he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich

More random thoughts on Australia because I can't be bothered to compose a coherent train of thought. You're welcome.

• I am continually amazed at how beautiful Melbourne is. The architecture is a suprising mix of modern and classic. And the green space. Oh man, what incredible parks these people have.



• The guy sitting next to me in the office has Beastie Boy's Intergalactic as the ringtone on his cellphone. So at random points during the day I rock out to MCA, Mike D and Ad-Rock. But only for four seconds at a time.



• It gets dark here early, around 5:30. It is after all, winter. (I'm a little confused on how it can be winter in Melbourne AND Seattle at the same time but it is what it is.) So my routine has been to get up early - around 4AM - and walk around to the places I want to see before work so I have a chance at seeing them in the daylight. My body has no idea what time it is anyways and seems to be just fine with the 80yr old man schedule of in bed by 9:00 and up by 4:00.



• Speaking of walking in the dark, Melbourne feels safe to walk around any time of day. I've yet to be even slightly concerned anywhere I've walked in this city.



• The other night I was walking around downtown looking for a reasonable place to eat. And by reasonable, I mean less than $35/plate. When lo and behold, I stumbled across Beers Deluxe. Since the only thing better than beer is deluxe beer, I figured I better give it a shot. When the waitress set down in front of me a spiral bound notebook of their list of beers including a table of contents organized by genre, well. As we say in Montana: I was happier than a two-peckered billy goat.



• Beers Deluxe was in this place called Federation Square. Just frickin' cool. Go there at night. Thank me later.



• "For someone who said he wasn't going to do any blog posts, you sure do blog alot." Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait until I'm back in San Jose, CA in a few weeks. Be happy I won't be blogging about that trip.



• Seven out of ten toes do not have blisters on them. That's a clear majority so suck it up, Sally.

where women glow and men plunder

Some random thoughts on Australia:

1. Not to fret, people of Seattle. You aren't the only ones who've mastered the art of no-eye-contact-no-smiling.

2. Perhaps everyone here is too busy contemplating their architecture to smile. Melbourne is packed with really interesting buildings. No HomeOfficeDepotMax buildings-in-a-box to be found.

3. Public transportation is everywhere. Particularly streetcars. All of their streetcars ("trams" to the locals) are packed with people. Haven't seen many buses to speak of.

4. Everybody walks on the left. Except me.

5. I've completely stopped jaywalking because I have no idea where the cars are going to be coming from. Directly out of the sky for all I know.

6. There's an old tall ship moored across the river from my hotel called Polly Woodside. Ironic: not made of wood. More ironic: made of iron.

7. americano = long black

8. Piles and piles of really cool things to do here that I don't have time for. I should have stayed an extra day. Or week.

9. Melbourne is frickin' beautiful. The promenade along the Yarra River is a fantastic walk, especially at night. Albert Lake sits smack in the middle of South Melbourne surrounded by great green space. St. Kilda beach is just beyond and I may try walking down there tomorrow morning if I wake up at 4:00AM like I did today.

10. Sure, string theory is complicated and all but try figuring out Australian rules football.

on a hippie trail, head full of zombie

I took off from Seattle on Saturday afternoon. I landed in Melbourne, Australia Monday morning. Sunday, April 27th, 2008 never existed. This is only one of the many things I'm still fuzzy on. What day is it? What time is it? What season is it? When I walk across this street, what direction is the car that runs me over going to come from?

I've been here for 10 hours and so far: no kangaroos, dingos haven't eaten my baby, Crocodile Dundee is no where to be found and there isn't one damned shrimp on that barbie. The Australian cliches we Americans are so fond of are woefully disappointing.

on the road again

I'm not a terribly important person in my company. Even in my mind - where I vastly inflate my importance - I still don't warrant business cards. My paychecks show up in the mail addressed to CURRENT RESIDENT. I'm a simple cog in the salt mine, toiling away on the front lines (probably because I mix metaphors and nobody likes that guy). But for some reason that I didn't see coming, I find myself at the center of a maelstrom of work all depending on me and all scattered to the four winds. So my travel schedule looks like so:

now: San Jose, CA

4/26 - 5/3 Melbourne, Australia

5/4 - 5/8 face down on my couch cursing jet lag

5/9 - 5/19 sailboat delivery from Bahamas to NJ

5/26 - 5/30 San Jose, CA

6/2 - 6/6 Denver, CO

So, gentle readers, the pickin's might be a bit sparse round here at Leaving Normal for the foreseeable future. I haven't forgotten about this blog or those of you who are awesome enough to consistently stop by.

It's just that I'm a very important person.