So here is the scary bit. If you are still reading then perhaps you'd
better pour yourself a stiff drink, and make sure you are firmly
seated. If you're not prepared for a major surprise at this stage,
you'd better move on to item number two.
Stork And Talk
September 1997
But first by way of some background...
Just when you had thought that Kim and Russell had eschewed joining the ranks of matrimonial bliss, you may recall that we wrote to you in a particular CCSS edition that we were getting married. Many of you were shocked at the news.
So here is the scary bit. If you are still reading then perhaps you'd
better pour yourself a stiff drink, and make sure you are firmly
seated. If you're not prepared for a major surprise at this stage,
you'd better move on to item number two.
(Got you interested huh?)
Well... just when you thought it was safe to assume that Kim and Russell had eschewed joining the growing ranks of parenthood - well ... you guessed it... we are expecting a child; due to be born January 26th (Australia day). Kim is already suggesting that we call the baby Aussie (or is that Ozzie?).
We realise that many of you will be amazed by this news followed (if reactions of those around us so far are any precedent) by sheer delight.
We, for our part, are delighted at the prospect of becoming three. We realise that life is about to change in a big way; that life will never be the same again. But then was there ever an element of sameness in our lives? In fact we've gotten used to change (I guess we'll be doing a lot of changing -yuck- in the future).
I guess we've had a good innings - ten years (next January) on our own as DINKS! It's been great but we're ready to move on. We're looking forward to adapting to this new change.
We have had a number of ultrasounds already. On each occasion, The baby has been extremely active, refusing to cooperate or lie still so that the clinician could get any decent still pictures (good thing we brought the video to record it). Of course as soon as it was known that the baby was so active, Russell promptly announced that it had Kim's genes. To which Kim, looking at the screen, shot back ``Well it's got your nose!'' (and a nice nose it is too!)
It's been interesting to hear some of the comments so far from those who have been informed - all of them have been overwhelmingly positive. Even our GP can't wait to see the baby. She has already pronounced that it will have both looks and intelligence. Another friend pronounced that she may be returning to England but by that time the baby would be 6 months and would be walking and talking anyway! (poor kid - such high expectations)
However, Russell being ever the pragmatic scientist, is quick to point
out that only half of our genes are expressed so that the chance of
the child inheriting a feature directly from us is about 25%. So at that
rate - looking back into both our family histories - the baby stands a
fair chance of being red haired, blonde or even permanently bald!
At the moment we have no plans as to whether it will be Kim or Russell, neither or both who will take time off from work (at least initially) to care for this new addition. We have, however, already booked the in-utero bub (a fact for which we have been heaped with praise from the child care staff who know that there is often a one to two year wait) into child care at Russell's university so we will have a range of options open to us. We feel fairly confident that we should be able to get into one of the 3 child care facilities - particularly as one of them has places reserved for staff members.
Anyway, we'll play it by ear as we go along.
Kim is extremely proud and has told just about everyone she knows (yourselves included now). She even told her GP about Russell's new position, and, being the over the top person she is, promptly said to Kim ``do all your Christmases come at once or what?''
Russell is delighted also as it has meant reducing the number of staff reporting to him from 25 to 2 and meant that he can be involved at a far more strategic than operational level. One of the hot topics at present is a bid to set up a large high performance computer facility based at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. This would boost the computational resources available to New South Wales researchers by a factor of 5-10, and potentially attract industrial use of the technology.
The position still allows him to continue his research and interest in Complex Systems and Artificial Life. He has just completed a study of the relationship between an organism's genes and its behaviours for an artificial life system called Tierra. Now he is adapting his model of an evolving ecosystem (ecolab) to allow for geographic variation. He has also developed a novel model of evolutionary economics, which should hopefully be published in book edited by a colleague. (So are you all suitably enlightened now, asks Kim?) Perhaps his biggest project in this area is to organise the next Complex Systems conference in Sydney. If you remember, the last conference was held in 1996 in Albury-Wodonga. All the previous conference organisers have assured him that this involves a lot of work, so Russell is not quite sure yet what he has volunteered for!
When we heard the news about Russell's new position, Russell was heard to comment that it meant he could reduce the number of his jobs from 3 (Management; Research and High Performance Computing Support) to 2 (High Performance Computing and Research). But Kim was quick to point out that he might have lost one job but had quickly gained another - impending fatherhood. (He wasn't too unhappy).
Had the baby not made its presence felt Kim may have decided to move on to other areas. The return to Veteran's Affairs was prompted partly by pragmatic reasons such as being able to obtain maternity leave and the fact that starting any new job at that time was not really practical or appropriate. As it happens the move back to Veteran's Affairs has proven to be quite a good one. From day one Kim was asked to lead a special national project to identify the skills required by the organisation in its future. This has lead her to conduct focus groups in NSW; Victoria; Canberra; and Queensland. She formulated a position paper advocating a strategy for the next 18 months - 5 years and presented this by way of videoconference to the decision making body of the organisation (the Executive management group). This was endorsed by that body and her work congratulated. She is now in the process of getting this integrated with a range of other organizational initiatives and will address a national meeting in mid September.
Anyway, stay tuned for more news in your next more regular edition of the CCSS (which contrary to the many requests and queries as to whether recipients have been scratched from our receiving list or whether we have gone out of print, never comes in time for Christmas; in fact it never has any set deadline although we do try and get it out before April/May each year - if we're lucky!)
All in all - all's right with the world and we are very happy. We hope that this special edition finds you well and happy also. We hope to hear from you soon.
love Kim and Russell.