Dog Days

The hot weather has returned, after only a couple of weeks of mild weather. So, so humid!

Licensed to Drive

I've mentioned before that the state of Indiana doesn't recognise foreign driver's licences. So back in September I got a learner's permit but have been driving myself around on a temporary international driver's permit. I've become comfortable enough driving on the wrong side of the road and the last of the snow melted a few weeks ago, so today I went and did my driving test. When I first got my licence back in Australia it was in an automatic so this was a bit more difficult driving Fenry with his clutch. But I managed to pass the driving test on a manual.

However, I failed the eyesight test. When I got my Ls I was able to procrastinate long enough for my eyes to eventually focus on the letters and I just scraped through. But this time I had to put my glasses on and the guy put a thing on my licence to say that I always have to wear them. Oh, well.

But the one good thing about Indiana is the low taxes etc. They didn't charge me anything for the joy of taking the test. Unlike NSW, where my last licence cost me AU$129 for 5 years' worth, my Indiana licence only cost me US$21 for almost 7 years! (For some strange reason it expires on your birthday.) Somehow, despite this, all the highways are free, unlike NSW.

LibriVox

I've just discovered a great site. It's a community where people take public-domain books and make audio recordings that you can download for free.

This will give me something constructive to do with my iPod while I'm in the lab doing something boring like staring at a thermometer.

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is a big thing here in the US. I'm not sure why, they don't have any more Irish than Australia. I guess it's just the effect of Americans' habit of identifying with their ethnic heritage, no matter how many generations they've been here.

Not only do they decorate buildings with shamrocks but they do everything in green; including the beer. I had heard about green beer on St Patrick's day before I came here but didn't try it last year. So this year, even though I'm not normally a beer drinker, I decided to try a green Harp. It didn't taste any different.

After that pub we moved on to the Irish Lion, which was not nearly as crowded as I had assumed it would be. There I tried a drink called the Stinger, Woodpecker Cider topped with Guinness. It's not as bad as it sounds but, still, I won't be ordering it again. Next time I'll just get a half-yard of plain old cider!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday. I baked myself a lemon-poppyseed cake with cream cheese icing (it still being Lent), which Cindy painstakingly decorated. All my American friends were out of town, spending Spring Break with their families but there were a few other friends still in town who came around to help me eat the cake. As you can see, it was only after we'd eaten four slices that I thought to take a photo. But it's legible enough for you to get the gist of what it said.

Trevor

Yesterday I heard something a little strange. One of my lab-mates asked me, "Have you seen Trevor today?" Now, I don't know the names of too many others in the lab, because they're in a different research group. Forgeting to speak in American I asked, "Is he the young bloke?" which only confused him. So I clarified, "Is Trevor the guy who works at that bench?" To which he replied, "No, she's the oc-health and safety officer."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're looking for a woman named 'Trevor'! That's a woman's name?"

"Oh, yes, it's quite common," He assured me. I didn't actually accuse him of having a lend of me but something on my face made him produce Trevor Ann's business card. That had me giggling for hours.

Communication breakdown, it's always the same...

I've been having problems with MSN lately. For some reason people have been trying talk to me when I'm offline; I receive several messages all at once whenever I log in. I figure it's got something to do with the fact that it's through a Jabber transport but I don't care enough to do anything about it.

So if you find me particularly unresponsive, it may just be that I'm not really there. Still, it could be that I am there and just ignoring you! (Yes, Cameron, I'm talking to you!)

Worse still, I'm without an internet connection at the moment (I feel so naked!). I've changed my connection from Cable back to DSL (to try to save a little money). Although I asked them not to turn it off until Monday, I now find that the cable's not working. Sigh! So I'm checking my email only when I bring the laptop to campus.