Booked Europe Trip

Today we booked at paid for our flights to Europe and Israel. We'll also be staying in Thailand for a couple of nights. Hopefully, conditions will be more stable by the time we travel. It's our first trip overseas for a couple of years and is crazily long. Cost came in at just under $A6,000. That's just the flights. We should be able to recover at least half the costs - my trip to Europe will be refunded by the people I am going to work for in Sweden and maybe Snork Maiden can get something if her paper is accepted at a conference.

P.S.
We don't only need good luck in Thailand but also Iceland :)

Europe 2010

We're beginning to make plans to go to Europe this year. Last year we planned but never went. First step is sorting out visa details for Snork Maiden. For the Schengen area we should have no problem. The French embassy website (we're not planning to go to France, or at least not mainly) says that spouses of EU citizens don't even need a visa. But even if we do it should be straightforward. We also want to visit Israel. Citizens of many countries can visit Israel without a visa. Unfortunately, citizens of Snork Maiden's country cannot. At least they have diplomatic relations with Israel... But she needs a passport valid for one year after the data of entry and so will need to apply for a new passport from her country's embassy here.

2009 Travel

Somewhat unusually I stayed in my home country the whole year (but it is almost a whole continent :)), but I did get to take these trips out of town:

1. Cairns, Queensland (for a conference) but I took a daytrip to Kuranda and back by cable car and train through the rainforests and past the Barron Falls waterfall which was very spectacular at that time of year.

2. Sydney, showing my parents-in-law around. All the usual suspect locations :) Yeah, I also gave a presentation at a pseudo interview.

3. Port Douglas, Queensland. Second trip to Cairns airport. This time with my wife and parents-in-law. My first snorkeling, first sighting of cassowaries in the wild and lots of rainforest and beaches.

4. Brisbane, Queensland. Job interview.

5. Darwin, NT and Kakadu National Park. A conference followed by a trip to Kakadu - aboriginal art, saltwater crocodiles, termite mounds and stuff like that.

6. South Coast of New South Wales. Beach walking, echidna sighting, driving through Deua National Park and Araluen Valley...

Before this year I hadn't been north of Brisbane or west of Melbourne on land in Australia (of course I had flown over much of it in a plane). Also during 2009 we thought about going to Europe (my continent of birth by the way) but gave up. Hopefully, we'll get to Europe in 2010. I was last there in 2005. I will also be visiting South Australia for the first time. That leaves only Western Australia.

Blog/Career Update

Long time readers will notice that I'm posting much less on this blog than in the past. That's because I am focusing on my academic economics career and my professional blog as I forecast. And I'm doing very little on the investment front. I notice I haven't even done any career updates since September. Things have gone a bit better on the career front recently with a couple of requests by journals to revise and resubmit papers (rather than outright rejects). But my most recent response from a journal was again a reject. Otherwise, I've been working on my funded research project, doing some presentations and developing my grant applications. On one application I now have a team of three people including me applying. There is a job available in my department with a January deadline. I've received encouragement to apply for it and so will do. I've also been asked to apply for a job at a Sydney university, though it's not the chairman asking so I may have one supporter but that might not be enough. We don't really want to move to Sydney but can't hurt to apply and see how it goes.

In other news, we've been on a couple of trips - to Darwin/Kakadu and just last week to the NSW South Coast. Both were good and we spotted a bunch of wildlife etc. Maybe Snork Maiden will do some blogposts on this some time? On both trips we stayed in self-catering style cabins which were very nice. One was much more high end than the other but both were good experiences.

I hope to keep this blog running with at least monthly net worth/spending reports, info on hedge funds, and some other occasional posts.

Another Job Opportunity?

My chairman told me today that they'll finally be able to readvertize soon a position that might be relevant to me. The position has been frozen for about a year while a "reorganization" has been proceeding. Any potential opportunities are welcome news. Especially as both Snork Maiden and I would like to stay here in Canberra if possible.

Other news: We're planning a trip to the Northern Territory for a conference and some travel to national parks. We haven't decided whether to head to Kakadu, which is a world heritage area or whether to head south from Darwin to Litchfield and Katherine Gorge National Parks. Any recommendations?

In the annoying but weird department our car was crashed into in a shopping mall car park last week while we were shopping. The damage does not appear to be too bad - the window still goes up and down OK in the door which was damaged. It turns out that the person who ran into us was the wife of the Iranian ambassador.

Canberra is Like Tuscany with Nicer Weather :)

Most Australians seem to hate Canberra and think it is terribly cold. They'd probably be surprised to learn that the average temperatures (daily high and low) in the coldest winter month are pretty much exactly the same in Canberra as in Florence (Firenze) in the heart of Tuscany, Italy. Our hottest summer month has about the same temperatures as Firenze's June, so we miss out on the hottest extreme. We also get less rain, particularly in the winter.

I was just writing an e-mail to someone in Italy who wished me good holidays (they were going on holiday for all of August) noting it was winter here. I said it was probably like northern Italy but I was wrong. It's cold there. Here it is more like Tuscany

Coldest Day in 43 Years

A couple of nights ago it hit -6C here in Canberra which is near the coldest I've seen here (-7C). The record low for Canberra is -10C. And then today was the coldest day in 43 years with the temperature reaching just 4.1C at Canberra Airport and only 2.6C in Tuggeranong. I felt like I was back in America today :) Though of course the bad days in Troy NY were when it wouldn't get above -18C which was once or twice (and that was the coldest night time temperature I remember from Boston where I lived in 1990-93 and 1995-96).

Tianjin Eco-City

We also visited the area of the planned Tianjin Eco-City on our trip to China last year. We saw even less of the site than these guys did. We did see lots of non-specifically Green development in neighboring Tanggu. Snork Maiden's father knows a bunch of people in the planning department there.

Back from Queensland

Got back last night from our trip to Port Douglas in Northern Queensland with the Snorkparents. Yes, we did see two cassowaries just like these crossing the road in the Daintree National Park. We'd already passed them as they came out of a "concealed driveway" when Snork Maiden spotted the flash of blue color from the corner of her eye. There was lots of other cool stuff. I tried snorkelling for the first time and saw some coral, a fish, a sea cucumber, and a sea slug kind of thing. I found it pretty challenging though. Sooner or later I made some mistake with breathing and had to surface to breath properly. I was managing longer stretches each time so think I need a lot more practice... The others didn't try it or get wet apart from the rain. It rained every day, but then it is a tropical rainforest, even if it was at the beginning of the dry season or end of the rainy season. On the other hand, I felt more comfortable than I ever have in a tropical climate due to the lack of sunshine. At times I even felt a little cold!

Back down south and back to "reality". Another paper I submitted for publication was rejected - par for the course - I still have two out there under review. One referee said they had no idea about the topic, the other said it was great, and the third actually had substantive criticism. So it shouldn't be too much work to get it ready to submit to another journal. OTOH, checking my citations for the week I found I have 8 new articles in the Web of Science citing me for a total of 11 citations. I'm up to about 90 citing articles year to date which is pretty good in my discipline. So getting a paper rejected is less upsetting than it might be if I was a beginning researcher. Of course, when I was a beginning researcher I expected to get rejected and so wasn't so upset by it. If you've ever heard that almost no-one reads any given scientific paper, that is incorrect - the distribution of papers by number of readers and citers is very unequal. Many are never cited and probably little read. Others are very highly cited and read.

Today, I did the "induction course" at my workplace. I did learn some things despite having worked at this university in the past. Some things have changed and some I never knew.

Venice

My paper was accepted for the Venice meeting. But as I mentioned, I can't use project funding for the trip. Registration would be E450 and the hotel E230. Flying on Ryanair from London would be just £10. The train from Brighton to Stansted airport would cost much more than that! So I estimate a total Australian Dollar cost of about $A1,300. My marginal tax rate is 16.5% so after tax we're looking at about $A1,100. Originally, when I submitted to the conference I didn't know whether Snork Maiden would get accepted for the course in England. But now she can't come with me to Venice and I was there before anyway (1998). So I expect I'm going to have to withdraw my paper. I'll state the reason of course, just in case they have some funds to help out... The Amsterdam meeting is a similar cost and the same story pretty much if they don't agree to swap my papers.

Port Douglas

Last night, Snork Maiden and I booked a trip to Port Douglas (about one hour's drive north of Cairns in Northern Queensland) for us and the Snorkparents. The thing the Snorkparents most wanted to see in Australia was the Great Barrier Reef so it's worth spending quite big on doing this. Snorkmama has actually been there before but she wanted to show it to Snorkpapa. We're flying on Virgin Blue (which was the lowest fare we could find on Webjets - but we bought the tickets on Virgin's own site to avoid Webjet's fees) leaving Canberra at 6:30am in the morning and flying via Brisbane. Return times are much more flexible for the lowest fare.

We started looking at Cairns. There are really a lot of great accomodation options there in both hotels and apartments. Snorkmama, though, had expressed a desire to stay in a small town and Moom had recently been to Cairns. So we then looked at Port Douglas and settled on this apartment complex:




which is close to the centre of town, and the beach, has a decent swimming pool, looks nice, and is a reasonable price. We used Wotif.com, tripadvisor.com, and Google Earth to make our decision. There are cheaper choices, but they are either not as nice or further from town or the beach.

Snork Maiden's next task is to explore whether renting a car makes sense. It might be cheaper than paying for all four of us to travel from the Cairns airport to Port Douglas and perhaps we can then construct our own rainforest tour rather than paying for a trip. There is no need for a car if you just want to hang out in town and the beach and go on a trip to the reef. Moom will look at tour options - does it make sense to buy/book upfront or wait till we get there.

Oh, and the money for the trip came from the money the Snorkparents gave us before we married and when we were in China.

The Answer to My Question:

The answer to my question: "Can I use project funds to go to Europe" is "No". So I just wrote to the conference organizers and told them I can't come unless they swap my papers over and accept the one they previously rejected which has the funding attached to it. Don't know what the chances are but can't hurt to try. The other options are:

2. My supervisor sugggested to find another conference to present at. But I think it is too late for that, but I'll have a look.

3. A colleague elsewhere in Europe is interested in funding a visit by me. We were looking at next year, but maybe...

4. Pay my own way to Europe.

5. Don't go.

I think that's it. Any ideas?

Can I Use Project Funds to Go to Europe?

My paper about my funded research project was rejected by one of the two conference organizers in Europe I submitted papers to. They accepted a second paper on a different topic. I still need to hear from the organizers of the conference in Venezia but that paper is on the second topic too. So the question is whether I can use my research funds to go to Europe to present on a different topic. Of course I can talk to people there about the research project but it will be very much a general professional development thing. Snork Maiden had both her papers accepted, but she's going to the course in England during that time. I could present one of her papers but unless she registers we probably won't get a presentation slot.

Sydney Trip

Most of last week we were on a trip to Sydney together with the "Snorkparents". The picture is the view from Watson's Bay of the Sydney CBD. Snorkdad said "Hong Kong" when he looked at this view and I replied "bu shan" (no mountain). I took them (while Snork Maiden was at her conference) on a trip to Circular Quay on the ferry to Watson's Bay, on a walk around South Head, fish and chips lunch, bus to Bondi Beach (snoozing in the sun for them and swimming for me) and back to the city. We are getting quite good at a few words of Chinese and English and lots of gestures. On Thursday I gave a presentation at the University which went well until someone asked a question I wasn't prepared for about stuff I haven't done yet but plan to do and my mind froze. I did manage to partly answer his question in my answer to the next question. I didn't get a good impression of the department though and all of us feel glad to be back in Canberra and don't relish the idea of living in Sydney. So maybe it's all for the good... Sydney's a great place to visit (apart from scratching the car in a parking garage and getting a parking ticket).

I also attended a few presentations at the conference Snork Maiden attended including one by a famous economics blogger. It was OK but Snork Maiden thinks he's better on his blog :)

P.S.

Snork Maiden just heard that she got accepted for a two week course in England - only problem is that is the second two weeks of June. And the meeting in Italy is the last week of May. I won't hear till Wednesday about the paper I submitted to a conference in Venezia in mid June and about a conference in the Netherlands till April 17th. Unfortunately, Snork Maiden wouldn't be able to come to Venezia with me. We'll have to see what Snork Maiden's supervisor thinks about such a long absence too... But soon we'll have to start booking flights and getting visas for her.

Planning Our Trip to Europe

Snork Maiden yesterday got a rejection e-mail for the paper she submitted to a conference in Slovenia. Having organized an international conference of this type myself where most presenters pay fees to attend the conference, I really can't understand conference organizers who reject papers unless they are really off topic, really incomprehensible, or multiple submissions. The excuse here is that "the facilities are insufficient for more than a certain number of papers" and so only the best will be accepted. Rent more facilities and charge participants more than the marginal cost of hosting their paper! Yes, the conference I organized did not have exorbitant fees and made a lot of money :)

Anyway, so Slovenia is out but plenty of places are still in the running. Venezia (a conference on the island pictured above where I attended another conference in 1998); Brighton, UK; Lecce, Italy; and Amsterdam. Between some juggling of these conference/workshop locations perhaps we can visit Moominmama and Moominbrother (somewhere in the Mediterranean basin). I just remembered yesterday that I have a friend (former student) based in Rome currently (working for UN FAO). I've used Rome before as a hub for European travels maybe we can do that this time. Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and London are the most likely other locations (done 'em all). OTOH Snork Maiden has never been to Europe and so is excited to check out everything.

P.S.
On review, it seems likely that Brighton is out of the running as successful candidates should have heard by 5th March and it is a European Union funded thing. The Lecce people confirmed that they will pay Snork Maiden's costs. I just need to hear about the Venezia thing to start to set the trip up.

Interview Preparation

I completed my presentation slides on Thursday and today went over to a colleague's house to run the presentation by him. I was meant to meet him on campus on Friday, but he didn't show up. He works at the college I'm applying to but not in the unit I am applying for. He wrote a reference letter for me. He recommended mainly organizational changes in my presentation to give people a bit better roadmap of where I'm going and emphasize more what is new or different in my work.

Meanwhile the Snorkparents are settling in. We took them to look at the view of the city and mountains from the Telstra Tower (in the backgroun in the picture above) and for some shopping in Dickson... Tomorrow we might go to the open day at Government House (in the foreground). I've never been inside the grounds.

Kuranda Trip

I signed up for a trip to Kuranda - a small town or village about 30km from Cairns. They pick you up by bus and take you to the terminal of the "Skyrail" outside town. This is a cablecar that runs for 8km up the mountains over the rainforests to Kuranda. Then you make your own way back on the scenic railway which winds its way down along the river valley back to Cairns. The station is a few blocks from my hotel. Cost is $A89 ($US55) - the tickets individually are $A40 for each of the trips so the bus out to the terminal is $A9. This morning I was pitched a bus tour to Cape Tribulation and back for just $A10 more (much reduced) - all day including hiking, swimming, crocodile spotting (not in the same location as the swimming!) and lunch included. Cape Tribulation is at the end of the sealed road on Australia's East Coast - in other words the end of the "civilized world" and the edge of the Outback. I'd have loved to go on that trip but it departs at 7:30am and unfortunately I need to organize some things here at the hotel in the morning and can't leave that early. Hence the trip nearer to town.

Talking about good travel deals, this evening I saw a round the world ticket advertised at $A1599 ($US1000) and London roundtrip for $A1250 ($US800) at a travel agent here in Cairns. Granted that there are likely a bunch of taxes and stuff on top of that, but still those are amazing prices. My flight to Cairns was $A625.

Cairns

I'm on my first business trip of my new job at a conference in Cairns, which is on the coast of northern Queensland deep in the tropics. I haven't been in tropical Australia before though I have been in the tropics in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Cairns is the central location for trips to the Great Barrier Reef and to the rainforest of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The city is surrounded by rainforest clad mountain ranges and across the bay I can see from the hotel the extensive mangrove forests along the coast. I'm hoping to manage to sneak in a trip to see some rainforests if I can instead of attending all the conference sessions. I don't plan on going to the reef. I have seen a coral reef before. In fact the most northerly reef in the World at Eilat in Israel. And swimming in the hotel's swimming pool this morning was about what I can manage, I don't think I'm up to snorkelling. I've never been a good swimmer though I like being in the water.

Back home all the paperwork is still in process and I don't know for sure what department at the university I'll be based in. But that doesn't stop them from paying for my trip here. I already, gave my presentation this afternoon. My first in more than a year and a half and it seemed some people at least liked it. As well as lots of academics and PhD students there are heaps of "public servants" here at the meeting in Cairns as always at these Australasian conferences. You never see this in the United States.

2008 Summary

I will be doing a report for December, but after such a financially disastrous year, I'm not in the mood for a detailed analysis of the numbers for 2008 as a whole. In US Dollar Terms we lost more than half our net worth and in Australian Dollar terms more than 40%. These results were partly due to the general decline in the markets and partly due to me not understanding the scope of the crisis and re-equitizing when only part of the decline was complete. I thought the collapse of Bear Stearns was the peak of the crisis. I was very wrong on that score. If we'd kept the conservative stance we had at the beginning of the year through to October or November we would be in a pretty good situation now with maybe a 20-25% decline in net worth in USD terms I think. Maybe better. In Australian Dollar terms we might have been down just 10% or so.

Some of the damage is permanent in realized capital losses and some is hopefully temporary due to currently depressed asset values. We're looking at realized capital losses of $A71,000 so far this year, with about $A14,000 of realized capital gains partly offsetting that. At least we won't be paying any capital gains tax any time soon :)

I started the year trying to be a short-term trader using my quantitative models for predicting short-term market direction. While I am convinced the models have some validity I found it very difficult to trade on their basis both due to being based here in Australia with most of the market action occurring overnight in US markets and my general problems of discipline in trading. I may still look to work with someone else in implementing the models to run a managed futures fund. Though given the Madoff Scandal there is likely to be less interest in blackbox models now. I'll return to look at these again once I have a couple more academic papers submitted. If you are a fund manager and are interested in working with me on this let me know.

Now at the end of the year I've moved much more towards an asset allocation/rebalancing approach to investing with limited market timing. I'd still expect to reduce exposure as the market rises and more so if the yield curve inverts. But I'd re-equitize much slower in any future market slump and never get as leveraged as I did this time around.

The year ended somewhat positively with what seems to be a gain for the month in USD terms though at the moment it looks like we lost in AUD terms. There were some positive signs also on my career front with an upcoming screening interview at a university and I'm getting my research back on track and now have two papers under review at academic journals and more in progress. Having an active research "pipeline" is important in getting an academic job at a good university. The two personal highlights of the year were getting married and visiting China and Hong Kong for the first time. My mother and brother visited us in Australia - my mother's first visit back here since she left more than 45 years ago and my brother's first visit to the country of which he is a citizen. Another positive personal thing is that in the last couple of months I have gotten back to doing a bit of cycling. Hopefully I can lose some weight in the coming year. We also bought Snork Maiden a bicycle and we've been on a few short rides together.

Depositing a U.S. Check in Australia?

We received a check for just over $US3,000 for Snork Maiden's costs getting to and attending the conference in China in October. I'd like to turn it into Australian Dollars if possible. Tomorrow I'm going to see if Commonwealth Bank can do this at a reasonable cost and delay. Otherwise we'll have to mail it to her account in the U.S. But the only way to convert it to Australian Dollars is for her to then write me a US check which I would then mail to the US and then I'd do a transfer to one of my brokerage accounts and then finally I could do a wire transfer back to Australia. I don't think TD Banknorth HSBC would agree to do a wire transfer to Australia with us the account owners not present in the U.S. Or maybe they would? Anyway, let's see what CBA have to offer first.