Work, tutes, kidneys and coffee

We've had a busy week, but a nice one. While lecturing started last week, the tutorials (or 'tutes,' as everyone calls them) started this week. So it was really only now that Colin got to meet his students.

The students are good! Colin's 'Ethical Dilemmas' class, in particular, had really excellent discussions about whether there should be organ markets. Not only were the students good at capturing the relevant issues (addressing the need for organs vs. concerns about exploitation, the consequences of seeing organs as property, etc.), but they brought up a lot of useful legal/political facts. One student who had studied in China said that there, the government provides personal incentive for giving blood, in that it increases a student's academic competitiveness in certain applications.

Colin is still in a temporary office. But it's really nice. There's room for furniture:


And the view is much better than the tar-paper roof of his office in NY:


The coffee on campus is quite good, too... dangerously good. Colin had about a week and a half of regularly buying $3.50 'flat whites' (apparently, the 'hip' coffee drink now - it's like a latte, but with more espresso). But since that's not sustainable, Colin went to the opposite extreme: for $4, he bought a large container of instant coffee at Woolworth's. Not at all tasty (though there is worse instant coffee), but it wakes him up mid-afternoon, and it will make real coffee all more satisfying.

This was a Colin-heavy update. Naomi's doing well. Details to appear later, but the main news is that she has a bike! (It's on loan from one of Colin's colleagues.)