Cracked it

I dropped my iphone on the pavement when I was walking the dog. The screen was smashed.

The first thing that came to my mind is how on Earth do people manage to still use their phones with a cracked screen. I see lots of people on the train with cracked smartphone screens seemingly oblivious to the cracks obstructing the view of whatever/whoever it is that they are looking at (or texting). I could barely see anything through mine and it wasn't even that badly smashed.

The second thing that came to my mind was to go buy a new phone, which is what I did. Nothing fancy...an older model iphone (soon to be superseded). I just need it to make calls, text and read the news. Hmmm...I just hope I can find a protective casing for it.

Eel on toast

I was feeling adventurous and bought a whole smoked eel from the Vic Markets yesterday, head and all. As with all spontaneous culinary purchases of late, I had no idea how to prepare it. Thankfully I managed to find a good tutorial on the internet.

After overcoming the initial squirmishness of handling a rubbery two foot long eel (it reminded me of one of the formalin-preserved biological specimens in our teaching laboratory), I got down to business deboning the fish, which was quite fiddly.

It was well worth the effort when I sat down this morning to enjoy the eel on freshly baked rye bread with horseradish cream. Yummy.

Myth busters...

...goldfish do not have a 3 second memory.

Not in my name

I read on the ABC that a petition against the Safe School's program has been tabled in the NSW parliament, with more than 17,000 signatures gathered from the Australian Chinese community. Interesting how a petition can be seen to represent the views of an entire ethnic group on the basis that it is 'contrary to our cultural and belief system'. Well, the petition certainly doesn't speak for me.

Actions and consequences

Back when I was a uni student, it was not uncommon for law exams to be 'redeemable'. What this meant was that if you got a really shitty mark in your mid semester exam, you could opt to take a longer exam at the end of semester and if you attained a higher mark, you'd get to disregard your mid semester result. One of my law Professors would have none of that though. In response to a student question of whether the end of semester exam was redeemable, the professor simply answered back "Life is not redeemable". You make choices. Things happen. Live with the consequences. It was a valuable learning experience.

Gaswork art park farmer's market

Nathan and I took Truffles for a run at the Gaswork art park yesterday morning.

We were pleasantly surprised to see a farmer's market in full swing. Apparently it takes place one a month. We had no idea.

So...Truffles had her run, we had breakfast at the cafe, and I bought a beef brisket for Sunday dinner.

Why you shouldn't lie to your mum

Ryan Lochte, the US Olympic medalist, has managed to piss off a lot of people this week (including the entire population of Brazil) with his false claims of being held up and robbed at gun point.

An article in The Washington Post was particularly stinging, referring to Lochte as a swimmer "lost in the riptide of self-absorption" and the "dumbest bell that ever rang."  Another article in the New York Post described Lochte as "everything the world hates about American".

And all of this seems to have come about because he lied to his mum. Now, there's a lesson for us all...don't lie to your parents!

Internet woes

My laptop is hooked up to an ethernet cable. Remember those?

The wifi on the laptop is D.E.A.D. Getting it fixed is a hassle...I will need to leave it with the repairer for four business days. Given how much I rely on my computer for work (including teaching), I don't think I'll be able to get the laptop fixed before the end of teaching semester.

In desperation, I considered buying a new powerbook last weekend (this one is now 6 years old). The sales guy at Myers actually talked me out of it (bless him). He reckons I should wait because a new version of the Macbook is due to be released soon. In the meantime I will rely on my ethernet cable....my umbilical cord to the www.

I'm back

I'm back from my conference in the UK. I actually arrived back last Saturday and have been busy playing catch ups at work (hence, lack of blog posts). Oh...and my laptop wifi seems to have kicked the bucket.

The conference itself went well but the trip back was nightmarish due to cancellations and delays caused by the plane crash in Dubai. I should be grateful. I got home only 8 hours later than scheduled. A colleague from Perth two extra days to get home and waited in horrific queues to rebook his flights.