were a bit light on players at first. for some reason, there has been a dropoff in the number of people playing lately. That mostly just means more playing time for those of us who want to do some running around. Some new guys showed up with some athletic ability, so that made the game interesting. I have also been playing volleyball with the university reserve team. For those of you used to US college sports, this isn't anything like that. It's more like a city league team with the university as a sponsor. That has been interesting. They play with a completely different strategy from what I've ever played before, but it seems to work. They have me setting, which involves a lot of running around, and a lot of strange placements, but it's keeping me active. Of course, we've lost every game so far, but we're starting to play as a team finally. This week we played a group of cocky young guys with a lot of height. Needless to say, I was happy when I got several solid blocks on guys several inches taller and fifteen years shorter in the tooth than I am.
I've also been setting things up for the next round of travel. I went to the travel agent today to talk about my next round the world trip. She was apparently new, and her eyes bulged a bit when I gave her my itinerary. Good training, I say. As part of this, I've been working on getting new visas, and such. Turns out that if all of my travel plans work, I may need extra visa pages in my passport. Never thought I'd fill up a passport, especially one that is only 3 years old! The problem is the places that use an entire page for the visas. I've got 2 pages taken by Australian visas, and I'm applying for another class now, which will probably take up another page. And for some strange reason, South Africa requires two facing pages. Not sure what that's about, but there you go. They don't really dwell on these issues on travel shows, or things like the Amazing Race. All part of the fun, I guess.
I've also been busy congratulating folks on babies. Seems that Christmas was a popular time to give birth. Must have been something about the end of March that I missed. Anyway, for those of you who have budded (or are budding) and reading this, "good on you" as they say here. I've also now had friends with a whole host of natal issues. One friend was pre-eclamptic, and then eclamptic, with seizures. Both she and baby are now fine. Another friend got stuck somewhere in the middle, and ended up with a C-section that got infected - and she's allergic to a bunch of antibiotics. A third friend has had some unsettling test results suggesting her baby may have Down's syndrome, and another actually did have a baby with Down's. Then there were the premature twins. Yikes. Of course, they all say it has been worth every bit. Good luck all!
Oh, one interesting thing happened yesterday. I found a wallet in the middle of the road. It looked like it had seen a few tires before I got to it. Big fat thing with something like 50 cards of various shapes sizes and colors. Actually it was truly impressive how much crap was in this woman's wallet. Well, the rest is pretty boring. I checked the phone book and found the woman's number after a bit of searching, and she came to get it. She said thanks, and that was about it. No undying gratitude, lifelong debts, huge cash rewards or anything. A bit of advice: leave your phone number in your wallet somewhere. I almost couldn't find the number to call. I suppose I could have turned it into the police or something, but it seems much more straightforward to just phone the person directly.
That's about it from here this week. More later.
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