July 29, 2010

It's yet another Thursday morning, and I am back at my 'office'; a table in the Main Library of the University of Canterbury. I've had better working situations, but I've also had worse. There's lots of natural light, and the wireless is more-or-less dependable. It also gives me lots of opportunity to people-watch, an activity which provides me with endless entertainment.

I usually work in the library until about 2:00 or so, then go for a coffee ("cup of flat white" as they say here in NZ). Sometimes, Shelley will join me for coffee, but often I'll just take a paper to read. There are several cafe's on campus, but I almost always go to the busiest one; Cafe 101, near the Biology department.

Today, I am trying to finish off a manuscript on leaf litter inputs to streams. This was the first study of my post-doctoral project at UBC, and it is pretty much completed. Shelley reviewed it for me, which was helpful. Just a little writing, and a little more editing, then it'll be ready to go.

There is a man getting a tattoo in the library today, about 20m from where I am sitting. It is Maori Language Week, and he is getting a Maori-style arm tattoo. People stop and watch for a few moments as they walk by, but it is a strangely voyeuristic experience to watch a stranger getting tattooed.

I bought a used road bike this week. I bought it using the website TradeMe (like a NZ version of EBay), and paid $53 for it. It's a fairly old road bike, and needs a little work. Hopefully it'll be worth it. It seems like a good steel frame, although it is a little heavy.

I went climbing this week, for the first time in months. My physiotherapist has told me that I need to start to resume more rigorous physical activity, or my recovery from my neck injury may falter. He's instructed me to start climbing once a week (at least), and so I went to the YMCA wall and did some roped climbing (no hitting the ground, unlike bouldering). I only did some easy climbing (5.9s and 5.10s), but it was fun. I hope to resume swimming as well - if I can get in decent swimming shape by early summer (October) I'm planning on taking surfing lessons. When in Rome...

More later! Take care,

Trent.