The new pinnacle of cuteness

I've found something EVEN CUTER than interspecies friendships! OMG you guys...

Animals with Stuffed Animals


Seriously, I cannot even handle some of these. Eeeeeee!

Movie review: Incendies

I went into the movie Incendies knowing very little about it, other than the fact it was nominated for Best Foreign Film and was some sort of family drama. The story begins when Jeanne and Simon, twins in their 20s in Quebec, are given some unusual instructions following the death of their mother Nawal- rather than a traditional will, the notary hands them two sealed envelopes addressed to the father and the brother they didn't know existed. Their task is to find the recipients and deliver the letters, and in the process they must travel to their mother's middle eastern homeland and learn about the history she had kept hidden from them. When you see what Nawal lived through, in a series of flashbacks, you fully understand why she never spoke of her past.

I spent the first thirty minutes racking my brains trying figure out what country the movie was set in...it looked the the middle east, but I hadn't heard of any of the cities mentioned, and the two warring factions were Christians and Muslims so it couldn't have been Israel. It turns out that my confusion was intentional- the film is set in a fictional country so the names of the places are made up, although in truth it's filmed in Jordan and takes place in Lebanon- the home of the playwright (the film is an adaptation of a play) and the setting of a lengthy civil war between various armed Christian and Muslim militias (of which I was completely ignorant).

Early on, Nawal's boyfriend is shot dead by her brothers, who do not approve of their Christian sister dating a Muslim refugee. She's pregnant, and in a moment of sympathy, Nawal's grandmother tattoos the baby's heel before he is taken away to an orphanage, giving Nawal hope of finding him again someday, but a brutal civil war gets in the way. I won't divulge more of the plot but let's just say Nawal's life gets a lot worse, and the story unfolds like an ancient Greek tragedy as the twins unravel the mysteries of their mother's past. Incendies does have a few lighter moments, mainly involving dedicated notaries and the drinking of tea, but it's definitely one of the most intense and haunting movies I've seen in a long time. For that reason, I can say that it's a very good movie and certainly captivating, but traumatic enough that I can't quite say I recommend it, even though it's been on my mind ever since. It did inspire me to read up a bit on the history of Lebanon, though. Here's the New York Times review.

Hot cross buns

Before I moved to Australia, my only exposure to hot cross buns was that song you play when you're first learning the recorder...a la these kids. However, in many countries they are traditionally eaten around Easter, on Good Friday in particular, and it turns out they have an interesting and somewhat controversial history. Considered a symbol of Catholicism, they were banned in England during reign of Queen Elizabeth I but eventually allowed to be sold at Easter and Christmas. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of raisins in bread products- but here in Australia everyone eats them on Good Friday, and the lapsed Catholic in me still loves a tradition, even if the idea of eating baked goods to celebrate a crucifixion strikes me as a little odd. And this recipe for hot cross bun french toast looked like a winner. I'm happy to report that it was delicious.

New Zealand vacation

My friends Yuki and Jonathan came to visit Melbourne, and then the three of us took off for a week on the south island of New Zealand. Six days, four stops, and 1900 kilometers later (that's 1180 miles for you non-metric folks), we saw and did as much as we could pack in and ended up happy and exhausted. The south island is sparsely populated (the major highways are all two lane roads) and the oft-quoted statistic that there are more sheep than people is indeed a fact. We lucked out with absolutely gorgeous weather- it's late fall (or autumn, as they say in these parts) and it was a bit chilly but sunny and clear for our entire trip. We started off for a couple of days in Queenstown, which feels a lot like a ski town and is famous for adventure sports- bungee jumping, skydiving, zorbing, etc. We decided to partake in paragliding. Tandem, of course, as even in New Zealand, letting novices jump off of cliffs on their own in generally frowned upon. The day I went the winds were quite strong, so rather than running and jumping, once the parachute was unfurled we were pulled backwards and lifted off the ground. It was really fun! I'm not a big fan of the idea of free-falling, but this was much more like flying or floating through the air, and therefore quite enjoyable. In addition to the paragliding, we took a scenic drive up to Glenorchy and took the gondola up to the Skyline restaurant and had some fun on the luge track- an alpine slide, essentially a go kart track down the side of a mountain (see photo).
After that, we drove down to Milford Sound for an overnight cruise in the fiordlands. In addition to sheep, the south island has a lot of lakes and waterways surrounded by mountains. The boat set off in the late afternoon, and we did have the chance to kayak before the sun went down. After that, all of the passengers hung out for dinner and (many) drinks and then eventually retreated to our tiny beds.

The next day we had a looong drive back to Queensland and up the west coast, finally arriving at Fox Glacier. Based on a friend's recommendation, we signed up for an all day hike on the glacier. What goes on your feet and rhymes with tampons? Crampons! They actually work better than I had imagined, although my legs were pretty tired by the end of the day. We had a lovely meal at the Plateau Cafe- good food, a friendly staff, and a free glass of wine is enough to win me over any time.

We left bright and early the next morning for our last adventure, a cave exploration trip further up on the west coast. Decked out in wetsuits and flashlight helmets, we hiked up to the top of a cave and crossed the top level on foot until we came to an underground river and floated through on inner tubes. They don't have many bats in New Zealand, but the roof of the cave was covered in glow worms that look like stars, so we all turned off our lights and floated our way down to the cave's exit. It was really cool and nothing I've ever seen before.

We spent our last night in a cute little seaside town called Punakaiki. I was feeling a little bad that Yuki and Jonathan didn't get a chance to see the Great Ocean Road while they were in Melbourne, but sunset at Punakaiki was almost as good. After that, we drove across the center of the island through Arthur's Pass and made it to Christchurch in time for our flights home. The driving wasn't so bad- Yuki and Jonathan did fine driving on the left, and although Jonathan was by far the speediest driver, an ill-timed passing attempt led me to keep my title of the scariest driver. And luckily for us, the only animal we hit was already dead. (lots of roadkill on those windy mountain highways) The only snag of the trip happened right at the start, when Yuki got nabbed at customs for forgetting to declare her hiking boots- a $400 (!) fine. So look for us on Border Patrol, right behind the Vietnamese father and son with the enormous bag of mushrooms. Almost everyone we met was really nice and friendly, and good thing I'd been watching New Zealand's Next Top Model, because I could decipher the accents. I'd love to go back, especially to check out what the north island has to offer.

Odds and ends

Links:

The fantastic mating dance of the Australian peacock spider. If I were a lady spider, I'd totally go back to his web. (via Metafilter)

Dolphin + kitty = BFFs (thanks, Jos!)

Peep dioramas- the winner was a Peep reenactment of the Chilean miner rescue.

What I've been up to:

Running a bizarre distance (14.38K, or 8.9 miles for you metric haters) to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital.

Checking out the King Tut exhibit at the Melbourne Museum.

Right now I'm waiting for my friends Yuki and Jon's delayed flight to get in. Yay for visitors!
Hilariously, when I checked their reservation for the flight number, I discovered that they had booked themselves with the titles Master and Reverend. They'll be in Melbourne until Friday, and then the three of us fly to Queenstown, New Zealand for a week on the south island. Woohoo!

No Reservations in Southie (as if you'd need them)

So, this morning I checked my email and three people had informed me that traveling food reviewer Anthony Bourdain had done a show in Boston- thanks, guys! Boston.com posted details and photos here. Props to him (people still say that, you know) for including The Quencher and the South Boston Bowlarama on the itinerary. If you like beer and bars and haven't been to The Quencher yet, you should consider yourself incomplete.
However, I have one major criticism:

"Bourdain and Ruffino made the first stop on a pub crawl through Southie at Murphy's Law."

Wait, wait, wait...everyone knows that Murphy's Law is the LAST stop on a pub crawl, not the first! And here is when I tell you a little anecdote that epitomizes Murphy's Law:

Several years ago, my roommate Maria and I attended a beer festival at the Harpoon Brewery with our Irish neighbor Peader. Anyone who's been to a Harpoon festival knows that they're essentially a recipe for intoxication. Seriously, it's as if they serve blackout juice. When the doors closed, we decided to walk back to our apartment and stopped in at The Law for a couple of late-night drinks. Peader ordered a flaming Sambuca, as you do. He knocked it over and next thing you know the entire bar was aflame. Without batting an eye, the bartender, a gruff looking woman in her 50s, snuffed out the flames with a a wet rag. I mean, that shit was nonchalant! Like it had already happened five times that same evening (which, in truth, it may have). We had a good laugh and next thing you know, we woke up the next morning, the three of us scattered among living room furniture. Because when you end your night at Murphy's Law, you may just teleport home.

And I am looking forward to the No Reservations Boston episode.

Full Indian dinner (almost)

My new flatmate is a vegetarian, a fact that has led me to expand my vegetarian meal repertoire a bit...I mean, there's only so much meatless pasta and pizza one can stomach. I decided to give Indian cuisine a try- aside from Trader Joe's (sigh...), I've never made Indian food from scratch. I did some online searching and found a couple of recipes that looked tasty and relatively easy to make:

Aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes) and chole (chickpea curry).

Then I bought some naan from the grocery store...so not entirely from scratch. The dishes were fairly simple to make and very tasty, although I did prefer the cauliflower one (add cauliflower to the list of veggies that are surprisingly good! See also: brussel sprouts) to the chick peas. Served with rice, the meal was certainly filling enough, although I may have to try my hand at samosas next time.

Links!

An old nemesis of mine, Edible Arrangements, has been thoroughly mocked in The Onion:

According to experts, the Connecticut-based franchise, which arranges skewered pieces of fruit into displays vaguely resembling floral bouquets, has defied all modern economic models, expanding continuously for the past decade despite its complete lack of any discernible consumer appeal.

I feel pleasantly vindicated. Thanks to Jeff for the link.

In totally unrelated news, an Australian sniffer dog was given a military award for bravery. Awwwww.

Are you ready for some pain(t)ball?

Yesterday I played paintball for the first time. One of my friends from work organized a lab outing (boss included!) to a paintball facility about an hour outside of the city. There were 14 of us total, so we were divided into two teams and everyone equipped with a camouflage jumpsuit, a face shield, a vest, a paintball gun, and ammunition (600 paintballs in total). We played a series of games, most of which were variants of hide-and-seek or capture the flag, on three separate courses- one had two large wooden forts, one was all natural woods and brush, and one had a bunch of barricades and barrels to hide behind. And onto the paintball...it was really fun and exciting and overall I had a blast but...it fucking hurt!! The very first time I got hit, I was hiding behind a log and poked my head up and BAM!, a paintball to the noggin, right above where my face shield ended. I felt a little bit woozy afterwards, but I recovered, and at least I knew what to expect from then on. I quickly realized that shooting wasn't my strong suit, so tried to make up for it by hiding and scampering, but based upon all of the welts and bruises on my ass, I wasn't so good at that either. I'd post a picture if it weren't so obscene. After the paintball ended, we had a barbecue and a good laugh about all of the funny stuff that happened during the action. Unfortunately, no one brought cameras out to the paintball pitch so I only have the before photo, not the after one of me covered in paint. Someone (JR!) said that paintball is dangerously close to World of Warcraft territory, but even though I had a great time, I don't think I could handle it more than once or twice a year, so I don't think I'm going to join the Victorian paintball militia or anything like that.

Conference time

I recently attended the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases annual meeting, which was held in Lorne, a beach town a couple hours from Melbourne, located right on the Great Ocean Road. I had been through the area once before, when I was on vacation before I moved here, and I can't believe I waited so long to go back- it's so beautiful and relaxing. The conference started out on a positive note- my lab is on a tight budget so I booked myself into one of the cheaper hotel options rather than staying at the resort where the conference was held, but I got upgraded to an "executive apartment" that had a jacuzzi and a patio with a great view. Holla! The conference itself was really good- it's nice to feel like I'm actually part of a field (as opposed to grad school where I was more or less a lone wolf in terms of research area)- all of the Australian researchers who work on pneumococcal pneumonia know each other and seem friendly and welcoming rather than competitive. This meeting was more geared towards clinicians and did have some pretty interesting talks mixed in, like the history of infection control in China and that sort of thing. And everyone seems to be in love with worldmapper.com, which resizes countries according to statistics relating to a certain subject, like pneumonia deaths or prisoners (holy crap, the US has the highest percentage of population in prison).

I was the only one from my lab who attended, but there were several people from my institute there, so I always had someone to chat with on breaks or join for dinner, which was a relief. Overall, the science, the scenery, and the socializing were all great, so I hope to go back to ASID next year!

stay tuned for more posts...paintball, cooking, etc...

Field trips

Over the past couple of weekends, I've done some exploring in other regions of Victoria. I have always loved a field trip, after all and my flatmate is also new to the area and up for sightseeing. Last weekend, I went to Ballarat, an old mining town about an hour outside of Melbourne. The first stop was Sovereign Hill, one of those historical reenactment towns (nerd alert!) a la Old Sturbridge Village. The highlight was the mine tour, where you actually ride carts down into an old mine- it was dim and dusty and downright scary, especially if you're prone to daydreaming about disaster scenarios. The photo doesn't quite do it justice. Then I panned for gold, but didn't strike it rich, alas. After that, we headed into downtown Ballarat...it was 6pm on a Saturday, all the shops were closed, and the place was absolutely deserted. I was half expecting to see a tumbleweed blow by. We did manage to find a (surprisingly good) Thai restaurant, though.

This weekend's field trip was to Geelong, a small costal city about an hour West of Melbourne. Again, it was pretty quiet but not nearly as void of inhabitants as Ballarat. And they had a ferris wheel set up on the beach- bonus! We walked around the waterfront for a bit and bought some mussels from a Spanish man who sells them from his boat, before we headed to our main destination- the Mt. Rothwell nature reserve for a guided nighttime walk. (I already mentioned the nerd thing, right?) My boss had recommended it as a unique experience and a cool way to see a lot of native Australian animals in the wild. I didn't bother trying to take pictures in the dark, but we did see lots of strange little marsupials, my favorite being the quoll. And now I can add another qu word to my Scrabble repertoire- double bonus!

Adventures in Strange Fruit: the kiwiberry

I spotted these little guys at the grocery store and just had to give them a try. Mini kiwis! They don't have a furry skin so no need to peel, you can just eat them like grapes. Plus, maybe they don't share a trait with their full-sized, furry relatives: kiwis make me fart. There, I said it. I mean, what is a blog if not a portal through which to share details about your bodily functions with the entire internet?
And the verdict is...kiwiberries taste just like regular kiwis, and the inside looks just like a big kiwi, only smaller. And now 100% fart free!

What I've been up to lately

The rest of Ern’s visit:
After a relaxing trip to the Mornington Peninsula, Ern spent a couple more days in Melbourne before flying back to Boston. We shopped for foodstuffs at Queen Victoria Market - which I recently learned is situated on top of an old burial ground…cue eerie noises. We had a bunch of friends over for a barbecue, did some more shopping and eating – I finally went to this restaurant that I’ve been curious to check out for ages, and it did not disappoint. Blood orange Campari cocktails and a seafood tasting board? Yes, please! Then Ern left :( Overall it was a fantastic visit- nice to be on vacation for a week, and obviously wonderful to get to spend time with a great old friend- it really made me feel like myself again.

Other than that, I saw one of my new favorite (or shall I say favourite) Australian musicians, Darren Hanlon, play at the Thornbury Theatre, which is essentially a giant version of my grandmother’s parlor- paisley wallpaper, rugs, and lots of plush furniture. He (and his backing musicians) were really good, and the tickets only cost $24, which is extremely low for Melbourne.

And it’s been back to work as usual, very busy but in a good way. I gave my first presentation at my institute and it wasn’t a disaster, and nobody fell asleep, even though it was about mass spec.

Happy (belated) 50th Birthday, Peace Corps!

Last week, the Peace Corps celebrated its 50th birthday. Most of you know that I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua from 1999 - 2001 (wow, that seems like a long time ago) and I must admit that despite the program's shortcomings (mainly, that it largely benefits the volunteers more than the host countries), I am very glad that I had the opportunity to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. Sure, it was incredibly frustrating at times and I had to deal with things like giardia, bedbugs, and constant unwanted attention from strangers, but overall it was an immensely positive and rewarding experience and the source of a lot of great friendships. From a political standpoint, I think it is important that some Americans do know what daily life is like in a developing country, as much of the world lives without access to things we take for granted, like clean water. Plus, in the scheme of government spending, Peace Corps is dirt fucking cheap to run: in 2010, Peace Corps requested an amount equal to 0.01% of the total federal budget.
And now, some Peace Corps themed links:

Does that commemorative poster look familiar? Maybe because it's the work of Shepard Fairey, whose sister was a volunteer in Togo.

The Peace Corps Times 50th anniversary edition- with one of my fellow Nica 20 Ag volunteers representing Nicaragua!

A nice little article about the Peace Corps with some interesting historical tidbits.

My cousin Carolyn is currently a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama, working in a remote indigenous community (yikes! no weekly trips to the discoteca), and writes about it on her blog.

Ern's visit Part II: Mornington Peninsula

During the week, Ern and I spent a couple of days in one of my favorite areas of Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula. It's sort of like Cape Cod, a summer weekend destination for city dwellers, only with better wine and more kangaroos. We started off the trip to the hot springs where we soaked in pools of natural warm mineral water and also witnessed an entertaining photoshoot involving a girl who looked like a stripper in unfortunate tiger print bathing attire.

We went on a couple of hikes (aka "bushwalks") in two parts of the national park- Cape Shanhck and Point Nepean, where we got rained on and deftly avoided dangers such as snakes and unexploded bombs. (we did see a snake, and a bunch of kangaroos.)












A large portion of the trip touring vineyards. I know, you're shocked. Our favorite wines came from Tuck's Ridge, partly because the guy pouring tastes reminded us of Colin Frizzle. He also recommended a great lunch venue...hello, polenta fries!


We stopped in Rye on the way back to Melbourne and took some photos of their brightly colored beach sheds, something of a symbol for the region.

Ern's visit Part I: Weekend in Melbourne

My friend, former roommate, and DCoE star Ern arrived midday on Saturday after a tedious journey from BOS to MEL. Ever the good sport, she did not object to my plans to drink beers all afternoon at Little Creatures Dining Hall in Fitzroy. I allowed her to take a short nap, after which we headed out to the Forum to see one of my favorite musicians (and fellow Masshole), Amanda Palmer. I realized I've now seen Amanda perform six times (three of those were with the Dresden Dolls), which kind of puts me into fangirl/stalker territory, but I never get tired of her live shows. Her music and songwriting are both clever and captivating, and above all, she is never, ever boring. To wit- her current album features a song called "Map of Tasmania" about pubic hair. For reals. On Sunday, we toured the Old Melbourne Gaol (creepy!) and then stumbled upon an Italian festival featuring the World's Longest Pizza (amazing! and really long!). We hit up the local vodka bar for dinner and then off to bed.

On Monday (hey, it's part of the weekend when you're on vacation), we drove out to the Healesville Sanctuary to check out some Australian wildlife. I saw my first echidna (very cute and larger than expected) and platypus...and learned a new word: platypussary, a platypus breeding ground. Please, somebody get James Bond to Australia to make a movie called Platypussy. The highlight of the day was a close encounter with a lyrebird, who have awesome feathers and make awesome noises.

My "new" furniture

Oh hi there, blog! Sorry for being so neglectful lately- I had a couple of weeks without internet at the apartment, and now that I'm not a grad student anymore I can't spend time at work posting pictures of furniture to my blog. So onwards to the furniture- I needed some, and I just couldn't bring myself to make yet another trip to Ikea. Inexpensive tea lights and tasty meatballs be damned, I've become something of a hater. However, I couldn't bring myself to spend thousands of dollars at a proper furniture store either, and the few cheap ones I found also sell items that require assembly. Do I make my own sandwich at the deli? No. When I spend money, I want the finished product. I lucked out and saw an ad for a sofa and a refrigerator on the bulletin at work, so I hired a man with a van and snapped those goodies up. Those were the only essentials, so I had a little more time and thought to put into items. I asked around at work on where to buy inexpensive furniture that isn't Ikea, and a coworker recommended a shop called Furniture Revisited. It was perfect! I feel like I won the used furniture lottery. My main goal was to find a dining table and chairs, ideally one that sat four but could be expanded to fit six, and they had exactly such a set in the shop. I told the owner that I would buy them, and since it was a fairly substantial item, I bargained down the price of a couple more items I was interested in, namely, a cute coffee table with a tiled top and The Most Awesome Chair in the World (which was the only brand new item I bought). Best of all, Dieter the shopkeeper delivered it all the next day for $25. Behold my furnishings!





Am I really becoming the type of person who gets excited about furniture? Yikes. Whatever, I still love that chair.

More movies

A nearby movie theater does $7 Mondays (as opposed to the $18 it normally costs to see at movie in Australia), so I've been catching up on the end of 2010 releases lately, just in time for Oscar season. Here's what I've seen lately:

Black Swan stars Nataline Portman as a young ballet dancer who wins her dream role as the lead in Swan Lake, but unravels under the pressure of playing both the innocent white swan and the sultry black swan. I thought it was creative and compelling and an excellent film overall. It's certainly not your typical dance movie and is essentially a dark psychological thriller. Highly recommended!

Blue Valentine is a brutal movie about the end of love, starting Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. We see both the beginning of their relationship, when they meet and fall in love, and the bitter end, as it becomes obvious that their marriage just isn't going to last. It's realistic and depressing as hell. Although I think Natalie Portman is a shoe-in for the Best Actress Oscar, I actually believe Michelle Williams would be a more worthy recipient, as she gave a completely believable performance of a character with real depth, both as a troubled teenage girl and an unhappy woman drowning in a failed marriage. All Natalie had to do was lose a lot of weight and act scared.

The Fighter- Sports movies and gritty Massachusetts families have been done before, but The Fighter turns a premise that could have been a cliche into a fresh and fantastic movie. Set in Lowell in the 1980s, Mark Wahlberg plays a Micky Ward, a boxer making a final run for the title and eager to step out of the shadow of his older brother Dicky, who rose to fame by knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard but now spends most of his time at a crack house. The casting was spot-on, and Christan Bale absolutely shines as Dicky. Kudos as well for being one of the few movies where the Boston accents sound realistic. I loved it- if you haven't seen it, go!

True Grit- I've always had a penchant for westerns, and when I heard that the Coen brothers were doing a remake of an old John Wayne film, I had high hopes. I was not disappointed- True Grit is great! Hailee Steinfeld stars as 14 year old Maddie Ross, who hires two lawmen to help her track down her father's murderer. Jeff Bridges provides the grit, and Matt Damon assists as the less gritty and more talkative Texas ranger. True Grit feels like an adventure story, full of wonderful dialogue, tense action, and beautiful scenery. Loved it! You know, I thought that 2010 was a weak year for movies, but Black Swan, The Fighter, and True Grit changed my mind.

Speaking of the Oscars, Kris' annual Oscar contest is up and running, and the prizes are SPECTACULAR...check it out for yourself!

Lastly, did everyone catch the triumphant return of Wayne and Garth on Saturday Night Live? I'll have you know that they totally stole my Winter's Bone joke. No lie, just ask Kelly McMahon.

Weekend in Daylesford

Last week, my friend Sofie texted me to see if I wanted to go to Daylesford for the weekend.
me: What's Daylesford?
Sofie: It's known for spas and wineries
me: YES

and away we went. We started off the weekend with a trip to the spa for massages- unexpectedly, mine was given by a large Australian man with a ponytail who may have seen my buttcrack. After that, a trip to the wineries, where we sampled the goods and met a pair of dogs who lead a double life as cover models. Daylesford is one of those small country towns frequented by tourists from the city who use antiquing as a verb. These people love their doilies. I can no longer judge, as I fully admit to purchasing some decorative pillows and hanging out in our hotel's sitting room, oddly reminiscent of my grandmother's parlor. The rest of Saturday night consisted of a delicious dinner, an inadvertent trip to a lesbian bar, and ended with us getting shooed out of the bowls club at closing time.
On Sunday, we checked out more of the local sites, hiked to a disappointing lookout, and drove to a better lookout. We also met a baker who showed us her Boston Buns. All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend and a nice trip to an area of Victoria I hadn't seen before.

Links!

I'm sorry, I know you shouldn't joke about tyrannical regimes that cause the suffering of millions of people, but whoever came up with Kim Jong-Il Looking At Things is a comedy genius.

Update: this must be something of a trend. There's a similar blog for Vladimir Putin, who sometimes does more than just look at things.

It's been a running joke among some of my friends that I have the tendency to buy flights when the prices reach their absolute peak, and as soon as I book mine, all prices drop. Like when we all met up in Hawaii one year and I paid $1100 and everyone else's flights spent like $450. I've improved my track record in recent years, but I still found this WSJ article on when airline prices are lowest handy.