New feature! Check out the pictures from our trip on 28 March to the Sydney Royal Easter Show!
Well, folks, I hope it's getting warm back at home because it's damp and chilly here. D's been wearing sweaters and sweatshirts for three days in a row... it could be that winter's here at last.
You may have noticed1 that the blog entry is on time this week. Yes, that's right, the internet is working again at home. For the moment. Although the upgrade to a higher speed has been completed now, so maybe they won't be turning us off accidentally for days at a time now. We also have a new microwave, whether because our landlord was going to buy it anyway or because he's been yelled at by more than one resident, we're not sure. But it's here, so, we won't complain... too much.
We haven't done much this week, since the internet was restored over the weekend and we opted to try to be more productive. We have a trip to the Great Barrier Reef coming up in June, which is both a nice thing to look forward to and a measure of how much we still have to do with our research.
Chad has come to two related decisions that have shaped our leisure time the past few weeks and probably for many of the weeks to come. The first is that he has decided that D really needs to watch all of the 110 episodes of the sci-fi television show Babylon 5, and the second is that getting TV episodes on DVD is almost as efficient as having a TiVo.2 Currently, we're working through Babylon 53, CSI:Crime Scene Investigator4, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer5. It's really a nice way to wind down after working on research all day, and we figure that since the Foxtel here shows only US television shows anyway, we might as well go watch the US television shows we want to see.
Our Irish housemates moved out last week and so we've been down to six official residents. Although, we've had a brother6 living on our couch for a while so we're really at seven. Our landlord doesn't seem to be putting much effort into filling the empty room, since people knock on the door with an appointment, wait around, then leave an hour before he shows up. Ah, the short-term rental life is a nasty one...
Some friends (a former Ph.D. classmate of D's and her partner) popped through Sydney today, so we got to see them over dinner. It was really nice to see them, though we only see them once a year anyway, so it didn't really feel all that strange. Sometimes, when you squint a little, Sydney looks a lot like cities at home. But then, you open your eyes, and it's really not.
Happy Birthday to D's mom today-- she may actually read this first thing on Tuesday morning, maybe...
;)
- D
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NOTES
1That is, you will only have noticed if you are an avid reader and the first thing you do every Tuesday morning is check the blog...
2Under the circumstances, of course. The due dates and the limited stock at the video store make not quite as efficient in terms of time management, but we have to work with what we have here.
3Currently through season 1, episode 8. D's never seen any of the series before. Chad had seen all of it.
4Currently completed all of season 2, first four episodes of season 1. We found the rest of them in the movie store, obviously. But it stops after season 3... and the current US season is only 5, so we really are going to run out soon.
5Currently through season 1, episode 8. D's seen most of season 6 and 7 but none of the early stuff.