PETerinarian

Thailand itinerary 6 & 7

2009-10-28T18:11:00.011+08:00

Day 6: Planes, trains & automobiles (longboat, ferry, taxi, and tuk-tuk).

We said good-bye to Phi Phi Island in the morning. We walked 1/2 mile from our bungalow to the longboats which took us to catch the morning ferry to Phuket town. It was a beautiful day, so we sat on the sundeck soaking in our last views of this tropical paradise. As the ferry moved through the water it disturbed the native flying fish. About the size of sparrows, these fish would skim across the water like a skipped rock. At times the ferry would disturb a school of them and it was like an explosion out of the water. After an entire roll of film, Nathan finally gave up getting a picture of their erratic acrobatics.
After negotiating hard for a taxi at the ferry terminal, we hired a cab to take us to the Big Buddha on our way to the Phuket airport. the Big Buddha is exactly what it sounds like:
45 m high and 25 m across the base, covered alabaster. Its funded by govt, entry fees, and other 'cause related marketing"--such as you can buy a bell to hang at the buddha's feet, or write your name on a piece of alabaster that will be cemented into the buddha. The project has been going on for 20 years, and this December will be a landmark. The eyes of the buddha will be placed on the statue. Then they will cover the base with alabaster and statues of famous buddhist monks.

From the Big Buddha,we arrived at the airport to catch a plane to Bangkok. Our travel agent had recommended that the night train from Bangkok to Chang Mai is a good use of time and money. For the same rate as your hotel room, you can get a comfortable night's sleep and see some of the country side.

Exhausted people were sleeping on the floor in the Bangkok station...I should have taken that as a hint. But I was too tired, after 4 days of sleeping on our resort extra-firm mattress. When we got on the train, our sleeping compartment was actually 2 bench seats facing each other, with a padded shelf above it. After dinner (which we passed on), the table was stowed beneath the seat. The seat folded down and our steward put on sheets, pillow and a blanket, before doing the same for the padded shelf. Curtains offered privacy for changes into your pajamas. The train was FAR more comfortable than the resort bed....ah,, [squeal of the brakes] adjust the pillow, I can't quite seem to block out the light....twitch the curtain, someone walking to toilet compartment. [repeat every 6 min]. Sigh, might as well start reading.

Day 7: Arrive in Chang Mai, Wat, Wat, Wat?

We arrived in Chang Mai on the morning train...searching the guide book for a place to stay. Lonely Planet thinks that we are "flash packers"--too mature to want to stay in a dorm room style backpackers joint with thumping music but too cheap to pay for concerige service, bellhops, and a private bathroom. We stepped off the train with a short-list of cheap hotels and were quickly targetted by "spruikers" for a hotel. The rate was right and we didn't have to share a bathroom. "SOLD!"
After a quick shower, we headed out into the Old town to eat some food from street vendors and check out the temples that are part of Chang Mai's fame. Our lunch was multiple, mystery, deep fried items (fish balls, chicken, wontons) provided enough energy to walk the Temple Trail. After seeing several Wats, we ended with a visit to Wat Chedi Luang, a crumbling ancient temple in the centre with a newer ornate temple nearby.
We caught a Tuk-tuk (a covered taxi/minibus that picks up multiple fares at a time) to the hotel. After another shower, we headed to the Chang Mai night markets for dinner and deals. As we approach the market, stall after stall of watches, DVDs, thai silk bedspreads, scarves, fisherman pants, t-shirts line street after street. We found the seafood market and caught a table for dinner of local fish curries.

Thailand itinerary 1-5

2009-10-24T09:20:00.009+08:00

Day 1: Patong Beach--This is the Cancun of Thailand...beautiful beaches, filled with bars, cabarets, "cheap, cheap" market stalls. The beach may have been beautiful but not more beautiful than WA, and hard to appreciate as "tuk-tuk" drivers, market vendors sold Rolex watches for $10, and sequined women/men in drag advertised beer specials all vied for your attention. After walking throught the night markets, we found a bar where the most attention getting thing was a bottle of "CHANG" (thai budweiser) and a fierce game of connect 4.

Day 2: Ferry to Phi Phi Island: We came to Thailand on the edge of the Wet season. We found we hadn't quite missed the monsoons, when getting caught in the rain during a trip to the 7-11 left us soaked to the skin. After changing into dry clothes, we caught a taxi to the Ferry. The weather was sti ll ominous for the ferry ride, and we got soaked again as we stood outside to watch the approach to Phi Phi Island. We took a Thai long boat to the resort, where we finished the day in style. Nathan in the beachside bar watching Eurosport, and me at the beachside massage stand getting my first Thai massage.

Day 3: OW, what sort of bed is this? I don't know if its a cultural thing (or if our resort was just really cheap, but I swear we didn't have a mattress, just a wooden plank wrapped in sheets. After a delicious breakfast (nothing like chillis in the morning) we decided to walk to town to book our trip from Bangkok to Chang Mai. 1 mile into town, being called upon by vendors. If a price isn't posted, you are expected to haggle. so as we walk down the street, we hear "pretty lady try beautiful thai silk, $500 Baht, wait---for you special price $300 Baht, ...$150 Baht--best I can do" We had a curry for lunch at a beachside restaurant before deciding to hike around the Island, top to bottom. With a humidity of 100% the climb to the top was exhausting and sweaty. After a change of clothes, we decided to finish the day with beer and massage on the beach.

Day 4: Ow, maybe we should sleep on the floor? Our next goal was to take a trip to Hollywood superstar Ko Phi Phi Leh . Featured in the movie The Beach, this limestone island juts out of the Andaman like a crown. White sand, turqoise water, green plants. thousands of tourists. snorkelling, a trip to monkey

Day 5: We decided to finish our time in phi phi with a kayak trip around the island. After a few false starts we paddled out to a more secluded resort where we had a plate of fruit, a beer, and some time in the hammock. This resort included my first trip to a squat toilet--but years of camping have prepared me for this moment.

Tomorrow off to Bangkok----

Nathan Vs. The Papaya Salad

2009-10-11T12:28:00.004+08:00

...so in keeping with the last few posts, this was going to be titled, "Nathan Vs. His Groin" but thought that would get some disappointed web surfers.
You see, we're in Thailand, and while there are many reasons to be writing about your groin in Thailand, it is not usually because of muscle tears. We had booked this great trip, with a stay on the unfortunately transliterated Phi Phi island (pee pee island). Pause for snickering, because I don't care how old you are, it's kind of funny. Phi Phi island has many things going for it, including great water for diving and some warm water corals, and some things which are not in the favourable column, such as having been the set for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach and a tendency to attract tsunamis. But most of these things require one to be of sound body.
So, back to my groin. Adding another reason to Kris' list of reasons that I should not be playing goalie in hockey (expensive equipment, my inflexibility, the bad influence of the other players) is injuries. Not just bruising now, but tearing two muscles in one maladroit maneuver. And this just days before leaving town to go for what was, at least ostensibly, a dive holiday.
Unable to put on my own socks (God bless the Aussie love of flip flops), we were able to rule out a wetsuit, and so we sought out other pursuits. Chief amongst these is gastrotourism.
I'm sure that there is another word for it. Epicurism? Tourphages? I think i'll stick with gastrotourism for now, and it's a nice way to travel.
Green curry? Tried it. Panang curry with coconut sauce? Tried it. What's that fish - oh never mind, can you grill it up and bring it over? Great! Do you mind bringing a large beer, also? Thanks.
Now I know what you're thinking - you're concerned about the chilli factor. It hasn't been a problem so far, and is easily avoided if you want to. But every now and then, just occasionally, one will sneak up on you. Papaya salad? How spicy can that be?
Let me tell you - 660 ml of Chiang beer later, coconut curry prawn, an ear of corn from the sreet vendor, and my lips are still tingling. But it's a good kind of burn.
And it's taken my mind off of my groin.

Nathan Vs. The Clown

2009-09-15T22:34:00.002+08:00

So there's this new guy at hockey. I think that he's the one who pinged me on the shoulder with a puck at the end of practice yesterday - not the same shoulder as last time, but through a similar series of events left me with a shoulder so sore that I could not raise my beer to my mouth, which believe me, is pretty sore. He doesn't have a great shot, but he's got good dexterity, is very solid on his skates but deceptively graceful.

He should be. After all, he's a clown.

Derek is an actor from Toronto in town with Slava's Snow Show, which is a theatre event which defies description. The quote online is that Slava's "is to clowning what Cirque de Soleil is to circus." A bold statement, but one which we put to the test tonight.

Not having a clue as to what the show was about, just that it's a Russian clown show (which really didn't enlighten Kris and I, unfamiliar as we are with Russian clowns), we got tickets because 1) we thought it would be a good way to spend a Tuesday otherwise squandered on NCIS reruns, and 2) it would be cool to see Derek in action (off the ice).

Well. If you've never been, go. You can borrow my car. It turns out that the Snow Show is a visually arresting spectacle which makes you laugh out loud, want to cry, and made an octagenarian in front of us grin like a little boy. I still don't know what it was about, and will likely have flashbacks during which I try to assign some sort of narrative which may not exist or which may be completely inferred, but even on a Tuesday, surrounded by an audience remarkable only for its tepidness (tepidity? tepiduosity?), it was a moving, enjoyable night.

The only down side is that this week the Snow Show will be leaving town, and so will Derek, riding through the rainy Perth winter night on a Vespa, his hockey gear strapped to his back, stick like an antenna high above his helmet, and long curly clown hair waving in the breeze behind him, leaving smiles in his wake.

I'd toast him, but I can't raise this stinkin' glass...

Nathan Vs. The Marathon

2009-08-31T20:34:00.002+08:00

So, I've been training for this marathon-thingy for a few weeks, thinking - as you do - that I never put in this much training before, and I've always been okay, but neglecting to consider the fact that the first marathon was something like 14 years ago, and while that's not very much time in geological terms, in the life of someone who, given a choice, would be a completely sedentary being, it's actually time for quite a few changes to take place.

Atrophy of the sense of humor, for one, and also a tendency to run-on sentences (looking back at that first sentence makes me cringe, but I'll leave the words as they are to lend an air of authenticity and a stream-of-consciousness sort of Faulkenerian...damn, doing it again).

Two weeks ago, when a pipe burst under the sink, causing water to spray an outlet, causing a fuse to blow which, when I went out of the front door, the resulting chimney effect caused the back door to slam shut, and breaking it - well, that sort of Chevy Chase morning would usually have me rolling on the floor. But not during marathon training.

Instead, it took series of totally bizarre, classic Fremantle (the town we live in) events to bring it all back to perspective.

1) On a run later that morning, I spotted a group of people in white pajamas and red belts chasing around one of the parks, wrestling with what appeared to be a bear. We are talking like, a couple-dozen people here, and splashing around in a 50 degree drizzle. In pajamas - or did I mention that already? Intrigued, I ran a little closer, and discovered that they were enacting the running of the bulls in Pamplona, with the part of the Bull being played by a guy in a rented costume and no audience - just out there having fun.

Interesting, but I still needed more.

2) That Same Day - we boarded a train into the city, and found ourselves on a carriage of 25 or so guys in their late twenties, all dressed as characters from Harry Potter, complete with broomsticks and wands, using the don't-fall-over straps to hold themselves up and pretend that they were flying on the broomsticks. Other than loud, they were a pretty pleasant bunch, and actually gave a broomstick to a little boy as he was leaving, cheering loudly when he "flew" along side the departing train car.

Surreal, yes, but not enough to re-align my sense of humor.

3) Later That Night - on the way back from the city, our train was boarded by a jungle. A dozen or so people dressed variously as foliage, big cats, and intrepid explorers got on board. No explanation, just having a good time.

Okay, okay! I surrender! All this in one day? Really! Somebody is telling me something.

All in all, this sort of day - starting with the burst pipe and continuing on through George of the Jungle's appearance at the end of the day, was enough to keep me smiling all through the marathon yesterday - well, most of the marathon. It took a long, long time, and nobody can smile for that long, I don't care which infomercial they work for.

Audience poll: First thing that pops into your mind when I type the new word usement I'm structuring, "Marathong"
I kept typing it by accident, then started wondering if it was really for some, non-freudian reason that I would need your help divining. Or maybe it's just the obvious...

Nathan Vs. The Puck

2009-08-08T16:31:00.005+08:00

Kris has been trying to get me to re-enact my last trip to the US, and the misadventures of an episode of my life which we will think of as Nathan Vs. United Airlines, but it is actually fairly boring. A standard litany of airline ills, any one or two of which you may well expect on a trip, but ALL of which occurred on the trip from Perth to SFO. So, start with the phrase, "We're sorry Mr. Mannix, but you don't actually have a ticket..." being uttered at 5:30 AM, and use your imagination from there.

No, I like to focus on the other painful things in my life.

So, before you have a look at the photo below, you need to know 3 things;

1) I don't bruise. Ever. I have had one slight bruise in the last 5 years, and that was a broken finger.
2) I am very shy, so it is rare that you will ever see my bare flesh on the internet.
and,
3) It is very difficult to capture bruises on camera. You get the general sense of contrast, but it is difficult to highlight the halo of sickly, yellow discoloration around the main bruise.

So, without further delay...

It is worth noting that I don't play in a hugely competitive league or anything, and this is from the kick-around session on Monday nights.

damn - I should have flexed.

Interesting marketing strategy

2009-07-26T08:18:00.002+08:00

(Okay, I've been waiting for Nathan to regale you with the horrors of his flight to California, but its just too painful. I think he's repressing the memories.)

In the meantime, I saw this in the local advertiser and was fascinated. It brought me back to my days in grad school with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, a nationally know feminist critic from University of MN. GST is a little different from sales tax in the US, because just about EVERYTHING has GST but it really got me thinking.

It made me want to research and write an outraged article. But remembering very little of my rhetorical criticism pedagogy, I just thought I would raise these 3 questions.

1) Can you think of a similar product that every guy has to use for both health purposes and social acceptability? Do you think it would be taxed?

2) What sort of marketing campaign is this? It was on the back page, full colour spread of the advertising leaflet. What emotion are they tapping into...........resentment? that never makes me like the airlines!

3) Do you think this would work in the US?

Love to hear what you think! Now, let me just find that textbook.

Back in Oz (continued, CA edition)

2009-07-09T21:59:00.008+08:00

......So I picked up Nathan at the airport in a cheap off-airport rentacar. The airconditioner sounded like a jet and the engine light came on approximately 30 minutes from the airport.
Nathan had a horrible flight (a tale that I will let him tell...as his bad luck continued on the way home too) so he really just needed it to be over.

We drove up to Santa Rosa to meet Deb & Tim at their new house. Deb & Tim greeted us with a fantastic BBQ (Australian style) to relax to before Nathan collapsed of exhaustion. Conveniently, Deb & Tim's next door neighbor was out of town and Gretchen got to house-sit, and we were invited as guests too. It was really nice because we could walk over or Caitlyn could walk over whenever she wanted, but everybody got enough space.

Gretchen had come for a visit around Easter, and kept extending her stay to house-sit for this friend and then that one....before finally deciding to move to CA permanently. She'd been talking about it for ages...so Nathan and I were happy to help get her set up if we could. Since we currently do not own a house, we thought we might finance a little "investment property" in Santa Rosa...while housing prices were down. So we spent a couple of days investigating the property market. We even put in an offer on a place--a cute little apartment above a 2 car garage (that could be used as a second living space). BUT, sadly other people wanted a cute little investment property too and we lost out to someone who was willing to pay cash (and have no inspection).

We spent a few days visiting with Bill & Ethel, Missy & Molly, Debbie & Tim, even spent a night with David playing Trivial Pursuit (which Gretchen & Molly won!). We got to watch Caitlyn's TBall game and play rook as a family, even took a picnic up to the COOLEST playground. Nathan was energetic so he ran the 3-4 miles from Deb & Tim's house to the park...we just didn't tell him we had planned family pictures after that! Deb & I snuck away for a birthday treat for me--a trip to the spa for a massage. it was amazing (why don't I do that more often!?!?!?)

After a very relaxing couple of hours, we drove up to see Mike in Fort Bragg. Nathan was dying to see his Dad...so much so that he was willing to drive the 2 hours through gorgeous CA mountain scenery while GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup was being played. Mike must know he is loved for Nathan to make this sacrifice.

We connected at Mike's for a pizza dinner and late night gab session. We met a very hyper dog (OTIS) and tried very hard to catch up on all that's happened while Otis begged for attention. The next morning we took a trip to the Dog Beach, ate a Giant burger (Not to be missed on the RoadFood Guide to Fort Bragg), checked out Mike's logging truck (family photo!), and then went to explore the Hidden Coast. Mike drives this way regularly in his log truck but doesn't get to stop and smell the flowers. So we did--we smelled the flowers, explored the tidepools, took pictures, and explored the coast all the way to Usall. Usall is a place up the "hidden coast" accessible by a poorly maintained dirt road, which our rental car struggled up valiantly. We arrived to a campground full of big trucks and dirt bikes, family picnics, and a few hippy, funky artist types (who made this door "art" on the beach).
By the time we made it back to Fort Bragg, the fat from the Giant Burger and fries had made its way to my arteries and my stomach was ravenous. We made for instantaneous gratification...a chinese buffet. My arteries were pleased to see the wontons and honey-walnut shrimp.

On Sunday, Nathan took Otis for a run before we piled in the car for a trip to the Ranch. We hiked around the place look for artifacts...the Swoos(sp?), an old car, Deadhorse flats. After finding multiple ticks (of which I have a phobia) I retired to the mountain house for a little time to work on a puzzle. I couldn't resist this picture of the big Medrone tree outside. Our time with Mike was WAY too short, (and we didn't even get a chance to see Terry), so there's nothing for it....he has to come to Australia. (After a brief return trip to pick up the camera we forgot) we headed back to Santa Rosa.

While we were away, Gretchen had left for Minnesota to start packing for her move to CA. Even though our quest to buy a house was unsuccessful Gretchen had arranged to rent part of a house with Nathan's aunt Molly.

On Monday, Nathan FINALLY got to watch the GAME 7 of the Stanley cup (can you believe we went the whole weekend without anyone spoiling the result!?!?!?). We spent the last day with Deb, Tim & Caitlyn relaxing (and making a few essential purchases like new shoes!). We crowned our evening with a memorable Thai dinner and a final game of rook.

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to Deb & Tim, drove to San Jose where we met Alan, Masami, and the boys for lunch. Nathan dropped me at the airport before driving to Fresno where he met his high school classmate Zach Reagle for dinner. Nathan hadn't seen him since our wedding (12 years ago). Despite all this time they both had lots in common (medical school, scotch, triathlons, and amazing, talented wives). After catching up, Nathan headed for the airport to fly back to MN to see family and friends and make the scenic drive back to MN......
(to be continued)

Back in Oz!

2009-07-06T22:29:00.005+08:00

Nathan and I are once again living together. Since my dad's death, Nathan and I have been in separate hemispheres (with the exception of 1 week in CA where we crossed paths). Nathan flew to MN on the 25th to be with me for my Dad's funeral, then flew back to Australia on the 6th May. My bosses (John & Vicky) were so understanding, they let me stay in MN until our planned vacation on the 7th June. During that time, I got to spend some great time with my family.

Mom and I spent some wonderful time together, always talking... We went walking with her friends, out for lunches, shopping, did cross-word puzzles, and somehow never quite got to the list of "to-do" projects that were waiting. Julie, Mom and I went to Rochester for a weekend, had dinner at Brian & Jens, went to Andy's wedding with Cory & Mom, celebrated my birthday with a girls dinner. Cory and I got to hang out and talk about everything from music to medieval weapons, despite the teasing he took about the moustache. I got to watch Sam's dance recital, Owen's gingerbread man & birthday party, go to a movie with Spencer, and hold baby Kaitlyn again.

My friends were all so amazing....Jaymi picked me up from the airport when I was exhausted, Connie came down and spent the night listening to me sob, Donna drove down to see me, I saw Sara (Snuggles) for lunch. Hilary flew from Pittsburgh to help me find some laughter when I needed it (proving you are never too old for the swings!)

I finished my time in MN with a couple of days of just Mom, Julie, Alan, Brian, Cory & I. We made a few decisions, went out for lunch, played a "fiercely competitive" game of golf,
then headed home for a BBQ and planting a tree in Dad's memory. Everyone had to shovel a little, and with a big family like ours we had to put a little dirt back in at the end.

Alan & I flew together to CA, on the 7th June. We were able to arrange it so we could fly together. We had Saturday together just Alan and I which was nice to have some time just the 2 of us. After a great breakfast, Alan talked me into go for a bike ride in the hills near his house. Even though we went the "short, easy way" the ride took its toll on me!

That night we had dinner with Alan, Masami and the boys. We finished it off with some 6 handed cribbage, which left Alan promising revenge. The next morning, Alan had to fly to Japan and I rode with him to the airport to meet Nathan.....

In memory of my Dad

2009-06-21T13:32:00.004+08:00

Since my dad's death, I've had quite a few friends ask about him and his life, so I thought I would post his obituary for those that are interested. I've got some photos and from my time in MN that I will share soon. Thank you to all the family and friends that have been so supportive over the last 2 months.
Derald Naumann Derald was born in the city of Elmore MN on January 14th 1930 the second child of Ira and Myrtle (Krosch) Naumann. The Naumann family lived in Elmore for the next year after which they moved to the former Dick Ripley farm, living there until 1939 when they moved to the Iowa farm south of Elmore. He attended country schools until graduating from Elmore High School in 1947. Derald became an avid sports participant in high school with competitive roles on the winning football and basketball teams. Derald attended the University of Minnesota Ag School and quickly became a successful college wrestler with highlights of making the final rounds of tryouts for the US Olympic team in 1952. Derald served as a cryptographer in the Korean War, and upon the completion of his tour of duty in the Army, he returned to the family farm. He remained proud of his country and its military and supported the cause by serving for more than 50 years in the local American Legion post, in a variety of roles, including the role of commander. Derald married Lois Jensen on May 26 1956 and they later divorced. On March 17th 1967 he married Bonnie Smith in Blue Earth and they lived on the family farm until his passing. Derald was actively involved in farming his whole life, but played many other roles in the community.After wrestling at the University of MN, and for the Army, and he was instrumental in founding and building the wrestling program at Elmore High School. He continued coaching until the school closed in 1990. For over 16 years, Derald was the greenskeeper at the Minn-Iowa Golf Club. He was a substitute mail carrier eventually having a full time mail route and retiring in 2000. He was actively involved in his church holding many offices over the years. He loved to be competitive whether it be playing cards, debating who caught the biggest fish, or in the many hours playing golf with his friends and family. Derald passed away peacefully in his home on 24 April 2009. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, his children, Cory Naumann; Kristin (Nathan) Mannix; Brian (Jennifer) Naumann and their children, Lindsey, Jamie, Samantha and Owen; Alan (Masami) Naumann and their children, Stefanie, Michael, Bradley and Gregory; Julie ( Scott) Smith and their children, Summer, Taylor (Emily) and Crystal. Derald has 11 grandchildren and 5 great grand- children: Spencer, Mariana, Josiah, Layla and Kaitlyn. He will also be missed by his sister JoAnn Schaumburg, and brother Donnie (Connie) Naumann, his sister-in-law, Mardee (Dave) Heinrich, his brother-in-law Richard (Vickie) Houge and his aunts, Elvira Thompson, Eva Thorson and Madeline Naumann and many nieces and nephews.

Derald was preceded in death by his parents, Ira and Myrtle, his brother Edwin and his wife Geri and his brother-in-law Marvin Schaumburg. Derald was a grateful recipient of the gift of blood donated by many generous persons. Should friends so desire, expressions of sympathy are requested in the form of blood donations or monetary donations to the American Red Cross to aid in blood donation efforts.

Hockey...sweet, sweet hockey.

2009-05-10T16:23:00.008+08:00

(Note to interested readers - some of you know about our recent emergency trip back to Minnesota - I'm not going to address all of that here. I just feel that this is not the forum.)

So I know what you're thinking. We're over halfway through the semifinal round of the playoffs, and no word about the ice? You're no doubt wondering where are my priorities? Like, am I even trying to grow a playoff beard?

Sadly for me, but happily for my employers and everyone that I have to kiss, I am not growing a beard this year. Had the Wild made it, I would be as hirsute as I can be. As it is, I'm not sure who I am even cheering for. I will say, however, that Tivo (or IQ as the call it here) makes the cheering much more fun! Not only is it recording all the games, rewinding and pausing the odd game that happens while I am awake, but it gives one a sense of power. If only it applied to real life - or even just stoplights - life would be greatly enriched.

Anyway, back to the playoffs.

It was never going to be the Rangers. I just can't, ever, not even if he were on my team, cheer for Avery. (in their favor, though, Mara has the best beard since Commodore). It also couldn't ever be the Sharks, in spite of the resurrection of Claude Lemieux. I like Jeremy Roenick, but there is something about watching Joe Thornton flounder that makes me happy.

The obvious choice is the Devils, since Brodeur is not only the best, but the coolest. Unfortunately, they just didn't have the firepower. Flyers? Nope. Hurricanes? Don't make me laugh. Anaheim? Anaheim? Hold on (vomiting sound). So...who does that leave? Red Wings are just cliche. They will probably win, but it's no fun to cheer for them. Their estimated 712,000 games of playoff experience makes it seem automatic, but it would be more exciting for a cinderella team to show up.

Did somebody say exciting? How about Ovechkin? I hadn't had much of a chance to watch him before, but he backchecks, scores goals, and boy! can he throw an open-ice hit! Fun to watch, plus Varlamov adds that Cinderella aspect of completely untried goalie carrying them through the first round. Unfortunately for the Caps, it will come down to coaching.

And let's face it - the Caps are coached by Mr. Carlson from WKRP, while the Penguins are coached by Noah Bennet from Heroes. No contest. Even if Boudreau did play for the Minnesota Fighting Saints, we've seen him taken advantage of by the likes of Les Nessman too many times.

So, my ideal matchup would be Blackhawks/Capitals in the final. I would accept a Red Wings/Penguins matchup. I have nightmares, however, that involve watching the Hurricanes and the Ducks. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, where's my razor?

FLAT SAM'S Easter Blog

2009-04-16T21:05:00.007+08:00

This Easter, we had a surprise visitor from the US--FLAT SAM (A 2-d version of my neice Samantha mailed to us as a school assignment). Our job was to show FLAT SAM a bit of Australia.....so this blog is from her.

I arrived in Western Australia after 5 days in the international mail--boy was it cramped! (although I hear flying coach in Virgin Pacific is worse). Kris & Nathan were going to Albany for Easter and promised to take me on their vacation.

Friday, 10 April

We woke up at 6 am on Friday morning, trying to beat the traffic to Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. By 8 am the car was packed with camping equipment, and we were on the road. After joining a steady stream of cars heading down the Albany Hwy, Kris began a series of frantic calls to try and secure a campsite in the holiday traffic.

At about 1:30 pm, we arrived in the Pronogerup mountains about 30 minutes from Albany. The campsite was already full, but they made room for us to pitch our tiny tent among the Aussie's portable castles. Since it was a beautiful day, Kris and Nathan wanted to get into see a bit of Albany and the Southern ocean. We had lunch in the sunshine, went to the county courthouse, and tripped out to West Cape Howe to watch the sunset over the Southern Ocean. The sunset was more dramatic because Middleton Beach is one of the best hanggliding areas in Australia and we watched the gliders soar over the ocean before drifting down to join us on the beach.

I got the chance to hike a little bit of the Bibbulman Track, one of the longest hiking trails in Australia. Albany is where the Bibbulman Track starts...Kris wants to hike it all someday when her feet get better!

Saturday, 11 April

We woke early to head to Albany for a tour of the town. After a quick stop at the farmer's market, Kris and Nathan headed to the waterfront to take in the Festival of the Sea. Albany's town festival featured local Australian wines, fresh seafood, cooking demonstrations, entertainment.

After tasting a "yabbie pie"(a pot pie made with crayfish), we decided to take a break and head out for another event across town--the "youth national soapbox championships"at the top of the hill. We expected amateur constructions of plywood, bike wheels, and homemade paintjobs, but were shocked to find moulded plastic bodies racing downhill at breakneck speed. We talked to one of the organisers and find that there are 3 major clubs in Western Australia that have soapbox races all year long. I got a chance to sit in one of the winning racers.

We went back to the Festival of the Sea to watch the boat race. Teams had 4 hours to build their own boat from limited supply of plywood and glue. You wanted to do a good job because you had to paddle or sail your construction 200 m to the jetty and back. I picked my favorite boat for the race. One of the boats collapsed before it left shore, 4 others made it into the water, only 2 completed the full trip.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant right on the beach called the Squid Shack. I ate fresh squid! and it was delicious. The best squid I ever ate. Kris and Nathan had some shark too, but the squid was my favorite.

We decided to head back to the tent for an early night since we had a big day the next morning. Kris and Nathan crawled into the tent to find it overrun with ants! It had rained on and off all day, and one of the zippers had been open a tiny bit. The ants took shelter from the rain in Kris' sleeping bag. Several hours later, after a bit of bug spray and many, many sleeping bag inspections we all hit the hay.

Sunday 12 April

While Kris and Nathan were up early fixing breakfast, I watched the kids in the tents next door were finding Easter eggs. Would you believe the Easter bunny didn't bring me any FLAT EGGs? Kris and Nathan had planned a morning boat trip, a visit to the whaling museum, with an evening Easter service. We arrived at the jetty at 8 am. The wind was blowing and the waves looked rough. It was a scuba trip! And I got to come along too!

After packing up the scuba gear (including Kris' new wetsuit:), we climbed aboard the dive boat for a very bumpy 30 trip to Seal Cove (I would have gotten sick but Kris made me take dramamine). At Seal Cove, I could see at least 30 seals lay on the rocks near the water. As soon as I jumped in the water, the seals dived into see the divers.

The seals were mostly white, with big black eyes, and tiny ears. They could swim so fast--and were very cute and playful--they even decided to play with the hood of Nathan's wetsuit. I wish I could have gotten a picture but Kris' camera doesn't work in water that deep. One of the other seals nibbled on a diver's hand--and I could see they had big teeth like a pitbull. I'm glad they were only playing!

After playing with the seals, I got to visit a shipwreck--the Cheynes II, a whaling boat. The boat had been sunk by purpose--blown up by dynamite. Now it was covered in coral and sea grass. I could still see all the masts and portholes, now it was covered in coral and sea grass and surrounded by bright coloured tropical fish.

After our dive, we went to visit WHALE WORLD where I got to see the Cheynes IV--the sister ship to the wreck in the ocean. The ship had a big harpoon gun on the front, a huge engine (it used almost a ton of fuel a day), and a big winch to help pull the whales to shore. We watched a 3-D movie about whales and took a tour of the huge factory that used to make whale oil and ambergris for perfume. Whaling is outlawed in Australia, so the ship is just a museum to show what they used to do.

The museum took so long that we missed church! We sang Easter hymns all the way back to the tent. We didn't have any ants but Kris checked her sleeping bag just in case.

Monday 13 April

Our last day in the Pronogerups was beautiful. We went to see "art in the park" a collection of sculptures that are set in the national parkat the foot of the mountains. My favorite was this one.--wait, that's a plant.

After looking at the art, we went for a hike up to Castle Rock, in the Prongerups. The Prongerups are the oldest mountains in the world...more than 1400 million years old. They are home to 1000 different types of flowering plants and more than 78 different types of birds. When we got to the top, there was a cool boulder that weighed 140 tonnes balanced on its end. We climbed all the way to the very top and you could see for miles.

On our way down we stopped at Maleeya's Thai restaurant. Nathan said the spring rolls were the best he ever had. I had fish curry--it was very spicy so I shared most of it with Nathan. after lunch, we drove home. We stopped at the "big ram" a giant sheep in the town of Wagin tha has WOOLARAMA every year--where they shear the sheep and sell the wool.

I'm hoping I can stay a while longer in Australia--because Kris and Nathan want to take me snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef in a few months!

one lump or two?

2009-03-25T15:46:00.005+08:00

I love working at Murdoch vet school. It is NEVER boring.

Part of the reason its never boring is that there so much good work to do. Sometimes its about the people, sometimes its about the animals.

Yesterday, as I popped over to see the staff about one of our successful cases, a trailer pulled up outside the vet school with a CAMEL in it.

yep a camel (can you imaginewhat the people on the freeway thought?)

Tanami stands about 6 ft tall, and weighs about 500kg (1200 lbs). He's one of a few camels on a nearby hobby farm.

He's at Murdoch for a the "snip".
Tanami has an undescended testicle, which means that his regular vet was only able to geld him half-way. He still acted a bit too much like a stud, so he needs the other one removed. After calling a few vets none of whom wanted to try their hand at anesthetizing this big fella, they called Murdoch.

So Tanami sits in our production animal barn, heads above the other sheep, goats, and alpacas. Tomorrow is the big surgery day. So far a steady stream of students and staff have visitedhim to wish him good luck on his surgery. I popped down for a cuddle just to make Nathan's aunt Molly jealous.

Tomorrow the media arrives to document this unusual case. I can't wait for the headlines. One hump or two takes on an entirely different meaning when you are talking about a camel gelding.

Our roommates

2009-03-21T17:50:00.008+08:00

When we were invited to take up a cheap lease on our new house, we were excited about the opportunity but a little cautious. The conditions of the lease included the care and feeding of 2 cats.

It was clear from the first that we were moving into the cats' house. Before we could sign up for the deal, the cats would have to approve. I was overseas but Nathan, the cat whisperer, managed to woo these shy and somewhat high-strung cats into a little cuddle on the first date.

When Col and Clyde moved out, the cats were quite upset. Neither would stay in the same room with us for the first week. But Nathan again worked his magic and they have relaxed. Just last week, we made another test...moving Jake back (into his own half of the house). Jake's rather potent smell and earsplitting yowling have our new roommates a little nervous, (not that it looks it from these pictures!) and we are hoping to slowly introduce them to each other.

But first we'll introduce them to you:

To dance is human to Polka is Divine (Polka) is an 11 yr old female Siamese, who is quite timid and likes a bit of a snuggle. She is terrified of Jake, and even though he's behind a shut door, Polka runs in fear when Jake starts his usual yowling for company.
I had coordinated my previous work wardrobe with Jake--black suits to hide his black cat hair. Polka's cream colour fur means I need a new wardrobe for each part of the house.
She is a big change from ole Jake, as she is definitely a lap cat. Once she has found a lap she is there FOREVER. She likes Nathan best, perhaps because my tiny bladder won't allow for extended uninterrupted lap time. Polka is also convinced the way to get our attention is to sit on the computer keyboard while we try to type.

Pinky Freidman (Pinksta) is an 11 yr old neutered male Burmese who is slightly crazy. The first 3 weeks he would freak out if you were entered a room he was in, now 6 weeks in he's becoming a lap cat too. He has the most pitiful meow (like he has laryngitis).

Pinky gets to go outside every day with a belled collar. In the morning he jumps on the counter by the door to have his collar put on. Once it's on, he'll jump down ready to get outside for the morning scout.

He apparently is quite aggressive when he is outside (as we have already seen him fight with another neighbor cat). Although we hope to avoid any conflicts, Jake can take him. Not only does he weigh twice as much as Pinky, he doesn't have such a weenie name.

Jake "the Peg" (Jacque) is our big black 3-legged cat. He's probably about 14 years old, and wasn't neutered until he was 2 or 3. He has old Tomcat jowels, urine like napalm, and in London terrorised cats within a 6 mile radius. Since then, we have kept him as a house cat, with no other cats for competition. He has adjusted to the move to our new home graciously, with no malicious peeing and almost no curiosity about the cats on the other side of the door.

They all still live separate lives: Pinky outside for most the day, Polka on her own in the house, and Jake in his half of the room. Maybe someday we'll get brave enough to try and mix these 3 cats together.

As I was telling my sister about our cats, I was reminded of my neices and nephew predicting I would eventually become the crazy cat lady with 20 cats.

3 down, 17 to go.

On the move again

2009-03-11T20:17:00.013+08:00

Where have we been for the last 4 weeks?
In purgatory, in limbo, in cognito?

Nathan and I spent our Valentine's Day weekend celebrating with a romantic getaway in a turn of the century stone cottage overlooking the ocean. It's our new house...

Unfortunately, valentine's day (valentines' ?!?!? see previous) was spent preparing for the move.
After a day of watching Nathan swim for his triathlon (okay it wasn't a full day, but a chunk of it), we packed our first boxes for the move that night. With folks coming at 11:00 am the next morning, we decided we would just move the furniture into the moving van and pack the rest into our cars after moving the furniture.

The next day we were up early to pick up the truck, pack a little more, and deliver Jake to the spa for a little holiday. Our packing was cut a little short by the fact that we had to return the first truck for leaking diesel all over. So at 11:00 am our moving crew showed up--Jeff, Emily & Justin. We had all the furniture loaded in about 1.5 hours (even with a beer break). We thought we might have a chance to beat our previous 4 hour record. When we turned up at the new house, unfortunately the owners (Clyde and Colleen) were still moving the last of the items out.

We took a break for lunch and started unloading again at about 3 pm. We moved everything in just over an hour. We had to take a break for a stressed out strategy session when we discovered the room we had planned on for a bedroom need to be a music room because the piano in it couldn't fit out the door (except for on its side). After a few minutes, we rearranged the plan and finished the unloading. Although the move went fairly fast (Jeff, Emily and Justin may not think so), we were exhausted so opted not to move the small boxes of things back to the house that night. Our old house was ours for another week, so we were able to procrastinate the rest of the moving and cleaning for a few more days.

This caused a minor problem the next morning, when I discovered that I packed no shoes for work and had to drive over to the old place to finish dressing. Over the next weekend, we moved shoes, food, tools to the new place and did a marathon day of cleaning.

Our new home is just 1 km from our old place. We are renting from some friends of ours, at a really good rental rate. The catch is that the house is "unusual" and comes with a pair of high-maintenance felines. As you know Jake doesn't play well with others, so he spent a few weeks at the spa while we tried to settle the inherited felines down. He's just moved back in...so we know have divided the house in half: Jake's half and the other cats half.

The good news is that this house is perfect for that. It is 2 stone cottages from 1899 and 1900, which have been blended into 1 house. It has 2 front doors, and the front of the houses are 2 seperate lounges, and bedrooms connected by a long hallway. At the rear of the house there is 1 shared common kitchen and dining room, with 2 entries, and 2 bathrooms. It also has 2 seperate gardens at the rear of the house. It has 2 gas bills, 2 electric bills, 2 days to take the garbage out. At least we only have 1 phone number (the same number as last time--email if you need it).
I thought you'd like to see some photos of the house, and our new housemates.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

Hmm, maybe I'm losing my touch as the apostrophe police, diluted down by the Australian relaxed attitude towards the apostrophe. After 2 years of seeing "egg's 4 sale" and "wall repair's" advertised on high-quality, commercially produced signs, I might have been a little desensitized. That's why, when writing out a greeting on Feb. 14th, I found myself faced with 3 options.
A day belonging to the valentine, Valentine's Day.
A day belonging to all valentines, Valentines' Day.
A day of valentines in general, Valentines Day.
(and has anybody else noticed that it is abbreviated VD? Coincidence?)

My ponderings were cut short in the morning of the day in question by my preparations to make this a truly memorable (if not romantic) day.

First, and this is important, Kris got up and did the dishes. A gift from her to me, I like to think. Then I got up and got ready for a triathlon. Yes, another one. No, I'm not getting any better at swimming -- quite the contrary.
This race was held in fresh water, and warm enough that I wasn't able to use the wetsuit. Not that I needed it to keep warm, but I have become reliant on the suit and saltwater to keep me somewhat more bouyant, and without those two aids, it was the worst swim ever. Kris has videos of the lifesavers, after everybody else is out of the water, trying to keep themselves amused while I inched nearer the finish. I am more and more appreciative of whoever named this stroke the crawl, as that seems appropriate.
I thought that the bike and run had gone okay, but the clock said otherwise. Cursed technology.
All the while, Kris has been absolutely starving. She declined by polite offer of a tube of Gu, but was sitting at the finish dreaming of an omelette. It was a late-starting tri, and by the time my race was done, and the elite runners were in, and the spot-prizes had been dished out, and the medals awarded, it was 4:30, and Kris was ready to gnaw off her own hand. Or mine.
A snack bar behind the seats of the car saved me from being savaged, but we were still bitterly disappointed that the restaurant that serves my new favorite dish, Fish on Fire, wasn't open yet. Instead, we returned home and, while I tried to unsuccessfully to scrub off the race number, Kris made huevos, trying to build up energy.

After all, we would need our strength, for it was only 16 hours after we got done eating that we needed to pick up the moving truck. And we had yet to pack...

Happy Valentine's' D'ay'!

She's Baaaaack!

2009-02-03T13:39:00.000+08:00

Straight from her recent tour of Sydney, Honolulu, San Francisco, aaaaaand Elmore, we welcome back to Perth...Kristin!

The travels went well, but on the return home, there is always something that doesn't get done. Anticipating her return, I had a clean kitchen, all the laundry done and folded, and even shaved off my whiskers. But I am far from perfect. I feel like I let her down. You see, I hadn't - quite - emptied the pantry of all food.

I had worked hard, working my way through stuff that requires actual cooking (black bean lasagna, anyone?), but was still left with couscous, a can of beans, some sweet chilli tuna, a jar of cranberry sauce, and the title-holder world-record worst puffed rice wafers ever. (I have years of experience with rice-based diet foods in various sizes and shapes, but these are MUCH less appetizing than the corn starch packing peanuts.) Anyway, I could tell by the look on Kris' face that she had expected more of me. I hate the disappointment.

But I know what you're all thinking -- you're wondering about Superbowl coverage in Australia. Well. For the first time, it was aired live on terrestrial TV (and for the first time, an Aussie was participating -- coincidence?). The game was great. They showed some commercials, which the commentators really did not understand ("They seem to really love their Dorito's over there" said one puzzled announcer). What more could we ask for?

Intelligent commentary. I was hoping to never say this, but the commentary from Aus made John Madden seem like a genius. Really. The only thing they had a clue about was punting, and that was pretty limited in their knowledge. The best play by play comments were about the halftime show ("With a new album hitting the shelves, The Boss won't just open with one of the old favorites" and whatnot). Furthermore, since the Aussie on the Cardinals is the punter, almost all of the dialogue focussed on the kicking game.

I will say this, however. Watching the Superbowl in 101 degree weather sure makes that cold beer taste great. And I was so absorbed in the game, the first I've watched in 2 years, that I even ate two of the rice cakes.

Out-auguration

2009-01-21T21:12:00.000+08:00

Happy dawn of a new free world, everybody.

Literally dawn, here, where the inauguration speech didn't air until 3:25am. Thank god for the internet, so (after falling asleep in front of the TV) I could download it the next morning. And what a speech, what a president!

There has been much made about the inauguration, even here. Inauguration, from Latin inaugurationem (nom. inauguratio) "consecration, installment under good omens," from inaugurare "take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable," from in- "on, in" + augurare "to act as an augur, predict" must have its equal and opposite. I would like to propose a new phrase, representing all the good things that are predicted not just by the incoming Obama, but the outgoing Duhbleya.

First, because esteem for US citizens internationally has been so low for the last 8 years, we are finally able to raise our heads, stop talking with phony Canadian accents, and cut the maple leaf flags from our backpacks. It is not just because we elected an erudite man who has lived in Indonesia and has some real experience with the people of other nations, but it is also because we have shown that we can (eventually) learn from our mistakes by not voting for the same old folks who have so lowered the international opinion of the US.

Also, by trading in a President who can barely read for an editor of the Harvard Law Review, we have shown that we are rejecting the semi-literacy and mediocre communication skills that we have suffered through for the last eight years.

Finally, by our choice as a nation to see out the culture of the good ole boy network, the yes-man mentality, the cronyism which has been in such evidence during the last administration, we can feel that we have said goodbye to the unilateral government that did not tolerate dissent.

The only person with anything to lose by not having Bush in office anymore seems to be David Letterman and his Great Moments In Presidential Speeches segment.

Happy Outauguration, everyone!

at last, deadly australia!

2009-01-19T22:59:00.000+08:00

Finally.

We have been here for over 2 years, and finally, a confirmed sighting of one of Australia's vaunted deadly animals in the wild.

It's a well-known fact that Australia is home to lots of stuff that will sting, bite, paralyze, chomp, drown, squeeze, envenomate, or just generally make life a misery. What is less well known is the fact that this is also a huuuuuuge place, and most of these creatures small, making the chance of sitting on one very small. But it is a very real chance.

So it is with immense satisfaction that I finally caught a snap of, frankly, the coolest deadly thing on the list.

Behold! The Blue Ringed Octopus!

This little guy (he would fit in your hand, if you were stupid enough to hold him) is usually pretty much dressed in boring old earth tones, but when annoyed, lights up some blue rings distinctive to the species. (There are a few biology geeks out there who would point out that there are 2 species, but very, very few people can tell the difference, and almost none of them will read this blog.)

So, imagine you're a child, or an inquisitive scuba diver, or even just a fella from Alaska poking around in the tidepools, and you see something light up like a carnival side show, and you reach out to pick it up (don't worry, I didn't). Then, the little guy injects some venom through his beak with a bite that you may never feel. In the next few minutes, the neurotoxin causes partial or total muscular paralysis, including the muscles of respiration. You may even vomit, but can't cough or swallow, and death by respiratory failure follows. Of course, during all of this, you are totally conscious.

Cool, huh? I mean, this place has got EVERYTHING!

So, without further ado (admitting that there was a fair amount of preceding ado), meet, uh, bluey. Or ringey. Or octopussy. Ah, heck, just check it out.

Recipes and stuff.

2009-01-18T20:44:00.000+08:00

So I thought that with Kris gone, and me with a largely unrefined palate, this would be a good chance to try to eat everything in the cupboard that had been there for more than 6months. The goal was to try to avoid doing any grocery shopping during the time that I'm baching it, in deference to my days in The Cave at college, when we only went to the store when the 10# bag of tricolored rotini and block of velveeta were finally finished (and even then, it was just not cool to show up at Cub until 3:30am).

A current, honest inventory of the fridge includes:
1 jar of cucumber slices, 4 slices left.
1 jar of pickled onions, 3 onions left.
1 econo tub of yoghurt, expiration date unclear (smudged).
22 eggs.
1/2 jar of cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.
Condiments.
Beer (11 cans midstrength, 2 bottles wheat beer, 1 bottle chocolate stout)
Cat food.
There may be some vegetables in the crisper, but, frankly, I'm afraid to look.

So, in lieu of more toothsome fare, I turned to the cupboard shelves to see what they would yield. I am willing to share these recipes with you, if only to keep you from making the same mistakes.

1. Egg McNuthin' -- fried egg on heated, chili-flavored rice cake, topped with "tasty" cheese.
Rated at 3/10 -- flavor unsatisfying, left me wanting more...of anything else.
2. Chili con Quinoa -- Combine 1 can kidney beans, 1 can baked beans, 1 can black beans with 1/2 bottle of worcestershire sauce, 1/2 jar of salsa, then decide to add 2 cups of quinoa (I should put in a hyperlink so that you can figure out what that is -- Andean grain with lots of protein). Simmer. Note the powerful absorptive properties of quinoa has left behind dry muck. Add water (1 cup). Come back in 15 minutes.
Rated at 4/10 -- bland, but nourishing.
3. Awesome burrito -- Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan, then lightly fry both sides of a flour tortilla. Add cheese when frying the second side, as though making a quesedilla. Then, run the tortilla over so the cheese is basically deep-fried to the outside of the tortilla as you add your ingredients of choice to the inside. The cheese sticks, making a crunchy outside to a run-of-the-mill burrito.
Rated at 8/10 -- mmm, but marks off from the health department.

All in all, it's been an interesting challenge, and one that should only get more intriguing as I get hungrier. Wish me luck!

124 degrees of separation

2009-01-16T11:52:00.000+08:00

okay...I'm back in MN visiting my family.

It just happens to coincide with the coldest winter they have seen in years. Today, right now, it is -18F (-28C)...I was chatting to Nathan online and it is 106F in Perth. We are talking about 124 decrees difference. But with windchills at -40F (-40C) , they have windchill advisories (exposed flesh warnings). That's just crazy....

I'm beginning to feel like the Michelin Man. I get dressed to walk to the car. In 5 minutes I'm boiling, so I unzip and take off hat and mittens in the car. When we get to the hospital where dad is having his chemo, I re-cover hat and gloves...struggle with the zipper of my coat which is caught in my oversize sweatshirt. Drop dad off...I stay in my jacket slowly starting to overheat thinking this will only take a few minutes. Mom has a few questions while I debate whether I should risk sweating in all my stuff which will make me feel colder when we go outside OR take off all my gear again. Eventually I remove all the outer garments again.

Mom and I decide to go shopping. We zip up, hat, gloves, and scarves. Stop in one store (remove parka etc) can't find anything (don parka again). Stop in another store (remove parka), decide to try on jeans and shirt. Unlace winter boots, remove jeans and turtle neck and sweatshirt, try on shirt...don't like it so put sweatshirt on again (my hair looks like a dandelion gone to seed, I have so much static electricity it stands on end).

I try on jeans...but grab the wrong size. Can't go out in socks, since everyone is tracking in snow, which means putting on my jeans, relacing boots, getting smaller size, returning to fitting room, unlacing boots, struggle into 4-5 different pairs. When the jeans finally fit, I realise I probably should get 10 pair since I don't want to go through this process again. We have several more errands to run but I can't face 3 more dress/undress rituals in less than 5 minutes.

I know MN and Alaska people will think I have gone soft living in Perth. I've always said that I can handle the cold better than the heat. I mean, in MN you can always put on more clothes, in Perth...well, you can only get so naked in public. But, now it seems I'd rather have the reverse, at least it would be consistent.

Being home makes me realize how much I miss being so close to family---Hanging out, getting to go to the birthday parties, how much the babies have grown in the past year, seeing old friends. Being in MN during a cold snap makes me wish they could come and visit me for a change. But no matter how "frigid" there's no place like home.

Bachelorhood Revisited

2009-01-08T19:36:00.000+08:00

So Kris left yesterday for a long visit with her folks, leaving behind a pile of dishes, a long honey-do list, and me. You know what that means, other than a month of living on peanut butter sandwiches and light beer? I should have more time to devote to cultural pursuits, such as watching Don't Forget The Lyrics. (Yes, it airs in Australia. They are having a hard time finding meaningful programming to fill all 4 channels here, so they import shows from the US.) Anyway, the part that really slays me is at the end, where Wayne Brady points at the screen and says that somebody could come on stage and win a million dollars and, gesturing into my living room, "it may even be you."

Well.

Clearly we have never met. He must be talking to my three-legged, neutered, toothless cat, because my chances of winning a million on that show are not as good as Jake's. I could conceivably win a million on Never Knew The Lyrics And Really Never Cared, and I may take home a few bucks on the new show, Just Make Up The Lyrics And Sing Them Confidently So People Think They're The Real Lyrics. But really, that's not much of a retirement plan.

No, I think the real path to fame (if not fortune), is to do something unbelievably clever for YouTube, like ObamaGirl, or the guy who explains the news (sometimes in song) to kids. Yup, that's it. And now I've got the time to devote to it, with Kris out of town. At least, if there's not anything better on after SVU...

A clean sweep of Broome...

2009-01-02T11:58:00.000+08:00

So we decided to take the last few days and chill out in a town in North West Australia called Broome. It's in the same state as Perth, but is about 1500 miles north, so we flew -- good choice, as it turns out, since some of the roads close down during this time, officially known as The Wet.

As it turns out, this town is very seasonal, with high volume of tourist traffic coming through in The Dry, but turning into a much more sedate country-town-on-the-sea during the wet, when they can get over 150cm of rain a month and are prone to cyclones. This was just the low key, forced relaxation that we needed.

Instead of our choice of tours, busily ticking off things from a list of "must-see" attractions, we have been carefully rationing the possibilities, with time spent on the beach, wandering through the small downtown, hanging out at the local swimming pool, and mostly spending time in our room inhaling the stack of junk books that we brought. Who would have thought that, with 7 books for an 8 day holiday, Kris needed to get another Sue Grafton novel today?

So, I know what you're thinking. During cyclone season, with all of the really good tours shut down for the season, and a hire car that you're not allowed to leave town in or go off the road in, what is left. Well, I'm glad that you asked!

First, there is the World's Longest Continuously Running Outdoor Cinema, called Sun Pictures. We saw that there was a showing of, appropriately enough, Australia, and jumped at the chance to check it out. Best of all, when you got tired of Hugh flexing onscreen, there were geckos on the actual screen hunting moths, and during a hushed campfire part of the movie a very large fruitbat flew through the picture. All very cool.

The next day, there was a trip out to the bird sanctuary. We got special dispensation to take the 4wd that we hired on a dirt road for this purpose, passing through puddles deep enough to house a fair sized croc, and spotting our first wild dingo, only to find (you guessed it!) that the interpretive centre was closed for the season. Oh, well, we had a good trip out and got to see some amazing coastline.

A trip to the pearl farm was next -- Broome has a pretty amazing history based on the pearling industry. Initially, they collected "wild" oysters and used the shell for mother-of-pearl buttons and stuff, with the pearl as a bonus in every 15,000 oysters or so. Now, they culture pearls, still sell the shells, and sell the pearl meat overseas for $600/kg. All in all, it's a pretty labor-intensive, but fascinating industry, and resulted in me trying on a pearl-diver's helmet (35kg), and us holding a pearl valued at over 100,000 AUD. Whew!

e did spend some quality time on the beach, watching sunsets, and getting lured into a camel ride (it was actually pretty cool -- Australia has over 1,000,000 wild camels, and they are 'recruited' for hauling tourist butts up and down the beach in the dozens), but did not dare go into the water. Although it looks idyllic, and the water is warmer than most of us bathe at up to 35 degrees C (about 95 degrees F), it is also the perfect climate for the Irukanji and Chironex jellyfish, colloquially known as stingers, but more widely known as box jellyfish. For those of you who don'e know, these jellyfish are widely and wisely feared, as they produce copious toxin which will leave you screaming in pain -- even if you are unconscious -- until you die. So, um, we didn't go in the water. Wimpy, huh?

Anyway, we weren't done yet! There were still two reptillian attractions left. First, the awesome killing machines that are the estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus, if you care), known as salties. We had hoped to see some in the wild, but went to a wildlife park/croc farm and had a great time! We got muuuuuuuch closer than we would have in the wild, learned a little bit about them, and got to see them at feeding time. More pictures will surely follow, as we get my film transferred to disk.

The other reptillian attraction is the presence at low tide of some dinosaur footprints. Real ones. The locals aren't thrilled about people traipsing down to look, so there is only a vague description on where they are, but there is a pretty good explanation of what to look for, complete with a concrete cast. Anyway, we scrambled around, and found some therosaur prints, which is just about the coolest thing ever. I mean, ever. This is, apparently, the only place where dinosaurs are in the oral history of dreamtime in the indigenous australian heritage.

Incidentally, we also saw in a tide pool a blue-ringed octopus, another of Australia's incredibly lethal aquatic critters, this one able to deliver a paralytic neurotoxin. Pictures also to follow, hopefully. As it turns out, it is pretty tough to get a picture of something under the water. We'll see.

There is much more to our trip, including the other couple at the B&B, who are visiting from outback Aus to have their dog's leg x-rayed and biopsied. I tried to stay out of conversations, but was unable to keep my curiosity to myself. Also, we are trying to implement new fitness goals for the new year, but 90 degrees and 95% humidity is not really all that conducive to activity.

Anyway, I'm about out of time on the internet cafe here. Hope that 2009 is a banner year for everyone! Happy New Year!

(I just thought that this was a funny sign...)

2008-12-06T09:20:00.000+08:00

Hopefully the sound will work -- check out my personal best!

oops, don't really know how to change the orientation. I'm sure that, given time and motivation, I could figure it out, but it takes so long to upload anything that I'm not sure I could maintain momentum.
you get the idea, anyway.

Nathan's 'fun' triathlon

2008-12-01T21:56:00.000+08:00

At the start of the month, we promised to blog about recent events, like Nathan's first triathlon in Australia. Nathan's done a 'sprint' triathlon before while in Minnesota. After several attempts to learn to swim, he was somewhat undone by the 4 ft wide pool of algae that greeted him at the start of his first triathlon in Chester Woods. Although the last man out of the algae at that race, his speedy biking and running let him finish in a respectable position. The algae was enough to send his dreams of becoming a triathlete into hibernation.

Australia, the land of triathlons, has reawakened the dream. With beautiful beaches, lined by miles of pedestrian/cycle paths, its really the place for it. This year, Nathan's new year's resolution was to train for a triathlon. The emphasis here is TRAIN. So, in October, Nathan makes the commitment of buying a road bike and begins his training. The water is a bit cold so the last week of October Nathan buys a triathlon wetsuit. After a test swim in the wetsuit, Nathan signs up for a fun triathlon one week later on November 8.

Triathlons are like candy bars, they come in fun, regular, and king size (fun run, sprint, and extra sprint)...of course, then there are the real biggies...olympic distance, half ironmans and ironmans. The fun length was a 200m swim, a 10k cycle, and a 4 k run. The extreme is the iron man--2.36 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, followed by a marathon (26.2 miles). The fun size is a good way to get into the sport, so lots of people use it to get a taste of a triathlon.

The Powerstation Triathlon seemed like a good way for Nathan to get started as its only a few minutes from our house. THAT was before we heard that registration/instructions was at 6:30 am with a 6:45 am start. To ensure we got a good start to the morning, we packed all the bags the night before and walked through the race.

RACE DAY:
The alarm goes off AT 6:30. SH!T--Nathan's exclamation shakes the entire bed. We are out the door in 5 minutes (me with hair like Yahoo Serious). We roll up to the event at 6:45, Nathan racing towards the start line in bare feet.

Luckily, the race instructions are a little behind schedule. I set up his transition set (shoes, socks, helmet) and take our bag out of the way, and set up near the start line to cheer him on.

Meanwhile, Nathan is looking for me because the goggles are in the bag, as he's trying to get his wetsuit on, but his race singlet is caught in the zipper. THINGS are NOT going his way.

He misses the start of the men's heat and has to start with the women, with his shirt caught in the zipper of the wetsuit and no goggles. He starts the race with the gals, so at this point he's not too worried about turning in a personal best. He manages not to drown for 200 m, then staggers up the beach, still trying to get his shirt out of his wetsuit zipper.

At the transition, he peels off his wetsuit and slides into his shoes, and races his bike up for the cycle portion. After the way the morning started this is EASY, and breaking a pedal on the new bike while getting started seems natural. Finally everything goes right and he cruises up several spots during the cycling leg. The course is tight, with a couple of laps, so dodging slower triathletes keeps the speeds down a little. Jumping off the bike, Nathan commits a triathlon faux pas by stopping to remove his cycling shoes -- a breach of etiquette, but keeps him from breaking anything else.

He heads off for the 4k run with jelly legs for the first half kilometer before finding his cruising speed. The wet singlet (that clogged up his wetsuit) begins chaffing making the last 1k more painful than any other part of the race. Finally, the finish appears and he races to the end....

I think he's hooked on triathlons, because he had the worst possible start imaginable and he's already training for the next one!