Thus far, my time back in Australia has been characterised by a distinct lack of concrete developments.
I have a driver's license, I suppose, but I have yet to take any lessons. My other local registration activities have met with mixed success. Private health insurance was easy, but public cover is proving more difficult. The medicare office refused to believe, despite my physical and vocal presence in their office, that I was back in Australia, as I had no stamp in my passport to that effect. Of course, from my perspective, they had no proof that I'd ever left, since my passport is entirely devoid of Australian stamps despite 6 passages under their auspices.
I'm still living in temporary accommodation, and haven't yet made any headway on looking for somewhere more permanent. I have grand plans of getting myself an apartment, but the limited time available to search might make that difficult. Share accommodation just seems like it might be more immediately available, and simpler to boot.
The job front has been positive. I had interviews with a couple of places, one - my preferred option - of which has advanced to an offer, which I expect I'll sign and return next week. I also stumbled across another half-offer via an old colleague met by chance, but given the advanced stage of the other situation, the boat may have sailed.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Monday, 11 June 2007
back in the AUST
For those following at home, I'm now back in the land down under.
I had a very busy week last week sending boxes, dispersing my possessions and cleaning my apartment, the latter with significant help from Em. There were also a number of farewells, each time promising to see people again, knowing that it may only be true in half the cases. On Thursday I handed back the keys to my apartment and jumped on a train to the airport. From there it was off to Dubai, and then after a delay on to Singapore and then Brisbane, arriving on Saturday morning.
On arrival I was met by Lee and Mick at the airport, and we headed into town for breakfast and coffee with Paul, Julz, Celia and Andy. In the afternoon we headed up to Toowoomba and the family seat.
I had a very busy week last week sending boxes, dispersing my possessions and cleaning my apartment, the latter with significant help from Em. There were also a number of farewells, each time promising to see people again, knowing that it may only be true in half the cases. On Thursday I handed back the keys to my apartment and jumped on a train to the airport. From there it was off to Dubai, and then after a delay on to Singapore and then Brisbane, arriving on Saturday morning.
On arrival I was met by Lee and Mick at the airport, and we headed into town for breakfast and coffee with Paul, Julz, Celia and Andy. In the afternoon we headed up to Toowoomba and the family seat.
Sunday, 3 June 2007
packing
My packing is underway. I dumped my clothes into my suitcase and pack in order to see how much it all weighs, but the news isn't good. Closer to 35kg than not, plus another 25 or so in books, CDs and assorted other stuff. I've since sorted it down to perhaps 27 or so in my packs, plus 20 in a box ready to send (130 euros with the post), and another box in preparation. With a little luck I can squeeze everything into those 4 receptacles (plus my carry-on).
Tonight is the last real dinner I'll cook. Key leftovers included a pack of red curry, a can of coconut milk, a half can of bamboo shoots, a bottle of fish sauce, some frozen green beans and a handful of rice. Its shaping up as a kickass dinner that will run into tomorrow, although I'll have to go get some noodles to fill it out.
Tonight is the last real dinner I'll cook. Key leftovers included a pack of red curry, a can of coconut milk, a half can of bamboo shoots, a bottle of fish sauce, some frozen green beans and a handful of rice. Its shaping up as a kickass dinner that will run into tomorrow, although I'll have to go get some noodles to fill it out.
Thursday, 31 May 2007
the employment game
I had a job interview this morning. Going into it, I was lukewarm about the position, but having learnt more about what it would involve, I can see myself doing and enjoying it.
I expect to have a couple more when I get back to Brisbane in a couple of weeks.
I expect to have a couple more when I get back to Brisbane in a couple of weeks.
getting ready to go
Over the past few weeks, and more particularly over the last week, I've been getting ready to head back to Australia. The magic day is next Thursday, June 7, when I jump on a plane back to the wide brown land and a future of uncertain employment and certain sporting rennaissance.
I've renounced the lease on my apartment, although I have to eat a big chunk of rent because I didn't give enough notice.
I've sold a bunch of my furniture - desk, table, bookshelf, wardrobe, washing machine, couch - although their remains a few large bits - mattress, chairs - and a whole raft of small things left to sell.
I've started looking at options for transporting things home. I'm only allowed 20kg of baggage on my flight, so I have another 30kg or so to send home either by freight, unaccompanied baggage or freight.
I still have any number of things to take care of. I have some loose ends to tie off at work, I have to wind up contracts for internet, gas and electricity, I have to sort out my bank, and worst of all, clean my apartment.
All this has made unemployment much to busy for my tastes.
I've renounced the lease on my apartment, although I have to eat a big chunk of rent because I didn't give enough notice.
I've sold a bunch of my furniture - desk, table, bookshelf, wardrobe, washing machine, couch - although their remains a few large bits - mattress, chairs - and a whole raft of small things left to sell.
I've started looking at options for transporting things home. I'm only allowed 20kg of baggage on my flight, so I have another 30kg or so to send home either by freight, unaccompanied baggage or freight.
I still have any number of things to take care of. I have some loose ends to tie off at work, I have to wind up contracts for internet, gas and electricity, I have to sort out my bank, and worst of all, clean my apartment.
All this has made unemployment much to busy for my tastes.
The Emblog
My sister, recently arrived in Europe for a one- or two-year swing, has a blog, named "Gen Y Not". Check it out.
heel dragging
Long time no post. No time. That's a lie - lots of time, but lots of TV to be watched...
The weekend of the 5th of May was the second round of the french presidential election, as well as a 4-day weekend because of VE day. Mum, Dad and I rented a car and drove up into Normandy to Courtonnes-les-deux-églises to visit the Cassavettis. The 3 of us, Gabrielle, Francis, and their Australian friends Des and André had a really nice few days walking around, watching the election, and eating and drinking well. Dad managed the driving pretty well considering it was his first time driving on the right hand side of the road.
After that, Mum and Dad pushed off to the west for a swing through St-Brieuc, Brest, and Quimper with day trips to the Pointe du Raz, Concarneau, and Pont-Aven. In the meantime, Emily arrived in Rennes from Australia via Hong Kong and Finland, albeit just for a night on her way to Tours. Mum and Dad got back, but pushed off quickly again, this time flying over to England to attend Sheena's funeral and in so doing meet and stay with Elspeth and Derek.
They arrived back on the Thursday, and Emily on the Friday, and on Friday night we piled into a rental car and drove out to Chanteloup for dinner with Véronique, Yann, Jules and Rosalie. We all had a very good time, and Mum's gifts seemed to be a hit with the kids.
Em hung around Rennes for a few days, then mid-last week headed over to Paris before catching a train down to Madrid for a week.
Last Thursday I went around to Erwan & Manu's place for dinner with Liz, Ashu, Fabien, and the couple themselves. A good time was had by all, but it was sad to be seeing Liz for the last time. She hates goodbyes, but in all probability it could be a long time until we are once again in the same part of the world at the same time.
Following that, on Saturday, I wandered down the hill for a barbeque with the Gruël family - relative to Manu: herself, her husband, her son, her sister, her brother in law, her nephew, her niece, her mother, her father, then Ashu and me. One reason for the gathering was the final day of the french soccer league. All seemed well with 2 minutes of injury time announced in Rennes' match against Lille, but the Lillois scored with 20 seconds to play to push Rennes back to 4th and the UEFA cup instead of the Champions' League.
The weekend of the 5th of May was the second round of the french presidential election, as well as a 4-day weekend because of VE day. Mum, Dad and I rented a car and drove up into Normandy to Courtonnes-les-deux-églises to visit the Cassavettis. The 3 of us, Gabrielle, Francis, and their Australian friends Des and André had a really nice few days walking around, watching the election, and eating and drinking well. Dad managed the driving pretty well considering it was his first time driving on the right hand side of the road.
After that, Mum and Dad pushed off to the west for a swing through St-Brieuc, Brest, and Quimper with day trips to the Pointe du Raz, Concarneau, and Pont-Aven. In the meantime, Emily arrived in Rennes from Australia via Hong Kong and Finland, albeit just for a night on her way to Tours. Mum and Dad got back, but pushed off quickly again, this time flying over to England to attend Sheena's funeral and in so doing meet and stay with Elspeth and Derek.
They arrived back on the Thursday, and Emily on the Friday, and on Friday night we piled into a rental car and drove out to Chanteloup for dinner with Véronique, Yann, Jules and Rosalie. We all had a very good time, and Mum's gifts seemed to be a hit with the kids.
Em hung around Rennes for a few days, then mid-last week headed over to Paris before catching a train down to Madrid for a week.
Last Thursday I went around to Erwan & Manu's place for dinner with Liz, Ashu, Fabien, and the couple themselves. A good time was had by all, but it was sad to be seeing Liz for the last time. She hates goodbyes, but in all probability it could be a long time until we are once again in the same part of the world at the same time.
Following that, on Saturday, I wandered down the hill for a barbeque with the Gruël family - relative to Manu: herself, her husband, her son, her sister, her brother in law, her nephew, her niece, her mother, her father, then Ashu and me. One reason for the gathering was the final day of the french soccer league. All seemed well with 2 minutes of injury time announced in Rennes' match against Lille, but the Lillois scored with 20 seconds to play to push Rennes back to 4th and the UEFA cup instead of the Champions' League.
Sunday, 20 May 2007
up to ouistreham
On May 1st I headed up to Ouistreham in the jumper with Nono, Soso, Liz, Angie, Cris and Ashu. Ouistreham were having their club anniversary and were hosting a gala game between the nearby pro team from Mondeville and the N2F Ouistreham girls bolstered by a couple of Avenir players (Liz & Agnes) and a couple of girls from La Glacerie.
The game was fun. the N2 girls hung in there for the first half, and in fact the pros were only really kept in front by their French national team point guard. In the second half they got their offense going, though, and pulled away to win by 30 or so. A few of the N2 girls really looked like they belonged, notably Liz, Agnes, Rachael, and in the second half the german girl from La Glacerie.
After the game we had a drink, followed by a session in the carpark with the ever-crazy Julie and Charlotte from Ouistreham. We even adjourned to a MacDonalds on the way home for a very pulp-fiction buying Royale with Cheeses and beers for the road.
The game was fun. the N2 girls hung in there for the first half, and in fact the pros were only really kept in front by their French national team point guard. In the second half they got their offense going, though, and pulled away to win by 30 or so. A few of the N2 girls really looked like they belonged, notably Liz, Agnes, Rachael, and in the second half the german girl from La Glacerie.
After the game we had a drink, followed by a session in the carpark with the ever-crazy Julie and Charlotte from Ouistreham. We even adjourned to a MacDonalds on the way home for a very pulp-fiction buying Royale with Cheeses and beers for the road.
Sunday, 13 May 2007
meta-update
Its been a busy couple of weeks, between family visiting me and me visiting family. I have a possible family-free window this afternoon, in which I might try to record the hilarity here.
Monday, 30 April 2007
post-defense
Since the defense, I've actually been pretty busy, if you can believe that.
On Tuesday, we ran a little workshop with presentations from each of my jury members. Krzysztof had to leave early, but Robert, Bernhard and Birger all gave good presentations, and we had a lunch afterwards, which gave a good chance to chat a little further.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we had our team retreat up in Dinard. We had some good acivities on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning trying to apply the techniques we work on to real domain problems. We also played a card game called Loups Garrous (or something to that effect - means werewolves) for a few hours on Wednesday night.
On Friday Mum and Dad headed off to Jersey for a 5 day visit to see Aliki. At my last day of work, I managed to clean out most of the stuff from my office, before heading off early for my last physio appointment in town.
On Saturday night I went out to Acigné for dinner at Erwan & Manu's place with Liz, Ashu, Nanou, and Manu's sister's family. The three little kids - Noam, and Tara & Elliott - amused us for a couple of hours, then once they were to bed we sat down to the usual Ashu feast, with Nono and Fabien turning up later on.
On Sunday I had big plans to go for a big ride, but I left my run late, and only got about three-quarters of the way out to Betton before turning around and heading back to Avenir for the cadettes game.
On Tuesday, we ran a little workshop with presentations from each of my jury members. Krzysztof had to leave early, but Robert, Bernhard and Birger all gave good presentations, and we had a lunch afterwards, which gave a good chance to chat a little further.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we had our team retreat up in Dinard. We had some good acivities on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning trying to apply the techniques we work on to real domain problems. We also played a card game called Loups Garrous (or something to that effect - means werewolves) for a few hours on Wednesday night.
On Friday Mum and Dad headed off to Jersey for a 5 day visit to see Aliki. At my last day of work, I managed to clean out most of the stuff from my office, before heading off early for my last physio appointment in town.
On Saturday night I went out to Acigné for dinner at Erwan & Manu's place with Liz, Ashu, Nanou, and Manu's sister's family. The three little kids - Noam, and Tara & Elliott - amused us for a couple of hours, then once they were to bed we sat down to the usual Ashu feast, with Nono and Fabien turning up later on.
On Sunday I had big plans to go for a big ride, but I left my run late, and only got about three-quarters of the way out to Betton before turning around and heading back to Avenir for the cadettes game.
elaborating
OK, so just to elaborate a little.
The defense was in the afternoon, and there were about 25-30 people showed up to listen: the jury of 5, plus most of our research team, plus my parents, Liz, Ashu, and Valentine.
I presented for 45 minutes, and I was pretty happy with how it went - the feedback I'd gotten on the two practices I'd done was really valuable, and I got in a better zone than I had on the Friday previous.
After the presentations, each of the jury members asked questions. Krzysztof asked lots, and the others asked a few, and it wound up taking a bit over an hour, which I think is a lot by normal standards, but I didn't feel especially stressed.
Once the questions were done, the jury retired and deliberated for a while - half an hour, perhaps - then came out and conferred upon me the title of Dr of the University of Rennes 1. They don't give mentions any more, which was disappointing because I'd anticipated it, but in general its a good policy, as they had become meaningless.
We then retired outside for champagne and nibblies, which also went really well. I was worried about how much food we would need, but as it turned out we got it just right, and the tartes were really good, and pretty much everything got eaten. The only catch was that the Australian bubbly I'd ordered got lost in delivery, so we had to settle for some Blanc de Blanc de Limoux that Dad and I had bought on Saturday as a backup.
In the evening, the jury, myself, Mum and Dad, and Pierre Alain all went out for dinner at the Taverne de la Marine, a seafood restaurant in town, which was a good opportunity to chat and relax a little.
The defense was in the afternoon, and there were about 25-30 people showed up to listen: the jury of 5, plus most of our research team, plus my parents, Liz, Ashu, and Valentine.
I presented for 45 minutes, and I was pretty happy with how it went - the feedback I'd gotten on the two practices I'd done was really valuable, and I got in a better zone than I had on the Friday previous.
After the presentations, each of the jury members asked questions. Krzysztof asked lots, and the others asked a few, and it wound up taking a bit over an hour, which I think is a lot by normal standards, but I didn't feel especially stressed.
Once the questions were done, the jury retired and deliberated for a while - half an hour, perhaps - then came out and conferred upon me the title of Dr of the University of Rennes 1. They don't give mentions any more, which was disappointing because I'd anticipated it, but in general its a good policy, as they had become meaningless.
We then retired outside for champagne and nibblies, which also went really well. I was worried about how much food we would need, but as it turned out we got it just right, and the tartes were really good, and pretty much everything got eaten. The only catch was that the Australian bubbly I'd ordered got lost in delivery, so we had to settle for some Blanc de Blanc de Limoux that Dad and I had bought on Saturday as a backup.
In the evening, the jury, myself, Mum and Dad, and Pierre Alain all went out for dinner at the Taverne de la Marine, a seafood restaurant in town, which was a good opportunity to chat and relax a little.
Tuesday, 24 April 2007
what's up, doc?
Yesterday morning I had a beard and no PhD. Today I have a PhD and no beard.
All communications may be addressed to Dr Steel.
Friday, 13 April 2007
holiday leave
I just noticed that I now have 68.5 days of accumulated holiday leave. France has the most generous government in the world in terms of leave, particularly for people who are paid by the government, which I am. I am entitled to 35 days of leave per year, plus 5 days of RTT assigned by my employer, and another 5 assigned by me.
The problem is that despite having all this leave, I actually only have 11 working days left on my contract, and once I finish, the leave is not paid out (as is often the case). Otherwise, I'd be able to start a holiday in two weeks and remain on paid holiday through all of May, June and July, and halfway into August. As it stands, it will just fall on the ground.
This country is crazy.
The problem is that despite having all this leave, I actually only have 11 working days left on my contract, and once I finish, the leave is not paid out (as is often the case). Otherwise, I'd be able to start a holiday in two weeks and remain on paid holiday through all of May, June and July, and halfway into August. As it stands, it will just fall on the ground.
This country is crazy.
Saturday, 7 April 2007
busy boy
You would have thought that the time between submitting and defending would be calm. You'd be wrong.
In the next week, I need to:
Its all very daunting.
In the next week, I need to:
- Make corrections to my thesis and explain them to my examiners
- review two papers, and write another
- fill out administrative crap in order to placate people bent on teaching me English and presumably selling rice to China
- polish up some of the implementation of my thesis work in Kermeta
- organise my examiners into making their visit to the lab even more productive than attending my defense
- try to wrangle some of my financial affairs back in oz
Its all very daunting.
Thursday, 22 March 2007
you can't see me.
Big fat over-ear headphones are a wonderful way of hiding in plain sight. If someone tries to establish eye contact while you are wearing them, you are quite within your rights to not notice, since such an impressive piece of equipment will obviously block all 5 senses, not just sound.
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