Flying...again

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot. In fact, I still remember going to the Australian High Commission in Singapore (a pre-six year old memory) and being interviewed by an Australian woman who asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her I wanted to be a pilot. And she suggested maybe I could fly for Qantas one day. I didn't say anything (I didn't know what Qantas was).

I obviously didn't end up as a pilot. But, as a biologist, I nevertheless get to do a fair bit of travelling: travelling to conferences; travelling to field sites; travelling for work shops. I've been doing so much travelling of late that, quite frankly, I think I'm over it.

So...just when I thought I would be done with travelling for a while, it turns out I'll be flying out of Melbourne over the weekend.... to Canberra. My aquarium at my folk's place has sprung a leak. Dad has managed to construct a device to channel the drips back into the filter system but I'm worried the drips might turn into a torrent if I don't do anything about it.

Fortunately, with all the travelling I've been doing of late, I've earned enough frequent flyer points to go home (minus the $100 credit card payment for 'charges and taxes').

The flights are not great though (they never are when you book on frequent flyer points three days before the day of departure). I'll be flying to Canberra via Sydney! Yep. I'll be flying over Canberra on my plane towards Sydney and then, after an hour at Sydney airport, I'll be zipping back south on another plane to Canberra. I'll get in at 9.15am. And less than 24 hours later, I'll be on my way back to Melbourne – a direct flight this time (I don't think I can do the CBR-SYD-MEL thing on a Sunday).

On the plus side, all the recent travelling has finally earned me enough status points to elevate me to Silver membership on my frequent flyers so I'll get to enjoy the Qantas lounge.

home sweet home

I'm back in Oz. I flew from Helsinki to Melbourne via Singapore. Changi is impressive. The last time I was there, it was still undergoing refurbishments. I went for a walk to see the butterfly house. I then sat myself in front of a huge TV monitor to kill time...it was showing Air Crash Investigation (not sure if it was really such a great program to be showing at an airport).

Got back to Melbourne early on Thursday morning. Pretty much went straight to sleep, woke up for lunch and dinner, and then slept straight through 'til 5am. The unprecedented bout of sleep seemed to have killed the jet lag. Went back to work on Friday and didn't feel tired at all.

Tampere

Caught the train from Turku to Tampere yesterday to visit my friend's parents. This is the beautiful view from their house...

And this is the beautiful rhubarb pie we ate...

Sauna

I just had a sauna in my friend's apartment. Yes, my friend has a sauna in his one bedroom apartment (that's how obsessed Finns are about their saunas). Anyhow, I'm not complaining. It's a great way to start the day. Very relaxing. I'm now ready to go out and face the snow.

Finland

Arrived in Finland last night. The first landing attempt on the way into Helsinki was suddenly aborted due to another plane on the runway. I've never experienced an aborted landing before (though I have experienced an aborted take-off...also in Helsinki...hmmm..).

Anyhow, I didn't spend much time in Helsinki. I got to the city centre and immediately boarded a train to Turku. Tomorrow, I'll be going to Tampere. All up, I am only spending four days in Fniland and it looks like I will be spending it in three different cities. Should be fun.

Festmiddag

The swedes really know how to put on a feast. To celebrate the final night of the student workshop, we had a traditional 'festmiddag' comprising mountains of shrimp, crabs and scampi prawns accompanied by creamy garlic dipping sauce, fresh bread, and cheese. I don't think I have ever peeled or eaten so many crustaceans in my entire life.

a beautiful cold day...

This is the view from my room this morning.

Everything was covered with a fine powder of snow.

As you can see from the next image, by late afternoon, a lot of it has melted away.

Snow

Yep. It's snowing outside. This is the view from the room where I am staying.

We earlier went on a long walk with the students to a neighbouring village. Once we got to the village, it was straight onto a boat for a cruise around the fjord. There were hot beverages at hand, along with delicious cinnamon rolls for afternoon tea.

This graduate workshop is feeling more like a nice little vacation than work. Oh....I did have to deliver a 40 minute seminar to the students this morning (I don't want to make it sound like a complete junket).

Piranhas, Picasso and plants

I spent Sunday visiting a bunch of museums around Gothenburg.

First up was the Universeum, a giant indoor rainforest science centre replete with small monkeys, poison arrowfrogs, parrots and a pool teeming with red bellied piranhas (hmmm...I wonder if monkeys or small children ever accidentally fall in?). More amusing was the anaconda display, separated by a pane of glass from the kids indoor play area....I reckon it must be torture for the snake.

After my Amazonian encounter, I decided to head over to the art museum for a bit of culture (they had some very nice paintings by Picasso) followed by a visit to the natural history museum to check out the infamous giant stuffed whale. Visitors used to be able to go inside the whale – apparently it was a popular rendezvous point for amorous young couples. I'm not sure why because it smells kinda bad (in a nasty, chemically, carcinogenic kinda way).

After an hour looking at stuffed animals, I decided I needed to go to the botanical gardens to look at plants (yes, I am such a science geek). The Gothenburg botanic gardens has quite an impressive collection, including a glasshouse planted with native Australian plants, and another full of tropical orchids and insect-eating plants.

Fish, art and exotic plants...a near perfect day for me.

The apartment photo shoot was published in The Sun Herald and The Sunday Age while I was away...

Jet lagged in Gothenburg

It's bang on midnight here in Gothenburg and I have just woken up (and I know I won't be getting back to sleep again anytime soon). Ahh..,the joys of air travel.

I checked the status of my 'lost' bag and it seems that it has now arrived at the airport here in Gothenburg so hopefully I will receive it sometime today (which would be a huge relief seeing as I'm suppose to be travelling first thing Monday morning to a research station for a workshop).

This means, of course, that I won't be needing to go to the local H&M anymore to but a new wardrobe. The swedish clothing giant has just done a new collection of underwear featuring the sporting megastar David Beckham. Check out the pretty pictures here. Alas, I might go in for a browse anyway (no harm window shopping, right?)

I'm looking forward to exploring the city later this morning (i.e. when the sun come out). The temperature yesterday reminds me of Canberra in the winter...cold, crisp and sunny. From what I've seen so far, Gothenburg is a very beautiful city, with lots of hills and parks. There are trams here too....very pretty light-blue ones. I don't do holiday snaps but here is a photo I found on the web for Andrew:


I already had my scandinavian shrimp sandwich after arriving in the city yesterday. Today, I think I'll try to get hold of some hot smoked salmon.

Greetings from Sweden

I finally arrived in Gothenburg. The flight over was a nightmare. The plane was delayed almost 3 hours out of Melbourne due to a mechanical issue (the A380 seems to have a lot of those).

This meant I missed my original connection from Heathrow to Gothenburg. I was put on an alternative flight – which I nearly missed because the security checks at Heathrow take so bloody long.

And when I arrived at Gothenburg, I waited at the carousel only to find that my luggage didn't make it onto the flight (surprise, surprise). Now, I'm feeling just a wee bit anxious that my bag (and all my clothes) is lost somewhere in the Heathrow luggage system, never to be seen again.

I'm not looking forward to wearing the same pair of undies the whole week.

Fortunately, the guy at the lost baggage counter felt sorry for me and gave me an overnight toiletries bag so I can at least have a shower.

keeping cool

The air conditioning unit decided to pack it in at the most inconvenient of times – i.e. this weekend. Nathan cooled off by making a v-line straight to the country and the comfort of his mum's place (which has air conditioning). I stupidly decided to stay in Melbourne (being the last weekend before the trip). By saturday arvo, the heat had become too unbearable (and one can only loiter at the NGV until 5pm). So... I decided to turn to Metro. Yes, I actually went to Flinders Street, found myself a train, and went for a ride for the hell of it. I caught the train to Sandringham and enjoyed the cooler temps afforded by the train carriage for 1.5 hours before having to make my way back to the apartment where I sweltered for the rest of the night. Oh well, at least I had a brief respite from the heat.

Slow week

I'm very happy that it is actually friday today. It has been an incredibly slow week for me. In fact, it was such a slow week that I woke up on Wednesday thinking it was Friday (I've never hated a wednesday so much).

I'm not sure why my perception of time has been so out of whack this week. Maybe it's because Nathan has been in Asia on holiday and I have been missing him. Or maybe it's the body's coping mechanism...too many things going on before my own trip and I have a lot to do before then. Anyhow, with Nathan due back today, it'll be interesting to see how quickly time flies next week in the lead up to Europe.

The call of the Swedes

Am off to Sweden for a workshop next week. It's a pretty sweet deal...all expenses paid in return for a 40 minute talk. The hosts have promised a good time and I'm sure they will deliver. And I'll be flying on an A380 for the first time too.

The temperatures in Sweden at this time of year might be a bit of a shock though (especially considering I'll be coming from Summer here in Melbourne and then heading back out to Central Australia immediately after my return from Europe).

Photo shoot

A photographer and stylist came to our apartment this morning to photograph the interior for a newspaper's lifestyle magazine. It was a really fun process in which to be involved.

The stylist played around with some of the furnishings....she moved the dining table a few inches towards the centre of the room, swapped a cushion on a chair, perked the flowers I had bought for the dining table (water lilies) and shifted a floor lamp ever so slightly so that it was in view. For the most part, she kept things pretty much as they were.

The photographer took heaps of shots, playing around with the back lighting (with a bed sheet) to get rid of the reflections that were obscuring some of the paintings on the wall. He will manipulate the images later, picking the best elements from each photo to get the 'perfect' shot. In my mind, however, every shot already looked amazing. In fact, because of the way the picture is framed, the photos look better than the reality!

Two hours later, it was over. Am looking forward to seeing the finished product when it comes out.

fancy dinner

Went to a fancy black tie fund-raiser last night. It is not the kind of thing I do often and it feels surreal to be in a room with corporate and political types (including an ex-prime minster, current and past Victorian premiers, and the opposition leader) and to be part of a crowd being serenaded by Kate Cebrano (who was a highlight by the way).

The dinner honoured two amazing Australians and their journeys to success were inspiring, especially in light of their humble beginnings. One, a high school drop out, ended up heading Australia’s largest trucking company. The other, the son of migrants, became CEO of a major car company and is now head of one of Australia’s most iconic mining companies. Both appear to be extremely decent and down to earth people. Yes, it was surreal but it was also a very special night.

Blogger get together

Caught up yesterday with fellow bloggers Tim and Dr Nic who drove all the way out to uni to meet me for lunch. It was a very nice meeting and we had a lot to chat about...they are both very intelligent and funny. And it only occurred to me afterwards that they are also the very first gaysian couple I've ever met! Unfortunately, the lunch ended too quickly and I had to get back to work. Am looking forward to seeing them again, next time with Nathan. I'm particularly keen to check out Nic's balcony garden and Tim's photo art.

baaa zarre...

I was on my way to the ever delectable laksa king for lunch yesterday when, all of a sudden, a goat runs across the road near Royal Park. It was being chased by a man and a woman.

I have no idea where the goat came from (the zoo?) or where it was going but I hope it go there.

Mistaken identity

For a split second, I thought this was a photo of George Calombaris from Masterchef looking resplendent in army gear and holding a machine gun. But 'no', on reading the caption accompanying the news article, it turned out to be a photo of a Syrian army defector.

Yet another wedding

I headed up to Sydney for the second wedding up there this month. This time it was my cousin's....an Asian wedding.

There are a lot of rituals attached to a big chinese wedding, like the tea ceremony, which involves the bride and groom kneeling in front of senior family members offering them tea in return for red packets and jewellery. And like all chinese weddings, there was drama...in this case, the maid of honour unfortunately fell over during the post wedding photo shoot somewhere at the Botanical Gardens, necessitating a trip to the Emergency room.

The wedding reception was in Bankstown. It was like a scene out of Ang Lee's film, the wedding banquet (though, in this case, the groom is straight). The banquet dishes featured the body parts of endangered species (e.g. sharkfin soup); the fathers of the bride and groom got way too drunk; there were people falling over on the dance floor (is it appropriate to play kung fu fighting at a chinese banquet?); and one of my cousin's threw up on himself on the bus ride home.

Of all the weddings I have been to in the last three months (and boy were there many), this was by far the craziest. I had a great time though!

Australia Day

I thought I'd do something different this year and go to a citizenship ceremony. I wish I could say the ceremony was fantastic and that it was filled with emotion but it was actually quite boring. Sorry. Is that being un-Australian? The whole thing went way too long, the speeches (by the politicians) were self-serving, and the audience talked through the whole thing. We left before the ceremony concluded.

In celebration of Australia's multiculturalism, however, I ended up going to an Indian restaurant and gorged on butter chicken.

Island photo

Last month I published a post about my experiences on a tropical island. Here is a picture of me near the end of a seriously intense walking trail just after clearing the tree line. [Note to self: next time wear a more appropriate shirt for hiking].

yummy...

Last night, a slightly sunburnt Nathan (he spent the whole day at the tennis), my Norwegian friend and I had the most delectable and unexpected dinner. What started off as a late afternoon catch up over drinks ended up with us devouring one of these (slow roasted lamb shoulder)...

...with a side of this...

....here...

Pity the poor inspector

Yesterday, I found myself feeling sorry for the undercover ticket inspector on the 96 tram. She could have booked a whole bunch of people but missed out on the opportunity.

An elderly woman at one of the tram stops was wanting to get to the museum with her three grandkids but wasn't sure if she was on the right tram. The inspector, who had not revealed her identity at that stage, helped the old lady on board.

A few moments later, the inspector asked to see everyones tickets. The old woman feigned ignorance – in the way that only elderly people can do and still get away with it ("How much does it cost?", "Can I buy the tickets from you?").

The inspector fell for it and instead of booking the woman, tried to be helpful and pointed the old lady towards the coin machine.

The inspector then proceeded to ask the next set of passengers nearby for their ticket. Having witnessed what had gone on moments earlier, they, too, feigned ignorance ("Oh, we're from Adelaide? How do we buy tickets?").

And having set a precedent, the inspector had no option but to offer the interstate fare invaders the same opportunities to redeem themselves though you could see, by now, the inspector was getting frustrated..."what is going on today?", I heard her muttering under her breath.

Masculine beauty

Scientists have spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a man attractive. This is what we know about what women like (in no particular order):

1. symmetrical faces

2. masculine faces - high fore brow ridge and strong jaw line (but only during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle)

3. v-shaped trunk

4. no trunk hair

5. a deep voice

6. height (tall is sexy)

7. large penis


I think it would be interesting to see if the same features that make men attractive to straight women are similar to what gay men would find attractive. I suspect there would be considerable overlap (maybe with the exception of trunk hair??).

Melbourne vs Canberra

I've had a string of visitors visiting me over the past two months. When it comes to overseas guests, I always feel very strongly about giving them a positive impression of the city where I grew up (Canberra) and the city I now call home (Melbourne). I guess it's because I'm emotionally attached to both cities. However, I've noticed that it is a lot easier to convince people about the virtues of Melbourne than it is of Canberra. Why do people dislike Canberra so? I've heard people describe it as sterile. What does that mean though?

Getting a life

Over the Christmas break (Christmas eve to be exact), I received an email from the copy-editor of my new book. She had a list of editorial corrections she wanted addressed. I decided to hold off from passing on the email to the other authors until AFTER the new year.

Today I got an email reminder saying that she needs it by next week. I politely emailed her back reminding her that it was CHRISTMAS and that many people were on leave.

The copy editor's email got me thinking about work expectations. Most people think that university lecturers have a cushy job. I often get asked whether I have holidays when the students have holidays. The answer is 'no'. Teaching is only a small part of my job and I spend quite a bit of my time doing research (and a bunch of admin stuff too).

A few years ago, I came across this short article published in arguably the most prestigious journal in the field. It cleverly highlights a growing problem and the need for a better work-life balance among scientists.

wrestling

The never-ending barrage of weddings continues for me. Nathan and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Sydney to attend a wedding last night here. The groom is a surgeon and we were seated at a table with a couple of doctors (among others).

Somehow the topic of greco-roman wrestling came up. One of the doctors, a very nice Canadian guy, started telling us about his days on the school wrestling team and his deflating experiences of wearing tight-fitting outfits and being tossed into the air in front of the girl he was trying to impress.

It turned out that the other doctor at our table, a Finn, had also been a wrestler. We thought the Finn's experiences would be very similar to that of the Canadian. We were wrong. The Finn actually competed at World Championships and represented Finland at two Olympic Games! The contrast in skill and achievement made us all laugh.

Postscript: I just found a youtube video of the doctor in action. OMG.

An awkward conversation

A friend and I were chatting to a woman at a party recently. The woman, noticing my friend's sari, asked her where she was from. I thought it was a reasonable question but my friend was shocked by the question. Eventually, after a period of silence, she told the woman that she was Australian. Trying to smooth out the awkwardness, I added "she's from Western Australia."

mushroom misgivings

Over the Christmas break in Canberra, I was walking through the pine forests near my parents' house and noticed heaps of mushrooms sprouting everywhere along the walking trail. Having been an avid harvester of edible mushrooms in Europe when I was living there, the thought did cross my mind as to whether these local forest mushies were edible or not (especially as I have seen european ladies harvesting mushrooms in the same forest many years ago). After reading this, I'm glad I left those mushrooms alone.

How I kept my cool

Morning:


Noon:


Afternoon:

Transition

I think Nathan is transitioning into a bear. He already has a hairy chest, beer gut, and man boobs. Then, two days ago, he started to grow a goatee. Yes, a g.o.a.t.e.e.

There once was a time when I was persistently pestering Nate to grow facial hair because I was curious how he would look.

Some men look good with facial hair (see example below).

Nathan doesn't. And given that some of the hairs he has sprouted are actually ginger (GINGER!), I am trying desperately to convince him to shave it off.

Anal leakage?

So I was half-preparing NYE dinner/half watching the news when a story came on about closure of beaches in Port Phillip because (to quote the news reporter) "sewage had leaked out of a man hole". Nice.

Buggered

Just got back from a fishing trip – for work. I'm absolutely exhausted. Apart from the long drive and the intense day of sampling, I also had to process the specimens back at the lab and worked through the night to process them. I got home at 6am. Yep...I did an all-nighter at uni (thought those days were well and truly behind me).

Anyhow, it was 'interesting' working at the field site yesterday, which also happens to be a camp ground next to a big lake. I have been there twice before but the grounds have always been deserted. It was absolutely packed this time, mostly by young people with tattoos and/or facial piercings who are extremely eloquent and use words like 'fuck' and 'cunt' and 'youse'. These same people also have very young children who like to splash around where scientists are trying to collect fish. I was surprised to see that one of these young children (Dakota, age 4ish) can already say Jim Beam (no kidding). Clearly, if a creationist was serious about refuting natural selection, this camp ground (teaming with people who have bred who really shouldn't be passing on their genes) would have provided said creationist with lots of examples (and painted God as having quite a warped sense of humour).

Home sweet home

Got back late last night from Canberra. After reading about Victor's delays at the airport, I was pleasantly surprised that (1) my Qantas plane left on time and (2) landed in Melbourne 15 minutes early!

Notable highlights of my trip back to Canberra:

1. Seeing family and friends
2. The Treasures exhibition at the National Library of Australia
3. Waking up in the mornings to the sound of chirping birds (I don't mind the screeching trams outside my Melbourne apartment but I much prefer the chirping birds).

Things to do now I am back in Melbourne:

1. Start working on my grant proposal
2. Plan a field trip to collect more fish
3. Begin post-Christmas diet
4. Think about plans for new year's eve (currently, sitting at home in front of air-con is on top of the list).

An afternoon with...

While the siblings hit the boxing day sales, I spent a peaceful afternoon at the NGA with Rothko, Bacon and Hockney (among others).