I bought a new camera today. Man technology is getting cheap! Just like me.
I also swung by my old university and went up to the history department. My MA thesis supervisor is now the department head and he was recently in Australia studying cattle ranches in the Northern Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as compared to the same experience in Canada. (Can you see why I decided a career in academia was probably not for me?) I may be seeing him if he comes to Canberra and introducing him to one of our Senators who knows more about cattle in the Northern Territory than anyone else I know.
An e-mail arrived today from America. It was from a guy who is part of a consultancy that uses data and demographics at a far more sophisticated and detailed level than I do. They have data goes way beyond the census and includes consumer information. I don't know how they get it, but it is far beyond what I do and it does interest me. These guys have helped target political campaigns just like I do, and have
applied their analysis in commercial areas too. I've done pretty well starting up a demographic project on my own time with no support and part of me wondered if the fact that I have done similar work to them on such an independent basis would possibly be a window of opportunity in career terms.
I've gone on about having slightly itchy feet, but the idea of moving overseas again and starting over from nothing like I have done so many times before is really a non-starter for me. But if had set up opportunity to move into (even for just a few months) I think the experience would be great, and would mean I had reached a solid five on the list of countries I've lived in. I always preferred my holidays to be working holidays anyway.
Well, this is all just an idea now. It may not be practical, but even the idea of it has put me in a good mood.
I'm off to dinner with some high school friends tonight whom I've not seen in years. Hooray for Facebook!
