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!