Some news from Oz

Howdy folks ! Sorry I haven't been feeding you much news recently, the fact is I don't have internet at home yet (and I am not too keen on spending much personal internet time at the lab).
So I am pretty much settled in my new appartment. It is in Toowong, which is between the city center and the University. It's a pretty cool place, I am next to a shopping center, giant liquor store, and other shops. The citycat ferry is about a 4 minute walk from my appartment and there is a large park and rugby field in front. Our place is quite small but clean and recent (plus we have a dishwasher!). We have a small yard with a garden and a garage. There is a mom and baby brushtail possum camping in our garage, but they aren't fussy roomates :)

Last week I was awarded the best australian scholarship for overseas students, the University of Queensland Research Scholarship and the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Basically, its the same amount for the living stipend as the Institute for Molecular Bioscience's scholarship but paid by the University instead of the Institute. Also, the government is paying my tuition fees instead of my boss, who has had all his grants approved last week (Bling!).

With the risk of hypocrisy, I am wary to inform you that I will most likely be the owner of a Mac book pro. Although I still strongly disapprove of Mac's capitalistic perversion, their most recent lineup of macbooks are quite impressive from technical, functional, and design viewpoints. Also, the fact that 80% of people in the lab use one in conjunction with their UNIX-based operating system is quite appealing (especially since it runs many PC-based programs and even games now). The 2.8 GHz Macbook Pro retails aroung 4500$ here.

Cocerning life in Brisbane, it freaking rocks. It's going to be hard leaving this city. I went on a "hike" up the second tallest Glass House mountain this week-end; it was more of a mild rock climbing trip than hiking. Some bits would have been safer with a rope, but it was an aweosme workout.
The Aussie dollar is really low these days, which was fun for my arrival as I was using Canadian funds. However things will get tricky once I get paid in Aussie funds :S

Cheers mates, hope to hear from you soon!
(I will try and post the best pictures from each month on Picasa or something, to be continued...)