Are the Bombers doomed again?

Essendon have named their new coach - James Hird. While I respect the bloke as a player and he is super knowledgeable about the game I do wonder why Bombers have appointed an inexperienced senior coach for the second consecutive time. Especially given Hird has had extremely limited coaching experience. There is talk of hiring a ex-senior coach for an assistants position (Bomber Thompson's name has been bandied around), but will that be enough to mentor the new coach to his role?

The races

Andrew 'Goofy' Bryen enjoyed the distinct pleasure of turning 30 recently and we celebrated in spectacular fashion.

Six Canberra kids.

I'm not sure whose idea it was, but it was a work of brilliance - seven friends from Canberra and one from Sydney traveled the dusty roads to West Wyalong so we could attend the world renown Caragabal Sheep Races (which involved slightly further traveling on slightly dustier roads).

The event was nothing short of amazing, there was a jumping castle, there was a merry-go-round, there were SHEEP, and sheep being chased by kids. We placed bets, we drank beer, and we bought a sheep for the finals (I think it came in last).

Sheep are funny races - they run about half the track and then stop dead.

Yep, this is halfway through the race.
If your sheep wasn't winning you could scare them to a standstill and hopr for a change of fortune

They look around trying to figure out what is going on around them, and the kids scare them into finishing the race. They also jump a lot. Oh yeah, kids are released to scare the sheep back into movement. After the races we retired back to the 'Goof' residence for an bountiful feast that involved pig, sheep, cow, various salads, bread and more. This was followed by a plethora of desserts including multiple cakes, fruit salad, chocolate, toffee, and other sweet things I cannot name.As usual Goofy, Peachy, and I found the pub and we played Buck Hunter. It turns out I am not the 'Great White Hunter' I was hoping.

The sheep cake made by Amanda! Somewhat amazing.

Until next year Caragabal, we will miss you.

The first of many

Its that stage of life, my friends are starting families while I'm still bumming around at uni.

The first of many to come arrived about six weeks ago!

Aren't those gloves adorable - they stop him from clawing his eyes out!

Welcome to the Sprightly Dugong Owen - you can now join the special few under 1yos that make it to this exclusive website. Owen is the son of Simon and Brooke, from all accounts he has ten fingers and toes - which is about as much information most males need about kids (I assume he was weighed and stuff but that all means nothing to me). Like most people his age Owen's hobbies include sleeping, pooping, and eating. I am yet to here him give a full throated yell, but there will be time for that later.

Adelaide Zoo

Whilst in Adelaide I decided to visit the zoo and see what amazing specimans of animals that are not human were on offer. There were some exciting, and not so exciting times...

Don't be fooled, this was an exciting. The giant turtle may look and move like the rock behind it, but they do live up to their title

All in all it was a bit depressing see how small some of the enclosures were. Larger animals like the lion and giraffes did not have too much space.

These guys were hilarious, at least they had space to monkey around

(not quite as subtle as my inception pun)

A few of the exciting animals are also very lazy and spent too much time sleeping. The so called 'dangerous' animals failed to strike terror, fear, or even anxiety in me. Once again John Cleese has lied to me through comedy.

At least this bloke was awake - the poison arrow frogs (circled) are dangerous in the same way

that playing with fire whilst coated in petrol is dangerous -don't touch.

There some exciting times - I came across my favourite frog (I've never seen one before) and I also saw a snake in the middle of meal (actually I could see the meal in the middle of the snake)

Holy shit, this snake is eating a mouse!

Yeah, this snake was the coolest thing I saw. I watched it for about ten minutes until I too started to get hungry.

Unlike certain animated films lemurs do not dance and sing,

and throwing coins at them just made them agitated...

The zoo had a huge number of animals, but the small cages dampened my excitement a little. The wildlife park was much better, but I do not think many patrons would attend a zoo in which you roamed with the animals. I've read way too much about the ambushing tactics of lions to trust a sleeping one.

I'm also sure meerkats would hunt in packs, sneaky bastards.

ICCC39 - When too much chemistry is not enough.

At the end of July I attended my first chemistry conference. It was in Adelaide and Chemists from all over the world dropped by to introduce the latest research the international academic community. For those of you who have never been to a conference before, the day is filled with talks of approx 20 mins each outlining cutting edge research.

Cutting edge chemical research

The attendees who are not speaking are invited to supply an A0 poster portraying how they are making the world a better place through chemistry. Some of the world's preeminent scientist also give quite exciting hour long talks at the begininning of each day. All in all the day is very exciting for those who enjoy academia.

At the beach in Adelaide with fellow Phd chemists Karl (New Zealand) and Rashmi (Melbourne)

The nights, however, a very exciting for those who enjoy a tipple or two of water is on hand. Networking I think they call it...

Dan 'networking' with a pig. I bet this never happens in Adelaide

I met some awesome people from all around the world, but mostly I spent time with the Kiwis, Germans, and Polish contingent. However I did immensely enjoy confusing the Japanese by speaking to them in their own language.

Highlights include the following:

• I had heard about Adelaides giant balls, but they had to be seen to be believed

Liam (Engalnd) and I emasculated by giant steel balls

• I also visited the zoo and lions and tigers and bears (pandas!) oh my. I also saw a snake feeding

A real live panda bear that is not sleeping(apparently they sleep a lot)!

• On the last day Tom (polish) and I went to the wildlife park. Due to the copious amount of alchol consumed on the previous night we missed the bus we had to catch to get there so we walked up a narrow windy road for about 7 kms to get the park (quite dangerous). The animals were all aussie natives. We unexpectedly ran into another groups of chemists who were not aussie nativesand I felt superior by knowing more than the others around me about the fauna. As I had to catch a plane that arvo, Tom and I walked back down, but this time through the national park using my awesome watch/wristtop computer to guide us back.

There are some Germans patting the Dingos, they did this for about 15 minutes

• At the beginning of the trip involved sitting with the Kiwis playing cards and drinking beer just 5 minutes after I had met them. My watch's weather alarm starting going crazy and I mumbled off hand there was a storm coming. A quick glance outside showed a bright sunny day. Later that we exited the pub into a downpour. Everyone was very impressed!

Mike, Scott, Dan and Matt are are about to be very impressed


• Five of us Aussies sneaking off the a pub on one night, followed by a small contingent of kiwis. People sent messages to friends and supervisors, and than wave after wave of chemits appeared at this quant little pub. The owner was so stoked he stayed open for us every night just waiting for us to come back. And go back we did.
• The Dog and Duck (or was it the Duck and Dog). For one night we owned this place
  
• An aussie meat stone grill. A stupendously hot piece of rock is brought out and a plate with uncooked meat. You put the meat on the grill and cook it. AWESOME
  

Raw awesomeness - about to be cooked

Thanks all for the good times and great memories.

Oh what a trip!