Only 1 Week of Work Left? Really?

Oops! Okay… So the week is once again flying by, and I have missed out on several days of posts here. Sorry about that.
Things here have pretty much been same-old, same-old. I don’t have a whole lot to provide in the way of stories this week. My week has pretty much been about work. And, still hard to believe, but one week from yesterday (Wednesday) is my last day working here!
I was at a new client this week, which is located up in North Sydney. Of course, with traffic, it takes me almost as long to ride the bus from my flat to the client as it does for me to get into town. (North Sydney is on the same side of the Bridge as me, but on the other side of the highway. In other words, I am northeast of downtown, and North Sydney is northwest.) But North Sydney is a pretty nice area of town. I only really get to see it when I am coming and going from the client’s office. But it is still a pretty cool area. There are lots of buildings, pubs, shops, whatever. And there are always a ton of people out and about.
My job this week has been to get an audit done in one week, reports and everything. And, believe it or not, it is Thursday and I am just about finished. I will spend a couple of hours out there tomorrow, but hopefully only half a day. And then I am out of work! On the down side, having to go out to the client tomorrow means that I don’t get to spend my last Friday here in jeans. Crud. Oh well, I guess it is a good thing. Mostly because I need to get out of that habit for when I get back to the Charlotte office.
Actually, I have some stuff I am going to do to help with the cab company I was working on for the few weeks before. But I don’t expect that work will take very long. So I think I am going to be at a point where I have very little to do next week as I wrap up the secondment. Maybe a little cleanup work on the current client, but that’s about it. So maybe I will be able to do a better job posting blogs and updating photos next week.
As I said, today is Thursday. So tonight I am going out with all the folks from work for our weekly dinner group. I am getting close here: I will have dinner with these guys tonight and next Thursday, and that will be it for me. Kind of sad, but it has been great getting to know these guys. Oh, and I am sure that I will have some stories to tell after dinner tonight, so hopefully I will be back in good stride with the entertainment very soon.
So here are a couple of random stories for you guys from the week so far. Sorry, but these really are all that I have:
There has been some construction going on the past couple of weeks in the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), which I cut through to get to the Town Hall station. Apparently the construction included putting these big supports throughout the middle of the building. You know, the big square pillars that provide support braces. Anyway, these things are pretty big, and are right in the middle of the halls. They are white, and kind of blend in to the rest of the decorations there. So the construction crew put red tape around the support beams, I guess to make them stand out. First off, they look like giant candy canes. Kind of tacky. But the tape really doesn’t help all that much. I mean, I guess you notice them, but only when you get right there.
So I have to ask: I wonder if the tape was put on before or after someone ran into these beams. I am quite positive someone ran into one. It is kind of funny to watch people only halfway pay attention and then kind of jump when they get close to one. So I am almost certain that someone took one of these things on. I am debating spending a little time next week just standing and watching people react to these things. It has to be entertaining!
On Wednesday morning, I took the bus to the ferry to the train to get into work. Even though the bus is a little quicker, I am going back to my beginnings and doing the old route some. (I didn’t do it today, because I needed the extra 15 minutes of sleep, thanks to a random caller on my cell phone last night.) But it was nice to do the trip again. I haven’t taken that route in quite a while. And for some reason, we pulled into a different ferry dock than usual. I guess it goes to show that you shouldn’t get used to things, because they can change, even in just a 4-month period of time! I think it was a fluke that it was a slightly different route, but it still threw me! At the same time, I have pretty much decided that I’ll be taking this longer commute all of next week. I only have three days left next week to enjoy traveling by ferry to work, so I definitely have to take advantage!
On Saturday night, a huge group of us will be going out for my friend Charlotte’s birthday. It’s on Monday, so we’re taking her out to celebrate Saturday night. She decided that she wants to go to laser skirmish. I don’t know what a skirmish is (aside from those you hear about in the Middle East), but you would know it as laser quest. How fun, right? A bunch of 30-year-olds running around shooting each other. (Actually, I am probably the oldest in the group. How scary is that?) Afterwards, we are all going out to dinner in Darling Harbour, so that one should be really nice. And then, if Charlotte wants, we will go out to whatever pub or club she wants to go to. So I think it is going to be a fun night. I took care of organizing it all, and I think we have about 23 people who are going to be there. (Basically 12-13 people, plus significant others.) Man, what a big birthday party!
Charlotte wanted to combine it with a going-away thing for me, but I wouldn’t let her. I told her it was her birthday, and that’s what we are going to celebrate. So I think she is trying to figure out what to do for me next week as a send-off thing. I have had a couple of other people in the office ask, as well, so we will see if anything comes up. I’m just as happy doing the Thursday night thins next week and being done with it. But we’ll see what happens…
Okay, to wrap these ramblings up, I will give you an interesting thing I have noticed while I have been over here: Kids. Actually, not so much the kids, but the parents. Almost every time I see little kids, they are with their fathers. Dads are taking the pee wees on the bus in the mornings, I assume to drop them off at day care. There are several cars with only dads and kids in them. Even on weekends, fathers are pushing the kids around in strollers, taking them to soccer or rugby practice, whatever. It is just a lot different, since I am so used to moms being the primary transportation back in the US.
Which leads to one of two possibilities:
1. Day cares are always stationed around where the fathers work.
2. Men here are whipped.
Based on the amount of high-maintenance outfits, the European style and attitudes (read: very metrosexual), and the massive amount of hair product worn by men here (I think we could patch the hole in the ozone with all of the gel worn by men here on any given day), I am picking what is behind door #2…
All right, I am out of stories for you guys. So I’ll close with the mX update for you. Have a great day, everyone, and I’ll try to give you some new posts this weekend. I promise, I’m looking for stories to tell!
TEXT VENTS:
These vents all deal with a previous text from a guy asking for some advice about dumping his girlfriend …
“Bruce, if she’s been with eight guys you are number nine. Once a player, always a player. You are not wrong to give her the dump.” – Nafiz, Minto
“Bruce, if she said eight, that really means 16 and if you said eight, it really means four.” – Funny, The Shire
Okay, so nice advice. But here’s my favorite response:
“Bruce, I’ve been with five and I’m four years younger than your girlfriend. It’s normal these days.” – J, South Coast
Oh my God, thank you, J, for just admitting to being easy in a paper that has thousands of readers! And qualifying it with the “it’s normal these days” comment (rather than saying she has been in five serious relationships that just didn’t work out). I am so hoping to read in the next day or so all the guys send in texts and ask this girl out! HA!