New job

If I walk 15 minutes to the south and east, I can catch bus 630, which runs straight to campus every 12 minutes. My 15 minute walk is through a pleasant suburban area, with homes smaller and more densely packed than those we left behind, but worth about four times as much money. The neighborhoods seem nice here.  And the bus has always been about 90% full.

Campus is lovely. Before, I was bothered a little by the fact that the buildings are mostly blocks, with a few modern steel-and-glass buildings thrown into the mix. But this time I am impressed by the number of trees. I walk from the bus stop through a dense garden of trees, which open out into a community garden, and a grassy area. There, where the eucalypts are larger and more open, lives a family of rainbow lorikeets. They're too high to see clearly, but each morning and afternoon I hear them screaming at each other in pure joy. How can you not be happy with lorikeets?

I have a large empty office all my own, with my name on the door. Eventually I'll fill it up with books, but right now the books are all on a boat somewhere on their way to China (literally!). The office has large windows facing north. My view is mostly a roof and then, beyond, a car park. But it's nice to have a big window rather than a tiny slit in the corner as in my office at Good Old Dudes U. I think the size of my office is about the same, and here that isn't special.

I've filled out a lot of forms. Forms and compliance training and forms and forms. It took a few tries to get access to the web server, so I can build a new professional webpage, but that's now ready to go. My first paycheck has already been issued. It ended up in limbo in an office on the opposite corner of campus. It turns out it takes about 30 minutes to walk to the very far corner of campus. I hope I don't need to walk there very frequently.

I attended a couple of undergraduate classes today, hoping to learn something about the culture of undergraduate classes. How do they compare with those in the US? Do the students ask questions? Or sit silently? Does the professor lecture only? Or throw in a mix of activities? The classes seemed very similar to what I know. Very similar. So with relief I can report that the adjustment to teaching, when I have to make that adjustment next February or March, won't be a huge adjustment after all. That is another good thing in a list of good things.

On Friday, I caught the train up to the city center, to attend a seminar at Melbourne Uni and speak with a couple of colleagues there. While sitting in the seminar room, with about 20 other people, learning about quantum invariants, looking out at a winter gray sky, I felt a very strong feeling of contentment. What could be better than August in Melbourne in a knot theory seminar?

Life is good, reader. In spite of the fact that payroll is a 30 minute walk from my building. Life is very good.