Reflection on the week

It ended up being quite a busy week for me, work-wise. So hardly anything blog-worthy happened or was photographed. But here are a few interesting tidbits from my week:

• After seeing the story about the kangaroo scrotum souvenirs, I did a little research into the kangaroo culling practices here. It turns out, only city-folk and gawky foreigners like us are enchanted with kangaroos. To most Australians, they are a pest, and in fact, are considered by many farmers to be Enemy #1. (Yes, I too was surprised that spot wasn't taken by giant crocodiles.) So the government pays people to routinely cull the wild kangaroo population, which is where things like kangaroo scrotum souvenirs and kangaroo meat in the supermarkets come from. Incidentally, kangaroo meat is incredibly nutritious: very high protein and around 2% fat. Anyway, kangaroo culling is controversial, as you might imagine, but it's a practice I didn't even know existed until now. This short article about it was very good, if you find this topic as interesting as I do.
• I was asked by an Australian friend to explain the concept of chicken-fried steak. I struggled to come up with a description that would make it sound anything other than completely over-the-top and a stereotypical American take on food.
• It's consistently staying cool during the days here now. That means mid-fifties in the mornings and low-seventies as the high. For Sydney-siders, this means coats and scarves. For cafes, this means dragging out the heaters and putting blankets out. I know some Tennessee Swedes who would laugh heartily at this.

• On the subject of cool weather, one of my co-workers came to work wearing shorts one day. I overheard this exchange between him and another co-worker:

"Dude! Shorts?!?"

"Yeah...I can't find my jeans."

And that sums up so much about working with brilliant developers.

 

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