kangaroo sightings

And by rock, I mean I'm awful. The good news is that this post will probably be a novel since I have bunches to report. For lack of better organization, I'll try and start from the beginning! FOOTY! I went to my first footy match two Sundays ago (Hawthorn Hawks vs. Richmond Tigers) and I loved it. I also now can officially call myself a Hawks fan as I feel like I have been "inducted" into aussie rules football. It all goes back several weeks when Brendan visited Melbourne and brought me a Hawks scarf back to San Francisco. For lack of other loyalties, I thought that I would become a Hawks fan, although based on what I heard and read about footy fans, I was being very careful with how I threw that piece of information around. And I definitely wasn't wearing my scarf. I could just imagine myself walking into the wrong bar at the wrong time with the wrong colors around my neck... But then I saw that the Hawks were playing the Tigers on a Sunday afternoon at the MCG (...

In 12 hours, I will have been in Australia for one week... First some updates on my last post. The office is a bit more lively now with 3 people and we all have working computer stations (with power). An Australian did say today though that things were "getting a bit squeezy." As for the right turn from the left thing, Mark informed me that it's called a hook turn, that it's only done in the CBD of Melbourne (downtown), and that it even confuses the locals. While that does make me feel better, it was crazy to be on a tram the other day that turned left directly in front of a car turning right (i.e., their turn lane was to the left of the tram). Yeah, it's that crazy. Today was my first day working out of our field office. It appears that I will be splitting my time between our downtown office and our field office about 50/50, which might just be perfect. Some days I will have quiet, sparsely occupied downtown office and other days I will have louder, livelier fiel...

Some notes about my first weekend in Australia: Friday I actually worked a full day. Mark, my coworker, picked me up and showed me the office where he then left me so that he could go to the jobsite. It turns out that transitioning from an office of 40 to an office of one is slightly difficult; I could not believe how quiet it was! Good thing Australian employee no. 3 will be starting in the office on Monday! Too bad we only have one power strip in the office (which is currently set-up for my desk/computer)... After fueling up with brekky juice on Saturday, I went sight-seeing! First, I walked to the Queen Victoria Market, which is a fantastic flea/farmer's market. It is also the place from which all of you will be receiving Christmas presents I'm sure. I only spent about an hour here but now know that it deserves an entire Saturday probably at least once a month. From there, I walked down William Street and saw Flagstaff Gardens, the Royal Mint, the courts, the Stock Exchange,...

it is possible to get a full night's rest on an airplane as long as you have at least 3 seats. corkscrews are considered deadly weapons in Sydney (as fantastically demonstrated by the security guard who took mine). exchange rates on traveler's cheques are awful - why do people use these? i'm still knockered at about 2pm despite getting a full night's rest. the action in cricket is not as confusing as i thought, but the scoring is impossible ("363 for 9"?!?). and of course (courtesy of the Sydney airport): BRILLIANT!