Those Awesome 80s...

Friday was an absolutely entertaining day for me. Now, I will admit that I was pretty tired, and I hit the snooze button one extra time. So I was running almost 10 minutes later than usual. But it didn’t matter, because I found the one thing I needed to see all week!
As I was exiting the train station to walk to the client’s office, I walked out and there was a guy in an Obama t-shirt, handing out fliers. I headed straight for him. He looked at me, smiled, and held a flier out. I took it, pulled out my earbuds, and told him, “I have a question for you.” He gave me a look like, “What in the hell is going to happen now?” but maybe since I had a little grin on my face was cool with it and said, “Okay…”
I told him something to the effect of: “I’m an American, obviously. And I am really quite curious. You are the second person I have seen this week handing out information on Obama. I am wondering why you guys are handing out this information? What is the benefit here? Why are you targeting Aussies?”
He looked at me and said, “Actually, we’re not targeting Aussies.” Not entirely true, but okay. (He was handing fliers to anyone and everyone who would take one, and the flier is addressed to Aussies.) I think I know what he meant. The guy was an American. He told me that this group he is in believes that there are 50,000 Americans in New South Wales (the state that Sydney is in). And he told me that I might have been the 5th person from the US he had seen today. (As I said before, Central station is the busiest station in the city.) This group that he is a part of is about 5,000 strong. So they are trying to encourage the other Americans in NSW to vote.
The flier: On one side, it asks people to tell any American they know to go vote. On the other side, it tells of all the meetings and rallies they have to support Obama. Not exactly an impartial group, but whatever. Now, I am not sure how effective this little campaign will be. Especially since not one person at the office happy hour Friday night said one thing to me about how I should make sure I vote in November. Not exactly reaching the masses... I still think it is funny that they are campaigning for Obama in Australia, but at least I now know what they are doing, since it was driving me nuts all week.
On Friday afternoon, we walked out of the client’s office and hopped into a taxi to go back into the office for the end of month drinks party. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to find one. (If you haven’t read the prior post, the client is a taxi service.) The taxi driver was pretty entertaining. He started telling us this story about the car he bought. Apparently there was some older woman who he had to keep picking up at her house to take places. He noticed that the lady had a car, and he asked her why she kept calling him. She said she didn’t drive, and that she wanted to sell the car. So the guy said he was interested, and she said she wanted something like $5,000 for it. He told her it was too much, and he offered her $300. They laughed, and a couple of weeks later, he picked the lady up, and ended up buying the car off of her for $500.
Then the guy proceeds to tell us how he got insurance for it, put a new radio in it, and cleaned it up a little. Apparently the car was in great shape. Something like a 2000 model Hyundai with only 14,000 miles on it. He figured out what similar models were going for, bumped it up a little because of the mileage, and ended up selling it for something like $6,000. So Sai, one of the guys I am working with this week, looks over at him and said, “You just ripped off an old lady!” We all were thinking it, but no one had said it. Hilarious!
Once in the office, we walked around to say hello to folks, and eventually wandered into the party. It was pretty fun. It was karaoke night, but they were absolutely blasting music, waiting for people to get up and sing. You had to scream to talk to people. I seriously lost my voice after being there. Ask Sally, Amy, or Hughlene. They had called me Saturday morning and wanted to know what was wrong with me, because I could barely speak.
After a while, they ran out of beer. So a group of us headed to a pub across the street from the office. When we got there, Sai happened to know the vendor out in front of the pub, and we all told the guy hello. We were starving, but headed into the pub, figuring we could get some food in there. Especially since the hot dogs he was selling were $6.50 each. Nope, no food inside. We got our beers and went outside to hang out and talk, as there were several people there with us. It was fun, and eventually, everyone wandered back over to the vendor to get some food. I walked over and ordered one, and one of the guys there said, “I only paid $6, not $6.50. Just so you know.” He was quite proud. I lucked out, though. The guy said, “You’re Sai’s friend, right? $5.” Sweet! A little while later, more people were eating hot dogs, and I was still hungry, so I went back for a second dog. Still $5. Man, I’m good!
A little while later, pretty much everyone had taken off except for a handful of us. So we decided to walk over to another pub. What we didn’t figure was that it was 2 am, and the pub was closed. So one of the guys decided he was done for the night. The two other people I was with were my friends from Canada, and they wanted to go down to Kings Cross – it’s kind of the party area of town. Plus they live on that part of town, so it was a chance to head down their way. So Lara, Tariq, and I grabbed a cab after Tariq grabbed my hand and started pulling me, quite excited that he was going to get to introduce me to Kings Cross.
We got there, got out of the taxi, and started walking down the street to find somewhere to go. The other two pulled me into a line for a pub, but we weren’t able to get in. Oh well. We walked down to another bar, and grabbed a beer. We hung out for a while, and Lara said that she was hungry, and wanted to go to her favorite local spot in Kings Cross. Yep, it’s almost 3.30 am, and we went to some little Indian place. I would say restaurant, but it was seriously like a serving station stuck between two buildings, with a tin sheet as a roof and a tiny table right next to the counter where everyone who came it could sit. There was room for maybe 6 people at this table. But I’ll tell you – the food was really good! I realize that at 3.30 am, after a night at the pubs, most anything might taste good. But this food was seriously some of the better Indian food I have had here!
As we were leaving, Tariq and Lara kept telling me to come stay the night at their place, since the trains weren’t running and a taxi would be expensive. But as we were talking about it, I looked up, and there was a bus that said “Kings Cross-City” across the top. The guy was driving along pretty slow, and I kind of waived at him. Sure enough, he stopped right in front of me, even though I was not near a bus stop. So I thanked the guys, but told them I could get back. I hopped on the bus, and started to pull out my bus ticket. The driver stopped me (thinking I was getting out money) and said, “No, it’s a free ride.” Wow, okay. So they pick up the drunks at 4 am and haul them back into the city. So I jumped off the bus at Town Hall, hailed a cab, and was off. The taxi driver was nice. And, of course, I had to show off what I had learned at my client, and started to talk to him about driving a taxi. He was a super nice guy, gave me his card (he’s an independent driver), and told me that if I wanted to go see any sights, I should call him and he’d take me around. Nice guy.
After the late night out (I think I was home at 4.30), I ended up taking it pretty easy on Saturday. I got going early afternoon, and headed off to run my weekend errands. The number one item on my list was a haircut, since I have been looking kind of shaggy lately. I found a place, and the lady told me to come back in about 45 minutes, so she could finish up a couple people ahead of me. I walked down to another place, and the guy there was pretty much busy all afternoon. So I went to the grocery store, took the stuff home, then headed back out yet again. I went back, and the girl was just finishing up. What timing. So she had me come sit down, and asked me how much I wanted cut off.
Now, I was wanting to cut an inch to 1.5 inches off, but, of course, I had to tell her in centimeters. Huh? I told her I wanted about 3 cm cut (there’s about 2.5 cm in an inch), and held up my fingers to show her how much. She said, “Well, that’s about 5 cm. This is 3” and puts her fingers down to show me. I swear, it was the same thing I was holding up. So I showed her and said, “This much” and she was off.
She asked me where I was from and what I was doing there. (The first question I typically get from everyone.) I told her NC, and let her know where NC was in the US. She told me she was wondering, since she noticed my accent but had only been to NY and Hawaii. So we talked a while, and she was freaking hilarious! I was quite happy that I ended up going to have this girl cut my hair, because it was probably the best 20 minutes I have spent with anyone this week. She was so funny, and asked a ton of questions. It was nice to sit and laugh with her.
After the haircut, I jumped on the bus and headed into town. I had to go get my computer out of my locker at work so that I could give you guys a weekend update post. Well, and so I didn’t have to get up any earlier on Monday to swing by the office on my way out to the client. As I was walking into the office, I saw the ultimate in proof that Australia is still stuck in the 80s. I was standing at a crosswalk with a group of folks, waiting for the light to turn. From the side that had the green light, you could hear a somewhat loud group crossing towards us, and everyone standing near me turned to look at them. The first part of the group was people carrying video cameras and sound equipment. Behind them was the rest of the group, all dressed up in suits with tennis shows (All Stars and Vans, of course). Most people in the group had these green masks on that looked kind of like the Comedy/Tragedy masks. At the back of the group was a guy, in a suit with tennis shoes and a trench coat, carrying a boom box (I swear it was an original from the 80s), blasting Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” They walked through the crowd waiting, and kept walking along the road. I’m not sure where they were headed, but I’m thinking there is some new video recently posted from Australia on YouTube that I probably never want to see… Of course, I would like to thank them for getting that song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. (You’re welcome if you have it in your head now, as well.)
Saturday night was low key, and I stayed in. I got up Sunday morning and went to church, since I had promised the minister last week that I would come back. When I got there, a woman was walking in the door in front of me. We got inside, and she turned and said, “You came to visit last week, didn’t you?” I told her I had, and we had a quick chat about things. She said she was a little disappointed that I was just a short-term visitor. Apparently that church used to be bigger, but a lot of people had left. She said that the new minister had a different style, and that some people didn’t care much for it (he didn’t want to have elders in the church, for example), but that she was hoping that things would pick back up. Apparently the church used to have about 100 members. Much larger than the 21 who were there for today’s service, which included a woman who showed up for the 10 am service at 10.45 (just before the sermon started), and the guy who walked in at the very end of the sermon, around 11.15.
Before the service starts, the minister came in the door and started making his rounds. He came over and said hello to me, and spoke to the three people sitting in front of me, as well, who were also visiting. Pretty nice guy. Then he announced that they were going outside the box and wanted to have a “Passing of the Peace” moment, so everyone got up and started talking to everyone else. Ann, the minister’s wife, came over and said, “Hello, Jenny. Glad you came back to visit again.” How nice of her to remember my name from a week ago. I said, “Hi, Ann. Good to be back.” And we spoke for a few minutes before things started winding down. Of course, there were still 3-4 people who had to work their way all the way around the room to say hello to everyone there. Two guys came over and talked to me while Jason (the minister) was trying to get the service started up again. It was pretty funny, since it was a small room with very few people, and everyone could hear us talking. Oh well…
Overall, the service was nice, and I was glad I went back. Although I think I am going to try to visit a couple other places before I come back home, so I am not sure I will see them again. Jason asked if I was sure I wanted to go back home, that I could just stay and enjoy the spring that would soon be here, and come visit them whenever I liked. Nice guy.
Well, I should probably wrap this post up, since it is getting long. I will tell you all a quick story before I sign off. They have Australian Idol over here, which I have flipped through a couple of times. It has been somewhat interesting, since the judges are pretty similar to the American Idol judges (although still kind of different and a little less harsh than Simon Cowell). But I saw part of the initial audition shows, as they traveled around Australia, which was really just visiting 3 cities. The best was that America was well represented. Naked Cowboy came in and auditioned here in Australia. If you have never seen Naked Cowboy, it is a guy in NYC who hangs out in Times Square in his tighty whitey underwear, also in a cowboy hat and boots. He sings and lets people take pictures with him, and gets money for the songs and the photos. The judges (two guys and a lady) were giving him a hard time about “singing in his skivvies” for money. They asked him if you could really make money doing it. Naked Cowboy said that he was now listed as the #3 sight to see in NYC, and had made about $3 million so far this year. Holy crap! $3 million for singing in your underwear? Really? Of course, the Idol judges jumped up and started taking off their pants as a joke, but I seriously can’t believe that this guy makes that much cash!
But enough ranting about millionaires in their underwear. Before I go, I want to give a big shout out to Paul… Happy Birthday, Paul! I hope it’s a good one!
Okay, to close out, I have a favor to ask you guys who are reading this blog post. My office back home has a Race For The Cure team for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. For those of you who are interested in helping out, I have signed up to be a part of the team, even though the 5-K run/walk is the weekend before I get home. This year is one of very few that I have not been around to run, and I am a little bummed about it. But I still want to support the cause. So I’m asking two things. The first is for those of you who are in the office reading this post and are part of the Race For The Cure team, please feel free to add a comment to the end of this post and provide the link to your site. Hopefully you will get some more visits from the readers of this blog page. For everyone else, if you might be looking to make a charitable donation for a very worthwhile cause, please check out the following link (or any of the links that might be included in the comment posts from my friends in the office):
http://www.komencharlotte.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1020&px=1052742

I'm Losing Track Of Time!

So I just hit my official anniversary for work on the 23rd. I have been working here for two months. Only month one to go. In fact, I think my official end date for work is 24 September (a Wednesday), so I am really and truly down to the final month here. An even stranger thought is that six weeks from this past Tuesday, I will be boarding a plane to fly home. Now, I have no idea what day I am landing back in the US, between the time changes and the 24 hours it will take to get home once I leave here, but I know I take off for home in just six short weeks!
I keep thinking back to my first few days here, and how hard it was to believe at the time that this secondment would fly by. I thought it was pick up. In fact, I think if you went back to some of my early posts, you would see where I said I expected things to pick up a little once busy season started up. I really had no idea time would start flying by this quickly!
This week has been pretty busy, obviously. I know I have not done a very good job the past two weeks in keeping up with blog posts, but I think things will get better starting next week. Right now, I am losing track of time and working late, so when I get home, I pretty much eat dinner and go to bed. I am still doing the “second shift” thing in the office at night. Alex, the guy who is running the current job I am on, has an office that faces the new cube where I sit. In fact, he is usually sitting there when I come in the evenings, and pops out to talk. Usually he says something like, “Oh, is it already time for the second shift?” Tonight, I was a few minutes “late” getting in, and he told me he was getting worried, since I hadn’t made it in at my usually time. Funny guy. Actually, on a random note, he is a pretty funny guy. He has a son who is a few months old. There is a picture of his son in his office where his son has on a shirt that says (in big black letters) “iPood.” (Come on. Think through it. You can figure it out.) Hilarious!
Although the week has been busy, it has really been all about work. Lucky me, right? Nothing huge and exciting has happened this week. But I do have some random stories that I have pieced together from throughout the week to share with you. Hopefully you guys will think they are entertaining. So here you go:
There is a guy who sits in an office across from my cube (next to Alex). Every night, he picks up the phone and calls his wife just before he leaves. I swear the guy is the Australian version of Mr. Mackey from the show "South Park." Every time he hangs up with his wife, he says, “Mmm kaaaaaay.” I figured out the connection tonight and tried very hard not to laugh out loud. The interesting part of this story is that this guy probably hasn’t said one word to me the entire time I have been here. Until I moved desks. Well, maybe he told me hello on occasion, but only after I said it to him first. (I seriously moved one row over and two cubes up. It's not the other side of the office or anything.) But now, as he closes his office door, he turns and tells me goodnight every night. Random.
Speaking of my desk relocation, I noticed on Tuesday that I actually have a nameplate. It appeared since I moved desks. I didn’t have a nameplate when I was sitting at the other desk, since I was using someone’s desk who was on leave. But I get relocated, have four weeks left, and they stick my name on my desk. I don’t know why – I just find it a little strange that they waited until I was leaving to let people know who I am!
Now, aside from the name plate, there are some great perks in the office. People have gotten to know me, so I can usually spark off a random email conversation when I need some entertainment during the day. (Who, me? Go figure!) So on Tuesday afternoon, an email went out that one of the directors had stopped for some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and brought a couple dozen into the office for everyone. One of the girls in the office sent an email around to the department to let people know, and to tell folks to hurry, since they will go fast! I emailed her back and let her know that she was being quite cruel, since those of us out in the field don’t need to know about the good stuff that we were missing out on in the office. Especially when it is the middle of the afternoon and we are all hungry. She wrote back and made some crack to me about missing out. I told her that aside from me, Krispy Kreme was the best thing that has come out of NC. Apparently she thought it was funny, and ended up walking over and snagging me a doughnut. I didn’t know about it until I came into the office that night, when she sent me an email to let me know. She had dropped the doughnut off at my desk when I was getting a glass of water from the kitchen. When I walked back to my desk, one of the girls who sits near me told me that I had a doughnut at my desk. So I went to find Kim and thank her for it, but I just missed her, as she had headed into the kitchen. The girl who sits in front of her office told me that I had just missed her, but she was coming back. So I started to walk away, when the manager in the office next to Kim said, “Oh! There is a doughnut for you somewhere!” Someone else nearby said something about it, too. So apparently there was some sort of story about me and my doughnut going around the office that afternoon… I really could care less what the story was. The doughnut was freaking tasty and well worth it. And it’s pretty cool to get this rockstar treatment here!
So doughnuts are pretty tasty – they pretty much taste the same as they do back in the US. (Although for the $20 per dozen, I think they actually make them in the US and fly them over!) But I have mentioned before that there are little things that are different about the food here. For example, I think I have had one salad in the three months that I have been here. (Aside from any I make myself.) Well, I think I figured out why… I noticed a sign tonight while walking through the Wynyard train station. It said, “Wynyard Salad Bar – Hot Food!” Really?
It is things like this sign that have helped me to realize that Wynyard is an interesting little place to see things. It is mostly a train station, but there is a grocery store, some coffee shops, a news stand, and some other little stores throughout the building, and the train station is at the bottom (two floors below the street level). My favorite story of the week happened on Monday morning in Wynyard. I was coming down the escalator to the train station, and there was a woman standing in the hall area, leading towards the trains. I was heading the opposite direction, but I just happened to see her shirt as I was stepping off the escalator and turning towards the train I needed to catch. Her shirt said “Obama ’08.” She was handing out something to people walking by. Now, I was a bit perplexed by this woman. I didn’t get to walk by her, but I am really quite curious as to what she was handing out to people. Even more than that, I really want to know why she was handing stuff out to people in Wynyard train station. I mean, is she looking to swing the popular vote for the American president in Australia? “Hey! Vote for Obama… In the pretend election that we will be holding in the corner over there on a random day... Just because I am curious to see who Australians would vote for…” I really cannot understand the point of that one. I would wager a bet that of all the people who she could have approached that day, I was probably the only one who is eligible to vote in the November election. I have looked for this woman every day since Monday, but I have not seen her again. I really want to ask her what she is trying to accomplish. It is driving me nuts to find out!
So after seeing the random salad sign, I had to run to catch the bus tonight. Of course, I spent the first half of the ride standing up. (There are a lot more people who ride the bus at 9 pm than you would think!) When we got across the Harbour Bridge and got to the first stop, a seat freed up. The woman behind me was talking on the phone, and I noticed that she had an American accent. So when she got off of the phone, I turned to her and said, “I apologize for eavesdropping, but where are you from?” She started to tell me where she lived, and then figured out where I was asking. She smiled and said, “I live here, but I am originally from Texas.” (I can assure you, she did not sounds like the typical Texan.) I told her I don’t hear American accents too often, and she laughed and asked where I was from. There were a couple of people from Texas sitting behind her, who were over here visiting. Very nice people, and it was funny that I just happened to run into her on the bus ride home tonight!
And while I am talking about bus rides, I have just a little piece of advice I would like to pass out to everyone. It may seem like an obvious thing, but apparently not as obvious as I thought it would be… My public service announcement, for the benefit those of us who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time: If you are wearing low-rise pants, and you are standing on a crowded bus, there is absolutely no need for you to ever, ever bend over.
Okay, one last thing: Someone keeps calling me. In the middle of the night. I think the calls come in at something like 2 am. I have yet to hear it soon enough to get out of bed to answer it. (It is usually on the last right when I figure out what is going on.) It’s not that I mind getting a phone call from back home. I mean, if it is important enough that you want to call me, it’s fine. But the problem is that I have no idea who is calling me. My caller ID does not pick it up, I think because I am overseas. And whoever it is does not leave me a message. For the love of God, if you are the one calling me, please leave me a message. I swear I will call you back! Especially if it will stop the 2 am almost-nightly phone calls! And if it is a telemarketer of some sort, well... I very rarely get short with people on the phone. But if they call tonight, and I manage to get out of bed, it is on like Donkey Kong!
Okay, I am out of stories. Actually, I think I had promised some insights from the Olympics Closing Ceremonies, but I am going to defer those until this weekend. I was up really late last night, and it is getting late yet again. I need some sleep! Especially since tomorrow night is the End of Month Drinks Party in the office, which means we will probably go out afterwards.
To close out tonight, rather than giving an mX update, I have my own Story Of The Day to share. It might have been one of those “You Had To Be There” stories, but I am hoping that I can be descriptive enough that you guys will see the humor:
So I got off of the bus this morning, and was walking across the sidewalk to go down the stairs and into the train station. There was a guy walking next to me, kind of cutting over, and there was an older lady, I would venture a guess and say she was at least 70, who was walking from the other direction. I saw the lady coming, so I stopped to let her pass so that we didn’t run into each other. But the guy next to me just kept blowing through the people and ran into the woman. Not hard, but he definitely bumped her. Then he kept on walking. I know he saw her, because of the angle he was coming from when he ran into her. This whole encounter took maybe five seconds, but it seemed like a lot longer! Why? Because I looked at the woman, and she was just staring at the guy. She might have said something to him, but I didn’t see her mouth move. Or maybe someone else said something to him. I had my iPod on, so I couldn’t hear anything. But obviously someone made a comment, because the guy got to the train station stairs, reached for the handrail with one hand, and, without turning around or acknowledging anything behind him, he proceeded to raise his other hand into the air and give the lady the finger. Classy. If you are going to hell for anything, I would guess that flipping off an older woman after you tried to plow her over is surely a fast track to get there.
Good times…

Another One Bites The Dust (Weekend, That Is...)

I know everyone has been waiting for it. And I have finally come through for all of you. That’s right – I had a big adventure on Saturday. Drum roll, please… I tried Vegemite! My Saturday morning breakfast consisted of toast with Vegemite spread on it. Now, those of you who know me know that I will try anything once. I seriously had to choke the Vegemite toast down. Luckily I only ate it on one piece of toast and was smart enough to save the jelly toast for the second piece. What’s it like? I really can’t describe it, other than to say it tastes like crap. Salty crap. So I can say I tried it, and I can warn each of you: Stay the hell away from it! It only proves that the Aussies here are missing out on the good things in life. Like jelly biscuits. Mmm…
After breakfast, I went out and wandered around. I spent most of Saturday walking around Mosman, Cremorne, and Neutral Bay, also known as the North Sydney suburbs. My biggest task of the day was to go get a haircut. I have been starting to look pretty shaggy. So I walked through these suburbs, and absolutely could not find a place for a haircut. Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was one place: Ménagé A Trois. Based on the things here that are legal, I think I will pass on that place!
While I was down in the other suburbs, I decided to try out a different grocery store, as I thought it would have more selection that the one by me. Let it be a lesson to me: Change is bad. Okay, not really. But all this time when I thought my grocery store had limited selection (it is really small, and I actually have to go to two stores each week – one for bread, fruits, and vegetables, and one for everything else), I can admit I was wrong. In fact, I still had to go to my regular grocery store on Sunday for some of the things I needed. Weird.
After going to the store, I finished off some chores around the house.
Which leads me into the latest episode of “Good Idea, Bad Idea.” I have had a light out above my kitchen/dining room/living room/they’re-all-the-same-room table for almost two weeks now. And without this light, the flat is pretty dark at night. So on Saturday, I decided it was time to replace the light bulb. Pretty basic thing, right? Well, under normal circumstances in which I might have access to a ladder, yes, it would be basic. But in my little world (Tony can insert a leprechaun joke now), this task was not as easy as it sounds. So in order to change the light bulb, I had to move my whatever-room table underneath the light, and climb up onto the table to reach the light fixture which is flush mounted to the 8-foot ceiling. (I’m sure it’s really in meters…) It is one of those wobbly pedestal tables. So I think you now see why this little task might be a bad idea…
Actually, I didn’t fall. I did wobble a lot, but I’m pretty quick on my feet, so it wasn’t too bad. The problem was that the light bulb had to go in a certain way, apparently. So I screwed it in, got down, turned on the light, nothing. Turned off the light, climbed back up, screwed it in again, climbed down, turned the light on, nothing. Here’s where the bad idea came into play. I left the light on, climbed up, and played with the light bulb. I think you see where I am going here, but to foreshadow a little bit, I will add a comment that the voltage here in Australia is just about double that of the US. I have already been indirectly warned that the switches on the plugs are there for a reason. (Yes, there are little switches above every plug I have seen over here. The GM of my current client was plugging something in the other day and made some crack about “I shouldn’t let the American see me doing this.”) So I climbed back up on the table with the light switch on. I’ll tell you what – it wasn’t as bad as you might think, but the sparks were kind of like little fireworks. Pretty cool!
The rest of the afternoon was just finishing up some other chores around the apartment. For dinner, I headed over to my local pub, since I hadn’t been there in a while. I figured it was a good night to go. It was the last night of the Olympics here, aside from the closing stuff on Sunday, so it would be fun to go to the pub and watch with some other people.
Now, I have had several people as me about the Olympics over here. Yes, it is kind of weird to watch and cheer for the US from here. And, I will admit that I find myself cheering for a lot of Aussies. I think it is mostly because all I get to see are the Aussies over here. In fact, I think I know more of the Aussie Olympians than the Americans. Take it for what you will. But once the swimming wrapped up here, the Olympic spirit really kind of faded. I mean, people still talk about it, but swimming really was a huge buzz for everyone here! I think I mentioned that there were emails sent out about certain swim events being shows on the TV in the office lobby. But I have not seen any emails about watching the kayaking or the track and field events. The Aussies have done pretty well in those (gold in kayaking and skull, silver in hurdles, and a gold in pole vaulting, which was the first gold medal in a field event here in 60 years), but the excitement just isn’t there any more.
My trip to the pub sort of exemplifies my ramblings. The men’s field hockey was on, and the Aussies were playing for a bronze medal. I honestly think I was the only person in the pub watching the game. It’s kind of sad, since Australia was playing really well (and ended up winning). Although I have to wonder what the pub was like on the nights of the swimming events!
Sunday was a pretty laid-back day. I decided to try out a new church this week. I am somewhat ashamed to say I have only been to church twice since I have been here. Although I think City2Surf should count as a day of worship, too. So I headed down to the Mosman Baptist Church (MBC). I really was curious what “Baptist” here meant. The sign on the outside of the church said it was an “OPEN” church: Outreach, Praise, Encouragement, Nurture. So it looked like a decent place. Plus it didn’t start until 10 – Aside from the Catholic mass, it’s the latest service in the neighborhood!
I walked in and sat down towards the back. It was a more contemporary church, with chairs, the big screen with PowerPoint going, and a “band” warming up. Actually, it was just a woman playing the keyboard and singing with another guy. There were drums, too, but no one played those. The song that the two were singing when I walked in was a contemporary praise song, so I figured out that this service was going to be pretty laid back. I found a seat and barely had time to put down my purse and take off my jacket before one of the women sitting in front of me got up, walked back, put her arm around me, and told me how nice it was for me to come visit. Okay… Thanks!
After the musicians were done warming up, the lady came back and walked through the congregation, shaking everyone’s hand and saying hello. She introduced herself (Ann), and asked me about where I was from, etc. She told me she’d catch me after the service, and then she moved on to the folks down the row from me.
As Ann walked away, a woman on the row in front of me turned around and said, “Where are you from?” I told her the US, which she knew, and she said, “Where?” I told her NC, and I started to explain to her where it was. She said, “Oh, I’ve been there! I have some friends from back in the UK who moved there, and we have been to see them a few times. I went to, uh, is it Charlotte?” I laughed and told her that was where I was from. She told me what a wonderful city it was (go Charlotte!), and how much she likes visiting there. Apparently her friends went to State and ended up in Charlotte. Small world, huh?
After talking to her, I read through the bulletin. Actually, it was more an informational thing, not really a bulletin. (The service was pretty much directed by the minister, and all the stuff you needed was up on the overhead screen.) But I figured out that Ann was the pastor’s wife. And that the church service lasted about 90 minutes. Yikes! The more interesting part was the discussion of the staff: The ministers were listed as "All Christians at MBC." The Pastor was the only true church "staff." I thought it was kind of a neat thing to have out there for everyone to see. A couple of minutes later, a guy walked into the room, and headed right towards me. (I was obviously the only visitor.) I figured out he was the preacher before he got to me. “Hi, I’m Jeff. Believe it or not, I’m the minister here.” I introduced myself, talked to him for a couple of minutes, then he walked up to the front and got the service started.
It was a pretty good service. There were only about 20 people there, but it was nice. (Again, I don’t think people around here go to church.) This congregation was younger than the other church I went to. In fact, the people on my row were about my age. They had a little girl with them. Her name was Emma, and Sunday was her second birthday. She was hilarious. She ran around like she was all hopped up on sugar babies and Mountain Dew. She was fun to watch.
The music at the service was… interesting. In some ways, it was terrible. At the same time, it was absolutely wonderful. Ann, the main singer, had a really strong voice, but she kept singing harmony. The guy who sang with her was really quiet and not sure of his notes. So it was almost impossible to follow the melody to the music. Overall, it was not the kind of music that anyone would pay money to hear. But everyone there was really trying, and really into it. So it was absolutely wonderful to hear. It actually made me really miss playing at the 9 am services at my old church back home. I guess I could associate – I know I am not a very good guitar player, but it is so great to be a part of that time of the service. So to watch these two up there was really a great thing to be a part of.
The sermon was pretty good, and after the service, I walked out the front door where I was greeted by Jeff and Ann. Ann called my by name at least three times. You could tell she was really making an effort at it, which was nice. They both talked to me about where I was from, what I was doing there, etc. Jeff asked about my church life back home, and was happy to hear that I went to church almost every week. He told me to come back and visit any time. He also told me his work and home phone numbers were in the bulletin, and he asked me to call him any time, if there was anything I needed while I was here. Nice people. Before I could think about it, I told him I was sure I would be back next week. Now, I was thinking about visiting a couple of other churches while I am here. But I guess I will have to wait another week before I can go somewhere else. Since Jeff’s sermon was about Christian hypocrisy, and about standing up for what you believe and being true to your word, I think I should go back, since I promised. Besides, I am not one to say something and then go back on it, anyway. So I will have to wait a couple of weeks to go to the Catholic church where I plan to take communion and then run out screaming, “IT BURNS! IT BURNS!” I’m kidding!
I was pretty tired after church, and decided to stay in for the day. I had thought about doing the walk up to Manly Beach (one of the more famous ones around here). But it is a 10-K walk out (about 6 miles), then I'd have to walk back, and it was a little cold out. So I decided that I will wait for that little adventure until next week. Besides, I wanted to watch the final Olympic events, since Sunday was the last day for it.
Interesting enough, I was watching the men’s gold medal basketball game in the afternoon. With about nine minutes to go, in the middle of this close game, an announcement came over to announce that Eastern Australia would be cutting away for the news. What? Seriously? Yep, sure enough, they cut away to the news broadcast, promising to show the end of the game when the news was over. 30 minutes later, the coverage went back to the Olympics, and the game was over. So instead of showing the last nine minutes (which obviously would have been less than a 30-minute thing), they showed a five minute quick-and-dirty highlight reel of the last nine minutes of the game. Insane.
Sunday night was the closing ceremony of the Olympics. I am going to wait to talk about that one in the next blog post. This one is getting too long, and it is getting late! I need to go to bed so I can get seven hours in tonight!
So goodnight to you all, and I will be back tomorrow with some good stories, I promise!

9 Down, 5 To Go!

Holy crap, what a fast week! I apologize to everyone who was looking for more posts this week. I honestly just could not find the time to type up anything for you guys! But I did keep a running list of stories, so hopefully I can give everyone a quick update on the events of week #9.
So without further delay, here’s the story of my week: I worked. A lot.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But work really is why I didn’t have time to post anything for you guys this week. Even though my current client kicks us out at 4.30 every day, it has been a busy week. Now, let me explain something first. I say we get kicked out at 4.30, but we still put in a full day, before you guys start giving my crap for my "slack" workdays. We get in as early as possible in the morning (8.15, since no one from the client really gets in the office before that time). We work through lunch. So we still put in almost 8.5 hours every day. From what I understand, that’s about what busy season is supposed to be like here.
Of course, my days have been more like 10-11 hours. I have been going into the office to work on my other client, in an attempt to get that audit completely signed off by the end of next week. The guy who is the main manager on the other job has been giving me a hard time about coming in and working “second shift.” But they don’t require Saturday workdays here for busy season, so in some ways, busy season here feels a lot like my regular work schedule back home. Of course, I was starting to get used to the 7.5-hour days! HA! But the work load is not too bad. It’s just that after working until 8.30 and then having a 45-minute commute home and having to cook dinner, well, I just haven’t had time to deal with the blog!
So other than work, not too much has happened this week. I do have some random stories for you guys:
On Tuesday, I was walking from the train station to the office (second shift). I had my iPod on, but I heard this weird sound coming up the road behind me. Then there was a weird smell. I figured out that the smell was like a lawnmower. Sure enough, this guy came blowing past me on his bicycle. The sound and smell were coming from the bike. This guy had a regular old bicycle, but he had put what I think was a lawnmower engine on the bike. I’m not sure why. I mean, he was riding on the sidewalk, so it’s not like he was going all that fast. But it was pretty funny to see the little cloud of smoke following him on his bike!
Wednesday was a little more interesting. Well, to me it was not so much interesting. The day started off really crappy. But things got better, so whatever. I got up, took a shower, and was getting ready when I had a phone call from Sally. Nothing big, and I was glad she called to say hello and ask me a couple of questions. But I was running a little late, and was scrambling to get out the door on time to make the bus. I have a habit as I am leaving to check my purse and make sure I have both my keys and my bus/train pass. The transit pass was there, but I could not find my keys. I dug through my purse three times. I looked in every place in the apartment when I might have set them down. (Because there are so many places in my apartment where these keys could be!)
As a note, I knew I had them somewhere in the flat, because I was inside. I mean, I had to have my keys to get in the night before. I checked the door to make sure I pulled them out of the lock when I got home. Not there. Still not in my purse (I checked two more times.) Nope, they were gone. So, in utter disgrace, I called the apartment management service to see what I needed to do to get a replacement set.
Now, to add to my bad mood for the morning, I picked up the phone to call, and I couldn’t get the phone to dial out. My apartment phone is still not working after a week of dealing with this crap. I can get income calls, but I cannot make outgoing calls. Yet another thing to add to my list of crap to deal with later this week. So I grab my mobile and call the apartment service, who then tells me that I have to call the apartment manager. I am picturing Schneider from One Day At A Time (I might have just dated myself there), but this guy is really just the one who deals with all the complaints and problems. I called and left him a message that I had lost my keys, and asked him to call me back. Then I picked up my stuff and started to walk out the door. I really didn’t want to lock the door behind me, so I decided I would do one more quick check. Sure enough, I found the damn keys tucked into my computer bag. I have no idea why I put them there. It was a pocket where I only keep my access card for the office, but at least I found them! I started to call the apartment manager back and tell him to ignore the message, but decided to wait until I got to work. But he actually called me right then, so it worked out okay. I think he was laughing at me, but whatever. I had my keys!
Of course, I was now running way behind for work, and I have the key to get into the conference room where we are sitting. Oh, and I don’t have the number for the staff I am working with or the client. Oops. But I got there, and the receptionist had let them into the room, so it all worked out okay. And I was only about 20 minutes late, so it could have been a lot worse! The rest of Wednesday went a lot better… Although I had an interesting ride home. The bus was packed at 8.40. I don’t know why; I think the people in the back just weren’t standing very close to one another. But there were three of us crowded around the driver in the front. I was standing and had nothing to hold on to. The poor lady beside me was holding on to the window frame. And the lady on the other side was trying not to swing around and run into the door. So I stood there and just tried to balance, while holding onto my computer bag. At one point, I was thinking that there was a good chance, the way the guy was driving, that I could tip over into the lady standing on the other side of the aisle. Sure enough, the bus driver takes a sharp curve, and off I go. Luckily, I had thought through it ahead of time, and managed to catch myself on a bar next to this lady to keep from falling over on her. She smiled at me, and the lady by the door laughed. I think she was worried about swinging into the door and flying out, based on how tightly she was holding onto the bar! I get the feeling the driver was trying to turn as hard as possible just to see if he could get someone to fall over… I mean, if I were driving the bus, that’s what I would do!
Thursday was pretty much the same – just work. One of the guys working with me was giving us a hard time. He is still in school part-time. The office over here has some sweet deal for Uni students. Apparently you get to leave in time to make your evening classes. But you also get 4 hours off each week to study. So this guy got to leave at 1.00 for the day! I told him I was going to try to take a class at one of the local schools, just so I could get that kind of deal! I think I could talk them into it. Take some sort of car maintenance class, and tell them that it will save them money later, because I won’t have to take any time away from work to deal with car service repairs. Hmm…
After job #1, I headed into the office. The train was pretty packed, and people kept bumping into each other. When I got to the office, I put my bag down, and realized that one of the pockets on my bag was open. Crap! I was carrying my camera around so that I could upload some photos while I was in the office! (No, I did not get them uploaded, yet.) Now, it ended up that nothing was missing, and I think I accidentally left it open from when I pulled my lunch out earlier that day. But I have to say that today was the first time I had really even thought about the threat of having something stolen. I have felt perfectly safe while I have been over here, and there have been no threats of people picking pockets or anything like that. So while it was a quick search to make sure I had everything, it was also a nice reminder that Sydney really is a pretty safe place!
I wrapped up my work on client #2 and headed home. I decided to walk to the bus station, instead of taking the train over, just so I could get some exercise in, since it is not too far of a walk. (Not only have I been unable to write any blog posts this week, but my attempts at exercise have suffered, as well.) On the way to the bus, I hit a milestone. I got to the end of my iPod. I have officially listened to every one of the songs, at least once. Kind of scary that in just over a month, I can blow through that many songs during my travel time!
But today is finally Friday. And, of course, it is a bit colder and is raining. And, since I was going to go walk around tomorrow on a new little adventure for you guys, the rain is supposed to continue tomorrow. I guess my trek will have to wait until Sunday, and tomorrow will be errand and cleaning day. Yippee! I took it as a bad sign this morning when I hit the snooze button on my alarm, and the alarm did not go back off. Then I got off of the bus to catch the train, turned and looked back at the bus, and figured out that it went all the way to Central station, so I should have just stayed on. (I get on a different bus to the city pretty much every day, depending on which one shows up at my bus stop first.) Oh well. At least the train breaks the trip up a little. Plus it gave me a chance to see Daffodil Day in action. Daffodil Day is some national thing. There are volunteers in yellow and blue everywhere (mostly teens) who are selling little trinkets in exchange for a donation. The money goes to some sort of cancer research group. Of course, I didn’t know about this stuff until I got into work and asked. Plus there were emails about it going around the office. But it was interesting to see all the people putting down money to buy some cheap little teddy bear or flowers or a football. At least it all goes to a good cause, even though the sales tables took up a ton of room in every public transport station!After work at job #1, I headed back into the city, but did not have to go into the office for job #2. (Hooray!) So I decided to take advantage of the early evening, and I walked around the city a little bit. It was kind of scary to see how much I am getting to know the downtown area. I walked from Town Hall to Circular Quay, and saw some new places of the city. It was a nice walk, and a good end to my week. The ferry ride was pretty smooth, and it was a perfect time of day to be out on the water, just as the sun was setting. Wow… I only have 5 weeks of this commute left!

Really? Monday AGAIN?

Yep. It’s Monday again. Although now that the day is over, I swear it feels like Wednesday. If the week has started off this well, I get the feeling that it is going to be a long week…
Today was an early morning for me. Not quite as early as when I had to go out to Blacktown with my 90 minutes commute, but it was still kind of early for me. But I had a meeting in the office at 8.15, so I had to plan to be there by 8. (Those of you who know me and my punctuality will find that comment entertaining…) I got out the door right on time, and managed to get to the bus stop about 2 minutes ahead of the bus. I got to the train right on time, and managed to step off the elevator at 8 on the dot. Go me! The perk to making it into the office a little early is that there is free breakfast if you get in before 8.15. Pretty sweet deal, right? They have stuff like yogurt, cereal, toast, and fruit. The guy across from me made a couple pieces of toast and put some Vegemite on it. I was tempted to try it there, but decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to yak during a meeting with a director, so I decided to stick with the yogurt to be safe. The next time I am in the office early, though (if I am in the office early again), I am all over the Vegemite toast! Maybe.
So we had our audit team meeting, took a few minutes to take care of some things in the office, and we head off to the client. The four of us went downstairs to the taxi stand and climbed in to a cab. Before I continue the story, let me preface it with a little fact for you guys: The client is literally two blocks from Central Station. Central is probably the absolute largest station for trains in the city. (Want to guess why they call it “Central”?) There are buses and a long line of taxis that usually surround the station. Needless to say, it is a great location for my commute, as I will just have to go one extra stop on the train from my usual route. But back to the story… So we hop in the cab and tell the driver where we want to go. He has no idea. We have to give him directions on how to get there. Well, maybe not “we.” But two of the guys I was with had to tell him how to get there. Interesting…
We got to the client and set things up. The client is pretty good. Organized, nice, helpful. So I think it is going to be a pretty easy audit. Without divulging too much information, the client is a taxi service company. And it is hard to tell what the most entertaining part of the day was. I mean, we started the day by riding up in a taxi from a different cab company. Oops. And then you have the somewhat, uh, crude things around the office because of the overall office setting. Now, I had an email from my mom today that said that she might show my blog site to her class next week, so I have been instructed to continue to keep the site G-rated. (As if there were any doubt!) With that said, I won’t tell what the sign on the bathroom door said, but the words “floaties” and “plop” were included in the little rhyme. Honestly, once I saw those words, I tried not to read any more…
However, the best story would have to be the following: The general manager was telling us some stories about the business. Just some interesting little facts about taxis and cab service, in general. But he started telling us about some of the best customers that they have at this client. He turned and pointed out the window while he started the story. He said something along the lines of, “I don’t know how much you know about this area, but right up the road there are where some of our best customers are located. We do our best to help them, and they keep coming back and using us each week. There are several brothels right up there, and I don’t know what you’d call her, but the person who is like their administrative assistant calls our girls here to make sure her girls get a safe ride home. And we take care of her girls, so it works out well.” Now, it took me a second to figure out how to respond at this point. Actually, I decided that the best response was just to keep quiet. And as I processed through it, I remembered an interesting fact about Sydney: Brothels (and the services that brothels provide) are legal here. Oh. Right. So it was a completely innocent comment that the guy made, but I have to say, it took me back a little until I realized that it really was just business…
The rest of the day went pretty quickly. Of course, the client packs up and goes at 4.30. And unless we want to set the alarm and lock up, we have to leave at 4.30, as well. I personally do not like to be the last one at a client, and I refuse to be responsible for setting any client’s alarm. So we are planning to leave this client every day at 4.30. Sounds like a sweet deal, right? Yeah, you’d think so. But with my other client from the past couple of weeks still wrapping up, I will be heading into the office every night this week until the job gets finished. So it will be another long week, I think. Especially since we will be working through lunch most days to make up for leaving early. (The first person doesn’t get there until 8 in the morning, so it’s not like we can go in all that early!) It’s all good, though. And I have 3 solid weeks on the job at the client, so maybe by the third week, I might actually get to take advantage of leaving early. We’ll see. Although I get the feeling I’ll be heading into the office to get some more audit work done. Hooray!
Let me just say one thing before I go… I am being very good and not telling anyone what is happening with the Olympics, since I am about a day ahead of everyone. (If I haven’t said it, Beijing is 2 hours behind Sydney, so we pretty much get everything live.) But tonight is another gymnastics night, and the highlights are the men’s rings, the women’s uneven bars, and the men’s vault. I am not going to tell you guys what happens, I promise. But I want to make a general observation: These people are freaks! Don’t get me wrong – I mean it as a compliment! But holy crap – the strength these guys have, and to watch these tiny girls spin around the uneven bars is freaking incredible. And I am not one to get wowed by gymnastics, so take it for what you will. Although the announcers here are a bit annoying. I would pay top dollar to see the crabby the Aussie lady who keeps talking about the deductions and slip-ups have to climb her butt up on one of the apparatuses (is that a word?) and try to do some of this stuff. I guess that’s why I am not a judge for this kind of thing. And for anyone wondering if they should check it out, I will tell you that there are some pretty good slips and bad landings on the men’s vault, so it is well worth the watch…
Okay, I should get to bed soon, since I have to be at the client by 8.15 tomorrow morning, and I’m not sure how long the trip will take. So I will leave you with what I think will return as a daily feature in my blog posts: The mX Update!
TEXT VENTS:
These were a little weak today, but I scrounged up the best I could find for you!
“Short skirts are back but take a close look in the mirror. Can you really pull it off?” – I, city. [Amen, my friend! I was stuck behind one of those short skirts on the escalator the other day. Definitely not something I want to re-live…]
“If Miranda Kerr marries Orlando Bloom, would she be known as Miranda Kerr-Bloom? She’s the bomb.” – Woza, Quakers Hill. [Holy crap, that one was hilarious!]
STORY OF THE DAY:
Again, two stories. Mostly because the texts were not there for me today.
First off, a guy in Texas decided to rob a pharmacy at gunpoint. As he tried to make his getaway, he returned to his car to find that he had locked his keys inside. What only makes the story better was that the guy decided to run for it. Since the police thought he was still carrying his guy, they shot him in the shoulder. What might be even worse than the keys being locked in the car was that the guy got shot over a gun all right. A caulking gun. Brilliant!
The second story comes from the mayor of Mt Isa, a mining town in Queensland. Apparently there is a shortage of women in this town, and the mayor was doing what he could to help the situation. “[W]ith five blokes to every girl may I suggest that beauty-disadvantaged women should proceed to Mt Isa. Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face. Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness. Often those who are beauty-disadvantaged are unhappy with their lot. Some, in other places in Australia, need to proceed to Mt Isa where happiness awaits.” The guy, obviously, had caught a lot of heat for these comments. But he defends himself, saying, “I’m a bloke who respects women. I believe we should look after women. I’m told men outnumber women here by five to one. If that’s the case, then perhaps it’s an opportunity for some lonely women.” Oh my. I want to see an article next week about how many people have moved to this place since hearing the mayor’s comments!

Another Weekend Has Blown By

Well, folks, another weekend has come and gone. I don't have much in the way of updates to give you, so this post will be very brief.
Saturday was not at all exciting. I actually had to do a little work, so I did not get out to do anything exciting. Well, aside from grocery shopping. If you can call that task exciting. I will say that I searched throughout Mosman, and could not find a photo processing place. Weird, but true. So I have to continue my search for somewhere that can develop my shots from the race last week!
As I said, I did a little work on Saturday. Of course, I fully intended to knock my work out when I got back home from my errands. But I turned on the Olympics and got sucked in to watching the events on TV. Through my eyelids. Quite the talent, I know. Yes, I dozed off on the couch. Once I woke up, I got motivated to get some work done. Of course, by that time I also had to start cooking dinner. So my day was pretty much shot!
For the second night in a row, I wasn't tired, so I didn't get to bed until about 1 am. I fully intended to get up for church on Sunday morning. However, my neighbors had other plans for me. Or should I say, my neighbor's kids. At 7 am, my neighbors woke me up banging around in their apartment. Then I heard some kids down the hall yelling. After about 30 minutes, I managed to fall back asleep. An hour later, I heard some crazy screaming! I didn't get up, but I think I figured out that a bunch of kids were outside, running around in the lawn area behind the apartments. Freaking loud kids! I mean, I am 5 stories up, and could hear everything they were yelling. I might end up beating some children before I get out of this place... But I did manage to fall back asleep. I woke up a little while later and figured out that with the early church services, there was no way I could get up, shower, and get out of my apartment in time to make it to the latest service at 10 am. So I thought, "I'll go next week," rolled back over, and went back to sleep for a little while longer while there were no kids around screaming.
I got up and got going, and decided I was going to head into the city today. I took the ferry across, and found a 1-hour photo mat in Circular Quay. So while I had an hour to kill, I walked up to the Rocks. Hold on to your hats here, folks: On Sundays, there is a huge craft market in The Rocks. And yes, I was there. Those of you who know me well are probably laughing hysterically at the thought of me wandering around a craft market. No, it was not really my "thing," but I thought I would walk around and see what was there. It was crafts. Shocker.
So after walking through the craft booths, I walked down one of the streets in The Rocks, and stumbled upon what was advertised as "The Oldest Pub In Sydney." Now we're talking! I walked inside, ordered a beer, and hung out for a little bit, enjoying the crowd that was in there with me. There was a guy next to me with his wife, and he kept staring at me. Maybe it was the Wake Forest ACC Football Champs t-shirt I had on. I don't know. I mean, he was nice - offered me his bar stool. But eventually, I had to talk a walk, since he just kept staring.
Walking around was cool. I don't know if the pub really was the oldest in Sydney, but they had these really cool pictures all around on the walls of Sydney from the early 1800s. On the door of the pub, it claimed that this pub had been around since 1828. So it was definitely worth the pictures just to go inside this place. But there was also more excitement. There was a band playing inside the pub, and they played older jazz and blues type music. Or songs that they jazzed up to make sounds like jazz or blues. Then an older lady (probably 75 or 80) got up with them and started singing along. She sang "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Blue Moon." She also sang a few other songs that I knew, and it was pretty entertaining to hear her sing. She was good, and the band was pretty good. The people in the pub were pretty into it. So it was really cool to be there.
I left the pub and headed back to pick up my pictures. The girl handed them to me and said, "So was the race fun?" I just kind of looked at her. "I'm sorry. What?" She pointed at the pictures and said, "Did you enjoy the race last week?" OHHHH. Right. "Oh! Yeah, it was great! Hopefully the pictures came out okay!" She told me some of them were a little fuzzy, but that they were pretty good. "Open them up and look at them," she told me. So I went through them with her standing there, looking at them with me. It was pretty cool to relive last weekend. Although hard to believe I just ran the race a week ago! And she was right - there were some pictures that were really fuzzy. It must have been my blazing fast speed! So I have the pictures. My next task is to figure out how in the world I can get them uploaded online for you guys. I'll see what I can do - hopefully I'll have something for you guys next weekend!
After picking up the photos, I walked over to the wharf and got an ice cream. That's right - they sell and I'm the sucker who buys. There were several people lined up for it, though, even though it was pretty cold out. Not quite as good as it is in the US, but for some reason I have been craving it lately, and it hit the spot.
So with a little sugar buzz going to warm me up, I decided I would walk over to the Botanical Gardens for this week's little adventure. The Botanical Gardens are on the other side of the Opera House from the Bridge. Pretty much the only thing over there is the Botanical Gardens. So with my camera in hand, I walked all through the Gardens.
Now, I am not really one to walk around and look at plants. (Between crafts and gardens, I was really out of my element today!) But I have to say, the walk was really quite pretty. It was more like a park, although there were tons of plants everywhere. The walk goes along the Harbour and back into the park. So I wandered all around. I got to the other side of the Gardens just in time. I looked back towards the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and had the most amazing view with the sun setting. I will get the photos uploaded for you guys this week. Hopefully you will enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them!
After getting some awesome pictures, I walked back towards the Harbour and Circular Quay. I had to wait a bit for the ferry, but got on and headed back home. And I managed to doze off on the ferry ride back. It really is quite relaxing riding on the boat! But I woke up with plenty of time to spare, jumped on the bus, and got back home in time to finish the laundry, work out, and cook dinner. It's kind of sad how much of a pattern I have gotten myself into here! Although Sally will be happy when I get back, because I'll be in the habit of making dinner and doing the dishes every night! Yikes!
Well, folks, I need to run. I have a meeting at 8.15 in the office tomorrow morning, so I'll have to get up early in order to get into the office by 8. I do have a request before I go: I am running out of ideas for weekend adventure trips! So if there is anything you guys want to see while I am in Sydney, post a comment and let me know. I'll see what I can do to accommodate all requests in the next 5 weekends!
I don't have much in the way of a funny fact or story for you guys today. But I do have something I think is interesting to show the high cost of living here. Apparently, one of the flats in my apartment building was leased last week, because I got a flier in my mailbox this week about it. Although from the picture, it doesn't look like the same building, even though the address puts it on the first floor here. Anyway, the apartment is 2 bedroom, 2 bath (also with a garage spot, even though we don't have a true garage). So about one and a half times the size of mine, if not twice as big. The interesting part of this lease agreement would be the rate. $640. PER WEEK. Holy crap!!! If it weren't for the office paying for my accommodations, I don't think I could live in this city!

8 Down, 6 To Go!

It is really starting to feel like I write these countdown posts a lot more than once a week! The days are starting to fly by here. I can’t believe I am down to only 6 weeks left to work here! It’s weird – in some ways, I feel like I have been here a long time. But in other ways, I still feel like I just got here! And I know I have a lot left to do and see! Of course, the majority of my travel adventures will be once I am done with work. Sally and I are still trying to figure out where all we are going to go for the two weeks of holiday we have over here. But there is still so much to do and see!
Let’s see… I think my last post left you guys as I was headed out to dinner with what I call the North Sydney crew. Dinner was good. We went to a place called The Oaks. It is about 20 minutes from my flat, and I pass by it most every day on my way to work. I had noticed the signs out advertising that they show all of the Wallabies games, so I had wanted to try the place out. It always looks packed. And they are supposed to be well-known for their steaks. I found out from one of the guys I was out with that you have to cook the steaks yourself. Now, the cook it yourself thing seems to be pretty popular here for steaks. The pub in Canberra I went to a couple of times had the same thing. But at the pub in Canberra, you paid $8 on Monday and Tuesday to cook it yourself. The neighborhood pub I go to is $7.90 for cooked steak. At The Oaks, you pay something like $22 to cook it yourself. Seriously? $22 for me to make my own dinner? I’ll tell you – there are some interesting little surprises all around this city…
We all met up at 8 and had a few drinks. By about 9.15, a couple of us were really hungry, and decided to order food. Unfortunately, since we were sitting in the bar area (not really the restaurant area), the menu was limited. You pretty much could order pizza or appetizers. Fine, although the meat pie had my name all over it! So we went up to the bar and ordered; I think everyone got pizza. About 15-20 minutes later, one of the couples at the table got their pizza. The rest of us sat and waited. Another 20 minutes passed, and we were still waiting. So one of the girls flagged down a server and let him know we still had not gotten our food. (Because the 3 numbers sitting at the table didn’t symbolize anything, since he passed by and looked at them several times withouth saying anything.) The guy apologized and said he’d check on it. A couple of minutes later, the bar manager was at our table to follow up and apologize for the delay. He tried to explain, saying that all orders over number 90 did not get in to the kitchen. (We were all over 90.) Of course, the couple that got their food was number 94, so we all made jokes about it after the guy left. But he told us that we were getting some sort of free appetizer to make up for the delay. Although we were all hoping for a free round of drinks, at least it was something. 10-15 minutes later, our food came out. We were scarfing it down. The guy who had already eaten asked how it was. I told him the pizza was great, but that I was so hungry, they could have put cheese on cardboard, and I probably would have thought it was great. Then the free appetizer came out – some sort of garlic twist. One of the guys looked at it and laughed. I said, “I wonder if it is as bad as it looks.” So he picked up a piece, tried it, and said, “Oh, yeah, it’s terrible.” Of course, we all ate it, anyway. But nice to see that the thing we got free was crap. Brilliant!
Going home, since it was about 11.15, the bus service was limited. I decided that I would walk home, rather than standing in the cold for 30 minutes waiting for the next bus to come along. I was still wearing my work clothes and carrying my computer, since I had come to dinner straight from the office. And I’ll tell you, the shoes I had on were quite terrible for walking. After about 10 minutes, I thought a taxi might be a better idea, especially since it was a few miles up the road to my flat. So I hailed a cab and got a ride up to near my flat. The guy stopped, and the charge was something like $7.50. I handed the guy a $50, and apparently he did not have change. (As a note, everyone here has larger bills – it’s about all the ATMs spit out.) So he asked if I had anything smaller. I had a $5 and some change. He saw the $5 and told me he’d take whatever I had. I ended up having about another $1.50 in change, so the guy was really cool about it and said he’d rather be short than break a large bill. Okay, dude, whatever! So I guess I made a lucky pick when I hailed the taxi!
Friday morning comes along, and I decided that I was going to make the big jump. I wore jeans to work. Yeah, I know. I didn’t think I would do it, but today was one of the only Fridays I have left in the office, so I thought I would take full advantage. As weird as it was, it did seem to make the day feel a little less like a work day. The ironic thing? I say that, but I worked until about 8. Weird.
I rode the bus into the city (to get on a train) this morning. As we got to the first stop in the city, I looked over and saw a guy walking down the road. He was wearing a black leather jacket, and his jacket had a sticker on the back of it. It looked like a wide piece of masking tape. And there was something written on it in black marker. It was a funny little note. Something like: “My name is ---. Have a happy day!” The funny thing was that the guy didn’t look happy at all. I think he might have been having a bad day. So I had to wonder if he knew that the note was stuck on his back, and if it was just sheer irony that he had that sticker on that said to have a happy day.
The rest of day was pretty blah. I mean, I was busy working, but nothing too special. Although the Olympics were the talk of the office. Everyone here is quite proud of the female swimmers! They are calling them “The Golden Girls.” A couple of people were talking about Michael Phelps as I walked by, and pulled me into the conversation. Mom, thanks for the comment about the guy on the relay team who went to South. I was able to throw that fact into the conversation and impress everyone. The lady who I was talking to asked if the city would have a big parade for him when he came back home. I said, “Well, it’s not like they’ll have one for me when I come back. So I can’t be sure.” The guy who I was talking to laughed and made some crack about how everyone should celebrate accountants instead of Olympic athletes.
As I was leaving the office tonight, I had to move my things. The girl who usually sits at the desk where I have been sitting will be back from her annual leave on Monday, so I was relocated for the last few weeks of my secondment. No big deal, as I really didn’t have all that much stuff that I leave sitting on my desk. Now I just have to remember when the new desk is the next time I am in the office. Luckily it is right near where my other one was, or else I would probably get lost in the office trying to find it!
Even though it was kind of late, I took the ferry home tonight. I debated just finding a bus. But since I am not sure how I will get to work for the next few weeks, I am not sure how much longer I have to ride on the ferry. So I thought I would take advantage while I could. The decision was well worth it! The guy who was sitting behind me on the ferry played a harmonica most of the trip. I can honestly say that I have never had that experience before. I have heard people play guitar, violin, and some other random instruments. But never harmonica. And he was pretty good. I have no idea what he was playing, but it sounded good. I took off my iPod and listened to him for the ferry trip. Quite a cool experience!
So I got home and cooked a quick dinner. (My favorite – breakfast for dinner. Nothing like waffles and eggs at 9 pm!) And some Olympics excitement on TV. So as I wrap up this blog post, I’ll leave you guys with the usual mX update. That’s right – I managed to find a copy someone had left behind on the train tonight. So here are the best texts and the story of the day!
TEXT VENTS:
“To the cute guy usually wearing the red Vodafone jacket at Central in the morning. Are you gay?” – D., Penrith
“The robotic-sounding train voice-over guy is back. He’s seriously trying to trick us in to thinking he’s prerecorded. That sneaky sausage.” – Kailei, Cronulla
“It would have been nice to see out Aussie Olympic team dress up at the opening ceremony. They looked like a bunch of police trainees in those horrible blue tracksuits.” – Disappointed, Sydney
“To the passengers on the 6pm from Sydney terminal to Wyong who reserve seats on trains. Can you tell me where to purchase a ticket with a reserve seat? Or are those only for the inconsiderate jerks?” – Standing passenger, Hornsby
STORY OF THE DAY:
Once again, I have two.
The first comes from New York. A guy held up some banks in the city. Apparently he robbed banks while dressed in women’s clothing and a wig. It almost worked. Except for the fact that the guy had a huge nose – quite distinguishable, apparently, and no cross-dressing could hide the feature which eventually helped to catch him.
The second story comes from New Zealand. A woman there went out to dinner with her husband. She got up to go outside for a smoke, and came back to find her husband gone. She thought he had left to go out partying, and went home. She waited for him to return for 24 hours, and called the police. They found him in the restaurant bathroom, where he had died from choking on a piece of steak.

Adios, Canberra!

Well, Wednesday was officially my last day in Canberra. It’s been kind of neat being out somewhere different in the country. Too bad the rest of my jobs are all in the city! Although there is a lot to be said for being able to hop on the bus and/or train and not sit in traffic every day!
So everyone in the office knew it was my last day there, and they were super nice to me. I think they were trying to get rid of me… No, they have been nice the whole time. But it was just interesting to see how they all kept coming around to see what else I needed from them. And the client sent me off in grand fashion. Just when I thought it was going to be another boring day, there was some excitement about an hour before I left. I was sitting at my desk at the client, and I have a straight shot to the reception desk, which has a plastic window barrier. (Like a doctor’s office.) So people come up, if not one is there, they ring a bell, and then someone from behind me goes up to help. Well, I looked up, and there was a woman frantically waving at me from the lobby. I gestured towards her to wait a second (so I could find someone), and that made her even more frantic. About this time, the receptionist was walking back to the desk, and opened the window.
Apparently there was someone who had fallen down in the middle of the campus and appeared to be having an epileptic fit. He had hit his head and was bleeding a little. So the receptionist called for an ambulance, and the controller had jumped up from sitting next to me and went out to check on the guy. He was back two minutes later – they couldn’t find him. They went to search one more time, and about this time, a medic was standing in front of the glass, waving at me. Of course, he looked more like a pizza delivery guy to me. Seriously – I thought he was bringing someone some lunch. He had on sort of a goofy jacket and he was carrying a cooler thing (medical supplies, I guess) that looked like one of those warmer bags for pizza. So I went and found someone to help, and then figured out that he was the medic. Oops, my bad. Of course, he didn’t appear to be in a hurry or anything. So he was told how to get to everyone else, and they were back in less than a minute. The injured guy was gone. I guess he’s okay, but what a weird series of events…
I managed to leave by about 4.30. The drive home was kind of nice, since there was still daylight out, and I could see all around. And, thinking of you guys, of course, I did the total tourist thing and took pictures out of the car window as I drove. Before anyone asks – yes, I was careful! But I passed a bunch of kangaroos on the side of the road – in the usual spot. I got some more photos of those guys for everyone. And the drive home was kind of like driving through the mountains of NC. So I am going to post those photos. I hope you guys enjoy them!
So my funny story for Wednesday for you guys comes from the celebrity news I heard as I was getting ready for work. Apparently, Paris Hilton has turned down a chance to be in a production of Chicago. Hopefully off-Broadway – far, far off Broadway. Why? Because she didn’t want to have to work 6 days a week. Seriously? But the story gets even better… Yes, it’s what everyone has been waiting for – she is working on another album! I’m pretty excited about it. I mean, what could she possibly do to follow up those smash lyrics of “even if the gods are crazy, even if the stars are blind”? I actually heard that she is sticking with the crazy astrology theme. I think her first single off the new album is going to be called “The Moon Is Telling Me To Kill… (My Career).”
Thursday was another interesting day. I had a 2-hour commute into the office this morning. I had to take the hire car back on my way in. Traffic was terrible. And I tried to avoid the city, but the way I went, I ended up driving through God knows where in downtown. What a mess. The roads randomly turn, and then you have to go all around to get back to the right direction. No wonder public transportation is so popular! As I said before – I’m glad to not have to drive anymore!
As part of the commute, I got to listen to the radio for a while. The stories were all about the Olympics, of course. First off, everyone from here is in Beijing. I think every Australian TV and radio personality went over there. I think the flight is shorter from here to there than it is to fly across the country in the US, so everyone just went on over. But the big talk is, of course, Stephanie Rice. She’s the local phenom, obviously. One radio station was interviewing her mom. They have started calling her “The Rice Cooker.” How freaking funny. Of course, her mom’s response was “Can’t we come up with something else? ‘The Rice Cooker’ makes me sound like a fatty!” Her mom was a freaking riot.
Of course, the Aussies are talking about Michael Phelps, too. The most extensive discussion I heard prompted a call-in discussion. They were making fun of his swimsuit, and how he is quick to wear as little as possible when cameras are around. They were making fun of him for showing off muscles, but the most fun they were having was talking about his swimsuit. I had noticed it, too, so it was pretty funny to hear them saying how his suit doesn’t really fit, and that he basically adjusts it to show off the top of his butt crack. Then they had people call in to tell stories about the weird body parts that people show off. I won’t get into all of that conversation, but I like how Phelps has become the butt of several jokes. Literally! HA!
Okay, well, tonight I am heading out to dinner with the North Sydney crew. It’s basically 6-8 of us (all international folks, no locals) who live up in the same general area of the city (about 20 minutes apart), so we decided to get together for dinner. I think there is a new girl who just started, so we are going to get her to come out and meet some folks. It should be fun.
As I depart, I have a couple of gifts for everyone. First off, I have posted a new commercial for your viewing pleasure. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it!
And the last gift I have for you guys is the return of mX. Woo hoo! Without further adieu, here are your texts and stories of the day…
TEXT VENTS:
“Kransky, is that all you Kiwis have, the All Blacks? I guess so because you live here.” – Ledge, The Woy
“What’s the go with brown paper drinks on the way home? Are you guys that desperate for your alcohol? Get help.” – Jim, Blacktown
“On Sunday, there was a guy sharpening his chef knife on the train. What the hell was he thinking? Does the train camera work, anyone?” – Beb, Liverpool
“Apart from Australia, are any other countries competing in the Games? Judging by the TV coverage, one wouldn’t think so.” – Karen, Merrickville
STORY OF THE DAY:
Okay, I have two stories today.
This first one I think is funny and appropriate because I am watching these freakishly strong girls doing weightlifting at the Olympics as I type. I can't tell if this story is funny or sad...
Suspicious-looking female athletes are being forced to take a sex test at the Beijing Olympics. Chinese authorities have set up a "sex-determination" laboratory for these tests. And, of course, these tests will be performed with the "utmost delicacy." Tests include blood work to examine sex hormones, genes, and chromosomes for sex determination. The reason why they need these tests? Because carrying out physical exams "could provoke a negative reaction from athletes."
The second story just made me laugh, because it proves that someone is always out there to prove a stereotype correct. Apparently some engineers building tunnels for railway trains built one too small for a train to fit through. It was discovered by the inspectors. But this place also had trouble earlier while trying to build a tunnel to divert truck traffic. The tunnel ended up being too low for the truck to fit through. And where do these brilliant engineers live? Yep. Poland.

Thank God I'm A Country Boy...

Well, Tuesday started off a lot like Monday. The weather is still kind of cold, and my legs are still kind of stiff. Shocking, I know. Although with both of these things, Tuesday is a slight improvement over Monday. It is a little bit warmer outside, and I am moving a little better today.
I got into the office this morning, and was the second person there, as usual. The first person is a lady who works there, but has an office outside of the area where I sit. So I was the only one sitting in the main area when the third person came into the office. She set things up, started her day, and finally came over to me saying, “Okay, Jenny, it’s too quiet in here. You need to do something to entertain me. Talk, whatever.” I told her I could do a little dance for her, and she quickly turned and said, “OKAY!” I laughed and said, “No one wants to see that.”
So we started chatting while she was getting the office going, and somehow music came up. I laughed and said, “I have to tell you, I was quite entertained by your ring tone.” (She’s the one I mentioned the other day as having a country music song as her ring tone.) She started telling me how much she and her kids liked country music. I said, “Well, it’s interesting. When I heard your phone, I thought, ‘Well that’s funny. I think that song is the first country song I have heard since I have been here.’ Country’s not too popular here, is it?” No, it's not. She started telling me how in the city of Canberra, the big capital city, there are no country music stations. She told me that every once in a while, there is a local station that will put on some country music. But she said the station is run by old people, so they play a lot of old-timey bluegrass. All I could do was laugh at the thought of some old Aussies square dancing in the radio station. But I digress. Point being, after making that comment, this lady had to tell pretty much everyone who walked in the door that I was a huge country music fan. I don’t remember saying all that…
A little while later, Andrew, the guy who is the main manager on the audit, came into the office. He flew down for the day to review some files and work with me on some things. We ended up going out to lunch with the accounting folks from the office. Basically 4 out of the 7 people who work there, plus the two auditors. The accounting staff was fun to hang out with. The CFO was very interested in talking to me about what I was going to do the two weeks I am here on holiday after my secondment is over. So the rest of the folks spent most of lunch trying to tell me the best places to go visit. Then we talked some about travel around the world, as the CFO has been spending a lot of time lately traveling internationally for work.
Then the conversation shifted to the Olympics. A lot of you have asked, and here’s the deal: Yes, the Olympics here are pretty big. There are two TV stations that show different events. According to the Controller of my client, there was only one channel during the last Olympics, and unless there was an Aussie competing in the event, it wasn’t being shown. So the coverage has gotten better, in that they are now showing a lot of different events. Now, since Andrew is from the UK, they started giving him a really hard time about the medal count. They said, “How’s your team doing?” Andrew said, “Okay, I guess. I don’t really know, since the only news you get over here is about how the Aussies are doing – no one else!” It’s true! So for those of you who have been asking: Yes, there is lots of coverage, and yes, people are pretty into it. In fact, today there was an email from one of the admin people that went out to the Sydney office to let people know that Stephanie Rice was competing in her first swimming final at 12.40, and the event would be on the TV in the kitchen area for anyone wanting to watch. (Since I am day late posting this one, I won't surprise anyone be letting you know that she won and set a world record.) So it will be interesting to see if people are crowded around the TV, cheering on the Aussies, when I am in the office later this week. But outside of the brief updates I might hear on the TV or radio, I really have no clue how the US is doing!
After lunch, we headed back to the office to try to get through the audit files. I ended up leaving work a little earlier than I am used to (6-ish) to give Andrew a ride to the airport. We got directions from one of the guys in the office. Yeah, I don’t know what road he told us to turn on to, but it wasn’t there. So we had to stop and ask for directions. Poor Andrew – I know he was sweating it, trying to get to the airport on time! But we made it there with a little time to spare. I then had to figure out how in the world to get back to my hotel from the airport. Yep, you guessed it – I got lost. Well, not entirely. I was on a road and didn’t recognize anything around, and I figured out I was headed away from Canberra, when I wanted to get to the other side of it. So I turned around, headed towards the city, and eventually figured out the right direction to get back to my hotel in the suburb. Don't ask how - I'm still not sure what roads I was on, but I knew the general direction. Good enough, I guess.
I got back to the hotel, and walked out to the shops to figure out where to go for dinner. There was a place I decided to try. In looking from the main street, you can see a big neon sign inside that says “Dessert.” Mecca! It was calling to me last week, but I never made it there. I wasn’t sure what all they served (the restaurant was upstairs, so you really couldn’t see in), but it looked like a buffet. I thought I had hit the jackpot!
Apparently I hit the crap jackpot. Well, maybe crap is a harsh word. Greasy jackpot? I got inside, paid, and figured out it was a Chinese-type buffet. What is “Chinese-type”? I have no idea. It was mostly Chinese food, but they threw some random stuff out there, too. Like cold boiled shrimp. (I stayed away – I didn’t want to die.) Although this place was the first one where I have had a salad. Awesome - I'm all about salad bars! Yeah, here's the options: Lettuce, tomato, salad dressing. And there you have the entire salad bar, other than some pasta and the scary shrimp. Interesting... The food was pretty greasy, even for Chinese food. I got some fried chicken (make your own sweet and sour), bit into it, and decided I now knew what deep fried grease tastes like. I don’t think I ever found the chicken in there…
Although the entertaining story of the night comes from a guy who was there, wearing his fancy winter boots. It was cold, but it's not like there was ice or snow outside. Did I mention they were fur snow boots? I think his date was jealous of them – her boots were quite plain! Or maybe he stole them from her…
After dinner, I headed back to the room to take in some Olympic events and type up the blog post for you guys. But I think I need to call it an early night tonight. I have a conference call tomorrow morning at 7. I was lucky – it was originally scheduled for 6 am my time and got moved back. Good thing - you guys all know what a great morning person I am!
To close out, I thought I would share a link with you: http://city2surf.sunherald.com.au/results08video.php?intbib=36712
Don, if you can tell it’s me, here is my proof that I am in Australia. The guy announcing is Australian. The website is the official City2Surf site, and has my official time and position. And the link provides some video coverage. If you can spot me, I come into the picture in the center, then move to the far left corner of the screen as I walk out of the shot. So look close, and you can see me crossing the finish line. I have on a white hat and a dark shirt. I turn my stopwatch off just as I cross the line. If you pause it when you hear the guy say, “Hello, hello” (about ¾ of the way through the video clip), I am dead in the center, just to the left of a guy in a yellow hat. So there you go: Official proof that I finished! Plus I beat over 50,000 people! And you can all be happy – I think I am officially done talking about City2Surf in my blog posts! Woo hoo!