Update

As of Saturday afternoon, make that six.

AS

Max is here

Max has graced us with his presence.

However, one of his less enduring features is turning the garden over in a search for beetles and the collection of a large jar of snails now lying comatose in the 'fridge. And the cats have taken off into hiding lest they have their tails pulled and hair removed.

He's also scored three model cars in two days, which might be a record.

AS

Rain!

A miracle has happened after a long dry period. It has rained over the last three days and the landscape has greende up instantly. It's too early to say that the drought is over, but it will be if follow-up rains come as promised.

AS

Appointment

Yesterday was a good day. Not only did I get a clean bill of health, but I heard via the grapevine that I have been appointed and Adjunct Professor for a period of at least three years.

That's useful because it provides me with access to library and IT facilities, office space, secretarial support, a lap-top computer and technical backup, stationery supplies, and technical support in working up consultancy and research grant applications.

I'm actually working on an $80K consultancy application today with a business school colleague, Bernice Kotey (an Afro-American). The money is coming from an organisation called the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre (CCCCRC), but I know next to nothing about producing cotton. The project involves extensive travel in interesting parts of NSW and Queensland.

AS

Terminal Illness?

I was riding my bike furiously on a couple of days last week and felt some strong chest pains. On Thursday I landed an urgent doctor's consultation with great trepidation, but I must say that my young doctor, Vanessa Lloyd, has reassuring presence.

I'm sorry to disappoint anyone looking for a sizeable inheritance! She commanded an immediate ECT scan, which turned up zero problems. So she booked a session with Dracula on Friday morning. It was a nice omen to know that I'm part owner of the pathology business extracting my blood. Well, I got the results back yesterday and they revealed a great rounnd zero. In fact, I'm in the best of shape, which is hardly surprising in that I regularly peddle 21 km on a hilly course in an hour. That exceeds the standards for the local cycling club.

So, what occurred? Well, I think the pains resulted from riding fast into strong and very cold winds wearing very little. No, it wasn't the local variant of world nude cycling day, but it may well have been as I was only wearing shorts and a singlet.

AS

Flickr First post

I've just posted to http://www.flickr.com/search/people/?q=Wayward+Rambler&m=names some 20 digital photos of New Zealand. Have a look if you wish at some of the sights we saw over a 2 week period. I'm also putting together a video of the trip.

AS

Coming Home

It's only 5 days to the arrival of Beck and Max for a three day flying (literally) visit. We're suffering serious Max withdrawal symptoms after the 2 week visit to New Zealand and hope we're not vanishing from his radar.

Perhaps not, we have periodic discussions with him on the phone and I suspect he will run to hug us as usual. Anyway, there's a bit of a buzz about the household just now and we're rushing off shortly to buy a booster seat for the car.

Here he is crooning at his third birthday party!

AS

Further Education

Both Emily and Rebecca are considering further education at the University of New England. Em wants to do the Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (which is linked to geography and planning in my new school of Behavioural Cognitive and Social Sciences - BCSS). Lingusitics is less about learning a language and related culture and much more about the scientific (behavioural, psychological and statistical) analysis of language.

Beck is thinking about taking the Masters of Natural Resources, which will be useful for her strategic planning work.

It would be great to have both studying here, although I'm not sure we will see too much of them! The MAAL is entirely on-line and can be taken anywhere in the world - including Baltimore. Indeed, most of the students are over-seas. How about enrolling yourselves? It would give you an excuse to visit us.

AS

Flickr

I now have a Flickr account - got to keep up with the times. Nothing to show yet, so I'll post details when I've hoisted on board some picture of our ramble around NZ.

AS

Shenandoah NP

Em and G have just returned from a weekend camping in the Shenandoah NP. It seems that they came close to being eaten (?) in their tent one night by a local Ursus americanus .

Well, they shouldn't have pitched the damn thing on the edge of the campground right next to the undergrowth!

For more on this escape read: http://gintheus.blogspot.com/ .

AS