The new car

So, my dad is a mechanic. I grew up fixing cars and know more than I care to about them. I rarely share this information because I actually hate fixing cars. Therefore, the cars I have always owned have been old and cheap and really only die when I neglect them. So driving around two cars from 1993 is not really that big of a deal for me. Recently our Ford Explorer started acting up. It leaks oil. I know where the oil leak is, the oil pan. The first step verbatim out of the repair manual for this is 1)remove engine. So, that leak has been around awhile. The next leak is water. That one was slow and so a bit harder to detect... Until it got big and I (actually my brother while borrowing the car) figured out that the water pump was busted. Unfortunately, I think I ran the car a bit too long without water and damaged something a bit more severe internally (which is how I killed my Trans Am 5 years ago too by the way). So, I alerted my wife that we will need a replacement vehicle fairly soon, as I can milk this one for awhile but doubt it will make it through the year.

So we decided on to take advantage of Labor day sales and just go buy a replacement vehicle. Knowing that trading a car can knock off some money we decide to drive the Explorer up to Sioux Falls (an hour away). We jump in the car with Rachel worried if we will make it. I tell her that it is missing and so the faster you go the less of an issue it is. "We can make it just fine." We are driving on the highway out to the interstate when I realize that the car doesn't want to go 75 anymore. The speedometer drops to 70, then 65 then 60. The car is not stalled mind you, so I think well maybe I had better ease off on the old girl. So I drop it down to 55, but then she keeps dropping to 50. We are about a 1/4 mile from a gas station so I do a quick physics problem in my head and decide we can make it there. "If you are driving a crappy car that mysteriously reduces it's velocity by 5mph every ten seconds how far can you travel before you have to abandon the vehicle on the side of the road?"

Luckily we made it. I cruised to a gas pump in the vein hope that it had prematurely run out of gas. No luck. So here we are stranded at a gas station with our kids at home with a baby sitter starting off a sweet day of shopping. I think, no worries let's just call a friend to pick us up. Of course it is Labor Day weekend so many of our friends are out of town! I remembered getting an email from a friend at work though asking me to do him a favor. So I called up Dr. Dixon and said, "I will gladly do you that favor if you will do me one right now?" So, he came to pick us up while I combined his PDFs using the laptop I brought with me and the gas station's
wifi. After pushing the car to a safe place, calling to arrange a donation pickup, and borrowing a friend's car, we then began our day of car shopping!

We first went to the Honda dealership. We actually had test driven a bunch of cars the previous weekend but no Hondas. We told the guy what we wanted. He moved us quickly to the used car section of the lot because there were only like two new accords on the lot and 20 used ones. After driving a couple, we found a used one that we liked and were driving back when Rachel asked about a new accord sitting in the lot. The sales guy knew nothing about them (didn't even know it was a 2012) but was more than willing to show us. It had everything we wanted and was basically the same price as the car we were driving. That says a lot for Honda resale! The guy told me that they don't play games here and that the owner gives money to charity so he is a good guy. My read on that was, I am playing a game and my first move is to say that I don't play games and if you decide to play games you will be stealing money that would otherwise go to suffering children. Once we ran the numbers though, I saw that the price was pretty close to invoice (thanks to an iphone app) and then he knocked off a thousand dollars. A chink in his armor, clearly he does play games. So, since this is Rachel's car I had little investment in what we got but more so just wanted to play. So, we told the sales guy that we needed to drive a Camry again and eat lunch before making a decision. He was genuinely worried that he was going to lose his sale because that was 1/2 2012 cars on the lot and someone else could very well buy it while we were gone. As happened with a 2011 we saw earlier. So he let us just take the car to lunch. There is a sweet feeling of getting behind the wheel of a car that just has 10 miles on it. Perhaps because it is such a a rare event in my life. So we drive the 2012 Honda Accord to the Toyota dealership. I am thinking with this move alone we should get a good price on a Camry. We check out several Camrys and they are really the same car as far as I can tell. Rachel cannot decide, but I know deep down she has always wanted a Honda. Probably some touching commercial she watched in her youth resonates in her unconscious. The Toyota guy gives us time to talk. Which means Rachel calls someone else (usually her sister or sister in law). I then take that opportunity to use the restroom. While in the restroom I have the notion that Rachel will choose Honda so while I still have an upper hand I call Honda in the bathroom and tell him if he will knock off another $500 I will come back and buy the car. In retrospect, I should have asked for $1000... He said he would check, and said if he could do it I promised to come back and buy the car (because I am basically stealing from charity). I swore to him I would, having no idea if Rachel would suddenly say "I gotta feeling" and choose toyota. We meet up again and the Toyota guy makes no offer to reduce his price after several prompts by me that this is purely a financial decision at this point. I then remember him saying that he worked Internet sales and therefore got no bonus incentives from salesroom sales. So, the end strategy was clear and back we went to get our new Honda!

It was quite fun, and I cannot wait until Rachel starts working and I can do it again to replace the 1993 Altima. In the meantime, I will have to adjust the zip tie holding up the rear window because it has slipped down a bit...




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To my Uncle Andrew

It is always hard to say goodbye to someone who means so much to you. Ever since my dad told me of your passing last week, I have dealt with it by not dealing with it. Actually not even thinking about it. It is just too damn hard. It is pretty easy for me to get distracted by the myriad of tasks that inundate my life. Yet, at times I just cannot avoid it and begin to break down. You have influenced me in so many ways though, that try as I might, I cannot avoid thinking about you. So this is my way of beginning the grieving. I think it is always best to share the memories with others. I post this publicly because I am sure that there are many who know me well, but have no idea who you are, or what impact you have had on my life. So I share it here... It is amazing how little I have spoke to you in the past 15 years, but how much I would think of you and how much you have influenced my life.

As a child, I spent most of my time at your house watching grandma threaten you with that wooden spoon. I knew that most kids didn't stay at their grandma's house because their parents both worked long hours, but I loved it there so I never really minded at all. You know that since you were only 8 years older than me, you were in nearly every way like my older brother. You took so much pride in teaching me how to do everything from eating my cereal to tying my shoes. Strange that I can remember these events, but I do and so many others. Those are the simple things that one doesn't think about in your day to day life, but clearly shows how close we were.

Beyond these early childhood memories, I remember incessantly playing board games with you. (To those that know me, I rarely lose at strategic games- and this is a skill I learned from Andrew.) I'll never forget how in a game of Risk you and I took out several other players in a masterful game. It was clearly going to go down to you and me, but in a complete betrayal you broke our treaty without warning and finished me off in a single move. The best part is that you did it with a smile. No hard feelings, just the game Jake. That is where I learned about having a killer instinct, but pulling it off with charm. Fuck you for ambushing me again by dying so young Andrew, especially because I know I could take your ass at Risk now.

As an 8 year old, I took over your paper route. I had to be 10 to officially be a paper boy, so I took over your route and just kept it in your name. I remember still you teaching me on the perfect techniques for folding a paper, the correct angles for throwing the paper, even how to shoot a rubber band with the deadliest force. (Ha, you also taught me how to steal a newspaper out of a vending machine, and how to get a parking meter loaded with time using only my shoe.) I realize now that much of my teaching skills come from you. Always trying to discover the best and most efficient way, and teaching it to others. That was you, and that is me.

Later, I spent many years working at my dad's automotive repair shop. You managed the shop at the time and I worked there after school and during the summers. You taught me the basics of course, but much more importantly you taught me how to solve problems. I remember you once telling me that a car needed a water pump replaced. I asked you how to do it, and you merely pointed at it. "There it is... take it out and put the new one in." That was it. You knew I had watched you do it several times. You had trained me on how to organize parts as they are taken off. I had been taught the component lessons, now I had to just put it all together. And so I did. I did it wrong of course, and had to pull it all off again. Then put it back together again, and then I forgot something else. And then I did it again. It took me 12 hours for a 2 hour job, but I learned. I learned not just how to replace a water pump, but I learned that I could pretty much figure out anything if I put my mind to it. Fuck me if I didn't end up getting a PhD doing the exact same process. There was no way I should have been able to do half the things I was doing at that shop. Thinking back to how much trust you put in me, how much you pushed me to solve problems creatively and all the while doing it in a context of fun. As I advise students now, I see so much of your method in me. Much of who I am as an advisor and a scientist was fostered early by you. I never told you that, but clearly I should have- just never expected you to go so soon...

The last time I spoke with you was last year when I called you about our family tree. You sounded great and were so excited about your daughter Janice getting married. I laughed when you invited me to the wedding right then and there without even talking to Janice... I am obviously regretting not going now, but I am so glad I called you and got to speak with you for awhile.

I think the hardest death I have experienced in my life was grandma, but yours is easily the second. I loved you both so dearly and will always think back to the days when I was hanging out there as a kid, just laughing and having fun with the both of you. I hope you are both having fun now. You both really have such a similar spirit of love and ease about life. I really have been blessed in my life to be surrounded by so much love. I can only hope that when my time comes I will have influenced folks in the same way.

I cried today listening to a Dead Kennedy's song. While that sounds weird, there are at least a few people in the world that remember your beloved car with the word Buzzbomb spray painted on the side of it. What a piece of crap car that was. I still cry occasionally thinking about grandma and she died in 1994. I am sure it will be the same with you. Do you remember when she passed I created a jar with keepsakes to remember her by? At the top is a handkerchief that I wept on at her funeral. I am weeping on it now as I write this. I will bring it with me to your funeral this weekend as well. Something to keep that I can share with my own boys years from now about those that helped make me into the person I am today. Thank you for being my closest friend all those years. Thank you for being that older brother I never had. Thank you for your mentoring and your protection and your love.

I love you man and I will miss you dearly. When my time comes, I hope you have a Rosa's burrito on the table waiting for me. Maybe then we can catch up on all we have missed out on in each others lives, or maybe we'll just go to the track to bet on horses. Until then...

Your favorite nephew,
Jake

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The Perfect Storm

So, it has been awhile since my last post. Plenty has happened, I just have not been posting... The last 12 hours is too good to pass up though.

Of course it begins with Rachel being away on a trip. I brag to everyone how I can easily handle it all, and so am just begging the fates to throw me a curveball.

Midnight, last night, it arrives. I hear Lucas crying and so I get up to comfort him and put him back to bed. I meet him in the front room, where he is vomiting all over our carpet. Sweet. A nice dark brown against our nearly white carpet with nice chunks of fruit snacks littered about. Awesome. So, I direct him to the bathroom to finish his wreching and proceed to cleanup mode. It is not faring well for me. At that point, Lucas informs me that he also threw up in his bed. So we walk downstairs looking for a trail of vomit and much to my relief there seems to be no other spots... until... I reach his bed. I would have snapped a photo except for the fact that it would have I am certain made you vomit right on your keyboard. There was a huge pool of vomit on his bed. Another huge pool of vomit on the floor on one side of his bed, and a modest pool of vomit on the other side. Lovely. I am relieved that I can at least just grab all the bedding and scoop it up, I then try to meet the challenge of sopping up the floor. I proudly did not vomit myself- but given that cleaning is not one of my gifts, there is still the mark of the beast all over that room. After sopping up most of the wet mess, it actually required me to vacuum up the bits of chips and fruit snacks the were all over. After about an hour of cleaning, I finally gave up and went to bed. Lucas was in my bed, and I was hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't throw up in the bed. And... he didn't!

Cue next morning, the normal hustle and bustle but being a man down was not helping matters. Lucas says he has to go to the bathroom and bam Montazuma's revenge. So, normally a parent would use these signs as a cue to not send your child to school. I have to lecture today though, and have no backup for childcare. I clearly cannot send him to day care because he is sick, but he'll be fine at school- right? Once I do the enviable task of wiping him, I let him know the great secret of loose stool- "Lucas, if you feel like you have to fart... don't!" 15 minutes later, I am dressed and ready as is Lucas... Ben not so much. Lucas doesn't look right. I ask him "Lucas, are you ok?" "I don't want to tell you" is his reply. Apparently, he did not heed my advice, and crapped his pants. So, I take him to the bathroom and carefully pull off his poo soaked tightie whities when he freaks out and flails a leg. That sprays poop soup all over the floor and his socks and legs. I throw his underwear in the toilet to wash off the slop and then proceed to wipe him again. I wipe and wipe and wipe and then decide I had better flush the toilet before it gets clogged with TP. The second I pull the handle I remember that his underwear are in the pot! Too late... plugged up. So with crap all over everywhere, I am forced to reach into the bowl of fun and feel the underwear with the tips of my fingers way up the pipe. After a couple minutes of slight tugging I finally manage to free the courageous pair of underwear and then commence the quick cleaning. We are scheduled to leave in 5 minutes.

In a mad rush, I get things manageably clean while then demanding Ben to get dressed (this was the fifth time I told him). He said no for the last time, and I totally lost it on him for his oppositional behavior. I undressed him and dressed him without a fight, I think because he didn't want to chance being physically harmed. Checking the clock, and seeing we were only a few minutes behind, I thought we just might make it after all. Barring one incident where Ben slammed Lucas' hand in the door, we made it to the truck and were on our way. I glanced back in the rear view mirror and saw a completely exhausted and sickly child and realized that there was no way I could leave him at school. If he crapped his pants at school, it would just be a total nightmare for everyone. So, I dropped Ben off and headed back home. After a quick nap on the couch Lucas was feeling better and I took him to class with me. Aptly, it was disease ecology so I got to use him as a prop for how sickness can alter an individual's normal behavior. He played with my iPad the entire lecture- so he actually fit right in with the other students...

We are home now and he is sacked out on the couch. I am still trying to figure out how to remove vomit stains and hoping that another crapping spell does not rear its ugly... well rear.

Lucas finally out...




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Day 8- The day of my talk

So I gave what I thought was a terribly boring talk comparing the results of two different PCR methodologies, but I must have chosen the correct audience because I got several compliments and loads of interest from the group in what I was doing. More talks then after mine, but we finished at lunch. We then headed off as a group to the Billabong Sanctuary. That was basically another Featherdale, but we got to hold and pet much more! Instead of a wussy skink, I upgraded to a baby crocodile and an Amythest Python. I loved it almost as much as Rachel loved petting the wombat and holding the koala! We toured the park and networked with conference folks and then had a evening dinner at the park. You should have seen Rachel touring the park with a glass of red wine- we felt very VIP. Anyway, it was a chance for Rachel to meet the world's experts on chytrid fungus and her conclusion was that they were all very nice people. Ha. So, there you go biologists, doesn't matter how many publications you have in which journal- you had better be pleasant or all bets are off.

This will probably be my last internet connection until the states since our time is coming to an end.

Today, I am headed off for the last morning of talks and then we hop on a plane and leave for Sydney after lunch. We'll have dinner in the city and then leave for LA tomorrow after lunch. Then for the long ride home and jetlag city! I feel like I just woke up and it is nearly 2pm Pacific time. I am going to be screwed...

Thanks all for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed living vicariously through my blog. It has been fun transcribing it down for posterity. Next conference is in two years and in New Zealand. Go Kiwis!

Day 7- Diving Day!

Or not. We woke up and caught the morning ferry over to Magnetic Island looking forward for a nice and easy shore dive. The water was a bit rough so we were glad to have not opted for the 3 hour ride to the "outer reef." We land on the island, catch a bus over to the bay where the dive shop is and then... turned away. The divemaster told us that the visibility was horrible, and there would be no diving today. Rachel and I were both pretty upset. I am actually really bummed about it still. This was the day to go, we will not have another chance because tomorrow I give my talk, the day after we are taking a plane back to Syndey, and the day after that we are heading back to CA. The only thing I wanted to do here was dive the great barrier reef... So, let me tell you my anger on the several levels- this morning we were just pissed because we could have called the dive shop and been told a no on diving- but instead we lugged all of our gear onto a ferry and then onto a bus to find this out. And that meant we had to lug it back to the hotel. Of course if you read my earlier post, you'll also know that we had to spend an extra $300 just to bring the dive bag from Sydney to Townsville and back! And of course, just lugging that thing around all the other flights has just been a total pain. We

decided that we are going to leave the gear at my parents house once we get back to the states. Since that is the most likely place we will go diving next, and then that frees up a back to haul back all the loot Grandpa Joe bought for the boys!

Well, we did try to go in the water despite poor visibility. I got my feet wet and was thinking about going to try and snorkle despite the water and air being pretty cold. A couple others from the group we were with went and tried to snorkle. They came back and reported that they could not see a thing... So, I just went and laid on the beach in depression. Rachel went out for a swim while I wallowed. Finally, we decided that we better just move on and so went back to the hotel. We ended up going downtown and had lunch at a Turkish restaurant. We ordered Pides, which are pretty much pizzas. They both had a salad like on top of them right in the middle. They were actually really good. I had a seafood one, with shrimp anchovies and the like. Rach had a chicken one that I'll be finishing for dinner tonight. Our hotel room has a fridge and so we decided to eat leftovers for dinner tonight since we have so many! Then later in the evening we will head out for a gelato. After lunch we drove to the top of castle hill, a giant hill in the middle of the city. Spectacular views from there, although it is a crappy day so I am sure they are simply amazing in the summer.

Tomorrow then, I give my talk in the morning and listen to others until lunch. Then I will come

and pick up Rachel at the hotel and the group is heading to the Billabong Sanctuary to look at animals and have dinner. Rachel is hoping to actually hold a koala this time!

Me at the cove where we were supposed to dive. If you zoom in you can see me with a thumbs down.

Day 6- Another day in Townsville

Again, a pretty laid back day. I spent the day listening to talks, Rachel reading on the beach. Tough life for sure. Apparently today was a historic day in Australia. We woke up to find that the country had its first female prime minister. It was pretty amazing for several reasons, one of which being that the election is not for another few weeks! So, I got my first lesson in Australian government, which is similar to Canada and Britain where the people elect a party not an individual. So at any time the party can just appoint a new leader if the so wish. Which is what happened this morning! So the female prime minister might get ousted in a matter of months if her party cannot win the next election. Fascinating eh? There was a great story that I heard today that I have to pass on. I was talking to people about visiting the wildlife center down near Sydney. One of the students here said that she had a friend that worked at the one downtown. The story was that a mom had lost her down syndrome child momentarily in the place. After a few minutes, he just turned up. Well, mom was not at all happy about him running off, so she cut it short and they all went home. Next thing she knew, there was a little penguin in her bathtub! Apparently the boy had run and grabbed a penguin and stuffed it in his backpack! And mom didn't know about it until later in the day when he was trying to make the penguin feel at home!

I came home early from the conference today. Rach and I had a nice walk on the strand and picked up some shakes. Unfortunately, it was more like a flavored milk than a shake! I actually had my first official Australian burger tonight. It is much like our burgers but with two extra ingredients- a fried egg and a grilled beet! Actually it tasted quite lovely. The beet was nice and sweet. Tomorrow, we are heading to Maggie Island as they call it- Magnetic Island. We'll be doing an easy shore dive with the group and enjoying the island. Should be a nice day away from talks, and we are excited to be able to see some of the reef up close and personal!

Day 5- The conference begins...

Oh yeah, this is why I am here. So we wake up at our less than desirable hotel and I have to head off to James Cook University for the conference at 8am. The hotel switch was a little tricky given that checkout at the one hotel was at 10am and check in at the other was at 2pm. Rather than have Rachel drag our suitcases on a half an hour walk closer to town, I loaded up all our luggage in the rental car and headed to the University. Rach decided she would leave our hotel at check out and then take a walk to the new place and just hang out at the beach for a few hours. Worked out well, I left at lunch from the conference and we checked into our room about an hour early. A HUGE UPGRADE!!! We are in a corner room 12 floors up directly on the beach. Amazing view and a much better room. The location is key though with restaurants all along the strand, and of course I can hear the waves crashing on the beach as I type this! Nothing much else to report though, since I sat most of the day in a room listening to talks and Rach spend most of her day reading on the beach! I got a pretty good tour of the city on the way back from the hotel though as I tried a new route and missed a turn or two. I have become pretty accustomed to driving on the left side of the road though. I thought it would be much harder, but my brain has seemed to have just made some sort of switch and the only thing I really need to think about still is the signalling- although I was tempted, I didn't hit the windshield wipers once today! We had dinner at a nice steakhouse on the beach and had a great conversation and dinner. Nice to just be able to sit and listen to your wife without continually interruptions... Rach seems to be doing ok away from the boys. I am pretty used to it with all the travelling I do, but Rachel rarely leaves them for this long. We found out that Rachel's great aunt passed away which is interesting because her dad and mom were close to her and so will go to the funeral. They do not know when it will be, but the boys might get to go to a funeral while we are in Australia! Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, this will not be their first- so it won't be that big an issue, but nonetheless we hope it works out that they can drop the boys off at my parents house to avoid having to deal with them! That's all for now. Tomorrow looks to be another uneventful day of conference for me and beach for Rachel!

(On a crappy internet connection- I’ll add photos later.)

Day 2- Museums and Bondi

Another full day planned in Sydney! We start out early and head to the Sydney aquarium. A short walk over to Darling Harbour and a morning coffee and muffin made for a nice brecky. We head into the aquarium not know what to expect. It is basically a walk through the different regions of Australia. It started with rivers and such and I was thinking that it was ok, but not that great of an aquarium. After perusing a few areas then we started to get into a cool exhibit- the Dugons. Apparently, these are the source for all the mermaid legends- how, I have no idea. They look like a walrus without whiskers or tusks. Regardless, the exhibit was cool. There was a huge pool that we walked to the bottom of and then walked down two tunnels at the bottom of it. Kind of like a cool shark exhibit that I have seen at several other places. Loads of fish and a couple of those Dugons. We kept on going and then found another pool just like the Dugon one, but filled with sharks. That one was way cooler because of the sharks, but it also had a couple sea turtles in it as well. It was great fun and then got even more interesting when we saw a nurse shark clamped down on another’s fin. I thought that was odd that a shark would be attacking another one of roughly the same size… until I realized that it wasn’t “attacking” her but rather mating. An aquarium worker was amazed it was happening and said it was an incredibly rare thing to see. After that it only got cooler as we started into the great barrier reef region. Crazy bright and many colored fishes! I cannot wait to dive and see them in person!

After the museum, we jumped on a nearby train out to Bondi Beach. We were told it was a place to see, and we thought it would be fun to get out of the city. So after a 10 min train ride and another 10 min bus ride we found ourselves at Bondi. It was quite frankly breathtaking. It was so amazingly scenic and I would say the most beautiful beach spot that I have ever been to. One of my favorite features was an Olympic sized swimming pool that was built up against a cliff and was immediately adjacent to the ocean. As the set came in, you can watch the waves crash over the wall into the pool. So cool. Rach and I grabbed some fish and chips at a fish market and went down to the beach for lunch. These were the real deal. The guy wrapped it all up in paper and handed it to me. Felt like the real deal! We went for a hike up the cliffs to a bluff with a great lookout site. Totally amazing.

We then took the trip back and got off at the train stop near our hotel. We took a walk through Hyde Park. Looked sort of cool from the 12^th story where our room was, but really cool from the park itself. We traversed the park to get to the Australia Museum- the natural history museum for the country. I love natural history museums, so I was having a great time- but poor Rachel was just totally beat. The coolest part for me was the section dedicated to ancient Australian animals. I never knew there was a Tasmanian tiger before. Can you imagine a marsupial tiger? All extinct now of course, but just fun to go to the other side of the world and learn about an entirely new fauna both extant and extinct. We headed back to the hotel for a nap, then just had a quick dinner before turning in early yet again.

Day 3- Road trip!

We were up again early and a good thing because we had a bus waiting for us at 7:45am. We booked a trip to the Blue Mountains and took a tour bus there. It was fun to see the sights, but the driver alone was worth the price of the trip. Daryl got on the microphone about 8:30am and never stopped talking. Normally you expect a tour guide to tell you something, pause for a bit, and then tell you something else. Not Daryl. It actually felt like we were having a conversation with someone who never lets you get a word in. He would even ask us questions, hear a mumble, and just run with it. Totally hilarious. So, he gave us the background on everything we could possibly want to know- even to the detail where he would tell us the building said one year and a book he read said another year. He even told us that his favorite “lollis” (chocolate fish) were all bought up at his favorite “lolli shop.” Which of course, we had to visit. Anyway, on our tour we first stopped at Featherdale wildlife park- which was totally amazing. Mainly because there were kangaroos just loose around the park. They brought out koalas for us to pet, and then gave us food to feed the kangaroos. Petting kangaroos, koalas, and even emus was just totally cool. Rachel really enjoyed it as well, as evidenced by the 50 photos I took of her petting all the animals. She was not too keen on the emu, though. That bird was a monster I have to admit. I also got to hold a good sized skink. Pretty fun place. They also had tons of other caged animals. Loads of birds, a reptile house, and all the requisite Aussie mammals: dingos, wombats, wallaroos, Tasmanian devils… From there we hopped in the bus off to Scenic World. Sounds like a totally cheesy place, but basically it is an abandoned mine area that has been converted into a tourist attraction. The deal is basically to look at the scenic “Three sisters” which is a rock formation in the Blue Mountains. Then you can hitch a ride to the valley floor and back in Scenic World. We rode down the mine train, which is the worlds steepest something or other. I have to say, it was intense. I was marveling at how we were able to be at such a steep angle and going so slow. I think I have been that steep before on an amusement park ride but going 100mph. Going only 10mph was way intense because you just felt like the car was going to let go of the track and then that would be it! We walked around the valley and looked at some old mining equipment, and then headed back up a skyway type cable car. Pretty cool spot, and definitely worth the trip. We also hit a couple lookouts and took some photos of the mountains and the valley. The trip ended with a trip through Olympic village- the area where the 2000 games were held. Pretty cool to see for sure. The bus then dropped us off at wharf where we took the “River Cat” back to Circular Quay. Pretty cool cruising into Sydney Harbour at night from the other direction. I tried some photos, but nothing too successful- more fun to just stand there and take it all in. We had some pizza for dinner and then made our way back to the hotel. Had to gear up to leave our beautiful hotel and head out for the great unknown city of Townsville!

Day 4- Australia goes from heaven to hell…

So we wake up early yet again- 4am and try to sleep to stay on Sydney time. Since we have an early start, we decide to just leave early and head for the airport. We figure that taking the train will be cheaper than a $30 cab fare to the airport. So, we haul our monster bags down to the train station to get to the ticket office and find out that two tickets to the airport cost… $30. Oh well. The train ride was fast and uneventful. We get up to the terminal and check in without a problem. I select 2 bags to check in, Rachel selects one. We go to turn the bags in, and it turns out that our heavy bag is 23 kilograms, and the limit is 20. Bummer. We start getting ready to move stuff around when the attendant asks if we have three bags. Apparently, we are only allotted 20 kilos for each of us. Between us though, we have 57 kilos. 17 over. No worries, she says. Just an extra charge for the weight. $10 per kilo! So, we had to pay $170 to bring our extra bag… which means we have to pay $170 to bring it back to Sydney. Needless to say, this put a horrific damper on our day. We were both in utter disbelief and just shell shocked about paying that much for a bag. But, we really had no choice… Strike one. We get on board and the plane seems great, so perhaps we can get over it. Just give me a coke and I’ll read for a few hours. Coke, sir? That’ll be $4. Strike two. I nixed that. So, we land and go to pick up the rental car. No problems there, an upgrade in fact! We get our bags ok and head out to the car. Fun thing about Australia is that they drive on left side of the road. Have I ever driven on the left side of the road? Nope. Steering wheel is on the right… thank god the pedals were not switched or it would be a total mess. So, we bravely head out to the Hotel with Rachel uttering her mantra “Jake, stay to the left… Jake, stay to the left… Jake, stay to the left…” I navigate the streets quite well, actually. Mostly, I drive too far to the left a couple times because I am used to sitting on the other side of the car. I still turn on the windshield wipers every time I want to turn, seems like they should switch those too… We arrive at our resort hotel only to find that is pretty far from any beach. It is also a little too Motel like. We can clearly hear our neighbor through the wall and Rachel is not feeling this place at all. Hard to come down from the VIP treatment at the Sheraton, but this is borderline sketchy. Strike 3. We decide to just get some food and let it all sink in. Rachel would rather we walk, but there really is nothing around our resort Motel- so I convince her to let me drive again. We head to the nice strip only to find that no one will serve food until 5pm. It was 3:30pm. Strike 4? Luckily, we find a place for some Fish and Chips and chow it down. We head back to the resort and I startup our wireless internet. A $14 charge and so crappy that I have flashbacks to dial up times. I am typing this in a word document because I know it would cut out if I dared do it in the browser! Strike 5… I have been around enough now to know that I don’t have to be unhappy. So, I make sure that I can cancel the rest of our stay here and find a nice hotel on the strand for a cheaper rate! So we are putting up with it tonight, but the rest of the week we’ll be at a tolerable hotel. More later on whether it is up to par or not tomorrow. I head off to the conference tomorrow at James Cook University. I’ll have to come back to move Rachel over to the other hotel, but will only miss a talk to do it. I’ll make sure I pick a lame one! Ha.

Sydney Day 1

Planes, Trains, and Ferry

So, Rachel and I decided that since it was 6am local time when we landed, that we needed to power through the day to beat the jet lag. So, we navigated the public transport taking a bus to a train station and the train to a stop just down the street from our hotel. Since it was 7am, we could not check in to our hotel yet, but we ditched the bags there and began our Sydney

adventure. We began with a walk from our hotel to Circular Quay (pronounced key). We cut through the botanical garden on our way up. This is a huge park with loads of labeled trees and plants. Runners seemed to particularly enjoy it (at 7am). From this park we were able to reach Sydney Harbour and catch our first glimpse of the famous Opera House.

You can see the bridge in the background. We then made our way across the Quay to the Rocks where we toured a craft fair that was going on. Some pretty cool stuff there, although we ended up not buying anything. At this point, we were starting to feel the pain of jet lag, but we decided that we had to press on. A nice ride on a ferry seemed a good way to relax for a bit while

keeping on our site seeing mission to stay away.

So we headed back a got a ticket to Manly Beach. Nothing I saw there that made me think Manly in particular, but I have to say the Ferry ride out was spectacular way to view Sydney. We arrived at Manly Wharf and then traversed the isthmus to the other side where the beach was. A nice stroll on the beach watching the people and still giggling inside whenever we would hear the Australian accent. We watched some volleyball as we strolled on the strand and then started to get a bit hungry so we stopped at a beach burger joint called- Burger Me. I was tempted to go for a Kangaroo burger, but decided against it. I thought the burgers cost a little bit much, until I saw the size of them! We then took the Ferry back and headed back on a train to the hotel.

We were so tired at this point that we actually got off at the wrong stop and then had to walk a little extra to make it back to the hotel. Once we got there, we were impressed by the room to no end!

It was really nice, with a great view of Hyde Park and St. Mary's cathedral and you can even see a bit of the harbor in the distance. We were supposed to go to a museum, but I killed that idea and opted for just resting a bit. We then made it out for dinner back at Circular Quay, where we had Fish and Chips and watched the "Lighting of the Sails" where the project all sort of cool patterns on the opera house. That was enough for us, and we were dead asleep by 8pm. Sad. I then woke up at 4am wide awake. Awesome. I tried calling home on Skype but my family was nowhere to be found. Apparently, there were all watching Toy Story 3!

I'll post more on the next day when I can, and I'll try to post a bunch of pictures up on Facebook as well.

Sydney Day 0

Part 1- Lakers Championship

So, it occurred to me quite early that if the Lakers went to game 7 (which of course they did) this would put me in a less than ideal situation concerning my trip. As it turned out, in what was one of the biggest games in Lakers history, I had to get up and walk away from it with 5 min left in the 4th quarter. And even that was a negotiation. Luckily, it was on radio so I turned it on in the car for the ride to the airport. Sadly, the ride was much too quick as my father dropped us off with 90 seconds left to go in the game. Luckily, I borrowed an old walkman from my mom and had the game tuned in. So, as I unloaded the car I heard Wallace hitting a 3 and killing our 6 point lead. I walked in to stand in line and then remembered why AM radio is nearly obsolete. My reception went to pure static once I entered the building. Like nothing. So I put the suitcases in line and left Rachel there with the luggage (apparently missing a huge Artest 3 pointer). She was waiting in line staring at me with daggers through the window as I sat outside with bated breath to see if Sasha could make 2 free throws. Well we all know how long the last 60 seconds of an NBA game lasts... especially game 7 of the finals! So Rachel made it to the front of the line and the game was still going on. Through 10 years of dealing with me, I was able to tell her across a crowded airport via hand signals just to wait at the front of the line and let people pass until these precious final seconds clicked away. And they did. And we won. And I am still so happy. I'll never forget me relaying the call to the two random LAX workers that were staring at me for any piece of information. Down at their cell phones, back at my face... it was awesome. Seconds later they announced it over the intercom. THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS are the WORLD CHAMPIONS! Funny that they call it world champions, considering no one over here seems to care anything about it. Something called World Cup has their attention... whatever.

Part 2- VISA

So we get our luggage checked in without a problem and we walk over to security. The lady there says that we do not have boarding passes but something else and to back and wait in that huge line to get our passes. Of course, being from LA we do not bother with the line but go back to our attendant to tell him that he forgot to give us boarding passes. He looks at the paper and says that she is wrong, go back and tell her these are boarding passes. So, we go back and there is a different woman who waves us past. We wait in that long line (this is LAX after all) and when we get to the front notice that we do not have a bar code to scan on our "boarding passes." So Rachel runs back over to the desk to another person and he says that we need visas. Uh oh. Jake didn't think that one needed a Visa to go to Australia. Hmmm, plane leaves in 90 minutes. Ok, so we go back to our friend (cutting that long line for the second time now) and he says... oh, you need visas!" He hands us off to another old guy who is helping like 15 people at once. We tell him about our visa dilemma and ask if he can help us. He tells us to hold on. Not, no problem just give me a second, or sorry you guys are screwed. Just, hold on. So we wait. And wait. And then I start thinking about our bags going to Sydney, and we will not only be out of trip to Australia, but also have no clothes for a week. And then Rachel cannot take this anymore and so grabs another lady and asks if she can help us get visas. She says, "Well it will cost you $25 each." Like that is some huge price to pay for erasing an entire trip to Australia. She gets us our visas and we are home free. Wheh. Count them, that was two huge times to hold my breath in under half an hour. Sasha's free throws and visas.

Part 3- the plane ride

So, I have some sort of expectation that if there is going to be a 14 hour flight to somewhere, then the seats will probably be a little more roomier, the seats will have power outlets, there will be wifi available... and when I entered the plane I saw those first class seats with all those amenities. Then, I walked back to economy. Nope, just the normal tiny seats with no leg room. The only bonus being that there were 4 movies instead of 1. Whatever, I am going to Australia and the Lakers won- who the heck cares??? Four hours later, I can no longer feel my knees. I remember my dad saying something about developing thrombosis on those long flights. I am sure that I have no idea what thrombosis is, probably my dad himself doesn't know exactly what it is either- but I should probably walk around. I head off to the lavatory and somewhat stumble given the lack of blood in my feet. No worries though, besides a butter stained shirt from dinner- I am still doing good. Watched Alice in Wonderland, wrote an outline for an NSF grant, read a few chapters of my book. Still 10 more hours to go! Hmm, maybe I'll sleep. Slept for a few hours in and out, and then was awake and couldn't fall asleep... still 4 hours more! Turns out it is pretty far to Sydney. We finally get there and I realize that Saturday the 19th will never exist for me. While I am paradoxically typing this blog on that day, it is actually Sunday, Father's day, for me. Only thing stranger is when I time travel to return. I will arrive in LAX 4 hours before I leave Sydney... Magic.

More about Day 1 in Sydney tonight (with photos)... now it is time to experience Day 2!