Parliament House

At our final day of UniGames in Canberra, we had to check out of our flat at 9:30 a.m., however the gold medal match we were playing in wasn't until 1:30 p.m. What to do for the next 3 hours in the most boring city on earth? We did what every other Australian does when they're forced to come to Canberra in Year 6 (and possibly again on later school trips): We went to Parliament House.

As Jess Woo and I are "Imports", we were all allowed to be tourists for the day. Here's the team takin' on Parliament:



And Leyla dancing with Canada's gift to Australia: a soap-stone carving of a dancing walrus. It's way cooler than the vase that Korea sent.



We also went and actually watched the house sitting and voting on some bills. Julia Gillard wasn't there, but Peter Garrett was, so I actually recognized an Aussie politician. They all got up and played musical chairs when voting. There was no name calling, which I have heard is popular in Australian politics, so that was a little disappointing. But it was on the radio that in the afternoon, Julia Gillard did turn up, and one of the other MPs was meowing at her. Love it!

Day 7 - A book that reminds you of somewhere
Listen To Me, Grace Kelly
also, Word Nerd

Austraaaaaalia!

Last week I arrived back from 2 weeks in Australia. I bought the ticket about 3 months ago, thinking it would be incentive to write faster, so that I could go back, submit, go to unigames, party for 2 weeks, learn to surf - the whole shebang! Unfortunately I didn't finish writing in time :( But, since I had the time booked off, the plane ticket, and a desperate need for 2 weeks of uninterrupted work on my thesis, I decided to go anyways.

The trip had a lot more library and a lot less party than was originally intended, but there was still a lot of awesomeness: I got the first-class upgrade BOTH WAYS! so no jetlag and lots of sleep. I have the structure and content of my first 5 chapters approved in general (just need to finish writing them now...), I wrote the intro and lit review to completion, and I still went to UniGames! And we won silver! And after 9 soccer games in 5 days, my knee is still great. So all in all, a HUGELY successful trip back. Here are some shots of the team, after having won silver, and on 80's night:





Day 6 - A book you either couldn’t finish or struggled to.
The God of Small Things

Seattle is a strange and wonderful place

Seattle is pretty much geek heaven. And weird heaven. Here's the first tourist attraction I saw in Seattle:





Yep. It's a wall covered in gum. Yuck. There was a bunch of UNSW people over for the conference, and Zi and I went splits on a hotel while there. This is him. He's drinking his first Starbuck's ever in the first Starbuck's ever.



Other randomness: you know how you can donate to support maintenance of highways and roads and things? This one was "owned" by the Church of Scientology.



Highlight of the conference was, once again, the banquet. It took place at the EMP (Experience Music Project?) and Science Fiction museum. It. Was. AWESOME. First thing we did (after eating) was go visit Pandora.













Next stop: Battlestar Galactica. Phil, how on earth can you say there's nothing to see in Seattle when you can see Vipers and Cylons?











Also, Kirsten, Wibke and I formed a rock band. 'Cause that's what you do in Seattle. You rock. We're the Sunshine Chicks. Photos soon.

And the book thing:
Day 5 - A book that you’ve read the most times
Anne of Green Gables

Birthday in Vancouver

Hey, so Sue had a birthday party for me in Vancouver, and mom wanted lots of photos, so here they are:

Me, chillin' with the view before people turn up:



Laura & I working in the Board Room, coming up with PV-based math questions for high school students:



The awesome cake made by Laura:



Laura, Michelle & I with view + cake:



The Party Room!



Firefly in the Party Room!



Knitting with Laura & Andrew in the Party Room!

Chillin' in post-riot Vancouver

So Sue & Brock's new place in on the 21st floor of a building a few blocks from the Rogers Arena. Check out a photo of the riots, taken from her balcony:



Mostly you just see the smoke from the burning cars, but you get the idea.

Sue's condo is pretty awesome. Got up this morning, went hot tubbing, then swimming, then sauna, then swim, then steam room, then showered. She says Michael Buble owns the penthouse on her building, and there's a few hockey players that live in the building, not that she'd be able to recognize them. The only players we can recognize really are Roberto Luongo and the Sedin twins. Then Sue and Brock and I went for sushi for lunch, AND THEN ROBERTO LUONGO CAME IN AND ATE LUNCH BESIDE US!!! Crazy. Vancouver is awesome.

And the book thing:
Day 4 - A book you lent out once, never got back and miss:
In A Sunburnt Country, by Bill Bryson, and Stitch 'n' Bitch (I think Johnson has both of them)

Family Visitors

Last Friday I met up with some of the Quigley clan - Ted, his daughter Katie and her husband Adam, and their daughter Addison. Went for Burmese food, which was fantastic, then took Addison to the local candy shop:



It was a very exciting day for Addison.

Day 3 - Your favourite book to recommend to friends
Word Nerd

I love Canadian news

Look at this! It's awesome! It's the front page of the CBC website on Tuesday:



Of the 14 links to stories in this screen shot, 9 are on hockey. And one is on the weather. This is all you need to know about what's going on in Canada now.

In defense of the weather story, it did apparently go up to 40°C. Ridiculous.

And the book thing.
Day 2 - Your least favourite book of all time:
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway