News and notes from the sleep-deprived

Hopefully our two-week hiatus hasn't dropped our readership after the major boost brought on by our superstar daughter. Those of you still surfing by for a read will find that I am not going to focus this post on the trials and tribulations of parenthood. Rest assured that it is going as well as we could hope, and Edie is looking forward to meeting her family and Canadian friends when we come home for a visit at Christmas. That's provided Canada Customs allows her into the country - getting a passport in time is a bit questionable at the moment. If you get a phone call saying that the only way you can see Edie is by visiting her in a quarantine room at the Vancouver airport, you'll know why.

So it's been back to business for me this past week. I've slowly been increasing my time back at the office, even though I can be just about as productive (sometimes more so) when working at home. Although grinding up fish tissues in our front room seems a bit weird. I've been able to get a few papers written which is always nice. Under normal circumstances, I would be in northern Australia right now for our “late dry season” sampling; we have a crew of people up there right now braving 35 degree temperatures every day. Instead, I'm sitting this one out and planning for a big wet season trip in January. Part of the challenge in working in the north during the wet is that there is water everywhere (see pictures at the bottom of this page) - hence you have to helicopter or boat in to the river to do your sampling. Driving in just isn’t an option. So we are planning on chartering a vessel that will sail down from Aurukun or Pormpurraw (two small Aboriginal communities north of Kowanyama) into the Mitchell River, and anchor there for a week while we make forays out onto the floodplain. I’ve been told that we can expect plenty of mosquitoes, extreme heat and humidity, angry crocodiles, and everything that lives on land (e.g. snakes and other crawly things) to be wanting to be on the few patches of dry ground that are available. So that’s what I have to look forward to after a cold December at home.

I must admit that I paid little attention to the recent federal election back home, just enough to realize that nerdy professors (as I hope to be some day) don’t make for good politicians. Kind of reminds me of the Simpsons episode when the intelligentsia (the Mensa crowd) are given the reigns to govern and they make a big mess of it. The Dubyas of the world will always defeat the Al Gores, and the Tanker Malleys will always beat the Harold Fleigers. When people’s brains hang over the room like a cloud, they open the door for someone with a little more charm to connect with the people. Does this mean that Stephen Harper has charm? That might be a bit of a stretch, but I think it is fair to say that he could more easily have a conversation with the average voter out there. So that’s how it is. I am happy for the academics to sit in a corner and grumble about the “popular guy” who has all the power. Seems more natural that way.

The global economic crisis is being felt here as it is everywhere, with plenty of people under mortgage and rent stress, stock market volatility, and growing numbers of families requiring assistance of food banks and other support networks. Australia’s banks, however, are apparently better positioned than those in most countries and hence are expected to be able to weather the credit storm. Perhaps we’ll be hiding out here a little longer than we anticipated! Believe it or not, but the Australian government has no national debt. Read that again – no national debt. Compare this with America’s debt of 10.3 trillion, and Canada’s debt of 450 billion. (Note: this refers to government debt only, not debt in the private sector owed to foreign interests, which turns out to be quite high in Australia). I was shocked when I heard of Australia’s lack of government debt, but apparently prudent spending over the years and the strength of the country’s export market has meant that they have been able to avoid the temptation to overspend. It’s still too early to judge whether their social programs are suffering greatly from it; after all, we were just given amazing (free) care at a public hospital for Edie’s birth. Granted, from what I have read, support for seniors and the unemployed is pretty weak here, so perhaps things aren’t as rosy as they might seem. I will say this though, there is a fully endorsed two-tier health care system here, and I don’t believe the quality of the public system suffers as a result.

These current economic times, combined with our recent life experiences and the book I just finished (The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle) have really got me thinking about family, finances and happiness. In the book, Doyle paints a brilliant picture of 1980s Dublin through the family of Jimmy Rabbitte. Jimmy loses his job, bums around on the dole (pogey as we would call it) for awhile, before finally partnering up with his buddy on a chip wagon. The make decent money for awhile but their friendship suffers as a result. The book is written in several short segments (no chapters), and many of the sections come and go without ever getting resolved. For example, Jimmy listens to his daughter, who had earlier had a child without a father, crying inside her room. He wants to go in, but hesitates at the door and eventually leaves. We never find out why she was crying, but she reappears in other places in the book seemingly in good spirits. There is no happy ending to the book, but it isn't sad either. It just kind of ends. And I think that's the way our lives are these days. Not always getting better, but not bad either, and filled with plenty of enjoyable moments. Our generation was raised on the "American Dream" idea, that there was always going to be improvements to our livelihoods - more money, more opportunities. And to a great degree that is true. We have opportunities our parents never had, including financial stability. But I think we are all starting to realize that there are limitations, and perhaps there isn't always something brighter around the bend. What that means is we need to appreciate the moments of joy when they arrive, much like Jimmy Rabbitte enjoys a pint with his friends, a win by Ireland in the World Cup tournament, or a walk with his granddaughter.