1st Contact

Have arrived safely in Ottawa with all mission members accounted for. Comms will continue to be intermittent and conducted via 3rd party sources for another week, or probably two.

Initial observations: flying in reminded me a patchwork quilt. The land around Ottawa appears to be fairly flat and parceled into farm plots. Its also green with *lots* of surface water (rivers and multiples of creeks, lakes, ponds). Very pretty.

Much more to follow once home PC is set up.

The Dark Side of the Moon

All the old lunar missions lost contact with mission control as they crossed behind the moon. Now it our turn. Communications will resume upon our - and the PC's - arrival in Ottawa. My best guess is mid-Sept. Until then, wish us luck.

Jason vs Brad Pitt: Round One...

SMS me please!

I have a new phone (same number) and as is the way of such things, my phone book didn't make the transition.

If you have my number, please send me an SMS with your name in it so that I can rebuild my once glorious phone book. Bonus points for including your other phone numbers (home/work)...

Disregard this message after 24 Aug. At that point my current number will expire. Hopefully by then I'll have all your numbers safely stored on my phone.

Jason Wagoner: Culture Warrior

Monday was my last day at work with Defence, assuming all goes to plan, until 2012. Because I have taken annual leave for part of this 1st fortnight I will get one more paycheck. After that Jane is *the* family breadwinner and I will take up the mantle of Minister for Home Affairs.

It’s not such a great leap and I am 100% comfortable with the change in my circumstances. After all, Jane already brings home the majority of our household income while I account for most of the cooking. More importantly, I measure my success in life more broadly than by my success at work. None the less, this shift will place me in a (growing) minority. As a long standing gamer and general purpose geek, I well used to being at odds with general society. It just doesn’t concern me very much. However, I am going to be the ‘trailing spouse’ of a DFAT officer and that makes it all very much more complicated. Jane will be working in an arena where the opinions of others about her personal affairs will have a direct correlation on her professional effectiveness. It would be naïve to think that those opinions will be based on her alone. I too will be on display and, informally at least, representing Australia.

I recall reading a theory which argues the future is already here, just not evenly distributed. To put it into practical terms, some people hunt and gather, others order a pizza over wireless internet. This theory holds up well in diplomatic society which has centuries of convention dictating the correct bearing and action of all the players, including the trailing spouse which until relatively recently were all called 'wives'. In some places, were I female, it would still be expected that I present myself at the earliest opportunity to the wife of the most senior local diplomat. Ottawa, thankfully, exists further into the future and is not such a place. Amusingly, I am even told that some ¾’s of the ‘trailing spouse’ at the Ottawa High Commission are also male. So, over the next two years I am not likely to perfect either the art of the cucumber sandwich or the famously pinprick sharp, yet feather soft, conversations of idle females. I’ll try to make sure that a mastery of gin and tonics remains on the agenda. Beyond that, I hope that my fellow man-bags will join me in casting off the white lace gloves of the historical diplo-wife and instead take up regular man-bag excursions to the pub for beers and ice hockey. And if I am in fact, expected to present myself before the most senior man-bag, he had bloody well be ready to wrestle with our shirts off in front of a roaring bonfire. 1st one to submit buys the beers.

Vroom!

And here is a picture of the Ottawa man-bag mobile. I know, the second I get behind the wheel of this North American family friendly land yacht (its a Pontiac you know) we will cross firmly into the realm of middle class suburban stereotype. We will become the kind of family that you see in advertisements for the sort of stuff white people like.

Trust me friends. As I climb up behind that wheel I shall have my tongue planted firmly to one cheek. Its irony I tell you. Irony.

Honest.

An Irrelevant Musing

The other day while perusing the news I asked myself, is Putin the Communist Capt Kirk?

No really, do a Google images search for 'shirtless Putin'. You wouldn't be the 1st and won't be the last.

The results go for miles.

T-Minus 21 Days...

Seriously, 3 weeks today and we are on the plane. Here is a quick and dirty of how its breaks down...

10 Aug - Last day at work.
19/20 Aug - Movers pack/uplift all possessions designated for Ottawa and storage (ie anything we aren't taking on the plane).
21 Aug - Last creche day for the shorties.
25 Aug - Wheels up.

In other news, I am currently listening to the audiobook version of Max Brook's World War Z. Because WWZ is meant to be an oral history and they got actors for each of the characters the audio book format works well. The only downside is that its an abridged version.

Its still really good.

Tonight's Excitment...

Ironing. I hate ironing. On balance its probably my 2nd least favorite domestic chose (the dinner dishes are #1). In the good old days, by which I mean the 1950s, my darling wife would have seen to all my linen-based needs - after seeing to my gin and tonic needs and while wearing seamed stockings. These days, not so much. To add insult to injury, I work in an area where anything short of five crisply ironed shirts p/week will be the source of comment and office gossip. This really does confuse me somewhat since where I work people really ought to have better things to whisper about.

Anyway, I have my five shirts, all clean and wrinkly, laid out and awaiting their appointment with the iron. Their last appointment, because after I finish up I am unlikely to need another crisply ironed, clean business shirt and tie until sometime in early 2012. Let the Ottawa-emancipation begin!

Damn right that is exciting.