Finally Caught Up!

Well, I didn't think I would do it, but it looks as though I have finally caught up on my posts with this one. Woo-hoo! Not too much happened today, so I think this post will be a relatively short one. Well, short for me, anyway. (Tony, go ahead and insert your leprechaun joke here ___.) But I do have a couple of quick stories to tell.

I managed to meet a couple of new folks today. Nothing big, but people are finally talking to me as I walk by. I spoke with a guy who said he is a manager, but he is a little older, so I am thinking senior manager here. He introduced himself and then said, "And you're with us how long?" So it seems as though people know who I am, but don't think they need to introduce themselves. I guess I will just have to start walking around and meeting people tomorrow, since I don't know who they are. And yes, I really am that important that people already know me here. Well, unless someone from the Charlotte office tipped them off, and my reputation is preceding me...

Early morning - this one was a first. I am impressed it took a week for it to happen. I finally had someone from the US call me on my cell phone. Twice. And did not leave a message. It was 4 am, and by the time I heard it ring, it would have taken me too long to get to the phone to answer it before it cut to voicemail. (Although apparently I would have gotten there in time to answer the second attempt to call me.) So if it was any of you reading this blog, go ahead and confess!

On the way in to work this morning, I was listening to my iPod out of the train station, and I heard this high-pitched song, and I thought, "I didn't think I put "You Can't Always Get What You Want" on my iPod. Weird." Then I rounded the corner out of the gate, and there was a boys' choir standing there. (No, they were not singing the Rolling Stones. It just sort of sounded like it.) They were standing, facing into the station, and the director was there starting them off on a new song. In front of them (about 10 boys from maybe 8-12) was a poster from St. Wherever, and a box and bucket to collect change. That's right - they were raising money by singing in the subway station. Ahhh... Feels like NY.

One other story for you from lunch. I went downstairs to an area that would be comparable to a mall food court. Well, except it is kind of outside (open on the sides) and there are only 3 restaurants. But you can order at any of the 3 and then sit at a table in the middle and eat. I get some sort of Asian dish (shocker), and was going to bring it back upstairs to eat, but changed my mind. So I grab a table, and go over to the closest restaurant to grab a fork and a napkin. The guy asked me something about ordering (he had a very heavy non-Australian accent), I didn't really hear all of it, and I said, "I just got my food, I just need a napkin." So I grabbed a fork and napkin, walked over to my food, and started to sit down. The guy had followed me from the counter to my table, pointed to my bag, and said, "You didn't order from us!" Apparently I was not allowed to take a little cheap plastic fork and one tiny school cafeteria-sized napkin from him without ordering there. So I said, "I still need a drink. I am coming back over." After that, the guy was nice to me. So I had to go over and buy a drink from the guy. I grab a water ($3 - holy crap!) and go back and sit down. Karma sucks, by the way. I open my bottle of spring water only to find that spring water isn't what I thought. It is really soda (seltzer) water. It was a bit of a shock, and I have to say I am not a big fan of it. So my lesson in all of this mess: Don't change your mind about where you are going to eat. And don't use napkins or forks.

Okay, since I am running out in a minute to catch the train, I don't have a text update from my new favorite news source today. Instead, I will leave you with a web site to check out. If you go to the left-hand corner of the map and select "photo" (rather than map), you can see a lot of Sydney by zooming in and moving around the map. And they are really hard to see, but there are little blue arrows in the center of each side of the box where the map is, so you can look all around the city. You can type in stuff and find it using the search spots at the top of the page. So when I start chatting about where I am at any given time, you now have the ability to check it out, either on a map or in the photo view. Enjoy!

http://www.whereis.com/#session=MTI