Wednesday Night Television

In Brisbane, we receive six "free-to-air" HD channels on our new Sony HDTV-- Seven, Nine, and Ten, which are all commercial networks (and they're actually known by those numbers), and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), ABC2, and SBS, which are government owned, although SBS shows commercials. We really haven't felt the need to pay for cable or satellite, as there is plenty for us to view for free. For example, I can watch the nightly news broadcasts from several countries, including the U.S., on SBS. I'm also so impressed with the picture quality of these HD channels--something we didn't have back in our house in Atlanta.

Wednesday is my favourite TV night, mainly because everything we see on this night is produced in Australia (and doesn't involve cops and murders). Here's a rundown of what we watch (after Will has his bath and goes to bed, and provided V. hasn't fallen asleep yet!).

7-7:30. Home and Away. Seven. This is a long-running soap that takes place in a fictional bay town north of Sydney. It's on every week night. The cast is generally young and good-looking, the outdoor locations beautiful, and the melodrama is cranked way up. This show is also very popular in the U.K. It's fine to play in the background because I don't feel like I've missed anything if we happen to be putting Will to bed or cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

7:30-8:30. Thank God You're Here. Ten. This "live" comedy show involves putting some celebrity performer into the middle of a sketch, complete with a high-quality set and props. He or she then improvises lines with other actors who create the situation and sort of control where the sketch is going. I don't think I have recognised one of these celebrities yet--they are mostly Aussie comedians, radio DJs, and sitcom players. Still, most of the sketches end up being quite hilarious. Interestingly, a U.S. version of this show was piloted this past spring while I was still in Atlanta, and it wasn't nearly as funny.

8:30-9:00. Spicks and Specks. ABC. This is my favourite Aussie show. It's basically a music trivia game, in which two teams of celebrities compete for a few points. The two team captains (Myf and Alan) are the same each week (Myf is a morning DJ for Triple J, a fantastic alternative public radio station), with other guests typically being Aussie comedians or musicians whom I usually have never heard of (although a member of Squeeze was on a few weeks ago!). The questions are really tough, and there are plenty of interesting challenges for the players, such as having to identify a rock song from listening to a team player sing the tune while reading from a dishwasher manual, or figuring out what's missing from an old record album cover. I am in total awe of the players' knowledge of music trivia that can extend from knowing the name of the first Pixies album to being able to finish the lyrics to an Everly Brothers' song.

9:00-9:30. The Chaser's War on Everything. ABC. It's hard to describe the Chaser, which, as implied by the title, satirises everything. It's part "The Daily Show" and part "Borat," but its style is mostly original. This week's episode was significant because it aired a stunt that recently attracted worldwide attention (including CNN). The Chaser boys hired a few limos, attached Canadian flags, and were then allowed to pass through two security checkpoints at the APEC meeting in Sydney last week. It's clear from last night's footage that the Chaser team really didn't think they would get that far, and even started to turn around when they got to Bush's hotel. It was only when one cast member dressed like bin Laden got out of his car that the police even noticed the prank. Eleven people from the show were arrested over the incident and face charges next month. Last night's episode also included stinging pieces about George Bush (who referred to APEC as "OPEC" and "IPEC" during the meeting, and talked about John Howard's visit to the "Austrian" troops in Iraq), John Howard, Steve and Bindi Irwin ("help save the Irwins, who are dying off at the rate of one a year"), and Kevin Rudd, the opposition leader. And this is all on a public television station!

That's the Wednesday line-up in our household. Of course, this will all change in a couple of weeks. Australian TV series, just like in the UK, typically have only 6-8 episodes in a season. I'm sure they will find another 22-episode American police drama or two to fill the void.

Resignation and Change

The Premier of Queensland (the equivalent of a state governor in the U.S.), Peter Beattie, announced his resignation yesterday. For my American ears, it was refreshing to hear a politician resigning after nine years of service--and well before his current term was to end--for fairly simple reasons, such as wanting to spend more time with his family and desiring a healthier lifestyle. Although there could be an ulterior motive to his actions, he is leaving a booming, economically healthy state to his successor, Anna Bligh, who will be the first woman to hold this office in Queensland. Pretty cool.

Six years ago today (on a Tuesday as well) I went to work without having watched the morning news. I therefore ended up not hearing about the World Trade Center towers until after they had collapsed. At around 11 that morning I made a quick trip to the CNN center in the hope that I might learn more about was going on, but it had been immediately evacuated in case of another terrorist attack. I then went home and watched the news for the rest of the day, as life in the U.S. came to a sudden standstill. That was a horrible, scary, and sad day. And the week got only worse for me, with an unexpected change in my personal life happening a few days later. That was an important week in my life because it led to many huge changes. Thinking back to that day six years ago, it seems incredible where I have ended up today, happily typing this entry from my new home in Brisbane, Australia, with a completely different life from the one I had back then.

I heard that Michael Jackson turned 49 recently. Harrison Ford, at 65, is filming the next "Indiana Jones" movie. And an older, plumper, loonier Britney could hardly move around the stage this week at the MTV video awards. Time flies when you're having fun.

Getting Better All the Time

Thanks to those of you who left get well messages for us. We seem to be improving. After spending nearly two days comatose in bed, V. was up and about today with a smile on her face. Will was doing better this morning, but started to decline late in the day. I may have to stay at home tomorrow if he's not well enough to attend daycare. I am limping along with a sore throat, but seem to have missed the worst part of this cold/flu that was experienced by the rest of my little family.

An American colleague here in Brisbane sent me the following link--it's an American imported food store in Melbourne that sells all sorts of goodies via the internet to us Yanks far from home. For those of you reading this back in the States, look at the site and check out the prices. Even with the exchange rate, I don't think you will look at your cheap jar of Jif extra crunchy peanut butter the same way again (and there really is no Aussie substitute for it). For those of you considering a move to the land of the vegemite sandwich, there's a much more complete website that offers all sorts of support for American Ex-pats in Oz...check out TerritorianTori's Yanks Down Under.

The Sick and the Moaning

Well, I knew it would happen eventually. After several weeks of watching my colleagues fall to The Plague one by one, the flu/cold/lurgy has come to our home too. Yesterday we all woke up feeling crappy. Will was irritable and had a runny nose. V. was feverish, chilly, and just sick. I had a cough and a sore throat. I ended up staying at home, but took Will to Gymboree (the only one in Australia, according to the website). Other than that, we all took turns napping and whining about how we felt. Today we are each a bit better, but it looks like we'll just hang out at home today as well. I hope you are well and enjoy the weekend.

Weather Man

I once read on an Aussie's blog about his trip to the U.S. that "Americans are obsessed with weather." Well, after reading some of my fellow ex-pats' recent blog entries (look here, for example), maybe the bloke had a point. I try to bite my tongue about all this, as I am a confessed Weather Channel addict (going through major withdrawal), but I can no longer hold back. For those of you who still live in a place with great weather maps, let me show you an example of a typical forecast map in Australia:
It's called a synoptic chart, and you do sometimes see these on American forecasts. But, notice that it's quite difficult for the average person to interpret how these lines are going to affect things. In my prior visits to Oz, I have learned that a cluster of pressure gradients close to one another means that it will be windy, and a Low is usually a sign of rain. But troughs (the dashed lines) are a new concept for me, and I don't really see how this is going to give me a reliable view of future weather. For comparison's sake, look at these Weather Channel maps:

Here, in fact, is the forecast for the rest of the week in Brisbane from my Weather Channel substitute, the WeatherZone. Note the distinctions between "Rain periods," "Rain at times," and "Showers about." I have also seen "Rain easing.."

• Wednesday. Rain at times. Moderate to fresh S to SE winds
• Thursday. Rain periods
• Friday. Rain periods
• Saturday. Showers about
• Sunday. Fine

Maybe I could start a new business here involving nicely coloured weather maps with more detailed information. Hmm...

Seasons in the Sun

My friends in the U.S. might be surprised to learn that September 1 is considered the first day of Spring in Australia. The fact that it’s the “opposite” season from autumn in the northern hemisphere isn't a surprise, of course, but from an American perspective, seasons don’t change until the 22nd. Sometime during elementary school (in Illinois) I had learned the seasons changed during the March equinox, June solstice, September equinox, and December solstice, each around the 21st or 22nd of their respective months. I liked the certainty of those dates, but I really didn’t question whether it made sense to do it this way. In fact, here’s a link to a site where the author examines the logic, but is also apparently unaware that some countries do not observe the beginning of the seasons on these dates because their citizens rely on meteorological, rather than astronomical, reckoning to determine them. Quoting from Wikipedia: “Meteorological seasons are reckoned by temperature, with summer being the hottest quarter of the year, and winter the coldest quarter of the year.

Using this reckoning, the Ancient Roman calendar began the year and the spring season on the first of March, with each season occupying three months. This reckoning is also used in Denmark, the former USSR, and Australia. In modern United Kingdom and Ireland there are no hard and fast rules about seasons, and informally many people use this reckoning. So, in meteorology for the Northern hemisphere:

* spring begins on March 1,
* summer on June 1,
* autumn on September 1, and
* winter on December 1.

Conversely, for the Southern hemisphere:

* summer begins on December 1,
* autumn on March 1,
* winter on June 1, and
* spring on September 1.”

I think this meteorological reckoning actually makes sense, even for the United States. When I lived in the Midwest, it always seemed somewhat stupid to hear on December 22 that it was “the first day of winter,” as I trudged out to the driveway to shovel the snow for the third time since Thanksgiving. Similarly, June 22 is well into summer, especially when you think of Memorial Day and Labor Day in the U.S. as the real bookends to the season.

A final note: I hope that those of you back in the good old USA are having a relaxing Labor Day weekend.

Riverfire

Riverfire Brisbane-03+
Originally uploaded by cindytoo

We just got back from a fantastic evening along the Brisbane river with our friends the Clarks (Ellen, Sally, Fi, & Ian). Tonight was the annual QBE Riverfire, which is certainly the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen. Fireworks were set off at many locations in the city, some a few kilometers from each other, and all were synchronised with music that played on the ABC. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the evening--some on blankets along the river, others on large party boats, and many standing on verandas of high-rise apartments. The whole show was framed by the passing of F-111 jets that did a "dump and burn" (i.e., flames shot out the tail on a low altitude pass over the city). Transport was easy, despite the crowds. We caught an express bus into the city, ate kebabs for dinner, and sat along the river in the Botanic Gardens. The ride home on the CityCat took 15 minutes. What a great city this is!

By the way, click on this photo to look at plenty more on Flickr posted by "cindytoo," who is one of my local favourites.

Shadow on the Moon

I managed to snap this shot about an hour ago, just after the peak of a beautiful lunar eclipse. I wasn’t really equipped to take such a photo, so I simply mounted the camera on the railing of our verandah and opened up the shutter for about five seconds. Although it’s not so clear here, the moon displayed a range of beautiful red shades of light as it passed through the earth’s shadow.

The big news for us--most of our stuff is finally here! And, most of it is still in boxes on the two verandahs. Last night we finally got to sleep on a bed again, and it was marvelous! We also had dinner sitting together at our table using real glasses for our drinks. Yes, one appreciates such simple pleasures after being separated from it all for over 3 months.

Yesterday was also the first day that Will went off to daycare. This photo was taken just before V. dropped him off while I stayed behind to supervise the movers. He did very well, and never cried the entire morning. When he came home, however, he seemed to find everything very disorienting. It’s hard to tell whether he actually recognizes his toys and the other items from our house in Atlanta. V. and I have been trying to unpack as quickly as possible, but we both had to take a break tonight when we realized that we are going to have to pace ourselves. Much of the challenge has to do with organizing so much stuff in such a small space. I can’t even enter the home office because so many boxes of books are crammed in there.

President Bush arrives in Sydney in just a few days. The newspapers are full of stories focused on the security costs and disruptions to life for Sydneysiders caused by his visit and the APEC conference that starts a couple of days later. Apparently, W. has already made a mess of things by deciding to come to Oz a few days early and then leaving APEC early to go back home for Sept. 11 services. The latest news is that Laura isn’t going to make the trip, so Mrs. Howard doesn’t know what she’s going to do with herself. Hey, she’s certainly welcome to come up here and unpack some boxes!

Drying Out

After seven days of rain, the sun was once again shining early this morning as I walked to the local 7-11 to buy the Sunday Mail. I still don’t feel comfortable subscribing to a paper, as the two newspapers that are available in Brisbane, The Australian and The Courier-Mail, are both owned by Murdoch’s News group. So, I end up browsing several news websites everyday, including some in the U.S. But on Sundays I have been permitting myself the delights of The Mail. Sure, it provides information, but it’s really more entertaining than anything else. Think of it as a nice mixture of People magazine, USA Today (i.e., fairly short stories) and a small-town paper. I spend about a half hour reading my copy at the Newspaper Café in Toowong while sipping a flat white. I then head home to have breakfast with V. and Will.

Yesterday I gave the first talk at a day-long conference in social psychology in Brisbane. I had spent several days preparing my presentation, and I feel good about how it all went. In the evening there was a post-conference party at a house just a few miles away, so V. went with me while Will stayed at home with our babysitter. The party started at 5:30, and was still going strong when we left at 10:30. Last year’s party reportedly went to 4 a.m., but V. and I are lucky if we can stay awake after 11. All in all, it was a really comfortable setting and a nice way to get to know my new colleagues better. V. remarked that it was typical of an English party, but I really didn’t understand what she meant. It certainly wasn’t like a party in Atlanta--people always seemed to go home at 9 back there!

Early tomorrow morning a truck will be pulling up in front of our home to unload our belongings. We are a bit stressed about this next part of our move. I’ll keep you posted on what happens…

Rain, Facebook, and Ms. Knightley

1. At last, it has been raining in Brisbane on and off for the last three days. To appreciate the significance of all this moisture, read this entry by another of my favorite bloggers, Mooselet. She, by the way, has some sort of unending reservoir of physical and emotional strength for parenting that I used up two days after Will was born. Just so I'm clear about the value of rain in Australia, it is measured in millimeters, not centimeters or something bigger. A forecast can include the chance of 5-10 millimeters of rain--that's not even a half an inch!!
   
2. I am now on Facebook. Why would a "middle-aged" man do such a thing? The answer is simple: peer pressure. EVERYONE in my immediate social group at UQ seems to be on this. I'll report back once I understand the benefits of all this "social networking." If you're on Facebook, please consider adding me as a friend...I am desperate to become popular.
3. The other night we watched "Pride and Prejudice" (the Keira version) on a DVD that I bought here in Oz. Guess what?! Viewers in the U.S. saw a different ending. Elizabeth and Darcy are shown cuddling and whispering sweet nothings to each other in the U.S. ending, but the rest of the world saw the credits hit once Elizabeth got her father's blessing for the engagement. (I've heard the Swedish version had an even racier ending involving Jane, Elizabeth, and Darcy, but this is unconfirmed. Maybe Sven will check on this). It appears that Americans can't be happy with their romantic movies unless they have a little kissing in the end...
   

An Evening at the Cinebar

V. and I had our first “date” in months this past Friday night. Our babysitter is a caregiver at a neighborhood daycare whom V. met while walking down the street one day, and who is entirely overqualified for babysitting but very cheap, by American standards. Once we waved goodbye to our son, who was really indifferent about our leaving, we headed off to Rosalie, a little neighborhood a few minutes from our home, where there are plenty of trendy restaurants to choose from. However, we opted to spend the entire evening at the Blue Room Cinebar. For a fixed price, we had a Thai meal on the cinema’s outdoor balcony and two tickets to see a Danish film, “After the Wedding.” The food was excellent (it comes from the kitchen of a Thai restaurant just below), and the entire concept was wonderful. Each of the two theatres has about 24 seats that were stuffed like reclining chairs with a sizable side table for two between each pair of seats. One can order a bottle of wine or other drinks that are brought to you during the movie (we didn’t actually try this out, but someone behind us had a bottle of champagne). You can even have your dinner in your seat during the film. It is all very cozy and convenient. The movie, by the way, was quite good--full of repressed emotions and family tragedy, typical of any good Scandinavian film.

I want to make special mention of the blog penned by Audra “Bryson”, an American who moved to Sydney in January. These two recent entries describe the exact Aussie appliances and the strange bathroom drain that we have in our home in Brisbane. It’s a bit eerie reading someone else’s description of what I thought was our unique experience!

The Friday Routine

My Friday afternoons now go like this. There is almost always an alternating weekly seminar at 3:00--one week it is the “School Seminar” and the other it's the Social or Psychonomics Seminar (click here to see the current schedule). After each seminar, a graduate student rolls a trolley cart into the room with plenty of wine glasses and about 6 bottles of red and white wine (always different each week), chips, and possibly other nibbly bits. It is this student’s job to cater this little function and clean the wine glasses afterwards (all on the School’s budget!). Then, at around 4:30 some people start to walk over to the staff club, which has a very nice pub atmosphere and outdoor seating. I have gone each week for about an hour and sat next to grad students and faculty (called staff here) from the different programs and chatted about all sorts of interesting stuff. I then walk down to the ferry landing to catch the 6:09 pm boat home to V. and Will. It is all very civilized (or civilised, depending on my mood) here in Oz.

Happy Exhibition Day!

August 15 is "People's Day" or Exhibition Day in Brisbane, a day set aside so that people can attend the Ekka. Ignoring the mid-week holiday, I went to work but found no one there and every shop on campus closed. A light rain was falling on students who were making their way to the ferry dressed like they were going to prom. I later learned that they were going to a special race day at Eagle Farm. People in their 20s going to watch a horse race in their nicest clothes...you just don't see that where I come from!

Still no word on our container's journey at the port. We have now gone more than a month eating our dinner on beanbags.

Gone Whaling

I have been a very bad blogger this month. I’m sorry. Prepping new lectures for the courses that I’m co-teaching has taken more time than I thought, primarily because I’m covering the material more deeply than before. Getting home each night, I have been trying to be a good dad and husband until my loved ones fall asleep, and I have slowly put together several shelving units that we bought from Ikea a few weeks ago. We still don’t have any of our things yet…the container ship should have arrived last Thursday, so we’re just waiting for ours to clear customs, which can take 5-15 days.

Our weekends have been very full. The pictures here are from our whale watching trip on Aug 5 with the Clarks. We went on a great cruise put on by the Australia Zoo, which was Steve Irwin’s home. It was a bit surreal on the way out of Mooloolaba to watch videos of Steve from the last series he was working on--called something like “The Ocean’s Deadliest Creatures.” Unfortunately, the sea was choppy that day, and a lot of people were filling up the vomit bags that were readily available. Although we never saw a whale breach the water, we did see several pods of humpbacks during our four hour cruise. Will had a mostly good time, although he was more excited by the water spray than anything else. His mother fared more poorly, but was still happy we went.

This past weekend we went to the Ekka, a sort of state fair for Queensland. It goes on for 9 days, and has a huge mix of livestock competitions, exhibits, scary rides, and “Aussie” food. We tried a Dagwood dog, which I think is just a corndog, downed some “old style” ginger beer, munched fresh strawberries, and licked an ice cream cone together. We took a brief walk through the showbag pavilion. This must be uniquely Australian. Many companies (e.g., Cadbury’s, magazine publishers) throw together bags of goodies from their company and sell them in all sorts of combinations that cost between $2 and $20 at gigantic booths, with hundred of people moving like cattle from booth to booth. V. also watched a sheep shearing demonstration while I was soothing Will after he got some sunblock lotion in his eyes. I really would have liked to watch the butcher show--in which several cuts of meat were to be lectured about--but we had to cut our trip short due to our son’s next fastly approaching crash.

Thanks for being patient with my blogging. And I do plan to reward you with some new pictures very soon. Late last week I received a copy of the new iLife, which has some great features for posting photos on the web. I hope to have it mastered soon, complete with a new way to view our photos…

Some Peace

I haven’t written for nearly a week, mainly because our lives have become much quieter as we continue to settle in. On Sunday we said goodbye to our "old" friends, Patrick, Grass, and Isabella, who had come up from Sydney to visit us for a week. Unfortunately, our home is so inhospitable at the moment that they had to stay in a nearby motel. They moved from London to Sydney back in January. On the last day of their visit we drove up to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast (our second trip since arriving), where the surf, the beach, and the temperatures were simply perfect. Will (who turned 18 months old this week) discovered the wonders of playing with beach sand, but there was the worry that he would throw it in his face, so we had to watch him closely. By the way, this photo of Mooloolaba comes from Trig's flickr page, as I still don't have all our photos properly edited. We head back to Mooloolaba this Sunday, when we go on a whale watch. I promise more of our own pictures then.

I have been spending a lot of my time at work on my first lectures. I am also getting to know my new colleagues, who (surprisingly) represent a wide range of nationalities. My undergrads were just as charming during the second week of lecture, with many coming up to me during the break and after lecture to ask more questions about the material. Another pleasant surprise about Australian university life is the mixture of informality and respect between students and academics. The students are used to addressing their instructors by their first names, and I noticed that my colleagues always introduce themselves to students that way. However, the students are also very polite and appreciative of their instructors, so the informality in no way undermines a sense of faculty “authority.”

We have received word that the big shipment of our belongings arrives in Brisbane a week from today. It could then take between 5 and 14 days in customs before it’s delivered. That's nearly 3 months since it all left our home in May. We are starting to worry about what we are going to do with everything. Our townhouse is about 1100 sq ft., but we’re moving from a house that had about 4800 sq ft! We do have two large verandas, so we may be putting some of our inside furniture on the outside. Yes, I can hear Jeff Foxworthy saying, “You might be a redneck if…” I guess ten years in Atlanta had an effect on me after all.

Oh, and I just have to mention something I posted on another blog. I bravely ordered a chicken quesadilla at a restaurant on campus the other day. When the server brought it to my table, she said something like, “chicken kwehs-a-dill-a, sir?”

Si, muchas gracias!

Scent of the Past

I had an unexpected pleasure this morning as I walked to catch a ferry to work. I was making my way down a rather unremarkable street, when, all of a sudden, I smelled some flower or bush. I don't really know what it was (perhaps it was a wattle), but right then an image from 32 years ago came to mind. I had not experienced that scent since I walked along the Wollundry lagoon in Wagga Wagga to school. The connections between memory and smell are absolutely wonderful.

Rats Laugh When You Tickle Them

I'm going to show this video at lecture in a couple of weeks. I find it mesmerizing.

UPDATE: I found a link to the original research article describing this study, and there's also an interesting NY Times article on laughter.

I did it (twice)

I am no longer a virgin Aussie lecturer. Today, in fact, I did it twice--once at 10 am in front of 250 students, and the second time at noon in front of another 90. And, surprise, surprise…it felt just like giving a lecture back in the States. The students laughed when I made stupid jokes, looked bored when I expected them to be, asked questions and responded to mine, and even started packing up their belongings at the same precise moment (just before the last three words of my lecture). Interestingly, the first student to introduce himself to me was an American undergrad from my old alma mater, USC (the one in Los Angeles), who is doing an honors thesis with a prof I knew well back in my grad school days. By the way, that class with 90+ students is titled Behavioural Neuroscience (like that spelling, my American readers?!). When I asked how many students were taking it because they were interested in neuroscience, nearly everyone raised their hands. Incredible!

At home we are now the proud owners of a Toyota Yaris. Thanks to a comment to this blog by Eric H., I thought we should give Toyota a try before I bought a Honda. And I liked what I saw! Our little car is a brilliant cherry red. Other “middle-aged” men buy a fancy sports car during their mid-life crises, but I decided to go with a nice starter car usually marketed to university students. A couple of cool things about buying a car in Australia--the financing included the option of buying comprehensive insurance from two different independent vendors. The insurance itself was about half the price of what I paid in the U.S. for the same thing, and includes a $400 deductible. In addition, the dealership took care of the registration with the state government (something that doesn’t happen in Georgia, for example). There was no pressure to buy an extended warranty or add options that I wasn’t interested in. And, I got a loan with no problem--me, with absolutely no credit history in Australia.

A few other observations about our new life here: (1) The major television networks spend most of their prime time hours broadcasting U.S. television shows, particularly those involving crime, such as “NCIS,” all three “CIS” shows, “SUV”, “Numbers,” etc. It’s no wonder that many Australians are scared of visiting the U.S., thinking they will be violently attacked as soon as they leave the airport. (2) Batteries are expensive. I bought two packs of two “D” batteries for Will’s music machine, and they were nearly $10 each. (3) The newspapers and television news are terribly sensationalist and biased, except for the ABC (the BBC of Australia), even compared with U.S. media. It doesn’t help that several major news outlets are part of Murdoch’s empire. (4) Some Australians really do say, “G’day, Mate!” It’s happened to me about every other day, and I nearly cracked up each time. (5) Most of the wines we have bought, including the mid-priced ones, have screw-tops instead of corks. And they’re good! (6) Both the private and public school kids wear uniforms, and some look like they’re from a 19th Century costume drama. One high school girl I saw the other day looked like an extra from “A Room With a View.” (7) Paper towels are about half the width of the ones in the U.S. (8) Three-wheeled “prams” (strollers) are all the rage here. We got one ourselves last weekend. (9) The weather forecast is usually focused on the next 24 hours, and maybe not even tomorrow. It’s rare to see anyone talk about the next 5-7 days. Thus, I was surprised to see that it was raining this morning because I hadn’t checked the weather yesterday. (10) And even though I lectured for about 3 hours today in front of a total of 340 students, not one mobile phone went off the entire time. How cool is that?

Campus Tour

Inspired by Lori's request, here are a few pictures that I snapped this morning while I made my way to the office. It turned out to be a graduation day for some parts of the university, so there were many people walking around in caps and gowns. You should be able to click any picture to enlarge it.

This first just shows some of the interesting trees that grow here. Someday soon I hope to be able to identify them.

The building below is the Social Sciences Library, which houses the psychology collection and is just across the street from my building. It's also a good example of the sandstone exterior that is found on several UQ buildings.

This is the Student Union. It includes a pharmacy, a hair salon, a (meat) pie shop, a refectory, a pre-school/nursery, a convenience store (called a lolly shop here), a school supply shop, a noodle stand, a sushi restaurant, and so much more:

There's a series of ponds or lakes behind the Student Union. It's a great place to eat lunch:

This is one of many cafés on campus. That's the co-op bookstore next to it.
Here's a little news shop, selling all sorts of salacious mags to the students (and staff).

Here's a shot of the Great Court. It's home to a Great coffee shop.
Keep in mind that this is winter and SE Queensland is experiencing its worst drought on record. Imagine how much nicer it would look if a little rain were to fall...

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.

Toowong: Home Sweet Home

Yes, we have a new home! Yesterday we received word that our application for a townhouse in Toowong was approved by the owner. We move in next Tuesday. Although the Queenslander in Paddington would have been nice, the location of this townhouse couldn’t be beat. We’ll be just two blocks from Toowong Village Shopping Center, which has a train stop and a CityCat landing nearby (the picture above was taken roughly a block from our new place). What’s more, my drive to work will be 5-10 minutes long. Our plan is to have Will go to a daycare facility two buildings away from where I work, and V. will take either the train or CityCat to work in the City a couple of days a week.

Speaking of V., she met with her new boss at the Mater Children’s Hospital yesterday. She loved the place! She already has her own office, although it will be several weeks before she will be able to work due to licensure issues. V. got a very good feeling about how psychiatry is practised here, and she is really quite happy about the arrangements for her job in particular. She’ll be working about 20 hours/week, and she’ll even be able to see private practice patients sometime in the future. She is really happy about the job.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the company of the Clarks. Ellen, the eldest girl, played in a tennis tournament this week at UQ, so I was able to watch a few of her matches. This afternoon V. is watching Ellen play doubles while I stay at home with a napping Will. This morning we had a long walk along the river from Southbank, across the Goodwill bridge (see picture above), through the Botanic Gardens, and finishing up at Queen Street Mall. We have probably walked more just in the past week than we did in the entire previous six months. And that’s a good thing.

Happy 4th of July!

It's Independence Day back home. We're celebrating in Brisbane tonight with some Apple streudel for dessert (we couldn't find apple pie).

Still no permanent home yet. Landlords here like to have several applications to chose from, so we're waiting a few more days to hear the outcomes of two. We're hoping for a new townhouse in Toowong, or a classic Queenslander in Paddington, the latter being just a two blocks from our friends who are hosting us. We bought Will a new high chair today. The choices at the Baby Galore! store were a bit disappointing, and we had to shell out nearly $200 for one that was far inferior to our old one in the U.S. that we got for $60. We still have so much to buy, including a car, a TV, a DVD player, and some furniture.

For those of you in the States, I hope you enjoy the fireworks and the day off! And, just so it's clear, that's NOT the Australian flag pictured here...just a little political humor (or is it humour?).

First Impressions

As you know, I have been to Australia several times, but here are a few impressions from the perspective of a new resident…

• People are incredibly polite here. Whether it’s a clerk at the shop selling me a cheap pair of sunglasses or the guy taking tickets for the Citycat, people are generally friendlier than I am accustomed to, even compared with those doling out the Southern hospitality in Atlanta.
• The birds provide a completely different soundtrack to your life here, as none seems to have a call that sounds like one back in the U.S.
• Roundabouts really are great for traffic flow, but the double-lane ones that include the ending of a freeway are just downright scary!
• Good ideas about how to do things differently and better are plentiful here. I can’t see why more of them haven’t made their way to the U.S.
• My new workplace is wonderful. My office is huge, my furniture is attractive and ergonomic, and the staff have been amazingly effective in getting me set up. I have never experienced anything like it before.
• Meatpies are a yummy, quick lunch and come in many varieties--including vegetarian!
• Paris Hilton appears on as many magazines here as she does in the U.S. What is it about her that I seem to be overlooking?
• This country is obsessed with sports...and not just as spectators.
• Coffee shops are at every turn. I can’t believe that Starbucks thinks it has a chance in this country (I saw one down at Surfer’s the other day). Of course, it is difficult trying to find a simple cup of coffee that doesn’t come from an espresso roast bean. But on the positive side, the baristas here are great artists. The patterns that they can make with the foam are stunning.
• The time difference between here and the U.S. makes everyone back there seem especially far away. Well, I guess they are.

Breakfast in Paradise

For the last three mornings, Will has woken up between 2 and 4 am. Somehow, our hosts, the Clarks, haven't been too bothered by this, but yesterday we decided to leave the house at 5:30 and drive an hour south to Surfer's Paradise to give them some peace and quiet. We arrived just after sunrise. At first it seemed like we had the place to ourselves, but it turned out that the Gold Coast marathon had just begun. Hundreds of racers ran by while we had breakfast. Will had his second baby "chino," which is an espresso cup filled with a milky froth. We also had omelettes and pancakes. A nice treat here is that pancakes are always served with real maple syrup and ice cream! Then we had a short stroll on the beach before driving back to Brisbane.

Thanks for all the comments and emails. I am hoping that I'll finally get a chance to catch up with my correspondence later today (after I go to work for the first time).

Landing

Another brief entry, due to my being extremely tired and jet lagged…I am writing to you from our friends’ (the Clarks) home in Brisbane. We landed in Australia this morning at 6 am, after a fairly challenging trip. Will gave a long cry as the plane took off from LAX, and he pretty much had to sleep on my chest for most of the trip. We resorted to using Benadryl twice to keep him sleeping. Our real problem was that we had to manage eight checked bags, 4 carry-ons, a stroller, and a car seat (and Will, of course) as we negotiated the check-in procedures, customs arrival, and renting a car this morning. However, it took less than 45 minutes to get through the whole customs process in Brisbane, so we had a chance to drive to South Bank in Brisbane for a nice breakfast before arriving at the Clarks. Victoria and I opened up a checking account at Westpac this afternoon and deposited our traveller’s checks right away. Will is having an excellent time with Ellen (who turned 11 today) and Sally (who’s 8). Their mother, Fiona, is taking great care of us. Tomorrow we will look at some possible apartments/houses to rent. I am already scheduled to meet with my new Head of the school (equivalent to the department chair in the U.S.) on Monday morning at 9:30.

It’s amazing to think that we are now far away from everything (and nearly everyone) we have have know for so many years. But V. and I are both excited and happy. Although it was a bit chilly, Brisbane looked gorgeous in the morning sun when we arrived. We already feel that all the hassle and emotional upheaval we have experienced in the last four months was well worth it.

No Net

I forgot that our internet access would be turned off today, so I am at a Starbucks with this quick missive. I am so tired and stressed that I can't be sentimental about my last night in Atlanta. But I am sure that I will have a big smile when we board the plane tomorrow....

The Empty House

Just a quick post to let you know that we survived our 1000-mile, 8-day journey to middle America. For those of you planning to emigrate, may I suggest that you do not take such a trip just before you leave the country. Here we are at 12:30 early Monday morning, cleaning our basement. We still have a bunch of pesky tasks to do before we board the plane on Tuesday, but I am so stiff from all that driving and so tired that I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep. I am hoping to write more a regular post in 24 hours with some photos from our trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma...

Sleepless in Arkansas

(Don't you think the title of this post would be perfect for the sequel...Imagine, 15 years later, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are living in the same little town in Arkansas, but don't know it. One day, they each drive to the same Walmart in Benton, looking for a small alarm clock. As they reach for the last $3 special on the shelf, their hands touch...)

Yes, we are in Hot Springs Village, where my dad and his wife retired 12 years ago. We are also very tired this morning. Last night Will had a miserable night of tossing and crying, and V. & I paid the price. He hasn't slept nearly enough in the past three days, which is surely the culprit. The lack of normalcy is hardest on him. But what can we do? I drove him around the country roads for nearly two hours yesterday so that he would nap. At 2 am, V. was giving him a bath. We sang every song we could remember--including about ten rounds of "Yellow Submarine" (with all the verses). We haven't experienced anything like this with him in over six months.

For those of you have never visited this part of Arkansas, let me assure you that it is absolutely beautiful. It's full of rolling mountains, dense forests, lakes, and the occasional pasture that seems to pop out of nowhere. Of course, I'm trying to soak up all this American landscape, complete with chigger bites. But I'm also keeping an eye on the Brisbane rental market...

Belly Laugh (an Update)

Just an update to my June 2 post. As of last night (June 15):

1. Get rid of two cars (one is being donated, and one is being sold)
2. Sell three sofas, the kitchen table, two beds, a dresser, a large desk, a coffee table, and some book shelves.
3. Hold a garage sale for all the other smaller items.
4. Sell a deck table and chairs, a BBQ, and another glass table set.
5. Get the carpet cleaned and the hardwood floors polished.
6. Hire painters to paint the kitchen and master bath.
7. Close all accounts and services that we don't need once we leave (and figure out how to pay the ones we still need until the house is sold).
8. Move two aquariums to other homes.
9. Sell some electronics equipment on Craigslist (two TVs, a stereo, VCR, and some old Macs)
   
10. Arrange to ship some things that didn't get taken by the movers.
11. Rent a car (or minivan?).
12. Say goodbye to all our friends.
13. Give one more lecture, and grade 70 papers and 70 final exams (me).
14. Throw away everything left at work (me).
15. See the last patients (V. is doing this all the way until June 15).
16. Take care of our 16-month-old.

More from Arkansas and Oklahoma later...

Save (with) Vonage!

Just a quick post to praise Vonage, a VoIP service available here in the U.S. I have been using their services for the past year, cutting our phone bills by 70% (at least), and not missing the old BellSouth service at all. However, when I called to cancel the service yesterday, I learned a real cool thing--we can keep using Vonage in Australia. That's right...for the same $24.99/month that we have been paying here, we will still have our old Atlanta-based phone number that people can call from the States, and from which we can make free calls to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and a few other places. All that's required is that we take our Vonage modem with us and connect to it our new high-speed internet service in Oz. We will still need to add local service in Australia, of course, but this should greatly reduce the burden of long distance calling for our friends and family, as well as us. The only problem is that we will need to remember to turn off the phone when we go to bed to avoid having solicitors and others calling our Atlanta number in the middle of a Brisbane night.

Now, let's just hope Vonage stays in business.

A Sale in Our Garage and then Goodbye

As I write this, I am watching Keira Knightley's version of "Pride and Prejudice" on cable for the fourth time in the past three months. Yes, I am strangely obsessed by this beautiful film, perhaps because of the rich details in the set design, the story (I have never read the novel), the gorgeous cast, the dialogue, and most definitely the music. Anyway, that's not really the subject of this post, but having it play in the background provides me some comfort as I reflect on the momentous 96 hours that have just passed.

First, in a span of about five hours on Thursday, we got rid of our two cars and rented a minivan.

Then, on Friday and Saturday, we held the mother of all garage sales. It was my very first as the seller. I had absolutely no idea how much people really haggle over prices, and therefore became the hapless victim of that segment of the population that never pays "full price" for anything. As V. and I ran around in 90 degree temps, attending to Will whenever he wasn't napping, we had to deal with stubborn customers who had the nerve to ask to have a dollar taken off an item already marked down to $2. I was exhausted from continually moving things from the basement to the garage to display during the sale. One woman bought all of our plants in one fell swoop. A family that relocated to Atlanta after their house was destroyed by Katrina in New Orleans bought our patio furniture. A cute young couple bought our bedroom set. One guy was only interested in whether I had some old 35mm camera equipment in the basement (and I did!). I heard at least seven languages spoken over the course of two days (the cultural diversity in Atlanta always surprises me). In the end, we made a tidy profit, but we will need to make a couple of trips to the local Goodwill to rid ourselves of those things that just wouldn't sell.

On Saturday night we had a much more enjoyable time attending a party in our honor. Thirty-two of our closest friends (including one who flew in from NYC) threw us a wonderful goodbye party at Donna's house. A few of these friends were people I met when I first came to Atlanta in '96, whereas a few others we had gotten to know just in the past year. Several of V's friends came as well, which caused the room to nearly burst with psychologists and psychiatrists. There were some teary farewell speeches and some very nice gifts (including a Visa card to buy furniture once we get to Brisbane!). I am pleased with my new mousepad, made up of several of my work colleagues who got together and posed for a group portrait after a faculty meeting a few weeks ago.

The group picture on the left was taken mid-party (before Tracie's margaritas had their full effect!). Let me be clear. These people really are true-blue, honest-to-goodness friends, and we are going to miss them terribly.

Driving home last night at 1 am, I wasn't in much of mood to talk about it all with V. The six hours at the party flew by so quickly...just like our wedding. The idea that our life here is nearly over still hasn't sunk in. I'll see a few of these people later this week for some more goodbyes, but it it is time to accept reality...we ARE moving to AUSTRALIA! (Damn, what was I thinking?!)

Hola, Hello, and "Hey"

In the past few days I have been getting several hits to this blog from Chile, Argentina, and England. So, I thought I would offer a special welcome to you ships that pass in the night, before you going clicking away to some other more fantastic blog.

For the more "regular" readers, the garage sale netted us over $1000...pretty good, huh? And we nearly have everything finished on our checklist (take that, Audra!). I promise a more regular post (with pictures) tomorrow, the day I finish my 44th trip around the sun.

Check, Check

I think we have successfully completed two of the items on the checklist I posted two days ago. Three more should be taken care of by Wednesday.

We fly away from Atlanta three weeks from tomorrow.

All three of us are very tired right now.

Under Pressure

Two weeks from today we will load up a rental car and drive to Arkansas and Oklahoma to see members of my family for eight days. When we return, we will have one full day left in Atlanta before boarding the plane to Los Angeles. So, that means we have only 13 days left to do the following:

1. Get rid of two cars (one is being donated, and one is being sold)
2. Sell three sofas, the kitchen table, two beds, a dresser, a large desk, a coffee table, and some book shelves.
3. Hold a garage sale for all the other smaller items.
4. Sell a deck table and chairs, a BBQ, and another glass table set.
5. Get the carpet cleaned and the hardwood floors polished.
6. Hire painters to paint the kitchen and master bath.
7. Close all accounts and services that we don't need once we leave (and figure out how to pay the ones we still need until the house is sold).
8. Move two aquariums to other homes.
9. Sell some electronics equipment on Craigslist (two TVs, a stereo, VCR, and some old Macs)
   
10. Arrange to ship some things that didn't get taken by the movers.
11. Rent a car (or minivan?).
12. Say goodbye to all our friends.
13. Give one more lecture, and grade 70 papers and 70 final exams (me).
14. Throw away everything left at work (me).
15. See the last patients (V. is doing this all the way until June 15).
16. Take care of our 16-month-old.

That's all, I think!

But is it Art?

Back from D.C. last night, I got up early this morning to watch the season finales of "Heroes" and "Lost." Oh my! I was very moved by both shows, but, on "Lost," Jack's surprise flash forward (did you happen to notice that the name of the funeral home was an anagram of this?--I didn't!) and Charlie's final palm message were some of the best dramatic moments I have experienced in a long while. Both of these shows, as well as "The Office," are absolutely brilliant--three solid reasons why people should never get rid of their TVs. How am I going to survive without these shows for so many months? And I have no idea how the American broadcast dates for these shows correspond to when they air in Australia, so I may be waiting even longer...

Anyway, I have plenty of snobby friends who think my love of good television (and Diet Coke, for that matter) betrays my 25 years of education, which makes me wonder how I could be so wrong and they could be so right. Well, at the APS meeting I attended this past weekend, I saw a talk by Paul Bloom, a Yale developmental psychologist (and someone about whom I have blogged before), titled "But is it Art?" He recently studied how young children perceive art and discussed his findings in the context of broader philosophical theories of art. Among the various points he made (I didn't take notes, so I'm doing this from memory):

• Adults and children place special value on artistic reproductions of the real world. This explains the preference most people have for portaits, landscapes, pictures of still life, etc.
  
• Adults and children prefer original works of creation over perfect copies. Think about how everyone reacts to the news that a revered painting by a great master is actually a forgery. Three-year-olds have this same response when they are given a chance to have an exact replica of their favorite attachment blanket or toy instead of the original.
  
• The more we (and children) perceive that the artist labored, the more we value the end product. Bloom cited a study in which subjects reported liking an abstract painting more when they learned that the artist spent 28 hours or so on it, compared to a condition in which subjects were told that the artist spent 9 hours creating the same work of art.
  
• Adults and children recognize that the artist's intention is more important in appraising the art than what the end product actually resembles. As Bloom noted, tell a young child that the stick figure that she has just drawn not only looks like "mommy," but everyone else in the family, and you'll end up with a very upset child.
  

I believe that Bloom comes from an evolutionary psychology framework, and his bottom-line argument is that there may be a few basic principles that we all share when we evaluate works of art that reflect basic cognitive processes we use in other areas of life. I am not sure that this analysis works in the case of my favorite television shows, but in these shows I do appreciate the originality, the attention to realism (so that I become absorbed in this new reality), and the apparently huge amount of work it takes to create such a quality product. Why my snobbier friends don't have these same appreciations of my television shows, or why people the world over differ in their artistic tastes, certainly has less to do with the inherent qualities of the art, and more to do with what we already know about the artist and/or perceive in the art in the ways in which Bloom described.

Cops and Robbers

Our local city, Sandy Springs, recently became incorporated, and many members of its police force have been recruited from surrounding communities, probably with significantly better pay. As a result of all the enthusiasm that accompanies new things, the police department has been especially proactive, giving lots of speeding tickets and keeping the local neighborhood watches apprised of every local offense via email. I simply had to share this one with you, my loyal readers:

A 43-year old man was arrested at 6335 Roswell Road, in the parking lot of a gym after a man reported that when he walked out of the gym and got into his car, a silver Mercedes drove up next to him and the driver of the car began to stare at him. The complainant said that he noticed a motion coming from the man’s hands, near the waist area and suspected the man was staring at him and masturbating at the same time. (This is sometimes known as multi-tasking.)

The report indicated the man told the complainant “Hey Big Boy, can I play with you?” The complainant then got out of the car and walked over to the man’s car at which time the man probably read the word “Police” on the complainant’s T-shirt.
The man was arrested for Solicitation for an Illicit Sexual Act, a city ordinance. The complainant is a detective with Sandy Springs Police.

The guy in jail is upset because of all the luck, this guy was a cop.

The detective is upset because all day long everyone’s been calling him “Big Boy.”

To DC We Go!

We reached another moving milestone this morning when we gave our cat Sammy to one of my colleagues for adoption. She's going to be living on the 13th floor in downtown Atlanta with a view of CNN, Centennial Park, the Georgia Aquarium, and the World of Coke. I imagine that she's going to be crying out for me as she goes from room to room in the next few days. She was really attached to me, so I do worry about how she'll cope. I am sad.

On a happier note, we are flying to DC tonight for the weekend. I am presenting a paper at the APS meeting, and we'll get to see our old friends Larry and Lisa (and their three kids) in Virginia as well. However, we already missed our 4:50 flight to Dulles because of the traffic. We are now scheduled for a 9:50 flight that we hope we won't miss!

The Little Sh*t

For the record...I am sure that I would have hated our president if we had been in elementary school together. He would have been the little sh*t who was always getting everyone else in trouble while he snuck away with his little impish grin.

I'm in a foul mood.

Losing Sleep Selling a House

This past weekend was the most tiring one yet in our son's 15-month-old life. It started with a birthday party on Saturday morning during his nap time. He was able to make up that missed nap in the early afternoon, but he never got his second one. We then went to a 6:00 dinner at Patty and Sarah's house. Unfortunately, Will was ready to go to sleep an hour after we arrived, so I tried to get him to fall asleep on my chest as I walked around, missing the dinner conversation and having to eat my meal after everyone else had finished. This was all for nothing, as Will never went to sleep and just grew crankier. We left at 8:30, got home, and put Will, who was now completely exhausted, straight to bed. I then checked the messages. An agent wanted to show the house the next morning, "sometime between 9 and 12." (The early hour on a Sunday made me want to write my own "Dear 24," letter).

If you haven't had to show a house in this country, let me just say it is disruptive. Each time one is scheduled, usually with just a few hours' notice, we are expected to be out of the house, and, of course, our home is supposed to be spotless. With a young toddler in tow, this becomes extremely challenging. Normally we spend a good part of an hour feeding him in the morning, and then following that with another 30-45 minutes of bathing and getting him dressed. Well, yesterday, he slept until 9 because of his long day before. We quickly dressed him and left, not wanting to have the house messed up by the usual routine. This particular agent's three-hour window was especially annoying because most showings don't last more than 10 minutes. We went out to breakfast at a local Dunwoody institution, J. Christopher's (our first time, if you can believe it...and I am now sorry that I didn't know about it before now), and then headed to the mall to buy some shoes. By the time we got home at 1, Will was exhausted again. He even fell asleep in the car. But he woke up when I transferred him to his pack-n-play. Now he was awake again, but another message was waiting for us that an agent wanted to show the house sometime between 3 and 5. This time we waited in the house until 4, and then put Will in the car for a long drive to kill the time. He did fall asleep again, but woke up as soon as we got back to the house at 5:15. For the next two hours he tried to stay cheery while he banged around the house like a drunk and picked through his dinner. Putting him to bed at 7, he then cried for the next 40 minutes while we tried different tricks to help him calm down. He was so, so tired. Finally, after much singing of Beatles's songs, he gave me a smile, and fell asleep almost the instant I put him down. He was exhausted, we were exhausted, and our last "quiet" weekend was finally over.

And still no one has made an offer on our house.

Sorting It Out

It really happened. Four guys showed up at our house on Wednesday and began packing our stuff. They finished yesterday and then loaded it all into a 40-ft shipping container (they only used half the space, which seems like such a waste). That container will be taken to the port in Savannah, where it will be loaded onto a ship bound for Australia. We should next see these belongings around the first of August. But for now, our house feels strange. Some rooms are completely empty, while others look the same because we are not taking any of the furniture in them. Our kitchen is a mess. All the silverware, glasses, and dishes are gone. Last night we had dinner from the crockpot but we had to use a plastic fork and knife to scoop out the food. We also packed our cookbooks and pots & pans, so cooking is going to be a challenge for a while.

Both my home and work offices are nearly empty. I feel uneasy having all my books and files gone...what if I really need something that's been shipped? Of course, I will survive just fine without all this crap, but it is disorienting.

At work I have finished giving 4 of the 15 scheduled 150-minute lectures in social psychology. I have been giving this course all my best, as I would like to leave GSU on a high note. It helps that this is a course that I have taught more than 15 times since the early 90s. V.'s work is "winding down," although she has as many appointments in the coming week as she normally does. In the week after we come back from our Memorial Day weekend trip to DC, most of her appointments will be her last.

In six days we move Sammy to her new home (a colleague is adopting her). She's sitting on my lap as I write this. I feel really sad about leaving her here, but I'll save that for a later post.

Someone Else's Happy Ending

Last year, thanks to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code podcast, I discovered the music of Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. If you like great pop music, you really ought to give “Hang on Mike” a try. One song in particular gets played at least once a week on my iPod—”What to Do With Michael.” It’s an autobiographical song about Viola’s real-life romance with a woman he met in Paris after his first wife died of cancer. She was studying abroad and he was on tour, so they had to say goodbye until they met up again in New York, where they watched “The Spirit of St. Louis” in Bryant Park on their first date. They’ve been together ever since, as Viola sings:

Now my friend, they are inseparable
She even gets that boy to go to the gym
Now if you don’t think that’s love, you must by cynical
Or maybe man, you’re just dreaming in French, yeah

‘Cause she knows what to do with Michael
She knows how to make him feel
That he’s the one, he’s his mother’s son, not like anyone
He just needed time to heal
Well that’s right, he just needed time to heal

My affection for this song is partly due to my being able to relate to parts of their story, but I think it’s also one of the most romantic songs I have heard in a while. I wondered what happened to these two (the album came out in ‘04), and I was later pleased to see that Mike Viola posted an entry on his website about his life with his wife and daughter, Isabel, including the picture below. See, you love cynics, happy endings still happen all the time!Note: This is a modified verion of an entry I made at mog.com blog last June.

Last Times

With about a month left before our life in Atlanta concludes, we have entered that phase of a big move in which one experiences the last time for this and the last time for that. I am particularly conscious of these moments because it is really hard to imagine how they could ever be experienced again, given that we are moving 9000 miles away (according to Google Earth). The picture above was taken last Sunday at the last party for my lab group. A few days before that I gave my last lecture to a graduate class. I visited Emory this week for the last time, spending some time with my ex-wife Patty as we (finally!) divided up the pictures from our previous life together. I also saw some of my former Emory colleagues on that visit, which will likely be the last time I see them. I had my last department-related meeting yesterday. It was a weird meeting to attend, as it was focused on the department's plans for the next five years, and my leaving has affected those plans. Today kicks off the last "normal" weekend in our house, as the movers arrive on Wednesday. I am taking a lot of pictures during these last times. It's a feeble attempt to keep these people and places frozen in time as my memories start to fade in the coming years.

Watch Out, Bill Bryson

I discovered a blog today that I am just crazy about. It's called "Audra's Australian Adventures," and it's written by an American ex-pat who moved to Sydney with her husband about four months ago. Audra seems to be some sort of biotech researcher, but her prose is some of the best I have read in the blogosphere. To whet your appetite, here's an excerpt from her entry about Australian politeness:

Here, school children ride public buses. If you should find yourself on a city street in the afternoon, your bus is sure to pick up a gaggle of chattering students adorned in their distinctive uniforms. (My favorite uniforms are the well-heeled boys of Monte Sant’Angelo Mercy College who wear black knee pants, long grey socks, black ties, and flat-brimmed straw hats fitted with a black and white striped silk band. In the winter, a crisp grey blazer is added to their ensemble.) Students are required to give up their seats for adults, and they do so with avid enthusiasm. When exiting the bus, each and every student shouts an emphatic “Thank you” to the driver, who politely disguises his annoyance with a grunty smile.

This is good stuff. It makes me wish we were getting on the plane tomorrow!

The Journey, Part I

Our upcoming move to Australia has a certain inevitability to it, now that I reflect back on my prior trips to the country. In 1975, when I was 11 (32 years ago!), my family was living in Dixon, Illinois. My dad was asked by his corporate bosses to go to Australia for the summer to help the company start up a South Pacific branch. So, in May of that year we flew from Chicago, via Hawaii, Fiji, and Sydney, to little Wagga Wagga, a country town in southern New South Wales. I was the oldest child, and I had two brothers and a sister who was a toddler. How my parents managed with so many little ones on such a trip, I don't know, given that V. and I are already starting to panic about traveling with our ONE child.

We rented a house on the Wollundry Lagoon (see my last post), and my mother promptly enrolled my brothers and me in the public school a few blocks away. Even though it was our "summer vacation," I had an excellent time taking classes and getting to know the kids. My two brothers, on the other hand, did not enjoy the experience, as they were picked on constantly about their accents. All three of us were repeatedly referred to as "yanks" and asked about Disneyland and Al Capone. My brothers eventually quit school, but I stayed on. I remember coming back from Australia with excellent penmanship (we had classes devoted to handwriting) and pronouncing 'plaque' as though it rhymed with 'rock'. I came back to Wagga and visited my old school in 1996 and then again in 2000. See the pictures below...the first was taken in 1975, and the second 25 years later.

With the exception of my dad, we didn't travel far from Wagga that summer. We did go to Canberra, Melbourne, and a winery in northern Victoria. Given the short time we were there, it's amazing how many friends we all made. In August my dad was asked if he'd like to stay another 3 years, but by then my mom and brothers were more than ready to leave. I think it was really hard on my mom especially, and I remember that she used to keep a calendar on the wall in which she crossed out the days that we had left. And nearly everyday she would sing John Denver's "Take me home, country roads..."
I was probably the saddest of us all when we left. I had a girlfriend (for the first time) and many friends, I played sports (the only time in my life, really), and I was a bit of a celebrity as the only American most of those kids had ever met. In the picture above (taken by my dad on our last day in Australia) you can see me in the light blue jacket, with two friends on either side of me. My mom is second from the left, with my little brother and sister standing in front of her. My other brother is standing on the far right. The other people were the Smiths, a family that we spent a lot of time with. After we came back to the States, they moved to Surfer's Paradise, which isn't far from where we will be living in Queensland. Unfortunately, it's hard tracking down any particular set of Robert Smiths in Australia.

Alas, it took another 21 years before I came back to Australia. I'll write more about that trip in Part II.

Old Friends

That's me in the center of this photo, taken at the Wollundry Lagoon, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia in August 1975. I don't really remember the names of my friends here, but I think one of them (the one on the left) is Paul Arbuckle. My family lived in Wagga for three months while my dad was hiring people for a new branch of his company. I went to school, played rugby and aussie rules football, kissed my first girlfriend (Marie Manning, which apparently I have no photos of!), and made a lot of friends. When we came back to the States, I kept up the correspondences for about a year, and then all those friendships faded away. The whole experience was my special Aussie edition of "The Wonder Years."