Being here is great, and I am truly loving what is happening down here.  It’s an awesome experience and I’m so glad it’s happening… I just wish it didn’t take me away for so long, so far from home.  I am looking forward now to going home, and it’s really coming up quickly.  That said, I have really missed a big chunk of time when it comes to someone whose whole life is still measured in months.  I have two nephews, Sam and Isaac.  I’ve never even seen Isaac with my own eyes.  I don’t know what he’s like either.  I’m looking forward to finding out over Christmas.  With Sam I’m a little more familiar and I am sad for not being able to spend time with him this year.

Before I left, I took care of him at my place one afternoon and we played around with the camera.  He couldn’t talk at the time, but clearly knew what was going on.  I also like to think that at the beginning of the first video he says “Picture” when the camera comes out.  Who knows.  I do know he remembered being there, even after I was gone.  I’m looking forward to talking with him, which will be a totally new experience for me.  I watch these videos sometimes when I’m missing him and it never fails to make me smile.

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Tags: Life, Video by David Graff
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I have recently added a clock on the right side of my page here that shows two date-and-times.  It’s pretty obvious what they are.  The reason I put this up is because I am acutely aware of this time of my life as a fixed period.  There is a start date and an end date to all this, and it’s coming up one second at a time.  I have often thought this of many situations I have been in, both good and bad, so I wanted a way to show time slip from one side of the present to the other.  A river of time, and me stuck on a bridge spanning it, watching it pass below.

It was apparently also on minds at Cambridge who made this clock.  Mind you, mine cost slightly less than their quoted $2 Million pricetag (How the heck does that even happen?).  I understand Stephen Hawking presented the clock as part of his theoretical commitment that the forward movement of time is inevitable. I just presented mine myself. I kept that article and a video showing the clock behind this link.

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Tags: Internet, Life, Tech, Uncategorized, Video by David Graff
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I received a letter from the Australian Red Cross yesterday, letting me know my blood group. I also got a very flashy and stylish donor card. All the kids want one.

I don’t know what blood type they need most, but A+ is one of the more common. It’s one test that I can always count on a good grade anyways… unless I end up like this girl.

Tags: Life by David Graff
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Tonight is Sunday night and I’m home to watch another lightning storm, after a hot sunny day.  The usual ritual of playing footy way across the river is now over.  Last week was the final and in good Gallstones’ style we finished the way we played the whole season.  Consistent.  It was lots of fun and it felt like we all really put in a good effort.  There were a few rule changes that made it a little more fun as well.  There were some pictures taken, and I’ll see if I can get a hold of some of them.

All in all I’m happy to have had the fun we did and it was perfect to get out and stretch a little.  Next is a month at the desk.

Tags: Life by David Graff
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I spent today at the beach, which was pretty great cause it’s starting to get hot enough.  It was even a bit too hot.  Anyways, most of the time was spent just lying there reading and talking about our exams etc.  It was good to get out of the house.

There also was some pretty crazy lightning in the distance, but it didn’t really do much close by.  It was hitting pretty fast, but a lot of it was behind the clouds.  I took a clip of it and you can see it after the link.

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Tags: Australia, Beaches, Uncategorized, Video by David Graff
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I have been trying out the Mike- and Brian-inspired couch study.  It has not been progressing at the rate that is necessary, so it’s back to the desk, and even after just a day, I already feel more productive.  It’s only about 5 weeks till the exam, which means there’s no time to mess around.  I am pretty apprehensive about the upcoming assessment, which includes an exam on just this half of the year, and then another cumulative exam.

The part that concerns me and has been in the back of my mind since forever it feels like is the ethics essay.  There is a section of our program called “Ethics and Professional Practice”.  It’s really medical law.  Which means Acts, Cases and a whole lot about some chick named Regina.

Tags: Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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I thought it would be life as normal down here, and that the time change would only be a slightly annoying thing, where our watches would read differently, but otherwise not impact my life.  That is not true.  The time separation, arguably as much as the physical, is annoying me.  By the time I have come home from whatever wonderful adventure I have been on for the day, all my friends and family are sleeping.  I get emails from them at 3 am (I love the emails, don’t let this deter anyone, and they don’t come through on my phone till I’m awake).  It just highlights that we are on almost opposite clocks.

It’s a bit funny, and really it’s normal I suppose.  I don’t think about the time all over the world when I’m at home.  Or at least I didn’t really before this.  I’m sure I will now, being so much more involved here.  But when I’m here, I am acutely aware of the time all over the world.

Tags: Life by David Graff
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It’s today, right now as a matter of fact.  In North America it’s Saturday.  It’s weird that it’s actually been that long, but in some ways it feels so much longer.  So much has transpired, and I have come so far, literally and figuratively.  This is one of those punctuations of life that stand out in the timeline, both looking forward and backward.

It’s too bad that I’m not home for it, cause a lot of the people there would be great to see, it’s been many years for some of them.  Many have families or careers that seem to defy the time since 98.  I regret not being there, but this is pretty good too.  Christmas is soon, and I will see many of them then.

Here today it is really a perfect day.  The sun is gaining heat, and it feels like summer is coming back.  Yesterday was insanely windy, but today it’s clear and calm.

Tags: Life by David Graff
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Every now and then songs stand out to me, as I’m sure they do to everyone.  I thought I would make a way to share them here so I can remember what music impacted me and what I was listening to over time.

This song stuck me at the beginning of the year, as it highlights a central tenet of the philosophy by which I conduct my life.

Click the blue triangle to have a listen.

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Tags: Life, Music by David Graff
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Google’s StreetView is causing a little bit of a stir for some privacy freaks in Australia… If you’ve never seen it before, you can basically see what a street looks like over the internet… just look at the google maps link to the right to see what my street looks like.  You’ll have to click the Street View link on the top right.

Australia seems like a strange target for Google to roll this out.  I honestly don’t know why they did it here before Canada, but what do I know?

This is the front of my apartment building.  It’s a little off on the address with the maps, but the addresses are approximate it says.

Tags: Australia, Life, Photos by David Graff
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