I'm a sucker for a happy theropod

I have to admit, I bought it for the dinosaur. He just looked so darn HAPPY. Good thing it smells nice, too.

Our Nearest Neighbour has a Planet.

  A planet only 13% bigger than Earth was discovered orbiting Alpha Centauri (the closest star system). Problem is that it orbits 10x closer than Mercury and has a surface temperature of about 1200C. Not a good holiday destination.

 There may be more planets at Alpha Centauri, but the close-in one is right at the edge of how sensitive the detection system is. There is a new detector going online in 2017 that would be able to detect a Earth-sized planet orbiting at an Earth-like distance. I guess we will see then.

 Artist rendition

More info at  http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1241/

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri_Bb 

Paediatrics in a nutshell

A friend of mine is on her paeds rotation now, and posted this photo of her experience. 
Yup. That about sums it up.

More weird things while shopping

Full time employee

  I just got news today that Australian Immigration has approved my company sponsored work visa.  That means that I'll be able to work full time at Lanier instead of just 20hrs a week.  Finally.
  This week I am in Melbourne on a training course.  We are learning about four different "document solutions".  Basically software that can keep track of your printing, copying and scanning.  To give a full description would take too many paragraphs. It has been a fairly full on course. My brain is full by the end of each day. 
Flying back to Brisbane on Friday after the course.

A few pics from Melbourne:

Further adventures in Cat Shearing

Lately the temperature is starting to hit the high 20s and low 30s oC Polly lets us know she is getting too hot by hanging out in the tile bathroom with  paws in the air, and being more miserable in general. Silly kitty, doesn't she know it's a dumb idea to hang out in a fur coat in summer? 
So I shaved her tonight. Minimal blood was shed. She hates me right now, but she'll feel better tomorrow.

There is enough hair here to make a sweater!

Apollyon thinks if she hides in the litterbox I can't see her.

On the wacky front for cat shearing- what about making sweaters or handbags out of it?  Crazy.