Happy Birday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy B-day Dad and also the 35 years at Parker.

A larger update will happen sometime in the next few days.

Later,
B

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday
Mom

I hope you had a great time down in Columbus for your day. I miss you.

Love,
B

Holidays

The past couple of weeks have been really nice without anything to do. No assessments, papers, stress, etc. Next week will be interesting as my turtles will begin to hatch and the frantic race to get everything analysed will begin and end in a few days. But I guess it comes with the territory.

Not too much else going on down here. They elected a new Prime Minister of the Labour (Democratic) Party so hopefully the trend will continue next year back in the states. We'll see.

I've been doing a lot of reading with my time off and looking for jobs for next year. There are plenty of them down here and the pay rate is better even with the exchange rate. And seeing as I have to take out some more loans in about a month it will be good to find something that pays well.

Our housemate, Michael, moved out last week and a new guy Antione, from Paris, moved in on Wednesday. It's kind of strange having different people in the house all the time but also cool because you get to meet new people all the time. He'll only be here for about 3 months then traveling around and back to France. Then we'll have someone new for a few months again.

Here are some pictures I don't think I have posted yet but everyone always likes them so here you go.

Our local resident Golden Orb Spiders

My Movember stache

Some parrots next door. They love it when our neighbours don't cut their grass. I'll have to get a bird book to see what species they are.

Hil snaping pics at the Halloween party. Can't wait to see the ones from Thailand these the past two weeks.

Eric as Papa Smurf
Erin's gold shoes.

Scenic rainforest

Can't remember what kind of rodent this one was.

Bondi Beach, Sydney

Here are some links I've accumulate:

Overheard in New York | The Voice of the City
Dark Roasted Blend
Haltadefinizione
Flookers :: Dumbolf
Flip
The Decemberists


I'll post some more next week as I've have to grab some grub and head off to soccer. Also I'll be taking orders if anyone would like me to bring anything back for them. I already have requests from here to bring back stuff from the US, ipods, climbing gear etc.

Later,
B.

I'll Be Home Soon

I just wanted to let everyone back in the States that I will be coming back around the end of January for about 3 and a half weeks for a little holiday. Just in time for the Superbowl.

My flight arrives on the 23rd of January and I leave on the 18th of February. Hopefully I'll get to see everyone before I head back down here to finish. I am thinking about planning a long weekend and heading to Vegas if anyone would like to join me. Any time between then is cool with me.

Sorry for the lack of updates the past month or so. I finished with my last exam last Monday so I'm done for this semester but I still have my on-going research project which will go until about the new year. I would have loved to come back for the holidays but unfortunately the turtles didn't come out earlier.

It's been a nice and relaxing week, except for Monday morning, but I still have the feeling like I have another assessment due or a paper to write. I'm sure it will take a while to get used to it.

My housemates and I went up to Coollum Beach Sat. night and yesterday which was a great time. It was the first time I went in the ocean since I've been here. So you kind of get the idea of how much work I've had so far. It was raining for most of the day so I didn't get any pictures but the surf and the water were amazing. I might have to take up surfing if I stay down here.

Hope everyone is doing well back home. I'll slowly be emailing everyone I can in the next few weeks as I've been lacking at communication for a while. Thanks for all the comments as well on my blog. I'm off to watch the Sunday night Football game online.

Later,
B.

A Few More Days

Sorry to everyone who checks on a regular basis for the lack of updates. It's been a rough past month here down under. Papers, assessments, papers, projects for about 3 weeks straight. But I have one final on Monday and will be done for the semester...except for my research project which will go until about the middle of January.

I'm planning on coming back to Cleveland around the end of Jan. for a few weeks so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with everyone.

Lots of stuff has been going on the past month. One of our housemates moved out and another one moved in, had a Halloween party and I started my research. Here are some pictures for everyone.

Erin, Nina and Julian

Jen with some nice hair

Erin & Emma (new housemate)

Everyone dancing as usual.

Tri and John in the pool

John the Executioner

White trash and zombie

Papa Smurf, witch and Pippy

Me and Hil (crash-test dummy and white trash)

As usual it was a great party with everyone getting dressed up and getting pretty drunk. I'll have to find someone who got a good picture of the decorations on our wall and put it up.

My lab. I'll get one of the eggs today when I go and measure them.

Brisbane River Turtle

Don't worry I'm not killing them like the mice. I just take their eggs and measure them. For now.

Cool little spider I saw while chilling on the hammock.

Spiny caterpillar

Tawny Frogmouth that flew in the house a few weeks ago.

I'll post more on Tuesday after my final with some more stuff. I'm off to measure some eggs now. Not sure why this is underlined but it must be important.

Later,
B.

Happy Birthday Kristy

Just wanted to wish Kristy a Happy Birthday. Hope you guys had a good time on your pub crawl. Wish I could have been there with you.

We need to buy you one of these.

Cheers,
Brandon

Rainforest Update

I finally have real internet back. Yay. OK back to the important stuff.

Got back from Binna Burra National Park on Friday night. The trip was alright, not as much fun as the Outback but still cool. One day we had to get up at ~4:30 am and another around 5:30 am so it was a little rough as I like my sleep, and the beds were like boards as well. So I was a little cranky for most of the trip but oh well.

We had a 15km (~9 miles) march on Wednesday which was not fun at all. The enjoyable part of the rainforest is to go out where there is no one, sit there for about an hour or longer and watch everything come out. Never got a chance to do that because we were always doing something. The forest is a lot different from the wet-tropical forest of Costa Rica but still very cool. Lots of birds, paddymelons (bush wallaby), snakes and spiders. The don't have any primates down here so the closest thing were ring-tailed possums. OK now the pictures. Hope you like the poisonous stuff Bradley. More like the Australia you see on TV.

Just some lichen


Big Monitor Lizard ~5 feet long

Possum, a little different than the ones at the house

Great view from camp. The Gold Coast is way in the background.

A view up to the canopy
Some fungus
Carpet Python


Funnel-web spider, very poisonous and deadly

Bush Rat

A species of lizard that lives in the funnel web spider burrow

Honeybee

Sun dew carnivorous plant

Natures knot

Huntsman spider

View from the long trek

Little frog

Lots of cool animals. There is a video of the funnel-web spider feeding that hopefully will be on YouTube soon. I'll post it when my mate gets it up.

Not much else going on. I have the week off of class but have to work on an assignment which is due on Monday but I might be able to get an extension because I was gone last week. We'll see.

Our new roommate moved in on Saturday. She's very cool and fits in well with the rest of the house. So there will be some party pics soon as we'll have to have a welcoming and going away party for both Emma and Nina.

Off to work on my GIS assessment. Hopefully another update soon.

Cheers,
B.

Words but no Pictures

I'm stuck back in the 90's as we have lost our broadband for a few days. Our roommate recently moved out and so did our swift internet. And of course the time when I need it the most, football season, I don't have it. Damn. So it might be a few weeks until the pictures will return. By then I should have some good ones of all the creatures in the rainforest. And I'll post some more of when Kristy was down here. As we discovered some great (drunken) shots from John's B-day party.
As I'm leaving for the rainforest this weekend and will be gone for a week the updates will be lacking. I'm taking a break from writing another paper due on Wednesday. Lots of fun. My relaxing break from school is going to be my field course under the canopy. Oh well.
Besides school everything is going well down here. The weather is finally getting better but we did have about a week of rain on and off so that was really good. Not much else going on but school work. Which I have to get back to now as I'm actually getting out of the city tomorrow for a little while and need to get most of my paper done today sometime. Hope everyone is doing well.

Later,
B

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA

I want to wish my Grandma a Happy 75th Birthday today. Enjoy your day and relax for a while.

Love,
Brandon

Just a few words and pictures

Hope this sums up the past two weeks. More after my paper is done.
B.