Graduation weekend in Melbourne

I'm a little bit late in reporting on this one... oops!

I finished my PhD some time ago now, however I had still been waiting to graduate. My graduation was on a Tuesday so we decided to go down to Melbourne for four days by combining a couple of days off with the weekend. We got down on the Friday night and were wonderfully greeted by Mum and Kate (sister). I was great to see Kate who is pregnant at the moment and we certainly made the most of our time in Melbourne to catch up with her.

On Saturday we caught up with friends for breakfast in Warrandyte and take in a bit of op-shopping. Kath found a somewhat interesting article of clothing that she is trying to convince me to wear to an upcoming alleycat bicycle race. I'll post pictures if she can convince me to wear it, I doubt it though!

That afternoon (and it was a glorious afternoon, sunny and 30 degrees) we went to a housewarming for Stu and Kat in Hawthorn. Their place has an amazing courtyard and we got to catch up with a lot of friends without having to organise it ourselves which was fantastic.

On Sunday we had a nice sleep-in and then got a bit of grub and booze together for a family get together. We had a pretty full house at mum and dad's place and ended up partying for a long time! One of mum's friends made me an amazing quilt with ants printed on it (my thesis was about ant colony optimisation, an optimisation algorithm inspired by ants).

On Tuesday I got up a little later than expected for my graduation at noon, thanks to a fault alarm clock! It was ok though as we had allowed plenty of time and I was still one of the first to arrive at the Hawthorn Town Hall. I got gowned up and attracted a bit of attention standing on Burwood road where we met up with one of my old mates (Adam) who I did undergrad with and had also stayed on at Swinburne to complete his PhD. He's of the the USA in a couple of weeks so it was great timing to be able to see him.

We met up with the fams and went for a coffee at Haddons coffee shop in the middle of the Swinburne campus. After having a sit down we got some quick photos and went back over to the town hall to get read for the graduation ceremony. The ceremony was good and I got my 1 minute of fame as the Dean of my old faculty read out my citation while I was on the stage. I was one of three PhDs which was nice as we each got a great round of applause (maybe because we were last and that meant that everybody knew they would be let out soon!)


After the ceremony we went for some beers nearby, later when the numbers dwindled down Kath, Mum, Dad and I went for dinner at Vegie bar in Fitzroy. It was so great to get some decent vegie food again and we even celebrated with a bottle of red (Penfolds Cab Shiraz, Bin 389) that dad had been keeping for a special occasion. I think it may have been the most expensive bottle that Vegie bar has ever seen given the reaction by our waiter!


It was great to be back in Melbourne and it was hard to get back on the plane, I'm very much looking forward to getting back there in December...

Sounds of Spring

Saturday was time for the Sounds of Spring music festival. The weather has been spectacularly warm and sunny for three weeks, and then, the weekend where we had fully planned outdoor activities, the heavens opened.
This caused havoc right from the start, as it instantly changed my opinion on what I was planning to wear. It's a dilemma, because there's so much to consider - warmth, cooling, sweat, dirt, comfort, sun exposure, suitable footwear, accessories, and on top of all this, of course one has to look cool. I went for the Russell Pty Ltd sundress top, as planned, but wore longer pants underneath, rather than the initially proposed shorts. Cheapo brown canvas sneakers on the bottom, red beads (of course!) and massive sunglasses, and we were underway. Dan opted for a polo and shorts, with equally cruddy shoes.
First we walked down to West End, to have a little caffeine infusion at Ugees. We met some Mexican marine scientists and some Aussie firends, and had such a fab time chatting that we could easily have missed the festival. We ducked out super quickly, and hopped on a bus in to the valley, where we walked a couple of blocks, then jumped on the tail of a 1km long queue. Just to get in. Then we joined another queue for wristbands (to prove that I'm over 18 - ha! AS IF I ever even get asked for ID anymore!) all the while checking the time, and terrified that we would miss the John Steel Singers, probably our fave band of the minute. We got in just in time to see them, and the rain started up. So we bought some overpriced ponchos, and danced away in those, leaving my poncho wetter on the inside than the outside.
Once inside the festival, punters had to purchase tickets which could be exchanged for food and beverages. So we jumped in our third queue of the day, which snaked along in front of the stage. We got our 30 tickets, watched some of The Boat People, then ditched them to hang out with some local acquaintances. A wave of thirst washed over us all, so we got in our fourth queue, to enter the licensed area of the venue. At the front of this queue, we were asked for ID *again* before being shoved back into the queue by the security guard, who I swear was memorising details for identity theft or similar, he stared at the ID for so long. So we got in to the licensed venue, where we got to join queue #5 to exchange tickies for beeries. Our friends somewhat sensibly double parked themselves with beer, but we downed our $5 cans of Extra Dry and headed off to see the next band. There was a reasonable view of the stages from the licensed areas, but not of the bands we wanted to see, besides which I am not down with paying $70 to stand around and drink cheap nasty beer. I can do that at home for free.
So we aimed for the Corner Stage, where bluejuice were scheduled. They performed as expected - hyperactively. Early on, Dan said "How many songs til jake climbs the speaker tower?" I guessed 5, but Dan picked it at 3. A highlight of the show was his first tower climbing attempt, when his mike chord wouldn't reach.
From bluejuice we slung a token glance at The Spazzys, but spent most of the time chatting to another friend we bumped into (2 degrees of Brisbane) and then, in the interests of doing something Authentically Brisbane, we checked the Gin Club out. They played the Time Off stage, a much smaller stage which was close to another licensed area, the queue for which now snaked all the way across the showground. It had a grass area where we could sit down, chill out, and watch the pissheads mud-wrestle.
We left early to catch the second half of the Muph n Plutonic. The whole stage was running late, so we actually ended up seeing the whole set. It was abotu this time when the Festival Fever got me. Where you plan all the acts you want to see, but halfway through the day, I scrap that and just want to dance. So Muph n was perfect. We had planned to move on after that, but decided that the Resin Dogs suited better than Spiderbait, so we aimed for the front, and scored ourselves a good little spot. During the set, a couple of drunk tools decided to muscle in, and three different guys were throwing punches at Dan, while the security guards, 2m away were yawnign and occasionally shining a torch at someone on their mate's shoulders. Tops. But the Resin Dogs were really really good. Better in Brissy than anywhere else I've seen them.
So after all that wrestling, Dan needed some chill-out, and conveniently, epicure were on around the corner. We watched them, and decided to go our separate ways while I danced out my Fever at The Herd, and Dan went to check out Cog.
From there, we met up out the back of the Grinspoon stage, watched one song, decided that they were arrogant and over-rated, and headed for home.
Even in our sober state, we were unable to read the bus timetable properly, and waited 30 mins for the 10:54am bus. Whoops! we started walking home, but after standing and dancing all day, we piked in the middle of the CBD, and got a cab.
It was a big day, and my calves are still stinging! But would do it all again, of course!

The Mullet Family

Flea, Rohan, Hayden and Chloe arrived at the Gold Coast for a holiday last week. We got to catch up with them on Sunday at our place in Brisbane. After letting the rain pass and showing them around our MASSIVE flat :) we walked down to Southbank for a beer and a bit of a gander. Being Sunday there were plenty of buskers out and the kids had fun checking out some of the shows. One in particular got a bit heated when the busker lost it and started dropping the F-bomb at an audience member for tying him up too tight. This was after the busker had asked the audience member to tie him up as tight as he could! I'm sure that one will make its way into dear diary when they get back to school.

Getting the feet wet at the beach at Southbank:


Enjoying a drink at the local:

Friday Night Alleycat

Last Friday night was meant to be the "Missing Lanes" alleycat (alleycats are bike messenger races held through cities all around the world). This particular race was open to non-messengers so I decided to join the fun. Unfortunately the rain on Friday meant the original race was postponed and the organiser set out a different route instead. Fortunately I knew the 8 locations for the checkpoints on the race, unfortunately I didn't know about the locations of several bridges and cut-throughs! The race took most of the guys around 50 mins and was measured to be about 21kms, I took about 1hr 20mins and tracked over 30kms...

Next time it might pay for me to tape a map to the handlebars!

The fixie went great though, and I got to belt out a great ride. I thought the get-up that Kath made for me looked pretty good as well. The other guys had a laugh. Kath manned a checkpoint at West End and was worried when I didn't show for a while. I'd left that spot until last, and given my geographical shortcomings was somewhat late!


The re-run is being planned for a couple of weeks time, so hopefully in those weeks I can improve my Brisbane geography!

Falling in love....

Well, coming off the end of a huge and brilliant weekend, I am experiencing a nostalgic feeling of love for a new place. We've been in Brisbane for just over 3 months now, and I remember feeling the same way after the same amount of time in Melbourne. Everything's new, and just a little bit uncertain, but I'm settling in and discovering all the best stuff.

I'm having a good time.

Out and about, Friday.

Friday I managed to drag Dan out to see The Grates. I've been trying for a few years now, and finally succeeded due to them being supported by The Vasco Era and The John Steel Singers, other bands that we have seen before and really enjoyed.

Arrival.
I discovered quickly that people who go to see The Grates fall into 3 basic categories:
1) Girls who want to be Patience
2) Guys who want to do Patience
3) Guys who have been dragged along by category 1 types.
The great part of this was that there were a LOT of frocks to check out. Dresses are already probably my favourite thing about Brisbane, and this event was a veritable smorgasbord of fashion, that I eyed off with a view to ripping off designs on my Bernette.

The John Steel Singers
Easily my favourite part of the evening. Six members, swapping between a variety of instruments, playing the catchiest of tunes, which I am still singing. It was the third time we have seen them in 5 weeks; if there's a gig in Brissy, they'll be playing it. QPAC forecourt, Valley Fiesta, Sounds of Spring. In a way, I hope they never make it big, as I don't know that I'd cope if they left the country for too long.

The Vasco Era
Last time we saw these guys was at The Corner in Feb 07, which was just a brilliant show. This time... they were late, they were chucking back a lot of Tooheys New, their sound was a pile of junk and their timing was out. A lot of people in the crowd were just waiting to see The Grates. Except one chick, with a massive Peter Pan collar, who threw herself around and screamed the words. A lot of us around her laughed. At her. She was having a good time.

The Grates
This was just nuts. As soon as The Vasco Era finished, people were jostling for their places, and people started pissing in corners, marking their territory. One guy behind us tried to push his way through, right before the set. Dan stopped him, and he said "Just so you know, when they come on, I will do whatever it takes to get up to the stage; I am that in love" I replied with "Just so you know, I'll probably kick you in the balls on the way through." The girl next to me gave me a high five.
So once they came on, there was a massive surge. The Category 1s started to bounce, with their Cat 3 boys protecting them from Category 2 types who were pushing, thrusting and surging towards the front. The show was great, high energy, a bit contrived, but very entertaining. By the end of it, I turned to leave as quickly as I could, even though I knew there would be an encore; I'm just getting too old, and my body punishes me for a good night out.
We watched the encore from the back of the room, where we bumped into Dan's colleague and fellow yoga attendee, chatted for a while, then realised we had to hoof it halfway to New Farm to catch the last bus. We got it with 30 seconds to spare, and walked up the hill to home.

Another massive weekend!

On Saturday I got to pick up my matching front wheel for Eric the Fixie Bike. I'm quite pleased with how it looks. I spent most of Saturday riding him around with Kath. We went into town to try to find some Hawthorn football socks for next Friday's bike race.



On Saturday night we went to see Bell Shakespeare's Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome at QPAC. It is a modern adaptation of a Shakespeare play and was absolutely fantastic. Also one of my old school mates was in it which made it even better!

Played Bike Polo on Sunday which was ace fun! I've put a heap of photos on my flickr account (that's the thing of to the side of this blog, click it and have a look). Nobody got hurt, and nothing bad happened to the bikes, except for some flat tyres.

Bee Update

For those who haven't heard we got invaded by bees on Sunday! I managed to snap a picture of their entry point to the nest this morning before I went to work. In the photo you can clearly see that they have established a nest inside the wall cavity as they are hanging around the vent in the wall. I love watching them come and go!


For some perspective I took the photo by leaning out our bedroom window and our bathroom is directly above the vent in the photo. Our toilet out-pipe is visible to the left top corner. The people who live below us, now have a few hundred new neighbors...