Slack Jac...

Hello dear friends, hopefully I haven't lost you all during my virtual leave of absence. It's been fairly hectic here every since I returned from Boston and I've let a lot of things slide, including the blog, housework, showering... ok, not showering, it's still 100 degrees so that'd just be gross!

I've had to send my laptop away to Sony after another failed onsite repair, this time the technician not only managed to avoid fixing the original problem, he also permanently disconnect the trackpad and mouse with an enthusiastic lack of remorse, before closing the job and calling it a day. Needless to say I was furious, since I was heading to Boston the next day! I called support again and quietly bit my tongue as they calmly told me the three strikes and I'm out rule which meant sending it to California for repairs that may take two weeks, maybe more. Seems somehow it was my fault it was broken! Anyhow, I still took it to Boston (with clunky Mr External Mouse) because I needed to keep working, but yesterday I packed it up in it's little FedEx bed and posted it off to CA :( So now I have no internet at home. It's weird how much lonelier that makes the place feel. The hours that I'm online at work are almost exactly when most decent Aussies are happily sleeping. And the hardest part is going cold turkey on WoW! I was about a day away from level 40 which means not only being able to wear mail armour, but also being able to get myself a huge cat to ride! Oh well, something to look forward to :)

Work is busy and quiet all at the same time. Busy because I have a lot to do, which is great, but quiet because not many people are here and those who are seem to be hibernating in their offices! Guess everyone who is here is just as busy as me. It's hard knowing that some many of our group are going to the conference in Brisbane, but I think if I was to go home now I might not come back again!

I found out the other day that I've been assigned a platform (talk) at ASHG, the big genetics conference here. Scary! But much better than being assigned a poster I guess. The conference is in New Orleans in early October, and I think perhaps the location may reduce the numbers a little compared with previous years, but we'll see!

I had a horribly sad experience driving to work this morning. Something was flashing up on the huge overhead traffic warning screens on the freeway, and it took me a while to realise it was the description and rego of a car involved in a kidnapping :( I hope they found them and all is well now... I've been up close and personal with a high speed chase here, where I had to get the car off the road and out of the way very quickly! I've also watched a few of the really big ones on live tv. Luckily the ones I've see have all worked out fine. As awful as they are, there's also something horribly fascinating about watching them, more so knowing it's live. You just can't look away - and they way they're broadcast here is almost like a national sport. I guess making that kind of news such a big deal keeps the public eye nice and close to home and not wondering what's going on elsewhere... For those who know there is an elsewhere that is!

That said, watching the world news at the moment just makes me want to cry. I'm not going to go on a rant about internal politics and public opinion here. I got sucked into that at the pub a few weeks ago and it was a truly depressing and draining experience. In response I went shopping and bought myself a bright green 'practice nonviolence' t-shirt to wear to work.

I should wrap up this eclectic post and get back to work. Matt had a spare 5.1 surround system that I've just hooked up to my office PC, so I'm now wired for sound ^_^