Middle-Aged Man

Yay! We have internet at home! It took several phone calls and a lot of patience, but Telstra finally got our ADSL working this afternoon. I promptly connected our Airport wireless network and Vonage, and both are working fine. That means our U.S. friends can start expecting phone calls very soon, and you can even call us at our old Atlanta number.

Since my last post, we moved into our new home and then headed off to a four-night stay at the Hyatt Regency Coolum at the Sunshine Coast, where I attended a research conference on emotions. This Hyatt is a world-class resort, and it will even be the meeting place for the APEC conference next month (Bush is attending, I think). The beach was fantastic. Kangaroos were jumping around as we walked to breakfast. I saw my first possum. V. had a wonderful one-hour massage. Will spent three hours at Camp Hyatt, and appeared to have lots of fun. Since then, however, our darling boy has not been so happy. He typically wakes up screaming 2-3 times in the middle of the night, and his parents are tired of it. It got so bad at the Hyatt that I had to drive V. and Will home for the final night. It's probably teething problems exacerbated by a cold. We gave him drugs when he went to sleep tonight, so maybe we'll see some improvement.

There's so much more to write about, but finally having home access to the internet means I can resume regular blogging (and read my favorite blogs too), so expect more details very soon. Tonight let me just mention my problems with our rental car. We have had this Mazda sedan for nearly three weeks and it is a great car. I have had no real problems driving on the left side of the road. The problem is with parking. For some reason, Australian parking spaces are narrower than in the U.S., and the rows separating the cars are much, much shorter. This means that parking has become a major headache. I now have several scrapes and a tiny dent in the front and rear bumpers, the result of navigating into spaces next to walls and poles. The rental agency is going to have a major fit when they see it. I need a smaller car! Alas, we plan to buy one later this week. When I went to the Honda dealership today to look at the Jazz (called the Fit in the U.S.), I inquired about whether I would be eligible for any financing (I have no credit history in this country, of course). The salesman used his mobile to call a woman in the business office. He began the call by saying, "I have this middle-aged man who recently moved from the States here..."

I guess I am getting old. But on the inside, I'm still about 24. Really.