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!
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!
posted by Derek Botti at
8:22 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home