Well, as I predicted, I haven’t had time to post the last few days because of assignments. But I did manage to get my Climate Change research essay done on Sunday night at 2am (I didn’t actually start on it till 2 in the afternoon, even though it meant that I had to wait to do the lab report that was also due until Monday afternoon. I love how Aussie lecturers often handle due dates, they let you hand it in anytime until 5pm! It’s great! Back home it’s almost always “at the beginning of class.” Monday evening was spent mostly working on a lab report for Weather & Climate that was due Wednesday. On Tuesday I did all the usual fun stuff with Christian Union — Campus Bible Talks, hanging out in the Den, growth groups and evangelism training (plus supper), with an interlude of “studying” (i.e. sleeping) in the library for an hour or two somewhere in there. After CU in the evening, I came back and studied Fluid Dynamics for a bit since I had a test coming up in it today. I really had no idea what to expect on the test, but I did alright. I didn’t ace it, but I didn’t fail it either.
My spirits were really lifted when I got back to my room after the Fluids test, and I saw that the Twins had beaten the hated Yankees 2-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS!! Go Twins! This Saturday midday (Friday night in American time) I might have to find a sports bar somewhere that’ll be broadcasting Game 3 from the super-noisy Metrodome. Man, I wish I could be at that game, it’s gonna be rockin! By the time I get done with class tomorrow, hopefully the Twins will have won Game 2 as well.
Most of my evening has been spent fiddling with ecto, the program I use to post these entries and upload photos one at a time into the posts to make them look cooler. I’ve been having issues with it the last two-three weeks, but I finally got everything working again tonight, so I went back and put photos in the past few posts of mine, check em out.
In some exciting news, the X Prize has been won at last! Now that a private group has built a ship that can go back and forth to space, it will be exciting to watch space tourism take shape in the coming years. And what’s the issue that could wind up tipping Saturday’s Australian elections to incumbent Prime Minister and US-ally John Howard? Tasmania’s forests. Yesterday Labor party challenger Mark Latham announced his plan, which basically was to ban logging almost everywhere, and he was criticized by just about everyone except the Greens for that policy. I mean, it seems to really have damaged Latham, and he was already narrowly behind Howard in the polls. Howard came out with his counter-plan today, which is aimed at saving timber-industry jobs, and I think that will resonate more with voters here, as the economy (which is actually doing quite well) is the #1 issue, which benefits Howard. Back in America, the Vice Presidential debate happened this afternoon (Aussie time), and it seems like Cheney won that round. As Jonathan Goldberg put it in the conclusion of his column, “If I inhale some asbestos, Edwards is my guy. If I want someone to ‘stand up’ democratic regimes in the Middle East and obliterate jihadist terrorist groups, I’ll go with Cheney.” And is Iran on the cusp of revolution, and throwing off the shackles of the Islamofascist totalitarian regime of the mullahs? It’s looking more and more that way, and let’s hope the people do successfully revolt and form a democratic government.