New blog home

Hi everyone! We decided to migrate the blog from blogspot to wordpress because it is easier for us to maintain. So please go to:

http://oconnoroos.wordpress.com

to see future updates on our adventures in Australia!

--dave

Sydney and Launceston

We had a good couple of weeks going to Sydney and then Launceston.  You probably read Eli's posts, but here's my summary.  We went to Sydney for the Australasian HIV meeting.  It was good.  I gave a talk and chaired a session. Dave gave a plenary and chaired two sessions and judged a whole bunch of things.  But, when Dave was busy, Eli and I got to go explore the Sydney Eye and the Aquarium.  Also, Dave and I got to run down in the Botanical Gardens a couple of times, and we snapped a few pics in the harbor.  In addition, Eli and I went up to the U of New South Wales to meet a collaborator one day, and we did the Coogee to Bondi walk.  You can see the picture of us at Bondi below.

Also, we went to Launceston and had a nice time there.  We walked A TON.  We saw lots of birds too.  We got to hike in the Cataract Gorge and over to Wineglass Bay in Freycinet.  We fed kangaroos and got to pat a wombat.  I think the wombat is my favorite marsupial.  They just seem cuddly...

Enjoy the pics!

-- shelby

50 thousand steps

Today, my mom and my dad walked 50 thousand steps (my mom made it to 52,500 by the end of the day and I only made it to 40k which I will explain later). This was something that a couple of weeks ago we said was impossible and would require walking for a very long time. Our adventure took about three quarters of the day. You might be wondering how we got so many steps. The answer is that my parents took ran around the Cataract Gorge. That got them 12,000 steps and is the reason why I only made it to 40k (I didn’t do the run). Then after the Brewers game was over, we walked over to the bird sanctuary/island which was a two hour walk from Launceston. That gave us 18,000 steps just on the walk over. The walk around gave us 3,000. Then in the middle of our walk back, we hit 40,000, but the total amount of steps of our walk back was 13,000 (I think we found a more direct route on our way back, and it was shorter distance wise). Then to end the day we got our final 4,000 taking a long walk -and even doubling- back to the house. But my dad was 2,000 behind so we went out and walked so more until he reached 50k on his watch. And that is how we made it to 50k, 50k, and 40k (Eli’s steps).       —Eli

BridgeClimb

This past week we climbed the Sydney Harbour bridge. Well, more of a walking trip than a climbing trip but there were still ladders you had to climb. We had a lot of fun and reached the summit, but in order to get there you had do some preparation. Here’s what you had to do. You started by walking in a half circle room.You fill out a form that asks you questions about name, address, date, etc (you get the idea). Then we walk into the suit room where we receive our suits. Then, we put them on in the changing room. The reason we put them on in the changing room is that you can’t wear pants on the tour, you can’t bring watches on the tour, the only thing you can bring is yourself with a suit and a shirt on. We step out of the changing room and put our stuff in lockers. Then we walk through a security scanner to check if we have anything that we shouldn’t bring on the bridge. After the check we say goodbye to our love ones and dearest friends as we cross the catwalk to the next room. In the next room we put our belts on. Then we grabbed hats, hankees, and fleeces. We clipped them onto our suit to make sure they don’t fly away. Then, we step into THE SIMULATOR. This is where we practice hooking ourselves into the line, climbing ladders, and walking catwalks. Then we put on headphones and did a radio check. And finally, we walked out the hallway and started the BridgeClimb. As we were walking our guide was telling us facts about the bridge. He talked to us via a radio hooked up to our headphones. Occasionally, we stopped to take photos. Finally, we made it to the top. As we looked out over the town of Sydney we were proud to say that we had climbed the bridge. We came back down but that story is not as exciting. And that was our journey to the bridge summit and back.  -Eli

Eye of the city

Today me and my mom went up to the Sydney Tower (also referred to as the eye). It is a lot like the Seattle space needle except that it is not moving. Also, the eye was taller than the Seattle Space Needle. You can walk around it and see the different sides of Sydney. You can see from the waters of Sydney harbour to the bays of Bondi. You can grab a cup of coffee, or have some party mix. They have binoculars set up so you can see things far away. Before you take the 44 second elevator ride up you get to watch a 4D movie. Yes that’s right, 4D. That’s the dimension where things come out at you. The only catch is that you have to put on goggles (I get that isn’t much of a catch). You just watch a short video about Sydney.

—Eli

He’s on the beach

With all apologies to Kirsty McColl, we are on our way to Sydney Bay. Shelby and I are giving talks  at an AIDS conference. I will be especially busy since I am also chairing two sessions and judging a early stage researcher competition. We should still get to have some fun and plan to climb the famous bridge on Thursday.

The last few days have been a lot of fun. On Thursday Shelby and I saw Andrew McMahon give a solo concert at Mac Watts, a club in Melbourne. We are too old to stay out that late and paid for it yessterday. But we were very lucky the Emily, a student at Trinity, was willing to watch Eli on short notice.

AToday the weather was just about perfect. We started the day with parkrun, where both Shelby and  I set our personal bests. We went to a cafe for a bite to eat and then we went back to the park to play ultimate frisbee. Eli hit tennis balls against the Ikon park brick wall while we played.

Now on the plane typing this on my phone. Apologies for any resultant typos.

—dave

Go Demons!

So, for the last two Friday nights, we went to the MCG to watch AFL finals matches.  We saw the Melbourne Demons crush the Geelong Cats, and then follow that with a crushing of the Hawthorn Hawks. For those of you who don't know about AFL (and why would you?), it is the Australian rules Football game, which is way more exciting than the NFL (in my opinion).  But, about half the league comes from Melbourne.  So, there is a Melbourne team.....a Western Melbourne team.....and yes a North Melbourne team.  There are also only two stadiums in Melbourne, so multiple teams use the same field as their 'home' stadium.  On Friday, this was neat because both the Hawks and Demons call the MCG their home.  So, who really had the home field advantage?  On top of that, there are routinely fans from opposing teams who are sitting next to each other and are friends with each other.  So, this makes for an interesting dynamic.

Here are some pics from the Demons vs Cats game.  Enjoy!

-- shelby

Spin art

When we left (one month ago), Hadjer gave me a spin art machine. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to use it much because we had to leave. That night, we figured out a way to pack the spin art machine into our bags. A couple weeks ago, I pulled out the machine and tried to reassemble it. I was pretty successful, the middle board was tilted. So tonight, I pulled out the machine and my mom and I got it working successfully. I just made a spin art and I thought I would show it.             -Eli

42

So this is the year I figure out the answers to Life, the Universe, and Everything, right?

Good habits

We've now been in Melbourne for a month, long enough to notice what is different from Madison. Two things in particular are noticeable. First, we are walking more. We walk Eli to school most days, and then walk to work. While we can take trams or Uber, the weather is often nice and walking is free...so we walk. That translates into a general feeling of well-being, even though our legs are tired some of the time. Quantitatively, you can see the difference in the number of steps we get each day by looking at my monthly step total, courtesy of Apple Health:

Even though I'm pretty active at home, I've averaged more than twice as many steps per day in August and September. This translates into better running, which surprises me. I was able to run 9 miles the other day (I have a tradition of running for at least an hour consecutively near my birthday) and felt great throughout.

The second noticeable thing is that Eli notices how much meat is available in different meals and has started becoming more self-aware about the impacts this has on animals and the environment. He isn't ready to stop eating meat, but he's decided that he will no longer have meat for breakfast. I've dubbed him a "PMatarian".

We have a fun start to the weekend later tonight when we go to the next round of the AFL playoffs at the MCG. Go Demons!

--dave

Eli, now a tenager

While he is still a few years from being an official teenager, Eli is now officially a tenager. Today is his birthday, which means that Shelby and I haven't broken him in ten full years. At least not in any permanent ways, that we know of.

His birthday weekend was full of fun. On Friday night we went to watch playoff (Finals) AFL football at the MCG. Eli doesn't remember this, but when he was about 2 years old I used to watch AFL on ESPN3 during his naps, so one of the first "sports" things he learned how to do was make the AFL signal for a goal. One night, we were watching the World Series and there was a walk-off home run. The announcers were going crazy, so Eli started making the AFL 'Goal' symbol. Good times.

On Saturday, Tony from the residential college where we are staying organized a 13 km hike at the Mornington Peninsula. We all had a great time hiking. There are some breathtaking views of the water from the cliffs above.

Then yesterday we went to a friend's house for a barbecue and learned that their daughter also has a birthday today. They were very kind and shared the birthday good wishes (and their cake) with Eli too. So all in all, a great birthday weekend for Eli!

Love, in an elevator?

One peculiar aspect of Australia that I haven't quite gotten used to is floor numbering. In the US, the ground floor is the first floor, and it goes upward from there. In Australia, the ground floor is 'G', and the floors go up from there. This makes it misleading when you want to use the stairs, as everything seems one level higher than it should.

This has led to no shortage of good-natured(?) discussions between Shelby and me about how to get to our apartment on the third (really, fourth) floor. I think we should take the elevator because, like refrigeration and pre-packaged soap, one could conceivably do without, by why would you choose to? Shelby's counterargument is that it wastes energy and she likes pretending she is a yak.

Our compromise for now is that if it is after 3PM and Shelby does not yet have 10,000 steps on her Garmin watch (the step counter of record on this trip), we will walk up and down the stairs. Though we have been getting a lot of activity. It is now 2PM and I'm already at 8,978 steps on my unofficial step counting watch. By the time we pick up Eli, it will almost certainly be 10,000 steps.

And we should get more tonight when we go to the elimination playoff game between the Melbourne Demons and the Geelong Cats. Excited for our first playoff game!

Father's Day -- again!!

In case you didn't know, Father's Day in Australia is in September!  Sheesh!  Dave claimed TWO Father's Days this year.  Oh well, he deserves it.  We had a nice Father's Day #2.  We took a nice walk in Royal Park and the boys took pictures of birds.  Then, we ended up at the Zoo.  We became members, which will get us entry into several zoos across Australia during the year, and it means we can just pop into the zoo for an hour or two and not feel like we need to spend the whole day there.  Afterwards, we each got to play tennis.  I played doubles with folks who play at my level, and Dave got to play with the real experts.  Good times were had by all.

On another note - we went to high table at Queen's College tonight and we learned that there are two other kids there, aged 5 and 2.  They are a little younger than Eli, but certainly they can be mates for him and introduce him to the wonders of Queen's after we move there.

-- shelby

For the birds

Shelby and Eli have already covered our sporting adventures this weekend. Running, frisbee, biking, and tennis - I'm sore. Though I was excited today to see one of the tennis players was using the same racket I played with in high school, the trusty Prince CTS Thunderstick. To this day, I call any racket in any sport my thunderstick.

But I digress. One of my favorite parts of Melbourne so far is the noisy birds. Whether it is gangs of playful rainbow lorikeets or wailing magpies, the neighborhood is alive with birds. The area around Eli's school is particularly loud. Being distracted at school by parrots is definitely not something that happens at home.

Tomorrow I'm off on my first business trip since arriving in Melbourne. I'll be going to Brisbane until Friday to attend a neuroimmunology conference and give a presentation on Zika virus. I'm excited to see Queensland and experience a different part of Australia.

--dave

What a nice weekend of weather we had here!  (To be honest, I think it was better than the weather in Madison -- hope everyone is ok!)  You saw we did the Parkrun yesterday, as a big family.  Dave did go and play ultimate, but Eli and I went down to the Vic Market and got some food and some clothes.  Eli needed some socks and long sleeve shirts.  We also got pajamas for both Eli and myself -- flannel pajamas!  Eli and I headed over to the park in the afternoon too.  Good fun.

Today, you saw we biked on the Melbourne version of the Capital City trail. It is a windy trail and full of people midday, but definitely a nice option for biking through the city!  The one thing I learned is that the bike path system is very complicated if you don't know where you are going.  And, we didn't really know where we were going.

This afternoon, Dave and I went to play tennis.  I stuck around longer than Dave because the level was more my speed.  But, it was fun and good competition....at least for me.

This week, I get to play single parent.  But, it is full with swimming/piano/ukelele for Eli.  I have a couple of calls.  There are some meetings at work.  And, most likely, more learning!

-- Shelby

p.s. I'll have to look to get more pictures posted, but I'm technologically challenged at the moment.

First long bike ride

Today we went on our first long bike rides. It was approx. 15 miles. We took the Australian capital city trail. It took us along a river, around a park, through the central business district, and across some bridges. Along the way we saw some really interesting birds. We also had to take our bikes up stairs which sounds like a hard thing to do, but on these stairwells there was a ramp that we could wheel our bikes on. This ramp allowed us to walk up and down the stairs with out having to carry our bikes. Now Mom and Dad liked to carry their bikes up the stairs so we ended up doing that anyways, but it was still neat that you could wheel your bikes up stairs. It was a very different experience then the capital city trail in Madison but it was still fun. -Eli

Parkrun

One neat aspect of being away from Madison is that we are starting to learn about cool local events, such as ParkRun (parkrun.com.au). Basically, there are hundreds of weekly 5k runs throughout Australia, all free, with internet-based registration and results tracking. After signing up, we received a barcode that we bring with us to the race on Saturday morning. The closest run to us is in Princes Park, about 10 minutes jogging from where we are living. This weekend we’ll need to decide whether to do the run, play frisbee, risk our bodies and do both, or try to do something else. The barcode solution to tracking runners is especially clever and could be used for low-cost running events at home, such as the UW-Madison Degree Dash.

There is also an incredible amount of Asian food of all types in Melbourne. Yesterday we ate street food for lunch, tonight we had Japanese pancakes for dinner. Combined with the amount that we are eating at Trinity College, it is important that we get out for 5k runs as much as possible.

—dave

6AM and earlier

This week has brought our first US teleconferences. Because of the time zone difference, we’ve started settling into a pattern where we get up at bit before six and then either work or have teleconferences until we go to have breakfast at 8.

The upside to this very early start is that we can vary our workout routines and exercise a bit later in the morning. At the recommendation of Dean Campbell from Trinity, we went to the Fitzroy pool this morning. It was amazing. A heated, 50m outdoor pool with 10 lanes. Shelby and I each had our own very long lanes and swam comfortably. With the heated water, it was really nice in the water even though the air temperature is quite cool (it is winter after all). We hope that after we get our bikes at the end of the week we will have the flexibility to journey farther afield without taking an Uber or taking very long walks. —dave

First day of school

Eli had his first day at North Melbourne Primary School today. He joins the 4th grade class a bit more than halfway through the year. His first day went well - he wants to go back tomorrow!

It's amazing to me that we just arrived here last week. In that short time, we've gotten ourselves established at the Doherty Institute, made our apartment into our home, enrolled Eli in school, started making friends playing ultimate frisbee, used the university's swimming pool, found a piano teacher for Eli, and got him signed up for swimming. We also bought bikes that will arrive later this week, making it easier for us to get around. I even found time to read a book that I checked out from the local library, where we now have library cards. I'm not sure that we will, or will want to, keep up this relentless pace. But for now, everything is still exhilarating.

One especially nice part of each day is dinner at the residential college. We are getting used to wearing gowns, but are especially liking the after dinner conversation with the other guests who have dessert and tea in the senior common room.

Rain, Sun, Rain

This afternoon we have been sitting around in the family room of are apartment at Trinity College. We look outside and we see sun. But then we look outside again and it is windy. Then it gets sunny again. Well, for 30 minutes because after that it rains. Luckily during this rough weather we have been sitting in the Family room of Trinity College and here is the breakdown of what we have been doing. First dad took a nap while mom worked and Eli read his 📖. Then, When Dad woke up he also started to read his book. He was so sore that he asked Eli to get stuff for him (now he is back on his feet good as new). Then, we turned on professional trampolining. Some of these people were really amazing. Later, Dad and Eli were uploading photos to iCloud photos. We watched some of Eli’s videos from ultimate frisbee. Then, we went off for dinner.  — Eli

Soreness!

First of all -- let me just say that I am sore RIGHT NOW!  My old ultimate legs are not what they used to be.  Hopefully, that will improve after a couple of weeks.

Things have been good, but wonky here.  I got to take my first 6am call yesterday.  I think there will be many more.  I'm not looking forward to the 5am ones.....

But, on a positive note -- we found frisbee players - yeah!  We also made it to the market this morning.  Dave found some kangaroo meat.  Although we didn't buy it yet.  We did buy some dragon fruit to try.  Eli also got some tasty jelly filled donuts!  We've also made some progress on finding Eli a piano teacher. We are going to try out the local piano tutor tomorrow.  And, we will be improving our transportation by 6 wheels - as we just figured out which bikes to get and we are in the process of getting them.

Here are a few pictures -- note the refillable slurpee bottles, kangaroo meat for sale, and family robes at Trinity!

--Shelby

p.s.  Let me add - we also got library cards!

Ultimate friends

When I moved to Madison in 1997, it was hard to make friends who weren't also scientists because I was working a lot. I walked over to an ultimate frisbee game at Vilas park, started playing, and stumbled into an awesome group of people who became really close friends. We joined a "new" team that still persists to this day, more than 15 years later, though we haven't played in a few years since the games conflict with Eli's activities. But we met so many great people through frisbee that made our lives so much more fun.

Even though we hadn't played in several years, the idea that frisbee would be a good way to meet people remains fresh. So this morning we walked down the road to Princes Park for a pickup game we found online. We were nervous, having not played, but were welcomed in right away. They had a vibrant group of people and we fit right in. Just like 20 years ago, within a few hours we had met a whole bunch of different people who were super friendly. Very excited to come again next week.

Though both Shelby and I expect to be very sore tomorrow!

--dave

No jab, no play

Now clearly I'm biased - I work on vaccines for viruses - but I love the Australian 'No jab, no play' law (http://www.mvec.vic.edu.au/immunisation-references/no-jab-no-play/). We learned about it on Wednesday when we enrolled El in school. The gist of the law is that students must be vaccinated or must stay home from school whenever there is an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease at school. This still gives families the ability to opt-out of vaccination if they have deeply held convictions, but they are responsible for their kids' educations if their presence in school could threaten others. Utterly reasonable.

In order to comply with the policy, we need an Australian vaccine registration. This was even more impressive. We went to the Children's Hospital in Melbourne and gave them a list of Eli's vaccinations. They took about thirty minutes to cross-reference it against their requirements, identified two differences, and gave Eli two shots (he wasn't thrilled about this part). Total cost to us - $0. And then we were compliant.

Really impressive.

Navigating the Amazon

A few years ago I read "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" about our former president's expedition into the Amazon. It is a compelling story - I highly recommend it. That book, like nearly all other books I've read in recent years, was purchased from Amazon. In the 18 years since I setup my current Amazon account, I've used it to buy books...and hundreds of other things. Like nearly everyone else I know. Collectively, this creates a "hive mind" of product information, reviews, and questions and answers that I can use to make informed purchasing decisions. While I may not always buy the exact best widget for my widgeting needs, I can be reasonably confident any widget I buy isn't going to give me lead poisoning or burn down my house -- presumably someone else would have had that experience before me and would have noted it in a product review.

I didn't realize how much I take this for granted until today. I was excited to learn that Amazon Prime started in Australia in June. Since we don't have a car, having products delivered quickly to us in Melbourne would be very convenient. So excitedly I signed up for Prime and realized that Australia's Amazon store is completely separate from the US one. This has two important implications:

1) There aren't very many product reviews

2) There are a lot of products that might well give me lead poisoning or burn down my house

For example, consider night lights. Eli wanted one. I could buy something approximating a night light for as little as $0.99 AUD, but the product description was really vague. Would it burn down our apartment? I mean, probably not, but do I want to be the guinea pig who has to write that review a few weeks from now?

So this is my version of Teddy Roosevelt's expedition into the uncertainty of the Amazon. Though mine could be remedied by a trip to buy a night light at Woolworths.

PS - You can tell it is Australian Amazon because you can buy sunscreen by the liter -- and we did! (https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B077GR6L2D/ref=pe_2361882_282382012_TE_item)

On toilets

Today we checked out of our hotel. Often, I must confess, the worst part of checking out of a hotel is that for several hours is needing to use bathrooms in various places that don’t reach the, ahem, standards of a hotel or a home. In Tokyo, this is not a concern, at least not where we were. Public toilets showcased the latest in Toto toilet technology and were immaculately clean. This is most evident in Narita airport, where there is an entire “usable” exhibit to the different types of Toto toilet technologies.

And guess what, it works. I’m 100% buying one of these setups when we return to Madison, though I probably don’t need some of the bells and whistles. And by bells and whistles, I mean literal sound that is played at a user-configurable volume from the toilet itself. As I learned when Eli was a toddler, everybody poops, but no one does it as stylishly and sensibly as the Japanese.

—dave

Prepare to qualify

It was very exciting to see Mt. Fuji, which I've known about since losing lots of quarters playing Pole Position in 1980s arcades, in person. Similarly to Pole Position, the journey was as much of the experience as the destination. We took a subway, an above ground train, the shinkansen (bullet train), a bus, and hiked in one very busy but memorable day.

--dave (we should start signing our posts, since otherwise it isn't clear who is writing what)

Mt. Fuji

We made it to Mt. Fuji today.  It took us awhile, but we did it!  We started at 7:15am and took a local train to the Shinagawa station where we picked up the Shinkansen.  Oh, Eli was in Shinkansen heaven!  The bullet train went about 150mph.  We took that about 1 hour to Shin-Fuji where we then boarded a bus that took about 2 hours to get to the fifth station on Mt. Fuji.  When we arrived, it was raining.  But, we put on our rain jackets and Shelby purchased a poncho to put over her bag.  We hiked up to the 6th station and then went to a crater near there.  After a hike back down, we had a tasty lunch of different noodles at the fifth station. Then, we took the reverse trip back to Tokyo.  Meanwhile, Shelby and Dave both read their books and Eli enjoyed the trains.

For dinner, Eli finally got to try the conveyer belt sushi.  Yum!

Sushi making class

It seemed incongruous to be taking a sushi making class at the Cooking Sun studio, but we went nonetheless. I have a newfound respect for the effort that goes into preparing a sushi meal. Shelby wonders what kind of first aid kit they have in case of big knife accidents, and Eli just loved making and then eating his sushi. This became the highlight of our Saturday since the excitement of the week finally caught up with us - especially me. After several days of waking up between 4-5AM and moving nonstop, we slept until about 6:30 and did a few hours of work. Ate breakfast at about 10 and then relaxed (and did a bit of work) in the hotel room until we walked to the sushi class in the early afternoon. The heat is stifling and saps your energy, while the pure sensory overload is exhilarating, but also draining. It's nice to spend a bit of time in the room. After the cooking class, I took a nap that almost turned into a mistake. It was really hard to wake up after about two hours and I wanted nothing more than to stay asleep. But going to bed at 4PM probably wouldn't have been the best idea for trying to get over jet lag.

Mrs. Peanutbutter gets her steps

The typhoon seems to have largely missed Tokyo, or at least the part where we are staying. So we got in a long day of sightseeing and walking. By the end of the day, we had logged more than 30,000 steps. These steps took us from our hotel in the Shinjuku district to the Akihabara electronics district. On the way, we stopped at a shrine to Japanese war dead and a few guitar stores (with really expensive, and I mean really expensive, guitars). We wandered back and forth looking for places to eat before learning how to order ramen from a machine in exchange for tickets that are given to a waitress who places the order. All afternoon we browsed electronics shops. When I was here 25 years ago, it was incredible to see the electronics that we couldn't get in the US. And the video games! I was so excited to buy the Mega Drive games WrestleWar and Battle Golf (the latter being really hard without a better functional knowledge of Japanese). But now, nearly everything for sale in Japan can also be bought from Amazon. And there weren't any great deals where the prices were better than what I can get in the US. I did go on an hour-long quest to get a newly released retro video game console (the Neo Geo Mini, a reminder of times spent at Gamers Paradise looking at a prohibitively expensive gaming system and its even more prohibitively expensive games). Alas, I couldn't find a new one in any of the stores, and the one used games store that had one was charging a 50% markup over retail. So maybe I'll buy a less in-demand retro gaming system to play with Eli on this trip.

Went to the post office and got the baseball tickets we'd purchased from Stubhub. Excited to see the Tokyo Dome, we arrived early for the game. I'm glad we did, as there were lots of synchronized chants and mascot shenanigans. The game itself was somewhat dull - the Tigers, who we were nominally cheering for, seemed to employ a "take every pitch until there are two strikes" strategy to tire out the pitcher. I started falling asleep, Eli had a bit of a headache, and we had a rather unfortunate attempt to eat dinner at the stadium (it turns out a beef curry at a baseball stadium is exactly as bad as you'd think it would be), so we left after the fifth inning. After going to the wrong train station once, we figured out how to buy our tickets and get back to the hotel. Now its time to sleep and try to fight Eli's mortal enemy - "Stupid jet lag".

But Mrs. Peanutbutter is happy, as she got her steps.

Typhoon? Your crazy

                                               We made it


We made it!! After the long 12 hour flight we made it. Eli decided that Japan Airlines is his new favorite airline. He ate like a king with ice cream and salmon and a sky oasis. And don’t forget the drinks. There were so many drink opportunities. Also, there tvs worked so when you hit a button it would do something. Dave used his noise cancelling headphones. Some of us got annoyed by the captains use of the seat belt sign. The landing was scary but it worked out fine. Eli took a nap and missed most of the landing. In total I liked the flight.

Now, tuenin tomorrow for “Facing the jet lag”

Memories of Japan

I first visited Japan as an exchange student in 1990, when I was a high school freshman. I remember several things about the trip, but the one I remember most this morning are the tapes I had with me on that trip - Paul McCartney’s Tripping the Live Fantastic and Tesla’s Five Man Acoustical Jam. It occrus to me that Eli will never have the experience of listening to the same songs hundreds of times, in the same order, because of the buffet of music he now has available. I probably would have been super envious of that choice at the time, but on the other hand, there is no way I would remember what music I listened to 25 years later. So maybe progress isn’t always improvement?

Animal sabbatical 

Were not the only ones going on sabbatical😀

  

Two days (maybe less?) and counting

We plan on leaving for Tokyo Tuesday morning and arriving midday Wednesday. Alas, so is Typhoon Shanshan. It isn’t clear whether we will try to fly in at the same time as the storm or leave a day early (or a day or two later?) so we are rushing house preparations to completion. It’s strange to contemplate being gone for a year - more than 15x longer than any trip we’ve ever take previously.

Typhoon!

Arguably, it isn’t the most confident start of our trip when we are flying into Tokyo at 3PM on Wednesday. Here is the current weather forecast:

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/western-pacific/2018/typhoon-shanshan

We have a lot planned in Tokyo this week, including visits with colleagues. We will need to see how the forecast plays out over the next 24 hours before figuring out what to do.

But I’ve never had a trip threatened by typhoon before!

Thawin’ the freezer

Four days and counting

I’ve had my last meetings at work. Eli has had has last camps. Everything we do is tinged with the “this is the last time I’m going to do this for a year” gravitas. Which is pretty silly, since anytime you do something it could be the last time you do it for a year. Nonetheless, here we are. We have six checked bags that we are bringing with us. All of them except the ones with shoes and electronics gear are already packed. This weekend we will clean the house so our guest Eloise will not inherit our mess when she moves in on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then...Tuesday we leave.

First stop: Tokyo. We will be visiting colleagues at the University of Tokyo and Shelby and I will be giving talks. We are staying through the weekend and have lined up a sushi cooking class next Saturday and a trip to Mt. Fuji on Sunday. It will be my first time visiting Japan since I was an exchange student when I was 14. I’ve forgotten nearly all the Japanese I knew (not that I ever knew it will) except for commonly used terms like “ritual suicide” and some words that are not appropriate for a blog that might be read by Eli and his friends. But I do have some photos of me, with much more hair, that I can use to show our hosts at the University that it isn’t my first time visiting.

One of the real questions for Tokyo is whether it is possible for Eli to get sick of eating sushi. It’s his favorite food, but there is so much of it there that it seems like a case of the irresistable force vs. the immovable object.

Photo silos

We are about a week away from leaving. So we are into last minute preparations. A moment to vent...

In 2018, why is photo management so hard? We have a combination of camera phones and real cameras. The camera phones are a mix of Android and iPhone/iPads. Google Photos and Apple Photos each seem to get us about 90% of what we need, which can't possibly be that unusual. We want photos and videos that are taken by any of us -- Shelby, Eli, or me -- to show up in one central repository that we can curate to make albums, books, share with friends and family, etc.

If we use Google Photos, we can share between family members, but only one family member. So I can set it up so Shelby and I can see one another's photos, but not Eli's. Google Photos also can't seem to upload videos from my Olympus m43 camera from OSX (though inexplicably, it does fine from iOS). Also, Google Photos and iCloud Photo Library do not co-exist gracefully on iOS. iCloud Photo Library stores a thumbnail of cloud-available photos that Google Photos then download in full-resolution to upload to its servers, which undermines the entire point of iCloud's quite elegant option to cache photos/videos locally on demand.

If we use Apple Photos with iCloud Photo Library, photos and videos upload seamlessly from the iOS devices, but there is no reasonable cross-platform support for the Android devices. I can transfer the photos manually from Android devices into the Photos.app on OSX and then they upload into the iCloud Photo Library. But even then, unless Eli or Shelby share their photos/videos explicitly in the 'Family' album, there is no good way to create a single central repository of all our photos and videos.

I'm reflecting on this because I like to take a lot of photos and videos but spend nearly no time going through them in the moment. I'm much more likely to look back on them years from now than I am days after I take the pictures, so I want the management solution to be robust and automatic. Especially when I'm planning on making a lot of memories on this trip, and my ability to actually remember things in my brain isn't what it was when I was younger.

Eli at work

Eli is getting into the spirit of the trip. This morning he played “Overkill” at the Monona Farmers’ Market. We are not sure what instruments he will play while we are gone. He will be bringing his ukelele and taking lessons via Skype with his strings teacher Jourdan. Less clear whether he will play piano while we are in Melbourne. Maybe he will take up the didgeridoo?

Three weeks and counting

Three weeks from tomorrow we get on a plane to Tokyo to start this adventure. After a long time thinking about and planning this trip, it is exciting to finally get it underway. The first few weeks will be a whirlwind. We start with a week in Tokyo, where we will be giving talks at the University of Tokyo, meeting colleagues, and, of course, eating lots of sushi -- Eli's favorite food.

Then it is on to Melbourne and our three month home at Trinity College. We should have a few days to settle in, unpack, and get situated before Eli starts school at North Melbourne Primary School. We will also hopefully get ourselves setup at the Doherty Institute where we will be based for the next year.

About two weeks later, I will fly to Brisbane to speak at the 14th International Congress of Neuroimunology. I have never been to a neurobiology conference before, so this should be a fun chance to meet new people.

But for now, this is all in the future. Right now we still have three weeks to get organized, pack, and get our lives in order. After living in Madison nonstop since 1997, this is a major life transition.

Facing the music

As we get ready to leave (in only about 10 weeks!) I've started to brush up on my Australian music. We have been listening to Melbourne's Triple M radio station on our Sonos and I've been listening to INXS, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Men at Work, and AC/DC. It is remarkable to me that I can listen to Australian radio from my bedroom. I remember when a shortwave radio seemed like the only way to learn about things happening in other parts of the world. This is just one example of how I anticipate the internet will make the world a lot smaller than it used to be when we are on this trip.

4 months and counting

It’s been nearly 10 years since I started my only previous blog. Eli was but a glint in Shelby’s...belly. I thought it would be fun to document the excitement of his early years. I’m really glad I did. Those blog posts bring back memories that I lost in the fog of sleep deprivation. It was also a monumental life-changing experience. Sharing that with friends and family was a lot of fun.

Fast forward 10 years. I’m writing this on an iPad (not yet invented when I started Eli’s blog), sitting on a screened porch (not part of our house when I started Eli’s blog), and watching basketball playoffs (um, pretty much the same as 10 years ago). Eli turns 10 in September. But he won’t be spending his birthday in Madison...

Because the O’Connors are moving to Melbourne, Australia for about a year. A decade after Eli’s birth, why not another life-changing adventure? Both Shelby and I will be on sabbatical leave from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and working at the Doherty Institute. We will be living in two residential colleges: Trinity College and Queen’s College. This will enable Eli to go to North Melbourne Primary School and allow all of us to support the North Melbourne AFL team. We already have a team scarf and a WatchAFL subscription, so we are already getting prepared.

This week we bought our airline tickets which makes the trip American Airlines (JAL/Quantas [edit: Thanks eli for the correction])-official. Which is more important right now than being Facebook-official, since I deactivated Facebook as a form of meaningless protest. That means information about our adventures will be here, not there. How 2008. We will be leaving Madison in early August and “stopping by” Tokyo to give seminars and visit Japan on our way to Melbourne. Even though it is about ten and a half hours away by plane, it still seems like it is in the neighborhood. Clearly, my Asia and Oceania geography still needs some work.

—dave