Vacation Departure Day

I was so excited last night I could barely sleep.  Vacation is here!

Right now I’m sitting in the rather spartan JetStar domestic terminal at the Melbourne airport waiting for my flight to be called for Cairns.  I must say, air travel in Australia is vastly more pleasant than in the states.  First of all, everyone in the airport is nice and cheerful; unlike American airline employees, these people seem to realize they actually don’t have the worst jobs in the world.  For instance, I was two kilos over my 15 kg checked baggage limit, and the woman at the counter saved me $30 by telling me to move stuff into my carry-on, and waited patiently while I shuffled my beach towel and two boxes of matzo from my duffel into my backpack.  (To be honest, it doesn’t make any sense to me to have to do that since it all ends up weighing down the plane the same, but I appreciated her advice nonetheless.)  She wished me a nice flight and I want on my way.

Then there was security, which took all of one minute.  They basically asked me if I had any aerosols, slid my bag and laptop through the machine, and I was off.  I didn’t even have to take off my shoes.  Oddly, I have not been asked for my passport once, which is actually a bit disconcerting.  Still, It’s nice to not be treated like a terrorist at the airport.

Ben’s flight lands an hour before mine, so he should be waiting for me at the airport in Cairns.  We’ll have to rush to the hostel and then straight to the seder, and then our adventure begins!

Have a happy Passover or Easter or whatever you’re celebrating this week!  I’ll do my best to post whenever I have internet, but don’t hold your breath.

Melbourne Comedy Festival

Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be writing my papers.  But I got an invite (and a free ticket--who could pass that up?) to a comedy performance tonight, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that's going on right now, so I went.  All part of the "try everything" game.  The guy's name was Andrew McClelland, and his show was called "One Man Stand."  My friend Ariel (from my Welcome group) took a comedy workshop with him last week, and he got four free tickets out of it, so he invited me to tag along.  It's always good to have a laugh when you're supposed to be hard at work.

The "One Man Stand" consisted of a series of short acts of "different" comedians, all played by Andrew.  Irish, "bogan" (a sort of halfway-derogatory 'white trash' term), fat American capitalist, Richard Dawkins, etc.;  some were better than others, but I was smiling through the whole thing regardless.  My favorite was one where he impersonated a soviet communist comedian--it's funnier than it sounds.  The gig went on for about an hour; unfortunately, a lot of the Australian history/pop culture references went over my head, but I could stil tell they were funny (so I laughed).  The performance was in the Council Chambers at Melbourne Town Hall, which was pretty cool because I got to sit in a big leather politician-style chair.

There are a few big international names here, like Wanda Sykes, but I won't be around to see any of them.  Oh well, that's what YouTube is for.

If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter...

3,300 words, 31 footnotes--done.  I finally finished my Science and Society paper.  It was supposed to be 2,000 words, but by the time I had collected all my sources I had so much to say.  When I asked the professor how much outside research she was expecting, she told me 'nine sources should suffice' (for a midterm!), all the while insisting this was not a research paper.  As the saying goes, "if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter."  (I tell students this at the writing center all the time.)  In the end I think I scraped together a halfway decent paper, although I'm a bit nervous because I'm still not quite sure what she's expecting.

Long story short, this paper was a bitch, especially considering I still have a 1000-word paper and a group poster project to finish in the next four days.  I wrote about the integration of science, industry, and entrepreneurship and how that transformed science from being an academic "calling" to a "job" or a business."  Now that's all pretty boring, I admit, but it did get me really excited about the prospect of someday starting my own engineering business.

So, coincidentally, now that it's time to choose courses for next semester at Princeton, I've decided to enroll in a 400-level entrepreneurship class called (...surprise!...) "High-Tech Entrepreneurship," which introduces the methods of forming a business plan and giving birth to a high-tech startup.  Now if only I had a clever idea I'd be well on my way to becoming a millionaire...

The other classes I'm taking next semester are statistics (probably not all that exciting, but tremendously useful), Engineering Design for Sustainable Development (designing LEED and such--shouldn't be too revolutionary for me), and Engineering in the Modern World (the engineering history class I've always wanted to take but could never fit into my schedule; I might elect pass/fail if the other classes end up being very time consuming).  I know I'm only halfway through my semester here, but I'm already getting excited for next year!  (Again, reaching one of my goals for this Australian adventure.)

So, T-minus four days until I fly up to Cairns for passover and scuba diving.  The seder is confirmed, 5-day scuba course is booked, hostel is reserved, campervan is hired; all is looking good.  Well, except we have no idea where we're going...

Many pictures and stories to come.  Things to look forward to:

• Scuba diving, of course.  The 5-day program includes two days learning in a pool, then a three-day/two-night live-aboard trip on a 30-something person boat where we finish our PADI open water certification with four training dives then have five more pleasure dives, including one at night!  Each dive is about a half hour, I think, so it's going to be a ton of fun.  Yes, you should be jealous.
• Ben and I attempting to drive 1,500 miles in a campervan (basically a minivan with a bed instead of back seats and a kitchenette instead of a trunk) on the LEFT side of the road.  And I'll have to get used to shifting with my left hand; the clutch is still on the same side, but shifter will be on the left.  Might take some getting used to.  Hopefully we'll bring the van back with some clutch left. (I don't think Ben has driven stick before, although he's pretty mechanical like me so I anticipate he'll pick it up quickly.)  I'm going to be the one to drive off the lot, so hopefully I don't stall and make us look like fools.  Again, you should be jealous.
• Many beaches, cliffs, sights, islands... Byron bay, Fraser island, to name a few.  We still have to figure that part out.  For [not] the last time, you should be jealous.
• Possibly best spring break ever.

Essay crunch, and some thoughts on Passover

I've spent a good part of the last week pent up in my apartment researching and outlining my midterm essay for Science and Society (you know, the one I complained horribly about in my last post).  As expected, organizing my (and other people's) ideas on the virtue and authority of academic, industrial, and entrepreneurial scientists is turning out to be quite tedious.  But I am determined to finish this (and my other two assignments) up so I can have an enjoyable and exciting vacation (a.k.a. Passover).

Anyways, I thought I would use this moment of procrastination to share a few of my Passover-related thoughts...

First of all, this will be the third year in a row in which I have not been in Delray Beach for the chag.  In all sincerity, this has been--and continues to be--a really hard thing for me.  Not because I'll miss out on the sun and the beach and the pool (believe me, there will be plenty of that here), but because I will miss the family seders.  Spending the past two passovers at Princeton has solidified that all-too-true song lyric "don't know what you got 'till it's gone."  Despite my various efforts to recreate it--at the CJL, Chabad, and Rabbi Wolkenfeld's house--there is nothing like the Miller/Greenberg/Abrams Florida family seder, period.  (I must say, Rabbi Wolkenfeld's seders were the closest I got.  The fact that they lasted until 2am without anyone at the table noticing how late it was is, in my mind, sufficient confirmation of the Bnei Brak story, despite the fact that we weren't reclining in a cave.)  I can't exactly put a finger on it, but there is something really special about our seders--the way we really engage with the stories, the way we all participate, our special customs, the list goes on (and oh yea, the brisket).

As my friends back in Princeton will attest, I tend to be down and irritable for the majority of those eight days.  It's a shame, really, because passover is meant to be a festival.  In the past I have blamed it on hunger, claiming that the scarcity of kosher-for-passover food on campus gave me perpetually low blood sugar, but truthfully that's bogus because I ate more on passover than any other week of the year.  Reflecting back on those two years of missed seders, I know the real reason I was upset was because I missed Florida--I missed my family and our traditions.

Now, despite the certain reality that I will miss the Floridian passover, there some comfort in knowing that this year will probably be the most interesting passover I've ever had.  A seder in Cairns, a stones throw from the Great Barrier Reef...that should be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Ben and I have promised to make it as meaningful as an experience as possible, and to make passover an important theme in our trip.  Granted, I know scuba diving and 1500 miles of pristine Australian coastline in a campervan isn't exactly the same as a 40-year trek through the desert.

As we all know, the central theme of passover is freedom.  This year I will be thinking about freedom in new ways, including a new appreciation of my the freedom to travel, explore, meet new people, and try new things.  I will keep our family in mind as I try to bring our traditions to the other side of the planet. And I will thoroughly enjoy my four glasses of fine Australian wine.

But I still have one question... do I lean to the opposite side in Australia?

Academic Update

So apparently I came to Australia to study... who knew?  I must admit it wouldn't be hard to get the impression from my recent posts that I've been too busy having massive amounts of fun to go to class, but rest assured I get up every morning (except Friday!) and go to my subjects, so tuition is well spent in that regard.  Anyway, I got a request to give an update on how school is coming along, and I decided this would be as good a time as ever to really reflect on how my expectations are panning out in the classroom.  So thanks, mom.

To make a long story short, by and large only one of my classes is really meeting my expectations.  This is both good and bad, as you will see, as some subjects have grown on me while others have proven wildly tedious or boring.  I guess the most logical way to go about describing this flip-flop is to go subject-by-subject.

1. ERTH10001 -- The Global Environment is the only class so far that is what I expected it to be: the lectures are really interesting.  From day one, despite my complaints about the rather fundamental level at which this course is taught, I've learned new things in every lecture.  And, as my trip to the Great Ocean Road proved, this stuff is actually pretty relevant.  To be quite honest, I think I could do pretty well learning this subject on my own with just the textbook and lecture slides, but I choose to go to class because I am genuinely interested.  That's a good sign, people.  The one complaint I have, though, is that the practicals are a bit silly--I can't explain exactly why, but they feel more like middle school science class than a university-level lab period.  Still, this is my favorite class this semester.
2. ELEN90055 -- Control Systems is turning out to be both more manageable and more interesting that I presumed it would be.  When I went to the professor before the semester started and he went over all the things that were meant to be "review" at the beginning of the course, I was terrified because I hadn't heard of most of the topics.  He reassured me that I would be fine, and I am because it turns out I know most of the review stuff already, I've just never learned them in this context before.  So the first few weeks have been pretty interesting, and I've gotten the impression that control systems actually matter in the world of engineering.  The pace is starting to pick up, though, and the material is getting harder, so I think my initial nervousness might have been justified, after all.  Only time will tell, though.  I have two complaints with this course:
1. sometimes it seems like the professor thinks we're bumbling idiots and spends nonsensical amounts of time explaining basic algebra (i.e. the quadratic equation), while other times he breezes through more complex concepts
2. this is more of an evaluation/comparison of American vs. Australian modes of instruction, but there has been very little in the way of ensuring we are understanding the material because there are no weekly problems sets.  I never though I would say this, and any Princeton MAE would probably gape at me like I'm a fool if I did, but I think I prefer the weekly psets.  They take a shit load of time, I admit, but they are a surefire method of assessing my understanding.  Doing well in this course is going to require a lot more independent studying.  That being said, now is as good a time as ever to practice that useful real-world skill, especially since these grades won't count towards my GPA.
3. HPSC30023 -- Science and Society, I have to admit, is a let-down.  HPSC stands for "History and Philosophy of Science," but in my opinion, there's way too much P and not enough H.  So far we've seen very few case studies.  What we have done is sit through a bunch of monotonous, open-ended, and overly theoretical lectures.  We've also read a thoroughly dry and tediously academic book about the scientist's relationship with society.  Now, normally I would just skip the reading altogether with a book like this, but I won't be able to do that because I have to write 2,000 words on it for the midterm.
   Speaking of those 2,000 words, today in tutorial we discussed the essay topics.  One of them asks us to summarize the author's main claims and describe the evidence he uses.  One of my classmates aptly pointed out that the question does not explicitly ask for an argument, so she asked the tutor if one was expected.  To put a long story short, he didn't answer.  He kept saying something ridiculous like, "if you explain what you're doing, then that's your argument.  So if you say 'I'm going to summarize the author,' then you've made an argument."  What?  Not to sound like an ass, but I've seen literally dozens of these types of essays at the writing center, and 99% of the time the teacher is, in fact, asking you to develop an argument.  That's what a thesis is.  Without one, you have not written an essay!  And considering we're not being asked to make shoebox dioramas anymore, I can't imagine a book report would be anywhere near acceptable.  I'm rambling.  I suggested to the tutor--who, by the way, doesn't grade the papers--that the word "describe" in the question might be an invitation to critique or evaluate the author's contentions and evidence, not just summarize them, and hence develop a thesis.  His next move was clever... while cautioning us not to include anything in our essays that is not asked for in the question (wtf, I know) lest we incur a terrible mark, he also subtly adopted my suggestion to the point where by the end of the class he told us we should talk about which of the authors points are stronger or weaker than others.  As you might imagine, I started to get pretty frustrated.  This guy has a PhD and everything, and he's offending all of my Princeton Writing sensibilities, telling third-year university students to write like we're in fifth grade.  I'll have to go to the professor, who does mark the essays, to clear this all up.
   Anyways, it's too bad this class is sucking, because I had always wanted to take something like this.  But I won't let one bad apple spoil the bunch.
4. AUST20001 -- Australia and America is a mixed bag, but overall I'd say I'm enjoying the course.  The lectures are awful; the professor has an impossible monotone, and sounds more like he's reading an essay than giving a lecture (in fact, I think he is reading a script).  Since they're all recorded, and the slides are online, I see no reason to continue going.  (Sorry, mom, I know you would rather I didn't say that.)
   The tutorials for this class, on the other hand, are really interesting.  There's a pretty good mix of Australians and Americans, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, and that provides fodder for some interesting comments.  I'm learning a lot about Australian historical and contemporary issues, which I expected from the outset.  What I didn't expect, though, was how much I'd be learning about Americans.  Also, the class is pretty easy.

So, there are two weeks left before the break.  In that time, since I won't be around for two weeks after, I have to write two essays, prepare a group poster, and study for a midterm.  Pardon, the expression, but shit is hitting the fan.  Now this would probably be a typical (or maybe even light) midterm load at Princeton, but what makes it difficult here is that it's taking me a really long time to get back into serious student mode.  I thought I would be able to just flip the "get on your game and focus" switch, but it's turing out to be more of a slowly turning knob.  And I'm nowhere near full volume.  All the fun I'm having definitely isn't helping.  I've got to kick it up a notch.

The last thing I wanted to touch on is a bit of a sensitive subject, and that is the notion of Ivy League Princeton elitism.  Now, as I explained in the post where the kid berated me for my fancy academic credentials, I don't think the Princeton label automatically makes me smarter than anyone at another university.  But I'm ashamed to admit I've been getting a sense that the Princeton student community is, on average, significantly ahead of Melbourne's academically.  I don't say it out loud (except to my Princeton MAE friend here) because I know it makes us sound elitist, but Princeton is simply harder.  Of course, I've met some really smart people here, and I have not been in contact with a large enough sample size to really make a fair judgement.  That being said, I think Princeton could learn a lot from Melbourne socially.  I don't know what to make of this feeling where, on one hand I vocally reject Princeton elitism while simultaneously and secretly understanding its basis.  It's awkward.

Nevertheless, this experience is helping me appreciate my Princeton education and the degree it will give me, despite the fact that it is much more difficult.  If you look way back to my first post in this blog, you'll see that one of my goals for this study abroad experience was to prepare myself to finish college with a strong senior year.  I think this realization that my home university is such a fantastic institution puts me well on track to meet that goal, so at least my overall frustration with the Melbourne academic community is productive in some sense.

European Bier Cafe

Happy birthday Asher!

Just when I thought there was no tasty beer in Australia, I stumbled across an invite to half price tap Mondays at European Bier Cafe in the CBD.  This was my chance to taste sheer deliciousness at a reasonable price--of course, in moderation--and break free from the boring dirty-water Carlton draught I've grown accustomed to as a budgeting uni student.  Per usual, I want to reassure everyone that this visit to the bar had very little to do with consuming alcohol; it was motivated instead by the promise of great company, great flavors, and fancy beer connoisseur talk.  (I definitely played the "I brew beer at home" card at least once tonight.)  If you've never ventured past Bud Light or a Natty rack, you will probably find this post irrelevant, but if you're an aficionado or at least a casual appreciator, keep reading...

There were upwards of sixteen choices on tap at EBC.  According to my Australian "try new things" philosophy, I went for something I had never heard of, but I still stayed comfortably in the realm of my favorite category, the hefeweisen.  I can sincerely say the one I had tonight blew the socks off almost anything I've had before:

Erdinger Weisbier (Germany) 5.3% 300ml (1.2 SD) | 500ml (2.1 SD) This well-known German is a traditional wheat beer with a crisp and banana hinted flavour. The colour is hazy golden due to it being unfiltered.

A nice glass to compliment an even nicer beer.

There were distinct similarities between this beer and the batch we brewed last summer--you know, the wheat clone with light malt and orange bitters.  The difference: this was even better!  The unfiltered banana goodness really came through to produce a memorably crisp finish.  Although this really goes without saying, the Germans really know what they're doing when it comes to beer.

Speaking of German, as usual the majority of the gang tonight were non-English speaking.  The favored spoken language was probably French (of both the European and Canadian varieties), with the occasional Italian thrown in.  I really need to start learning some bits of these languages so I can stop looking like a deer in headlights every time the conversation deviates from English.  Then again, it probably sounds better when you have no clue what they're saying.

Anyways, if you're interested in what else was on tap, feel free to peruse the bier (a.k.a. beer) menu here.  P.S.: Dad--we need to try to clone the Erdinger this summer.

Australian Grand Prix

This weekend was the Australian Grand Prix, an event I've been looking forward to since before I even came to Melbourne.  This race--the first of the 2012 Formula1 season--was held at the Albert Park circuit south of the CBD.  The Grand Prix takes up an entire octane-filled weekend, with practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, and the actual race on Sunday.  In between the F1 events there are numerous other races, including V8 Supercars, touring cars, and the Carerra Cup.  It's pretty safe to say that my first (and hopefully not last) ever car race will be one I remember forever.

Free trams!

Albert Park is built around a manmade lake.  It's considered one of the easier circuits of the F1 season.  We sat near the exit of turn 9 (the top left corner of this map) most of the time, but walked around a bit to see other corners during the second half of the GP.

My friend Ben Rabinowitz came from Sydney for the weekend to stay with me and see the Grand Prix.  I must say, it's really a shame that it took us both coming to study in Australia to get quality hang-out time, especially considering how close we were growing up and in high school.  Anyways, it was really great to see Ben and show him around the city I've been calling home, and to experience our first F1 race together.  I know a bit more about cars than he does, mostly because of my healthy obsession, and he was impressed at my ability to name (and spit out facts on) more than 75% of the cars here without looking at their badges.  We are both total gearheads, which made the whole thing more fun because we were constantly talking about cars, trucks and motorcycles and all that fun stuff.

Mates, Australian style.

Ben arrived early on Friday after taking the redeye train from Sydney.  We caught up over a substantial cereal-and-eggs brunch.  It became evident rather quickly after sleeping in the same room and sharing the bathroom that my apartment is not at all suitable for more than one person.  But Ben and I get along well, and we managed.  Around midday I gave Ben a brief campus tour, then we met up with my friend Rob to head for our first day at the Grand Prix.

One of the nice things about this weekend is that the trams to the Grand Prix were all free.  So we hopped on one at Federation Square and it took us almost directly to one of the entry gates where we showed our printed tickets and ventured into the Albert Park venue.  Not more than five minutes after we arrived, it started to pour torrentially, so we went inside a tent to check out some driving exhibits and have a go on the video game F1 simulator.  I didn't even complete one lap before I spun out, and then some eight-year-old kid totally showed me up with a rather impressive performance.  Sadly, the one who probably couldn't see over the steering wheel in an actual car was miles faster than the one who has had his license for over four years!

Once the track was sufficiently wet and the grounds sufficiently muddy, the rain let up and we started walking around the track.  Our goal for the day was to scope out some good viewing positions for the next two days, and also to see the second of three F1 practice sessions.  The practice session was delayed slightly as the crew dried the track as best they could (apparently Albert Park has poor drainage because most of the circuit is on actual public roads).  We found a spot close to the track, then...

WHAAAAAAAMMMMMM!  The first car screamed by, Sebastian Vettel's (the current F1 champion) Red Bull machine spraying a rooster tail of water out of its enormous grooved rain tires.  The feeling of the cars going by is really indescribable in words, but I'm going to try to give a vague idea of how it feels.  First of all, F1 cars are loud.  I mean, LOUD.  Their 2.4 liter V8 engines rev to a maximum 18,000 rpm, which results in a deafening shriek when the cars whiz by.  When they shift, the motors backfire and the gears slam into place, producing a thundering thwap that bounces off the circuit walls.  It's an absolutely amazing visceral feeling, and it's exciting time after time.  It's so loud, in fact, that you really need to wear ear plugs or your ears will be ringing (or bleeding) after a few laps.

This is one of those situations where the best description is a video:

This is during the practice session in the wet.  Apparently those deeply grooved rain tires can expel up to 65 liters of water per second, which is important to keep them from hydroplaning and sending the featherweight cars into the barrier at triple-diget speeds.

The F1 cars take the track at tremendous speeds.  It's counter-intuitive to think like this, but in many ways it's safer for the drivers to go fast.  The car's grip depends almost entirely on two factors: tires and aerodynamic downforce.  The tires need to be hot to maintain good traction, and that necessitates speed--hard acceleration and hard braking.  And as even the engineering novice can tell you, aerodynamic downforce depends on speed, to the point where at top speed (in excess of 180 mph on this circuit) these cars can produce over 1 ton of downforce on the rear wheels.  That's pretty important when you're trying to transmit about 750 horsepower from the rubber to the road.  So, believe it or not, in Formula1 you will crash if you go too slow (try that one out on the trooper the next time you get pulled over).

Formula1 is a very technical and political sport with a pretty complex set of regulations.  They carefully control everything from raceday procedures to fuel composition in an effort to make the sport as exciting for spectators and as safe for drivers as possible.  The governing body is constantly adding, subtracting, or revising rules to meet that goal.  Regardless, the teams spend millions inventing new technologies to give themselves a technical edge, because at this level it really does depend on the car just as much as the driver inside it.  They have rear wings which can change pitch (but only at certain parts of the track by regulation) to change the downforce/drag ratio, kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) to store braking energy in a flywheel for later release during passing (basically a fancy hybrid system), and paddle-shifted sequential gearboxes to crack off seamless split-second shifts.  The amount of engineering that goes into these cars is mind boggling.  Each team employs dozens of engineers and technicians who work year-round to make F1 the sport that it is.  I hate to say it, but the world would be a much better place if these incredibly talented and intelligent individuals shifted their focus to solving our energy and infrastructure problems instead of sending a couple multi-million-dollar pieces of carbon fiber around a twisty track.  Still, these jobs are a mechanical engineer's dream, and I would give anything to be a part.

On Friday Ben, Rob, and I saw a lot of historic race cars and sports cars that were on display around the venue.  There were some pretty nice rides, although I don't think there was anything in as good condition as Ralph Lauren's collection that Asher took me to see at the MFA a few years ago.  Still, I walked around drooling over these pieces of automotive and motorsport history.

An exquisite vintage Jaguar racer, right hand drive.  Ralph Lauren had a similar one in the more traditional British racing green.

On Friday night, after a delicious chili dinner, the three of us went out in attempt to see some live music, but after realizing how high the cover fee was at the place we wanted to go, the night didn't end up spectacularly.  It was a an insufficiently brief taste of Melbourne night life, and I wish Ben had gotten so see some of the better nights.

On Saturday our plan was to have a relaxing morning and then head to the track for qualifying in the afternoon.  Again, we had a huge breakfast (Ben is an impressive cereal eater) before heading down to Albert Park on a tram.  We posted up with our newly-purchased $6.50 camping chairs on a hill at the exit to turn 9, and waited for the qualifying to begin.  Qualifying was three rounds where the drivers compete against the clock to produce the fastest lap times, and their single fastest times determine their positions on the starting grid.

I was (and still am) rooting for Lewis Hamilton, a young British driver for Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes who has one world championship under his belt.  I'm not sure exactly why I like him, and I suppose the main reason is because I don't really know many drivers, but I think it's also because of his role in the BBC's Top Gear tribute to Ayrton Senna.  Ayrton, a Brazilian, was arguably the best driver of all time (unquestionably the best in the rain because of his ability to take his car to the edge and pull of ridiculous lap times), and Hamilton considers Senna to be the best and his idol.  Tragically, Ayrton died in a horrible single-car accident at Imola (San Marino Grand Prix, Italy) in 1994 and the sport lost one of its greats.  Ayrton's nephew actually races in F1 now for Williams Renault, but he is not as good as his uncle was.  Anyways, I like Hamilton, and since I didn't want to be cliche and root for Schumacher or Vettel, I picked him as my man.  The only other logical choice would have been Red Bull's Mark Webber, since he is an Australian and hence the local fan favorite.

Lewis Hamilton 

Ayrton Senna

Anyway, I must be good luck, because Hamilton qualified in first with a time of 1:24.9 (almost a full second slower that Michael Schumacher's all time record there of 1:24.1).  Behind him was his teammate Jenson Button, making it an all-British and all-McLaren front row in the starting grid.  It's really cool how the drivers come back in after each qualifying round to make little tweaks to their cars, so by the third round they are producing staggering times.

Before qualifying there was a V8 supercar race, which was also very loud and exciting, and after there was a classic touring car race.  We laughed because one of the touring cars was a Volvo, and it seemed to be running quite late for soccer practice.  Ben preferred the lower-pitch bark and growl of the supercars, but I preferred the high-pitch wail of the 18,000-rpm F1 monsters.  To each his own.

Saturday night Ben and I headed out to the Fitzroy area to catch the end of the St. Paddy's day festivities.  It didn't really compare to Boston's St. Paddy shenanigans, but there are a lot fewer Irish people here.  Anyway, we didn't find any places we liked too much, so it ended up being a not-so-late night again, which was good because we had another busy day of racing to see.  On our way home we were gawking at an exquisite 1970 Dodge Charger 440 in a parking garage, and its owner came back to get it.  I think we made him nervous from our inspection, because he stalled the car trying to get it out of the parking space.  He stalled it again at the next traffic light, which made us really suspicious that it wasn't actually his car.  Hopefully he's just bad at driving and we didn't witness a car theft.

Sunday was the actual Grand Prix, the moment we had been waiting for.  After a slow morning we finally made it to Albert Park.  Obviously there were a ton more people this time, and the spot we had scoped out for qualifying was jam packed, so we took up another post on a small hill overlooking the straightaway after that corner.  It was really hot, and we were in the sun, but it was a decent view nonetheless.

My attempt to stay cool and not get a sunburn on my face.

After a cool demonstration from a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-18 fighter jet, then a flyover by a Quantas 747 (the Grand Prix's primary sponsor), they sang the Australian national anthem.  It was a weird experience because the Australians didn't really sing along, and many didn't stand up or take off their hats.  The DJ at the nearby dance party didn't even turn down his music.  As a person who sometimes gets emotional when they play the Star Spangled Banner at the Garden, or during Hatikvah on Yom HaAtzmaut, it was strange to witness such an unenthusiastic performance.  I can't tell if Australians are not patriotic, if Americans are overly patriotic, or both, but I think the lack of respect for their country's anthem was a bit embarrassing.

The Quantas 747.  Nice plane (but its no A380).

After a single formation lap, the Australian Grand Prix got underway at about 5 PM.  The GP consists of 58 laps of the roughly 3-mile circuit, which took roughly 90 minutes.  Because the F1 rules do not allow refueling, and the cars average only 4 mpg, the cars have very heavy fuel loads at the beginning of the race.  This weight, and the non-ideal conditions of actual racing, leads to significantly slower lap times--roughly five seconds slower--than in qualifying.  But the cars get lighter by about 3.5 kg per lap, so lap times decrease throughout the race and the drivers put down their best times in the final laps.

Enjoy the 18,000-rpm symphony of lap 1!  It's impossible to tell because they just look like a blur (and it's not much easier to see in person), but 1-2-3 are Button, (McLaren), Hamilton (McLaren,) and Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz).

Anyway, this race was a nail biter.  Jenson Button overtook Lewis Hamilton immediately on the opening sprint, and stayed in first place for the duration of the race (this was his third win at Albert Park in four years).  But the other positions shifted considerably.  For the first few laps it was Button, Hamilton, then Schumacher, but Michael crashed out on lap 11.  At around the halfway point, Button and Hamilton pitted for tires, but Sebastian Vettel did not pit until the next lap.  During that lap there was a crash and a caution flag, and that worked to Vettel's advantage as he was able to gain precious seconds to move into second.  The battle for third was fierce between Hamilton and fan-favorite Mark Webber, but my man held it to the end to secure a podium finish.  The final result was Button, Vettel, and Hamilton in 1-2-3, followed by Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.  This puts Button in the lead for drivers cup points with 25, and McLaren in the lead for the constructor's cup with 40 points (25 from Button and 15 from Hamilton).  It seemed funny that everyone clapped at the end (especially for Webber) because the drivers are going too fast and it's too loud for them to see or hear it, but I guess it's the thought that counts.  Overall, there seemed to be a lot of accidents, and seven drivers didn't finish, but it was a great start to the F1 season regardless.

Ben and I were so glad we got to see this event.  I think I'm going to start following F1 because it is such a fantastic sport from both an entertainment and engineering perspective.  Although it's easier to understand what's going on (and you get a better view) on TV, there's nothing that compares to the feeling of being at the race and watching the cars fly by.

When the race ended on Sunday I went with Ben directly to the train station to see him off on his return redeye to Sydney.  It was really great to see him and spend the weekend together, and it made me even more excited for our Great Barrier Reef road trip in a few weeks.  We're in the process of planning it now.  We also decided that we're going to do a weekend of backpacking this summer, and that I'm going to give Ben some carpentry lessons downstairs in the shop for a few nights because he wants to learn about all the different tools and how to use them.

Now that I'm back at my apartment and have spent the last two hours writing this post, it's probably time I get back into school mode.  Yeah, right...