Adelaide

I had a Qantas gift voucher I needed to redeem before the end of the year so Nathan and I decided to go to Adelaide for a day trip.

We arrived in the mid morning and headed to a lovely cafe for brekky before wandering over to the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). I've never been to AGSA before and I was really impressed by the way they display their collections. Old paintings hung alongside contemporary sculptures. It was fantastic. The highlight for me was this wall of Nolan portraits.

Our visit to Adelaide happen to coincide with Tarnanthi, the festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art so we also got to check out the exhibition at AGSA and also visit the aboriginal art fair at the nearby Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Centre. Impressively, I managed to resist temptation and only bought an exhibition catalogue. Nathan bought a tea towel.

Afterwards we went to Rundle Mall and had drinks on the balcony of the Richmond Hotel overlooking the pedestrian strip where a street performer was trying to get out of a Houdini straitjacket.

From Rundle Mall, we made our way to the South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, which is next to the Royal Adelaide Hospital,  to check out the beautifully designed building (it reminds me of the outer surface of a durian).

Soon, it was time to take an uber back to the airport. We got back to Melbourne in the early evening.

It was a great day.

Next week, I'm off to Israel!

Sore back

I managed to hurt my lower back about two weeks ago. Work colleagues, who have seen me waddle around the department have all been encouraging me to do yoga or pilates (I seem to be the only person at work not doing yoga/pilates!). I've told them I'll think about it (the answer is probably going to be 'no').

I decided, instead, to go the physiotherapist. I've never been to the physio before and I would say that it has been a generally positive experience (I guess it helped that the physiotherapist was ridiculously good looking).

I was pleasantly surprised that the work he did on my back was able to bring almost instant relief from the original back pain, though he did inflict a great deal of short term pain with his squeezing and poking and pressing.

It's still not 100% though so I'm going to have to go back for repeated visits.

I don't mind.

Another wedding

One of my cousins is getting married in Melbourne this weekend. There will be a large group of relatives descending from Sydney and Canberra. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Nathan was puzzled why my cousin had chosen to get married on AFL grand final weekend, when flights and accommodation are at a premium.

I don't think my cousin realised when they settled on the date.

Weird flowers

I saw these at a florist in North Melbourne today and had to get them. I have no idea what they are but they look weird and smell wonderful.

The crappiest table in the restaurant

I took a visiting Asian American Professor for Sunday brunch last week. We went to a very fancy restaurant in the city and got there super early in order to secure a table. In fact, we got there before the restaurant had even opened and there was already a small queue.

We waited our turn and a waitress asked us to follow her. Her colleague seemed perplexed and asked her where she was taking us and the colleague's response ("why?") should have been an early warning.

Sure enough, despite lots of unreserved 2 seater tables everywhere, our waitress took us up a ramp to a crappy long bench table, where we would have to sit side by side (and no doubt with others, as the restaurant filled).

We politely asked another waiter if we could sit at one of the two seater tables instead. We were quickly relocated without any fuss.

Ok, so maybe the waitress was just stupid but I couldn't help but wonder why we had been taken to the crappiest part of the restaurant when there were so many empty tables. Surely she couldn't have been that stupid?

My guest was oblivious but I did notice that the best tables were otherwise filled in order of arrival and the crappy long bench that we had been brought to was filled last.

Choosing to believe

So,  One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts chose to believe that he was not a British citizen. What a ridiculously weak argument.

This says a lot about the man, who also chooses to believe that climate change is not a reality.

It seems that Malcolm's reality is guided by beliefs rather than evidence.

Postal vote

Nathan and I both filled out our same-sex marriage surveys and have posted them back to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

As a scientist, I see so many design flaws with the process that, whichever way the decision goes, it's legitimacy is vulnerable to being questioned.

We all know that the compulsory plebiscite was blocked by the Senate and the Government has decided to go for a non compulsory postal survey instead.

Naturally, this means that only the views of a portion of the population will be sampled because not everyone is going to return their postal survey. Gathering data on only a 'subsample' of the population is widely and legitimately used in science – provided that the design of the subsampling is scientifically sound. Herein lies my biggest issue. Those who choose to participate and return their surveys will not necessarily be representative of the population as a whole because they will be a self-selecting bunch of individuals, i.e., those who feel strongly enough about the issue to vote. If one is going to subsample a population, then one needs to randomise the sampling process. The ABS should know this. It's one of the basics of good scientific design.

The question being asked is also being confused. The 'no' campaign has been raising a bunch of questions that have very little to do with the specific question at hand, which is about whether the law should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry. Thus, if some people are answering 'no' because they don't agree with some of the other issues being raised (boys wearing dresses; safe schools program), then this potentially also calls into question the validity of some of the returned surveys.

I've only raised some of the scientific issues. There are, in fact, many problems that could affect the credibility of the postal survey, from undelivered survey forms to people filling out multiple surveys.

And that's the worry!

Canberra bound

I'm off to Canberra today. Lots of celebration going on this weekend.

Youngest sis and brother-in-law are inviting extended family for wedding lunch. Grandma's birthday is coming up. And, of course, it's Father's Day on Sunday.

I'm also going to have to (finally) clean my fish tank, which is still at my folk's house. I have only one fish left. Since it was already an adult when I bought it, it's at least 19 years old!

What the?

I know I should know the answer to this (being a biologist, after all) but I'm stumped.

I saw this photo in an interior design magazine and I'm trying to figure out whether the creature on the furry ottoman is an alpaca or not. I think the context (an alpaca in a London apartment?) is contributing to my confusion.

Thoughts?

Trained

The dog has me well trained.

She stands on my chest every morning, willing me to wake up (usually before 6am).

I go downstairs to heat her food (Did I mention Truffles has mince, rice and vegetables for breakfast?).

She comes down when it cools sufficiently to eat.

After she eats, she goes to toilet, and then runs back up to bed.

No sleep ins for me.

Stylish

I don't care much for boxing but I do care for folks with a sense of style. And Conor McGregor has it in spades.

Dump

Nathan and I went to an open house inspection yesterday (yep, I might be soon moving to the suburbs...let's see).

The house was beautiful but I was perplexed I couldn't find the second bathroom/toilet.

The mystery was later solved when we figured out that the locked door leading from the laundry was, in fact, the toilet – and that another prospective buyer had been taking a dump.

It got me thinking...is it ok to be using the toilet for number 2s at an open house?

All clear

Went to see my electrophysiologist yesterday. The second heart operation seems to have been a success and he hopes he will never have to see me again. The feeling is mutual.

On my way out of the consulting rooms, I received a text from Nathan saying his grandmother was in the same hospital getting some tests. I decided to go up to the ward for a visit.

Nathan's grandma is a fiercely independent lady who lives on her own in Inverloch. She had a fall in the bathroom ten weeks ago - and hasn't been right since. Nathan's aunt finally decided to take her to hospital here in Melbourne to see if they can figure out why she is still in pain.

Nathan's grandmother is all about appearances. She had her hair cut specifically for her hospital stay (though she complained that the hairdresser had cut it too short). When I saw her, she was wearing a necklace under her hospital gown. The nurse made her take it off for her x-ray appointment.

The most amusing thing of all was when she introduced me as her 'friend'. The nurse looked at me strangely to try to figure out the nature of this somewhat odd pairing of elderly caucasian lady and younger asian man.

The ring

The poster for the horror movie says it all. Before you die, you see the ring. That's pretty much how I felt last weekend.

My friend and I were wandering along Gertrude Street and she wanted to go into a jewellery store for a browse. I obliged.

I'm not a jewellery wearer but I did appreciate the craftsmanship of the pieces in this particular store. In fact, my eyes almost instantly gravitated towards a beautiful (and large) silver stag beetle ring. Maybe it was the biologists in me but I was mesmerised. So, of course, I asked to try it on.

Big mistake.

The ring got stuck.

At first, I think my friend and the store owner thought I was joking. And I assume people do occasionally joke about these things. But it was no joke. I tugged and tugged and it just wouldn't come off. I then contemplated just buying the thing to cut short the embarrassment ($500 isn't that expensive, I thought to myself).

The store owner, ever the professional, rushed to the back of the shop and returned with a bottle of hand wash. He squirted some of it onto my finger. But nope, the ring was still stuck.  

He then retrieved a bottle of water and ushered me outside onto the busy sidewalk. By this point, I had seen the ring and I truly wanted to die.

Fortunately, water did the trick and I managed to slip the ring off my finger. I politely handed it back to the shop owner, apologised profusely and quickly made my exit.

One nation - or more?

Well, the current Australian Parliament has descended into quite a mess.

And it's all because of section 44 of The Constitution. Who would have thought? I don't even remember spending that much time studying that particular provision as an undergrad law student, although I do remember learning about the citizenship rule. Regardless, I bet law students (and their lecturers) across the country are having lots of interesting class discussions right now.

Malcolm Roberts from the One Nation party is an interesting case. I find it rather amusing that he is now having to 'defend' his allegiance to Australia, when the One Nation party has consistently made it their platform to spew the kind of divisive vitriol that has forced people like myself (i.e. migrant) to have to defend, time and time again, my own allegiance to Australia.

Just deserts.

Snail's pace

I felt well enough to spend some time outside the apartment today.

Nathan and I started with brunch at the South Melbourne Markets. We took the dog with us, which turned out to be a mistake. It was a very cold morning and dining al fresco was a bit too "fresco" for me. The dog enjoyed it though. She is a Scottish terrier cross after all.

After brunch, we dropped the dog back home and headed into the city to visit a designer furniture shop where I had my eyes on a designer quilt cover I had seen online. Unfortunately, the specific quilt I had in mind was not in stock and so the sales person had to check availability from one of their other stores.

Question: How long should it reasonably take for a sales person to do a check online? Well, in this case, it took almost an hour. It wasn't noticeable at first because there were lots of other amazing things in the shop to keep us mesmerised. But after 40 minutes or so, it started to become a bit of a drag. Ok, to be fair to the sales person, I also asked about a velvet cushion that was sitting in the showroom. So...1 hour to find out the availability of a quilt (I have no idea how much it will cost) and the price of a cushion.

Meanwhile, Missy Higgins (i.e. the singer) came into the store to ask about a chair she had ordered and had to wait because the sales person was 'busy' attending to us.

At some point, the sales person gave up and asked me for my contact details and said they'll be in touch.

After seeing this message on their Facebook page, I won't hold my breath. It seems that snail's pace is their trademark:

Very upset!!! Ordered 3 pendant lights 15 weeks ago, with a due date of 14 weeks. Heard nothing from them around due date, so I rang on the day before this date, spoke to someone who told me they would look into it, and she would ring me back, 2 days go by-nothing. So I ring again, and spoke to someone else, he said he would let me know as soon as he knew what was what. He did ring back within 10 minutes, told me they would be available from the Wednesday of the next week, so I said we will be in on the Thursday. Guess what, made the trek in, and NO pendants! They don't know where they are!!! So at this point in time, we have spent nearly $3000 On pendants we may never see! Bad form XXXXX!!! Our architecture recommended them, makes her look bad as well!

Resting at home

I was in hospital having my second catheter ablation on Monday.

Hopefully the procedure works this time, and will fix the terrible arrhythmias I've been having over the past couple of years.

Having already undergone the same procedure in March, I knew what to expect this time around.

I rocked up to the hospital, got lost (again) trying to find the right room, and changed into my hospital gown. I got fitted with the various electrodes, had a cannula put into my arm, and was wheeled into the catheter lab where I was put under general anaesthetic.

When I woke up again, it was all over. I was taken into my hospital room to recover and, as the anaesthetic worked its way out of the system, I began to feel better and better.

On Tuesday, I got to go home.

Nathan has made me promise to take it easy over the next week. The last time, I did too much too soon and that probably contributed to my gout flare up. I've learnt my lesson. I'm at home in my pjs with the dog watching TV. I'm trying not to attend to too much work stuff.

I won't know if the operation has been successful until a few weeks have passed.

I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Canberra

Geeze. Time flies and I've been very tardy with my blog posts.

Nathan and I both had a great time in Canberra.

On the Saturday, we met my sister's future in laws for lunch. They had flown down from Brisbane and are not fans of the cold so it was unfortunate that Canberra had record low temperatures that weekend.

After lunch, Nathan and I managed to get to the National Gallery for the Indigenous Art Triennial.

Well, strictly speaking, it has been about 5 years since the last triennial so the exhibition is really a quinquennial (Good to see that I'm not the only tardy one).

Sunday was the day of the actual wedding. Unfortunately, I had an upset stomach, which meant I spent a lot of my time dashing off to the loo but it was still a great day.

My sister and brother-in-law decided against a big Asian wedding so only immediate family members were in attendance.

Lunch was a multi-course degustation that took up almost the entire afternoon. In fact, the lunch went so long that my brother-in-law's family got changed into more comfy travel clothes at the restaurant and went straight to the airport afterwards for their early evening flight.

We went home for a couple of hours and then headed back out to a family dinner.

I'm back (but off again soon)

Four weeks in Finland came and went a lot quicker than I had hoped. I got back last Friday. Jet lag wasn't too bad this time around. I slept the whole day on Friday (and most of Saturday) and I was pretty much back to normal after that.

Nathan and I are heading to the airport again tomorrow. My youngest sister is getting married so we are going to Canberra. It's going to be a chilly weekend in the Capital. I'm bringing a good winter coat!

European update

I've been busy doing fieldwork here in Finland. It's been nice getting out of the office and working outdoors in the fresh air. I love the smell of the birch and pine forests here. I've been spending quite a bit of time out on the water as we need to take a boat almost everyday out to an island where we are doing our experiments.

I took a break a few days ago and went to Berlin to visit my retired gallerist friend. After several weeks of healthy eating in Finland, everything went out the window during my visit to Germany. I had schnitzel and sausage and meat balls and pickled pork knuckle. I basically pigged out on pig.