The car post

So about a month or so after buying my car and promising to make this post multiple times to several people here it is. If you are not into cars just go ahead and skip this as it will be just about my car.

So in moving over to Oz I decided to get my first big boy car. Not a hand me down or an old semi clunker, but a real honest to god car I could be proud of. Since Australia is the last bastion of the full sized RWD sedan I was even more excited that I could grab up one of these beasts which is all but extinct in America. So which one did I got with? A red 2010 Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo.

She has a 4.0L I6 and pumps out 362hp and 395 ft-lb of torque. 0-60 is right at 5.0s. Big ole breaks and limited slip dif round out the package. Oh and I nearly forgot when you have it at WOT an overboost feature(awful name but it's fun) will engage that pushes the torque up to 430 ft-lb. I get around 20mpg, and to be honest since I'm not commuting in it that isn't a big deal anyway. All that said it is an amazing car and so much fun to drive. Let's hope it ends better then the last red Ford I owned. And now onto more pictures!

What the hell is a fortnight anyway?

So since my last post was me waxing philosophical about the NCAA, I suppose this one should be something  actually about Australia. One of the things I noticed here is that the word fortnight is used quite a lot. People use it in everyday conversation. Something happening in two weeks? They'll say it's in a fortnight. However it is also used in banking and rent and stuff. I pay my car and rent payments fortnightly, not monthly. This could easily get confusing, but since everything is done automatically with online banking it isn't a big deal. It also works well for me since one full on and off swing for me is two weeks. For a term that is considered antiquated in the US to be a cornerstone of banking is a bit of a change.

College Sports

With the release of the Freeh Report on the PSU rape scandal I have been thinking today about college sports. College football is my drug of choice, and I have invested countless hours and a not insignificant amount of money into watching, reading about, and generally enjoying the sport. I have long had a bit of cognitive dissonance between how much I enjoy Saturdays and Thursday nights in the fall and the value I place on academic quality and integrity. Usually I just ignore it and enjoy another beer while watching Utah State nearly beat the reigning national champs in week one. However moving to Oz and the Freeh Report today both make me take a step back.

I have tried to explain college sports to my coworkers and friends and they just don't quite "get" it. The NCAA is a uniquely American thing. Nowhere else in the world are schools as tied to athletic training as they are in the US. Generally the conversation ends with me admitting that big time college sports damages the quality of education at US universities. A joke is made by someone, beer is drunk, and then we move on with out lives without delving too much into that topic. The Aussies move on, but I usually end up pondering my statement for a while.

So after all of this thought brought on by the disgusting cover up of systematic pedophilia at Penn State and explaining the arcane system of collegiate athletics that leads to academic fraud and under funding what conclusions have I come to? I don't know to be honest. I know I will still watch my Hokies this fall. I will probably watch as much other college football as possible. Come bowl season if I am stateside I will probably attend the Military Bowl, and maybe the bowl the Hokies get to. I will likely continue to vote with my dollars(the only votes that matter!) to keep a corrupt system in place. I will be a hypocrite. I may at some point walk away from college sports, football in particular, because my educational concerns win out. For the time being though nothing will change. I will sit back, open a few beers, and from half a world away watch Logan Thomas fall down like a giant sequoia for a first down.

Happy 4th

So a happy America day to y'all. Spent mine on site working away, but at least I got to enjoy cigars and beers afterwards. All while reminding Aussies they never fought for their independence. So enjoy your day off and bbq guys. And maybe even some pbr while you're at it. For me.