School

School started on Monday although I didn't have any classes. As of right now I have class on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. One of my classes is taught completely online. The prof. gives us the stuff we have to read then we have to do a little essay every week on what we read. Kind of different than what I'm used to but good because I can plan everything out better during the week

Today and Thursday I have Remote Sensing and GIS class and Thursday and Friday I have Landscape Ecology. At the end of the semester I'll be in and Outback Ecology field study for like a week which will be really cool. I'll let everyone know how they go.

The weekend was cool. Went to another art exhibit with Christine. This one was kind of small with only about 6 exhibits. Then went to a pretty good Indian restaurant for some dinner in West End. It's nice to eat at an ethnic place again, something SLC was lacking a little. Where I live there is a wide variety so there is always someplace new to eat, very cool.

This guy scared the crap out of me when I went out on Saturday for my laundry. He was just chilling on top of the line and actually let me get pretty close to get a few pics of him. He stayed there a few minutes then flew off silently to the neighbors laundry line, probably looking for some mice in the backyard. He's a Tawny Frogmouth and is common in the area around here. Very cool.



That's it for today.

Later,
B.

Happy Birthday Sarah

Just wanted to wish Sarah a Happy 6th Birthday from Down Under. Sorry I couldn't be there to help share in the fun.

Wish I could send a Koala back for you. I hope you got a lot of cool presents. Have fun.

B.

Local Wildlife

This little guy showed up last night while I was making dinner. We tried to offer him a carrot but he liked the flowers on the tree instead. Christine said he was just an normal possum. A little different from the ugly ones usually found in Cleveland. I'll have to find out what kind he is.

Mix Up

Not a whole lot going on this week. It's suppose to be Orientation week at UQ but for graduate students that means there is nothing going on. I guess they know you've been in school before and don't really need an introduction on how to study, take notes, ect.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night I kind of met my house mate, Christine, in the city at a bar called the Pig and Whistle. Except she was at one and I was at the other one, as there are two within about a 15 minute walk from each other. Needless to say we finally met up at the right one and met a few of her friends from work and we went to an art gallery a little out of town.

On the way I happened to lose my cell phone in the cab we were in. After calling the cab company they were able to track down who had it and made arrangements to get it back.

After the art showing we walked down to The Valley or Fortitude Valley which is the red light district / bar / night club / Chinatown area. The place were were going to eat at was completely packed and had this going on in front of the restaurant.




Not knowing the Chinese calendar we didn't realize it was the beginning of the Chinese New Year and we were in China town. There were about 4 of these going on at the same time at different restaurants within a half a kilometer of each other. There were drums, fireworks, dragons, and lettuce hanging from the doorway like mistletoe. The dragons would reach up and eat the lettuce then go back inside?????? Not sure the significance but it was very cool.

We got into the restaurant next door and had some dinner. It was very weird because I was in Australia eating at a Chinese place drinking New Zealand beer. Kind of cool to have all the different cultures mixed up all in one place. But I did get to speak some Mandarin to the servers, courtesy of YanZhang's from my lab in SLC, which they were throughly entertained by. The food was good and the beer was pretty good as well, but I still like the Aussie beer better.

After dinner we walked a half block to a bar called Rick's Place and they had a live band playing that was Green Day / My Chemical Romance like. The place was 1/2 packed with Emo/Punk kids and I think I was probably one of the oldest people there. But they were pretty good and a lot of fun.

After the band did about 5 songs the place emptied out in a matter of minutes and everyone but band a few other people were there. We decided to leave after a while and meet up with the cabbie that had my phone. We got a ride back home with him and he gave me my phone back which was very nice of him to do. And the night ended as being a great time. Good company, food, beer, music, beer, so I couldn't ask for a better time.

Saturday didn't do anything and just chilled out at home, did some laundry and a whole lot of nothing.

Here are the pictures from the Kissteria concert and the wrestling show I went to a couple of weeks ago. Bradley would have loved it. They tried to get people down in front of the band but it took about 4 songs until a few little kids got up there close. I'm sure Bradley would have been down there in a second. A lot of fun and very entertaining.




Have a good week and enjoy the freezing weather back in the States!!!
Later,

Brandon

Busy

Sorry for not posting in a while. This week has been busy.

Last Saturday I went down the coast with my house mate to watch one of her high school friends in a WWE like wrestling show. Bradley would have had a great time as they also had Kissteria, a KISS cover band that played about 10 songs. As being from the States it wasn't too bad but the Aussies got pretty irritated after about the 3rd song. Don't worry there will be pictures, I just have to get them from Christine. It was a good time and quite entertaining.

This week has been taken up by an academic preparations program in which I've learned nothing new except how to walk more efficiently around campus. Next week is an orientation program in which being a graduate student doesn't mean much as I only have to attend 2 things all week. So next will will probably be as exciting at this.

Just a few shots of one of the many bridges across the river.

The Cultural Center and the modern art museum are on the left.

I'll post some of campus next time I get over there. Here is just one of the central courtyard area. The campus is about the size of BW or Mount. But here it is one of the biggest in the country. A little strange but once you leave the states you realize how big everything in America really is. Cars, buildings, roads, food portions, schools ect.


I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day :-)

Later.

Commenting Problems

Sorry everyone, I figured out that the comment pop-up box is not working with Firefox, not sure about IE. I will change it back so everyone can use it. Let me know if something else is of the like comes up and I'll fix it. Thanks.

B.

House

I finally found a place to live!!!! After spending about 5 days of calling, walking, getting lost, walking, walking, it's nice to be able to chill in one spot for a while. I moved all my junk in yesterday afternoon. The house is about a 10 minute car ride from the city and about a 5 minute boat ride across the river the the Uni. It's on a nice quiet street about a 5 minute walk down to the river. It's in the hippie area of town which is cool as well. Here are some pictures of the place.

The front deck/porch area.

Dining room / Kitchen area.

Lounge / Living room area.

My room with all my junk.

Bathroom

It has all hardwood floors and air conditioning. But they usually just open all the windows and door so it' usually cool because of the breeze except when it get up around 30C or about 87F. The I'll turn the air on.

The girls are very cool. One works as a receptionist for a law firm, the other works for the Aussie government on art exhibits and related creative stuff, and the last one I haven't met works for a telecom company. She's out traveling for work and should be back in a few weeks. But they are all nice and helpful as well. I'm sure more about them later as I've only been here one day.

I'm going to get to the store and buy some grub then wander around the Uni. for a while.

Later,
B.

School Schedule

Here is my school schedule until the end of the year. As of right now I only have classes on W and Th. but that could change because I have to get approval from one of my prof's for a class. I'm sure I'll be studying a lot and doing research but I can always make time for whoever is going to spend the money to come see me down here. Ok, if you have any questions feel free to ask them.

2/26 to 4/5 Classes

4/6 to 4/15 Easter Break

4/16 to 6/2 Classes

6/2 to 6/8 is a revision period or like a study week before finals. So there are no classes and everyone usually goes on holiday for a few days then starts studying.

6/9 to 6/23 Finals

Once school starts I'll have a better idea of when my finals will be. I'll only be taking 4 classes so I'm not going to have finals for 2 weeks. More info in a later post.

6/24 to 7/22 Holiday

7/23 to 9/22 Classes

9/23 to 9/29 Holiday

10/1 to 10/27 Classes

10/28 to 11/2 Revision period

11/3 to 11/17 Finals

11/18 to probably 2/25 or something of '08

I also have all the holiday's off as well which are:
4/6, 4/9, 4/25, 5/7, 5/10, 6/11, 8/13, 8/15, 12/25, 12/26

Feel free to send me an e-mail or whatever with any questions. I hope all those that would like to make it down under will be able to. Of to get some food.

Later,
B.

Too Busy

Sorry everyone for not updating in a timely manner. I've been running around all the burbs here trying to find a place to live. It's been crazy the past few days. I looked at 4 places yesterday and 3 the day before. And of course they are not too close to each other.

The problem here is that the river goes right through the city so you either have to live on one side or the other. So trying to find the right place with enough around and close to the University has been tough. But it's been cool getting used to the buses and trains and boats as a means of travel instead of a car.

Yesterday I think I've found the right one. It's in kind of like the hippie part of town and it's about a 5 minute walk down to the river, and it's nice and quiet. I would also be living with 3 girls which would be very nice as well. I should find out later today if I got the place or not. There will be pictures once I get it. Of the house not the girls, Bradley. Well they might be in there as well. We'll see.

When I get into a place I'll do an update with a bunch of pictures because It's too hard to try and do it from the computers here at school. Still no kolas, kangaroos, snakes, bull sharks or crocs, yet. Just a few gecko's, spiders and a ton of birds.

As far as Brad's question about the beer, Fosters isn't that common here. I guess it must just be that bad that no one drinks it. I finally went over to the bar a few nights ago to sample the good stuff. Kristy would like it because they have Stongbow on tap which is good, they Carlton Draught is a very good light beer, very smooth. And Victoria Bitters or VB is very good as well. It has a little more flavor and ca hones than the others. But all very good. Better than any of the 3.2% stuff I had in SLC.

Debbie asked where I was staying. It's a big place called Cloud 9 Backpackers. They have about 3 rooms of bunks with about 20 people in each room, then about 5 rooms of 4 people then a few single rooms. If you've never been to a backpackers place it's kind of hard to tell you what it's like. Basically everyone is coming and going whenever they want at all hours of the day. They are usually pretty dirty, but they are cheap. If I remember I'll snap some pictures but they won't be too exciting. It's nothing great.

And I have to put this in because I know Bradley will be laughing his ass off, as well as many others.

About 4:30 am last Friday morning I wake up to the sound of water. I wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it's a distinct sound. I look over the bunk, I was on the top one, and the drunk guy below me is urinating right in the middle of the floor. Mind you the toilet is about 5 feet away. But no he was too lazy or drunk, or both and decided to relieve himself on the floor. Being half asleep I dozed off almost hoping it was a dream. I went to the front desk when I woke up, avoiding the pee, and told them what had happened. He was already gone by the time I got up and they decided to kick him out that day. He was gone by the time I got back from the Uni. Luckily my bags were just splashed and nothing you couldn't clean up with some soap and water. Oh the fun of backpacker hotel's in foreign countries. But the guy that's there now is a really cool guy from Iran and hasn't peed on the floor yet.

I'm going to make another post then head out to get something to eat. Talk to everyone later.

B.

Question of the Month

The question of the month is:

If you could have any superpower what would it be and why???

Invisibility, strength, x-ray vision, drink lots of alcohol with no hangover, super hearing, flying, anything you want.

Have fun.

Later,
B.

P.S. If I get a lot of responses this may become the question of the week or fortnight(2 weeks).

Comment Postings

Just a little note. When someone posts a comment it will probably not get posted until the next day, unless I'm online when you send it in. Because anyone can post a comment I have to approve them. It's just a way of controlling what gets posted on my blog and a way of preventing bots from posting website address on my blog. But keep the comments coming. It's good to hear from everyone.

Later.
B.

Brad's Question

Do they consider Fosters a bad beer like Busch Light??

I'm not at liberty to say as of yet because I've been sleeping, a total of ~30 hours in the past 48, and not drinking. I've heard it's not too common for people to order it but I'm not sure. When I get to the bar tonight I'll find out and let you know tomorrow sometime. I know Victoria Bitters or VB is one of the best so I'll try it and let you know. Thanks for the question.

B.

Finally

After the 1 1/2 hour flight to LAX, a 3 hour layover, 12 hour flight to Auckland, 3 hour layover, then a 3 1/2 hour flight to Brisbane, I have finished the trek. I've finally arrived in nice warm, tropical, humid Queensland.


Coming from a dry, high altitude place you don't know how nice it is to be able to breathe. With an altitude of only 100 feet it's a little weird to have all the air pushing down on you. Very strange. But I'm sure I'll get used to it. If you've never lived in a dry place you should because you'll probably not want to leave. To all those that say there is no such thing as dry heat, poo on you. It was 29C or 85F today with 70% humidity and it was much worse than any 29C day I've had in Salt Lake City (SLC). Nice but hot. Like Florida. Hi, Grandma & Papa.


I ended up sleeping for 16 hours yesterday, not on purpose, after I got in. So hopefully I'll get onto a somewhat normal schedule by the weekend. No, I haven't seen any kangaroo's or poisonous snakes yet. I'll let you know when I do and there will probably be pictures attached as well. I'll be looking for places to live and getting used to the campus for the rest of this week and probably next as well. Hopefully I can find a place soon and get settled in before school starts in a few weeks.


I'll post my school schedule for all those who are thinking about coming down for a visit. Feel free to e-mail me any time as there are many computers here I can check my e-mail anytime. For those who have IM there is a seven hour and a day time difference. If you subtract -7 hours (MST) or -9 hours (EST) and add a day that is what time it is here. Right now it is 11:30 pm Wednesday night in SLC or 1:30 am Thursday morning in CLE.


I will be stealing an idea from my good friend Marg, I hope you don't mind Marg, and have a question of the month for everyone to answer. It will probably be in my next post and I hope everyone will participate.


Feel free to ask any question you like about Australia or anything else in the comment section. I will try to answer them if I can. I'm sure you not the only one with it so ask away. Off to get something to eat.

Later,
B.