No, I'm sorry, you can't have these 30 seconds of your life back

Rad:
South Africa's National Braai Day. From the official website: "Our vision is to create a local day with the same festivities and impact as St Patrick’s Day in Ireland or the 4th July in America."

Not Rad:
Waking up with a terribly sore throat after manning the grill in the pouring rain for an entire afternoon.

Rad:
Getting confirmation that my final med school recommendation (of 8?! It's a little ridiculous, i know) is in the mail. I had almost given up on this final reference, but I'm pretty glad that I decided to wait it out.

Not Rad:
Announcement of the complete failure of Merck's HIV vaccine trial. One of the arms of this Phase II clinical trial was being conducted in SA. Hopefully this won't set off the same media firestorm that occurred when the recent microbicide trials were halted.

Sorry for the lame post. I think I'm just going to make myself some tea and call it a night. And thanks for all of the feedback about my post from a couple of days ago about my trip up to Zululand.