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…