I can’t really say that anything earth-shattering has happened since my last installment. In a nutshell, I’ve been working at a feverish pace this past week combing the Medline database for some PhD-related review articles and working at setting up the exercise testing lab at Wellness Consultants. Then my fine friend Damon and his always lovely girlfriend Susie were over visiting from Phillip Island, Victoria (Australia) for a couple days.WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING
Most of New Zealand shut down over the holiday break. Kiwis aren’t like the Yanks where they work their fingers to the bone. Rather, they work hard when they work, and play hard when they play. It seemed like every business office I called up until 8 January was either closed with a recorded voice message saying “call back later” or if a live human being did answer, they were working at half-staff until at least 15 January.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS OF ACADEMIA
I took advantage of this down time and scoured the Medline database for journal publications which will contribute to my PhD review articles. As of this writing, I am quite literally sitting on a 3-inch stack of articles with their usual microscopic print. On a positive note, I am making significant headway in scaling it down and whittling away the extraneous ones I won’t be using. The more I look at academia, the more I see it’s all smoke and mirrors. You can pretty much take any point of view and make it “true” by finding articles with a slanted bias towards your hypothesis. Simple. If only the real world fit into such a neat little box!
BACK IN THE WORK SADDLE
I also started my consulting contract at the Wellness Consultants physiology lab. I’m responsible for getting all the equipment up and running and establishing which testing protocols we’re going to use. And that’s the easy part. Fortunately, from having worked at San Diego State University’s exercise physiology lab, it was all old hat. Calibrating a VO2 analyzer? Easy. But the real kick in the balls is getting the accompanying software programs to cooperate. I’ve spent more time wrestling with the computer than the actual equipment itself! I’ve written more emails to manufacturers and software techs than I can count. This coming week we’re going to start bringing in guinea pig test clients at no charge just to work out some of the glitches and smooth out procedures a bit. In spite of these bumps in the road, I am having a lot of fun with it. It’s good to be back in the saddle and working in a clinical setting again. I expect the coming week to be a productive one with further refinement of our equipment, software, and overall service delivery.
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER
For those of you familiar with my previous Australia travelogues, you may remember my good friend and Australian “brother from another mother” Damon. We’ve known each other for close to 10 years now, meeting in San Diego somewhere around 1997. I was always impressed with his previous world travels. He spent time surfing in Indonesian holes in the ground like Java and Nias back in the mid 1980s before the advent of trendy all-inclusive surf camps. The day before leaving for my big around the world trip in 1998, he stopped by with a laundry list of worldwide contacts, places to stay, addresses, phone numbers etc. We bade our farewells at the time, only to meet up three months later on his home turf of Phillip Island, Victoria. Since that visit, I’ve been back to “the rock” several times and was always greeted with a warm welcome of open arms.
GOODBYE TO GOODBYES
My world has grown quite small since I started globetrotting around the world. The word “goodbye” doesn’t really exist in my vocabulary anymore. Usually when the time for goodbyes rolls around, I usually say “well, I won’t say goodbye, I’ll just say “see ya around.” More appropriately phrased, a “goodbye” is merely what precedes our next meeting since I always manage to cross paths with friends again. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the honor and privilege of both hosting friends from around the world and visiting them in their respective elements on their turf. It’s part of the karmic traveler’s code. Break it and be banished to an eternity in traveler’s hell—i.e., Club Med.
PAY IT BACK, PAY IT FORWARD
I was able to pay back Damon’s hospitality by hosting him in both San Diego and New Zealand. He passed through SD for a couple weeks in the summer of 2000 while en route to the south of France. On this occasion, he was on his way to Tahiti for something like his 50th time. His longtime girlfriend, Susie, decided to come along for the New Zealand leg of the trip, so they rented a car in Auckland and made a big loop of the North Island, eventually passing through my new hometown of Pukerua Bay.
CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT? DON'T GO TO AUSTRALIA
Damon’s kind of like the older brother I never had. He’s an all-around good Aussie with a refined sense of humor and an uncanny quick-witted ability to “take the piss” (tease) like no other. It’s all good natured razzing, though. I'm sure if we'd grown up together in the same house he'd have nearly drowned or choked me a few times in fun. In the Aussie culture, if they like you, they’ll tease you to tears. If you’ve got a soft shell and you can’t take a joke, then eliminate Australia from your travel itinerary ‘cause they’ll eat you alive. The irony is, if the Aussies don’t like you, then they’ll probably just ignore you. So if you’re copping heat, just count your blessings, take it in stride, and be glad they like you!
TAKE THE WEATHER WITH YOU
Fortunately, the temperamental Wellington weather cooperated for their brief visit, granting us hot and humid days with just an occasional drizzle keep things in check. Since Australia’s been suffering from incessant heat and wild fires, we joked that they’d brought the hot weather with them. It's clearly obvious so far that I didn't bring the San Diego weather with me!
Crews of Kiwi firefighters went over to Australia to help fight the wild fires in New South Wales. They were lucky to make it back with their lives. I'm sure they don't get much experience other than the occasional house or barbecue fire. In New Zealand, you’d have a hard time lighting a campfire given the thick verdant surroundings.
A FREEWAY RUNS THROUGH IT
We got out for a walk from Paraparaumu Beach up to Waikanae and were amused by the presence of cars zipping down the beach! Apparently, in New Zealand, it’s legal to drive on the beach, and I don’t think you need any special permit to do so. Up at Waipapakari’s Ninety Mile Beach, the sand is considered a freeway and is a viable option for north or south bound travel. Might not be a good place to bury yourself in the sand and fall asleep.
GOOD TIMING
Damon and Susie left yesterday for the return trip to Auckland, and just in time, too. The blustery weather decided to make another cameo appearance. Today we’re graced with beautiful overcast skies and intermittent drizzle squalls. Fortunately, the air temperatures are cooperating and I’m no longer sitting here bundled up in my winter coat with a blanket wrapped around me.
CRUEL IRONY
Last night, I drove into the city for a live salsa event at the Wellington Botanical Gardens. It was slated to start at 7pm, but within 30 minutes of showtime, the rain started coming down in buckets, forcing the organizers to cancel the show. About 30 minutes later, the weather cleared for the rest of the night, but by then it was too late. I later met up with Andria, my little compañera Mexicana from Mexico City and we made a showing at Latinos for a bit of salsa dancing. It was a bit anti-climactic for what I was expecting, but we managed to salvage the night the best we could.
Most of New Zealand shut down over the holiday break. Kiwis aren’t like the Yanks where they work their fingers to the bone. Rather, they work hard when they work, and play hard when they play. It seemed like every business office I called up until 8 January was either closed with a recorded voice message saying “call back later” or if a live human being did answer, they were working at half-staff until at least 15 January.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS OF ACADEMIA
I took advantage of this down time and scoured the Medline database for journal publications which will contribute to my PhD review articles. As of this writing, I am quite literally sitting on a 3-inch stack of articles with their usual microscopic print. On a positive note, I am making significant headway in scaling it down and whittling away the extraneous ones I won’t be using. The more I look at academia, the more I see it’s all smoke and mirrors. You can pretty much take any point of view and make it “true” by finding articles with a slanted bias towards your hypothesis. Simple. If only the real world fit into such a neat little box!
BACK IN THE WORK SADDLE
I also started my consulting contract at the Wellness Consultants physiology lab. I’m responsible for getting all the equipment up and running and establishing which testing protocols we’re going to use. And that’s the easy part. Fortunately, from having worked at San Diego State University’s exercise physiology lab, it was all old hat. Calibrating a VO2 analyzer? Easy. But the real kick in the balls is getting the accompanying software programs to cooperate. I’ve spent more time wrestling with the computer than the actual equipment itself! I’ve written more emails to manufacturers and software techs than I can count. This coming week we’re going to start bringing in guinea pig test clients at no charge just to work out some of the glitches and smooth out procedures a bit. In spite of these bumps in the road, I am having a lot of fun with it. It’s good to be back in the saddle and working in a clinical setting again. I expect the coming week to be a productive one with further refinement of our equipment, software, and overall service delivery.
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER
For those of you familiar with my previous Australia travelogues, you may remember my good friend and Australian “brother from another mother” Damon. We’ve known each other for close to 10 years now, meeting in San Diego somewhere around 1997. I was always impressed with his previous world travels. He spent time surfing in Indonesian holes in the ground like Java and Nias back in the mid 1980s before the advent of trendy all-inclusive surf camps. The day before leaving for my big around the world trip in 1998, he stopped by with a laundry list of worldwide contacts, places to stay, addresses, phone numbers etc. We bade our farewells at the time, only to meet up three months later on his home turf of Phillip Island, Victoria. Since that visit, I’ve been back to “the rock” several times and was always greeted with a warm welcome of open arms.GOODBYE TO GOODBYES
My world has grown quite small since I started globetrotting around the world. The word “goodbye” doesn’t really exist in my vocabulary anymore. Usually when the time for goodbyes rolls around, I usually say “well, I won’t say goodbye, I’ll just say “see ya around.” More appropriately phrased, a “goodbye” is merely what precedes our next meeting since I always manage to cross paths with friends again. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the honor and privilege of both hosting friends from around the world and visiting them in their respective elements on their turf. It’s part of the karmic traveler’s code. Break it and be banished to an eternity in traveler’s hell—i.e., Club Med.
PAY IT BACK, PAY IT FORWARD
I was able to pay back Damon’s hospitality by hosting him in both San Diego and New Zealand. He passed through SD for a couple weeks in the summer of 2000 while en route to the south of France. On this occasion, he was on his way to Tahiti for something like his 50th time. His longtime girlfriend, Susie, decided to come along for the New Zealand leg of the trip, so they rented a car in Auckland and made a big loop of the North Island, eventually passing through my new hometown of Pukerua Bay.
CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT? DON'T GO TO AUSTRALIA
Damon’s kind of like the older brother I never had. He’s an all-around good Aussie with a refined sense of humor and an uncanny quick-witted ability to “take the piss” (tease) like no other. It’s all good natured razzing, though. I'm sure if we'd grown up together in the same house he'd have nearly drowned or choked me a few times in fun. In the Aussie culture, if they like you, they’ll tease you to tears. If you’ve got a soft shell and you can’t take a joke, then eliminate Australia from your travel itinerary ‘cause they’ll eat you alive. The irony is, if the Aussies don’t like you, then they’ll probably just ignore you. So if you’re copping heat, just count your blessings, take it in stride, and be glad they like you!
TAKE THE WEATHER WITH YOU
Fortunately, the temperamental Wellington weather cooperated for their brief visit, granting us hot and humid days with just an occasional drizzle keep things in check. Since Australia’s been suffering from incessant heat and wild fires, we joked that they’d brought the hot weather with them. It's clearly obvious so far that I didn't bring the San Diego weather with me!
Crews of Kiwi firefighters went over to Australia to help fight the wild fires in New South Wales. They were lucky to make it back with their lives. I'm sure they don't get much experience other than the occasional house or barbecue fire. In New Zealand, you’d have a hard time lighting a campfire given the thick verdant surroundings.
A FREEWAY RUNS THROUGH IT
We got out for a walk from Paraparaumu Beach up to Waikanae and were amused by the presence of cars zipping down the beach! Apparently, in New Zealand, it’s legal to drive on the beach, and I don’t think you need any special permit to do so. Up at Waipapakari’s Ninety Mile Beach, the sand is considered a freeway and is a viable option for north or south bound travel. Might not be a good place to bury yourself in the sand and fall asleep.GOOD TIMING
Damon and Susie left yesterday for the return trip to Auckland, and just in time, too. The blustery weather decided to make another cameo appearance. Today we’re graced with beautiful overcast skies and intermittent drizzle squalls. Fortunately, the air temperatures are cooperating and I’m no longer sitting here bundled up in my winter coat with a blanket wrapped around me.
CRUEL IRONY
Last night, I drove into the city for a live salsa event at the Wellington Botanical Gardens. It was slated to start at 7pm, but within 30 minutes of showtime, the rain started coming down in buckets, forcing the organizers to cancel the show. About 30 minutes later, the weather cleared for the rest of the night, but by then it was too late. I later met up with Andria, my little compañera Mexicana from Mexico City and we made a showing at Latinos for a bit of salsa dancing. It was a bit anti-climactic for what I was expecting, but we managed to salvage the night the best we could.
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