So, you may have noticed the difference in my posts. That's because w.bloggar doesn't work on OSX, and there's some slight interface flaw in the API between ecto2 and the blogger site. That means I am still working out the specifics of how to post from the iBook and have it look the same on the site. Oh well. I wasn't about to boot up the ThinkPad. :-)

Today was travel day. We got up early and had breakfast at our favorite coffee house in Melbourne. Nick is a good man, and it was good to see him. He didn't remember us, but I remembered him. :-)

Then, it was off to the airport and on our way to Sydney. I learned an interesting lesson. If you want to fly standby in Australia (or at least on Qantas) you better tell them before they check your bags. Once they have been checked to a specific flight, you are stuck. Oh well. That meant we sat in the airport for 2 hours, but I wasn't really going to complain. We watched Airheads on the iBook and enjoyed the time together.

The flight was fairly uneventful. It seemed a bit choppy, but it was fairly quick. We were in Sydney ahead of schedule. Then it was on to the adventure of the hired car. They gave me an upgrade to a Maxima, but I almost wish I had gotten the smaller car. The mid-size is large in this town. They provided a city guide, which is effectively a set of maps and expect you to wander off on your own. That was pretty scary, but we did manage to make it to the hotel. Thank you Sandy Berman!! The room is outstanding and the view is spectacular. We're not on the Harbor, but we are close enough to walk, and the view of Sydney is wonderful.

We walked down to the harbor and had supper with Mikey at a small bistro looking out onto the Sydney Opera House. To our left was the Harbor Bridge. 'Nuff said. We snapped a few pictures, and did a ton of walking. In the end, we chose to come back to the room very early and in fact Colleen is fast asleep right now (it is 10:15 PM on Tuesday evening here.) We'll tackle the town tomorrow. I still have to figure out how to get some West Sydney Razorback stuff, and I also want to get my Sydney Hard Rock pin. Well, I am now caught up on my adventure, and I think I'll wander to bed myself. Our first in town and there was no drinking! That was a victory for us both, and we're very happy about it.

Cheers!

Day 20

Today was the official bump out day. That means we only had to be at the venue long enough to get everything shut down and packed up. That makes for an easy morning. Of course, once again, we managed to wake up with a hangover. UGH! The Belgian Beer Garden seems to make that happen. An interesting side note from Day 19 was that we had a man steal a cab ride home by sharing a cab with us and then ending up "not having any Australian notes" to pay for his ride. That meant we paid a couple of bucks extra (well, I did) but I didn't really care. In the end, I knew I had been taken advantage of, but I didn't really care. He was entertaining.

Andy and I walked in to return our tuxedos. That took a few minutes and during that time, it started to rain. Of course, I have an umbrella I keep in the bottom of my laptop bag, but Andy was not as prepared (or as much a geek, you decide.) We decided to stop off in a Target to see if we could purchase an umbrella for him. It turns out the Target has three floors, and it took a bit longer than we wanted. We ended up almost 45 minutes later than we had anticipated. Oh well. It only took about 2 hours to actually pack it all up.

That meant the rest of the day was for Colleen and me without any work obligations. There was a pizza and beer party slated for later in the evening, but we had time. Our first stop was J.E.T.A. Opals. He is a very nice man. We got a very good deal on the matching pair of Colleen's earrings. We also purchased a small pendant for her boss, since once again, we did borrow some vacation early for her to be able to make this trip.

We decided to stop in the food court near the Big W for lunch. Not exactly close, but Colleen didn't want to try Korean food, and wasn't in the mood for Greek. We chose Burger Edge for lunch, and weren't disappointed. Once again, though, we missed an important detail and ordered two orders of chips, which ended up being about an order and half more than we really needed. Still, they had a variety of seasonings, and I had parmesan and oregano, while Colleen chose Mexican. Both tasty.

Dessert was at Bubble Cup Tea. It is pretty good stuff, though I haven't seen one in the states. I bet they have them where there are larger Asian populations, as it is an Asian franchise, and seems very popular with Asians in general.

I asked if we could stop back at the hotel and drop off the laptop bag. That, unfortunately, meant we didn't get to the Gaol in time to actually tour. Grr!!!! Oh well. Maybe next time, as we won't get back into Melbourne until well after it will be closed again.

Pizza and beer. Mostly beer just in people's rooms, since everyone was checking out of the hotel on Tuesday morning. Australian pizza is odd. That's really all I can say. It is pizza, and it isn't bad, but still. An example is capsicum, prosciutto, and black olives (roughly ham, bell pepper, and olives); another was chicken and avocado; and the most interesting was salami, prosciutto, prawns, and olives. They just don't have your standard pepperoni.

We retired early. Packing so that we could be ready for travel day. An early night, and mostly sober. Thanks for that.

Cheers!

Day 19

The last day of the tournament, and almost our last day of work here. This has been a very interesting and rewarding tournament for me. It is awesome to be in Australia at all, and getting this opportunity two years in a row is still a shocker.

Colleen and I woke up late, which was nice, and sort of lazed around the apartment. Today (29/01/2006) is the start of the Chinese New Year, and the housekeeper wanted us to make sure we got down into Chinatown to see the celebration. I hope we will get the chance. It is the year of the dog for those who don't know. Celebrations actually have been going on most of the week. We even walked past a dragon parade costume and drum beaters on their way back from one of the parades.

We went down to the Victoria Markets and did a little bit of shopping. Colleen bought a jacket for her, a shirt for me, and (oh my goodness) a pair of 3/4 length pants for me. Yes, I now own a pair of manpris. That's the term affectionately given by folks here to describe pants on a man that look amazingly like capri pants. I was really surprised. They look pretty snazzy, but I am still under strict orders to only wear them outside the United States. I am sure I'll try to find a way to slip them into the wardrobe back in the states, and who knows, maybe I can start the fashion trend there. ROFL

So, we're trying to round up and complete our sherpa duties for the event, and seem to have hit a small snag. Apparently, the boxes we're being left to ship are outside the acceptable dimensions for Australian Post. I don't know how we're going to compensate for that in the least. Last year, we didn't have anything this large, and so I guess we're going to have to improvise. An interesting premise. I hope they determine a reasonable way out of this mess. At the same time, I did manage to aquire some additional items not on the standard swag menu. :-) Always a good thing.

Dinner tonight was fish and chips in the staff cafe. It was reasonably tasty. Hard really to mess up anything fried. I won't miss the staff cafe to be honest. It isn't bad food, but I wouldn't want to eat here regularly. I did, however, want to get a bite in if we're seriously going to be at the Belgian Beer Cafe tonight. Colleen had Thai food, I bet that was better. I do promise that I am not going to swill beer tonight. It will be a couple of casual beers, and then back to the flat early. I have had enough alcohol to last a lifetime.

I am not really sure when I will get to post again. Day 20 will be the end of my network here at the tennis event, and the Medina charges far too much money for me to consider using the broadband there too often. Still, I will try to get in one post prior to the flight to Sydney, and then hopefully will have some reasonable access there. At the rate I am paying for the room there, I better get some sort of broadband access without additional costs. For how on-line this country is, they sure do make a lot of money providing the access to the Internet. I will contine to write my blog, just the posts may be less frequent, or a large burst of them at once. The story will continue to be serial until I land back in Raleigh.

Cheers!

Day 18

Day 18 will be the thirteenth day of play, and the day of the Australian Open Ball. Depending on which calendar (or time zone would be more accurate) you are on when reading this message, today marks the one year anniversary of my blog. I was surprised to read back and see how things looked around here the first year. I haven't done as much posting as I wanted, and I haven't done as much soul searching as I had thought I might. Still, all in all, it is an interesting medium, and a good experience for me. Hopefully, the second year of my blog will be far more entertaining. :-)

I got Colleen off for her Day Spa appointment. She seemed pretty pleased with that bit of pampering coming up. She's also going to get some shopping in, of course, and hopefully find a small pack she can use as a purse, since the one she bought a couple of years ago really sucks. I am not sure what else she has planned, but she does have the room key and a map of the town, so she'll find something to entertain herself, I am sure.

Rain has marred the final weekend here. Play, slated to start at 11, hasn't even started almost 25 minutes late. That could spell a longer evening than we had wanted, since we can't leave to get ready for the ball until play officially ends. That will put Colleen on edge a bit, since she'll want to make sure I have enough time to get myself ready. Well, more accurately, rain has basically washed out play away from covered courts. Add in that double matches cannot be played side by side in the one covered area, and we're effectively down to two running courts, with more than a dozen matches trying to squeeze in.

Fortunately, the rain should help keep the temperature as well. That bodes well for sweaty guys like me. Well, it actually turns out that it was still pretty humid and I can still sweat like nobody's business. Plus, the cab drivers around here apparently don't believe in AC in the car. Or bathing for that matter, but it has little to do with me sweating.

The Australian Open Ball. This year, it was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. It was a nice ballroom, but it wasn't all that convenient for getting there. The food was good, the drinks were free, and there was a decent goody bag of Wilson Tennis Balls, and Garnier hair and body products.

The band, always an Australian band of course, was Jimmy Barnes. Now, I honestly did not remember him at the time. All I heard was an aging old rocker screaming on stage like he had his balls in a vice. That may not be exactly a fair assessment of his crooning style, but I do know a lot of the seniors in the room covered their ears, and he definitely thinned out the party earlier than I think they would have anticipated. It turns out that after a little distance, and a couple of google searches, I did actually remember his hits in the 80s. As Colleen would say, the vat knows, it is just sometimes I don't even know what the vat knows. :-) Working Class Man was a top 40 hit in the US, and was featured as the title track for the soundtrack to the movie Gung Ho. Add to that his other US hit (that I remember, maybe he had more) that was from The Lost Boys called Good Times (which I now remember was the tune playing when Max [Edward Hermann] was killed by Grandpa [Barnard Hughes]) and apparently it was a greater brush with greatness than I remembered. I'll have to apologize to the Australians I told that I had never heard of him.

Brushes with greatness abounded at the Ball. We sat at a table that was next to the table where Bud Collins was seated. I was impressed with Colleen's Paparazzi style and she managed to get a picture of Bud and his goofy pants. We also snuck one of Guillermo Villas (looking just as Argentinian and hirsute as ever) and of course, the man himself, Rod Laver. I swore a woman at Bud's table was Margaret Court, but she was pounding drinks like there was no alcohol left in the world, and she left well before Jimmy Barnes could cause ear damage. Still, I did see a couple of tennis fans get autographs, and unless I was wrong, I am sticking with my story on that being her. She was definitely old enough to have been Margaret Court. Tracy Austin was in the house, but I was disappointed I didn't see Jim Courier. My real brush was the opportunity to shake hands with Mr. Laver himself. He was trying to get onto an elevator, and I just weasled my way into the handshake. It was still very cool. Otherwise, there were a lot of Australian TV celebrities, but I didn't recognize any of them.

I got Colleen to at least try the lamb, but she wasn't a fan. I think it was the stigma of the meat itself. The taste was very flavorful. But, you can't make someone try something if they are convinced they won't like it. The dessert was outstanding, though Colleen isn't really a fan of raspberry or white chocolate, and definitely not that combination. I, of course, don't miss any chances for free sweets, and I told Colleen I really had wanted to stick it out until we could get my dessert. :-)

Colleen and I left early. His straining voice was killing us, and the wine had definitely kicked in. We met up with Steve and had a couple of pints at the Irish Times but I was almost ready to fall asleep even then. In the end, it was for the best that we retire relatively early and enjoy some quality time together. :-) Since play doesn't start until 3PM on Sunday, we didn't have to set an alarm, or feel a sense of urgency to get up. That should make the next day a bit nicer, especially since I am sure I'll be (and she will be as well) nursing at least a mild hangover.

Cheers!

Day 17

Colleen in the house! My wife made it in without incident this morning, and I couldn't be happier. I timed it badly again, so I was at the airport for almost an hour before she got through customs, etc. but it was still so good to see her. She says I haven't gained any weight, though she could tell I had a little belly from the extra beer I was taking on. LOL

Picked up the tuxedo for the Australian Open Ball. Now, I own my own tuxedo, but I didn't pack it. I didn't want to have to deal with it all. So, the rental looks awesome, and Colleen approved of my choice. She had me put it on for her and since I had to make sure it fit, it was a good excuse. I didn't put on the ascot, but she got the gist of it. It looks good, in my opinion, and it does look a lot slimmer than I did in my wedding tuxedo.

We chose to have lunch at Andy's new favorite restaurant Stalactites. Unfortunately, it has also been discovered by the new darling of the Australian Open, Marcos Baghdatis. Now, it could be coincidence, but the newspaper reported that Baghdatis went to the restaurant after his 5 set miracle last night, and today was the most crowded Andy has seen the place. That meant instead of popping in and out, we had to wait to get served. All that really translated into was we had to rush a bit to get to work on time. The souvlaki was outstanding, and the homemade hommus was exquisite. More bread, but at least it seemed more healthy. LOL

Significant rain this afternoon. The first thunder I have heard here in Australia this year. I was caught in the rainstorm last year that supposedly produced the most rain recorded in a 24 hour period, so I know they get rain here, but it has seemed more rare to hear thunder and see lightning strikes. Play spent a good deal of the day under rain delay, since only two courts have retractable roofs and Vodaphone arena is normally closed by this time of the event. That won't bode well for getting out early, because even if rain stops, it will still require drying the court, and some of those outer courts could be wet for a while.

John, my other redbook buddy wants to go out for a drink tonight. I'd be more than willing, but I will have to pass on dinner plans. I had Greek for lunch. Add to that the fact that I have US folks wanting to go out, and it looks like I'll likely have to miss him this go around.

This time for dinner (again at the Hofbrauhaus) I made sure Colleen and I participated in the dancing. That meant a little chicken dance, and a little conga line out the door. I had the kasespaetzle as an entree, which is approximately German macaroni and cheese. It was tasty.

The bar was Pug Mahonnes again. We had a few pints and Colleen and I had a couple of shots. Jagermeister is back on the menu! She was a trooper, and stayed up until after 1AM. She knew she was dragging, and I politely excused us back to the hotel for the night. It will be nice to have someone next to me in bed again. Although, I am sure she'll be stealing the covers, since I have kept the room a chilly 64 degrees the entire time. :-)

Cheers!

Day 16

Back to the heat! Woke up with a mild hangover, but more accurate to say the damned Red Bull had given me the jitters and that was causing more consternation than anything. The walk in wasn't too bad. It is supposed to hit 40C or higher. That's going to be one hot bastard walking back.

The city was setting up for Australia Day celebration parades. The holiday is a combination of Columbus and Independence Day. Everything is closed (except the fast food shops) and there will be a lot of celebrating and eating. There are fireworks slated for tonight. Last year, I did laundry on Australia Day and had Nando's chicken. LOL It is a big deal and each state has its own web site dedicated to the holiday. I am providing the link to the Victoria Australia Day

I found the web site for Eugene Hamilton. I don't have iTunes installed on my laptop and MSN Music Space did not know who he was. I heard that iTunes did recognize the artist, and called his style Jazz. I just called it lounge. Either way, I am sure he'll have front row seats and a video camera so he can take notes from Wayne Newton when he performs here next month. Maybe he'll even add Danke Schoen to his song list. I can only hope.

I went to go watch Kevin Botti play tennis. He's from France, and is in the Junior's draw for singles and doubles. He has officially lost in both. Still, I found it novel that there is a tennis player with my surname. He even looks like he might have the game to actually make the tour, though I don't really know how that works to know when he could make the main draw. But, I am definitely going to keep an eye on his progress now that I know he's playing in the major junior tournaments. A Botti on Centre Court at Wimbledon would be outstanding. I know I'll only get there if I buy a ticket or queue in the rain. LOL I have pictures, but I am sticking to my guns and not posting any pictures until I get back from the trip, or until Colleen makes me. Sorry!

Never heard from the guy that wanted me to do a food review for him. Oh well. I was willing, but I guess he didn't recognize my registration when I tried to sign up on his site. I haven't really done official reviews here, and I am not about to do one he can cut and paste onto his own site. If he wants it badly enough, he'll accept my registration and I'll do it on his site. If not, well, I'll still at least mention the places I have dinner while here in country.

I am just waiting for Colleen to call me. She should be getting into LA soon, I think. The time math gets harder as she approaches the International date line. It is 19 hours difference from Melbourne to LA. That means it is 7PM LA time on Wednesday night at the time I am writing this. Basically, you add 5 hours to whatever time it is here and then remember it is yesterday. LOL. She's supposed to land there around 8PM LA time I forgot to keep a copy of her itinerary, but I know she lands here tomorrow morning at 9:25, and that's the important one. :-)

Woo-hoo! Colleen called from LAX. She's beyond check in and into the security area. That means there's little to stop her from arriving in the morning. I am sooo excited.

Tonight will be more Hofbrauhaus for dinner. Not sure why. Corey seems to love the place. I could actually take it or leave it, but I can't pass up a chance for some spaetzle and everything is tasty after the first liter of beer. I can't believe I actually said that. How in the holy hell can I actually consider doing more drinking? Who am I kidding, I'll be drinking. :-) I will guarantee, however, that there will be no binge, as I intend to be fully alert and ready to pick up Colleen.

Rachel said her fiancee (they are getting married in three weeks) is likely flying the plane Colleen is riding on here. He's a pilot with Qantas, and last year, he flew BJ home and even took the time to go and introduce himself to Brian. I thought that was cool.

I made the choice to purchase a case of beer and carry it home. It turned out that a 6 pack was $20.90 but the case was $53.60 so that meant I got roughly 9 beers for free buying it by the case. I didn't really need that much beer, but somehow I'll struggle through. :-) Carrying it home was sweaty! Seriously sweaty. I am amazed at how much I have managed to sweat this last two weeks. Of course, I probably need it with all the beer I have been drinking. :-)

Cheers!

Day 15

Hard to believe this is my 15th day from the house. Colleen will be leaving Raleigh tomorrow, and that can't come any too soon. I miss her, and she misses me. Nothing like two weeks away from one another to remind each other how much we mean to the other.

Caught a cab this morning unexpectedly. Was going to walk in, until one of my co-workers came to the lobby with an armful of stuff that had to get to the venue. I wish I had known that would be the case. I now have missed two walks (home last night and in this morning) and I would not have had to rush around as much this morning, which would have left me time to get breakfast and talk to Colleen longer. She needs a hug, and I need one from her. ;-) I also really like the exercise, and not getting the chance to walk in annoys me. Of course, I am trying to be a team player, so I'll just plan to walk back tonight either way. :-)

No big plans for today to this point. The grind has started to settle in, honestly, and I'd just as soon try to keep it a quiet couple of days until Colleen does get here. Even Robin and I were saying if we could keep the number of drinks down tonight it would be a good thing. I know I'd appreciate it. :-) Well, it sounds like that might be out after all. I just heard from Bill, and he and I are going to meet this evening for a few pints. That means I will be drinking after all. It'll be good to see Bill. I may try to call John and get him to come out as well. Of course, that could mean tying it on very seriously. But, it wouldn't be a venue gig if I didn't have to come in at least once with a hangover. The three of us can likely do some damage; both to wallets and livers. :-) My goal now will be to convince Robin to abandon the premise of staying sober, and instead going out with us and tying one on.

Dinner was at Patee Thai. I went wimpy and had cashew prawns and green curry puffs. It was tasty enough, but hardly an adventurous dining experience. The restaurant featured tables where you could sit on the floor, but thankfully our booking was for a table with chairs. I was not prepared to sit cross legged for dinner, and I'd likely have had some issue getting up and down.

From there, it was on to hit the Fitzroy area. We found a club called The Night Cat. Oh my Lord! It was fairly seedy, but the drink flowed and they had a cover band led by Eugene Hamilton. This guy was a laugh riot. He was the epitome of the smarmy lounge singer. Costume changes, theatrics, and cheap pops to the crowd. The best part was he sold albums for $20. I had to get a copy, and even got it autographed. Watch out America, Eugene Hamilton is coming!

I have to say that putting on a bit of the Jackal (the term my Aus buddies and I had for our carousing in Raleigh during the redbook) was tougher than I had expected. Jamison's Irish whiskey and Red Bull are an odd combination. Throw in a couple of jam doughnuts (Chambord and Bailey's Irish Cream), some Thai beer, and a few Cascades (aus beer) and I am sure I'll have to pay for it most of Day 16. :) But, it was fun, and good to see Bill.

Caught the cab back with Tony and Robin and actually got back to the room after Andy had. That meant he had an early night, or I was partying far too hard for my own good. Either way, I still have to be up for the early shift and at work by 9AM. Colleen will be here on Friday morning, and I cannot wait!!

Cheers!

Day 14

Another gorgeous day for a walk in. I was glad to see that the graffiti strewn across a couple of the downtown statues had been cleaned off. With Australia Day rapidly approaching, marauding gangs (under the guise of angry aboriginals) had spray painted the status of Captain Flinders of the Royal Navy. His statue commemorates the day the first English landed on the continent, and of course, the premise is that the aboriginal inhabitants have been pissed off ever since. I don't really know whether they were truly angry aboriginals doing the defacement, but my personal gut feel is that street punks (I have seen a LOT more of those than aboriginals) just thought it would be cool to spray something controversial about how Captain Flinders commemorates the rape of this land and the murder of the native inhabitants. Either way, it was gone as quickly as they had put it out there. It was almost Demolition Man in nature. (If you don't get the reference, rent the movie. It is Wesley Snipes and Stallone at their stereotypical best, and marked one of the first times an aging white action star co-starred in a movie with an up and coming African-American star in an attempt to appear cool and hip to the current movie going audience. See Steven Seagal and DMX, Seagal and Morris Chestnut, Seagal and Keenan Ivory Wayans, and Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans for other examples of the formula.)

I was amazed to see that I was the first one here this morning. I didn't really pay attention to the time, or where I was going. It turned out I had passed by one of the IBM Australia folks on the way to work as well, and didn't even see her. The world behind the wall of iPod sound is just very different. I really do seem unaware of anything else going on. I did see quite a few young kids jogging in uniforms (though Physical Education in nature) and quite a few rowers, but unless they were going to run me down, I really didn't pay attention to other pedestrians on my walk in.

I sent off some pictures to Colleen. No, that does not mean I am going to post any here. I just haven't had the will. Maybe once we get onto our vacation. I don't think about snapping any when I am walking around. Hopefully, she'll get them. It takes a bit of doing to replicate all those messages out and I had to do it in spurts because our cable provider caps the maximum size of a single mail message. Still, I did owe her a couple, and the ones I sent I thought were nice.

Holy cow, but I just got through an ordeal. If I am able to pull the damned thing off, it will be a miracle. I had wanted to surprise Colleen (well, not really surprise since she knows about it and does read this) by setting up a little Day Spa time for her prior to going to the Australian Open Ball. I chose the one in question because it was a very short walk from the hotel. What I got was mind boggling. The first issue was that she kept trying to sell me some services I wasn't asking for. Colleen wanted a pedicure, and I wanted to get her a pedicure, manicure and facial. The last two just to pamper her a little bit. The woman wanted to sell me a package that involved a body massage and sculpting wrap, neither of which I wanted, and neither of which could be substituted. I failed to see how that was going to save me any money. In the long run, I did manage to work it out, at least I hope. We'll see. Colleen has a 10AM appointment at the spa, and she'll get the treatment. It might have been a bit more than Colleen would have wanted me to pay, but I wanted her to not have to worry about those details. Besides, it will, if nothing else, provide her with a way to kill an hour and a half while I am at work. :-)

I can't believe today marks two weeks of my daily posts. I am also blown away by the rapidly approaching 1 year anniversary of this blog. That's actually later this week. I don't know how I'll celebrate that.

We went to a restaurant in St. Kilda called the stockhouse. It was an interesting place, and the food was wonderful. I had my first Marlin steak, and it was tasty. Seared, so the inside was a bit rare, but I eat sushi, so I couldn't very well complain. At least it was hot. :-) From there, we did a little stroll around St. Kilda, stopping in a bar named Joe's greasy bar and cafe. They had these really cool mug glasses for the pints. A cab ride back to the CBD, and back to Turf Bar. The trading hours in the CBD are far too subjective. I suspect it is just a cost sensitivity issue, but seriously. We got one pint there, and then they shut down. Oh well, how many pints do I really need anyway? LOL. Got back to the room and watched the last bit of the tennis. That Cypriat is showing well at this tournament, and he seems to thrive on the center stage. Maybe I'll be rooting for the underdog. I don't know that he honestly has the game to take Federer, but he's handled a couple of matches no one thought he should so far. :-)

Cheers!

Day 13

What a difference a day makes. A cold front blew through, and it was still warm-ish, but not nearly as hot. It was literally 16C cooler this morning, and that made it nice. Play started this morning at 10, so I had to be at work at 9. With James crashed on my couch, I did as much tip-toeing around as I could, but he did want me to wake him up at some point anyway, and he was going to borrow my shower since Andy was still sleeping from the night shift.

The walk in was awesome. The breeze and cooler temps really made it worthwhile. I popped in for a quick bite and then headed in. I got to the office in time to find that the Tasmania Travel Authority had held my room reservation for me at the hotel I thought was the best price performer in Hobart. Too awesome! That just means I need to figure out the storage of my extra bag here in Melbourne, and book a single night at the Medina Grand Melbournethe night before we fly back home. I decided it would be easiest to just stay there and then I can ask them to hold onto the extra bag for the two weeks and I can pick it up when I check back in. I think they'll be more ammenable to that. Besides, Colleen liked the Medina, and she seemed glad I had chosen that as our option. I am getting anxious now. Colleen will be here in 4 days, and I have almost everything booked for the trip.

So, I discovered there's a Botti playing tennis at the Open after all. Kevin Botti from France was entered in the Boys singles draw. I say was only because about the time I learned that, he lost. It wasn't even close. Still, I will have to post a comment to the Botti web site to see if they have heard of this particular Botti. Always a novelty to see my last name, since it is fairly rare, though I suppose the older I get the less rare it really is. If I could just get a visit to Agropoli (which is where our family name is supposed to be originally from) I might be able to find out my real family tree, instead of just piecing together bits and pieces.

Tonight we have made reservations (bookings) for the Belgian Beer Cafe:  Bluestone. It should be a tasty treat. I am considering the grilled mussels. Not much of a shellfish on the shell kind of guy (I never cared much for raw oysters, or steamed mussels) I have had citrus cooked mussels (basically, the acid in lime and lemon sears the meat) and grilled should also be done enough for me to get past the slimy look and feel. No $26 AUD bottle of beer this time, however. I am going to keep it reasonable. I really should not drink at all. It would be a welcome change to be honest. However, I will mention that I had my first dessert beer. It was raspberry flavored, which was quite interesting. They had two, one cherry (available in draft or bottle) and one raspberry (just bottled.) I got the raspberry, while one of my co-workers had the cherry. Both were delicious. I'll have to do some digging as to what actually qualifies as "beer" since neither really had what I would have considered a beer consistency. And, of course, we had a decadent Belgian chocolate waffle and chocolate mousse. I am drooling on the keyboard just thinking about them. :)

So, I noticed that I am spending a lot of time adding links to my blog posts. I also noticed they had gotten quite long winded. Not sure what either means really, but if it is annoying anyone out there, feel free to share. I probably won't do anything about it, but I'd still be interested in hearing. I like that google conversion feature, so I will likely not stop linking to those for the US readership. :-)

Another evening of laundry. Woo-hoo! I did watch the last three sets of the Federer-Haas match, which ended up being quite a good match. It was good to see Federer pushed as hard as he was. I don't know if anyone else has the game to do so remaining in the draw, but it does show he is mortal.

Cheers!

Day 12

First let me start with a welcome to my international readers. I wasn't even aware I had anyone reading this, let alone to receive a comment from one that is in Australia. So, it is with a slight degree of pride that I have to start this entry with a correction to a previous posting, clarified by my Australian readers.

Hungry Jack's is in fact a Burger King franchise, and not a rip off. The name Burger King had been registered by another man in Australia, and when the corporation wanted to start opening location here, he tried to sell the name for a large sum of money (not unlike the folks that would buy up domains and then try to sell them to the business that most closely would be associated with said domain.) Not wanting to pay for the brand recognition, Burger King chose a more localised name, Hungry Jack's. When the time on the registration had expired, Burger King tried to open stores with the original branding, but they never caught on. The result is that Burger King in Australia is now and in perpetuity Hungry Jack's. Now, go out and get a burger with a slice of beetroot on it!

I should also say that the reader did mention that lasagna and chips was a good meal. I was not being critical of the dietary choice, just indicating that it was definitely not a meal for a South Beach Diet denizen like myself, as it contains what would be touted as a ton of bad carbohydrates. To each his own. If you run as much as one of my co-workers back in the states, you may burn enough kJ to actually be able to consume such a meal. I know he definitely can. I however, cannot, and the 21kgs I have lost tell me I made the right choice.

It turns out he found my blog likely through a referrer entry on my link to his review of one of my personal favorite restaurants in this town. You can reread my day 6 posting to see which one. He has asked if I'd be willing to write a couple of reviews and post them on my blog, or as comments somewhere, but he didn't indicate where. I'll see if he can provide me a mail address or a link. He could have at least offered something for my trouble. :-) Still, I am usually willing to help out when I can, and when Colleen gets here, we're going to try one of his suggestions. She wanted to participate, since she's more attuned to the service aspects than I am. I am generally willing to let more slide.

Hot isn't the word any more. The conditions at the time of this writing showed 40.9C. Special thanks to weather.com.au for letting me know exactly how miserable I should be. The Bureau of Meteorology says the official high will have been 41.7C.

I walked in, pretty much like a dumbass, though in all honesty, I actually do enjoy the walk, even in the heat. I find the soundtrack playing in the iPod puts an interesting spin on the city, no matter what's playing, and I like the solitude. Of course, I have to stop a lot more often, mostly to mop sweat from my eyes, which has more than once caused me to squint from the sting of salt. Walking to work at 9:30 is different than walking in at 2:30, only because the crowds haven't really started filling the streets, and most protesters and street performers want to sleep in apparently. I did get to walk past a bust of some sort. Three police vehicles, one providing some degree of first aid were on Swanston street and a scruffy looking gentleman was being placed in the rear of one of the cruisers in handcuffs. I found the whole scene novel, as it was my first indicator of street crime here in Melbourne. Unfortunately, whatever satellite the Medina subscribes to doesn't actually get local channels, so I won't get to see a local new story. Maybe I'll be able to get the details from The local paper when they publish it online tomorrow.

I loaded up my portion of the carry requirements. I am not sure, however, if I have packed correctly. I will take the bag to the room, and determine if I can find better economies of space. At the same time, I have mixed feelings about doing so, as that means the bag gets heavier. :-) Still, I bet if I take some hangers and plastic wrap off, I will be able to get a few more items into the bag, and that seems a better use of the space anyway. To haul it to the flat, I am going to take a cab. I am crazy, and willing to do lots of walking, but seriously!

Extreme heat means a lack of tennis outdoors. That will mean a long night for the second shift. Perhaps longer than any I did. Is it luck? I am going to say it is. :-) Still, I would have preferred that we had been able to get play in, as any time we miss play, it increases the chance we start earlier, or run later. I think in some respects, we got lucky. It is better to have weather issues later in the fortnight, as there are fewer matches to have to catch up that way.

Dinner was at the Hofbrauhaus. It is tough to top German food. I highly recommend the Jagerschnitzel and a liter of your favorite beer. It was dead quiet, only two tables in use. Of course, they sat us such that it seemed more busy, but I was tickled by that. Most US restaurants wouldn't do that, preferring to sit the tables apart from one another. We wrapped up dinner, and I chose to head back to the room. Play was starting an hour early, and that meant I had to be up an hour early. It seemed odd to be talking about bed at 10PM, but I wanted a decent night's sleep. I can only hope Colleen won't be too mad, since I probably won't call at 6AM her time. I'll call her at work. I miss her, and I know she's likely getting into that range where she's a bit on edge. Just three more days until she's flying this way. Very cool! James is crashing on our couch before he flies home to the US, so I really won't have a chance to call her in the morning until I am at the venue. Don't know if she'll understand that either, but I know she loves me, and that helps. ;-)

Cheers!

Day 11

Day 11 started really more as the end of Day 10. It was Clare's last official day as a member of the IBM Australia Team. They were having her farewell soiree at a club not very far from the tennis center, or so we thought. It was scheduled to start at 10PM, which meant I'd still be at work. When we got out for the night, Andy called to let me know that he was just looking for a good excuse to leave, and would we stop and pick him up. Since we had to walk by the bar anyway, it wasn't a chore. When we got there, he said he wanted to get another pint somewhere quieter, cheaper, and less pretentious. He also said I could stop by the flat and let me change into long pants. We made it to the Turf Bar, where it is usually 80's night on the weekends. That meant a ton of drunk Australians dancing madly to Technotronic, Bryan Adams, and Michael Jackson. We chose to observe, and settled in for a couple of pints. On the way back to the hotel, I called Clare to see where they were, as I wasn't really ready to retire for the evening just yet. That's when the experience really began.

Clare called back and said they had moved to the Club Odeon in the Crown Casino complex. Tony and I decided we'd hop a cab and see what was going on. Odeon is a techno club (they have quite a few of those in Australia) so that means loud music, dark lighting, and likely a cover charge. We paid the $15 entry, and it included a coupon for a free well drink. It didn't take long and we ran into Clare and the crew that had migrated with her. I loaded up a few more drinks, and did a bit of dancing. I am a terrible dancer, in my mind, but I do love to do it. If I get enough drink in me, I'll dance like nobody is watching. :-) And, thanks to the miracel of disco, I really don't have to dance with anyone and nobody really notices. After about an hour or so, Tony and I decided to hit the casino. That meant blackjack for me of course. I was able to play for a little under 2 hours on $50 and won enough to break even after the drunken cab ride home.

Gambling closes here. An odd concept, given the years I spent in the city that never sleeps. I have never actually been at a casino that kicked me out, and it was a novel concept. I also wondered why they'd close at 5:30 AM anyway. I mean, if you are going to be open that early, why would you close at all? Oh well, it was likely for the best, as I was fairly three sheets to the wind by then. A quick cab ride home, and I was in bed and out for the day.

Woke up at a little before 1PM. Scrambled to call Colleen, since that meant it was just after 9PM for her. We chatted for a while and housekeeping came in. Since this was the third day in a row I was in the room when he came by, he decided we should chat for a while. He asked where I was from in the United States, and I told him North Carolina. He said he had a brother in "Nort Caroleena" working as a civil engineer. When I asked him what city, he said Phoenix!!!! Suppressing a chuckle, I wanted to make sure I had heard him correctly. He said, the city in North Carolina that was about 300 KM from Los Angeles. I explained that was in Arizona, and that it was a very nice area, but definitely not a part of North Carolina. I am not sure he grasped the concept, and I felt we had a small degree of kinship. I tried to put it into perspective and said that if Melbourne was in North Carolina, Phoenix was in Western Australia. That definitely helped put perspective on it for him.

I made two errors in judgement today. The first was choosing cargo pants instead of shorts. The second was deciding I could walk to the venue in pants. It was, depending on the thermometer again, somewhere between 95 and 105 today. Add in the humidity that followed yesterday's rain shower, and I was melting all over everything. Still I stopped in at a Hungry Jack's on the way to the venue. Nothing better than a little fast food grease to help settle a hangover. I am still surprised at the lack of ice they put into their drinks. I can understand it would mean a better value since I would get more soda, but it also means the drink is not the super chilled beverage I have come do expect, and had hoped for while sweltering today. But, with my iPod on and rocking in my ears it definitely fit the bill. Since they are not actually a real Burger King franchise (seems there was a mild amount of copyright infringement that didn't hold up in court because Burger King hadn't at the time registered the trademark in Australia) they have a decent spicy chicken baguette. Not sweat on the forehead spicy, but it is fast food. :-)

Tonight marks my last evening shift. Andy and I swap. That means I'll have a late/early switchover. He seemed only mildly concerned about that, despite my protestations that there wasn't anything he needed to do about it. I wasn't. Last year, I rotated shifts every other day, which meant that I was doing a late/early swap every 2 days. Ugh! Shift work is a good thing for the venue. I know at one time, both teams (my team and the Atlanta folks) had worked straight through. I can't imagine pulling 16 to 18 hour days for two solid weeks. It probably explains why they needed what was referred to as decompression time after the event. I know I'd be close to nuts. :-) That translates into a slight delay in my updates as I'll be away from my computer well before the end of the day. Since I told myself I'd post daily for this event, I feel I have to get closer to the end of the day to really call it a daily entry. :-)

Cheers!

Day 10

Today was a scorcher! Depending on which thermometer you saw, it was between 34 and 40 degrees today. That's between 93 and 104. Obviously, the variance is due to the placement of the thermometer. The one on the front of the Lexus CentreThe temperature got high enough they invoked the Extreme Heat Policy for the venue. That means extra time for the players between sets and allowances for extra ice, etc. Here at work, it meant that the room got sweltering. We scrambled, and got every fan plugged in we have. Of course, none of them are universal power, so that meant finding transformers to handle the conversion. It all worked out. Add in a real rain delay (the first I have seen in two years here) due to thunderstorms, and today was quite an interesting day.

My morning began with me not waking up completely until after 11 AM. WOW! I still can't believe that. Of course, I was here at work until after 2AM, but still. I must have gotten very comfortable in the last 24 hours. Of course, lounging in like that meant that I didn't have enough time to really get out and explore. So, instead, I did a quick load of laundry (didn't need to, but I was in the room) and got ready at a leisurely pace. I tried to style my hair into the fauxhawk, but either I don't have the right product, or I don't have long enough hair. Either way, it looked like crap, and I scrapped it.

I did have a little bit of time, so I decided to throw on the iPod and hit a garden. I hadn't walked any of the gardens on the other side of the Yarra from the venue, so I thought I'd give them a shot. I found a clock made of shrubbery (well, the clock is actually a clock, but the numbers, face, etc. were all floral) and got a good picture. It will likely not be up on the site until after I get back to the states, since I didn't want to have to mess around with figuring out which server to place it on, and linking to it in here. Lazy, yes, but this is my blog. :-P

I wanted to divert here a moment to say that I have really become addicted to using Bloglines and RSS feeds for surfing the Internet. Special thanks go out to Andy Wismar for that one. As he puts it "the Internet comes to you." It is very handy. I have only a small list, and I find new ones all the time. I was surprised to see how many sites offer RSS feeds. You learn something new every day.

I finished the air and car bookings for the vacation. This isn't going to be a cheap trip, that's for sure. I just tell myself this is our last hurrah, and to ignore the debt I am accumulating (it is hard to judge how bad it is, because of the conversion rate, but I have an idea.) :-) I still haven't booked a room in Tasmania, more than anything because I am not sure how Colleen had intended to do it. The woman here in Australia with suggestions for Tasmania had said to kind of bop around and find B&B along the way. I am not sure that's what we were going to do. That seems a bit higher stress than we wanted. I wish I could reach Colleen. I keep jokingly say that we're going to end up sleeping in our car, and looking like packpacking bohemians. We'll see. :-) I do have a few days, but it had been my intent to get that booked well prior to her arrival.

It turns out that they are much more serious about baggage allowances for economy travel in Australia. I ended up using Qantas for all of it, because while I did pay a bit more, I was concerned about the weight of my luggage. They only allow 20 kG (44 lbs) on the two discount airlines, and I know I am over that myself. I had one bag at 56 lbs when I started this trip. I was reminded that I will be storing some luggage in a locker here in Melbourne, so I could get Colleen to bring another empty bag and shift some stuff around, but again, minimizing hassle. This will be fairly stressful enough in my opinion. We're flying three one-way legs. Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Hobart, Hobart to Melbourne over the two weeks we're here and I just didn't want to have to deal with it. I can only hope this vacation provides the memories and souvenirs we had hoped for. :-)

Tonight is the farewell soiree for one of the IBM Australia women. She's packing up and heading to Europe. I think it is brave of her, because she has no job lined up. I couldn't do that. I never really could. It took a supreme act of will to move to NC when I knew I had a job. It has already started. The funny part is the original location has changed. When those of us here at work asked why, the answer was "it is Gay Night" at the bar they had chosen. Now, for me that would not have mattered one bit. I have gay friends, and I know they aren't going to "rub off on me" or "convert me" but some folks still don't quite get that. Either way, it does mean we might be at a location that won't give me a hard time about being in shorts and sneakers. Did I mention it was a scorcher? I am hoping to be able to sneak out without really tying one on, but I know better. At the same time, one of the guys from my first redbook is still here in Melbourne, though I thought he was in the UK now as well, and said he was going to be at the shindig. It'll be good to see Bill again. Since it is after midnight now, I guess that means the party is technically part of Day 11. :-) And, on that note, I am going to sign off for now.

Cheers!

Day 9

Back to regular shifts, and the bump in team has been bumped out. That means at night it is an eerily quiet room. Mostly the hum of the servers and laptops ad little else. These are actually the parts of the tournament duty I like the most. There's no pressure to perform, and no real concern over appearances. Enough about work.

Woke up very early relatively speaking. Another 5 hours of sleep and that was it. I tossed and turned until about 9:45, when I decided I'd had enough. Went through my usual morning routine. A little bite of breakfast and catching up on the news on TV and called my wife. It sucks she's not here already, but it will be soon enough. After reading one of my previous entries she said she had no idea there was a tour of an old jail here in town, and that I should wait until she got here for us to experience it together. That sounded like a good idea to me, so that meant once again my plans for the morning had changed.

So, I decided to make the day about some housekeeping, so to speak. I went to get fitted for my tuxedo for the Australian Open Ball. Now, some of you may know that I did buy my tuxedo when I got married, but I didn't pack it for the trip, and had no intention of bringing it. That was for formal events on the North American continent. I am not going to give away many of the details except to say that Colleen will love it, and I thought I looked pretty darn good in the final choice. The rental is reimbursed by IBM (thank you very much) so I didn't have to worry about that, so long as I hang onto the receipt for it.

I stopped by the Tasmania Travel Centre for information about touring Tasmania. The woman there wasn't all that helpful, since I wasn't planning to go from Melbourne to Tasmania, and I wasn't interested in them booking excursions, etc. for me. She tried to chase me off renting (hiring here) a car indicating it would be pretty expensive, but the reality of that is using Hertz, I get a pretty decent deal for my car. She did at least tell me that flying to Hobart instead of Devenport made more sense, and I was generally OK with that. I learned that the average temperature in the summer there is in the mid 70s, so the weather should be nice. I think I at least have that part down, though I still haven't made any bookings. I am not quite sure if we're going to just jaunt around the countryside and stop where we find somewhere, or if we'll use Hobart as a base of operations and just jaunt out from there. I do know that well within driving distance, we will get the opportunity to see Tasmanian Devils being fed in a preserve. It will be good to see the family. LOL (For those that don't know, I love Taz, the Warner Brothers cartoon character, and many people say his personality fits me as well. I'd be lying if I said I didn't understand that.)

The last stop was J.E.T.A. Opals, just to make sure I remembered the trading hours. Last year, I almost ran to the store to be able to buy the opal pendant Colleen has. I found it funny that the gentleman remembered me, and my running, even after 1 year. He said if he could see the pendant again, he'd be able to find her a matching pair of earrings. That would be very cool generally speaking. I have no idea what it will cost, but he'll hook me up just like he did last year, and that's all I can ask.

There was a food court in the arcade (mall) where I was fitted for my tuxedo, so I decided to stop in and see what it had to offer. It was adjacent to Chinatown on one side, so the predominance of eateries were Asian cuisine. I decided to take my first foray into what was touted as Korean food. The first thing I saw made me decide I needed to try it. They served sweet potato noodles, and boy were they tasty. Throw some spicy Korean chicken (once again, sweat on the forehead spicy) and a little Korean barbeque beef (not all that impressive) and a black bean and vegetable chicken (very tasty) and I had the makings of a fine lunch. I even broke apart the low-end chopsticks provided (the spork they gave me was tiny) and showed off my skills. I probably still can't each much rice with the sticks, but I can definitely work on my noodles and the real food.

I walked down the venue in what can now definitely be described as summer. It was somewhere between 34 and 38 C (do you remember your math for converting? If not, you are reading this on the Internet, go google for it, or try this site. Anyway, roughly 93 to 98 degrees) and bright and sunny. I may not have burned, but I have gotten some sun for sure. I stopped in at a sunglasses booth set up here on the grounds. I liked the name, Rudy Project. I also liked the style, very much in the vein of an Oakley. Anyway, I broke down and bought some new sunglasses (my 3 year old Ray Ban's had a scratch in the lens in my field of vision, just enough to annoy me.) I think they look pretty good, and I wanted to treat myself (like the upcoming vacation isn't enough) to something.

I did want to take a moment and once again state that I refuse to let the premise of working at a tennis event damped my spirits when it comes to oustanding tennis. The fact that I might be sitting in an eerily quiet room watching tennis on TV until the wee hours of the morning never phases my passion for good tennis. Anyway, enough of that rant. ;-)

I did book the first leg of our vacation. Special shout out and thanks to Sandy Berman. She used her influence (and 85 million Mariott points) to get us a concierge level room at a Mariott in the Sydney Central Business District. For the two of us to fly economy was only $286 Australian, which worked out to $214 American. Not bad for a short flight on Qantas. It was a one-way ticket, since we plan to fly to Tasmania from Sydney, and I didn't want to mess with too many hops in airports. That means the first leg is now official. We'll fly out on the 31st and plan to stay in Sydney until the following Sunday. Hopefully, that will be enough time to do the city some justice. If not, well I will say we tried. :-) I also rented the car for Sydney. I was tempted to rent a stick, but with the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car, shifting left handed still seemed like pushing it. I do remember saying the same thing in last year's blog. LOL

Well, enough of that. This one has been a long entry. More from Day 10 tomorrow.

Cheers!

Day 8

So, I realized that I had acquired some new terminology since I arrived, and thought I'd take part of today's entry to go over it for my faithful readers. I can't take credit for any of these terms, so if you are a reader and you explained it to me, then you know who you are, and I thank you for the help. :-)

Fauxhawk
A hairstyle that simulates a mohawk by effectively pushing all the hair into the center as a spike. Popular among both young men and women, the fauxhawk is a common style in Australia.

Five Head
A forehead that has receeded so far, it is now one larger. Prevalent on men (such as mine, which is likely more a five and a half head) it was first used to describe Martina Hingis, the woman's tennis superstar that has a definite high hair line. With her return to the Open this year (a comeback after she retired in 2002) there are rumors that her new visored look is due to the fact that she may actually be approaching a six head.

Bump In
A term used by the Australians to indicate the team sent to set up some function. Our setup team was called the bump in team.

Bump Out
The opposite of bump in. The team that will be doing the remainder of the event (like me) and will be responsible for the tear down of all the equipment is known as the bump out team.

All the ones I can think about to this point. If I learn any new ones of merit, I will be sure to share.

Day 8 was an uneventful day. Kevin was nice enough to volunteer to work, since his wife was going to see the Penguin Parade with some of the other folks here, and Kevin had been earlier during his time here. That meant I worked a day shift, and left with Andy to go see the sites. Dinner was at a Columbian place that had some pretty tasty stuff. Add in a little Columbian beer, and it was all good. I am still not quite sure how the pubs work around here, because lots of them were shutting down at 11PM. We did manage to pop in to The Turf Bar and convince them to sell us a pint.

Cabs in town are always an adventure. This guy seemed to believe he needed to take his half of the road out of the middle. More than once I found myself cringing for the anticipated collision or sideswipe of another car. It never happened, but WOW did I think it could. I prefer to walk, unless it is hot. More sweat!

I ran into my first gay man as we were lost trying to get to the restaurant. Not to imply there aren't any gays in Australia (I know they have a GayTas guide for travelling gay in Tasmania, whatever that means) but I was just tickled by his accent. The aussie accent on top of the typical gay man speech pattern just struck me as very funny. He was very nice, as are all Australians I have met (for the most part) and he definitely pointed us in the right direction.

I have all but given up trying to convince Mike to come out with us. He's much more sedate than most of the folks are here. To be honest, he's not very far from how I was at his age. That makes me sound like an old fart, but other than Steve, I do believe I am the oldest here from the states, even among the Atlanta folks. I never considered myself a grizzled, wily veteran, but it would appear at some point, that's what I became.

Back to regular shifts for Day 9. That means I'll actually be posting twice in one day, since if I get off early, I hold off on that day's posting to make sure I do justice to whatever happens after we leave. :-)

Cheers!

Day 7

Since I was working the late shift, I slept in. That was nice. Although, 'in' is relative in my world. I would have to be up until 5 or 6 in the morning to sleep past 10 most times. Even then, I have been known to wake up wide awake after 4 hours of sleep. I don't know why. I tell myself it is because I got used to working the night shift, and keeping the room so dark (when I lived in Las Vegas, I put aluminum foil on the window and it was pitch black in the room even during the day) to sleep day hours. That means when light hits a room, I wake up. I have been known to have to turn clocks to face away if they have LED displays because the light would be bright enough to wake me up. Go figure!

So, at about 9:30, I got out of bed and went into the living room. I bought some Granny Smith apples, and sliced one up and had it and a Coke Zero for breakfast. Probably not the healthiest, but I was really just puttering anyway. Originally, my plan was to visit the Old Melbourne Gaol (that's pronounced "Jail" and means the same thing.) I am not sure why the Australians use what appears to be a Celtic spelling for Jail, but then they also pronounce Quay as "key" so I don't really ask. Australia was predominantly a prison colony at its initial founding (a factoid generally not to bring up with a native) and this was one of the first prisons in the country. There are urban legends about it being haunted, and claims of Photographs of Ghosts in the Gaol definitely fuel that fire. I am told you can take an evening tour by candle light and experience the paranormal for yourself. I was just going to kill some time during the day, as it was one of the sights I missed last year.

Then, I started looking at the heap of clothing in the closet in my room. Ugh. I decided it was time to do laundry instead. One of the reasons they have us stay at this chain is that it offers real apartment style living. That includes a stackable washer and dryer. Of course, that meant I had to wander out into the city and hit the closest grocery store. The predominant store here is IGA, which I found funny because generally in the states, an IGA is the grocery store no one wants to go to. So, now armed with my detergent and fabricsoftener softener, I was ready to do some laundry. Sounds simple enough, right? Apparently not. It turns out I left the city map I carry with me in the back pocket of one of the pairs of pants and ran it through the wash. That generally produces unwanted results, and I had to send almost half of that load back through to clear up the paper bits stuck to my shirts, pants, and the like. Argh! Then, I discovered I hadn't been as thorough as I had meant to be, and still had a few items to be washed. For some reason, one of those shirts got some "washer gunk" on it and had to be run through again as well. Grr! So, I missed the chance to go to the Gaol today. I'll try again tomorrow.

Since I was now somewhat stuck close to the hotel, I decided I'd just grab some fast food for lunch. The fast food I like closest to the hotel is Nando's, a chicken franchise that it turns out is actually a South African company (not that it matters, but what in the Hell do South Africans know about Portugese chicken?) Anyway, a tasty treat. I should point out the hot sauce, which isn't the hottest they offer is warm enough to make sweat break out on my forehead, which is usually my goal when going spicy. :-) Of course, that meant more chips (fries) but I let it go.

With laundry work going on, I settled in to watch junk sports on Television. Now, I used to believe the Americans were the kings of junk sports, but I was seriously mistaken. I started the session watching the Tri-country lawn bowling championships between South Africa and Australia. That's right, lawn bowling. And they were distinctly serious about it. Check out their site if you don't believe me. It went to a sudden death bowl-off, which apparently was a very tense moment, given the excitement in the announcer's voice. I will say I was impressed with how well they manipulated the path of the ball, though I don't know how much of that was slope and curve available underneath the pitch. The second was Premier league (they have a lot of premier leagues for their sports, implying a minor league and training leagues) snooker. Snooker is an interesting game, I suppose. Not for me, since I generally don't play American pool all that well.

I sent out my second and third postcard today. I should buy some more, and send them to my niece and nephew. I don't know if they'd get a kick out of them, but Sandy Berman told me everyone likes to get mail. The funny part is, I half suspect that they won't get there before Colleen leaves, and that means she'll get all of them at once when we both get back into country.

OK, going to sign off for the day. Day 8 tomorrow.

Cheers!

Day 6

Day 6 was the first day of real work, but since this isn't a blog about work itself, I am going to avoid discussions on that. :-)

The weather has improved, and summer has definitely kicked in. It was in the mid 80s yesterday, and promises to get higher as the week progresses. Threats of thundershowers did not materialize, even though the radar showed distinct chances. You can see the current radar outlook live if you like. Just hit the Bureau of Meteorology Web site. If nothing else, you can be jealous of me languishing in tropical weather while winter marches on in the US. :-P

Part of the day I spent fixated on looking at new houses in Australia. I saw a commercial for a local builder, that I equated to be like Anderson, KB, or Centex homes in the states. No, I am not planning on moving, and no I don't have a job here, but boy do I love this country. While I know that feeding the fantasy is not good for my mental health, I will say The Palladium is definitely a floor plan I could live with, and is actually in the price range of my current home (adjusting for Australian Dollars of course.) I preferred the Georgian facade, in case you were wondering. LOL I was told a reasonable approximate conversion is to take square meters and multiply by 10 to get square footage. That puts the house just a bit larger than the current one, but not overly so, which reinforces the premise that I am looking in the right price range. At least I can dream. :-) I wonder if the team would let me work as a mobile employee from Australia?

Dinner last night, which will be likely my last away from the venue was at Squire's Loft City Steakhouse. I was in heaven. The guys I met from Melbourne when I was working on my first book introduced me to this restaurant last year. The review site isn't directly for the restaurant itself, but the review is accurate. It was outstanding. I talked Andy and Judy into going, and we all ate our fill. Judy is a wine afficionado, so I usually take the time to enjoy a bottle with her. In this case, we had a pretty good Cabernet Savignon (she may have thought otherwise, but I drink a lot of beer, which likely means my palette isn't as educated as hers) and a dessert wine. That was a bit sweet for my tastes, but she seemed to enjoy it, and I am usually willing to experiment.

From there, we decided for a couple of pints before turning in. The suggestion was Irish Times, an obviously Irish pub down the road from the hotel. I, however, knew a better suggestion. I suggested Pugg Mahone's. It was close to the restaurant, just down on Hardware Lane, so we were able to walk there in a couple of minutes. Monday is backpacker night. That's significant in the sense that it is designed to attract young bohemians backpacking their way across the country. To do so, they have seriously discounted pint specials. From 8PM until 10PM, pints are $3 Australian (well, for some reason, the pints of Kilkenny that Andy favored were not, but my Toohey's New definitely was.) After 10, the price goes to $4 until midnight, and then stays at $5 until 3AM (like I am going to do that again soon.) Andy and I were both determined to retire before 11:30, and that meant we did wander off just as pint prices cross the $4 barrier. Still not bad, when you consider pints normally run in the $6 or $7 dollar range around here.

On the way back, I popped into the convenience store and purchased a toothbrush. It seems I did manage to forget something. :-) I had been using a travel brush I got (Qantas gives you one if you fly business class) but it was too small in my opinion, and was unwieldy to manage. Now I have an Oral B, and I couldn't be happier.

One note I should mention was an interesting discovery, especially looking at the world through my American eyes. :-) Diet Coke and Coke Zero in the US both claim to be zero calories, and zero grams of carbohydrates. Not so here in Australia. In fact, Coke Zero actually has more calories and more carbohydrates than Diet Coke. They both taste the same as their US counterparts, and the calorie and carb counts are miniscule, but I did find it interesting nonetheless. Colleen told me to suck it up, and so far I have. I am just not sure why it gets listed as zero in the states and some positive value here. I think part of it is that the Australians don't actually report calories on their packaging. They list energy in kilojoules. One calorie equals 4.186 kJ (thanks google) so technically everything has the ability to produce energy at some level. Dunno if that is significant or not, but it definitely has given me something to think about. The Better Health Channel web site sponsored by the Victoria Government has some interesting tidbits about the whole thing.

OK, guess I should wrap up Day 6. We start split shifts tomorrow, so Day 7 will be an interesting start to the rest of my time here.

Cheers!

Day 5

Day 5 was an otherwise uneventful day. There was no real need to work, so we didn't get up early, and didn't make plans to be at the office. Now, that also meant that late on Day 4 we decided to go drinking. :-) We didn't get in until 3AM, and I spent a small portion of the morning hung over. Ahh, the joys of venue duty.

Andy and I were excited to see that Fox sports here in Australia was showing the NFC playoff games this weekend. That meant we got to watch the Redskins and Seahawks. It was tape delayed, and edited heavily (at halftime, they went to commercial and when they came back, they were kicking off for the 3rd quarter) but it was football. Not that I mind watching cricket, rugby and soccer, but it was a nice change of pace, and it felt a little like home.

For the evening, we went to an open air Belgian Beer Garden. It was a nice night, so it wasn't too bad being outside (it is supposed to get into the 90s later this week, and we may cross the century mark by the end of the tournament.) Another night of beer though was not exactly what I had in mind. Beer is obviously not part of the South Beach Diet. :-) Decent food, but again not very diet friendly. I am sure I am going to manage to gain weight at this event, and that wasn't what I had planned. I did break down and buy a $26 bottle of beer. It was a fifth (750ml) of beer, and it was 9% or 18 proof, but it wasn't in my mind worth 26 bucks. I just had to see, I couldn't help myself. Everyone applauded, and I shared a bit with some folks. I am trying to figure out if I should take the bottle home with me. I did bring it back to the hotel. We'll see. I would hate to end up with a suitcase of broken glass and just the memory. :-)

Something this year seems different about the experience. Not in a bad way, just different. Like maybe this time I fit in better. I don't know, I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe as time goes on, I'll figure it out.

So, I have found the next "must have" souvenir. It turns out that there is an NBL (Australian National Basketball League) team called the Razorbacks. I was floored. It turns out they aren't all that good. They have 4 wins and 24 losses, 16 of those in a row. So, it might not be too easy to get some logo wear, but I have decided to make that my goal. Nothing like a little Razorbacks from another country to remind me of the Hogs.

Well, that's about it for now. Day 6 will be the first real day of work here. The tennis starts at 11AM. More to come.

Cheers!

Day 4

So, after a good night's sleep (well, that's relative. I never really sleep well the first night in a hotel) I was good to go for the day's activities. The setup team was nice enough to let us come in late today, so I slept until 9:15 or so. Got up, puttered around the apartment and then got ready. Took the new guys to the Victoria Markets. Basically, a flea market for part, a farmer's market for part, and a general good place to find souvenirs, etc.. We didn't actually buy anything, but they at least got to see.

From there, it was a short walk to work. I managed yet again to be pouring sweat anyway. I had really hoped that after all the weight loss, and quitting smoking, I'd be better equipped. I think it is just my metabolism. I tell people all I need is a picture of the sun and I can sweat. It appears that's pretty accurate. It really only bothers me when I am at an event working, since we get a limited amount of the official uniform, and have to wear it every day for two weeks. Three shirts get pretty wiped out by then.

I spoke to Colleen this morning. I miss her terribly already. She's a pretty significant part of my life, whether she knows it or not. It's really not too bad to call the states from here. Much easier than when I was in France, because believe it or not, 16 hours time difference is easier to work with than 7. More than anything because I know it is yesterday midnight right now in the US (4PM Aussie time) and that math is much easier than trying to coordinate 7 hours. It basically means I speak to Colleen during my morning and it's her evening and vice versa. So, I can time it fairly well to get to talk to her to start her day, and to end her day. We'll see how it goes once I am working more hours. Plus, they sell International calling cards here that end up being like 2.5 cents per minute to call the US. Not too shabby. A 20 dollar Australian card (the exchange rate is about 75 cents to the Aus dollar) gets you 600 minutes.

Looks like tomorrow may be a free day. There's really no play. Qualifying Rounds ended today and unless we have some prep for the start of the tournament, we shouldn't really need to come here. Never know how that's going to go, and I am always willing to put in whatever hours are required. I'd like to see St. Kilda again if we get the chance. The picture from last year of the store "Holy Sheet!" was taken on St. Kilda while sitting in a cafe eating a wonderful baked sweet treat and drinking espresso. Not on the diet, but I am walking quite a bit more. :-)

So, as we were walking in today, we were lucky enough to see two protests in full swing. The first is the tired chestnut about ending the occupation of Iraq and of course getting W and Dick out of the White House. I hate to break it to them, but an Australian petition probably will have little or no impact on the affairs of the US government, but maybe that's just me. :-) I am not a hawk, and not really a bleeding heart liberal, but for better or worse, the US ripped Iraq a new one, and now has to stick around long enough to at least cling to the premise of helping to rebuild and stabilize. Now, for me personally, that region is the cradle of life. The folks there have hated one another since time began, and no outside influence is ever going to change that. Seriously, most of the countries were created by governments not in the region any longer (thanks to the collapse of the British Empire), and the lines are drawn politically, not based on any real affiliations between the member groups of that nation. It isn't a recipe for stability, and nothing we do or say will change that. I ignored them. They were here last year, and the way things are going, they'll be here next year as well.

The second protest was the one I was far more fascinated about. There was a march to institute Chinese Democracy. The premise was that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is actually trying to subvert the Australian Government to create a "political colony." I am not really sure what that means, but it obviously annoyed them. There is a very significant Chinese population here in Australia, and the majority of it is apparently in Melbourne. They marched down one of the main streets carrying lots of signage in Chinese about human rights first, trade second, and the other prattle usually heard about China. That's not to belittle their efforts, China is a serious human rights violator. I guess if their goal was to make people aware of their issue, that's goodness, because I am now. :-) I did find it humorous that there were some people lauding the effort, and some that actually shouted "this is Australia! Speak English or get out!" I really didn't know that was an issue here as well. I guess emigration issues exist everywhere. Ahh, the magic of looking at the world through my American eyes.

Well, guess I should sign off for now. I don't have any pictures yet. Colleen says I am horrible at that, and for the most part, she's right. As soon as I do, I'll post some on the site.

Cheers!

Day 3

Well, we finally made it. Not too bad a trip, though this time I didn't sleep nearly enough. I am starting to feel the drag. Got to the hotel, and it is so much the same it is spooky. We jammed a piece of paper into the switch trigger (the electricity is off in the room unless something is inserted into a slot near the door, including AC) and by the time we get back to the room (I am sharing the room with a co-worker) it should be nice and chilly in there.

Came in long enough to get our stuff and to verify we had connectivity, etc. Nice when there are this many folks here. Not nearly as much work to do.

I AM PUNCHY! I know I am tired, and there's no easy way around it. I will keep pushing until 10 or so and then just fall over.

Venue food. I love it, but damn! Tim-Tams, Pringles, Ice Cream, you name it, we've got it. High in calories, starches, and sugars. Not sure how I am going to cope with that, but I sure intend to try. It is bad enough that I am in Australia without this temptation. In case you didn't know, Australia loves their chips. That's a Commonwealth phrase for Fries. We went to a Greek restaurant for lunch today, and even the Greek food came with a side of chips. I jokingly say you can get Lasagna and a side of chips, but it isn't too far from the truth.

We walked to the grocery store and "Big W" prior to coming into work. Big W is somewhat like Wal-Mart. I mean, it says it is the low price leader, always. It uses the smiley face to show lowest prices, etc. It is a Wal-Mart. But, much like Hungry Jack's is a total ripoff of Burger King here in Australia, maybe someone came to the US, took notes on an untrademarked in Australia business model, and came in and implemented it here. The concensus is that the store really is a Wal-Mart, but that for cultural reasons, using that as the name wasn't a good fit. Who knows?

Since we're staying in a corporate apartment style hotel, the room has a kitchen with a reasonable set of dishes, and a refrigerator. That means I get to buy some breakfast foods and then eat in the morning instead of having to get breakfast on the way to work. Always preferred for me.

As I mentioned earlier, Greek was on the menu. Special props to Sandy Berman for her suggestion of Tsindo's here in Melbourne. She and I had dinner there one night last year, and I wanted to take the guys to it this year while we still had time. The food is awesome, especially if you overlook the side of chips.

Ok, I am beginning to fade. The talk is Hofbrau Haus tonight. We'll see how that goes. I am not sure I am that interested in eating there, but I will want to be part of the team. Tomorrow night is the Barbeque. I hope to be back on the grill, assuming the role I did last year. I love to cook, and it lets me really avoid conversation unless I want it. Not to be anti-social, but I do like to keep to myself when in uncomfortable situations, and if I have an excuse for doing so, then I love it. More again on Day 4.

Cheers!

Day 2

OK, I just woke up about an hour ago. I still have 7 hours of flying left. I really had hoped it would have been less, but oh well. So far, so good. I haven't had serious leg pains (I have had some problems with my right leg and what I think is possibly sciatica in that leg and nerve) and I was really surprised. I had to take some drugs to stop my sniffles, but that's why I packed them. :) I will admit I am getting better at planning and packing for these things. I don't think I overpacked too much this time, and I shouldn't need Colleen to bring me anything with her when she leaves in two weeks. I wish it hadn't had to be that way, but her here while I am working wouldn't be valuable for her, and would cause a lot of tension, because I'll likely be working 12-14 hours per day for the next two weeks or so.

So, I watched the remake of the Bad News Bears as part of my in-flight entertainment. What a horrible film. I can't say I'd recommend it to anyone, to be honest. I like Billy Bob Thornton, and I loved the original, but the new one just stunk.

I finished the first of two books I brought. I still haven't broken out the SuDoKu puzzle book, though I probably should. I knew I'd be addicted to it, and so far it hasn't disappointed. Now that I have the laptop up and out (thanks to Qantas for providing real power outlets in Business Class) I will likely watch one of the DVD I brought. I still have 6:27 minutes of flight time left according to the map. We're about to cross the International Date Line. That means I am just about to lose Thursday. A very interesting premise, really. Maybe I'll try to keep writing this until I know I have crossed. It looks to be inside an hour until we cross, so maybe I can make it.

How do you prep for a flight of this length? To be frank, I don't think it is possible. I know I have tried two methods now. The first was to stay sober and keep things light. Catnap as I could and then go from there. This time around, I got hammered, really mostly passed out from the booze, and woke up about halfway through the flight after about a 4 hour rest. Neither has prepped me for hitting the wall with this flight. I mean, I have been on the plane 8 hours so far, and still have more than 6 remaining. That sucks. I know that at one time, one of the guys on our team had put together a tongue in cheek prep guide for this flight, but it involved taking a fistful of prescription pills and pills to counteract pills taken along the way. Pass.

I am not quite as punchy right now as I thought I'd be. I am sitting here with the iPod in full force and the laptop banging away at my blog. I just wish I wasn't hungry. I started out eating well, having a grilled chicken Caesar salad in Raleigh, but it has since gone downhill. Potatoes, breads, and likely some sugar. All total diet wreckers, but oh well, I blame the booze. I know my hunger is really glycemic cravings (for God's sake, I had 3 meals on plane flights so far, plus breakfast and lunch in Raleigh) but I am also bored and captive, so eating is an easy way to at least fill some hours. :-)

Well, believe it or not, dear reader, I just crossed the International Dateline. That means it is now the 13th. Friday the 13th. I didn't really consider that when I booked, and I am generally not a superstitious person (I have deleted chain spam and the like more than once) but there's not a lot of room for error in a trans-Pacific flight. I mean, there's a lot of water, and some islands, but not much in the way of emergency landing space. I'll be fine. That whole thread just sort of popped into my head here, which is probably an indicator I am really punchy despite my thoughts otherwise. :)

OK, going to sign off for now. Day 3 will be on the Ground in Australia, and should be distinctly punchy. Talk to you then.

Cheers!

Day 1

Well the first day of this odyssey began just like I expected. I obsessed over whether or not I had packed my wallet and my electric shaver. I knew I had packed both, but I couldn't visualize them in my bags. That meant I made Colleen stop and let me dig into my bags to check. Of course, they were there, but it just proves my point. I have no business packing early. Doing so drives me crazy.

The flight to Dallas was mostly uneventful. I found it fascinating that Mikey had to fly coach class on the Domestic legs, when most of the team had flown business class the whole way, which meant first class for anything still in the states. I started in getting a little hammered, since I wasn't really looking forward to the flight in general. I don't hate to fly, and don't have an irrational fear of flying, but that hardly means I love to be in the seat of a plane. The shaking a feeling like I might drop out of the sky seems to be my biggest challenge. WHAT A COWARD! :-)

The flight to LA was interesting. It turned out that Steve was actually booked on the earlier flight, which meant he spent an extra hour in LAX while we spent it in Dallas. If not for the Admiral's Club attendant, he likely would have missed his flight. We all met back up in the Qantas lounge and tried to chill for a few hours until the flight started boarding. At least we all did make the LAX to Melbourne flight. I know that some of the folks doing setup had missed connections in LA, and I'd hate to get stuck in an airport for a day. The Melbourne flight is 15 hours. Not many of those leaving per day (I believe just the one) so missing your connection means you sit for at least the 24 hours until the next flight.

I must say that the Admiral's Club lounge is a bit inconsistent in the offering. In Dallas, we got drink coupons. In Raleigh, we had a cash bar. In LAX, we were provided a few bottles and asked to serve ourselves. A very interesting mix. Not quite sure why. I do know it should be reasonably similar across any location, but then again, Raleigh isn't exactly a bustling hub of air activity.

Well, the first day really was about the domestic legs. Left Raleigh at 2:20 ET and got onto the plane for Melbourne at 11:15 PT. That means 12 hours just crossing the states and day 2 will be full of nothing but the flight to Melbourne. I lose Thursday in the air.

I forgot to make mention of this, but I thought I'd share. Colleen's parents called to wish me a good flight the evening before I took off. I thought that was a really nice gesture. I was also tickled that her mom asked for one souvenir, and she wanted it to show up at our house 9 months from now. ROFL. I thought that was funny. We'll definitely be putting in the time. WORK, WORK, WORK!

Well, we'll see how this goes. Not sure what I'll report on Day 2, but it should be interesting.

Cheers!

The next go 'round

Tomorrow begins my next flight and trip to Australia. A bit of work, a bit of fun, and a month away from the house. The trip last year prompted me to start this blog in the first place. I decided that this time around, since it wasn't even supposed to happen, that I'd try to submit a blog entry every day of the trip. Each will be titled the day of the trip. I'm probably going to try to keep them short so that I don't feel overwhelmed, but I am going to have something to say. I'll even try to get one saved and then posted from the 16 hour flight.

Colleen's mom called this evening. Her only request for a souvenir would weigh 6-9 pounds, and wouldn't be delivered for 9 months. I had to laugh. We're trying, that's for sure. WORK, WORK, WORK!

I still haven't packed. I didn't want to start too early. I have a tendency to obsess over things (I know, that's a shocker) and packing early gives me too much time to worry about having missed something. This way, I actually end up with more of what I need, and less overall anxiety. We'll see. I still will have a large portion lined up before bed tonight. I broke down and purchased an "urban pack" which is a fancy word for a laptop backpack. This one was from REI, and I spent more than I should have, but it had all the geek pockets and space I thought I wanted. It is very comfortable. The ones I was getting from work just weren't cutting it any more. Oh well. It should last.

The flight is at 2:51 PM. I'll plan to be in the airport around 12:15 or 12:30. I'll submit my first entry at some point in LA most likely. We fly out from there at 11:15 PST, which will be 2:15 AM EST. That's a long day, and doesn't even start to address the next 16 hour leg. I lose Thursday in the air, which is why I plan to submit a saved one from the plane.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this trip to Australia. It was a complete surprise to me, in all honesty, and I intend to make the most of it. :)