My Get Out of the Damned House activity for yesterday was to go to Ikea. I've never been before, but they opened a store here in Canberra last week, so I thought I'd go check it out to see what the big deal was.
It took me about an hour to get through the store. I don't think I saw it all, but I saw most of it. I think. I didn't go in the restaurant, because the menu didn't look that great, and there were queues. Long queues. To eat in a giant furniture store. Fuck. That.
I was surprised by the number of people out there. I knew there were big crowds when it opened, but I thought that mid-day on a Tuesday would be a pretty safe bet. That's the way it seems to work at Costco. But not at Ikea. Maybe it's too new. Maybe it's more popular. I have no idea, but there were a lot of people there. Not crazy-crowded, but it took a while to find a place to park, and it wouldn't have taken too many more people inside before it started to feel uncomfortably crowded.
I guess I can see the appeal. They sell a lot of stuff. And the prices seemed pretty good. I don't shop for that kind of stuff to know for sure, but from what I've heard, they sell stuff cheap. Or they sell cheap stuff, however you want to look at it.
And I guess I had an idea about what Ikea furniture looked like. That there was a certain Ikea style that I'd easily recognize. So I was surprised by the variety. And by the fact that I wouldn't mind having some of it in our house. I didn't buy anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if I bought something the next time I go.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Out on the Town - Summer 2015
A couple of days ago I wrote about using various online event services (like EventBrite) to find out what's going on in town and getting out and doing stuff. I'm looking for things to do because I don't work in the summer, and this is going to be the year that I don't just sit around in my underwear trying to catch up on all the television I've missed over the last twenty years.
So last night I went to the first event I'd found. The John Gee Memorial Lecture. Yes, I go to public lectures. One of the many ways my nerd flag flies. The topic of the lecture was Australia and the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. I have to admit, this is not a topic I think or care about much, except in the general sense that I grew up during the last decades of the Cold War, with a real fear that I (and pretty much everybody else on the planet) might end up dead in a horrifyingly stupid act of mutually-assured thermonuclear destruction. So, you know, I'm not a big fan of weapons of mass destruction, and I think it's a good thing that people are actively working to stop (or at least slow down) their creation, proliferation, and use.
The lecture was given by Peter Varghese, currently the Secretary of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and previously (among other things) the Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (an intelligence agency that reports directly to the Prime Minister). Honestly, I don't remember too much about what he said. A lot of it was fairly general stuff about the threats posed by WMDs, the history of Australia's (and John Gee, in particular) role in establishing treaties, international agreements, etc. I hadn't realized that an Australian had been so prominent in the efforts to create the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Other tidbits of information that I picked up over the course of the evening was that there may be more support (among diplomacy/strategy/defense/intelligence types, not necessarily the general public) for the establishment of nuclear waste storage facilities here in Australia, as well as for the development of nuclear-powered submarines. I don't think it was mentioned, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the same people in favor of these things also supported the creation of a nuclear power industry here.
Again, growing up during the Cold War, and the events at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc., I guess I'm fairly anti-nuclear. But I have to admit, I'm not sure that my views on it all are particularly well-informed or based on a rational understanding of the pros and cons. Given my interest in future development, including post-fossil fuel energy, it might be something I need to look into a little more.
So even though it wasn't really my scene, it was an interesting peek into an area that I don't really know much about. It was a reminder that the ANU (the Australian National University, my employer) is deeply involved in the diplomacy, intelligence, international affairs, strategic/defense arenas. And it was cool to see and listen to the ANU Chancellor, Gareth Evans, who was the Foreign Minister of the Keating Government when I first moved to Australia. There's always something to learn when you're in a room with a couple hundred smart, knowledgeable, experienced people, no matter what the topic might be.
Oh, and the wine (I had a glass of cab sav) was nice, and the food (sushi, flat bread with hummus, quiche, etc) looked fine too, but I didn't eat any since I was having dinner right after.
So last night I went to the first event I'd found. The John Gee Memorial Lecture. Yes, I go to public lectures. One of the many ways my nerd flag flies. The topic of the lecture was Australia and the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. I have to admit, this is not a topic I think or care about much, except in the general sense that I grew up during the last decades of the Cold War, with a real fear that I (and pretty much everybody else on the planet) might end up dead in a horrifyingly stupid act of mutually-assured thermonuclear destruction. So, you know, I'm not a big fan of weapons of mass destruction, and I think it's a good thing that people are actively working to stop (or at least slow down) their creation, proliferation, and use.
The lecture was given by Peter Varghese, currently the Secretary of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and previously (among other things) the Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (an intelligence agency that reports directly to the Prime Minister). Honestly, I don't remember too much about what he said. A lot of it was fairly general stuff about the threats posed by WMDs, the history of Australia's (and John Gee, in particular) role in establishing treaties, international agreements, etc. I hadn't realized that an Australian had been so prominent in the efforts to create the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Other tidbits of information that I picked up over the course of the evening was that there may be more support (among diplomacy/strategy/defense/intelligence types, not necessarily the general public) for the establishment of nuclear waste storage facilities here in Australia, as well as for the development of nuclear-powered submarines. I don't think it was mentioned, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the same people in favor of these things also supported the creation of a nuclear power industry here.
Again, growing up during the Cold War, and the events at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc., I guess I'm fairly anti-nuclear. But I have to admit, I'm not sure that my views on it all are particularly well-informed or based on a rational understanding of the pros and cons. Given my interest in future development, including post-fossil fuel energy, it might be something I need to look into a little more.
So even though it wasn't really my scene, it was an interesting peek into an area that I don't really know much about. It was a reminder that the ANU (the Australian National University, my employer) is deeply involved in the diplomacy, intelligence, international affairs, strategic/defense arenas. And it was cool to see and listen to the ANU Chancellor, Gareth Evans, who was the Foreign Minister of the Keating Government when I first moved to Australia. There's always something to learn when you're in a room with a couple hundred smart, knowledgeable, experienced people, no matter what the topic might be.
Oh, and the wine (I had a glass of cab sav) was nice, and the food (sushi, flat bread with hummus, quiche, etc) looked fine too, but I didn't eat any since I was having dinner right after.
Friday, November 20, 2015
What's Happening in Canberra? Online Event Guides Help Me Find Things to Do
Now that I'm about to start my last day of work for the year, I've started looking around for things to do around town over the summer. EventBrite has a lot more event listings than in previous years, but there are still a lot of things going on that aren't included. So I thought I'd put together a list of all the different websites that have information about what's going on in Canberra.
EventBrite
EventFinda
Eventful
EventsACT
I suspect there are more, but these are a good start.
EventBrite
EventFinda
Eventful
EventsACT
I suspect there are more, but these are a good start.
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