Still alive, and back in the blogosphere at last

Can it really be a month since I posted here? A quick sampling of events to catch you up;

- Home to Sydney for Christmas. 2 weeks of warm days and spending time with friends and family. Also one of the hottest days I remember, 45C (that's about 110F for my American friends).
- Managed to consume 1L of beer in a single sitting (from a single stein).
- Back to Ithaca with no traveling adventures. And I was SO hoping for another Pacific island stopover....
- Unseasonably warm weather in Ithaca, over 10C in January! Feels like a Sydney winter. The last few days it cooled back down (-10C), but the forecast is for "warm" weather and rain for the next week or so.
- A new look for my apartment - I was tired of waking up bathed in red light from the curtains, so it's a bit more neutral in here now. I also moved the furniture around a bit.
- I have to decide by the end of the month if I want to sign my lease from June 2006 - May 2007. Quite a dilemma, I expect to have left Ithaca well before May 2007, but if I don't sign, I need to find somewhere new to live. And if I do sign, I need to find someone to sublet my unfurnished apartment for Spring 2007.
- I have been to the lab every day since I got back here. Some things never change.