1 Ton Post

It's with some pleasure and pride that I find myself writing my 100th post. It's taken 19 months. To be precise, since I left Ottawa on Monday, February 4th, 2008, I make it 84.5 weeks, that's 594 days or 14 256 hours or 855 360 minutes or 51 321 600 seconds. Not a bad length of time. I wish I had some sort of fantastic news so that I could make this a 100th post extravaganza, but I don't. It's been a fairly ordinary week with some tiring schoolwork. In case you're wondering, a "ton" is slang in cricket when someone scores 100 runs.

Earlier in the week a jockeys strike was averted after the Australian Racing Board (ARB) and the Jockeys' Association came to an understanding on the use of the whip. Whip isn't really the right word since the item in question is a soft riding crop that doesn't hurt the horse at all. The ARB issued a directive forbidding the use of the whip in the last 100 meters of the race. The jockeys objected saying it discouraged good racing and threatened to strike. In fact, many races on the Friday before were abandoned as the jockeys to industrial action by refusing to ride in the last few races. However, on Monday the ARB and the Jockey's Association reached an agreement whereby the jockeys can use the whip in the last 100 meters of the race but only in a limited way in the last 200-100 meters. Racing is very important to Australians. Australia is, in fact, the largest racing country in the world with 66 of the world's 139 Class 1 (highest) races are in Australia. A jockeys strike would be very detrimental, especially with the Spring Carnival coming up. Well, at least that mine has been averted.

I had a 6 000-8 000 word international law paper due on Friday. With all the research done it wasn't all that difficult to write, just time consuming. I'm reasonably happy with it but the final word count was 6 667, which, I hope, isn't an omen. Now that it's finished, I find that I feel I should be writing something. I don't have anything else due until October 23rd but for some reason I just can't seem to relax as much as I would have thought. Maybe it just takes time.

Today I took part in the annual Field Umpires vs. Boundary Umpires aussie rules game. As a goal umpire, I had the option of choosing my team and I signed up with the Field Umpires. I was placed on our back line as a defender. The game didn't start out too well for the Fieldies but we eventually pulled ahead and won by 8 points. I had a reasonably good game with some good tackles and one pretty good mark. Afterwards there was a barbeque, another Australian tradition. There's only one more function this year, the Association Dinner sometime in October, then it's nothing until February.

Speaking of relaxing, I have good cause to celebrate as "the mid-semester" break is on after this coming week. It's hard to call it a mid-semester break since it occurs 10 weeks into a 13 week semester. The reason, you ask? It lines up with the ACT public school holidays. If you're generous, you could say that it makes sense since it allows people with children at university and the sub-tertiary system to take their holidays together; it's just practically easier. If you're cynical you would say that it's so that professors with children not at university don't have to take time off for their vacations. Whatever the reason, many complain that it's physically and mentally draining and that it's simply stupid to have a semester that's 10 weeks on, 2 weeks off, 3 weeks on, and then exams. In fact, I understand that the University of Canberra has their break in the 7th week, exactly like the 1st semester. There was some hope ANU would change its policy for 2010 but I checked next year's schedule and nothing along those lines has changed. The fight continues.

For the 1st part of the break of the break I'll be visiting the Motykas in Newcastle. It has been so very long since we've seen each other and I suggested that, if convenient, I should visit them for a weekend, and they agreed. I look forward to seeing them again since they're all so interesting and so much fun. It'll be good to get out of Canberra and go somewhere with 30C heat. I'm not kidding, it's been that hot already in Newcastle and Sydney.