Another Wasted Effort

long time no post eh?

2011-08-26T09:20:00.002-03:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here and I must say that I am sorry. I have been a bit busy of late though... Let's see... the last time I posted I think that I was in Canada.. Now I'm back in Australia. I am also no longer a research scientist either. I now work in the patent office looking at pharmaceuticals... Yup, a nice government job, no more grants to write... no more worrying about where the next paycheck is going to come from and blah blah blah...

I'm living in Canberra too.. The nation's capital, and in the mountains. I have to say though, I am really glad that I don't live in sydney. Too many people, to much traffic, too many people, and more people than I ever want to be around again. (did you catch a theme there?) I also got myself a little motorcycle to drive around. Yup, I'm a biker now. Got myself a little 2008 Honda CBR125RR. It's a fire engine red sports bike...but with a baby engine. I think that it was probably a good bike to get through my Learner's on, and then my Provisional licence, but man once I get through them, I want a 600cc sports bike. So if anyone out there wants to donate to the cause, just let me know... Just throwing the idea out there :)

Well anway, I think that I might like to go to bed now, but it's been nice catching up. I might even try to

Happy Birthday

2010-02-02T13:00:00.003-04:00

Well, it's February 2nd again. So I would like to wish my dearly departed brother Chris a happy birthday. You would have been 32 today. Just think, 32 years ago today was born my arch nemesis, bestest child-hood friend, a participant in all my happiest memories growing up, and the cause of my saddest moment where in addition to the loss, I learned that sometimes, things don't just work out. Sometimes they hit the fan in the worst possible way. A painful lesson, but one that I will carry and remember.

BUT, I'm not bitter, harbouring guilt, or anything negative like that. I choose to remember what you were to me, good and bad. The good because that is who you were, and the bad as a reminder of how fast and far we can fall.

I still think of you daily, probably more now that I am leaving NS for Oz, and I seem to feel it more too for some reason. I don't know, and I won't stop to analyze it. Just accept the loss, accept the accompanying sadness, and try to focus the loss into something positive, and smile at you because I know you are doing the same.

You cut me deep Chris.

You cut me deep.

Happy Friday to All and to All a blah blah blah blah blah.

2009-12-18T14:38:00.002-04:00

Well today is Friday, and it's the Friday before Christmas. Yes, I am at work, but what can I say, I have been staring at the screen for too long this week... So I'll take a break and stare at the computer screen instead.

So I've been pretty busy lately... Showing the house to some people who seem interested in it... Potential bidding war??? Would be kind of nice right before Christmas... I probably shouldn't say things like that over the internet though eh....

Also, my lovely daughter just turned 3, and my handsome devil of a son turned 7. Scary stuff that is... Truly scary. So December becomes a pretty expensive month around the Amon household.

I was reading a little review about the new Disney movie about the princess and the frog, I can't remember the name of the movie (it very well may be "The Princess and the Frog" but I don't know... Note to Disney people, it wasn't driven down our throats enough)... And the main critique was that the princess, Tianna or something like that (see: Note to Disney above) isn't a good role model for young girls as she's still the same run of the mill princess that they've been feeding us since Snow White. While Snow White was allowed to stay with the dwarves because she cooked etc (ie servant girl), Tianna is a waitress (ie servant girl), but at least she gets paid for services rendered. And she is saving up to open her own restaurant. And she's black... sorry of African decent, not from the whites in Africa, but from the other, non-white people in Africa.... (see why I hate political correctness, there are white people in Africa too.... and I thought that we all originated somewhere in Africa anyway... yes I know, the debate gets confusing. Bugger it.) So Disney is trying to appeal to the, ummmmmmm, people who... I am confused now... and now I cave in... trying to appeal to the black community. but then I am forced to remember Aladdin, I didn't realize that Aladdin's chick was white, I thought her skin was rather dark too, oh sorry, she was Disney's attempt to appeal to the Indian (not Native Americans) population... Maybe Disney was trying to break into Bollywood? Never saw that coming did you. Didn't think so.

But, what my original point was, was that Tianna is a bad role model for little girls because Disney is portraying women as servants and princesses. But the article I read really focused on her appearance in all the princessely attire that will be marketed, and not her working outfit (ie apron and waitress garb). And the article said that this was a bad thing. I don't see why.

Sure, Disney will make a mint and possibly find a way to pay off Wall Street and end the economic crisis which Obama will then get credit for (he IS the first black President of the United States (crap I said it again)) from all the little girls wanting to by princess clothes and toys etc... Take my daughter for instance. She LOVES princess stuff. Her bedspread, toys, clothes etc etc and the list even goes farther than I know. But she loves it. So why is this so bad? Why is it bad that little girls are wanting toys etc of women that are dressed well and in good shape. Unreal expectations for their own appearance?

Which is worse, providing our daughters with role models (albeit cartoon) who are in good shape and physically fit, or having the media tell us that we are all fat? On the one hand we have health professionals etc telling us that we need to start looking after ourselves better by eating right and exercising, etc so that we don't gain excess weight; and then we have critics telling us that princess etc are bad role models because most girls will never attain that appearance (because we are an overweight society)... To put in other words because I like to see myself write, Doctors say we're fat, Disney throws us skinny princesses, critics say that's bad to show our daughters.

I think someone's dumb.

I chose the positive modeling...

Let my daughter love the princess, she likes to dress and is happy.

It is possible though, that I completely missed the point of the whole article though. In which case, sorry about that... But my idea stands on its own. Do the math. You'll agree....

I've missed you blog. I've missed you for too long... Let's never fight again...

k

I'll keep this short

2009-11-27T13:51:00.003-04:00

Hello all, and I know that you have greatly missed me. So sorry for the long absence, but I have been pretty busy with stuff and the like...

I will keep this short, but I would like to let the blogosphere know that I will be moving back to Australia as soon as possible in February of 2010. I have accepted a job working with my old department in Sydney, Australia and I am honestly excited for this next stage. I have enjoyed working and living here in Nova Scotia for the past two years, and our time here will be remembered fondly. I will, as it should go without saying, really miss my family here, as well as the friends I'll be leaving, again.

The real-estate agents are coming by our house tomorrow and we will then decide who we wish to sell the house with, and then it will be on the market as soon as possible after that. So, if you're interested in buying a house, please let me know and I will point you to mine!

I have to run back to work, but I thought that I should at least let all my readers know this.

Beware of Zombies.

2009-08-18T10:57:00.003-03:00

I know, I am a scientist and I am writing to inform you about the very real threat of Zombies.

More specifically, what to do if they attack.

I am taking this directly from a real scientific and published article too.

For referencing:

Title: WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN OUTBREAK OF ZOMBIE INFECTION

Authors: Philip Munz, Ioan Hudea, Joe Imad, Robert J. Smith? (Note that the "?" at the end of Smith?'s name is real and supposed to be there... That's part of his name.)

Journal: Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress

Editors: J.M. Tchuenche and C. Chiyaka

Pages: 133-150

The paper (Introduction section) starts off by defining the zombie as:

"A zombie is a reanimated human corpse that feeds on living human flesh"

and then proceeds to give us a run-down on their historical concepts and development into what we now know are zombies as:

"slow moving, cannibalistic and undead"

and that once a susceptible human is bitten by a zombie,

"it leaves an open wound. The wound created by the zombie has the zombie’s saliva in and around it. This bodily fluid mixes with the blood, thus infecting the (previously susceptible) individual."

As this article is written by Math guys in Ottawa (Ottawa and Carleton University), there is some pretty convincing looking graphs and mathmatical bits to show that they know what they're talking about. They assess whether quarantine, or finding a cure quickly would work in preventing a zombie take-over... And they don't.

The discussion of this article starts with drawing the conclusion:

"An outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely aggressive tactics are employed against the undead."

Which I would agree with. Especially the extremely aggressive tactics part.

The article concludes by saying that:

"In summary, a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often. As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble."

Lesson learned.

For further reading on this article, please follow the link ZOMBIES.

For further viewing, I would recommend....

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Knight of the Living Dead

Shaun of the Living Dead (I liked this one alot)

Too funny...

2009-07-23T22:48:00.002-03:00

Rebecca was just looking at some stuff on youtube, and she found this... We watched it over and over again... yes, it's that funny...

A fine day indeed

2009-07-17T10:27:00.002-03:00

Well, there's no special reason for today being such a fine day... I'm ultra far behind in my analysis of the last 2 weeks' experiments, with no sight that next week I'll be able to do any more analysis. Which means that I will be three weeks behind in my data analysis when I take 2 weeks off for holiday... And I wish I could say that I could catch up in a week. But alas, my experiments are too big and require too much time to get all the information that I need out of them...

So I succumb and write to you.

Feel special because despite my mounting mountain that threatens to crush us all in its inforgiving weight and bulk, taking with it much of my poorly deserved sanity and dwindling patience, I choose to converse with you.

So I started playing my guitar again a while ago. And I have also put a nice Baha'i healing prayer to music which has taken me a little while, not so much on how to play it, because I had written most of the music a while ago but was struggling with words. So I opened a prayer book that was given to me as a gift from another Baha'i, and right on the inside of the cover, there was a nice and short healing prayer. How to sing it is what has taken my a little while though. I try to get through the prayer twice in the song, and the second time I sing the "verse" a bit different, maybe a fifth or so higher. I struggle with the change. I have started to record it as well, and if I could find a decent place to post it, I would. So if you find a place, let me know.

So what else is going in... My wife's parents and youngest sister are coming up from Sydney Australia in ONE WEEK!!! How awesome is that!?! We really can't wait as it's been about a year and a half since we last said good-bye, and it'll be another 3-4 weeks until we get to say good-bye again. But I assure you that the time leading up to that 3-4 week point will be well cherished. They've never been to NS before so it'll be nice to show them around a bit. We'll go down to Yarmouth to meet my parents and show them where I lived. And I think that they wanted to go to Sydney NS, to see what their Sydney lacks. And we'll see what else comes up. I am really just looking forward to even having a coffee with them. A nice chat over coffee. Just like old times.

Well, my day is now slipping away and I realize that I still have alot of crap to do before I can even begin to think about the crap that I have to start on Monday....

BUT, I would like to say that I am glad to see that my dearly beloved Aunt Marsha has written again on her blog (check the link to the right.. Couch Potato). Welcome back! facebook only has so much that it can offer you, and honestly, I now only really use it for some of the slightly addictive games that it has. If you are a friend of mine, and you look on my profile, you'll see that I have a fair number of friends now. Honestly though, I only really have about 4. and they're probably annoyed and have given up on me for my lack of contact with them (yes Mom, you are included in the 4, and the annoyed with me bit too!) The rest of the "friends" are people I require for gaming purposes. I don't know them.

Cheers,

Mike

Remember when...

2009-05-15T08:03:00.002-03:00

Just a quick note to draw your attention to something that has been really bothering me infrequently..

I went to McDonald's the other day to pick up some supper because I was running late from work for one reason or another. I went in, ordered etc as per usual. Then I watched as they scrambled to get the orders filled. It wasn't really busy, but I had to wait alot longer than one would expect from a place like McDonalds. There used to be these ads on TV where it showed how well the front-end of McDs was laid out so that everyone could move fast and get things done. But now, with some of the stores renovations and lay-out, this is impossible... All the burgers and fries etc are at one of the far sides of the cash registers so that, while pretty much everyone who goes to McDs orders some kind of burger, all the workers have to crowd around a tiny little area at the far side of the front end and wait to get their customer's order. The rest of the front end is covered with things that not many people order. I understand the logic of placement though: since everyone is coming to buy a burger, we don't need to show them the burgers... we want people to come and try our coffee, or our McFlurrys, or our apples, or muffins etc.

So prime space behind the cash registers is filled with product that only the rare few purchase, and forces the cashiers to congregate at the tiny little area where the burgers etc are delivered from the people heating them up at the back. It looks terrible to someone coming in when you see a line of people waiting to be served because the cashier has to literally leave the register to actually see if the previous order has been made yet...

Another flow-on from this product is that there ends up being (the other night) 3 different people putting your order in the bag. Mistakes happen because of this. It was like watching a highly disorganized group struggle to get you your food because the higher ups appear to be so far removed from the front end work of their company that they have effectively made a place that gets so many complaints from those in line waiting for their food that I now avoid McDs because of the wait and that I have to check to make sure that I get everything that I ordered...

Burger King on the other hand... I love them. Great front-end layout, not more than 2 people fill your order and they work together, and the wait is short. I think that McDonalds really should take a page out of their book because they are losing business (at least mine).

I know. I tackle the big issues eh?

A word on hockey

2009-05-12T09:11:00.002-03:00

Well last night the vancouver Cunucks were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. I am truly sorry at this as I really would have liked to back a Canadian team for the cup. Even though....

I am a Calgary Flames fan. What I mean by the "Even though..." above, is that during the regular season, whenever Calgary lost a game, the Canucks fans seemed to have a field day slamming the Flames saying how much they sucked. Pretty harshly too. I think friendly rivalry is healthy, but man, the level of slamming was a bit harsh. But what I would like to point out though, is that despite being in a slump at the end of the year, the Flames fell to the Blackhawks 4 games to 2. Last night, the Canucks fell to the Blackhawks as well, oddly enough, 4 games to 2. They were well fought games I will openly admit. And this is not an I told you so, because I never said anything to that effect... As I said before, once the Flames fell, I really would have liked to have a Canadian team still in contention, although the Flames smashing would have likely increased etc etc...

I just find it kind of funny that both the Flames and the Canucks fell to the same team in same number of games. Ah well... Maybe next year.

I wish...

2009-05-11T21:04:00.003-03:00

I'm a simple man, with relatively simply wants and needs... healthy family, food on the table, and a roof over our head. But what I really wish right now is that I had something interesting to say. I've read somewhere that someone of note (who's name I never committed to memory as it was likely someone of note in their own mind) said that they really enjoyed talking to men over 30 as they had opinions and could carry on some sort of conversation.

...

I just thought that I would let that sink in... So here I am. A 32 year old male, haven't really written in months.. And I still have nothing to say.

I guess my opinions in a nutshell are that the economic ... "downturn" was an inevitable event when you have such extremes of wealth and poverty based on capitalistic greed. No. I'm not a communist, but I believe strongly that those in power (power being defined as elected officials) should act as PUBLIC SERVANTS who's sole desire is to serve the public's best interest, ie those who put them in their position of "power", with no regard for their current salaries and/or future pensions. Take Obama for instance. At present, he seems to be working for the greater good, which is why I think he's still so well liked. Unfortunately though, I have my doubts as to whether he will be able to effectively alter the situation as much as he hopes. He is still a newbie as far as politics are concerned. And while he'll do much to improve the global opinion, I don't think that he will be able to change the problems inherent in the system. You can't change the game by playing it (ie, change it from the inside). You play a new game.

Anywho... On to other topics not related to politics.

6 months of winter. What was the deal with that!! The first snow fall was in November, the last snow fall was like April. I thought that there was supposed to be 4 seasons, say.... 3 months each. So now that we have 6 months of winter, there is now 3 seasons left for 6 months, leaving 2 months for each season. I was really hopping for a nice summer, but we'll see.

I got my fishing gear all ready for fishing this season. Got my boy Alex a reel as well. Last year he had one of those fishing rods that launches the bobber and hook like a rocket launcher. It worked well, and he was able to catch some fish and everything... But he kept wanting to use my rod and reel... I couldn't let him cast mine like he wanted to. Something about a 5 year old throwing a nice rod and reel with a sharp hook attached to it near me. Call me paranoid but... And maybe he's ready for it this year. I guess we'll see soon enough!

I have missed the blog though. It's something that I have wanted to do for a long time, but I just haven't had any time. I've been pretty flat out at work with little time for spare anything. It's been going well though. I have more freedom to do what I want and follow roads that I want to follow. It's taken a while to get here, but I feel that it's going well. I would like it to go a bit faster, but I find that sometimes the analysis takes a bit longer than I would like to hope.

I should really go now, and I will try, I will try hard to write in you more ofter. I have wanted to write here around my one year anniversary back in Canada, for my kids birthdays, for my wedding anniversary in which we went to Montreal, and earlier today for no apparent reason.

Well, that's about all the crap that I can think to write about at this moment in time. So smile as you kiss that time good bye.

Cheers,
Mike

Ya ya ya

2009-04-26T02:13:00.002-03:00

This won't be long, but I just finished watching some hockey. and since I haven't gone to sleep, it's not the 26th.

So in loving memory, I bid A'Dieu to my late brother Chris. You're loved, remembered, and still cherished. Even if you are a rat bag.

I have to keep with some sort of tradition here don't I! And it's my blog, so I'm entitled to it. But you're more than welcome to judge me.

Not a day goes by, still, that you are not thought of. And fondly I might add. Fondly indeed. I know that you watch (over?) us and hopefully laugh at our follies. And because of this, I know that you know we miss you. It would have been nice to have you hear though, and maybe you could have played a bit more of an active part in our life. But as it is, I'll accept. As long as you at least welcome me when my time comes.

Well, goodbye and goodnight Chris.

A quick not to draw your attention...

2008-11-12T12:14:00.003-04:00

Hey there, I don't have a lot of time right now, but I wanted to draw your attention to something that I just noticed...

So I'm listening to some Led Zeppelin, and Ramble On came on... So I'm sitting there working away, and then I hear talk of Mordor and Gollum!!! For those of you yet to play, they are references to Lord Of The Rings!!!! Evil place, and questionably bad guy (questionably because is he really bad? or simply held captive by the ring and therefore sufferor of Stockholm Syndrome? I think I'm right. Don't argue.)

Anywho, so the lyrics are:

Mines a tale that cant be told,
My freedom I hold dear;
How years ago in days of old
When magic filled the air,
Twas in the darkest depths of mordor
I met a girl so fair,
But gollum, and the evil one crept up
And slipped away with her.
Her, her....yea.
Aint nothing I can do, no.

as lifted from:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/led+zeppelin/ramble+on_20082096.html

The only thing that worries me, is that within the darkest depths of Mordor, are orcs and creatures of evil purpose... So maybe it was for the best that Gollum and the evil one who must not be named slipped away with her. She was likely evil as evil gets and sent off on some evil as evil gets errand of inescapable fear coupled with imminent doom and unspeakable horrors.

Like I said earlier: Don't argue.

Eye Surgery

2008-10-30T14:00:00.002-03:00

So I went to see my eye doctor (opthalmologist I think it was) this morning at something like 7:20 am... I wasn't there for very long, but in those few minutes, I was moved up from whenever the hospital calls me, to the next in line. So I now have an appointment with the surgery at the VG hospital for Monday at 11am!!

Yay for me!!!

They will apparently flip my eyelid over, and surgically drain the crap out of my eye so that I am no longer shunned in public and cried at by small children (the bigger ones just point and look scared).

So it's a 4-day week for me next week!!

Cheers,
Mike

Untitled

2008-10-27T22:23:00.003-03:00

so ya, sorry everyone... I've been pretty busy as of late...

Especially looking back and seeing that my last post was just after school started in early September!! And lo and behold, it is now the end of October.

I suck.

But I'm learning to live with it.

I think it's my eye that's giving me grief. I have this massive stye on my left one, and wholly crap!!! It just keeps getting worse and worse. I saw a specialist who said that he would book me into a surgery at the hospital, and this was a month ago. My eye now has a ball the size of a pea under it. Literally. And now I have something slightly bad on the top of my eye lid.

Jeez.

I don't think that I need a mask for Hallowe'en anymore. I'll just wear a paper bag with my left eye showing and it'll freak everyone out because it looks so real!! because it IS real!!! How awesome a costume do I have!! I'll post pictures!

Maybe.

But maybe not.

So what else has been happening.

The election(s), both in Halifax and Federally. I didn't vote in either. This is actually unusual because I am a firm believer that as a citizen of this community and country, it is my duty to vote. But I didn't because I have no idea who is who, what does person "x" stand for, or rather, what does party "x" stand for? I had and have no idea. I don't know if Harper is doing a good or bad job. (NOTE: Please do not post your opionions on his effectiveness). Or if anyone else out there is better or worse. All I know is that there was no one that inspired me. In any way at all. So I didn't vote because I didn't know who to vote for. And that continues down through to the local municipal elections. I guess the other question is that wether or not any one will be better, or are we just voting for a figure head? I don't know, but I tend to not follow this line of thought, wether or not if it is true.

So that out of the way... Work has been bloody busy. Lots of experiments, few positive results, striving to find a direction to look in. Damn chemokine receptors. Don't look them up unless you are bored and feel like learning a new language, or like immunology. Of which I do, so I tend to read up on them a fair bit. And that's probably why I have not blogged in a while.

Oh ya!!! I got a new computer. A nice 17" HP Pavilion dv9700. It's a happy computer... But the only problem that I had, was that it runs on Vista Home Premium 64-bit. This meant that I could not get onto the internet at work where I need it most. So I had to figure out how to dual-boot into Windows XP or Vista (because I actually like Vista, I use it at home). That was a significant problem. I ended up needing to get a hold of a 3.5 inch floppy drive!! Do you know how hard it is to come up with one of them!? But it's done, partitioned my hard drive, re-installed drivers for XP to work with my hardward, programs installed twice, and blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah.

So that's where I am now. getting ready to carve out my pumpkin. Jeez, I'm just watching Heroes, and I totally see why it kicks so much @$$. Man. I gotta go to bask in its glory. I'll try to write before Christmas. Or at least when I get my eye fixed. I really should take a picture of it...

And here it is!! Notice Steve hanging around my left eye.Ya, I named him.

Naughty chairs...

2008-09-10T19:52:00.000-03:00

Well, Alex has started school, and I just wanted to let you know that it is going mostly well. He still likes it, but today, he was sent to the red naughty chair for doing something that I am still not really clear on. I have to rely on what he tells us, and that is not always clear cut. But, while he was on the naughty chair, he was naughty again...

He was also the first to be sent to the red naughty chair.

Well, he did better than we thought he would... He made it into the second week!

Little update,...

2008-08-28T15:10:00.004-03:00

So we got the quote for the fence from the guy who said $10,000 to give us a quote on a chain link fence (4 ft high) and it was much more respectable. So it looks like I won't be fencing, and we'll have a fence sometime in the next long while. We just need to get a few more quotes.

And on another note, my experiment turned sour today. It looks like a bloody do-over. The dirty rotten ELISA... Crap.

Hullo agin ma frens

2008-08-26T13:44:00.003-03:00

Another day another dollar eh?

Spent maybe...

So we've been looking into getting a fence put up around our back yard. So we get quotes. Which leads me to my question to you all...

Anyone wanna help me put up a little (about 4 foot high) fence around my back yard?

So ya, the price is not that great. Really high actually. We've only gotten one quote at the moment, but do you really think that the next few quotes are going to thousands of dollars cheaper? We put up a bloody garage (well it wasn't really bloody) in Australia for less than a measly 4 ft perimeter fence. And the garage required ALOT of concrete to make it level since we were on a bit of a slope, slight, but enough that there was a lot of concrete which had to be poured.

So, I am pretty sure that I can build a fence myself. I have put a little bit of thought into it, and I can see how it needs to be built. Once I get the main pillars up, it shouldn't be that hard screwing the rest of it together. It's just the putting up the main ones eh?

Well, I guess I'll have to do it myself then.. just think of all the $$ I'll save, the injuries I'm libel to get... but the pride my friends, the pride in doing it myself. And the wishful thinking that I'll only have to do it once and never again.

In other matters though, for those who are keeping score at home, I still don't have a credit card. Yup, still can't get one. We have gone to ScotiaBank, and MAN do they put up barriers. So much so that we are leaving them altogether. Fully and completely. By the end of this month, all of our banking will be through TD. We met with them the other day, and they were much more accomadating than their competition. But the credit card application is in the works, we haven't heard back yet, but either way, we are happier with TD than ScotiaBank by a long shot.

What else can I tell you...

Nothing it would seem, so I bid you good bye!

The let down.

2008-08-18T13:31:00.002-03:00

All week, me and my wife have been building up my son's final 2 soccer games (he's 5 and a half) for Saturday morning. The day comes forecasting rain, and a rain day was given.

So we step out the door all set to watch some kick-a$$ soccer, and then it starts to rain... But ever so slightly. So we decide to stick it out and go. So we all get in the car, and start the drive from Dartmouth to Sackville.

As we get closer to Sackville, the rain starts to come down really heavy. So we abort because I won't be having Alex playing soccer in heavy rain. A little rain's ok, but not as heavy as it was when we were half way there. So we turned around and had a really boring morning and afternoon. Alex was upset, but he understood that there was no soccer in the rain. And me and my wife stressed to him that it's ok, we'll just play next weekend because it's too rainy right now.

So the day wanes on, we talk to some people, who talked to other people. And then found out that it didn't rain in Sackville. And we missed his final soccer games of the year. And the presentation of his trophy and medal.

Crushing.

Alex was upset, but Bec dealt with him. And I felt terrible. After all, it was me that abruptly turned the car around because of the heavy rain. In fact, I am still quite upset about this. I really loved watching him play soccer. I never missed a game, and I even coached / refereed one of the games that his regular coaches couldn't make. Gutted.

So we missed the whole thing. And now we will have to wait until next year.

Not happy Jan. Not happy at all.

And I'm sorry Alex.

I am truly sorry.

Pics of the new house...

2008-08-15T21:23:00.004-03:00

Alright, here are some pics of our new house.

And some of its occupants...

And besides looking good, the house is also across the road from a lake, and a few minutes away from a Trout stocked lake!!! YAY FOR ME!!!!

oh lucky day for you!!

2008-08-15T12:08:00.002-03:00

Yup, another post from me!!

Oh how happy you must be to read me again.

So... Alot of things have been going on lately.

Firstly, me and my lovely family (not pictured below) moved into our new house (without a credit card even) . I love it, my wife loves it, Alex loves it, and Madison loves it. The kids love the fact that they now have a lawn to play in!! I love the fact that it is not a duplex, has beautiful hardwood floor upstairs, 3 FULL baths, one being in the bedroom, a fully finished downstairs, and looks great with no need to do anything except put up a fence.

So that's been pretty cool.

I also took my family to Keji last week, 6 days after moving into our new house no less. If it wasn't so half rainy, I'm sure it would have been great. But as it was, the weather wasn't really... conducive to swimming, so not much of that happened. But it was nice camping with the kids, and my parents. I would have liked my vacation to have lasted longer, but it didn't. And now I am back at work. Doing alot of data analysis. I like doing data analysis because it is nice when you have something like that done. But it takes a while, and my boss will be wondering why I haven't done more experiments. I'll have to have a talk with him when he gets back from his vacation!!! on Monday or Tuesday I think. Hmmmmm...

Still don't have a credit card either. Went into the bank to try to get one, and forced them to change my name from Mr. to Dr. Amon. But apparently I don't make enough. I think that part of the problem is that I am not taxed, so when I give them my salary, they can't deal with it because it is not taxed, so they are thinking that I get less than I am. Grrrr..

I will get one though. It's amazing at the number of things that it would make easier.. Like renting a U-haul to move. That would have been alot easier with a credit card. Becoming a member of Canadian Automobile Association over the phone when I ran a flat and could not get the bloody tire off so I had to call a tow-truck to charge me $50+ dollars (fortunately, I asked a passer by to jump on the wrench as he weighed more than me and it worked, so I left my parking lot before the tow-truck came! Yay for me!!) or even to get a MacPass to pay the toll on the bridge that I now have to cross every day on my way to and from work instead of having to throw quarters into the toll... Of which I am now always in short supply of.

Jeez. What's a guy to do?

Credit

2008-07-16T13:41:00.003-03:00

Well hello there again...

An interesting thing happened to me and my wife the other day...

We applied for a credit card. We are finding ourselves needing one more and more as we wanted to rent a U-Haul to move at the end of the month, and because we didn't have one, we had to pay a $100 deposit in cash. Grrr...

So we applied for one. And the other day we got a letter in the mail from them saying that they are sorry but they don't think that we have the financial ability to handle a credit card, and that they were having problems assessing my credit history.

I know my credit history is problematic because I was in Australia for the past 7 years and therefore, because Australia (apparently) doesn't exist as a country capable of transferring or providing access to credit history of people who live there when they move overseas, I had/have no credit history. And therefore no credit card is possible.

BUT, when I was a student doing my BSc here at Dal, with no job, only a mounting student loan, I was capable of getting TWO credit cards!!! At the same time!!!! Yet now that I am Dr. Michael A. Amon, with a job, I cannot get a credit card.

What the hell!!!

I can get a mortgage for our new house, but not a stinking credit card!!

So, I will have to go elsewhere for my credit card...

Anyway, I just thought you all would like to know...

Blah blah blah

2008-07-07T15:51:00.001-03:00

Hullo again everyone... I know that it's been awhile, but what can I say, I am a busy man. I will now try to briefly explain why I have been so busy...

Over the Canada Day weekend, we went camping up at Shediac, New Brunswick. The first day there was a really beautiful day. The tent went up well, the sun was out, and the kids were alright. We got some firewood, roasted some marshmallows, and ended the day on a good up note. (Saturday).

Sunday came, and rained. And then it rained some more. But we had an awesome day at Crystal Palace so it didn't matter that much. And the tent held up pretty well. We will spray it with some kind of water-proofing stuff, but it was pretty good nonetheless. Alex really liked Crystal Palace despite not being able to go on the bumper cars or the swings because he is about an inch or two too short. But he did get to go on the roller coaster many many times. As expected, he didn't really want to leave though, but we did and he fell asleep in the car. On the way back to Shediac from Moncton, we listened to the radio to get the forecast for Monday, and low and behold, it predicted rain. Thunder showers even.

Crappity crap crap.

So we went to PEI on Monday. Ya, alot of driving for the kids, but it was worth it because they had a good time. We took Confederation Bridge, and the family was pretty impressed by it. After finding a place for Bec to use the bathroom that is. I love you dear.

The day turned out to be beautiful.

We first went to Summerside, had lunch and then roamed around there for a little bit taking in the sites and candy from this candy store. We went inside this little "light house / lookout" which was pretty cool mainly because Alex has been dying to see the inside of a lighthouse. even though this one wasn't a real light-house, he still really enjoyed it. So next we went to Charlottetown where they were having a really big concert that we didn't have tickets for, nor could we get tickets for because they were all sold out and we had two kids in tow. But there was a free petting zoo, and several free jumping castles which both Mads and Alex loved! After the jumping castles, we went to a park in Charlottetown on the waterfront where there was a pool (we didn't bring swimmers due to the predicted rain etc).. So we played in the playground for a while and again, the kids had a really good time, so it was another good day. Of note though, when we were leaving downtown Charlottetown (the jumping castles), across the rd from where we were parked, were two police officers and a tow truck... they were loading up 2 nice motorcycles that were illegally parked on the side of the rd. I am sorry to say that I did have to laugh a little bit... How crappy must that night have been for the two owners, who may have been in line for the concert which was about to begin, to come out of the concert all happy at seeing Collective Soul (heard their sound check) and whatever other bands were playing, only to find that they had no ride home. Sorry guys.... or girls...

It wasn't raining that night when we got back to Shediac, but we couldn't make a fire because me, being the clever doctor boy that I am, left the wood outside on the first night, when it rained. So the wood was soaked. I managed to get a small fire going, but the wood was just too soaked to burn properly. So no roasted marshmallows for my family as I am a failure as a woodsman. A failure indeed. But I have learned my lesson, and I generally don't make the same mistake twice, usually, unless it was really fun to make that mistake, then maybe I would make that mistake several more times, and then some more. Enough of that, sidetracked I guess... Always cover your wood.

So Tuesday came, and it was really hot, which made the drive home really nice for the three hours or so in the car with no air conditioning. It was awesome! Sweating bullets like there was no tomorrow, stopping to photograph my beautiful wife in front of the giant blueberry in Oxford NS, and then getting home.... Where we had a quick supper and went down to the waterfront for the Fireworks, which again, we all enjoyed. It wasn't quite as extravagant as those in Sydney, Australia, but they were good nonetheless. I think that if they could put the fireworks to music, it would blow the audience away...

Anyway, so that was my Canada Day weekend, more things happened that I neglected to include, like Rebecca's discovery of real mosquitoes. The Australian's think that they have bad mosquitoes, but honestly, I couldn't agree less. And now, neither can my wife. Or Madison, who was a frequent pin cushion. Nor about my problems with Tim Horton's...

But that's another blog. Maybe the next one as I haven't felt the need to rant much lately...

Cheers,
I gotta go now.

Back to my old tricks...

2008-06-16T16:19:00.003-03:00

What tricks you may be finding yourself asking... Pretty lame ones actually... I'm simply referring to the long lag between posts. It seems that I am a pretty busy guy at work. And I don't really like to do much on computers when I am at home, so that leaves me with little time to do this.. . But I haven't forgotten about you all. I do read your posts, and think that I should post more regularly.

But Alas.

I find myself not posting.

Anyway though...

So Alex is now a soccer star. Well not a star yet, but he's exceeding my expectations. He, unfortunately, has the genetic problem shared with most first-borns in my wife's family... Mainly an inability to run without looking like they are running like a girl. My wife has this problem. Her first born cousin (a boy) has this problem, and my son has this problem. Interesting thing about it though, is that my wife's cousin (who is over 20 now) has known that he has this problem for quite some time. And he plays soccer. Or at least he still did when I was last in Australia. But he has come over this problem by running as fast as he possibly can. Which apparently cures the disease for as long as one is running as fast as they possibly can. He doesn't jog, lest the affliction should rear its ugly (yet funny) head.

Alex, playing soccer, seems to work. He hasn't scored a goal yet, but he has entered the fray of 5 year olds struggling for the ball, come out of the fray with said ball, and ran to the other net with everyone else chasing him three times last game. He didn't score because he was concentrating a bit on lining himself up with the net etc... but he got 2 assists out of it as someone else on his team did the scoring. So he's up-and-coming. Maybe I'll try to post a pic or two, but that might seem out of character as of late, so I likely won't.

Other things have happened, but of more importance, it was Father's Day yesterday.. I thank my lovely wife, daughter Mads, and son Alex for thier great presents. Of which I don't have time to list. But Alex was most excited about the Star Wars Lego game from the Wii. Of which we played for about 2 hours last night!!! Yay for us!!!

But I would also like to wish my Dad a great Father's Day. Sorry we couldn't be there on the day, but I hope that the day before helped make up for it!! Thank you Dad for being the man that you are. A good, stand-up guy who's not afraid to do what needs to be done. Who's taught his children the meaning of work, while never sacrificing time with his kids. I am still working on that one. I also think that Dad probably contradicts the notion of a sensitive, new-age man, in that I have always known him to wear his heart on his sleeve. And in doing so, we've all known exactly where we stood with him. That he loves me, or the rest of his kids, grandkids etc, has never been in question. Under any circumstances.

So thank you Dad.

One day I hope to live up to the model that you have lived.

Secrets Revealed

2008-05-31T20:30:00.002-03:00

Ya, it's another exciting and inventful blog post title. Man I am Mr Creativity eh? Ah well as my millions of regular readers will already know, I don't care enough. So I'm down the coast visiting my parents. It's raining pretty heavily so we're all staying in and I think that I will try to watch hockey tonight with Alex as he is favoring the Red Wings instead of the home-town favorites Penguins. Ah well, they scored first in the previous game we were watching (Detroit vs Dallas I believe it was).

Anyway though. I thought that I would address the previous post and clear up a few things. About the big experiment making me sound like I am a mad scientist. Yes, it's true, I am a mad scientist and am planning to take over the world with my madness. Mwa ha ha hahahahah !! If you can try to make that sound as evil and menacing as possible, that could only help the effect of my madness encompassing even you as I sit hear writing, subliminally entering your mind and planting thoughts of madness, my madness, in you. So thanks for your support. I'll thank you in the credits.

I can't remember if that particular experiment worked or not. But I think that that particular experiment worked... fabulously. Fabulously in that the data was beautiful, the analysis went really well in a custom made Excel spreadsheet I made to automatically calculate alot of data and decide which data to use based on minimal input from me... And fabulously in that the experiment, which takes over a month to do must be re-done. Using slightly different conditions. But the data looked so good that it was undeniably so. This questioned the re-producability of certian things, in that there are two diffferent sets of results with only a small change which shouldn't have changed things. But it did. Bugger.

But another big experiment worked just as beautiful for the reasons I already said. Except that this time, it worked reproducably. So happy day. My madness will encompass you sooner than later. ANyway. I think that I should go as I might be going to the movie tongiht as the rain looks like it may have slowed.

So cheers, and keep your eyes peeled for the subtle sings of my imminent take over. As I have planted things in your head already, you will recognize the signs before the rest of the world. SO think of yourselves as being in my inner circle.

Cheers.

Doesn't it feel good?

2008-05-26T16:22:00.001-03:00

hey there everyone, I just thought that i would drop my loyal followers a line to say hey.. Hey.

Life doesn't seem to be going too bad lately, and in fact it might be going alright. I really should be writing up a method for tomorrow morning as I have another pretty big experiment to do, but guess what!! I have the help of a lovely summer co-op student!! Honestly, she's helped me out a fair bit too. But I just couldn;t keep away and now I leave to prepare for tomorrow... Such is the life of a Post-doc...

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T08:58:00.002-03:00

I just thought that I would wish the thousands of mothers who read this blog a Happy Mother's Day!! As a husband to a mother, I'm sorry that only one day out of the year is devoted to you being the great mother that you are, but even more sorry that such a wonderful mother such as yourself got stuck with me eh!!

Ah well, if only you knew then what you know now!!

And for my own mother, thank you dearly for all the love and support that you have given me, and all your kids, over the years. We wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for you. And while we may still be finding our way in certain aspects, you've given us a beacon to look to and have been a pillar of strength for us in times of trouble. Thank you. If Baha'i's did the Saint thing, I'd put you up for one. Maybe even two although I know they don't do that kind of thing. You're worth it!

Love you all dearly, and I hope today gets to be a proud wearer of you smiles!

Interesting Observation

2008-05-09T18:46:00.000-03:00

Immediately after writing the next post, I began to feel oddly better.

Here's the recoil.

2008-05-09T18:36:00.002-03:00

Thanks for requesting that I write. Despite it only being since the 28th of April. Less than one month. Less than two weeks. I write in spurts.

Sporadic.

It is a complicated mathematical equation that not even I am aware of.

It also depends on my moods. Which fluctuates more than I wish sometimes.

And for the past less than 2 weeks, I've been busy and not really feeling like writing.

And today ended on a particularly pissy note. Leaving me feeling just that.

So sorry I haven't written.

Next one will come when it comes. and as I'm sure you may all be aware of, it's a complicated mathematical equation. known for only one thing... that it is inversely related to it's being asked for.

This post being the exception.

Cheers.

Welcome back maybe?

2008-04-28T10:49:00.001-03:00

I just thought that I would take the time to formally welcome back Aussies Nan to the fold. Or whatever may be left of it as it seems that Facebook has taken over. And I know that I may be jumping the gun as only one post since something like October of last year. But I am a strong believer in positive re-enforcement. So here's hoping that this is the start of a new age in my little blogging family..

That, my friends, is a little subtle hint to the rest of my links on the right. Re-enforced.

See, I'm consistent.

Gotta run.

A Dieu

2008-04-25T09:11:00.001-03:00

Well, I tried again. but I just can't do it for some odd reason.

Over the years I have tried several times to sign your guest book. I just can't do it and I really don't know why. Maybe I', still mad at you for forcing me to take that phone call in the middle of the night, or early morning as the case was. Glad it was Jason that made the call though. But I hate answering the phone in the middle of the night. Thanks Canada Student Loan people for continuing to call me in the wee hours of the am while I was in "Oz. You helped me re-live those moments regularly. (Please feel the bitterness in my voice over that one).

I don't know.

I don't even think I've been able to make a private contribution to your guest book. Man, how many ways do I suck. I don't even know what it is symbolizing for me that I can't do it. I really thought that I could today, I started typing, and then had to stop. No tears or anything like that. I accept that he has gone and is now making fun of my inability to sign a Guest Book!! (Shaking fists into the air in a good hearted fashion) Bastard!!! I'll show you when I see you again!!!

I know it's not good to speak ill of the dead, but I'm not. i'm just playing with him. And he knows it.

Jeez, I may have to stop now. I haven't welled up in a while, and I am at work so not a good time.

Bye Chris, Sorry I can't sign you off yet. But I don't think that I ever will.

Bugger.

A little worried...

2008-04-25T08:53:00.001-03:00

It snowed today.

Why does this worry me?

Because it is the end of April; I just left Australia just before summer started; and it's almost bloody May. This leads me to worry that my wife may leave me because of the snow. Not much snow mind you, but snow nonetheless. I am also worried because I can not for the life of me remember saying that snow was ok to have today.

Not happy at all.

Ah well, I just thought I'd share that with you. I have to get back to work.

Just thought I'd let you know.

2008-04-24T16:22:00.002-03:00

The writer's strike which ended a while ago finally has repurcusions (I do not know how to spell that) for my life. New shows are on!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

We got to watch new NCIS last night, New LOST tonight, New Grey's tonight (at least I am pretty sure of the last two). The only sad thing is that I don't yet know when Heroes will be back.

I really like that show.

Work went pretty well this week. I got things to work hopefully. Ok, they didn't get contaminated with some kind of dirty bacteria again. This is always a good thing. So I may actually get some results this week!!!

I've been really tired this week though. I don't really know why, but I fell asleep putting my son to sleep last night. And then nearly fell asleep on the couch after waking up realizing I had fallen asleep with my boy. Not good.

So I've got a Doctor's appointment for next week. It seems that I have something funny on my left upper arm. And I don't think that it's muscles. Which would be a surprise since I don't work out. I figure that I've worked this hard on my physique for the past 31 years that I don't want to wreck it by exercise.

Jeez.

What do you think I am?

Crazy?

But the arm thing's a bit of a worry of late. I should have had it checked in Australia. But I didn't. It's probably just some kind of insect that's buried it's eggs in my arm and they're just happily co-existing with me. In which case, I'm not sure I want them to leave. (Please Google "Parasite Pals" and explore, it's the site that made my son ALWAYS wash his hands after using the bathroom... silly Tapeworm!!)

Anyway though, I should really run as it's now 4:30. I will try to keep up a bit more and post things. I just hope that I finally find something worth posting.

Ha!!!

A short note to advise that spring is here.

2008-04-23T13:47:00.002-03:00

I just thought that I would splurge and let you all know that Spring is here as of today.

Yup.

I went out.

Without a jacket.

Wearing a short sleeved shirt.

And wasn't that cold.

Nice.

Sadness defined.

2008-04-23T10:27:00.002-03:00

I know that it's been a little while since my last post. And even then, the question remains as to whether or not that was a real post... Even more questionable was whether or not it warranted comments!! But thanks nonetheless Oh Adoring Yet Oft Neglected Fans.

So what's happened. I finally got internet access on my laptop at work. No access to facebook as it's blocked, but here I am. So this isn't blocked. I've been pretty busy at work as of late, thus my last post.

I had kind of a crap week last week. I set up a fairly large experiment and all my samples got contaminated with some kind of dirty little bacteria of some sort... Which made it a write-off.

But things seem to be going better this week.

So yesterday, I have officially been married for seven years to my lovely wife. We went out for supper on the weekend to a really nice Italian restaurant by the Westin in Halifax. I can't remember the name so i can't give it to you. I had a really nice seafood pasta thing that reminded me why I love lobster. The stuff is like gold. I missed those poor little crustaceans that should be found in my belly much more often.

So the definition of sadness that I promised you.

Well, back in 1989, I really began watching hockey. Influenced by a friend, I was rooting for the Calgary Flames (now you see where sadness enters the story). It just so happened that they won the Stanley Cup that year. So I was pretty pleased!!! I remember it very well! Ahh the joys...

Come up to 2004. I am in Australia, no news of hockey really makes it there, so I regularly check Google News. Lo and behold, the Flames have now made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs!!! And I couldn't watch. So I got my dearly loved uncle Jimmy and my Grandfather to record the games for me and send them down to Oz for me. I then proceeded to ignore all sports news for a long time so that I wouldn't know the outcome.

When I got the videos a while later (2 months or so I think), I still didn't know who had won. So I watched each of the games late at night when my wife and son were asleep. And I loved it!!! It got to game 7, and I was crushed by their defeat by a team in Florida!!!! Tampa Bay Lightning who had Patrick Roy as their goalie (ex-Montreal Canadien).

And now, here we are. I am in Canada. I can watch the games in real-time. If only they didn't start at bloody 11 pm and I didn't have work. I didn't watch last night's game because it was my wedding anniversary and I love my wife more. But I woke up to defeat. They lost last night to San Jose Sharks.

Crappity crap crap.

I even bought myself a Calgary Flames hat!!! Jeez! What's a guy gotta to do!?! Ah well. Next year. (I know, I sound like a Toronto Maple Leafs fan eh!).

But I am trying to get my son to enjoy watching hockey and I don't think that it will be too hard. We watched the first period of Montreal's glorious win the other night against Boston. My son seemed to enjoy watching. But what made me really proud was when I found out that the first thing he asked my wife the next morning when he woke up (I was at work) was if they won!!!

How great is that!!! So I think that I will be watching some Montreal Canadien hockey.

But please Montreal, please pretty please allow me to continue to root for you. Don't riot anymore. Celebrate yes. But rioting because of a ROUND ONE victory?

Please.

Grow up.

Make me proud to be a Canadian.

Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!

2008-04-16T16:21:00.001-03:00

I just had to get that out.

Thanks for listening.

Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet another post for yoru reading pleasure.

2008-03-26T11:28:00.001-03:00

Hey there.

So what’s changed over the past little while since my last blog…

We bought a car. A nice little 2003 Kia Rio for driving to and from work and driving around the city etc on weekends and stuff. She’s a nice little car. Gold in colour. No power steering, cd player, and I think that’s about as fancy as she gets.
So we then tried to insure her. Here’s where some problems began… Because I have been living in Australia for a few years, my license expired about 4 and something years ago. So I have to re-write the beginners test (passed easily on Friday). And then take the road test again. Which will be done in Yarmouth this coming Thursday. Note that I live in Halifax. Anyway though, The Wife and I are moving through this pretty quickly because it will cost us thousands of dollars (unfortunately I am being very literal) to insure us for the most basic of insurances for a year. However, with a valid NS driver’s licence, we get it for under $800.

Hmmm.. Ya it’s a no-brainer. So we are moving as fast as we can to get our NS driver’s licence.. And since the earliest I could get my licence here in Hfx is sometime in April, we are going to Yarmouth to do on Thursday. Much sooner.. And I am praying to God that we both pass.

How embarrassing would that be to fail!!! I have been driving since 1993!!! Oh ya, and when I passed the written test, I was offered a temporary NS license, and that it would be subject to the conditions of a beginner’s license… Like driving with someone who has had more than 2 years driving experience. I laughed and said no. I mean really, I have a valid International Driver’s license which entitles me to drive for a year as long as my Australia one is valid, and my Australian license is valid here anyway for a short period of time. Why would I opt in to getting a license which restricts me to driving with someone with over a decade less driving experience than myself.. Man it was hard not to laugh at that moment.

Even now I suppress.

And suppress some more.

Oops, there it goes… I lost it.

(UPDATE: since I am quick to write, but slow to post, I did the driving test, and passed with no problem whatsoever, so I have a valid NS driver’s license. The Wife was pretty nervous but she did well and passed with some pretty colours. So all is well in the world and you can sleep in peace.)

Going to look at some houses tomorrow too (Well last Tuesday, about a week ago). A few in Dartmouth, and a few in Timberlea. I am kind of leaning toward Timberlea at the moment as the house looks alright.. Especially after I give it some good lovin’. Paint and a few other bigger jobs. But I think that one of the main things I like about it is the price and the location as it will leave us with a very manageable mortgage, the street is full of owner occupied houses, it’s not too far from work, and the downstairs is laid out really well for Rebecca to do child care (babysitting; see previous post). I think that the only issue we are having is that the school is really big, and we don’t know what (or if) there is a demand for child care in the area. I imagine that there is, and I believe that The Wife will be able to get kids. Anyway though, my Parents are coming up tomorrow to have a look with us because we love the second opinions.

We even got my Dad to look at the car with me before we bought it… In fact, we even got them to pay for it for us!! So how’s that!!! Na.. we’re not that bad… I just couldn’t get money out of the bank on Saturday, so Dad gave me a loan which I paid back immediately with a lovely cheque…

A cheque which for some reason made my bank limit the amount I could pull out of a cash machine to $220, making it pretty hard for me to pay my student loan of $335 a month hard over the counter at the Royal Bank when they could only take cash from me. But that’s a different problem and pain in the bum.

So what else has changed…

We bought a house. Funny because it was one of the houses we looked at last Tuesday with Mom and Dad. And not the one we asked them to come up and see.. This is why we get the second opinions! Well we are in the process of getting it, but we have been approved for financing, and the house inspection was yesterday which turned out alright. We’re moving to Dartmouth, which I always kind of considered the New Jersey of Halifax. But now I think it’s alright. Kind of have to don’t I? But it’s a really nice house. We don’t have to do anything too major to fix it. Just some little tiny things for longevity purposes, and we may want to start thinking about fixing some of the windows. But besides that, the house is in great shape. Nice wood floors, nice paint on the walls, nice landscaped back yard, or at least it looked that way in the pictures!! It was still covered in snow! We picked this one because the mortgage is only a little bit more, but it’s finished, better demand for child care in Dartmouth than in Timberlea… And the amount of work required in Timberlea kind of cancelled out the when the Dartmouth house is finished… So Dartmouth, here we come. For your own info, our new home is kind of in the back-end of Dartmouth just before Cole Harbour. We checked out the school and it looks good, so we’re a happy family!

Works going good. I have some footing and I think that I kind of know what I am doing. Still hate the cubicle thing, and I am really starting to miss having internet access on my laptop while at work. I really need to check a few things right NOW but I can’t because all the internet accessable computers are busy. Apparently, there is some hold up with the stock from the suppliers supplier (ie Microsoft). I’m not too happy about this at the moment though.

I need things.

I have needs.

I need to do work now.

Hmm.

2008-03-11T13:15:00.003-03:00

Just a little post to point out and highlight the fact that most if not all of my links go to pages that have not been updated since at the latest, Like December of last year.

Ah well, to you all, I bid you A'Dieu, and you may soon find yourself absent from my links page as I don't really want to have a bunch of dead links.

Maybe I will give myself an overhaul and put some interesting links to web-sites that I particularly enjoy on this...

By eby

What can I say, I'm slow.

2008-03-11T13:07:00.002-03:00

(I should note that this was written last week and some things have changed, but the views and opinions herein expressed are nonetheless true at time of writting (if not at time of print), however, we here at AWE publishing company fully endorse and are willing to expand upon any and all views that are stated within this fully binding and staggeringly insightful document of documents. Enjoy. Or at least try to.)

Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.. And I guess the only reason for this lag is that I’ve been kind of busy… but over a month, a short month, but still a month… no excuse is sufficient. Sorry to all my loving and loyal fan(s). I don’t know why I added the “s”, I know it’s not true.
So what’s happened to me.. I turned 31. So I’m not the 30 year old I used to be. I’m the 31 year old that I’m growing in to! Yay for me. But that is yet to be decided.

I’ve been pretty busy at work setting up a few methods to test some stuff at work. It went well, I got three assays up and running in about 2 weeks or so. Wrote the most kick-ass Excel file to analyze them. You must remember that I am a PhD. This translates into Geek. Not the MD type who you watch on Greys’ Anatomy, House, or ER, but the Geek that they don’t make shows about because we’re geeky. Albeit, the drugs that the those MDs prescribe etc, especially the new fangled ones, are the result of PhD geeks… So just so you know, it’s the Geeks that tell the ones you watch what medications to give etc. To some degree. Ah hell, the largest degree ever.

Anyway though, I’m sitting at work on the second day of the Fast. And I’m bored and tired. And getting a bit hungry. Honestly, it’s a lot easier fasting here than in Australia. There’s not nearly the same amount of heat to scorch your throat making you crave a drink.

Oh ya!!!

That reminds me!! It’s Roll Up The Rim To Win at Tim Horton’s!!!! How cool is that (sucks that I’m fasting because I don’t drink during the day thereby limiting my chances of winning). BUT, have no fear my friend, I have played this game for many years, excluding the ones when I was in Australia. So maybe not many years, but I have played before, and as soon as I saw a Roll Up The Rim To Win Cup, I was excited. So I bought my first one. I lost, and I lost again and again that morning. But the next morning was another story. I got my coffee from the lovely girl at the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper, then I went across the road (the Tupper Building is on my way to work, and has less of a line-up than both Tim’s in the IWK), went up to my “office” drank and wrote my Kick-ass Excel file. Then decided to roll up the rim my friends. (Yes, I know you are wondering how long can he keep this crap up, but be warned, I am full of crap. Absolutely full of it. And even this little soliloquy is taking up your time). So I rolled it up and low – and – behold, I won a $50 Tim Card. So i got the card that night at another Tim’s in Bedford, where the girl’s immediate response was that’s awesome, and then “I wish I had of watched that video”. I think she had to send something away, but she was like, well we have the cards here, so I’m going to give him one. So I got my card.

So I went to the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper the next morning, only to find that they were not set up to use the Tim card. So my heart was broken. I get $50 and can’t even use it where I buy my coffee. ..

Yes a sad tale of woe.

Woe is me…

And now I am fasting so I am not even drinking coffee much anymore. But as soon as the Fast is finished, I promise that I will make up for lost time.

Ever wish that you had something intelligent to say? I have that wish right now.

So we’re still looking for a house to buy. Having some problems with that though. Trying to find a decent house and a school that has less than 700 students in grade 1 is proving a bit tricky. I may have found something though, it’s a little ways out, but then we don’t really have the cash to buy in downtown Halifax. Not that we want to, but The Wife would like to buy in Bedford. She likes Basinview school, which is where My Boy is registered to go to school in Sept. Assuming that we don’t move. Which we will since we only have our house until the end of August!

Ya, life’s good. I still don’t have a second car. Which is probably a good thing since it gives us more $$, but it means that I am still taking public transportation. It’s slowly starting to wear thin on me. I am appalled at the level of child care in NS. You know, I am sure that there are decent people who take care of kids, but when it comes down to it, it should all be regulated. And the government should support the child care industry. If you want to improve your workforce, women should be able to come back to work after they’ve had a baby. I know that they are technically allowed, but if that woman works IN child care, she’s screwed. Not worth working in child care when you have a child that needs to be in child care because the pay you get working in child care does not provide enough money for you to send your kid to child care. Where’s the sense in that? I understand why there are so many people taking care of children in their homes. There is no regulation against it, and you actually make real money doing it. $25 / kid /day, times one week is $125 a week for one kid. If you have 4 kids that you are taking care of, that $500 a week. Or $2000 a month, or $24,000 a year, with the possibility of this being tax-free. And for your information, you are allowed to have at leasat one more than 4 kids, and the going rate at a child care centre (at least the one where The Wife went for an interview) is $18-20,000, taxable income. You tell me what choice we should make. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would work in a child care centre here.

This also means that you can get anyone operating a “babysitting” service from their home. Just advertise yourself, and you may get lucky. I believe that you should have some sort of formal training in child care. Some sort of First Aid kit, and some kind of insurance, Heaven Forbid, should anything happen to a child while in your care. I think that the Nova Scotia government really needs to step up and deal with this.

It’s a travesty.

A bloody travesty.

Happy Birthday

2008-02-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

I'll never remember where I was on Feb 2, 1978 when I got a baby brother. (I was only 1). But I will never forget where I was when I lost him. Or the phone call that woke me up. Or the sound of Jason's voice on that morning. Or the sinking in. Or the days leading up to it even. Or the loss that will never go away.

But today is a happy day nonetheless. It is the day when Christopher R. Amon was born. And my childhood friend came into being. The beginning of my memories are perfused with Chris. The good fun we had playing baseball with oranges upstairs in the hallway. Chocolate pudding fights in the house when Mom and Dad were gone away. The vicious fights we had. Ahhh the memories. Thanks Chris. I'll see you again soon enough!

Until then,
Cheers!
Mike.

Just another day

2008-01-29T23:15:00.001-04:00

So my friends, it’s been snowing a bit up here lately… Take yesterday for eg… 2 hours on the bus it took me to get to work. Now that’s at least twice the normal amount of time it takes me to get to work. By bus that is.. It’s normally only a 15-20 minute drive had I had a car to call my own. Not complaining though, I would rather have the wife have the car in case she would like to get out of the house with the kids, or if something should happen and she needs to go… But 2 hours was a long time to be on the bus. A long time indeed.

So, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about B-cells and CCR4. No, I’ll spare you the details, but there are a few interesting questions that I wouldn’t mind trying to answer, and again, I won’t bore you with the monotonous details…

Oh ya, the presentation that I mentioned last week, I think that it went well. I made it through the 45 min or maybe a little bit less… without any major coughing fits. I couldn’t talk to loud though or I would have been lost to the cough. I also felt like I answered the very good questions well. I guess the only people who could really answer that would be those who actually asked the question and whether or not they were happy with the answer. Anyway though, I think that overall it was a success as now the people of the DIG (ref to last post) know who I am and what I’ve done.

My parents came up to visit over the weekend too. They brought up a Rappie Pie as well.. The spelling is probably wrong, and for that, I’m sure you’ll learn to get over. With time. Some counseling. But don’t count on my help. Rebecca, although not from Canada, or having ever known what Rappie pie was, tried over the holidays at my parent’s house in Yarmouth, and didn’t not like it. Not the use of double negatives. It’s too stress the fact that she was not opposed to eating it… double negative again… I’ll try again. She ate it and liked it. I think that’ll do. I missed it greatly, and had like thirds of it I think. And when I take thirds, I don’t mean one or two mouthfuls, I mean that I had 3 plates full. And then I ate cake.

You see, part of the reason that Mom and Dad came up to visit, was because tomorrow, Wednesday the 30^th of January, 2008, I turn that blessed age of 31. No longer a spring chicken. But a chicken with a family and responsibilities. All of which I enjoy. I think that I mentioned this last year, and I’ve said it to many. I think that I would not like aging if I had done absolutely nothing. But, I have already sold my first house, got married (7 years ago), and I have two kids who are happy and healthy, I try my best to support my wife, and I have gotten my PhD. So I have done a few things making aging ok. And 31 is not really that old, and I don’t think that I am aging that bad yet. A little tiny bit of gray in the eyebrows that I have to point out, and anyways, it makes me look distinguished!!

Yes. I will keep telling myself this.

So Saturday night, we got Mom and Dad (well the offered) to babysit the kids while me and the wife went out for supper and a movie. We went to Baan Thai on Dresden Row, across from the Theatre at Park Lane. Now I love Thai food. And whenever I go to a new Thai restaurant, I order Cashew Chicken as this tends to be one of my favorite Thai dish. There was a REALLY good restaurant in Sydney (Newtown actually) that made the best Cashew Chicken that I have ever had. That’s all changed now. I think that Baan Thai made the best cashew chicken that I have ever eaten. It was a bit different to what I was used to, but it was really good. Even my wife agreed with me that it was really good, and she even thought that it was better than her meal (Pad Thai). I tried hers as well.. Well alright, I finished hers for her, and it was good, but not the best Pad Thai I had ever had. It was different to what we were both used to for Pad Thai. We are used to a kind of lemony (weakly) flavour, but this one seemed to have a kind of faint tomato tint to the flavour. Nothing overpowering or anything like that, but it was enough to alter the flavour. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as what we have had elsewhere. We will go again though, and we will each order something different to work our way through the menu.

Yes, I am supposed to be working now. Reading more actually. I need the break now.

For the after-dinner movie, we thought that we would see the romantic comedy Cloverfield. We weren’t sure what we really wanted to see, but by the time we paid for supper and got to the theatre across the road, that was what we had to see. I didn’t mind as I kind of wanted to see it anyway.

Honestly, I liked it. I think they took an idea from a similar movie from a while ago, and added a new concept to it. And I think that it worked. I don’t want to give too much away from it, but I did like it. It’s not quite a good date movie, but the wife was scared. Well as scared as a movie can actually make you when you know that what’s going on on-screen is not real etc. The end was odd though. I expected it to end in the way it did. But I was left with the feeling of…. Well I think I chuckled a bit, as did many others. Not a funny “Ha Ha” chuckle, but a funny “that’s it!?” kind of chuckle. I had to walk away from the movie and let it sink in more before I came to the conclusion that I did like it. Anyway though, I thought that it was a good movie. Probably won’t watch it again, but I’m glad that I did see it.

Well I think that this has been a pretty long post. And I wish that I had something of real substance to say. But it’s interesting to note the severe and drastic drop in blogging by some. But I guess it comes down to why you started. To make contact with someone random and perpetually unknown; or not unknown; to vent; or to use this void as a means of expressing pain at whatever; or something altogether different. I think that I have used this site as a means for all of them on at least one occasion or another. Initially, it was meant to vent. But now I find myself just using it as a means to perform verbal diarrhea.

And on that note.

Lucky or not?

2008-01-22T21:47:00.000-04:00

All I can say is that today is your lucky day: you get to read another great post by me. I have spent the day making a great little Excel template to analyze a proliferation assay, doing various aspects of said proliferation assay, going over and fine tuning my 45 minute or so presentation for the Dalhousie Inflammation Group presentation for this Thursday (Jan 24^th, Theatre C, Tupper Building, 3:30pm) and that’s about it. That did take most of the day, up until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Of which time it is now.

So I think that I want to join a band. Any volunteers? I was looking on Kijiji even, and it showed that there were some people looking for someones. I play bass, rhythm guitar, sing lead and/or back-up… ALL at the same time!! How’s that for skill! If only I could work drums in there. And if I could find the cash for an amp. Although I did see some cheap ones on the net though (Kijiji again my friends, Kijiji). BUT I think that I would like to have my second car to avoid the daily bus, and also a new lap-top, but not before we buy our house.

A few expenses to get through first eh. Yup, I’m becoming Canadianized again… Throwing that there “eh” around. See, you know you’ve mastered the art of “eh” when you can use it so that it is not a question, but the final punctuation to a statement. A matter of fact. That’s just the way it is eh. Enough of that.

It’s been so long since I’ve posted for 2 days in a row I’m not really sure what to write. Jeez, I’m not even a writer and I’m getting writer’s block. But I must hold the course since all of my adoring fans are awaiting the mundane. I am a little sick of reading things right now too. I spent all last week reading about CCR4 and its ligands CCL17 and CCL22… and I need to read more. Preferably by last week. I should take one of those speed reading courses to make me move that much quicker…

Other matters, I went to a Feast on Saturday (NOTE: A “Feast” is what we as Báhá'ís go to instead of Church on Sundays. We go every 19 days, which is, not coincidentally, one Báhá'í month. For more information on the Báhá'í Faith, and I urge you to do this, follow the link on the side of the page that says something about the Báhá'í faith). It was nice. I got to see a few people that I haven’t seen in just under a decade. And I learned some sad things about some people in that they used to be quite active but are not anymore.

Well just great. The boss came in and here I am typing away on a blog. So I got caught blogging. But I did maintain eye contact and positioned myself in between him and my screen.. I couldn’t close the screen because then it would be just too obvious that I was doing something that I don’t think that I shouldn’t be doing. Crap.

On a sad note, I have about 1 full week of being 30 left. Yes, 31 comes next week. At least I still have my rugged good looks. Alright, so I don’t. I don’t look anymore rugged than a newborn, I still can’t grow a full beard. I can go a week before I need to shave. I guess that’s good because I hate shaving.

I have to finish now though because I have to go catch a bus…

I guess today wasn’t your lucky day now was it?

first post for the year

2008-01-21T19:58:00.000-04:00

I know that it’s been a little while since my last post, but to be honest, most of my posts have been done while taking a break at work. BUT, since I don’t have internet access on my laptop (seems I opted for Windows XP Home Edition as opposed to XP professional, the IT here won’t let me on to their network!!!! And I can’t be bothered to pay $200 or so to upgrade) I am relegated to the computers in the lab. Common computers. And the last thing that I want to be caught doing is blogging in front of everyone. It should be one of those private moments you share with your millions of on-line fans. Not with those who are paying you to actually do work.

Sheesh.

So here’s what I’ve done: I typed this between 4:15 and 4:30 pm just before I left work… and then pasted it in now. I know!!! How lucky are you that I am that clever.

Well onto other matters.

As you all know, but for new readers, I am now living in Bedford (just outside Halifax NS, Canada). Me and the wife found a nice duplex and managed to drive out the other people who live in the other side of the duplex in about 2 weeks. So we are now living by ourselves. In a duplex. Down by the river. We are just off the Bedford highway and I won’t give you anymore details because I don’t want you to stalk me. I know you want to. I’ve never had a stalker though, it might be fun. I guess you could e-mail me and ask and I might give you my address if you sound like you’d be a good stalker.

About work… I am now Dalhousie Faculty. At least that’s what my Dal ID card says! How cool is that. I am such a simpleton that can be impressed because his ID card says that he is faculty. Don’t you worry about me though, that’s why I got married. I’m someone elses’ problem!! Again, Yay for you! Well I am at the IWK doing some medical research investigating some chemokine ligands and receptors. It seems like a nice group and good place to work: There are TWO Tim Horton’s right in the hospital!! The only things that I don’t like, and I really don’t like them, are that I am in a bloody cubicle. And they won’t let me have internet access. That probably buggers me the most though.

Besides that, I’m learning things, and getting ready to do stuff of goodness.

I got asked to do a presentation this Thursday though. It’s supposed to be about 45 minutes long and to the Dalhousie Inflammation Group (DIG for short) of which I am now a part of. I’m a bit nervous though (no sympathy please) as it’s the first time that I will be presenting this work without the back-up support of the other people of my old lab in Sydney! They provided me with good moral support, and if I got stuck on anything, they might be able to help me on the spot. Not this time though deary. You’re all on your own.

One thing that I noticed since I’ve been back is how caffeinated we are, and how bloody reliant we are on Tim Horton’s. No I’m not blasphemy---ing I guess is the word. But I can’t seem to be able to get a decent coffee made without a bloody perk or a plunger for 4 or more people. I am the only one who drinks coffee in my house, and i want a little, single cup plunger to make me and me alone a coffee.

Bloody hell I gotta go I’m going to be late for my bus.

So it's been a while!

2007-12-20T23:20:00.000-04:00

Well guys, I am truly sorry about the lag in time between posts. But I trust that you'll understand when you realize that me and my family moved from a summer in Australia, to the worst winter in 15 bloody years in Nova Scotia Canada!!!!

So I finished work on November 30. And honestly, it was a sad day for me. At 4:30pm I handed in my keys and my ID badge... I could no longer get into my office without someone else letting me in. After 6 and a half years. 6 and a half years. Long time. Small group. Good friends... A sad day indeed. But the going away dinner was really good. I got to dance with a very attractive belly dancer, photos on Facebook... Thanks Anne. You're a doll :)

Saying goodbye to the family was hard. That's all I'll say about that. It was hard and I didn't like it. Didin't like it at all.

So on Dec 7, we went to Sydney Airport, where we spent too long in line for them to tell us that we had to repack our luggage because our carry-on was too heavy. So we had to go and buy another checked luggage bag and empty all of our carry on. My problem was that we were only allowed something like 7 kg and my laptop etc was about 3.5. The really shitty thing was that we didn't get to say good bye to the family members that came to see us off because we were too busy re-packing. I am truly sorry and deeply saddened by that loss.

The plane trip from Sydney to LA was really long. Really long with a 5 year old and a 1 year old who is on the verge of walking. Neither me nor The Wife got any sleep on that leg of the flight. Not a wink. Nor did we really get to watch a whole movie. Alex enjoyed that flight though (except the food) since he could choose which movie he wanted to watch, he could play his Nintendo DS and the list goes on.

LA: Good and bad. The people were really nice and helpful. The airport was exceptionally well organized and were able to get our luggage, get through customs, and all that crap and then catch our flight with only portions of minutes to spare. We only had 2 hours from touchdown (which ended up being 15 minutes late) to the LA to Boston flight. The crappy part was the customs part. Do you know that you can bring in milk onto a flight, but not water, as long as the milk has no sugar added. but not waterm or liquid om greater than 100 mL aliquots. It was a pain in the ass. Especially when we were traveling with 2 little kids and could not remember in which carry-on luggage the drinks were in.

Boston: Same problems as with LA customs. Except there was a 1 hour delay which meant that we were in Boston airport for 4-5 hours. Not fun. Me and The Wife only got about 1 hour of sleep on the last flight. Only one hour. But the flight was only 1 hour or so.

Halifax: hat can you say, it was only good. Got to see my family again! Drove back to Yarmouth with my big bro Jason, The Wife, and my one year old daughter. Unfortunatley, there was a snow storm, and what usually takes 3 hours, took 5. But Jason did an exceptionally good job. Thanks Jay! And he had to get back to work at 7:30 that morning.... Thanks, and sorry!

The weather here in Yarmouth NS has been pretty crappy too! In the way that there has been way too much snow and I am not used to it. And neither is my wife. We played in the snow today though, and that was truly fun. Except when I realized that I lost my keys and they ended up in the snow on the front lawn. Mom came up with the idea of raking the snow covered lawn. Which eventually worked (after searching the entire house).

The important thing about the keys, besides the Swiss Army Knife which my Dad gave me when I left home in 1995, was my new home keys. My family will be living in Bedford for the next 8 months, and I had both of the keys on that knife. Not smart yes, but since 1995 I have never lost my keys, so why should that change now. Why should that change now??

Ah well, the family is great. We like the living arrangements. The kids like the grandparents (my parents). The grandparents like the kids. And all is well. But it will be nice to have our own place again. Since we moved out of our house in November, I have lived in 4 different houses with 4 different sets of people. But we've enjoyed each place.

So this is likely my last post of the year, so Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'll talk to you all next year.

PS: I will be working at the IWK in Halifax NS in January 2008, and I will be doing medical research again in the field of immunology, particularly autoimmunity etc like rheumatoid arthritis...

Keep smiling and make your new years resolutions count for something.

a short bit...

2007-10-31T07:51:00.001-03:00

Look, I don't really don't have alot to say today, so I thought that I would just say a few words. It's getting a bit scary now though... I have 37 days until I am in Canada. It's scary.... Last time I moved continents, it was pretty easy. I left Victoria BC, where I had no family, friends yes, but no family there. They were all back in NS (Canada again). I pretty much packed up my suitcase, and left.

NOW though, a completely different story. Married, 2 kids, a house full of crap to get rid of. A bit of a bigger deal of a move. But my wife is a true champion of champions. She's sold most of our stuff, and is, even now as I write, filling the world of e-bay with the final remnants of our possessions. Good on ya babe. Sorry I'm useless. But I think you may have known that when you married me. You may be over it.

It'll be interesting when I get back to NS though. I think that what will happen is that before I know it, the rest of my family will realize that they actually liked me better when I was so far away, and not visiting them!!! Joking (hopefully). Naw, it'll be great to see everyone. My brothers, my sister, my nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents and parents and the list goes on and on. Up to and including the snow. I have royally missed the snow my friends. The beaches here are awesome though and they will be greatly missed, but the job is too good to pass up!

For those of you that care (a list of 1 maybe?) I finish work on the 30th of November. Go down the coast to visit the in-laws the next day. Come back to Sydney on the 5th, do the formal graduation bit on Dec 6th, fly out of Sydney on the 7th at about 12 noon. Get into NS at about 9:45 pm on the 7th. drive south for 3-ish hours to Yarmouth NS, and then pass out from sheer exhaustion.

Well, I should run, I have to put some clothes on the line. And then go to bed. I've been pretty tired and bloodshot lately. It's starting to bother me a bit actually. For the past few days, my eyes have been too bloodshot... Not enough coffee maybe... I'll work on that tomorrow....

Cheers,

Countdown...

2007-10-18T23:44:00.001-03:00

I just thought that I would try posting automatically from a program called "ScribeFire" which is a Firefox (web browser) add-on. if it works, you're reading this and you name's not Michael Amon.

Anyway though, it's Friday, I'm doing some work getting ready for a pretty big week next week. I'm going to start training a kind of replacement for me. She's an honour's student who'll be starting here next year, but she'll need to do some technique training because the stuff I have been learning this year is pretty tricky. I am also doing my last really big experiment which I want all my readers to begin praying for the success of.

Start now....

Alright that's probably enough, but remember to do it again soon. Like tonight and tomorrow and for the next week. I'll need it.

Just s short post though, I wanted to let you all know that I have only 6 weeks, to the day, of work. 7 weeks, to the day, until my family leaves the southern hemisphere for a little while.

Geez, it's coming up pretty quick isn't it. Almost scary.

Anyway though, I should run back to the lab to make up some medication to stop a transplant rejection in diabetic mice. (Remember the prayers I asked for...)

ya ya ya deal with it...

This cuts me deep...

2007-10-17T21:10:00.000-03:00

This is a short post, but I wanted to post it because it sparked a strong emotional reaction from me. A very sad one though, but I want people to be aware so that if they are religious, they may include this poor child in their prayers.

Yesterday, a child between the ages of 5-10 was found in a travel bag in a duckpond in Rosemeadow (Rosemeadow is one of the small suburbs of Campbelltown, of which I live). Police etc "believe it is the body of boy" goes to tell you the state of the child.

The news story is here. And I don't want to go into any more detail, but I wanted this child to be remembered because nobody deserves this.

I pray that "he" is happy, free from pain, and is laughing at God's side. And may justice be served in the name of the as yet unknown child. I can't think of an appropriate punishment for this crime.

A little annoyed...

2007-10-17T20:40:00.000-03:00

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a good day.... And give you a little update as to my absence, which I'm hoping ends today with this monumental post. Alright. So it won't be anything too special, but it'll hopefully mark the end of once or twice a month posts.

To start off with... Below is yes, a picture of my house. Particularly, my house last Saturday during the colossal moving sale we had. You can also see the "Sold" sign in front of our house. Pretty cool eh! We pretty much emptied the house so that our bed was on our front lawn as well. That didn't sell, so I'm happy that I still have my own bed to sleep on. BUT, both of our tvs are gone, as is our DVD payer, our VHS player, which makes my Wii a little hard to play on now (big sad face). Our couch and chairs also went, so in our living room is a very old but working tv (sitting on the floor in the corner), and an old computer desk with Bec's laptop sitting on it so we can at least check our e-mail etc. That's it. No chairs. Nadda. BUT, this does mean that we have very little to get rid of the end of next month.

Notice in the picture is Rebecca and Madison holding the fort!

Other matters..

I really don't like mobile phones (aka cell phones for my ever expanding north american audience). Sitting on the train, a crowded train where there are alot of people standing up in the ailes because there are no more seats left, is not the place to talk about how some relative is now in rehab by court order and if she walks out will be doing the rest of her rehab in Silverwater (prison in Sydney). or about many other issues I don't really want to share. But she was talking behind me so loud it's like she was talking straight into my ear.

And I had headphones on.

Loud..

And I still couldn't shut her out of my head. Maybe that's simply a sign of a weak mind on my part. Maybe I should drop this then and stop pointing out my weaknesses and faults. I may have just given all of my enemies the tool they need to finally defeat me and overthrow my vast empire of wealth. Which coincidentally is tied up in student loans. I guess the take home message is, please don't yell on your phones if your riding public transportation. I don't want to know the problems of your life, unless it's urgent. But otherwise, for people with weak minds, it's very disconcerting.

Another very sad thing happened to me. Starting last week or so. I had noticed that my ergonomically designed keyboard with nice soft-touch keys etc was in it's final throes. The letters, "z", "x," "c," and "v" stopped working. So I am now relegated to using a crap cheap keyboard that you have to slam the keys to get it to type. And it is bloody loud. I type pretty fast, like 500-1000 words a minute (yes the zeroes are correct), so it gets a bit loud. Ya, I am complaining about such a little thing, but I type alot. you may not realize but A LOT of science is done on a computer and there is a lot of writing involved. On that note, I have to go and finish writing up a grant for a project that I will not be working on....

PS: My last day of work is November 30!!!!! Yay for me!!!!!

Sorry So Long!

2007-10-02T01:03:00.000-03:00

Firstly, I must apologize for my complete lack of blogging for like a month or so. Too long between posts, and for my adoring and obsessive fan, I am truly sorry. Truly sorry indeed.

But I have had a pretty big month if I do say so myself. First of all, I am tired of working here. I can't seem to get motivation. This has probably stemmed from that fact that I thought that the project would be a bit more set up before I started (as I was told it would be)... Or that it took over 6 months to get ethics approval to do the work... Or that I still don't have all the required tools to do the work... Or that I just spent a long time (months) getting my cell line to work properly and the company stopped making the most essential part of my experiment rendering my cells almost useless (or at least the experiment has no become a lot more expensive!!)

BUT, besides all that crap, my house sold in 5 days, the cooling-off period is over, and we bought out plane tickets back to Canada. We are leaving Australia on December 7 (12noon ish) and will be arriving in Halifax around 9:45pm that night. We're flying from Sydney to LA, to Bost and then to Halifax. It's a pretty big trip. Man I hope my kids can handle it. It's a big change... I feel bad for Alex though because we have to sell alot of his toys and stuff before we go. We are going to keep some for him until we leave, but still. No kid likes to get rid of their toys, especially when you are only 4 years old. He's doing well though.

We have already started selling off our possesions last week. We managed to sell a bunch of stuff to several Baha'i's in our community. Stuff like microwaves, dishes, plates, sewing machine etc... We're going to have a big yard sale soon to try to do a lot more damage though.

I'm really sorry about cutting this all-too-exciting post short though, but I really have to go and get some work done...

(end this letter with a defeated sigh)

Hullo fans..

2007-09-11T03:40:00.000-03:00

I would like to first take this opportunity to wish my beloved and beautiful wife a happy birthday!!! She turned another year more beautiful on Saturday, Sept 8. I didn't post this most joyous news earlier because, well, I wished her it in person! Anyway though... Busy weekend, I must tell you.

Our house went up for sale last Tuesday (see previous post), and we had some people through on Saturday. One of them was soo inspired to buy our much loved house, that he gave us an offer we couldn't refuse, so we accepted. We signed contracts etc on Sunday, so the buyer has 10 working days cooling off where he can change his mind. But we don't think he will. The only obstacle would really be the building and pest inspection report. And since we have recently been sprayed for preventative measures against termites, and we have had our house regularly fumigated the pest inspection will be fine... And our house is structurally sound, with the exception of the back fence, but they want to put up a new one anyway!! But we're still holding our breath for the next 8 working days!

I would also like to welcome into the world my 2 new nieces! One was born to my Canadian family, and she's been named Ava born on Friday, Sept 7 i believe (Congrat's Denise and Jeremy!!! I can't wait to see you in December!!!!) and the as-yet-to-b-named baby to my brother and sister in law here (Harry and Amanda) born on Monday, Sept 10! Congrat's to you both!!! I won't be putting up pics of them, so I apologize to all, but I'm sure that you're used to dissapointment by now if you're a regular reader.... It's like watching and waiting for the kettle to boil, only the kettle isn't even plugged in, and you really can't wait to drink up that nice hot chocolate that's just waiting for the boiling water... It's that level of disapointment that you can all expect here. You keep reading, hoping for some glimmer of greatness, something that'll make this minute worth-while.

Too bad for you my friend, too bad for you!!!!

I did just have a great day in the lab. I've been having some pretty serious technical problems doing a certain procedure which I made a tool to help, and it works great... So I am now an ultimate champion of the world at it now... So I will cure some diabetic mice tomorrow morning. I probably won't let you know how it turns out as I am now only killing time to catch the train...But you love it!

Have you ever noticed how liberating it can be to write when you think that noone else is reading? It's not like I have anything mean to say or anything like that, but there is no pretense to impress people, or to provide a readership with something to take home or to remember you by. It's kind of nice, kind of like the lonliest place is a city full of people. No one notices you. You're just someome in someone else's way. I don't mind that sometimes, but I don't like feeling like one of a heard of cattle. Like when I get off the train at the station for work. THere are about a million other people getting off at that station too, and we are all jostling for our own little space on the steps to get out of the station. We're like a herd of cattle moving collectively up and out. Honestly, it sickens me and I am growing more and more weary of it every day. That's probably one of the biggest reasons that I need to move. At least out of Sydney. I need somewhere quieter. I find that I am less tolerant, more agitated, and less happy... But I am excited to be leaving. That is a truth.....

Must run to the train.

For sale!!

2007-09-05T03:47:00.000-03:00

Well the for sale sign finally went up on my house yesterday, and the pics are on the internet!!! (see: here). Below is what you get when you "Print Brochure". So, if any of you fancy buying a house in Oz that has been treated with lots of love and care... Make me an offer. ... Preferably more than the asking price... But that may be asking a bit much.

I have to run though, catch a train....

Reign of Terror

2007-09-03T22:44:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone. I am not going to say very much today, but I wanted to let you all know that Bec has posted some new pictures up onto her website.... Some of them are from Father's Day which was on Sunday, which was great! I got a nice breakfast in bed with Alex, a nice new wallet that Alex helped pick out. A key chain with Madie's face on it, a page from Alex that he made at day care saying that he likes his Dad because he brings money home... little does he know that science does not pay well...

On Saturday, Alex and I say The Simplsons movie. We liked it alot. We both fell in love with "Spider-Pig" and have been singing it quite alot... Unfortunately, Bec is quite tired of hearing the song, but she'll soon grow to love it. Or else....

The other big thing that happened, is Maddie has learned the ancient art of crawling. She's a bit slow at the moment, but she's getting better daily. And when she gets where she wants to go, she has a little fit of joy. (Said with a big grin from a proud Dad). So, her reign of terror begins now. I don't think Alex truly appreciates what is about to happen though. She loves him. She watches him all the time. ANd up until now, he has been able to simply walk away. Not any more little bub. Not any more.

Anyway though, below are two pics I lifted from Bec's website showing Madison crawling.

Ice skating!

2007-08-29T23:45:00.000-03:00

For the second time ever, Alex has ice-skated! On the weekend, one of his friends had an ice-skating birthday party, and I thought that that was a great idea!!! I got to go skating again for free!! YAAAYY for me!!

Alex wasn't sure he was going to need me to help him because he didn't know if he could skate or not since he'd been before (previous post from a long time ago for my long time readers). But once he got on the ice, he realized that he did need my help! We has a bit nervous at first:
but he got better and eventually really started to enjoy himself!
So much that he started to tell me that it's ok, and that I can go around the rink by myself if I wanted to... So I did! He was eventually even able to pick himself up off the ground a stand up properly... I know that this doesn't sound like much, but remember, he is only 4, has only been on ice twice in his life, and lives in Australia never having seen snow.

He never really picked up the idea of skating though, he rather kind of walked around on skates. I thought this was ok since with each step his confidence seemed to build. So I was proud of my boy.... Very proud indeed my friends. And one day, he may even get to play in the NHL with the best team to ever grace the ice.... The Calgary Flames... Ah well, a man can dream...

A few more pics of Alex skating.

Lunar Eclipse

2007-08-28T22:25:00.001-03:00

I'm not sure how much of my readership is aware that last night there was a lunar eclipse, where the moon turned a beautiful blood red colour... Or at least it did if you were not enshrouded by streetlights etc.. and then it was an orange colour as I was informed by work-mates living in more populated areas of Sydney!

We got Alex excited to go out and see a "Blood Moon" as he started calling it and he liked it. I explained to him what was happening using the flashlight on my mobile phone as the sun, one fist as the Earth, and the fist as the moon... Moving the moon such that the Earth blocked out the sun (ie phone) such that the moon (fist) was now dark. I think he understood it..

The two.. less well taken pictures were taken by me by Bec's camera while taking full use out of its zoom features... But you can see the beautiful red colour of it... The second is after the red was done and the moon was returning to its nice white colour, but still half covered by the Earth.. Thus the black bit at the top left...

The other two, much more well-defined pictures were simply taken off of Google Images....

Gotta run back to work now though...

Not much here...

2007-08-24T00:42:00.001-03:00

There, you've been warned.

There will not be much in this blog mainly because I don't really have anything to say today. I know. I cried too.

Well, the past few weeks I have been pretty busy... Painted the edging around my house green (it looks great, but I might have already said that previously), a bit of painting on the inside of the house too. Then, while Bec, Alex and Mads were down the coast Mon-Wed, I removed the grout from between the tiles in the hallway, and put new grout in all on Monday night... on top of re-painting the laundry skirting boards. A long and busy night that was. But the laundry room and the hallway look great now. Makes me proud. And that's why you're reading about it!!!

Sucks to you eh? I figure I have to start saying eh again since I am moving back to Canada in December.

Work is moving forward slowly. Too slowly for my liking so I started a slightly different project which meant that yesterday, and Wednesday were pretty full on. And I won't know how well it worked for a few weeks to a month and half hopefully.

Real-estate guy is coming to take pics of our house early next week, and then it'll be officially listed! Yay!

I watched the new Harry Potter movie Tuesday night. I liked it. It was much darker and more adult than the other films, and I like the way the series is going. I do think that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are looking older than they are supposed to be in the movie though. But it still worked for me. I did feel that it was not as fluid as the other movies though, like there was stuff going on behind the scenes within the story that we were not privy to. But the movie worked, and I think I liked it more than all of its predecessors, and I am looking forward to the next one! I have recently started reading all the Harry Potter books. I figure that since everyone and their dog seems to have read them, I should hop on board so I get the pop culture references which use it as its base. Great books though! I am now up to the Order of the Phoenix (the new movie) and it is a good book so far (the 1st 100 pages or so, out of 700+).

I did something naughty this morning. And it's all because of Mom. Alright, it wasn't that naughty! A few weeks ago, Mom asked me about my lap top and will it work in Canada. I am pretty sure that it will, I should just need to get a new power cable thing since the power here is 240V and in Canada it is 110V or something like that. But it got me thinking that I wouldn't mind a new one since mine runs pretty hot, and has the biggest power brick I have ever seen (a power brick is the brick looking black box part of the power cable). So I went into a shop today to see what was on offer. There were some really pretty looking machines. Unfortunately, the only ones that I liked were just under $3000. Why do I have such expensive taste!!!!!

Well they were really nice, Centrino Duo processors at 2.2 - 2.4 GHz, 2Gb RAM, 512Mb Nvidea graphics chips, massive hard drives... What more could I want, besides a massive price drop!!! Well, I think that I will wait for the price to drop considerably before I look again, I can't justify anyone paying $300o for a computer. Nice lap tops yes, but I don't really need a new one just yet.... Maybe next year.

One final note though... People, don't forget about your blogs just because Facebook is new and blah blah blah. you don't get nice ramblings about nothing on Facebook... you get short little quips that give you nothing. A blog at least allows a story to be told, a ramble to be writ, and a stronger insight into the writer...

Done

2007-08-15T01:47:00.001-03:00

Final product, signed and sent. Graduation in early Dec. Nuff said.

Work Choices...

2007-08-07T01:35:00.000-03:00

Sorry about the delay on my posting... Been a little bit busy what with getting the house ready for the market... Not a lot needs to be done as the house is alright, just a few superficial things. The problem lies in the fact that I don't have a lot of "free" time to do the work.. BUT I have re-grouted and sealed the shower, painted the entire edging on my house which took a long time (3 days) and forced me to go up an extension ladder as high as it would go... I didn't like it Jan, not at all! Did some ceiling fixing, and some tiling... mowed the lawn, fixed up a wall a bit, and there may be more.. but that's kept me busy.

Anyway though, that's not why I decided to post today (or I found a few minutes during the first lunch break I've had in about 2 weeks)... And it's about the Work Choices legislation that the Howard government has put in place. I must let you know, that what I am about to say comes from a COMPLETELY lay persons perspective, meaning that my source(s) are the media, largely from people for and against the new legislation. But I think that the points are valid because I assume that the majority of voters are in my shoes, ie not about to read the actual document etc. I am also not taking sides because I don't know what the opposition has proposed.

From my limited understanding, Work Choices gives the employee the right to bargain for better working conditions with their employer on an individual basis, and also the removal of unfair dismissal laws. This gets around the Union movements. BUT, the opposition has asked what is there in place to stop the employer from screwing over the employee by first firing them (removal of unfair dismissal laws) and then offering them their same jobs at a lower wage with reduced benefits etc? I think that this is a fair question. The opposition has made several TV adds with this effect, where there is a woman who is being forced to work overtime despite not having to previously because she is taking care of the kids. You know the type of ad, a sob story. But the question is put forth.

To combat this, the Howard administration has done a big media campaign in favor of the Work Choices legislation saying that people under 18 won't be ripped off by employers because they will need the parent or guardian's signature on the contract as well... And that adult workers will still have holidays, overtime pay etc etc... Pretty much saying that "It's the law" for employers to abide by the working contract. But (me and Rebecca) don't really see how this answers the questions put forth by the opposition: Can you be fired and then asked to sign a contract for lower wages etc?

By saying that a kid can't get ripped off because a parent needs to approve the contract prior blindsides the issue. If the employer is offering a really low wage, and the parent doesn't like it, the kid doesn't work, and the employer will eventually find someone who will fill the role. So some kid, somewhere gets to work at this crap wage because it was a job. In a capitalist society, doesn't the employer hire the worker who'll accept the lower wage. But then this leaves the kid who didn't take the job, out of a job, and making no money as opposed to a little bit.

I guess simply what I'm trying to say is that of course an employer has honour a contract, "it's the law" but with the contents of the contract under no legislation, who's to stop an employer from offering sub-standard working conditions within the contract.

I think that this model works well where there is a large surplus of jobs, but as soon as you get more than one person vying for the same job, the wages and working conditions are pushed down because it is in the employers best (profit-wise) interests to hire the person who'll accept the lowest wage.

I anyone knows more about this system, please feel free to comment on it, as I may be wrong, but this question is in the heads of a lot of people and could mean a loss for the Howard government in the upcoming election.

In all fairness though, the official web-site for Work Choices is HERE, and the offical web-site against Work Choices is HERE.

Live Earth

2007-07-18T01:59:00.001-03:00

Alright.. .Live Earth happened on 7/07/07. The aim to increase global awareness of global warming. And they did this through the entertainment industry. I guess that that was probably a good idea, but did it work. What will it accomplish? Hasn't everyone already heard about Global Warming?

So what if every Tom Dick and Harry know about Global warming? Knowledge is useless without action. I think that one of the greatest things that has happened in regards to the environment is what was put in place by town councils..

Recycling bins.

Not much effort on the part of Tom, Dick or Harry, no significant extra cost for them either. All in all a good effort. I think that this is one of the criteria if people really want to combat the Global Warming "crisis", it needs to be easy, and cheap. I'm not a rich man, I care about the environment, but I can't afford to buy stuff at a premium because it's good for the environment. I just can't. I think that instead of spending squillions on a 24 hr global concert, each country should have spent that money and started systems similar to council provided recycling.

This does not even touch on the fact that global warming itself is a human induced problem. It may actually be a sampling problem. Looking at the graph below shows a sharp rise in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the 1900s (approximately). But, how did they get the CO2 levels from prior to 1900s...From ice core measurements. After the 1950s (thereabouts) they used direct measurements. Is it possible that the direct measurements are higher than the ice core readings? Honestly, I don't know, but I would hesitate to compare apples with oranges. I mean doesn't the meaning of some phrases change when you go from one language to another? I see this as a similar problem.

Another bit...Look at the graph, notice the UNITs on the that's parts per million. Currently, we are sitting at 0.0383% CO2 in the atmosphere. So 0.0383% of the gas in the atmosphere is CO2. Pretty bloody small percentage there.

Also, if this was such a real phenomenon, why don't all scientists agree that this is a human induced problem? Wikipedia even mentions that (independant) scientists have put forth other hypothesis that explain Global Warming, that, "the warming is caused by natural fluctuations in the climate or that warming is mainly a result of variations in solar radiation".

I think that the best example of this may be the last ice age. The planet warmed up quite alot back then didn't it? And there was no human intervention either. There were no humungous factories spewing forth gases into the atmosphere, or cars, or blah blah blah. Yet the globe warmed on its own....

There was also, apparently, a Little Ice Age which began around 1650AD and ended around 1850AD. Is it possible that the miniscule temperature increase since 1850 (about +0.8 degrees C) might be due to the ending of said Little Ice Age?

ALSO, (yes it goes on) we have no idea of how the climate or weather patterns behave. You can't predict the weather next week let alone what it will be in 2100. Any prediction about what the future weather will be is only a prediction based upon some computer model with well-defined variables, which were initially designed by a person. If they leave out a variable you get a different result, if you weight one variable differently, you get a different result. Simply put, it's a prediction. Only that. Like the call-centre psychics, they predict based on assumptions. A little harsh there I know, but I'm trying to drive a point home.

The atmosphere is a complex entity, constantly changing, and we are not sure if the change is actually even due to human activities.

So, I would have liked Live Earth to have addressed the scientific merit of global warming, greenhouse gasses, and the proof that we are at fault, or that we can even change what the Earth may be doing of its own accord.

I do not want to sound anti-environmental or anything... Because I'm not, I believe in trying to protect the environment as a responsibility of ours. BUT, I do not like the idea of jumping on a band wagon which uses fear as its only weapon (the fear of climate change causing natural disastors etc... which is apparently unproven and spouted forth as shock media).

Ummm.... That's all I have to say about that.

The letter.

2007-07-11T02:35:00.000-03:00

So.... I checked the mailbox yesterday (Tuesday) and I saw this unceremoniously shoved into my mailbox.

A letter from the Postgraduate Unit at Sydney University. So I took it... Went back in the house... Sat on the couch... and opened it.

"Dear Michael

I am pleased to advise you have been recommended by the Board of Postgraduate Studies in Dentistry, Medicine & Pharmacy for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Medicine), subject to specified emendations being made to your thesis as required by one or more of the examiners..."

The letter goes on, but that was the meaty bit..

So what does this mean? I looked at the reviewer's reports. The first one said it was fine, no need for any changes. The second reviewer pointed out 6 typing mistakes. And the third reviewer wanted me to add a few references to a section or two. That's pretty much it.

There was lots of praise so I am pretty happy with that. They liked the pics and artwork and the style etc.... All I have to do now, which I did 99% of it last night, was to make the changes, send a summary letter of the changes to a guy down the hall from my office, then he sends an e-mail off and that's it. I'm Dr. Amon. So long Mr. Amon!!! I then will have to print out new copies of my thesis and bind it properly etc, but after I'm Dr. Amon.

I just thought that I would let you all know, especially all those poor souls who read my blog throughout the last half of last year where I did alot of complaining etc. Here's the result. My thesis passed!!!!!

YAY FOR ME!!!!!

Nervous much?

2007-07-05T22:03:00.000-03:00

Well, about 4 or so months ago, I submitted a thesis. This thesis detailed alot of the work I had done in the past 3 and a halfish years (including writing time). I have been a bit anxious lately because I was told that I should know the outcome in 3 months.

3 months came.

3 months went.

In knew nothing.

So I called the University today to see what the deal was.

They told me that they had heard back from the 3 reviewers and they thought my thesis was crap and that I needed to start over. No, I'm joking... Trying to allay my own uncomfortable uneasiness that I am presently shrouded in.

I was told that the University did, however, hear back from my three reviewers and that the head guy of something (can't remember his title) was looking it over for approval. This does not mean that it has been accepted "as is," it simply means that the Head Guy looks over all the reviewers' comments (from each and every thesis submitted) and then sends a letter to each candidate (myself being classified as a candidate) including copies of the reviewers' comments and the final decision on the outcome of my thesis.

This is standard procedure. And what usually happens is that the reviewers want a few changes before final acceptance. This is fine and dandy. But my problem lies in the fact that I will have to wait to hear by post until next week sometime. While I know that the papers are sitting on said "Head Guy's" desk. 3 and a half years of my life. Of Bec's life, of Alex's life. None really of Madison's life though....

I want to know now!!!!!

It's pretty (highly) unlikely that it will be rejected flat out. So I guess I'm not worried about that though... What can I compare this to... Ummmm, I don't know.. Besides to say that it's like awaiting to hear the final judgement on something that you have put your blood, sweat, and tears into and knowing that the results are sitting on some guy's desk, awaiting his perusal.

The nervous twitch begins....

Anyway though, I should stop it with that because it will only freak me out even more. (PS though: please don't leave comments of encouragement or don't worry things, as I am only venting, and realistically, a few changes will have to be made, and then it's done, other comments are warmly accepted, but please keep within the post's subject matter, or within the guidelines of shamelessly flattering my good looks, writing prowess, innate knowledge, staggeringly (deficient) wit, etc).

So I'm on the Facebook thing. You can find me by looking for Michael Amon. There's a picture of me as my thumbnail thing, but if you don't know what I look like, just look for a guy that looks like me. I am impressed a bit with Facebook though, I have now been in contact with many people I had lost contact to. But my concern is the longevity of said contact. It's still digital communication. and I am piss poor at keeping contact with people (you know I love you Phil and Tamara, and Amanda) and I don't really think that Facebook will change this. Not any more than e-mail did. I need to be constantly harassed by people in order to write back for chit chat (that's a free invite for people to harass me to contact me, I don't take offense but feel guilty).

Anyway though, Facebook has given me insight into other people's lives who I haven't seen in years (decade?) from high school etc. So I guess it's not bad, but I just don't have the time to put into it... So if you are one of the people who I am a friend of in Facebook, sorry I suck.

Stop the flood!!!

2007-06-28T01:47:00.000-03:00

A little while ago, Australia, or at least the Sydney area, was in a pretty severe drought. Now, it has been raining for weeks. Literally.

The flood of Noah has returned.

I don't know if it made it overseas, but a few weeks ago when all this started, an oil tanker The Pasha Bulker off the coast of Newcastle (north of Sydney) which was originally anchored a few kms offshore, was pushed by high winds (waves) onto a beach. Where it now remains. Beached on a beach. Newcastle flooded as well. Lots of damage etc...

This was June 8. Since then it has only given brief pauses of rain. It is depressing!!! I am sad (to confirm the status as depressing...) When will it stop!!!

I challenge, no I beg everyone of the 4 or so people that read this blog to do a stop the rain for a week dance. The beautiful thing about this dance is that you get to make it up as you go as long as you do it while listening to or singing the old Blind Melon song.

Please, I make this plea as a man humbled before the ancient clouds of suffrage which poured rain upon the brow of Noah! Before the peoples of the world whose perceived differences have, to this day, caused strife and enmity amongst our brethren! Let us, now, in the face of such atrocities, come to together to shed our blood for this most great cause and banish this blight from our once bright skies! Let us break bread together under cover of nothing but the Heaven's above such that the bread stays moist and dry. Dance I beg thee! Banish the clouds of rain for one week!

Too much? Ya probably, but I need a break.

An Interesting Observation...

2007-06-27T02:25:00.000-03:00

I have recently made an interesting observation. Over the past while, the comments and views of my web-page have dropped considerably. I guess this is expected considering the crap that I put up on such a regular basis.

But recently, I noticed something else. Over the past week, I have had a lot more views of this site, and more comments on my last post than with many of the previous posts....

I guess the question is Why?

Are you (mistakenly) waiting for something of substance to appear? Unfortunately for you, nothing of substance has ever been posted by me, and I honestly don't think that'll change anytime too soon.

Another interesting observation though, is the timing of certain phone calls to certain members of my family pre-date the significant rise in readership by approximately 48 hours. I'm a scientist remember. I try to notice trends etc and claim them as my own!!! Mwaa haa haaa!!!

Or, alternatively, I am mistaken and am posting things that you all seem to care a great deal about.... I'll buy that one. So thank you my loyal readers! And while my (and my family's) home will soon be in Halifax, NS, Canada as of sometime this December as I start work at Dalhousie in January 2008, I will still gladly post meaningless garbage for your reading (dis)pleasure.

Love to you all!!!

PS: Sorry about deleting a comment Connie, there were a few people here who didn't know yet, and I couldn't risk them finding out before we told them!

Revenge

2007-06-21T03:02:00.001-03:00

Well, I wish that I had something of significance to say, or even something that would interest anyone in the least. But honestly, today just won't be your day. So, in light of this, I will relate a little incident that occured to me the other day....

Well, I went down to do some work with some lovely little white lab rats (Wistars to be exact). Nothing bad though, we just wanted to look at them, teach our new PhD student (Anne) how to do a few things like put them to sleep etc. Nothing fancy.

So Anne puts two lovely and well mannered lady rats into the perspex box where in a few moments they will be sleeping soundly and peacefully. So she goes to close the lid.

The two ladies have decided that they were not tired. I should also mention that these rats are about 8-10 weeks old, and therefor still juveniles. And like a juvenile, when they don't want to do something, they cause a fuss.

Soooo, the two lady rats proceed to simultaneously jump out of their cage just before Anne could close the lid, and run in separate directions. One ran towards Anne on the bench, the other away from me. Anne caught hers with little stress.

I wasn't so lucky.

Not this time my boy...not this time...

I tried to grab my rat's tail, missed as it jumped onto a kind of ledge thingy at the back of the bench where it could have jumped to the floor and been even harder to catch. Since I couldn't get at the tail, I had to go for the body. I grasped (not too hard though) the lady rat around her body and carried her to her cage.

This is where the problem arose.

I felt an interesting sensation on my right pinky finger. Like something gnawing on it. Then it hit me. She's gnawing my pinky finger!!!!! One set of teeth (upper or lower?) chomping down on my finger nail, while the other piercing the arteries in the tip of my pinky finger. I couldn't do much about it so I continued to put her in her cage where she remained for a while.

So I washed the wound which was gushing forth blood at a rate of at least approximately 1 litre per minute (I didn't measure it at the time, obviously, but I am a scientist, so not prone to exageration (just spelling errors), so I think I'm right). Anyway though, I washed the wound, tried to stem the tide of blood now filling the room to flood levels, filled out the incident report form because it was the right thing to do, then called Staff Health here at the hospital.

Remembering that I work at a HOSPITAL!!!! And I had a genuine incident where I was bitten by an animal which did draw blood, and that there was a significant potential for infection (bacterial) as the teeth did go deeper than they should have, I would have thought that STAFF HEALTH could have done something. But nope, they told me to go across the road to a private clinic and get it looked at properly because all STAFF HEALTH! could do was put a band-aid on it.

What a friggen joke! I am staff. At a hospital. Yet STAFF health could do nothing.

Anyway though, short story long, I took care of the wound properly to begin with, so the doctor had a look at the bite marks, the scratches and indentations on my finger nail as well as the 32 mm deep hole in the my pinky finger, and prescribed some antibiotics as preventative.

I'll end this story now.

An open letter to a moron,

2007-06-13T01:10:00.000-03:00

Rarely am I as appalled as I am now about the behaviour and actions of a few utter and complete morons that have perpetrated acts of barbarianism. Such people I openly challenge them to properly identify themselves as human beings. Come forward. And pay penance.

Unfortunately, I am not ranting or raving.

On the south coast of NSW, around Bateman's Bay, (ie north of the land of milk and honey and fish, Moruya) three kangaroos were found.

Utterly butchered.

One decapitated.

One beaten.

One with its eyes gouged out and a its baby Joey still in its pouch (now struggling for survival by carers at a meagre 900g).

What's wrong with you?

Appalled, simply appalled that is supposed to be noble (like a human) can act with less dignity and respect than that afforded to a starving pig at feeding time.

How do you look at your selves in the mirror? How do you look at your own hand's? How do you sleep?

I'm sorry I had to post this, but there is never any reason for such animosity.

The Price of a Father's Love...

2007-06-04T01:07:00.000-03:00

Yup. The price of a father's love is apparently equal to the price of a Classic Cobra.

Yesterday, me, my wife, my 6 month old daughter, and my 4 year old son Alex were driving down the coast to Wollongong (about 45 min south of where I live). On the way, there was a whole bunch of classic cobras along the side of the road. I have seen this conglomerate of beauty before and know it to be a car club consisting of people who own said cars.

So I asked Alex what he would rather have, jokingly, Mommy or one of those cars. A mean question, I don't really know, but it was funny nonetheless... Initially, he said the car. And then we told him that that would mean that he wouldn't have Mommy anymore and all the nice things that goes along with Mommy. He recanted and decided that he would rather have a Mommy.

Good choice my boy... Good choice. Even though those cars are a thing of beauty...

The time was approximately 11 am.

So we did our shopping in Wollongong, went home, had lunch, kids had a bit of a nap, then we went to visit Rebecca's sister Amanda.

Time now, approximately 3:30 - 4pm ish.

On the road, out of the blue, Alex states that he would swap Daddy for the car. He caught me off guard with that one and it was hard to not laugh out loud!!! We tried to convince him that a car for a Daddy was not a good trade... But it didn't work.

So, I am soon to be traded, or sold, to buy Alex a Classic Cobra. Despite the fact that he is only 4 years old, he demonstrates such great taste in cars which makes me proud. And I am not really sure that he has made a bad choice... I am at work (including on the way to and from) too much, while Mom is at home with him; that car is very easy on the eyes, ears, touch, and smell, while I, simply put, am not.

Ah well, it was pretty funny though, and Alex, I still love ya man even if a car is more valuable ;)

Ahhh geezz...

2007-05-30T03:16:00.000-03:00

I won't harp on this but I thought that you all might like to know... My last payday was on Thursday (last week). and guess what!! I got paid!! And it included the back-pay that I was owed because of being paid at a lower rate....

The only thing that sucked about it, was that I was taxed a bit high... Like around exactly 48.5% of my wages. How do you like that!!!! I was pretty pissed and I made sure payroll guy knew it. It won't happen again I have been assured many times.

Anywho... because of this problem, I could no longer afford to go to the national Australian Rheumatology Association Annual meeting at the Hilton here in Sydney. The conference for which I made a really nice looking poster for (good presentation to make up for crap content!!). But I did put effort into it....

So I went yesterday anyway. I borrowed a name tag from one of the lovely ladies in my lab and wore it in. I (cleverly and sneakily) turned it around so that you could only see the back of it, not the named "Marina" side of the name tag thing. So I strolled in, got some free stuff from the nice looking drug company displays.. Got probably too much free coffee... Ate some of the really nice food. Ate too much of the desserts because it was all going to be thrown away anyway... or maybe they were going to send it as a care package to the Hilton chain's famous namesake daughter (granddaughter I think) doing time somewher... Anyway, there's a few less cakes and stuff for her because I ate them!!!!

Mwaa ha ha ha haaaaaa...

And I did it free!!!!!

Not too many people looked at any of the posters though.. I did have an awkward moment where one of the guys reviewing my thesis walked in, and I had to say hey to him. Didn't ask about my thesis or anything like that... Didn't think it was kosher to do so.

I do wish he had of said that he enjoyed reading it though!!! Maybe he hasn't read it yet... Ya, that's it....

A Link Between Stress and Disease??

2007-05-17T23:06:00.000-03:00

Yes my friends, I think that I may have stumbled upon a great discovery!!! Of immense importance!! One that may soon see me with a Nobel Prize!

Well maybe not...

But I have found a link between stress and headaches and general unwellnesses. Also, that stress builds up over time.

Take for eg PhD thesis writing. Takes several months of solid writing, revisions, etc before it's done. Stress Point #1.

Then take starting a brand new project at work, where the starting point is considerably behind where you were told you would be starting, like say.... we have an idea, but don't really know what we really want to do, don't know any of the methods, and have no one to collaborate with to help us.... as opposed to the perceived starting point (what I agreed to in Sept of last year) of: We are going to do this, and we will collaborate with them who already have the method set up and have agreed. Stress Point #2.

Then add to this the fact that my wife just gave me our second child, and is therefore not earning money, and I am (well was) not getting paid properly. Stress Point #3.

There are always more Stress Points, but that's good enough for my scientific approach to this issue....

So, #1 + #2 + #3 have led me to be sick. Regular headaches, I am now officially over 48 hours headache free!!! And saddly, yes, this is a big deal. Not even a hint of one for the past few (2) days, but I'm on my third headache free day and it's Friday!! So things are looking good!!!

Unfortunately though, I have a stuffed nose and my throat wasn't feeling great most of this week... So I haven't decided if that's what's taking the place of my headaches or not...

But see??? Conclusive evidence that there is a link between stress and headaches and general unwellness.

What!!!

You already knew that!!!

Damnnnnn....

I feel another headache comming on....

(joking)

Bye Bye for now.

In Hiding

2007-05-10T03:24:00.000-03:00

Honestly, I really and truly wish I could laugh at this.

Why oh why does it have to be true though? Let me run this down for you...

I accepted a job late September to start mid January. I fullfill my end by starting in mid January. Then my employer tells me that "we" have to start looking about how he's going to pay me... or about hiring me or something to that effect.

I contained myself and did not throw a fit.
(applause)

It takes 3 months to get hired by the hospital (bureaucracy leading to several levels of forms and applications to approve the creation of a position, then advertising, interviewing, etc etc: 3 months). So I need to get paid for this three month somehow.

I create my own company so I can be contracted (Name: "Madex" from Madison and Alex. Ya, I'm clever like that). I send invoice to hospital.... Which my payment again needs approval and bureaucracy ensues, and I find myself struggling on Thursday (pay day) trying to get paid. Strife.

A week later I get paid. We now move to February.

To avoid all this bureaucracy, I find a way to become a casual staff at the University. That was an easy process, fill out a few forms, send them in. Badda bing badda boom: hired. As casual staff. No sick leave, holiday pay etc. My first payday as a casual staff sees my bank account with no money deposited. REASON: They didn't agree with my rate of pay so they just didn't pay. I bitched, got the money a few days later (or a week?)

Next pay check, SAME PROBLEM!!!! SAME REASON. I call, bitch and complain, and eventually get paid a week or two late. By which time I have submitted another pay sheet. You get the idea though. Today, I got paid for work around the Easter break.

Remember then? Exactly ONE month ago! And even then, I got half that pay cheque two weeks ago and the rest today. Here's why, and honestly, it is the most stupidest, and incompetent reason I have ever heard.

I get my time sheet signed y my boss, the accounts guy here faxes it to the University pay office. All good, and it even gets received by the pay office girl (who will bitterly remain unnamed) before the cut off time. The accounts guy then sends the ORIGINAL time sheet, with the signatures and writing etc in INK to the pay office girl (who is still bitterly remaining unnamed). She then gets confused by having a copy as well as the original and doesn't have the time to "investigate". I kid you not. The words she used on me when I called her were that she received the fax and then the "original" and did not have time to "investigate".

What is there to investigate? You have a copy, and the original from which the copy was made. Clever girl. Anyway though, I got that pay today, overpaid though... But paid.

Which brings me to today. My first full two-week pay cheque. I get it deposited, and then realize (well my wife realizes and informs me by phone), that I don't get paid much. After small investigation, I find out that I am being paid at a lower rate than I should be. This despite my contract clearly stating what my rate of pay is... So another Thursday, another problem....

I will go into hiding until the assholes have left the ruling to those that are capable.

Alright I won't. I'll just bitch about them from this level of non-anonymity...

Unless you're not one of my family members who is reading this, then I am kind of anonymous... Although a little bit of research and you'll find out who I am...

I still haven't complained thoroughly to my boss who waited until I was already working before looking at hiring me though. I do still have to work here for the rest of this year... And to think I turned down a good job in Halifax where I would have been paid from the get go....

Sorry about that.

Is this really news??

2007-05-01T22:19:00.000-03:00

Come on Channel 9. I was washing the dishes last night,(Yes, I do this on most nights, I'm a new age man) and during the commercials, I heard an add for Channel 9 news, trying to entice the viewers to watch. What they said, supposedly to get me to watch, and give themselves credibility at reporting news, was that studies have shown that kids favorite breakfast cereals were loaded with salt and sugar.

Ok.

What kid would turn down a sugar-ladden bowl of Fruit Loops for a nice healthy bowl of...Bran Flakes? How newsworthy is it to tell people something that they have known since people began eating? Kids like sweet and tasty things better than bland flavourless cardboard? Would you rather have an ice-cream, or whole-meal bread? A chocolate bar or a mashed potatoes?

I'm worried that the next news headline will be something like, after 7 years of intense research, scientists have found that olympic athletes, on average, are in better physical shape than the morbidly obese. Or that if you eat McDonald's for 30 days straight, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you're going to get sick. And if that's all you eat for a very long time, you either are mentally ill, would like to be mentally ill, or are getting fatter and fatter as each day goes by.

It just seems that there is so much more things out there that people need to know, or at least should be aware of...like all the problems in South Africa (Google News it), Egypt (religious tolerance-wise), or even promote something good! Like celebrate some high school kid that has done something good, or some University student who making great strides in whatever, or anything that does not involve stating such common knowledge as our kids favorite cereals have alot of sugar in them..

Channel 9, make me want to watch, not turn away.

Opps

2007-04-30T22:16:00.000-03:00

Because I am self-obsessed, I thought that I would quickly go over my thesis again... Which is currently being reviewed by a few people who will hopefully say that I can join the fraternity of PhD's... No, I'm not that self-obsessed!!! I needed to go over it to prepare a poster on one of the chapters for a National Australian Rheumatology Association meeting here in Sydney at the end of the month...

Anyway, I was reading when I noticed something a little bit funny about a few of the references, 5 of them to be exact. 5 individual references out of 34 pages worth. Yes, I counted. They appear to be identical references. Or duplicates to put it another way. That's pretty crappy. Especially since it got through me and my supervisor a number of times... In my supervisor's defense though, he likely thought that I had enough wit to at least make sure my references are proper. Silly mistake on his part eh! (See, I still say "eh" so I retain my Canadianisms).

Ummm... I must have forgotten that I put that little mistake (well 5 of them) in there to see if the reviewers actually read the whole thing. We'll soon see though, we'll soon see.

Anyway though, I just thought that I would share that with the world...

TMNT

2007-04-30T03:44:00.000-03:00

I'm betting that you'll never guess what we took Alex and Madison to see the other day.... C'mon, give it a go... Ya, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!!

As a kid, I loved 'em. As a grown up.. well... although the illusion of turtles doing ninja fighting and blah blah blah has truly worn off, the movie was great!! I was pretty impressed. I honestly walked in thinking that I wasn't really going to like it very much, but low and behold, I really enjoyed it. The animation was great.. And I think that it's a different company coming into the CGI arena (as opposed to Pixar and Dreamworks). The animation looks different from other films, maybe a bit more Japanimation, but only loosely to my eyes (who has only seen VERY LITTLE actual Japanimation). But it was much better than 4 guys suited up as turtles like in the first two movies.

You do have to keep in mind though, this is a ninja turtle movie. As such, the story line is not something that you will be writing home telling your mommy how you have finally truly understood the meaning of it all, and that the space-time continuum is only relevant if you are acting upon certain presumptions, which may or may not be true, and that meeting yourself in either the past or the future, would not destroy its fabric as the eminent Dr. Emmet Brown, mentor of one Marty McFly, once stated, in three different movies. But the story line worked, there were good guys, there were bad guys, the turtles beat them up with some ninja kicking and good old fashioned team-work. Good on ya turtles.

I feel that the down-fall of this movie, is that there is no Vanilla Ice in this third installment. Yes, it continues on from the last two, which I liked as well... And also, that Vanilla Ice was possibly a high point in the second movie says alot about the quality of said second movie... and why it has been soo long in making a third.

I have to go home now, but in conclusion, I liked the movie, as did Alex. Mads fell asleep so I'm guessing she gives it 2 thumbs down. If only she knew what thumbs were...

Happy Anniversary!

2007-04-24T01:47:00.000-03:00

This'll only be a short post, but I wanted to wish mon amour a happy anniversary. For those of you who don't know, April 22 was our wedding anniversary and we have been happily married for 6 years now. We didn't do a whole lot, partly because we want to save up for something really special for our 10 year anniversary. But we watched our wedding video and realized that I look alot older now. Crap. My youthful good looks have faded to what you see below.... Yes, I'm in my office at work, with the lovely Cell Signaling pathway poster behind me on the door....

I think that's the first time I have ever used the web-cam that is built in to my lap-top... Notice to those "Mac" adds where the cool hip Mac computer guy is bragging to the older, business oriented PC who is getting a web-cam installed on top of his head... PC's have web-cams built in tooo....Poorly mis-informed Mac who in his arrogance does not know that he is not as high tech as he likes to portray...

Anyway though, nobody really cares about that....

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, so I don't have to go to work!!! Yay for me!!! It stands for Australia, New Zealand Army Corps, and it is a holiday to pay tribute all the soldiers who faught for the freedoms and liberties that we tend to take for granted today. So to you all, and to those of other countries, like Canada for eg, and in particular my Grandfather, Jim McRae (his website is one of the links), and my late Grandfather Phil Amon, thank you, and I love and miss you both immensely. Thank you.

Well, I'll write more later in the week..

Cheers my loyal followers!

Twice now

2007-04-19T01:04:00.000-03:00

Yup, twice now this week I've posted. Lucky you!! I thought that I should post something a bit more positive and less bitchy than that last post. Needless to say, I was upset. Inside information for Mom and Dad, the meeting I went to on Saturday, while it actually occurred on Monday, they said "no".

Anyway though... So I am finally almost finishing all the ethics and other approvals to finally start the project that I was hired to work on this year. Only one left and it's very close to completion (20-30 minutes away!!!) YAY for me, I rock... A little positive encouragement never goes astray! Anyway though, It's been insane how much writing I have had to do, AFTER writing up a thesis. 1 good sized diabetes grant, 2 chunky and detailed animal ethics protocols, 1 genetically modified organism application, 3 more detailed animal ethics bits, as well as finish off a paper which will be submitted in less than a week.... And I just found out that I have to front up to introduce myself to the Animal Ethics Committee tomorrow. Ah well, I know the project (I did designed it) and I know what I'm doing and all the methods in decent detail at the moment. So it shouldn't be a big deal. I'll let you know when I get the approval though, 'cause I know that you are all extremely anxious to know that I am on my way to curing diabetes. Think positively.... Always think happy thoughts...

Well, I should run now, but I'm glad to see that tomorrow is Friday, and I don't have to come in on Saturday.

Welcome back!

2007-04-17T03:36:00.000-03:00

Alright, what can I say? I've been bloody busy!!! I've been learning new lab tricks, like inducing diabetes, isolating pancreatic islets (trying to), transplants into kidneys, and nephrectomies... all in mice. Tricky stuff that I am slowly becoming competent with. Tomorrow some more training, or practicing is more like it. Don't ask 'cause I won't tell.

Went to visit my in-laws down the coast for Easter the other weekend and had a great time. Not surprising as I have always had a good time there... No, I am not sucking up to get my name in the will, although if it'll help.... But me and my father-in-law went fishing. I caught a flounder, but it was too small so I had to throw it back, I almost caught a 30 kg flat head, but it decided that it didn't want me to eat it, so it turned it's head and cut my line. I'll get you next time Lunch!!!. But I did manage to catch myself a decent sized whiting so I have proven to myself that I can actually catch edible sized fish. Worked my technique out a bit, and I'm ready for more. As for my father-in-law, he outshined me greatly by catching 3 edible sized fish, and almost a 40 kg flat head. Alright, so the flat heads weren't 30-40 kg, but they were close to that...I swear!!! Really!!! Believe me, I'm a scientist!

Which brings me to another question of life: Now, I have been to University for too long. 4 years doing an honour's in Biochemistry with a concentration in molecular genetics and a minor in Economics. Then 3.5 years as a PhD student. All up, I ran up a decent sized student loan. Over $25, 000 actually. And this is considering that my PhD cost me nothing because I did it at a public hospital. so 25G for an undergraduate degree, and nothing for a PhD. To run the total: 7.5 years of freakin' University, married with a mortgage and 2 kids under 5. 25G is crippling. The Australian's really have it pretty good here though. They are required to pay back their student loan as a percentage of their income, and it's a sliding scale payment bit where if they earn less than something, they don't have to pay it back until they are earning more. Canada student loan, not so generous. If you are living on the street, no job, blah blah blah, you owe them $$. I can't afford to pay a couple of hundred bucks a month back on top of food. I just can't. I don't earn enough. I'm not trying to make all of you feel guilty or sorry for me, so please don't leave ANY comments to that effect. It's just that Canada does not appreciate the fact that life as a University science graduate, just does not pay for a while. We can't afford to pay back enormous student loans straight out of University. While the 6 month "grace" period to help you find a job is a little relief, it doesn't mean that you will find a job, or that that job will pay for the number of dependents you may have the pleasure of having during the 7-8 years post high-school.

I know that I am "preaching" to the converted, the system needs an overhaul. You're better off learning a trade which will allow you to work anywhere, you can start your own business and blah blah blah. I know the hours are bad as well, but a PhD has some pretty shitty hours too. You are expected (or need to as the case is slowly turning out to be) to work after hours, come in on weekends, etc etc just to stay level with everyone else. And if you want to excel, unbridled devotion to your job is almost a pre-requisite, unless you're bloody lucky and strike it rich. At the expense of family. I can't do that. I love my wife and kids too much to sacrifice too much more... But I now have to because of the magic of Canada Student Loan Service.

Again, I know that I am not alone in this, but please don't send me posts saying that it will get better soon etc etc. I'm writing out of irritation at a flawed system which caters for the wealthy and forces the lower wage earners to have to struggle that much harder for that loaf of bread. Everything comes at a cost, but was it worth it? I'm still not sure, but I'll keep you posted.

My first duty:

2007-03-28T00:22:00.000-03:00

Well, as you may or may not know, I am an official Australian citizen. As such, I am required by law to vote in all elections (my state and federal). Or else I get fined. Yay for me. I am actually happy, in a way, about this. I deplore politics as an inherently flawed system, with many flaws found in party politics in particular. This is mainly due to the petty bickering that goes on between parties, and the feeling (and reality) that politicians try to further their own carrier as opposed to genuinely trying to improve the well being of their populace. I know what you may be thinking... If the politicians don't help their areas, then they will be forced out.. But I don't believe that this is actually the reality, or that the reality is significantly more complex...

A politician only really needs to be perceived to be trying to helping his constituents. The system IS party politics; you agree with the party you're in by default. You need money to run for office. Money comes from donations, which, if enough money is "donated" helps to ensure that the group that donated the cash's interested are protected by their preferred member of parliament... Enough about that though.... I am writing for a different reason.

Ya I know, all that crap above for nothing! You'll learn to live with, and ignore it. Trust me. Ask Bec.

Ummm.... Oh ya, the voting ballots. INSANE!!!! I measured one of them, and I am not joking, if you hold one end of it to the floor, the other end will reach my hip bone, and for its width, it goes from my finger tips to my elbow (roughly). How's that for big. And the name of some of the party's that were running, "the Shooter's Party", "The Outdoor Recreation Party" (weren't they some club in University populated by long haired granola eaters?), and a scary one called "Australians Against Immigration". You can guess from their name their standpoint on certain issues, kind of against multiculturalism if you get my drift. I obviously did not vote for them though, as I immigrated to this great country of Australia, so to you "Australians Against Immigration":

I fart in your general direction! Your mother was hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

(if you don't know the source of that quote, click on it and you'll find yourself confronted with something of utmost humor and comedic genius)

Anyway though... I thought I would try to post a picture of the biggest ballot paper (there were two, but the second one was tiny, about the size of a small pamphlet that the Mormons would give you as an introduction thing). But the only picture I could find was one from 1999 (I think), but you get the size issue correctly out of it.

Crazy Australian politics.

Shameless... I know (Office 2007 review)

2007-03-23T01:22:00.000-03:00

Well, to my loyal readership, which seems to have dropped considerably as of late.

(In tune:) Where oh where have the bloggers gone, oh where oh where could they be? I wish they would come back and write!!! hint hint ... mom, and the list at right!So, what I am about to do is a kind of shameless plug, for Microsoft no less, particularly Office 2007. The reason I am doing this is two-fold, mainly because it may not be as shameless as you are thinking. .. While I was trialing the beta version (pre-release) which was given out free mid-last year, I actually blogged about it (here), and said that I liked it and that I may consider buying it when it came out. Well, it came out, and was a bit expensive. at over $200 bucks for the student version.

The second reason that I am going to plug it, is because for students at Universities in Australia, you could buy the most expensive version of Office 2007 for $75. I couldn't resist this purchase partially on the ground that the retail cost is $679 US for this package!!! Yup, $679!!!! Or $989.00 Australian! I paid $75, Australian dollars. I did this because while trialing the program, I really liked the ribbon menu system at the top. When I was using Excel (2007) to sort, filter and do a few other things, I learned how to do it easily on the 2007 trial, after which I went and looked for it Excel 2000 and learned how to do it there too, but the buttons were buried in sub-menus etc. I uninstalled the beta because I found that the error bars on graphs would not work correctly. Since I am a hard-core scientist, I need correct error bars. So I sent in a complaint to Microsoft, and in the released version, they work fine.

In all honesty, I do like Office 2007. I can publish to PDF, save files to be compatible with earlier Office versions, and to me at least, the ribbon bit with organized functions etc is intuitive. I was previously using Office 2000, tried later versions, but didn't like them for one reason or another. I think Office 2003 was a tragedy. Does it make me that much of a geek to be able to honestly believe that a program could be a tragedy? Don't answer that! Office 2000 was gold for me. A price of anything over $100 would not have been able to entice me to upgrade from Office 2000. But by offering Office 2007 Ultimate (with all the bells and whistles attached) at 75 bucks, I could not resist.

This is a smart move by microsoft as it stops pirating, and strengthens Microsoft's monopoly on Office suites. But the problem is, is that I think they deserve this monopoly. They make a good Office suite. It's simple to use, does what I want it to do, and doesn't crash. What more do you need or want? Even in an article that appears anti-Microsofy, Office 2007 is called "slick". You can read the article here. It does take some getting used to, but worth it.

For your info, Office Ultimate comes with these programs:
Access, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. That's 9 programs. Several of which I may never use, but I will likely at least learn what they can do. I do like the idea behind OneNote and Groove though. OneNote is kind of a digital post-it note book where you can write little notes to yourself, jot down ideas etc and keep them in some kind of order. I will be using this alot as I frequently have ideas for experiments to do in the future and it'll be nice to not loose my scraps of paper anymore. Groove, because it keeps documents updated on several different computers... so during collaborations with other departments, when person "x" modifies it on their computer, it will get modified on my computer so that I am not stuck trying to figure out which draft I am looking at. Believe me, this is a major pain in the ass. The only problem at the moment, is that my supervisor (or Boss) uses a Mac and 1: I don't know if Groove works on a Mac, 2: He doesn't have this program, amd 3: He modifies both paper copies AND digital copies to the point where he gets lost himself and I am left trying to deal with it... But the idea behind Groove should work well for people with even rudimentary organizational skills!

I also thought that I would drop in some pictures of the ribbon menu bar, just if you're interested. The first one is of Excel 2007, and the one below it is of Word 2007. See, they look different than earlier versions of Office. And I like them. (note: click on them to enlarge them further)

Final thoughts on it: Well, I probably wouldn't rush out and buy it immediately, but I would rush out and at least trial it immediately (as I did last year). At least then you can see what it offers you and if you think it's worth upgrading. For me though, I liked it and thought it worthwhile.

Remember though, this post is not a total sell out, because in one of the opening paragraphs, I said that I would probably try to get it when it came out, and I friggen reported on the beta version. It should have been expected that I would post on the final version. So there, take that.

Anyway though, enjoy your weekend.

This post is brought to you by: Too Much Free Time This Afternoon.

A day of Note

2007-03-19T02:14:00.000-03:00

Well, for my long time readers and others who might be reading this... Last year, I seemed to have spent a fair amount of time bitching and complaining about writing my thesis. It was to the point that I even stopped blogging because I hated sitting at my computer.

That time is over now.

I am ready to submit. Why has it taken so long one might ask. And I would answer that it's a PhD thesis. They always take long. Also, my supervisor told me to write a paper in late October which took up some time, then the editing process took time. Then when I handed my supervisor the final draft in January, I was informed that he wouldn't be able to read it until late Feb, after all the grants were submitted. That's a fair enough answer since without the grants, he has no department... But now, it is printed, and bound. All three copies, one for each reviewer, one in the US, and two here in 'Oz (Melbourne actually). I was thinking that I should buy myself a game for the Wii.... It is afterall one of the biggest endeavors (academically and professionally) that I am likely ever to complete. And it's ready to submit.

So off I go to the post-graduate girl person to give it to her.... And in a few months, I will likely have to make a few little (fingers crossed) revisions, and then I am Dr. Amon.

How cool is that.

The difference between good and evil

2007-03-11T22:56:00.000-03:00

Just a question, does it make me a bad person if I went to see Rocky Balboa on the weekend, and enjoyed myself while doing so?

The more I think about the movie, the more I liked it, and the more I want to go out and watch Rocky 1 again, and maybe 2, 3, and 4, I never saw 5, but maybe give that a go too...

Me and my brother-in-law, Harry (from Cyprus because I think you all want to know), went out to see it on Saturday while we left the ladies to watch the kids for the afternoon. That was great! Thanks Bec and Amanda. We'll have to do that again sometime soon!! As anyone who's maybe seen any of the movies before, this one doesn't fall short. Sure, there are moments of utter cheese and the like, but it was a true Rocky movie. There was one bit that disapointed me about the movie, and I don't know if I should share it with you because it might, no, it would kind of spoil the ending. OK... let's just say that the movie does not end as all the other Rocky movie did.... It was a happy ending, but just a different happy. I think that if you go to watch this movie with an open mind, ready to sit down and be entertained, you'll like the movie. It's not a best picture of the year, but it worked for me. Which may not say much! But, I'd watch it again when it comes out on video.

And isn't that what the movie business is all about, repeat viewing?

I thought that I would post this last picture to show that Sly is still cut! The guy's getting up there, and he still looks like this! OK, so the Australian customs dept would say that it is due to illegal (in 'Oz) steroid use, but he is still cut and pulled off, successfully, another Rocky movie.

Good on ya Sly, you've got a friend, and fan, in me!

Fasting

2007-03-06T17:30:00.000-04:00

Well, today is the 6th day of the Baha'i Fast. There is a total of 19 days. Day 6 is today. No food/water between sunrise (6:40am ish) and sunset (7:25pm ish). I am now over my caffeine addiction, but don't worry, as soon as the Fast is over, I guarantee that I will be addicted again by the end of the first week I am allowed to have food in the presence of the sun. Yesterday was the first day that I didn't have a perma-headache all day. Pretty happy about that, and I still don't have one now. I try to make my coffee addiction a genuine medical condition, ie coffee as a substitute for panadol (the Australian equivalent of something like double extra strength, muscle bound tylenol). There's a reason you don't get Panadol in Canada, or at least you didn't when I was there.

So now that the headaches are gone, the Fast has become a whole lot easier on me!! Honestly though, so far, this has been the hardest Fast I've ever had to do. Don't really know why though. It's supposed to be a time of spiritual growth where you think about why you are fasting etc... and the whole the body is a temple for the soul not the ruler of it and I'm sure you've all heard that before... even if the actual ramifications of that haven't been thoroughly thought out before. It's a lot easier to fast than it is to diet though. Some people in my office, well one in particular hasn't quite fully understood that so she'll hide her food from me when she's eating because she thinks I'll steal it, no, I'm joking, she just thinks that it's mean for her to eat around me when I can't join in! She's a lovely woman though, and brings a smile to my. So Vera, love ya dearly! Although she never reads this... I bitch about work too much sometime to actually let the people at work know this exists!!! Gotta protect the job that I don't seem to be getting paid for doing.

It all comes down to motivation. Dieting, or watching you diet... actively, not just watching the chocolate cake disapearing from the plate in front of you, but chosing health vs other, is not easy. But fasting for religious purposes. That's a whole different story. You are not eating because God asked it of you. And if you are religious, than you believe that that carries more weight than you ever possibly could. So you do. But not unquestioningly. You should always question things. We were given logic and freethinking as a blessing so as not to be fooled by "false prophets" etc and to learn about and understand who and what we are, our environment etc.... and I drone on and on and on and on and on and on and on.... when will he shut up.... why does he do this all the time? but why can't I seem to stop reading, something about it just lures me into this stupor where I can't seem to turn away from his gibbering gibberish about things that I already know... but then he's family, and I'll support him because that what family does now what is he rambling on about again... It's like how the other day I was given a book by a guy at the train station for a small donation of 70 cents (all I had on me). I read the book and learned that I had just had my first experience with a cult. The Jesus Christians. I read the novel, called Survivors, because I was curious about what it said and I'll write more about that later and devote a whole post on it so that you can chose not to read it because it looks like you're falling asleep.

bye.

Touching base

2007-02-28T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, fortunately for everyone out there, I don't really have anything to say today. I just thought that I would drop a line to my loyal fan base and let them know that I am still here.

Hi.

Been pretty busy lately, lecturing on Egyptian mythology etc. Trying to get a project up and running with 2 separate collaborators who are busy doing there own thing, and I require them to train me in some new tricks. Not a fun job. Sounds good on paper. In practice, it's not.

Getting paid: Since starting in January, after being offered employment here in late Sept, I am still not hired properly, and this means that EVERY BLOODY Thursday but one, I have spent the day trying to find out why I haven't been paid. Today is no different. Except that I cant' even get in touch with the people I need to because they are moving to a new building today!! The curses going through my head are making me dizzy. Let me tell you... No, I better not.

So ya, I've better ones. Better days, weeks, months now...

What good can I tell you.. Like they do on TV news, where they always tell you that thousands have perished in a freak and particularly gruesome boating accident in which oddly enough, ONLY mothers and children perished (ie the bad news) before ending the story with an up-beat cheerful tone, happily saying that on the upside, there are now a lot more eligible bachelors for all those single ladies looking for Mr. Right! Or that a kitten that was trapped in a tree was inadvertently rescued by the boat accident once the boat finally came to a halt in the middle of the park just far enough away so that the cat could jump over to it and then on to the safety of its owner who was anxiously praying to God to save her poor cat from being stuck in a tree....

My good news..... oh ya, we bought a Nintendo Wii!!! Yay for me! Me and Bec are not addicts, but we do play it together, tennis, etc. But now that we have enough controlers (the Nunchuck bit took forever to come in), I think tonight we will play boxing. The only legal was to beat up you wife!!! Or, to beat up your husband.... Only time will tell which way this battle of the titans will end.

Anyway, I should go and continue being bored today. I kind of refuse to work today because I am .... upset ... that I am still having to fight accounts for every penny I end up giving to the bank, phone company, electricity company, water people, gas station attendant, grocery store, chinese mafia, train station guy who gives me my ticket, and city council, not to mention all the others who make me poor.

Thanks. Thanks alot.

Keep smiling though....

Egypt and Australia

2007-02-13T22:54:00.000-04:00

Well, this weekend me and family drove up to Canberra (capital of Australia). We went there because I wanted to see the Egyptian antiquities on display at the National Gallery, on loan from the Louvre.

Being from the Louvre, it is needless to say that is was pretty impressive.

Probably one of my highlights was this sarcophagus they had from a woman. It was made out of stone, and the inscriptions were immaculate. Writing all over the very top (outside), the sides, on the bottom, and even inside of it. THere were inscriptions invoking the various gods etc and they were drawn to perfection. I tried for some time to get a good pic from Google of one at least similar, but I came up empty on that front. We weren't allowed to use cameras so I couldn't take any pics either... Sorry. There was at least one that was similar to the one above, made of wook and painted beautifully. They were also quite impressive...

This one I thought was pretty impressive, it is from the Book Of The Dead, which many scrolls were on display. This, as I was eavesdropping on someone who apparently knew what he was talking about, is a picture of a "guy" who had died (the man in the middle, facing right, next to the scales). His heart is being weighed on the balance, and if it is "pure" it will of exactly the same weight as the "thing" on the other side, which represents ... goodness I guess. I was eaves dropping, come on give me a break and I was carrying Alex, who was bored by this point.

Annnnyyywaay... If his heart was pure, then he goes to heaven and lives out his days, while dead, in happiness. If his heart does not balance equally, then the god doing the weighing there lets the dog-like-actually-multi-animal-parted-thingamabob devour him. So the guy ends up dead ... again... but sent to a hellish place where he becomes surrounded by hordes of swine and foul, and there are no 40 vestigial virgins but instead 40 morbidly obese, hungry men and the god of the underworld instills fear into his very being by first marinating him in a rather tasty honey-soy sauce before dressing him in succulent pork chops, bacon, Krispy Kreme donuts, and Big Macs. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there for him though. As you can see from the picture, he's a rather skinny man, likely able to run faster than the 40 morbidly obese, hungry men who will be chasing him to eat him, the tears of fear he sheds are no longer the tears of mortal men, for he is dead and in hell, so they are in stead Kool Aid. Cherry flavour. But a little too diluted in flavour. This is probably the most (well 2nd most) evil part of ancient Egyptian mythology. Normally, a skinny man can run faster than these obese men. And this holds true in hell. BUT, the hungry obese men DRINK the flowing tears of fear from the man, and they get both energy from the high sugar content, so they can run for longer, and after time, faster, but also they get angry because of the diluted cherry flavour.

Eventually, they catch the man, thus ending the chasing phase of hell. The pursuit takes years and years, and years, but through constant running and drinking diluted Kool aid, thus fueling their anger even more, but quenching their need for drink, the obese men become not so obese. The man cries more, producing more Kool Aid, and creating more anger in his pursuants.

And here's where it becomes really bad for the guy. In ancient Egypt, they didn't know that being morbidly obese was bad, so the recently obese men want to become obese again. And when they catch the man, the tears are no longer diluted Kool Aid, but the tears become gravy. The recently obese men then go into a feeding frenzy and eat from the man, all at the same time, his constantly replenishing supply of now gravy covered pork chops, bacon, Big Macs and Donuts.

This feasting stage, as with the chasing stage, lasts several years. Until the recently obese men are no longer recently obese, but presently obese men. This is a transition phase of Egyptian hell, as the man (who died) realizes that he can finally escape the grasps of the presently obese men.

Once successful, he runs. Thus beginning the chasing phase of hell again. This cycle continues for an eternity...cycling between the chasing and feasting stages.....

I was eaves dropping on the guy, and I 'm pretty sure that's what he said.

ummmm..

2007-02-08T01:38:00.001-04:00

I just can't think of a title....

So I know that you are all wondering what I have been doing with my bad self. All right, I'm not really but, how about, my lame self... Not as nice a ring, but probably more true!! Well, I have been riding the trains around Sydney alot. I am now working at two different locations, one at Westmead Hospital where I did my PhD, and the rest of the time at the Garven Institute for Medical Research. The main difference between the two is that the Garven is private, whereas Westmead Hospital is public. Just click on each respective link to see which one looks better!! The Garven is beautiful on the inside, very well maintained, great coffee machines, and a nice feeling to it, whereas Westmead Hospital is a politcal entity unto itself. I should probably watch what I say, so... it is a good place to work as it is really big with a lot of expertise (sp?) but the papers and forms and blah blah blah, but the CEOs etc are here to promote health care, which is a fair call, it being a hospital, but they put alot of undue stress on research where we have to constantly fight for our lab space for fear of it being taken over by general office space...

A sad tale of woe this is... A sad tale indeed....

But the project is pretty good though, and it is probably the only remaining reason why I am still in Australia. I will be testing a new treatment (cure?) for diabetes. Can't go into detail as I don't want any of you buggers to steal the idea and publish it before me, but it the idea makes sense and may just work. At least in preliminary stages which is all I (reasonably) hope to accomplish this year, as I have to get the whole project up and running from scratch. In short, I am learning a lot of new tricks this year to take with me wherever I go next year.

Anyway though, I just thought that I would check in, say hey, and show a pic of where I am working part of the time. Just so you can be envious of me, if I wanted to walk a little way (45 min or so), I can get to the Sydney Opera House... How cool is that! I still think that it is such a beautiful building that pictures do not do justice to.

Well, I should run now.

Happy Birthday again

2007-02-01T21:11:00.000-04:00

Ya, I know, another birthday post! But this is not my birthday. I just thought that I would wish my brother Chris a happy birthday. So Happy Birthday Chris!!! With a smile on my face in the good ol' older brother kind-of-way (ie lovingly): When I see you in my next life, I'm going to kick your a$$, just like when we were little! Ahh the memories.... You left too soon, have missed alot and are missed are even more. But I will always smile at your memory... Remember the apple fight with Jason and Jeremy out in Gavelton.... Got ya good that time! I probably never told you how much I enjoyed playing baseball with you in little-league, when our coaches wanted me to become a pitcher, but I sucked, and then we found out that were surprisingly good at it! I enjoyed being the catcher most when you were pitching...

Also remember that time you called me when I was in Victoria, BC? That was a really good phone call. Surprised the hell out of me, but it was a nice call... Thanks.

Look, I'm not going to drag this on... But happy birthday. You would have been 29 today instead of the immortal you are now. Chris was born 1 year and 3 days after me, so close that at least for me, my entire childhood life was intimately linked with him, just not my adult life. Thus the need for the aforementioned kick in the a$$. Also, I really would have liked for you to have met Rebecca, Alex, and Madison. But I guess that meeting will have to wait.

Geez, I'm ... blanking. Too much and too little to say. Guess that's part of why I can't seem to sign your guest book despite numerous failed attempts eh?

Happy Birthday Chris.
(Feb 2, 1978 - much too soon)

Happy birthday to me.....

2007-01-31T09:43:00.000-04:00

Well, as many of you already know, I turned 30 on the 30th! How did I celebrate you might ask... Basically with alot of tears. No... If I had nothing to show for my life, I might be a bit upset, but I have a beautiful wife whom I love, 2 beautiful children, our own house over our head, and I am a hair's breath away from being a Dr. So what do I have to be sad about! Exactly my friends... exactly....

So, on the weekend, me and Becs went out for a lovely sea food dinner. There was heaps! Lobter mornay (not as good as Atlantic lobster, but I wouldn't be spitting it out), oysters, and an array of others. The end result though, completely full of sea food!!!

Ahhh, the oft misunderstood pleasures of glutony. So, that was the weekend, on my actual birthday, because it was too bloody hot here, we didn't cook supper but went out to a restaurant here in Campbelltown (bogun central of Sydney) and enjoyed a nice meal of Atlantic salmon (ya, still carrying over the seafood craze!) Rebecca had a steak which I must say tasted infinitely better than my meal... Ah well... The picture above is of the cake that Bec and Alex made for me earlier that day. It's a carot and banana cake (of note, banana's are no longer $11 / kg as new crops have grown lowering the price considerably, allowing those just above the poverty line to eat banana's again!!! YAY!!!)

A good cake it was, with the big "30" lit up in front of me and my kids. It was nice. Madison now smiles at me, and Alex can be such a good kid. Not on that night though. wouldn't listen to a word we said. But he was great while we were blowing out the candles.

This is a pic of my beloved SG. It has been sitting in its case since December 23 under my bed waiting for my birthday so I could open it and give it some lovin'. If only I was better at guitar!!! It feels great though. Plays beautifully. And most importantly, makes me smile.

About the "mistake" post of a little while ago... no details will be given, I wish I had only eaten something bad... But it is mostly work related..... No more will I dwell as I don't want to rant about work anymore.... at least to my devoted audience who don't want to hear me bitch and complain!!!!

Well, I should get to bed, it's 1 am, I have to leave the house by 6:45am to get to work by around 9am very close to King's Cross in Sydney... Google it, and you may find out the ... colourful aspects of that area... like the famed injection room, or the fact that about every 4th shop is NOT an "Adult" oriented shop, but a cigarette shop or a McDonalds! Caught me off guard when I noticed it myself!!!

Anyway, good night my friends, and wish me luck on my Animal ethics etc course / test that I will be taking tomorrow morning!

Cheerio!

Australian Open Final!

2007-01-27T20:28:00.000-04:00

Well, it's the last day of the Australian Open tennis... The only tournament (tennis) that I actually watch. It's been a great tournament, and I have had the great pleasure of watching several great matches....including several of F. Gonzalez (sp?) and one with Roger Federer. Both are on fire and destroying everyone in their way. I was originaly going for Marat Safin because he's enjoyable to watch, and he beat Federer in the Oz Open 2 years ago, but Safin was beaten by Andy Roddick, whom I switched allegiances to following that match, but the Roddick was uttelry and completely destroyed by Federer. I also got to watch Serena Williams beat the world No 1 Maria Sharapova like "she stole somethin'." So it looks like this William's sister has returned as a threat. She was unstoppable. Not a great game to watch though, as I like when it's a bit closer though, and I don't really follow women's tennis much.. Sorry ladies.

But tonight might be a good match. Federer (shown above) is generally boring to watch as he's so perfect in almost every shot he makes, shows little emotion while playing
... Gonzalez (shown below) is playing exceptionally well this tournament and making some amazing shots. So hopefully, he won't get lost in awe at playing Federer and put up a decent challenge. I would like to see Federer sweat a little and maybe lose at least a set.

My prediction is, I guess, Federer in 4. I'm not really going for either of them, as it would be nice for Federer to further his name in the record books as having won the most blah blah blahs consecutively, but it would be nice to see an up-and-commer beat him at such a crucial match as a final to a Grand Slam tournament.... I really just want to watch a good game.
How boring am I !!

A mistake

2007-01-24T20:30:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder if you just made a mistake... At least it's only one year. One year my friend... One year. I think it'll help to have a well-defined end point here. One year. The God's have aligned several things up to make me think that I am right. The one time I ignored my stomach. For the many of you that don't know, I trust my stomach implicitly in all matters of everything. If it feels right with a decision, I take that road. It has been right 5 out 5 times with respect to babies being born in the family. And on many other occurances too numerous to mention. But this one decision, I ignored it for some reason. I think logic and my tummy disagreed, and I followed logic....

Damn hindsight.

Damn it to the depths of the abyss.

From now on, listen to stomach. How can something that tells me to eat be wrong? Exactly....

One more year...

one (is the loneliest number...)

1.

He's a very, very lucky man

2007-01-23T21:56:00.000-04:00

I just thought that I would mention this as it's bloody amazing!! This 41 yo old guy from southern NSW (Australia) got bitten by a shark, head first. He was diving about 30ft below the surface, and then it went dark and then he felt himself being shaken. That's about when he realized he was being eaten by a shark. This is where it gets impressive... The shark had his head, one arm, and part of his chest area in its mouth, leaving one arm "free", with which, he poked the shark in the eye! It then spat him out, and he lived with only a broken nose, and some pretty bad cuts!

Apparently his thought as he was going to the surface was that he hoped his face wasn't too disfigured to scare his son who was at the surface.

Champion.

I don't drink, but I reckon if I ever saw him in a bar or something, I'd buy him a drink.

Songs written by me

2007-01-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

I will update this page whenever I have another song to post... There is also a link on the side bar to this page. But I will put a note in my "daily" bloggings when there is another song added here. I just thought that it might make it easier for me (and you) to find these if there placed together....

A brief intro to these songs though... They are all written by me, unless otherwise noted. I play each instrument you hear, do the backing vocals etc. I record under the name "Karass" and my "future" recording company will be called A.W.E. records.

This page pretty much has Baha'i songs on it. Or at least Baha'i influenced songs. The first two are kind of obviously so, and "A Song For April" is more me dealing with death through a Baha'i perspective.

Anyway though, I hope you don't mind them...

O God My God

This is simply a prayer put to music that I wrote a while ago now. Enjoy..

Desire

This song is kind of self explanatory upon listening to it...

A Song for April

This song has a bit more personal meaning... I thought that I might post some lyrics for this bit, see below the song...

A Song for April
Karass

Verse 1
I watch the nights come in, my way to see your eyes.
You left us here but I will not take the blame anymore. Anymore.

I remember how we were, how we were when we were young.
We laughed, we fought, we cried together. But not this time. Not this time.

Chorus
I washed my hands from all this guilt I'll take what's good and I'll hold it close.
Consequences can kill but I will not, ask what if anymore. Anymore.

Verse 2
It makes no sense but who am I? To question the wisdom that must lie inside.
I sit alone and I cry. I cried for you, I cried for you, I cried myself till I couldn't cry anymore. Anymore.

Chorus

Outro
I will not forget. The finer points of you. The subtle points of view. Despite the life that took you down, the other is the one that's lifted high.

I still hold you close to me, the memory of you and me till the day I said goodbye. goodbye…

How's this for fun?

2007-01-17T19:33:00.000-04:00

Holy, I just stumbled onto this link, and MAN!!! It looks bloody fun / scary.... Bungie jumping... kind of, but horizontally!

Click here for a good laugh.

Reason #2

2007-01-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a little while since I posted something of this nature (date-wise, not post number wise!), so I thought that I would post a little bit on probably one of the biggest reasons why I am a Báhá'í: Progressive Revelation. (Previous post on "Why I'm a Baha'i" : agreement between science and religion and this one).

This is actually a large topic, probably controversial in many orthodox faiths, but to me it seems so obviously correct. My disclaimer though is that these are my interpretations of the Baha'i perspective on this topic. While they are probably shared with someone else, no one else should be cursed or otherwise for this post. It's mine, and I take full responsibility. Blah blah blah (pause) blahblah blah blah, as Charlie Brown's teacher would have said.

Anyway though…. I guess to set the stage let's think about school. No even better, I'll start with my 4 year old son, Alex. He is and has been learning to count and recognize numbers for a little while now. The reasons for this are obvious, but to spell them out, so he can function in society, do math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and taxes of course. But there is no way that Alex will learn any of this unless he first learns about numbers.

Once he learns about numbers in general, he can then advance himself and learn addition and
subtraction… Then he can progressively advance into multiplication and division, and then progress further and learn about algebra, calculus, fractals, etc… You get the idea.

You learn "a" to get to "b."

(above: simple addition; below; insane fractal math)

So, in religious contexts, I will use the example of Abraham. (This

will be simplistic as I don't want to get bogged down in semantics) Abraham is credited with the birth of monotheism (belief in one God). This is evidenced in Genesis (Old Testament) and also (from memory, I should have referenced this, if you want it, ask and I will work to produce) the teachings of Christ who heaped praise upon Abraham and also in Islamic teachings. So, before Abraham, you have belief in many "Gods," after Abraham, one God. This has been the foundation to all subsequent Abrahamic religions, from Jewish, Christianity, Islam, and Báhá'í. Each subsequent religion has this as its central theme which was required to be layed down and understood prior to other the acceptance of other spiritual teachings.

While there are other examples I'm not going to go in detail over them… If you are Christian, I'm sure you recognize some on your own in your reading of the Old and New Testament, and if you're Islam, I'm sure you're well versed on how Islam has been built up from the teachings of Abraham by Mohammad.

Anyway though, I believe that God acts in a similar manner that the education system works (simplistically put). God starts by teaching us about "a" and then when we're ready teaches us about "b." How would it have been taken if Abraham taught that men and women were equal? This is a relatively new concept in terms of religious enlightenment that has only really taken off over the last few years. We weren't ready for this, and couldn't handle it at the time of Abraham. So what I'm slowly getting at is that God has sent us prophets (or Manifestations) at various time points throughout mankind's spiritual growth, and will continue to do so, with each successive Manifestation both confirming the previous prophet, and building upon Their predecessor's teachings.

I stated earlier that this topic is a bit controversial...and this comes in because as a requisite for progressive revelation, is that God has sent, and will continue to send Manifestations to mankind to build upon the teachings of the previous Prophet. Controversial bit: Each Manifestation has told of Their return, or the coming of Another. The Hebrews awaited Moses, the Jews are waiting, Christians are waiting, Islam is waiting, and Báhá'í's are waiting. The definition of what they are waiting for though is the subject of controversy. I am only really familiar with Christian prophesy, so I will have to rely on that though. Sorry. Christians are awaiting "Judgement Day" when Christ will come out of the clouds and judge all mankind. So some Christians are awaiting this as a literal occurance. Some have read in the Bible that He "will come like a thief in the night," and have taken the "clouds" eg above to be more figurative in nature, possibly when the path to God has become "clouded." And Islam refers to Mohammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" to mean that He was the last Prophet of God, when it might mean something entirely different… like maybe He was the last Prophet to be sent to a specific people, and the following Manifestation will be sent all the people of the world. Anyway though. This is where the controversy arises. Christians believe that Christ is the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament whereas the Jewish people are still awaiting His arrival. And Christians are awaiting the return of Jesus, and Islam is awaiting the arrival of the Qa'im whereas I believe the Voice of Jesus (ie God) has already returned in the voice of Baha'u'llah, and the Qa'im has also appeared in Baha'u'llah, as they both are awaiting the arrival of the next Godly Manifestation and are looking for various signs; signs which are open to various interpretations. The Words of God have innumerable meanings, and it's entirely possible that currently accepted literal meanings may actually require non-literal interpretations, possibly of a spiritual nature.

As a Báhá'í, it's obvious that I believe that Baha'u'llah is the Manifestation and has brought forth the Word of God for this time in mankind's development. And I openly challenge anyone employing logic, openness to alternate possibilities, while avoiding superstition, tradition, and hear-say, to prove this wrong. (Investigate with a clear slate).

As an interesting side note, as Báhá'ís, we are told that there will not be another Manifestation appear for 1000 years, and even with this seemingly clear time point, the next Manifestation will be persecuted very heavily, just as all previous Abrahamic Manifestations have been….

I should probably finish this now… But I hope you've enjoyed the read.

a few little things I like

2007-01-14T21:44:00.000-04:00

I just thought that I would post a few spots on the net that make me laugh, or kill boredom....

This one is called PUKI. It's a Java game that you play on the net, and you kill little cuddly aliens that have taken over your ship. Simple controls, simple premise, good ol' fashioned alien killin'. What more could you want?

This one is called A4 Paper cut. It's a site showing a heap of different things this guy has done with paper. While utterly impressive, it does make you wonder if this guy simply has too much time on his hands... How do you find out you love to do this? Too bored in class one day, hmmm I think I'll make a bird in a cage out of paper. The works are really impressive though...

Another thing I like, is the "Stumble upon" toolbar. I use Firefox as my webrowser and it lets you add heaps of extra features and toolbars etc (extensions)... One of them is the stumble upon toolbar. A minute or less set up time and your ready to go... Jut hit the button and it will take you to a random web-site (criteria is selected by you during the VERY brief set-up process).
If you're not using it, I'm sorry for you.

Let's not forget the Parasite Pals Super Fun Site! Thanks to this site, Alex (4 y/o son) always washes his hands for fear of getting worms because of this video!!! It works, it's funny and I laugh!

This one's also brought a smile to my face. the "How to speak Hip Buddha"...

Well, since I'm at work, I'll only post one more link... It's an Intellivison site where you can get ald Intellivision games like Astrosmash!!! I loved that game when I was a kid..... Ah the memories...

Well I shoud run as I have real non-student work to do!

Bye bye

It's been a while...

2007-01-11T08:57:00.000-04:00

Ya, it's been a while but I'm sure I'll be forgiven, or forgotten.... I'm sure that it's one of the two... Just not sure which one!!!

I hope that you all had a nice and relaxing Christmas.... Mine was nice... The birth of a healthy baby is always a nice addition, especially when she was planned!!! Alex (4yr old son) loves Christmas... He was a bit of a Santa stalker and whenever we went to the shops, he always wanted to see each one that was there.... There are usually a few per shopping centre (mall), one for the main mall, and then maybe another one hiding in the larger department stores.... He also loved the Christmas lights and wanted to go out for hours and hours looking for them....

As gifts, Alex was blessed with a fairly large electric race track... One that Santa didn't really consider where it would actually go once the living room was deemed unsuitable for its home.... He got some other things as well, and I think that Bec has posted some of the pics a little while ago... I don't have them on my laptop yet, but I may post them yet....

A little while ago, me and Bec learned that we had to teach ALex a little about tact.... and that it's not really a great thing to advertise the fact that you have ..... gas..... He has a stinky behind. That much must be said up front for any of the rest to be of use... So.. we realize we have a problem when I'm walking with Alex and then out of the blue he says... "Smell that!" At first, we didn't know what he was talking about, but then we soon found out.... So we had to teach him that that was rude... and stinky.

So than on the way home from visiting Rebecca's parents down the coast last week, I was driving, and we've been having far too much car trouble lately, to the point where we weren't sure the car woudl make the 3.5 hr trip, something really stinky hit my nose and I thought the car was dying... So I voiced my disgust for the smell, and then Alex started laughing!!!! So, I guess it wasn't the car. Thanks Alex. Well, I guess we'll have to work a little harder on him.... We're really still trying to get the "Don't yell out that you've "fluffed" in public" thing down first.... and then work go from there....

ANyway, I start work on Monday, real work... no more of this student crap, and I will also try to start posting more regularly... I think that was more to myself than to anyone else....

Cheerio.

Problems in Egypt

2006-12-20T21:45:00.000-04:00

This will definitely be the last post prior to Christmas. Mainly because I am appalled at the Egyptian government's decision to not allow Baha'is to possess the required citizen ID cards simply because they are Baha'is. They have to say that they are either Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. A few court cases have ensured this at this point. Baha'is are not even allowed to have a space on the card labelled "Other".

This is a very significant matter of concern as every Egyptian is required by law to have one of these ID cards, and the ID card must be correct in all aspects, so by this simple definition, a Baha'i must not be able to an Egyptian citizen...

Meaning, "Without such documentation, they cannot register births or receive essential government services such as health and education. Additionally, they cannot apply for jobs, buy property, open bank accounts, or register their children in school."

this means Baha'is have no access to health care, education

One blogs report on this issue is here.

Another news article states that, "The court's decision upholds government policy that denies Baha'is the right to receive identification cards, birth certificates, education and even medical care, unless they lie about their religious beliefs".

This article appears to be well researched as they seem to understand the conflict between Islam and Baha'i, "The main conflict between Muslims and Bahais is in the idea that Mohammed is not the final prophet of god, which has led to Muslims distrusting Bahais." Baha'is believe that Baha'u'llah is the manifestation of God for this age, but He will not be the last as God would never leave his children without guidance.

And one final news article which I must disclaim before as it states that the Baha'i Faith is an "offshoot" of Islam, which is incorrect. The Baha'i Faith is an offshoot of Islam in the same way that Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism. All four of the religions are complete and not offshoots, nor sects, nor 'isms.

If you have questions or anything, please do not hesitate to ask, or please click on this link. to learn what the Baha'i Faith is if you don't know anything, or you would like to know more.

Anyway, I thought that I would let people know that despite living in a so-called civilized age, ignorance and fear still drives policy.

One last post (maybe) before Christmas

2006-12-20T19:03:00.000-04:00

Hello there everyone,

I thought that I might try to do one last post before Christmas falls upon us! I'd like to do another one, but can't be too sure on that as there's only a few days until.

Formalities: Baby, Bec and Alex are all doing well, Madison vomits more than I like, and I have gotten peed and pooed on more than I would like.... Much more than I would like. One night, I had to change all of my clothes (except undies, but including socks) because a fountain of poo rained on me. Bec laughed her eye off, I joined in as well because it was pretty funny... Late at night, changing a diaper, and then getting rained on.... Alex is being a bit naughty, but he'll get better...

Anyway though, this is another song that I wrote a while ago... The subject matter will become apparent upon listening to it, so I'm not really going to go into detail about it. Alright, you twisted my arm.... I wrote it shortly after my brother Christopher Ryan Amon died due to drug related issues which the whole family knew about. This foreknowledge leads invariably to guilt, like what could I have done, why didn't I do this or that, why didn't I..... the list goes on. Although I was (and am) in Australia, and he was in Canada, I still had guilt... Guilt knows no borders. The song is obviously from my perspective, being his older brother by 1 year and a few days, so we grew up together, and fought like cats and dogs, but we were still brothers and loved eachother as such. The song is a release from guilt, and comes from a Baha'i perspective of life and death (untimely).

It's a simple song, simple chords, no real hidden meanings as I'm not that clever to work in things like that, and I wouldn't really bother.

And as much as I hate to add disclaimers to things like this... This is still a work in progress. I plan on adding drums and some lead guitar work, with a drum track being the hardest part for me, mainly because I'm not a drummer so I rely on my drum machine which I have to program correctly... It takes me a little while to get that down though.... I actually played this song with another guitarist and my younger brother Phil a few years ago, and it sounded heaps better with drums (thanks Phil).... And once I get my SG for my b-day, I'll use her to do the lead guitar work... It'll be subtle though because again, I'm not that good. A word of warning before you listen though, I haven't tested the song out much, so you may have to adjust your eq's if you can.... Hopefully it'll sound good though...

Ok, I'll stop minimizing my efforts... I think you'll find that this is probably the best song you'll ever hear in your entire life. The arrangement is nothing short of a work of art, and I am already up for a Grammy despite it being a work in progress..

I lie, obviously.

I must run now, but I hope you like it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Short but sweet

2006-12-19T21:43:00.000-04:00

I just thought that I would post a really super short post to express my happiness etc that yesterday, I gave my supervisor a copy of my thesis. From cover to cover. Took a little while to print as its just under 300 pages, including title pages, appendix, and references... but it looks nice.

It will be submitted mid January, as that's when I expect to start work again. I will be doing a little bit at home, but not much. I want a break to enjoy my family!!!!

I'll try to post at least once before Christmas....

#1 ... but better said

2006-12-14T12:08:00.000-04:00

I was at a Feast (Baha'i equivalent of Church, but no priests or clergy) the other night when this was read out, it's official scriture outlineing the previous post, but said shorter and better, so I thought I would throw it in:

"The fourth teaching of Baha'u'llah is the agreement of religion and science. God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition. Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science. If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible and there is no outcome but wavering and vacillation." -- 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith p 240.

I think that pretty much sums up that topic...

Reason #1

2006-12-07T11:27:00.000-04:00

I mentioned that I would be posting about this a little while ago, and while side tracked, I recently read of another's spiritual journey which inspired me to continue to write about this… Why I am a Báhá'í.

This is why I quit drinking alcohol despite it not being disruptive to my life, (Phil and Tamara, no comment please, my family reads this!), and I thank the friends around me at that time for their support, again thanks P and T, love ya muchly!

I guess simply put, it all made sense. I am a scientist, (geek may be another word for this… ) so I like to be able to understand what I say I believe in. And while, as with any of God's religions, I don't believe that any man can fully understand all that there is to know about any religion, I understand to the best of my abilities, and it makes good sense. Pretty much all of the central themes within the Báhá'í Faith are centered on Unity.. As all religions are as well. What I see as different in the Báhá'í Faith, are the means and principles explicitly detailed to attain global unity. And not just through the "simple" and well established believing that everyone is equal (race and gender), but through other principles designed to take this belief, and apply it, or bring it about.

I know that this topic may not interest some (all) of you, but hey, my blog, my posts!! Also, there is no possible way for me to get out all that I would like to say in one post, so it'll be scattered between a few, non-consecutive posts. But it may give you an opportunity to know what goes in my head, and my reference points. Please leave comments if or whatever if you have arguments for or against what I say. But besides the principles themselves, the expounding texts are my own thoughts on the basic principles.

I guess, in keeping with my scientist bit, as a Báhá'í, I believe that true religion and true science will always agree. This sounds simple. But it's not. This little principle has important ramifications. Firstly, truth is truth. The Earth can't be the center of the universe in religion and rotate around the sun in science. Which one's true? The problem, as well all know, was a misinterpretation, or holding on to certain dogmas. This incident highlighted the fact that either the science was wrong, or that specific religious belief was wrong. Although we like to think of ourselves as modern, this could (and likely still does, Google "Flying Spaghetti Monster") happen, where science and religion disagree, while both insist upon their being right. What should happen, is that both religious and scientific scholars (?) should sit with open minds, and re-examine BOTH their experimental results, AND the scriptural interpretations to see if another explanation can be found to place everything in agreement. No blind acceptance… the results would obviously be tested as is any theory and subsequently proven right or wrong, until the correct theory is eventually put forth. Imagine the possible advancement of a society where religion and science worked together, hand-in-hand, free of ego. I'm a geek; that got me excited… This would not only further science, but religion as well. While religion could aid science, science could also help rid religion of ritual beliefs resulting from scriptural misinterpretations which no one will deny occur. A book I read by someone I can't remember (sorry) pointed out that no one can understand all the levels of meaning written in any religious scripture, so any form of interpretation is open to error. I really wish I could reference that… But I don't think that any religious leader would argue the infinite meaning found in the Bible (Old or New Testament), the Koran, of Báhá'í literature to name a few.

Even the simple precept of science and religious truths being the same has significant implications on society as a whole. This is one of the reasons I am a Báhá'í. There is a well-defined logic, consistency of purpose (unity) and it says science is good J.

Also, the Báhá'í Faith has many prophetic technological breakthroughs (from over 150 yrs ago) which are predicted for the future, and knowing what some of them are, and that the theory has recently been laid down for their eventual reality, has just been further confirmation for me that I should be a Báhá'í.

Introductions... pt 2

2006-12-07T09:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lag in posts... a bit busy, but here you go. Some of the first pics of Madison. Firstly, a picture of my beloved family, with me, Bec, and Alex holding Madison, a few hours after her birth. The second is a picture of Madison happy to be spending her first night at home.

Rebecca was discharged from the hospital about 24 h after Madison was born, which everyone was happy about. No more being woken up by beeping of stuff in the middle of the night at the hospital etc.... Was a rough night though.

Mads had a tummy ache, which we soon found out was due to a lot of number 2 built up requiring some form of release. ABout 2 h of intermittent crying to get it all out. 2am found me with a ... rather unpleasant job of cleaning it! Thanks, I owe you one... Last night was great though, and tonight appears to be about the same. Bec is trying to force a 4 h feeding cycle which seems to be working pretty good. We don't really want her drinking alll day long. Bec's breastfeeding (too much info?.. Na) so you might be able to see why the 4h cycle is appealing!

Alex, he is enjoying being a brother. He has helped us bath her for two-thirds of all the baths she's ever taken (tonight and last night). But he does get bored of her... I mean she doesn't really do anything! Besides drink, poo, pee on me when I change her, and cry a bit. I think it was Bec's brother Ryan who threatened to take her home with him, but Alex told him he couldn't because she doesn't have any teeth. Interesting logic I thought!

Alex was utterly DISGUSTED at her belly button. It was a great look on his face, that will remain burned in my mind forever, and unfortunatley, there's no picture. But it was classic. Kind of like when he learned where the milk came from... He's 4, old enough to undrstand what we're telling him, inquisitive enough to ask good questions, but not quite asking the "How does it come out" ones, or at least accepting the half answers he's been getting.

But anyway, things are nice and going well. We are all happy, smiling, and healthy. I may try to get another pic or two up tomorrow, but really, don't count on it. I still have a bunch of things I need to get done.... Rebecca may fix things though up on her site, I'll pester her about it.

Bye bye my adoring fans, and thanks for all the nice comments on the last post!

Introductions...pt 1

2006-12-04T10:40:00.000-04:00

Well first of all, I would like to officially welcome Madison Leigh Amon into the world. Yes, she was born this afternoon, 1:30pm on Monday, December 4, 2006. She weighed 6lb14" (3.1 kg), and was 50-51 cm long. Her head was/is smaller than Alex's, so Bec was happy about that.. But not happy that she could not take ANY pain relief.

The story, because it should be documented.... Contractions began at about 2am. This woke her up, but she went back to sleep and then dreamed about an upset tummy! 5am she woke though to contractions about 3min apart.. but weak ones. We called her sister to come and get Alex.. ANd at 8:30am we were at Campbelltown hospital. The contractions slowed down very much... and the mid-wife was saying that she will just check to see if Bec was dilated and then we could go home and wait until she really entered labour.... Then she found that Bec was 3cm dilated.... to which she says "that changes things." Long story shortened, they broke Bec's water, we walked around a bit, then she started having some stronger contractions. And stronger... And stronger at about 5 min apart (or more). The mid-wife checked on Bec, gave her some NO2 (gas) and then left the room to come back later. a minute or two later she had to come back because they could hear Bec in the halls...

30-40 min later (or so), with many scratches on my arm, sorry Bec, had to say it! we have a beautiful little girl. Bec and the baby are both well. Bec's sore, and I don't think that you could pay her enough to have another one! But she's fine, in good spirits, and looking forward to coming home.

Alex is happy and excited that the baby isn't in mommy's tummy anymore, and that he is a big brother, and has a sister. So ya, I have a little girl, which brought tears to my eyes.

Bec did great, the baby did great, and the camera is still at the hospital. I will post pictures tomorrow in Introductions... pt2. Sorry about that, I am not happy either (about the lack of pics here).

Doesn't get much better does it?

Nintendo Wii

2006-12-03T06:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been looking at this machine for a little bit now. Due out for release here in Oz on Dec 7th I think.... I have to say that I have not been impressed with any of the recent game systems. All they tend to be are improvements on graphics/resolution and speed. Not so much on games. I still like Asteroids from Atari. Ya, old school!!! What can I say, it's addictive. Simple, turn, shoot the asteroids. Don't get hit by them. But I do like the look of the Nintendo Wii. Intuitive motion sensing. I don't really care about improved graphics, I think that of the Playstation 2 and Xbox were fine. While I am impressed with the great graphics of Xbox 360, the games themselves did nothing for me. But with Wii, they have sooo much of a back catalogue. I used to love playing Zelda. ANd the new one looks pretty cool.

If I had 400 bucks to blow on something, the Wii might be it. Also because I know that Rebecca would probably play it too. She doesnt' really like the multi-button game-pads out now (with the 3 directional joysticks/buttons, 4 other right thumb button, 2 triggers, L1, L2, R1 and R3) they just seem a bit too much to learn when all you want to do is have mindless fun. The Wii is supposed to be (and reviewed to be) very intuitive. So, maybe when they drop to an affordable price, I'll write a review on them!!! But for now, I will marvel from afar!!!

If anyone of my readers gets one, let me know if they match up to the hype though, you might speed my purchase up!!!

A Baby is born!!!!!

2006-12-03T04:29:00.000-04:00

Somewhere, this statement rings true, and to that new family, my best wishes. For us though, the stork has yet to arive. I just wanted to get a few people's blood rushing with excitement. Mom and Dad though, you should not have been fooled by this... You would (will) be called well before I am anywhere near a computer... I am starting to enjoy blogging again, but it will never replace genuine contact.

we have had a few little pre-contractions or whatever you might want to call them, but nothing of consequence. Bec can't wait. this last month has not been pleasant for her. Her back hurts, extremities are swelling, the car keeps breaking down. The last time in the middle of a "round-a-bout". No joke, that's the genuine name for a "rotary," except they actually work properly here. But Bec was driving Alex to speech therapy, and then in the middle of the round-a-bout, the car wouldn't accelerate. And slowed to a stop fortunatley just after the round-a-bout on the side of the road out of harm's way. Then Alex says he has to poo. I laughed too.... The fuel pump broke, so in we got towed to a garage who is very experienced at ripping me off, so they could do it to me one last time. When I say we, I mean Bec and Alex, I ran there, at 36degrees or maybe a little hotter, but too hot. Not fun. Not cheap. Last time oh garage who ripped me off for the last time.

So, using your deductive reasoning, not much has happened down here. Life is continuing, but I have been thinking a lot about posting a bit on why I am a Baha'i. There are several well-defined reasons, as I strongly believe there should be when someone follows a certain religion. But Fireguy's post a little while ago got me thinking again about religion in general. Long time readers may know that I used to get Mormon's over, we talked and met regularly, then they stopped coming...Shortly after they read "Some Answered Questions." I really like that book, it answers many questions about a great variety. If you know a Baha'i, borrow it from them, read it. It's written simply, but don't let that fool you. If you think about the implications and what is actually being said. A lot of things will open up and become clear...

I have to go now though to have a nice ice-cream with my wife and son!