The last three months in a nutshell

My friend Laura recently chided me for not sending out much of a life update lately, and I have 12 days of holiday with nothing planned, so I really have no excuses. Here goes:

Anne is coming in a little over a week for a six-month stay on a working holiday visa. She's still following up on a number of job leads, and shouldn't have trouble with this once she's in the country as summertime is usually a tight job market. I'll have more to post once she's arrived here and is settled in.
We are going to Melbourne at the beginning of March; it will be my first trip out of the country. We'll be there for four days/four nights and I ought to be able to easily fill the time. At this point, it looks like it will be Anne and myself, and 2-3 coworkers including my fellow American co-worker Yee (the one who tragically chose to go to Michigan for her schooling). I am also planning for my first trip back to the States in the fall - I have a pile of friends who have all succumbed to the wedding trend (for shame!). I hope to swing through Seattle for a day or two on my way out (or back, I suppose); more on this as it develops. Garth and my parents will be happy to hear that I am slowly progressing on my master's report over my break; I am going through a bit of a literature review at present and hope to have an approved subject within the month, if I am lucky.

And of course, Orli is up to her normal trouble-making. She hurt her tricep running behind me at the park two weeks ago but recovered quickly - I didn't have to give her the bacon-flavoured anti-inflammatories the vet prescribed (ah, religious dilemma resolved by laziness!). She has got her traditional ear infection back, no doubt from too much time spent chasing driftwood into the waves at the beach. The two of us have discovered trail running in the Port Hills, which are a series of parks just south of the city that form part of the rim of an extinct volcanic crater that collapsed and filled with sea-water. There are some awesome views up in the hills and the running trails go on forever. Orli, however, is being the prissy princess she always was deep down inside. Halfway up the hill on the main trail, there is a water fountain, in the middle of nowhere. Because it's in the middle of nowhere, there is a spout out the bottom with a catch basin to store water that drains out of the water fountain, right at Orli's level. What does she do when we stop for a drink? Right up to the "human level" for sips out of the fountain, naturally. She won't lower herself to drink out of the second class water in the catch basin; what kind of daughter have I raised?!? Next time I'm jogging with my camera, I'll get a picture.

I've also discovered dragon-boating, which is like crew except there are 20 paddlers and your boat is supposed to look like a dragon (or something like that). The caller in front also pounds a drum, so it might be a bit closer to those M&M commercials where they are rowing in the old Greek ship with the evil taskmaster and his whip. Except in this case, the evil taskmaster is my boss and she doesn't have a whip (that I know of). The company sponsors a team against another dozen companies and schools; our first regatta is in February. There are 300m sprints and a 2km slog at the races, so it ought to be interesting. I have only been to one practice and, boy, were my arms and back sore afterwards!

That's all I've got for now, but never fear, I shall post any breaking news as soon as I am able!