Holidays Continued

A few interesting things have happened over the week... I’ve been in contact with Carolien as she traveled the South Pacific on her most recent adventure. She has been crashing at my place for the past few days. It’s been cool to hang out with her again in country #4 (the others were Chile, Argentina and Holland).

Surfing with Krista

My brother and I have been going to the beach a lot to body surf. Growing up in the Eastern US and vacationing in the Atlantic/Caribbean, you don’t get real waves like you do out here. We can go out in chest deep water and catch a wave for 20 yards by just paddling as it approaches and then stretching out. Sometimes you get tumbled over the top of the wave if you don’t catch it exactly right which can be scary if you don’t get a full breath. Then you come up for air and another wave is slamming down on top of you. But once you’re used to the wave periods and intensity, you can figure out the best place to catch them. It’s almost as fun as surfing, but 1000 times easier.

Other than that, I have been seeing Krista pretty regularly over the past few weeks. The way I looked at it, we have nothing to lose. The chances of us staying together after I leave are pretty slim, but it’s still worth the effort. It took some convincing on my part to give this a shot, but I think she feels the same way I do. Besides, she’s a cool chick and it’s nice to have someone around that knows how to surf.

Best Songs of 2010

It's the end of the year and time for me to review my top 10 songs. Check out last year's list for a look back. A few of these songs came out in 09 but they didn't come on my radar until after my last list.

10. Snowden - No One In Control


9. Mike Snow - The Rabbit


8. Mumford and Sons - Hold On To What You Believe


7. Civil Twilight - Something She Said


6. Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition


5. Jukebox the Ghost - Empire


4. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You


3. The XX - Islands


2. Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over


1. Lissie - Everywhere I Go

 

Honorable mentions: Passion Pit - Little Secrets, Band of Horses - Laredo, Kanye West ft. Dwele - Power, The Foals - Blue Blood, The Decemberists - Down By the Water, La Roux - Bulletproof, Girl Talk - All Day (entire album), Cheryl Cole - Three Words, Duck Sauce - Anyway, Cee-Lo Green - F&^* You

Guilty Pleasures: Far East Movement - Like a G6, Usher - OMG

So what do you think? Did I miss anything?

Christmas Week

As mentioned in a previous post when I almost got deported, my parents and brother came to Sydney this week for Christmas. My friends Daya and Sarah tag teamed to take care of Zabba. I got a few weeks off of work because the project was shut down for the holidays, so I could take them anywhere they wanted to go. I met everyone at the Marriott in Circular Quay and we proceeded to hit all of the highlights… ferry ride to Manly, coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee, Harbour Bridge pylon climb (see the video below for the view), Featherdale Wildlife Park, plus dinners at Din Tai Fung, Madang Korean Barbecue, Chili Box, and I’m Angus.

 A traditional Christmas in Australia is spent on the beach eating seafood. I bought fish, scallops and shrimp at A Fish Called Coogee. We cooked everything up at my flat and went down to the beach for a picnic wearing Santa hats. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect – it was about 85 degrees and sunny the entire day. We threw some Frisbee and spent the afternoon jumping in the water.

After a whirlwind 6 days my parents headed back to the US while my brother stayed for NYE and our planned trip to the Whitsundays.

Facebook Hack

I found this cool Facebook hack today that lets you get really creative with the new site design.  There's even a template available if you're any good with Photoshop.  I don't have any really good pics to use at the moment, but here's a screenshot of my current one (took about 20 minutes to crop together).

 

Here are some more examples of people that are way more creative than me.

Porcupine's Dilemma

Have you ever heard of the Porcupine’s Dilemma? It’s an analogy to problems with human intimacy, and goes like this: A group of porcupines are trying to stay warm in the winter by huddling together. The closer they get, the more they prick each other with their quills. For this reason they have to keep their distance, sacrificing warmth for comfort. The human comparison is obvious, but real. What do you do when you want to engage in close relationships but are unable to because of unavoidable circumstances? Closeness causes ‘mutual harm’ which causes tentative interaction with others which causes weaker relationships.

This is the discussion I had with Marianela, an Argentinean friend I made through Mark (my Cairns friend). We were at a get-together at Marianela and Julia’s house and somehow came upon the topic of how we both traveled a lot and were single. In my case, I’m in Australia for a limited time only. Why try making connections when I’m leaving in a few months? She said that you just have to be open because anything can happen.

Cue the hot girl.

Krista went to grad school with Marianela and came late to the party. She had a bit of an Aussie accent but was actually from Finland. She spoke 6 languages, was studying marketing and surfed. Yes, I had found the elusive surfer chick. We hit it off from the beginning, but she is hesitant. Porcupine’s dilemma, story of my life.

Sydney's First Annual Epic Water Pistol Fight

Kill shot - right in the ear

My friend Ben found out about a water pistol fight in a Sydney park. People were supposed to show up in green, white, blue or red shirts packing the gun of their choice. 15,000+ people RSVPed to the Facebook event including a handful of my friends. We all decided to not join one of the teams and wear whatever. I went with a black rashie (plus snorkel, just in case), Nathan went shirtless, and Ben went as a gay urban cowboy.

We based ourselves out of Steph’s apartment since she lived across the street from the park. The weather was perfect – a bit hot and very sunny. When I showed up at noon, everyone else was in full preparation mode. They were filling half a dozen canvas shopping bags with water balloons (called water bombs here in Australia – I kind of like that term).

We lugged everything over to the park where I would estimate a few hundred people were gathered. We seemed to be one of very few groups that didn’t adhere to the dress code and had the foresight to stock up on bombs. Note for those doing this in the future - guard your water bombs carefully or else others will steal them.  A few of the organizers got the teams together to play games of capture the flag, protect the base, I don’t really know because I wasn’t paying attention. We were walking around smashing people with balloons from close range and giving kill-shots with our guns (eyes or ears). Yes, I targeted a few people under the age of 12. No, I am not ashamed.

The people involved in the fight were mostly from the early 20’s, I-like-Twilight-and-Harry-Potter Society, others from the I-Loved-The-Matrix-and-I-Still-Wear-a-Trench-Coat Club. There were a few parents with kids and others our age. We felt a bit out of place, but part of that was on purpose. I had a naked baby doll companion and switched my backpack to the front to serve as a carrier. There’s a quick story about how I acquired the baby…

Dan and I went to a house party in Bondi a few weeks ago. The host pushed everyone out relatively early so we made our way down to the beach for a few drinks. After some wandering, we made our way to some loud music coming from the Bondi Pavilion. We ended up crashing a 90’s theme party and we stuck out like sore thumbs. We got to talking to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, eventually taking her baby because she was smashed and kept dropping it (she was playing the part very well). After a few minutes, Courtney went to sit down while I was still holding the baby. The party wasn’t that great, so I told Dan we should leave. “What about the baby?” he asked. “Don’t worry about it, let’s get out of here.”

We ended the night at the kebab stand at 2 am with a plastic baby doll. We got quite a few weird looks, but I knew it would come in handy someday. That day, as it turned out, was the Water Pistol Fight.  I named her Carlita (after Carlos from The Hangover). But anyway, back to the story.

Using Carlita as a human shield

I had the baby strapped to my chest and I was walking around with Brokeback Ben, so we were quite the targets for all of the other participants. That made it all the better, because people would seek us out to soak us. We were also causing quite a bit of havoc by disrupting their structured games. There was also a guy in an authentic storm trooper outfit that got a lot of attention. The key to the whole day was the fire hydrant that was partially opened to give us an unlimited supply of water, with enough pressure to serve multiple people quickly.

There are a few YouTube videos of the day that I’ll try to find and post. I’d love to bring something like this to Piedmont Park in Atlanta. If we can get access to a water hose or other source of water for refills (and there isn’t a water shortage), I’ll be all about it.

Second Thanksgiving Abroad

I dubbed last year's Thanksgiving the most interesting ever, and it probably was - for the novelty of being away for the first time if nothing else.  I don't get any days off, just like last year, but this time I have a whole network of people with whom to celebrate the holiday.  Everyone I met at the Expat American MeetUp Group's 4th of July Party planned a feast at Bronte Beach (halfway between my home in Coogee and Bondi, along the coastal walk).

Steph, Kylie and Ben

Everyone was instructed to make a dish and I kept it simple with mashed potatoes.  It was more challenging than back home because I had to mash them by hand instead of with a mixer, but they still turned out quite normal.  I made them the night before since the party started at 6 pm.  I left work, changed clothes, heated the dish up in the microwave, and hopped a 10 minute cab ride to the beach.

There were about 40 people huddled around picnic tables draped with American flags, making it very hard to miss.  I saw Ben, Steph, Kylie, Clint, and a few others I had hung out with at Halloween and Urban Frisbee Golf.  It was nice to be around other people that were in the same situation.

There was a lot of turkey this time around. I couldn't find any in Santiago last year, so that was a good upgrade. I didn't have any pumpkin pie, but there was a graham cracker crust pumpkin cheesecake... good enough for me.  Being right on the ocean was nice as well, but dinner with the rooftop view of my Santiago apartment rivals it. When the sun went down it got a bit chilly, but as we walked down to the surf after dinner I kept telling myself... "You're in shorts on the beach and it's November. Suck it up and stop complaining."

So passes another unique Thanksgiving to remember.  I miss you all back home and hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Ending to the Deportation Saga

As soon as I got home from my near deportation, I emailed my company (a bit ticked off) about the incident.  I was sure someone had screwed up my visa but it turns out they have sent plenty of consultants to Australia on the 977 visa with no problems.  No one knows why I was singled out this time.  We scheduled a conference call for the next day to discuss my options.  It basically came down to this:

1. Work remotely from the US - possible, but not ideal.  The whole reason I was in Sydney was because they wanted someone on site to run the project.  That would also prevent me from my NYE and beach vacation plans right after New Years (more on that in a future post).
2. Train a replacement over the next few weeks - also possible, but probably wouldn't happen.  There wasn't anyone available locally and it would take too long to get someone up to speed.  We are at a critical point in the project and it would put the project at risk.  I also would like to see the project through, so I didn't want to do this.
3. Get a different visa - this was my favorite option because it would allow me to keep my travel plans back home as well as coming back into the country.  However, after a lot of online research on Australia's immigration website and a few conversations with people on long term visas, it would take too long, cost too much and be more hassle than it was worth since I am leaving relatively soon.
4. Stay in Australia through Christmas and stay until the end of the project - not desirable, but the easiest way to go.  I didn't want to stay through Christmas for obvious reasons, but we were all drawing to this conclusion.

I finally accepted this fact and said, "Now I'm just going to have to tell my mom that I can't come home for Christmas."

Ok, so I played it up a little.  There was a collective "Awwwwwwwwwwww" on the other end of the phone as our deployment, travel and legal representatives (all female, all mothers) showed their sympathy.  They told me they would get back to me with I was expecting some kind of compen$ation.  I was pretty down because I had been looking forward to some time at home as well as my family's traditional trip to Kentucky to visit family and friends.  And let's not forget about my puppy love.  About a half hour later, I got a phone call from our deployment manager that went something like this:

"So, Jay, we talked to Tom and Trish (*husband and wife team that own/run my company*).  They would like to fly your parents to Sydney for Christmas."
"Uh...... WHAT?"
"Since your brother is coming out for New Years, maybe you can move his flight up and you can all be there together.  Do you think your family would go for that?"
"Let me think.  YES.  I don't know what to say... thank you!"

I need to find a Santa hat ASAP...

How cool is that?  Did I mention that I love working for BackOffice Associates?  Even before this saga, I have been lucky to have the opportunity to travel and grow professionally among such a great group of people.  I've learned a lot in the past few years and owe them a lot already.  I'm really glad I went with a small company out of grad school instead of one of the big consulting firms, because something like this never would've happened at Accenture or Deloitte.

We worked out most of the details and my parents will be here from December 21st-27th.  My brother is going to fly in with them and leave, as originally planned, on January 12th.  I depleted all of my Marriott points to put my parents up in the Circular Quay Marriott overlooking the opera house which is where I stayed during my first two weeks in the city.  It's not that close to my apartment, but I figured it was the best spot for such a short time.  Now I'm figuring out all of the places I want to show them.  I've already played tour guide a few times, so I think we will have enough to do.  And of course, we'll spend Christmas Day on the beach.  This will probably be the most memorable (and unexpected) Christmas of my life.  I can't wait!

Deported... almost

As I returned from my trip to Fiji, I went through Customs expecting some scrutinizing for my souvenirs containing wood.  I stepped up to the official and handed them my passport plus declaration card.  They promptly asked me to come through and step to the side because someone needed to talk to me.  When I asked if this was about my souvenirs, they said no.  Hmm...

After a bit of a wait, a lady started asking me about my visa (a 977 short term business visa).  It's good for 90 days at a time for up to a year, as I understood it.  I made the trip to Fiji because my 90 days were up and went home twice for the same reason.  No big deal, right?

They sat me down in the Customs area and I watched in envy as everyone else filtered through the lines, off to freedom.  I looked back longingly as I was escorted into a little room with a camera in the upper corner, large window in the back plus a small table with a chair that was bolted to the floor.  I had this vision in my head of The Bourne Identity when he plays mute through his interview at customs until he whooped up on the agents and escaped.  I couldn't find a YouTube video of it, so this approximate reenactment will have to do.  PS - I am the one in the American flag shorts.

While I had already busted out in my head, a guy came into my interview room putting on blue rubber gloves.  Suddenly my big cajones shrunk and drew inward and I tightened my... other muscles... and took a big gulp.  I think he saw the fear in my eyes as he stepped toward me and picked up my bag off the floor.  "I'm going to look through your bag now."

"Oh."

I silently sighed in relief and watched as he pulled out and carefully expected all of my clothes from the trip.  Penetration averted.  After he was satisfied that I wasn't smuggling anything, he left (I totally could've taken him out if I wanted to) and a woman came in.  For the next hour and a half she asked me questions into a tape recorder and took notes.  Why are you here?  What kind of work you do?  Do you get paid in US or Australian dollars?  What other countries have you been to?  How much money do you have in your wallet?  When do you plan to leave again?  And on and on and on.

The interrogator would come in and talk to me for half an hour and then leave for ten minutes to speak with her manager, then come back in and repeat the process.  I'm not sure if they were trying to make me sweat or change my story, but I just went back to reading my book every time they left.  They even asked for my local coworkers' phone numbers

About two hours later we got down to the heart of the matter.  One of the stipulations of the visa is that it cannot be used for "ongoing work".  They felt that I was breaking this rule.  The 977 was only supposed to be for conferences, meetings, training, etc and even then for six weeks at a time.  Why is it valid for 90 days if it was only designed for six weeks?  Well, they couldn't answer that one.  I didn't want to make them mad enough to ship me out, so I let it go.

My plans were to go home from December 16th-27th, come back until the end of the project and leave on February 5th.  The lady told me straight up, "We are going to let you in this time, but if you come back into Australia on this visa you will not get in."

By that time three hours had gone by and as they released me from interrogation there were no other passengers left in the airport.  The baggage belts were motionless and there were only a few employees milling around.  They had to go find someone to turn on the X-ray machine for my bags, because apparently doing a hand search wasn't enough.  Then they had to find someone else to unlock the exit doors - I was lucky there were any taxis in the queue.

"Home" at last.

More on the outcome in my next post.

I Bless the Rain Down in... Fiji

For a few months I have been talking about going to Fiji to satisfy my visa requirement.  I'm on a 977 temporary work visa, good for a year but only 90 days at a time (more on that saga in the next post).  I got the approval from my client to make this trip instead of going all of the way home for a week, just to go back again for Christmas and then again when the project ends in February.  I'm glad I could save them the money for the plane ticket.

On Thursday afternoon I flew into Nadi, one of the larger islands of the more than 200 that make up Fiji, on a 4.5 hour flight.  My resort had an office in the airport, so I met with an employee who arranged to have me driven out to the pier.  From there, a driver took me and another late arriving guest on the half hour (somewhat choppy) outboard motorboat ride to Beachcomber Island, pictured at left.  The other guy on the boat, Darren, was from Oregon and in Nadi for a conference.  On a whim he decided to take a few days off.

We got to the island and had to jump into a bit of surf since there was no dock.  As we walked up to the buildings, we were greeted with a drink from the sand bar before we checked in.  I was put in a 10 bed dorm with some other random travelers while Darren had rented a private 'bure'. The resort took up the entire island and you could walk around the whole thing in 15 minutes. There were multiple paths once you got into the canopy of trees that covered the central portion with sand paths to the different buildings.

The first night was pretty quiet for all of the hype I had heard.  The high season doesn't start until 'schoolies' start to vacation in late November, which is a post-high school trip for a lot of Australians.  The next day was sunny and Darren and I took advantage of the boat trip for free snorkeling a few hundred meters off the island's shore.  I got a few pictures with my underwater camera that haven't been developed yet, so I'll post any good ones.  A few of the things I saw: crown-of-thorns starfish, blue starfish, sea cucumbers, clownfish, parrotfish, and unicornfish among others.

We met a few cool people during the day, mostly Brits, and I stumbled upon the second unicorn sighting of my life (unrelated to the fish mentioned above).  I documented my last sighting in this post. This was unicorn 2.0.  Musical taste, height, looks, brains, accent, personality, all there.  The last unicorn I never expected to see again, but did.  This one was a world traveler from London, making it much more likely to be a true unicorn.

The resort provided all meals, which were a buffet mix of fish curry, chicken, fried eggplant, coleslaw, spaghetti, fruit and other random foods.  It wasn't bad, but definitely got worn out over the next few days.  The weather turned bad, as it was the rainy season.  It ended up raining that night (and every night thereafter), but there were enough people on the island to make it a good time.  The DJ played typical songs you hear in a club and we all got out in the sand and broke it down.  There are two types of beer on Fiji - Fiji Bitter and Vonu.  I definitely recommend the latter.

Darren left but I met a few British guys (Paul and Elliott) that came in on a boat the next morning.  The storms really dampened the air and the attitude of the island.  I spent most of the time hanging around with the guys and playing cards or reading my latest book, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.  We talked about going on one of the day trips that bounced between other islands in the Mamanuca and Yasawa archipelagos. Castaway and Blue Lagoon were both filmed on islands that you could visit for the day. Unfortunately, the chop was so bad that the boats weren't running. I saw enough surf to know that even if they had the trips, I would've been seasick.  The same went for scuba diving.  They had some great wreck dives planned at a boat and WWII plane, but both were canceled for the weather.  Even though they were in deep water (~26 meters), just getting there would've been really rough.

Piling in a bunk with the pommies

The night was mostly the same as the previous night - literally.  The music was pretty much repeated and most of the people there had been on the island for a few days.  We goofed off on the dance floor as most people weren't really dancing.  I had a nice, peaceful night in my bunk because all of the other bunkmates in my room had moved on and I had the whole room to myself.  They were putting all other guests in a massive 100 bed room that was separated on the guys and girls side.  The next day was spent much like the last, listening to music as we laid around under cover in the rain.  The girls introduced me to a British TV show called The Inbetweeners and I loved it.  I got the first 3 seasons off of Nicola's hard drive, so I'll be bringing that back to the States.  I found out that the guys would be in Sydney for NYE, so we're going to try to meet up.

All in all, it was a relaxing weekend, but the relaxing was forced upon me because of the weather.  I got to snorkel a few times, but no scuba diving.  I'd like to go back and travel between the islands on one of the 7 day passes.  The snorkeling was great right off the beach and at a better time I'm sure the diving would've been spectacular.

I also picked up a few good souvenirs (pictured below).  The first is a tiki mask that cost about $10.  The second is 3 cannibal forks in a hand carved frame.  I had no idea while I was there, but Fijians practiced this all of the way until the late 1800's.  Yum.  So I came back to Sydney on Monday and so begins another story...

Cleveland's Response to Lebron

A few weeks ago I posted of Lebron addressing the fans of Cleveland (oh yeah, and to sell some shoes).  Cleveland now has a response, and I think they've one-upped him.



In other news, I'm going to Fiji in a few days. Expect some great posts next week!

Crowded House Concert and Flugtag

Earlier this week I got an invitation from Steph to go see Crowded House in concert.  Crowded House, now what did they sing again?  "Hey now, heeeeeey now, don't dream it's oooover!" I got on YouTube to hear some of their other songs which were vaguely familiar at best. I still thought it would be a good time, so I accepted.

The concert was at Hordern Pavilion and was one of the more interesting places I have gone to see a concert. The venue was tucked into the 'Entertainment Quarter' of Fox Studios, near Centennial Park. As we entered Hordern, it reminded me of a circus tent with bleacher seating on three sides and a stage at the other. The entire middle of the venue was just flat concrete for standing room only tickets, which is what we had. The crowd was a bit older on average, as expected since they were most popular in the mid to late 80's.

Crowded House is an Aussie/New Zealand band (depending who you ask) and have a big following. Everyone around us knew most of the songs and were singing along, except for the annoying couple beside us that were either texting or talking during the ENTIRE show. The set was pretty long and included 5 or 6 songs in the encore, totaling about two hours. I must admit, by the end I was definitely ready to go.

I'd still recommend seeing Crowded House live, even if you don't follow them. The band was very engaging with the audience, letting them finish popular lines for them (and most were very happy and able to join in). One of the best parts of the show was when the lead singer announced that a contest winner was going to come out on stage to sing a song. They had posted a 'backing track' on their website with the instructions to write lyrics and submit yourself singing them, with the winner performing them live. It must have been a pretty amazing experience for the girl that won. I've never seen that at a show before but would like to see other artists do the same.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics or video :(

On to Sunday...

The highlight of the weekend was the Red Bull Flugtag. (FYI - Flugtag is German for Air Show) I attended the Red Bull Soap Box Derby last year in Atlanta... and somehow forgot to post about it. This is the original Red Bull event and has been held since 1991. I first heard about it a few years ago and have had this day marked on my calendar for months. The event bounces around to different cities throughout the year and had last been in Sydney in 2008. I got really lucky that I was here at the right time.

The basic idea of the Flugtag is this: you enter a design to Red Bull and they select the top 40 to be contestants.  There are 4 people per team and there are certain craft dimension and weight restrictions.  Three people push and one rides the creation off the pier and into the water.  Your team gets points for creativity, design, style and choreograph of the pre-flight dance.  Four judges rate each team out of 10 and you get an extra point for every meter the pilot gets from the edge of the pier.  The world record was set in Minnesota earlier this year at 63 meters (most didn't make it more than a couple though).

I met up with Steph, Mark and a few of Mark's friends for a day in the sun. Here's a video of The Flintstones team's routine and launch:


We walked around for a bit through the staging area and then found a seat in the grass really close to the ramp.  Here are a few of the pictures of the day:

Halloween weekend

Today is Halloween but we obviously went out hard last night instead.  I had a full weekend...

On Friday night Jaime invited me to a place called Shh Bar in Kings Cross.  Now we all know that I love Kings Cross, so the answer was obviously yes.  We went with one of his friends that I had never met, and no one really knew how to get there.  We had the address, which turned out to be around the corner from World Bar and Hugo's, in a dead end back alley that reminded me of my weekend in Melbourne last month.

We didn't see a real entrance and asked a few guys smoking beside a backdoor if this was Shh, and they said it wasn't.  We got to the end of the dead end and saw a few cooks dumping water out of a door to the right and a glowing keypad on a door to the left.  One of the girls with us walked up and punched in a code given to her by a friend and the door opened.  How random.  This article does a pretty good job of describing it.

It was a pretty small bar with a locked door in the back that connected it to Le Panic, a bar that fronted the main street next to World Bar.  Once inside we were greeted to everyone in costumes... except us.  Pretty awkward.  We made our way to the bar where the bartender hooked us up with a great drink without a name, so we called it "The Shush":

• Shot of vodka
• Shot of Midori Blue
• Shot of Malibu
• Two squeezed limes
• Sprite
• Splash of Grenadine
• Served over ice in a tall glass

Later in the night everyone was pushed out of the bar into Le Panic, where we spent the rest of the night.  It's definitely a place I will go back to, I just have to get that password.  I didn't stay out too late because I have gotten in the routine of playing soccer every Saturday morning.  I met up with the Russians and played for about an hour and a half and then rushed home - I wanted to get some beach time before our Halloween party.

I bought a wetsuit a few months ago and haven't had a chance to use it.  I went down to Gordon's Bay where Tim and I went snorkeling back in July.  The water was cold and there were more people out of the water than in it.  I took my waterproof Sanyo camera to try to get some shots, but it wasn't as waterproof as I thought.  I got one picture and then dove about 10 feet and it stopped working.  Oops.  I guess it wasn't THAT waterproof.  It's ok though, since I found it at a bar.

I didn't see all that much, which was disappointing.  There is supposedly big blue grouper live in the area, but they have eluded me so far.  I saw a bunch of Sydney Lifesavers walking along the rocks, easily recognizable by their yellow shirts and goofy looking hats.  They had a few boats in the bay that were driving around, so I thought they were doing training.  I went about my snorkeling and then got out after about an hour to give me enough time to get ready for the night.  As it turns out, I was wrong about the Lifesavers... very wrong.

I was browsing the Sydney Morning Herald online when a headline with Coogee in the name caught my eye: Shark warning: Coogee Beach closed.  So while I was snorkeling, the beach just on the other side of the bend had been closed for a shark sighting.  Now I really don't think that the shark picture is representative of the shark they saw, but still.  I guess I should keep my eyes open.

I rushed home and cleaned up and then went over to my friend Steph's house in Glebe.  She lives near a costume shop so I went there and picked up a top hat, bow tie, cane and mustache to complement my black slacks, white shirt and black coat.  Charlie Chaplin... easy costume and someone that has been in the news recently.  We went to a party at The Argyle, a bar in the middle of The Rocks that was hosted by a Canadian Ex-Pat club.

Australians as a whole don't celebrate Halloween, but these did to some degree.  They all seem to dress as someone scary, so more than 50% of the crowd was a vampire, devil, ghost or some other traditional Halloween character.  Most kids don't trick-or-treat and there were almost no decorations, except at the bar.  Steph went as a ballerina, Ben a cowboy, and Francisco a Mexican (see pic).  The bar was pretty full, but no where near the full capacity crowd at Park Tavern's Spiralween last year.

On Sunday Steph and I walked around Darling Harbor and had lunch at the Sydney Fish Market, which is a great place to go if you love seafood.  I also walked by a bunch of guys playing soccer at Wentworth Park and found out they play at 3:30 every week.  Now I have a Sunday game, though it's a bit of a trek for me to get there.

Should I...

I'm no Lebron lover, but this is a great commercial.



Here's another great one from a few years ago:

New Music Tuesday

I've been getting into some new music recently.  Most notably, I was reading Paste Magazine online and came across a blog called Cover Me, which posts famous and not-so-famous artists covering famous songs. You should really check the site out, it has some quality stuff. I have already spent hours there. Speaking of wasting time on the net, have you seen Dear Girls Above Me?  Another good site, but not music related.

Now for a few YouTube links for your entertainment...

First, Mike Snow - The Rabbit
I'm still scratching my head over the video, but the song is good.



Second, The Foals - Blue Blood
I gave the band the #1 spot on my favorite songs from 2009 and this is their new single. Another good song, another odd video.



Third, Atomic Tom - Take Me Out
This video was played live on an NYC subway only using iPhones.  It reminded me of a song I downloaded in 2005 of a band that played a song totally with childrens' instruments.  I can't for the life of me remember the band or song, but a glockenspiel was involved.  I'll try to find it because it was a good song, but I digress from the song here:



Fourth, Jukebox the Ghost - Empire
I don't remember how I came across this band, but they have a couple of good songs that I like.  This one tops the list.



Lastly, Jack Carty - Hey You
I went to see my friend Milan (I think I can call her a friend now, after all - we're Facebook friends :) ) play with Massema at the Newtown RSL on Saturday. She sang well, as usual, but I forgot my video camera so I have no evidence of her voice.  I'm trying to convince her to put up her own YouTube videos. This guy, Jack Carty, opened up for her and I really got into his music. If I could sing and play guitar to go with my lyrics, I'd probably go for a sound a lot like his.



Let me know what you think and share your new music with me!

Vacation Plans

I'm here in Australia on a short term working visa, which means I have to leave every 3 months.  I've gone back to the US twice (in June and August) and my next 90 days is coming up in November.  I had the opportunity to go home again, but I would just be turning around in another 4 weeks to make the same trip for Christmas, then again when the project finishes in February.  So instead, I've been plotting to make a trip to an island somewhere near Australia.

My visa requires that I leave the country for 24 hours, so I could do something in as short as a weekend.  I looked into Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand, but then I thought, 'Why not Fiji?'  It's fairly close, it's cheap and I'll have a good time.  I was a little worried that the client would have a problem with paying for me to fly on a long weekend away, but I could always request that they send me home and double the flight cost (not that I would).  I spoke with my company's travel coordinator and team lead back in the US and they were all about me getting a few days away.

I did a bit of research online and learned a lot about Fiji.  I had always thought it was just this remote little island, but it is in fact a group of 200+ islands.  The main island hosts the two largest cities of Suva and Nadi and the rest you can mostly reach by boat.  I found a cluster of islands called the Mamanucas that looked promising. There were a bunch of islands to choose from that ranged in prices and I finally settled on one called Beachcomber. From the pictures I saw, it looked like you could fit it inside my high school's track.

After I booked 4 days at the resort I posted on Facebook that I was ready for some R&R on Beachcomber Island.  My friend Dan quickly informed me that this is the party island of Fiji, so I probably won't be doing much resting.  Ah, well, I guess it's destiny.  We'll see what happens, I'm definitely looking forward to it in about 3 weeks.

More Friends Rolling Through Town

Nick, one of my old UK college roommates, informed me that he and his girlfriend would be coming through Sydney a few weeks ago and they hoped I would be free to show them around.  Caroline, sister of my friend Laura, joined us from time to time throughout the week since she was looking for things to do while her sister was out of town.

Nick and I have known each other for 10 years - wow.  Around this time in 2000 we were stumbling through the dorm halls in Lexington.  We lived on the same floor our first year (Haggin Hall), the same building our second year (Blanding Tower), then moved out of the dorms halfway through that year to live in a house with some other friends in a 6 bedroom house near campus for the next year and a half.  I saw Nick a little over a year ago when I spent a week in DC for work.  He went to grad school there and met Camelia, who I met at dinner during my trip.

It's funny... I've had just about as many people visit me in the past 4 months in Sydney as I've had in 5 years of living in Atlanta. KY friends, I'm looking in your direction.  Just because you're busy getting married and having babies doesn't give you an excuse.

Camelia came over here to Canberra for a work conference and Nick tagged along to see Australia.  They allotted a few extra days to see Sydney and came to stay with me for a few days.  I spent the next few days showing them the sights - pretty much everything I did with Tim and Erin.  We did the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk, walked through the botanical garden and saw the bats (check out my video documenting them from a few months ago), went up to Manly Beach on the ferry and walked through Hyde Park.  I finished the day with one of my favorite restaurants in town, a Taiwanese dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung.  They hadn't fully acclimated to the Australia time zone, so I didn't get to show them the full night life of Sydney.  I was kind of bummed about that, but I'm not sure how much they would've enjoyed it.  Maybe if Nick had come by himself, hahaha...

All of that walking gave us all a bit too much sun, but the next day the weather turned worse to even it out.  I had talked to Nick over the previous few weeks about going to the Blue Mountains, and the weather provided a good opportunity since we couldn't take advantage of the beach. I took the day off work on Monday (my first day off since I came on the project in April) and booked a trip through Dal Myles for $175 per person.  It seemed somewhat expensive, but Tim and Erin gave it good reviews in July so I figured it would be worth it. My friends Nat and Jenna went on an Aboriginal walkabout tour that looked pretty cool, but it was booked solid on Monday.  I might do that one eventually but it would have to wait.

We set out on the tour on a rainy Monday and first stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park. A lot of the animals there had been injured and rescued in the wild. I finally got to pet a koala, as we had breakfast in a private function room and one of the handlers came in and spoke with us.  I'm still on a mission to hold one, but will have to go outside of NSW because it is illegal here. There were also kangaroos, wallabies (see picture at left), emus, kookaburras, pretty much everything typically Australian.  We didn't get to explore the whole park, which I've heard is a lot of fun.  I'd still recommend Taronga Zoo and the World of Wildlife before this park based on my experiences, if only for the proximity to the city.  The one advantage is that you're walking amongst the animals most of the time and there is a much more limited amount of this at the other two venues.

From there we drove and drove and drove, out of the Sydney suburbs and into the rolling hills that lead to the Blue Mountains.  Our guide was almost constantly talking (some of it interesting), lulling Camelia and I to sleep.  Nick kept nudging her to wake up and enjoy the scenery... such a Nick thing to do.  The guide stopped the bus every now and then to view the scenery as we got into the Blue Mountains.  We pulled over at one point to see a troop of wild kangaroos.  Yes, a group of kangaroos is called a troop.  Now you know.  They weren't that impressive though - the rain was continuing to start and stop, creating a lot of mist that made it hard to see clearly.  The kangaroos were about a half mile off and weren't moving at all - they could've been dummies set up for our entertainment for all we knew.  We stopped for lunch at a golf course/country club and then made our way to the national park.

The Blue Mountains aren't so much of mountains as they are canyons.  You're driving along and you come up to these drop offs where you can see for miles.  The canyons are mostly filled with eucalyptus trees which emit a fragrant oil with a bluish hue (hence the name).  There are random outcrops that pop up here and there which give the appearance of mountains, but they are more like massive impressions in the earth.  At the start of the tour of the park, you take a cable car from one side of the ridge to the other, getting a good view of The Three Sisters, the most famous rock formations in the area (see picture at right).  My camera was pretty inadequate because of the contrast between the light sky and the dark terrain.  Add the mist to that and I didn't get very many good shots.  Nick had his heavy duty professional camera and tripod with him, so I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures soon on his website.

There are a few different stories of how the Aborigines explained the rock formation.  One says that three sisters were being pursued by three men from a different tribe so they were forbidden from marrying them.  A battle ensued, so a witchdoctor turned them into stone for protection.  He was later killed in battle and so they have remained in stone.

The other legend says that three sisters were in the area and stumbled upon a monster.  The witchdoctor turned them into stone temporarily to protect them from being killed.  The monster then turned on him, so he turned himself into a lyrebird but then lost his wand.  Now the lyrebird digs around at the ground, looking for his wand and the three sisters wait to be unfrozen.

Two tickets to that thing you love

The tour then takes you on a short hike through the ancient rain forest where people used to do mining in the 1800s. There was a horse and cart statue that they allowed you to get on and take pictures, so of course I took the opportunity to imitate the Old Spice Man.  Nick really didn't want to take this picture and I think Camelia was a bit embarrassed as the Japanese tourists walked by with confused looks on their faces.  Worth it.

We rode up what was supposedly the steepest rail in the world... it was pretty steep, I'll give it that, but not a lot different from the vernaculars I rode in Valparaiso.  These were proper rail cars and the Valpo versions were more like a gondola on rails.  The ride only lasted about a minute, so don't go there expecting this spectacular train ride.

The last thing we did was go to another lookout to have a glass of champagne.  There was a nice shot of Wentworth Falls, although I wish we were able to stay there longer.  There were trails that led down to the falls, but since we were on the tour and a timetable, we didn't have time.  I'd really like to go back there and properly explore the mountains on a full day hike when I have time... which will be never.  If you're going to do a trip to the Blue Mountains, this one was ok.  You get to see a lot, but not for very long.  I think all of the guided tours are probably like that, so it would be best to rent a car and explore at your own leisure.

When we got home, I took Nick and Camelia to meet up with Caroline and Laura since she was back in town.  We went to Darling Harbor to I'm Angus Steak House for the best kangaroo steak I've had in the city.  If you've ever wondered what country eats the most kangaroo meat, it's Russia.  Thank you, Blue Mountains Tour Guide.  Anyway, the meat is delicious and you should try it.

I had to return to work the next day, so I left Nick and Camelia to explore the city on their own. They made it up to the zoo and did some shopping on their last day before returning to the States. We had talked about having Thai all weekend, so I did some research and found a place called Longrain in Surry Hills. It was in an old warehouse and pretty trendy (i.e. expensive). I must say that it was the best Thai I've had in Sydney and I'm definitely going to go back.

Nick bought a 5.5 foot didgeridoo, so I expect him to be an expert the next time I see him.  It's surreal to think that we've seen each other twice in the past 6 years, but it's like we pick up where we left off each time.  I'm looking forward to the next time, for sure.

New Art

Nat introduced me to the work of an artist named Shannon Crees a few months.  You can find her work on her website as well as in a few select galleries in Sydney. I'm usually more into impressionism and more realistic painting (like my friend Jessica Harms), but I was really drawn to a few of her pieces. My favorites from her online gallery include La Madre, Tempest, and Delerium.

Nat had been in contact with Shannon over the past couple of weeks to see about buying a piece for her new place in Melbourne. She invited me along and we visited Shannon's studio in Manly during a long lunch break from work. It was a pretty small space that was stuffed with all kinds of canvases (finished and unfinished), paint, material, books, brushes, tarps, you name it. It was really interesting to see the place where Shannon worked and to hear her explain a few of the stories behind the paintings.

Nat was really interested in one that had already been put on hold for sale and didn't see anything else that she absolutely wanted. I browsed through and found this one called Drift (pictured at left).  I had seen this one on her website, but seeing it in person really made an impression on me.  It is very different from the other paintings in Shannon's collection and it really had a lot of emotion.  I think I liked it for the same reason that I like blues music.  There were only three things that prevented me from walking out of there with it - the fact that it was as tall as me, painted on a piece of wood (preventing easy transport) and the price tag.

I found out that Shannon was on the Australian version of The Apprentice a while back and I bet that is why she can demand high prices for her work.  Hey, more power to her.  I'm just not QUITE at the point where I'm ready to drop a couple of grand on a painting.  Maybe one day, so I'll keep her in mind.

She was really nice and I'm definitely going to go to one of her upcoming shows in the Sydney area.  Maybe she'll cut me a deal!

Melbourne Weekend - Part III

Note: See Part I and Part II of my trip for the other adventures of the weekend.

On Sunday morning we caught the last few teams sign in before they got on their bikes and took off on the 200 km (124 miles) race.  The first 25 km was from Melbourne to Geelong, followed by 11 circuits of the 15.9 km loop around the town.  We took the train to Geelong and made it just in time to see a part of the first lap.



We found a good spot on the second steep hill of the loop.  See the race profile here.  It was getting pretty warm so we found a spot in the shade.  There were a ton of people there because you can actually see them come by instead of just a blink when they hit the straight stretches.

It just so happened that we sat next to a sleeping kid with a t-shirt that said "Go Daddy".  This kid was knocked out, sleeping just under the shade on a steeply graded hill.  Nat recognized the cyclist on her shirt, who turned out to be Stuart O'Grady, one of the most famous cyclists from Australia.  That meant that the hot mom checking on the kid every few minutes with the diamond studded Coach watch (identified by Nat, I just knew it was blinging) and D&G shoes was a WAG.  They had a big group that went crazy every time the cyclists came by every 25 minutes or so.  I think some family from Cadel Evans were with them (he was the reigning world champion as well as 2007 and 2008 Tour de France runner up) because they were wearing the colors of the world champ.  I felt a little creepy taking this picture of the kid, but everyone around us was laughing at how oblivious she was, and the mom didn't seem to mind.  It was too funny to pass up.

We watched 6 or 7 laps from that location and then walked to a pub along the route because we knew the finish line would be crowded.  Every time the guys rode by, everyone rushed out of the bar to watch and then came back in to catch it on TV.  Evans was poised to repeat, but was beaten out in the end by Thor Hushovd (who was the defending champ of the race I saw in Ghent, Belgium, back in February).

After the train ride back to Melbourne, we took it easy after the full day out in the sun. Nat took me to Fitzroy, an artsy little suburb with good restaurants. We didn't make it to any bars on the list, so our goal of hitting them all in a weekend was a bit ambitious.  On Monday I had to fly home in the afternoon, so we did a little sightseeing around the Melbourne Botanical Garden before some shopping on Chapel Street.  I bought a cool Politix blazer and a pink button up shirt. That's right - I now own a pink shirt.

With the weekend over, it's back to work.  Melbourne was really cool and Nat was a great tour guide although she has only lived there for a few months.  Many people say they prefer Melbourne to Sydney because of the friendliness, culture, art, music, etc.  I see that argument, but I'm still voting for Sydney because of the beaches, if nothing else.  Regardless, I'll definitely try to make it back to Melbourne before my time here is up.

Melbourne Weekend - Part II

Note: See Part I and Part III of my trip for the beginning of the weekend.

On Saturday morning after my Vegemite, butter and toast breakfast, we got up early and drove out of Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road toward the Twelve Apostles. I have read up on Australia and even did a report on the country in middle school, but I don’t remember ever hearing about or seeing pictures of these amazing natural rock formations. Apparently until the 1920s the site was known as Sow and Piglets until it was renamed 'The Apostles' for tourism purposes. Somehow this turned into 'Twelve Apostles' even though there were only nine of them (now there are eight, as one was reclaimed by the ocean in 2005).
After seeing them, I would put it at #3 on my list of things to see in Australia after the Opera House and Great Barrier Reef. Scroll down for pictures, but back to the story for now.

Nat and I used my Lonely Planet guide to point out sights along the route that twists and turns along the Victoria coast. I'd love to come back and cycle at least a piece of the road - the twists and turns along the coastline would make for a very scenic and difficult ride. The only downside is that the roads are so curvy that it would be a bit dangerous, but definitely worth it.

At one point the guide suggested that we go to Cape Otway lighthouse, the oldest in Australia. We turned off the main road and were told in the description to keep our eyes above to spot the wild koalas hanging from the eucalyptus trees. A few miles down the road we stopped and saw this guy.



The lighthouse ended up being not worth seeing, but we stopped back by the koalas to get a few more shots, then it was on down the road.  We made it to the Gibson Steps in another few hours and took the short walk down them to the beach.

Just a little further down the road we saw the visitor's center for the Apostles, and a little further to a helipad.  We walked up to the short line ($95 for a loop of the Apostles, $145 for a bigger loop that includes the Apostles and London Bridge formation, and a few more even larger loops that were more expensive).  We quickly decided that a flight was worth it.



After the ~20 minute flight, we walked around and took a few more pictures before starting on the drive back to Melbourne. We didn't follow the coast on the way back to save time, so there wasn't much in the way of excitement on the back. Highways are highways.

We planned our night around the Deck of Secrets from Friday night, this time focusing on the highest concentration of bars. It was near Chinatown, so we walked through the streets until we found a restaurant for dinner. We met up with a few of Nat's friends and bar hopped to Lily Black's, Loop, Double Happiness, New Gold Mountain, Meyers Place which were all OK. A few we just peeked inside and then left before you think we were doing a true pub crawl.

The best bar by far was called The Carlton Hotel. When you walk in, there is a soft red lighting and a huge bar. A massive stuffed ostrich with a pearl necklace guards the door and multiple stuffed peacocks line the shelves. A mounted giraffe head was posted on one wall and a psychedelically painted rhino was on the other. I'm not sure if they were real/legal, but they added to the uniqueness of the bar. The crowd was very eclectic, with tattooed hipsters and trendy socialites alike. It had multiple rooms as well as an outdoor patio that looked out over the street. Not only that, we went up a few flights of stairs to their roof bar, called Palm, for a view of the city. It had more of a beachy theme, but provided a contrast for those looking for a different vibe.

Although we multiple places, we still turned in fairly early to rest up for the Cycling World Championship the next day.  Stay tuned.

Melbourne Weekend - Part I

Melbourne... pronounced "MEL-bun" by the locals. It's been on my short list of places to see since I've been here. Australia’s Labor Day is the first Monday in October, which gave me the first chance to see the country since I went to Cairns.

Nat, One of my friends and coworkers for my client on this project, recently got reassigned when she got a promotion a few months ago. She had to move to Melbourne with the new job so we have only been able to stay in contact through email over the past few months. Months ago we had talked about taking a trip to Melbourne in October to see the UCI Road Cycling World Championships, and it made it so much easier to work out now that she actually lived there.

Melbourne is an interesting, artsy city that resembles large cities in Europe more than it does to Sydney. It's cultural and artsy and they love their Aussie Rules Football - 9 of the 16 teams come from the Melbourne metro area. Everyone talks about the little pocket bars hidden down random alleys spread throughout all parts of the city. My American friend, Laura, gave me a deck of cards called Deck of Secrets last week of 52 recommended bars in the city. One side had a picture along with the address, phone number and a short description; the other side had a map. These turned out to be really useful throughout the weekend. On a side note, this company only has a few cities covered (and only NYC from America). I’ve never seen a product like this in the US – if anyone wants to start this up with me back home, let me know!

Nat picked me up from the airport and we went out to a few places on the cards on Friday night. She has only been in Melbourne for a few month so everything was still new to her as well. I got some tapas and dumplings at a place called Golden Monkey. As promised, it was on a side street and down some stairs. The restaurant/lounge was Asian themed and pretty dark so we only stayed for one drink after I finished my food. Next up was Cookie, which was on a main road and not as hidden. It was also very open and large inside and resembled a 1920s general store. The third place we visited was Sister Bella, which the card promised to be ‘grungy’. We turned down a side street and then had to turn again into a dead end alley, going past 20-30 dumpsters and trash cans. With our expectations lowering by the second, we weren’t surprised to be disappointed when we saw that the inside was a reflection of the outside. We didn't go to hard since we had an early morning ahead of us.  See Part II and Part III for more.

Urban Frisbee Golf

Back in July at the Meetup 4th of July party, I came in contact with a guy named Ben. Coincidentally he worked in IT consulting with SAP as well and we quickly became friends. Ben is one of those guys that always has something going on. If you thought I was a social butterfly, this guy redefines the term. He's always planning nights out, socials, parties, and events for his circle of friends.

Ben invited me to an Urban Frisbee Golf tournament through Sydney. If you've never played frisbee golf before (technically, I guess it's called disc golf), it's really simple. You throw a frisbee at a designated target, hitting it in the least amount of throws as possible. Yes, there is even a professional league. My brother is really into this and plays on designated courses back home, but our course was set up randomly throughout the city.

Another caveat to our event was that you had to wear golf attire (see picture above - lots of argyle) and take a shot of liquor at every hole. This was going to get interesting... and sloppy.  The only exception was Ben's dad, who wore lederhosen.  Why?  I'm not sure.  I just wore some dress slacks that I tucked into argyle socks.  I didn't have much else to work with, so that would have to do.

We started off around dusk at Observatory Park which had a great overlook of the Harbor Bridge.  There were two different wedding parties taking photos near us, and I'm sure they loved the fact that we were dressed the way we were, being loud, and flinging discs every which way.

We made our way from the park to a tunnel under the bridge, then into Circular Quay where I may or may not have pegged an innocent bystander in a sari. I yelled 'Fore!' What else do you want me to do? We got some interesting looks from tourists in the Quay because of our attire and all of our gear. All of us had drinks in hand, I'm sure it was quite a scene to witness.

The course took us beside the Royal Botanical Garden and through another tunnel where we interrupted a few bums that were sleeping. One proceeded to heckle everyone that had a bad throw - he was such a good sport that Ben gave him a beer. Only one frisbee was lost, and Ben ill-advisedly tried to rescue it by scaling an 8 foot iron fence with pikes atop the bars. Luckily, and I mean VERY luckily, his injuries were minor (and the frisbee was lost).

As we entered Hyde Park we got some grief from security guards about our open drinks. We had been prepared for this to happen all night and we're lucky it didn't come up sooner. We got through about 8 holes and decided to call the rest of the game off. Ben invited us all back to his place for pizza and we spent the rest of the evening on his rooftop.

After tallying the scores, I think I won. I guess that makes me the Southern Hemisphere World Champion (according to Ben's Facebook invite of the title of the event).