Australian Open 2008 - Day 17

Last Day of the tournament and it can't come too soon.  I am burnt out.  All these days in a row without a day off and without any real normality in my life.  I had a mild hangover this morning, but I really didn't seem to mind terribly.  It was more interesting to have passed out and wake up not remembering how I got back to the room.

Took the opportunity to take the tuxedo back.  It wasn't a bad walk, though I shouldn't have used my flip-flops, but more on that later.  Walking I saw that the arcade with Suga Candy Store was open so I popped in to see if I could get the candies Colleen wanted.  Unfortunately, this store didn't have them in stock, having depleted most of their stores for Christmas.  She suggested I walk to the location at QV (another arcade) and see if they had them.  Since it wasn't terribly far, I figured I could go ahead.

I got to the shop at QV and she didn't have the chocolate filled either. :-(  She was at least nice enough to call the shop at Queen Victoria Market ahead of time and found they did in fact have the candy I wanted.  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask where the store actually was.  Queen Victoria Market covers almost 3 city blocks and the number of booths, kiosks and shops is staggering.  So, I walked down and wandered.  While wandering, I chose to have a spicy bratwurst for breakfast, and wasn't disappointed.

Finally found the store, but they didn't have one of the flavors Colleen hoped to get.  That meant I'd have to walk back to the first store and pick them up there. LOL  The full circle.  Walking back from the market, I discovered that the flip flops had once again rubbed fairly bad raw spots on my feet and I'll likely have blisters once again.  What a dumbass!

Got back to the room and showered and shaved.  Since I still had time, play wasn't starting until 4, I walked out (in shoes) and picked up the last bit of candy.  I am bringing back 1910 grams of candy which is amazing to me.  Stopped in at Subway on the way back to the room and got a sandwich for lunch.  Not the best choices today, but they helped settle my queasy stomach.

Tennis was uneventful.  Djokovic won rather easily in 4 sets.  That meant we were done!  Walked back to the hotel and had one beer before setting the alarm to get up for another run in the morning.  I called Colleen from the room to give her a chance to sleep a bit later.  She got in pretty late last night for her and I knew she'd be dragging a bit of butt.  I miss her.  I love her.  I can't wait to be home and in her arms.  We're having a baby!  Have I mentioned that? :-)

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 16

Woke up this morning early, as play starts early.  They want all of the matches done in time to allow people to attend the Australian Open Ball.  I deliberately chose to make today an off day from a workout standpoint, mostly because I didn't want to be sore or nursing an injury in the tux.  I spoke to Colleen early and told her that I'd probably not be able to call her tonight because I'd be at the ball.

The weather is HOT!  It was in the high 80s to low 90s with the projected high supposed to hit 33C it was sure to be warm.  That means I am back to sweating full time walking to and from work.  Still, the 2 kilometers I walk back and forth is decent exercise.

Walking in today, something flew into my right eye.  I don't know if it was dust, or a bug, but it made my eye irritated quite a bit.  At one point, there was evident swelling and I was worried I had pink eye.  I tried to not rub it if it was, as I didn't want it to spread to both eyes if it really was pink eye.  I knew I wouldn't make it through the day without something that could impact my experience at the ball. :-(

I left early for those of us in the room.  Most of the IBM Australia team was gone well before I left so it wasn't exactly early.  I stopped off at the bottle shop to pick up two six packs of Coopers Sparkling Ale and of course pay $39 AUD in the process.  Oh well, I wanted a couple before the ball and to have some left for the last night in town.  It made the walk back a bit more tiring, but at least the bottle shop is right down the street.  I still can't forgive myself for making Colleen and Leah walk all that distance with a case of bottles 3 years ago!

I think I chose well for the tuxedo this year.  I think it came together very well.  Of course, with my thinning hair and two bum front teeth, I still don't think I look very good, but that's subjective anyway.  I was glad of the chance to shower, brush my teeth (though beer and Crest are a horrible combination) and basically relax before the ball.  In the end, I chose to wait for BJ and Mike so we could share a cab.

The ball itself is a bit pretentious. It is mostly corporate sponsors, media, and former tennis stars.  Still, it is nice to get dressed up, get free food and drink and dance the night away.  I had my fair share of all of those this time around.  I was drinking red wine and the servers never let my glass look empty once I'd started drinking.  That was likely a very bad sign of things to come.  Wine drunks for me are typically rowdy in that I have high swinging emotions and I wasn't sure which one would rear its ugly head this time around.  I got lucky, and it wound up being quantum particle Derek at the ball.  For those of you that might remember, when I live in Little Rock, I got dubbed the bouncing ball because I would move from place to place in a party.  A quantum particle is a particle that cannot be placed in either time or space, so it is basically an updated (or more geeky) naming I was given during my first French Open Soiree.  I thought it funny that old habits really never die.  I was happy, and flitting about the ball like there was no tomorrow.

I got lucky, because at some point, I lost track of anything that was going on.  I don't remember getting back to the room, and I don't remember passing out.  I woke up I was even still in my tuxedo shirt.  Instead of a tie, it had a decorative button.  I apparently was unable to navigate the button and drunk enough to not care.  At least I was asleep on the bed.  Tomorrow will be hell, I'm sure!

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 15

I haven't quite figured it out, but play didn't start today until 4.  That meant I had a ton of time this morning.  I was somewhat lazing around in bed and my mobile phone rang.  It was Brian.  He wanted to know if I'd be up for a second ride today.  Of course, as it is really a good ride and adds some variety to my workout.  I quickly hopped up and got dressed for the ride

We walked down to the shop and this time the woman suggested we stop off at a boat house that was 16.4 km out from the rental shop.  BJ had thought we'd do the Capital City trail, but I was interested in something different so this seemed a good option.  It meant all total it would be just over 20 miles we'd bike for the day.  I did a better job preparing this time and had slathered on some sunscreen to try to avoid cooking myself any more than I already had.

It turns out I set a torrid pace apparently.  There was more than once that I had to stop to let BJ catch up.  I heard after the ride from a couple of people that he'd told them I had to be in incredible shape to set the pace I had.  I didn't really think much of it, though I will say that on the ride back I only took 55 minutes, while we did take an hour and 15 minutes to get out there.  I find the riding pain is quite transient, as my sore thighs recover much more quickly than the sore calves and hamstrings from jogging.  I should get back into riding my bike more back home.  I discovered I can ride alone, and since I am setting my own pace, I don't have to feel guilty about leaving someone behind.

I realized as I was walking back I'd made one fatal error in judgement.  At one point, the trail requires we negotiate three flights of stairs.  I chose to carry the bike on my shoulder.  Now, I have done this before.  I used to ride with Matt all the time and there would be bits where we'd hoist the bike up on our shoulder and carry it because we ran out of trail.  This time, however, I wasn't thinking and just threw the bike onto my left shoulder.  Now, that by itself doesn't sound too bad until you start thinking about the design of a bike.  With the handlebars facing forward, the gears of the bike are on the right.  That means I just laid the gears against my left hip.  That means I have now got gear grease onto my Dockers cargo shorts.  That likely means I have now wasted a pair of Dockers cargo shorts.  Maybe Colleen will be able to get it out.  We have some oil treatment remover, but I suspect they'll just become shorts not meant for more than bumming around the house.

I called Colleen.  It is nice when we get to talk and I am sure that she's as ready if not more for me to get home.

Work ended around midnight.  I let BJ and Mike leave early so they could catch a good dinner out.  In return, I'll get to leave early tomorrow.  That means I'll have time to shower and prep for the Australian Open ball!  Drifted to sleep knowing that I'd be just about done with this whole trip and ready to get home.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 14

Set the alarm to get up an hour early again.  Yes, I went for a jog.  I am getting almost used to the track and I managed to jog almost the entire time from the hotel.  Pedestrian traffic and signals makes that a bit tough (I am not pretentious enough to jog in place at a stop light) but I was at a full jog by the time I hit the Botanic Gardens track and jogged the whole way and back onto Swanston Street.  I still walk for the cool down back to the hotel.  I am usually dead on my feet by then anyway.

Today was a day shift.  That means I got to go out for a decent dinner again instead of eating at the venue.  First and foremost, today was the day to pick up our tuxedos.  We have to go through a last verification of everything we have ordered.  It turned out to be a good trip because the shoes were WAY too big.  I never know how to convert sizes.  I have on a pair of 10 Reeboks, but the 10 dress shoe swallowed my foot.  I suspect it really has to do with how tight I can tie them.  Anyway, the shopkeeper was kind enough to begrudgingly give me a size 9.  It will likely be tight, but they don't rent half sizes.  I guess better tight than looking like clown shoes.

I had a taste for Chinese.  That means going to Shark Fin Restaurant.  I will say that after three trips I can begin to understand why it has so much appeal.  I do recommend the honey glazed Filet Mignon.  I also recommend Tsingtao and I did have two at dinner.

Walking back to the room, I decided I wasn't really quite done for the evening.  To support that end, I made two stops.  The first was to a bottle shop for another $20 AUD six pack of beer.  Once I had put it in the fridge, I headed to Turf Bar for a couple of pints of Kilkenny and a chance to watch the tennis.  We don't really get to see much live tennis, other than over closed circuit TV, while in the venue, so as crazy as it sounds, sitting in a pub watching is a good thing.  Tsonga stunned the crowd and excused Nadal without even a question.

Back to the room and I was still not quite ready for bed.  I called Colleen and caught her getting ready.  I was excited.  Today is the day we'll find out the sex of the baby, and I wanted to talk to her before she left for the appointment.  I told her that I didn't mind if she couldn't wait, that I would understand her excitement and was only sorry I couldn't be there to see at the same time.  We're both very nervous, though neither of us has a very strong desire for one sex over the other.

I decided to rent a movie from the hotel on demand system.  I have been wanting to see Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0 here) and I decided that even with the price of $13.95 AUD I'd go ahead and bite the bullet.  It was mostly worth it, though it lacked some of the production values and gritty texture of the first three in the series.

Went to bed after the movie knowing that play likely wouldn't be starting before 3PM.  That meant I'd have a good morning ahead of me and would likely be finding something to do again in the morning.  I can only hope that Colleen calls and wakes me up overnight to tell me what she learned at her appointment.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 13

Woke up this morning with big plans on my mind.  Not only would I get in a workout, but it was going to be a big one.  I almost overslept, but I still managed to wake up before 10 which gave me enough time to in theory make it happen.  I quickly walked down to Federation Square and found Russell's Bike Hire right along the bank of the Yarra River.  I planned to hire a bike for a few hours and have a good ride for today's workout and a bit of sight seeing all in one.

Victoria has a ton of trails.  Brian found this Google map and had ridden this the day before.  So, I decided I'd try my hand at the Capital City Trail and see if I could navigate the 29 km in less than the three hours I'd hired the bike for.  It wasn't a bad rental, it was $25 AUD for three hours and that included the helmet.  Add in a $2 AUD bottle of water and I was on my way.

The ride itself was actually very nice.  I managed to get lost once, but I happened upon two couples in full bike gear that had just finished a ride and they were more than happy to tell me where I'd lost my way and how to find the trail again.  I stopped a couple of times and snapped some interesting pictures.

All in all, it took just over 2 hours (according to my Polar Heart Monitor) and I was mostly exhausted.  I also had rubbed a very raw spot on my left leg where my iPhone was swinging in my cargo pants as I rode.  I had to have some tunes. :)

I'd love to find a longer trail, but I also got quite roasted.  I burned the backs of both hands, and my arms at the point where my workout shirt ended.  WHAT A LOSER!

I walked back to the hotel and along the way I stopped to pick up the candy I mentioned yesterday.  I think I may have gone a little crazy as I purchased 710 grams of candy that I'll now have to haul home.  I somehow doubt I actually managed to offset that in consumption, though my suitcase is lighter than it has been in past years.

Got to the room and called Colleen.  It was good to talk to her.  We're really close on creating our own babymoon package and I am pretty excited about it.  Colleen needs a vacation and I want her to have one to remember.  I took the chance to get some laundry into the machine as well.  The increase in heat means I am sweating through the clothes too much for me to really consider trying to recycle them.  Called and let work know I'd be just a tad bit late.

Got to leave work around 12:45.  I took my first night picture on the stand.  It wasn't bad, but it still needs some work.  I just didn't have the time to set up the tripod since I was walking back with three other guys.  I'll get another chance I am sure.  It was better than most have been, but I want better.  At least I know that the tripod Colleen's parents got me for Christmas is MOST AWESOME!  It definitely did the job, and was far more portable than the one I presently own.  Definitely a keeper for any travels I happen to get.

Chose again to set the alarm an hour early so I could get up for another run.  I felt it was needed, though I don't know why.  I am sure when I get up in the morning, my thighs and butt will be burning from all that biking today.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 12

Working the day shift is never a bad thing.  It means the day is over earlier and I get a chance to have dinner out instead of at the venue.  Of course, the night-day switch is not an easy one, though the day-night sure is. :)

I set the alarm an hour early so that I could go have a run.  I am getting fairly used to that jog now, which is a good thing in my book.  I definitely have been putting more road miles into my workout than I had to this point.  Not that I am training for a specific race or distance, but I have learned that jogging on the road is far different from even jogging on a treadmill.  I suspect my form is still horrible.  And, of course, that means that bad running form will put extra strain on knees, ankles, etc.

Walked in to work starving for some reason.  There are days when the bowl of cereal just doesn't cut it and this was one of them.  That usually means junk food eating in the venue, which means I am working against myself for the workout I get up early to do. :-(  Oh well, I cannot deny that I really do like the flavored crisps (chips in Commonwealth countries are fries while Potato Chips are crisps) here and I won't be eating many once I get home.

I tried to leave early so I could perform my one Sherpa duty.  Ann, a friend and coworker, asked me if I'd pick up some candy for her from Suga, a local candy maker with a very unique twist on candy making.  Some of the candy has designs or words written into the candy.  All of their shops even have a live demonstration area so you can see how it gets made.  Unfortunately, they must close at 5PM (a lot of shops in the CBD close fairly early) so I was unable to make the purchase.  Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

I was really craving something spicy for dinner tonight.  Ryan, one of the guys from Atlanta, is very agreeable when it comes to eating.  Like me, he can find something to eat at just about any restaurant.  So, the one Thai place I do know here is town is Sawasdee.  I can always count on Thai to be adequately spicy and though he'd already eaten there this trip, he was willing to go back since I hadn't and he had no strong preference.  Spicy I wanted, and spicy I got.  I ordered a Jungle Curry Beef and a Bintang beer.  I normally would get Singha beer, but they were out, so we chose the Indonesian pilsner instead.  The menu lists it as three chilies, their hottest rating and it should not be taken lightly.  Sweat broke out on my forehead and I am sure I'll be paying for it well after the meal.  I really didn't care, it was tasty.

Back to the hotel and stayed in Ryan's room for one more beer, this time a Coopers.  I was tired, so I said my goodbyes and went down to my room.  It was just after 9, so it made it far too early to call Colleen.  I decided I'd watch some tennis on the TV instead.  I woke up a bit startled.  I hadn't even meant to do so, but apparently had fallen dead asleep on the couch in the room for at least an hour.  It still was a bit too early to call home, so I did my nightly routine and then curled up on the couch waiting for 11PM AEDT (that's 7 AM Eastern standard time) so that I could call her.  It was good to hear her voice.  She sounds stressed by me being gone and I am really feeling guilty about it.  We both know there's nothing I could do about it, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Drifted off to sleep planning to hire a bike and go for a ride tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make that happen instead of the typical jog.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 11

YES!  Sleep for the first time in who knows how long!  I woke up at about 10 AM, which meant I'd had 9 real hours of sleep.  I got up and steeped what had to be my best cup of French press coffee to date.  Now, that doesn't say much because I had never used the French Press before this trip, but early attempts were too weak either from too little coffee or too little steeping.  Anyway, this press actually had the tan crema I was told was possible with the press and it was exceptionally strong.  I pre-sweeten the brew to avoid agitating the grinds that appear at the bottom of the cup.

I called Colleen and we chatted briefly.  I discovered I was still tired and yawning on the phone with her more than I should after that much sleep.  So, I told her I loved her, hung up the phone and went right back for a nap.  I woke up well after 11 and realized that I was missing the NFC Championship.  Two things I should point out here.  First, this was Monday morning that I was missing the game and second I don't really care about the game that much.  It was more a matter of me wanting a little taste of home and nothing says home like the NFL.  Being that Rupert Murdoch is an Aussie, there is no CBS coverage here, so we only get to see the Fox games unless ESPN chooses to carry it down here.  That of course means the hotel would have to offer more than the 5 lame channels they have.

More laundry!  I was annoyed because the soaking rains had left so many puddles that both pair of khakis had mud spots on them from walking.  Oh well, I chose to deliberately wear shorts and likely will push to do so the rest of the week.  But, I washed them to be on the safe side anyway.

Walking into the venue this time seemed uneventful.  I wasn't as concerned about play as the late match was a women's doubles and they only can go three sets.  Doubles itself is typically faster anyway.  Play ended just about midnight and the walk back was uneventful.  I had to stop at City Convenience Store across the street so I could get more milk.  I would be lost without my cereal for breakfast.

Made the suspect call again to wake up and jog in the morning.  That means less than 6 hours sleep just for the sake of the workout.  I set everything out ahead of time once again and called Colleen while lying in bed so I could drift off thinking about her.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 10

2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep.  I think that says it all.  Because I have agreed to do rotation every day with Brian on shift work I had to work a night day after the latest finish in Grand Slam history.  That meant, tennis ended at 4:45 AM and I had to be back at 9AM for the start of juniors play!  Amazingly, there were still a ton of fans at the venue, so we walked as opposed to waiting at the packed taxi rank for a cab.  That meant I didn't actually get to bed until 5:20 AM.  The alarm fired early for me to be able to walk to the venue.  Still I did make it out the door and into work by 9:10 AM.  Take that!

Sarah from IBM Australia was nice enough to buy me a very large coffee and I settled in.  As the only one in the room that had done the circle back, I thought it was very sympathetic of her to my plight.  I did feel like poop.  My eyes were red and sore, so I used a quick blast of drops to try to clear some redness.  Once the coffee kicked in, I was in better shape.

Left the venue about an hour early and back to the hotel.  I almost literally collapsed into the bed for a good 2 hour nap.  It was quite nice.  Of course, I set the alarm.  We were supposed to be having drinks at a bar in the hotel at 9 to 9:30 and I needed to be back up in time to shower and look presentable.  I took the opportunity to have Nando's for dinner again.  I can't get enough of that stuff.

If is an interesting bar.  I can honestly say that in the three times I have been here, I have been in it fewer than three times.  Short chairs, few with backs, and very odd pictures of locals that I never see in the place.  At least it wasn't as expensive as it could have been.  Still, it was comical.  Despite our attempt to have them keep the bar open, we didn't arrive early enough for their taste (for Australians, 9:30 really means 9:45 so I sat there alone for a bit as 9:30 for me means 9:25) and they let us know just as folks were starting to arrive that they'd be closing around us.  One of the people from IDS volunteered to move the party to their apartment and off we went.

Now, of course, that meant I had no access to anything to drink.  I hadn't been to a bottle shop in town yet, and didn't have high hopes for finding one open after 10 PM on a Sunday night.  Oddly, one of the Australians did know of a shop that was open.  Firmly telling myself that I would NOT switch alcohols tonight I was pleased to find that they did have James Boag and Son's premium lager.  Of course, then it became the sticker shock of 40 Dollars Australian for two six packs of beer!  I learned that the government in Australia has massive Sin Tax and that most of that cost is actually just taxation.  Still that works out to 3 dollars per beer for no good reason.  I didn't need 12, but the guys from my team at the venue were on their way (due to the retirement of the player in the last match) and I knew they wouldn't have any alcohol.  That's just how I roll!

Got to the room and it was significantly loud.  More than a dozen people in the room was likely too high and sure enough, someone from the hotel was rapping at the door indicating that we had generated a complaint and that we'd have to quiet down.  Of course, alcohol make people deaf and they were almost immediately back to talking loudly.  Sure enough, the desk manager came again and this time threatened to call the police.  So we decided to break up the party.

Now, some people wanted to go to another room and start over again.  I decided that at 40, I had no business attending a gathering that even had the threat of police visitation.  Also, I was really tired, and I knew that it being just after midnight I could call home and talk to Colleen.  I left 2 or 3 beers in the fridge (I think the guys had 4 between them, and I had 2 for sure) taking three with me and considering it fair trade.  I pressed the button for my floor and to the jeers of an elevator full of drunk people ignored the chiding and got into the room.

Got into the room and Battlefield Earth was on the TV.  Movies on TV here are typically uncut, so I thought I'd watch for a bit.  It is still lame, even after not having seen it for a few years.

Colleen was out walking the dogs when I called and I was dead on my feet.  I left a message and drifted off to sleep.  At least I didn't make a drunk ass of myself this time!

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 9

What is it about this trip that I have not managed to stay asleep past 9:30 AM?  I woke up and was not as hung over as I rightfully should have been but at the same time I was well aware of having been drinking the night before.  I chose this as the opportunity to do some more laundry.  It allowed me to sit quietly in the room and recover.

Watching cricket takes concentration and patience.  I only half understand the basics of the game and still haven't learned some of the subtleties.  Still, I was watching the potential for history.  If Australia could pull off a major comeback, they would have held a test match record with an astonishing 17 consecutive wins dating back for several years.  Alas, they are apparently not a good come from behind team and they fell some 70 odd runs short of their target.  All streaks have to come to an end I suppose.

The weather has really been annoying.  It was rainy, but so humid that despite the temperature I was sweating like a pig.  I didn't pack well for this trip.  The weather has been in the 60s and 70s the entire time and that means I am rotating my two paid of khakis regularly.  It strikes me as quite lame, honestly, but I have no one to blame but myself.  I made the choice when I packed.  The weather is supposed to improve next week so hopefully it will be back to mostly shorts.

A LONG NIGHT does not even describe the nature of today.  Because of the rain, play was washed out a bit and things shifted.  Add to it the perfect storm of matches and I didn't leave the venue until after 4:30 in the morning.  Because of the preferences, I agreed to work a night day over the weekend and that means I'll need to be back at the venue by 9:00 AM!  Mike and I chose to walk, mostly because the Taxi rank was so long we knew it would likely take longer to get a cab than it would to walk back to the hotel.  That meant walking through rain soaked sandy trails and of course it means I'll have to wash my khakis before I have to wear them again. :-(

I got back to the hotel and quickly got ready for bed.  It looks like less than 3 hours of sleep for me tonight and I don't know how well I'll handle it tomorrow.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 8

I chose deliberately to get up an hour before I had to be at work and to forgo that extra sleep after a longer than average night.  I needed to run.  I was slated to work day shift today and was going to meet an old buddy that I haven't seen in 4 years.  Since that meant an above average chance of significant drinking, I knew Saturday would not likely be a workout day either.  Well, that's an odd thing to say honestly, as 3+ miles of walking a day isn't exactly being lazy, but the point is that I wanted to go for a run one of the next two days and this was the only way to make sure that happened.  As I had indicated yesterday, laid everything out ahead of time and was able to get up, get dressed and get going.

The run is actually quite nice, and amazingly I came back to the hotel feeling refreshed and more energetic than I had before the run.  Must have been the runner's high I never had before (I get done with a workout and I am exhausted, not refreshed.)

Worked a day shift uneventfully and then walked to meet Bill.  It was the first time for me at the River Bar.  It is a bar that's totally open air, which in this era of no smoking indoors means it is chock full of folks dying to light up.  Security was annoyed at me because the bar was pretty packed, but I saw Bill, he waved me over and the security guy had to deal with it.  I got there, and walked to the bar to order.  That is still one thing I'll never really get used to.  There is rarely if ever such a thing as table service at a bar so you have to work your way up to the bar and then hope to catch the eye of the bartender.  I ordered a pint of Asahi and tried to not show any sticker shock when she calmly told me it was $13.50 for the pint.  I was reminded of the line from 40 year old virgin and managed a weak laugh.

From there, we went literally upstairs to Transport Bar.  It wasn't any less expensive.  I did at least convince Bill to let me put my pack in the trunk of his cousin's car so I didn't have to worry about that.  Also gave me the chance to take off the venue shirt and stow it as well.  It was at this point that Jagerbombs and a variety of other drinks started to flow.  I knew then it was likely to be a bad night.

Bill likes to go to Brunswick street.  It is definitely more colorful than here in the CBD, so I am more than willing to go.  Unfortunately, I hadn't had any food and I was starving.  I chose to have a lamb souvlaki and some chips and I was set.  We popped into an odd little bar and a band called Dr. Detroit was playing.  Now, that in itself was uneventful, other than the fact that the lead signer also was a flute player.  Rare to find a bar band with a flute player.  In the end, I asked for a ride back to the hotel.  I am too old to be out partying that late and that hard.

I called Colleen at work on the way to my room.  I was happy to speak to her, and slurred a bit about how much I loved and missed her.  I tend to get sappy when I am drunk and she knows it.  Into the hotel to discover that my cool key bypass trick is acting flaky.  Too drunk to care, I stuck the key into the electricity slot and passed out on the bed.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 7

Today started out somewhat oddly.  I woke up fairly early aware of the fact that I needed to get my laundry out of the dryer.  I was really only worried about the state of my work shirts and of course my khakis.  I got up, folded everything and hung the appropriate parts and then actually fell right back asleep.  That meant I didn't get up to run, didn't get up to do any wandering around town.  I woke up and had to get ready to walk to work.

I still had a little time so I called Mike.  He had just ordered at Nando's and asked if I wanted to join him for lunch.  I jumped at the chance as it was the first time this trip to eat there and I love the stuff. :-)

We chatted and decided that while we had the extra time, we'd head over to Ferrari Formal and Bridal so that we could hire the tuxedos we'll need for the Australian Open Ball.  I wound up choosing The Gable from that page.  The store doesn't take AMEX, which means I had to put it on my Mastercard and then remember to hang onto the extra receipt so I can get it into my expense report.  It was a bit depressing to be trying on the tux knowing that Colleen will only get to see me through a picture wearing it.  I wanted her to be able to see how I look in the thing close up.  I know it is a much smaller one compared to the one I am wearing in the wedding pictures.

Venue life itself is pretty dull.  There isn't much to do unless you're in the middle of a serious fire or meltdown of something in the environment.  That doesn't happen as often, so mostly it is about trying to find ways to stay awake and get play over as quickly as possible.

A longer evening match meant I didn't leave the venue until after 1AM.  I am supposed to turn right back around and work the day shift tomorrow so I can meet an old mate Bill.  Haven't really seen him in a few years.  It could be interesting.  A Friday night loose in Melbourne.  The last time he got me out was when we saw Eugene Hamilton and I came to the realization that Australians believe that any alcohol and Red Bull can't be half bad.  I got back to the room and was surprised to have had my third disappointment from the Medina Grand.  Despite calling the desk before noon as the note slipped under my door suggested, I had not received service on the apartment.  Now, I didn't really care, I had clean supplies and I don't spend a ton of time in the room, but after getting the note under the door, playing by their rules and getting assurance from the desk that they'd take care of it, having no one show up was a but annoying.  It was late and I let it slide.

After not running this morning, and knowing that I was going out on Friday night for "a beer" (the man's term for more than one) that a run on Saturday morning was unlikely at best, I decided that I'd forgo an extra hour of sleep and get up to run on Friday morning.  I may regret that decision, but I did take the time to set everything into one pile so that I could quickly rise, get changed and out the door before I realized how stupid it really was.  Once again asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  The bed isn't all that comfortable.  The pillows are at least foam.  I suspect that's what it comes down to.  The pillows aren't typical hotel fare and I can drop like a stone if I don't have to jockey the pillows into some configuration I like.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 6

Woke up with a mild hangover (as was to be expected based on my last post) so my punishment was once again to get up and go running to sweat away the booze.  It is a good jog and I won't really complain.  A 4 kilometer track isn't a long one, but if you add in the walk to the track and back to the hotel, it ends up being fairly close to 5 total miles, so I consider it a good workout.  Besides, I am not exactly the most well versed in road running (having cut my teeth on low impact elliptical and then treadmill) so it is much tougher than my normal workouts.  I hate that the gym at the hotel is so substandard, but then you get what you pay for. ;-)

Called Colleen as she was settling in for the evening.  It works reasonably well to be able to call her as one of the two of us is ending out day.  When I call her in the morning here, it is her evening and vice versa.  One of the few times the time zone difference is manageable.

Really a boring day in all honesty.  Being hung over, I chose to take the opportunity to do laundry.  It is one of the nicer bits of the serviced apartments here at The Medina Grand is that it includes a washer and dryer in the room.  Now, that sounds odd.  I could send out my laundry and get reimbursed for it like I do at other events, but I'm always leery of it coming back in one piece.  Doing my own, I get to make sure it is washed the way I want, and that it is handled with a bit more care than some place doing it in bulk.  I left with the load of whites in the dryer and the load of colors in the machine.  I should be able to get them dried when I get back to the room.

Bitter disappointment struck.  OK, that's a bit of melodrama.  I finally had decided that I'd actually contact The West Sydney Razorbacks directly to find out where to find their merchandise in a store.  It is hokey that I wanted to have one because they are Razorbacks and so is Arkansas, but I don't really care.  Their response was in my inbox as I arrived and the only place to buy their gear is through Soul Sports and only on-line.  They seemed to not care that this was the only outlet for their gear.  Oh well, best I can tell there are few people here in Melbourne that watch the stuff anyway, so I don't know how the league survives.  Maybe I will break down and order something through that site, but somehow I really doubt it.  I typically don't shop for clothes on-line.  A personal choice to be sure.

Walked in to work in the heat.  Well, heat isn't really the right thing to say.  The weather has been breezy and mild.  Mild enough that when walking home late at night, it has been almost cold.  At least I have the jacket provided.  I know I'm glad I did bring some long trousers, though I wish I had a third pair.  A short night, punctuated by Roddick advancing in straight sets to end the evening.

Walked to the hotel an odd way for me.  We chose to go down Flinders, which means we walk along the length of the train station in some area that is notorious for backpackers and indigents.  I was not disappointed.  As we walked past one of the intersecting streets, we got to witness pure drunken street violence as two Eastern bloc sounding youths were screaming at one another in broken English.  I saw three punches thrown, though for the most part it resembled a slap fight.  In the end, one of the drunk men ran down away from us with the other shouting something at him in a language I didn't understand.

Got back to the room for my second disappointment of the evening.  Something was wrong with the permanent press cycle on the washer and the thing was still dumping water into the agitator but not filling enough to allow it to move to the next cycle.  That meant I had to work it manually to get it to spin out enough to actually let me put the clothes in the dryer.  Oh well, I can fall asleep to the white noise of the dryer spinning and get up in the morning to fold more clothes.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 5

OK, so Colleen busted me.  I indicated on this post that there were interesting things afoot.  That was probably an overstatement on my part.  Interesting in the sense that none of the people I have worked with from IBM Australia are here this year.  Interesting in the sense that the weather so far has been cooler than I had anticipated (which means walking back to the hotel late at night might be almost considered cold.)  Interesting in the sense that things I took for granted about this event changed (information I had tried to insert into the marketing message was removed and we're basically doing very little to help the marketing message here.)  All of those are interesting to me, but probably not to my readers (like there are so many of you out there.)  So, mea culpa for that and onto today's posting.

Worked the early shift and got the chance to leave for dinner early.  We opted for Syracuse Restaurant just around the corner from the hotel.  It is Greek Tapas, which means little snack plates that you share amongst the table.  Some of the selections struck me as overpriced for the quantity of food, but overall it was good eating.  I also enjoyed some Mythos beer.

Since dinner ended early for the folks that were packing to leave on Wednesday, I wasn't quite ready to retire to the hotel, and chose instead to wander around to find a pub for a pint.  Now, this is one of my biggest complaints about the Melbourne CBD.  Bars are open "late" but that is a highly subjective term.  I went by Pugg Mahones because I like their beer selection, and they were already closed.  I wandered over to Turf Bar because they typically have several sporting events on (the closest thing to a sports bar in Melbourne) but they had announced last call less than 10 minutes before I arrived and were closing.  That left me frustrated, but undaunted.  I wandered over to The Irish Times and they oddly were still open.  I don't really like their beer selection, but I was determined to have a pint.  I wandered in and sat at the bar.  I ordered a Coopers Red and started watching the show court tennis on the TV.  I struck up a conversation with the bartender and two couples next to me overheard.  Well, let's say they heard my American accent, so they felt compelled to start talking to the American. :-)  That of course meant that I was now having a second and a third pint, which I probably should have avoided.  At 8 dollars Australian a pint, it isn't cheap to drink beer, but I was having a good time listening to the English couple and their Australian friends they were visiting as we talked about a variety of subjects.  Decided to leave the bar around midnight, as I know the bartender wanted to head home and I was keeping the crowd at the bar, effectively.

Tipsy, I realized as I was walking to the hotel that I hadn't called Colleen like I said I was going to try to do.  ARGH!  I scrambled up to the room and dialed frantically her cell number.  No luck.  Turned out I also forgot she had a doctor's appointment and she wasn't able to answer her cell.  I thought she was mad at me, so I proceeded to make a drunk ass of myself on her voice mail, furiously apologizing and nearly to the point of tears.  We have had arguments before for this very situation happening at prior events, and I needed to head this one off at the pass.  I was beating myself up more than anything.  I missed her, and I really hadn't intended to not call.

Was at least sober enough to remember good oral hygiene.  After deciding to end my ban on visiting the dentist, I spent a year and a half in dental jail.  I had to go in every three months for cleanings and listen to hygienists browbeat me about needing to floss more.  So, after the cleaning where they let me out of jail (I was able to come back for a 6 month cleaning) I chose to floss as regularly as I cared to during that six months to see if their browbeating stopped.  Of course not.  They still found something to complain about.  So, I am torn about continuing the trend, but I guess it's good for me anyway.  My head hit the pillow and I was once again dead to the world.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 - Day 4

Didn't sleep especially well last night.  I woke up off and on almost hourly.  Still, when I finally decided to stop kidding myself and get up for good, I felt amazingly fresh.  After the run yesterday, I thought I'd try out the gym facilities that they tout so highly in the facilities for the hotel.  I was more than mildly disappointed.  The stair climber was in need of maintenance, most notably in the gears for the steps themselves.  They moved like they had rusted to a greater extent.  It was bad enough that I chose to move to the treadmills.  It turned out one of them was out of order, and the other had partially collapsed in the middle, which left it with a mild sway.  Still, I wanted to give it a chance, so I climbed aboard.  After 10 minutes or so of navigating the minimal menu options, I got it running an exercise program and I was off.  Unfortunately, running meant that I was subjecting my knee to more stress than I had intended, but I am not sure what I can do about it.  I ran almost 7 kilometers and felt pretty good about it.

Since I was working the late shift, I had quite a bit of time to myself.  I watched the NFC divisional game (Fox only down here) which ended just before 11 AM AEDT.  Once the game was over, I decided to head out into town to check up on some of the things I wanted to get done over the next few days.

The tuxedo shop we normally use has moved apparently.  It was not in the Paramount Arcade where I had been used to it.  But, it did allow me to have Korean in the food court below the old location.  The Korean food here is for the most part the only regional cuisine to accurately understand the premise of spicy.  Plus, I really like sweet potato noodles. :-) Since I was there, I wandered around a couple of other shops and made a surprise purchase for Colleen.  She'll have to wait to see what it is!  I was pretty pleased with myself. :-)

Still got into work early.  I had nothing else to do really.  Got the chance to watch some pretty respectable tennis on the closed circuit and had my first butter chicken of the event.  All in all, it was a good day. :)  That was, of course, until play decided to run until 1:30 AM.  That in itself wasn't bad, but I had agreed to switch shifts and that meant I'll need to be back in the venue at 10AM.  Eh, it happens every so often here.

Cheers!

Australian Open 2008 Day 2 and 3

OK, so that's probably pretty lame of me.  I had no real intention of putting together two separate entries for this past weekend.  Since there wasn't any play on Sunday and I only worked a few hours on Saturday, I didn't feel it merited separate blog postings.

Saturday wasn't too bad.  We got to the hotel and my room was ready.  I discovered that for the first time I would have a single instead of sharing a room.  Now, I don't mind sharing, especially because a 2 bedroom apartment has two separate rooms, including bath so we don't really have to share anything other than the common areas.  It was just interesting to have my own room.  I got up and immediately unpacked.  Then, I called Colleen.  Yes, I'll pay some horrific charge from the hotel because I didn't have a calling card, but I promised her I'd call as soon as I was mostly settled.  I know she's not doing very well with my trip this time around, and it really makes me sad that she's struggling so hard.  We went for lunch at Stalactites, a Greek restaurant that is the favorite eatery of Marcos Bhagdatis.  Mikey likes it as well, so I knew suggesting it would go over well.  From there, it was supplies and back to the room for a shower before heading to work for a couple of hours.

Saturday night marked the party as well.  Now, this is the first time I've been at one that wasn't at the hotel, but I was told that something happened and the hotel wouldn't allow us to host the party there no matter what.  So, they chose Pug Mahones, an Irish pub within walking distance of the hotel.  Not a bad choice, but not necessarily a great one.  Still, free food (canapés and appetizers) and free beer and wine is a good party. :-)  Now, I have to be honest, this party is always a failed attempt at getting the three groups together.  Each of the US, Scoring, and IBM Australia cliques wind up in separate sections of the party, really not doing much bonding.  In the end, I hit the wall very early.  I hadn't been to bed all day, and around 10:30 I decided I'd had enough.  I walked back to the room and was asleep by the moment my head hit the pillow.

Sunday morning I woke up and discovered I was more than mildly hung over.  Of course, that was partly due to being dehydrated from the flight as well.  I got up and told myself my reward for being a dumb ass was that I'd have to go jogging for my workout.  I packed three sets of workout clothes for the trip and I intend to make good use of them.  It assumes my knee will cooperate, but I wanted to make my plans.  I got up and got on all my "bionic" workout gear.  I call it that because I now have a Polar running computer (the watch and a linked heart monitor band) as well as a neoprene strap for my iPhone as I chose to only take it as my MP3 and phone for this trip.  Out the door and into the Melbourne morning.  It was just before 7:30 when I got out the door of the hotel.  I jogged down to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  The path itself has a 3KM marked running track and I chose to see what it had to offer.  It was exhausting, as a couple of the hills were a bit more than I had expected.  Now, I also discovered about 2KM into the run on that course that I was running the wrong way.  If I had run the other way around the track, I would have been running down that hill.  That would explain why it seemed I was running against the current as the majority of the other runners were going the opposite direction.  Saw a couple of landmarks I hadn't seen before in my wanderings, so I made a couple of mental notes to make sure I'd get back to take some pictures.  We never went into work, so I took the chance to hit the Victoria Market and bought a couple of extra t-shirts, though I don't think I'll really need them.  I just liked the style.  We discovered that the CBS NFL game was going to be shown here on ESPN (there are no CBS channels here) and that our best bet to find ESPN was the casino sports book.  So, we walked down to the casino, only to find that what appeared to be every other American in town was already there.  A few of us hadn't had lunch anyway, so we took the opportunity to walk back into Chinatown and have lunch at one of the better spots.  Unfortunately, they were serving Dim Sum, so we weren't able to order from the menu which is what we really wanted.  For some odd reason, we went back again for dinner, I suspect because some of the people here didn't get what they'd expected from the place, and until that need was filled, it was going to be pressing.  Got back to the hotel early and was once again asleep before midnight.  It was awesome!

Well, time to close this entry for the day.  I'll be back again tomorrow ready to talk about my Monday.  Some interesting things afoot. :-)

Cheers!

Airport Blues - Australian Open 2008 Day 1

Just thought since I did get wireless access for free here in LAX that I'd try to actually post a second entry for the day.  The flights to this point have been uneventful, though leaving at Noon EST and realizing that I'm almost 12 hours into this odyssey and still have at least 19 more is somewhat daunting a prospect.

I don't really have much more to say.  I did manage to speak to Colleen on both layovers and it is evident this one will be the hardest trip I've made.  Leaving her at home pregnant and feeling vulnerable is the worst possible feeling I could have right now.  I know she's strong, but I don't want her to have to be right now.  Oh well, we'll survive.  Of course, she doesn't have the ability to drown her sorrows in booze this time, so we'll see how bad it gets before it gets better.

So far, so good.  The knee hasn't hurt as badly as it has the last couple of weeks.  That means I'm either getting better or getting better at tolerating the pain.  I don't know which, honestly, but at least I am not gimpy around the airport.

Still haven't taken the shower I swore I was going to take.  I even dealt with the nonsense of a 1 quart bag of liquids (well, just a travel deodorant) so that I could and haven't even found out what it might take.  If nothing else, it assures I can shower when I get to Melbourne, even if my luggage is lost.

Traveling as a split group is somewhat nerve wracking for me.  I don't like not knowing where the rest of the guys are, and since there's only the one flight out nightly, they can't really afford to miss this one.  Just have to hope the DFW weather held and there were no real connection issues they had to contend with.

Anyway, not much else to say at this point.  Time for me to drop off.

Cheers!

Back in the Saddle Again?

So, oddly enough, this post becomes Day 1 - Australian Open 2008.  I wasn't expecting to ever go to another event in 2007, only to be surprised to attend here in 2008.  Since I don't talk about work as much as possible, I won't go into details.  The net of it is that yes I am back doing event venues and today is the travel day (or three, more on that later) heading to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  There is no easy way to prepare for this flight.  I leave my house today at 9:45 AM and won't depart LAX for Melbourne until 11:30 PM PST (that means it is 2:30 AM my time already) to land in Melbourne Saturday morning AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time.)

This year is a different experience for me.  I haven't posted in quite some time, so even if you were a regular reader, you might not know.  Colleen and I are expecting!  Yes, we finally managed to get one right and we're having a baby.  We don't yet know the sex, but we have heard the heartbeat three times now and seen it on Ultrasound twice.  Our third ultrasound should be the one to tell the sex of the baby, and we both want to know.  Of course, that one scheduled while I will be in Australia!!!  I am hoping that Colleen will wait until she can at least call me so we can find out "together."   I am very excited and worried about becoming a father.

I had to take a cab this time to the airport.  Colleen had training that got moved to today and she couldn't drive me to the airport.  That made the goodbye even harder.  She's expecting, we're nervous, and I am flying to Australia.  We had to say goodbye as she drove to work. :-(  Taking a cab makes me nervous about the baby.  We've got a really poor support structure here in Holly Springs.  I didn't have a single friend I could hit up for a ride to the airport (BJ did offer to let me come over there as Colleen dropped me off on her way to work, but I didn't want him to have to host me for the 2 hours until we went to the airport) and neither did she.  I hope we get some of these things worked out before the baby gets here. ;-)

The total flight is 23 hours in the air.  I have to 3.5 hour flights to get to LA, then a 16 hour flight to Melbourne.  Throw in a couple of 4 hour layovers, as well as crossing the International Dateline, and time becomes surreal to the traveler.

Anyway, I wanted to post this brief one just before taking off.  I'll be posting again daily as I can.

Cheers!