Oh Australia

Thanks for having a sense of humor and picking this up.

How Can't You Come Visit?

Farecompare.com keeps telling me that Qantas wants everyone to come visit.

'Murica

So, here I sit in Marysville, Washington for work. A rather nondescript place. I got here on inauguration day, but naturally, I missed all the excitement. All in all, a fairly routine trip. Good seats, mad rush at the office, flight north, intense fog, and a hotel. The true star of the trip was the flight from SFO to Seattle. Our pilot (according to our flight attendant) is notorious for going on sightseeing trips when the weather is good. We took a tour of San Francisco on the way out of town, that was better than any I've ever had. He slowed down so far, we thought that we were going to return to the field.

Here's our path out. I could see my old house, among other things.



Our meetings are going to drag into Friday, but I should still be able to catch the Friday night flight back Down Under. Always good to drop in, but it's been such a short, busy trip, I haven't gotten to enjoy.

Maybe next time?

Weekend In Review

It was a fairly busy weekend, at least Friday night and Sunday. Saturday was pretty chill, largely due to Friday night.

A few beers on Friday turned into a lot of beers, when we met two Aussies and a Welshman who wanted to continue with the consumption. We were only so happy to oblige. I did learn a few things on Friday night though.

First, it's peanut-butter-jelly-time.



Second, despite food being a lot more expensive most of the time, it seems that McDonald's is the exception.



Third, this guy wants to save some money.



Saturday was a recuperation day, followed by a housewarming party that night. Pretty chill all in all. I did take notice of this on a tram.



Nobody likes a dodgy prawn. About 5 minutes after taking this picture I saw someone get nailed for not having a ticket.

Sunday we went east of town and did a ride that included a climb up Mt. Dandenong. It was really pretty out there, and reminded me a lot of riding in the NC mountains, just with ferns instead of evergreens.

As I was writing this, I saw a guy cross the street in front of my place in an Obama Hope shirt. I'm still pretty excited about the inauguration, despite his recent image troubles with the gay community.

Morning Views

The last two mornings from my porch:

90 Degrees

90 Degrees? What the hell is 90 degrees?

Further more who the hell rides in arm warmers when its 90 degrees?

Fare Sales

The fine folks at Farecompare let me know this morning that it's a cheap time to fly to Australia from basically anywhere. Not to take away from my bread and butter, but Qantas is having an impressive sale, but it ends within the next day.

So, if you were thinking about visiting, perhaps you should.

We're a little behind down here...

Colorado

Last week, I was lucky enough to spend a couple days in Colorado snowboarding with Shannon, Jonathan, and Erin. Shannon's friend Chris and his friend Shawn joined us a day late.



Partners in Powder

Day one was spent at Breckenridge, where we were treated with average/good snow and wonderfully sunny (but cold) weather.



Day two was spent at Vail, where after a slow, but uneventful drive over Vail Pass, we were treated to dark skies, but significantly better snow. The powder was pretty deep in places, up to my knees in some of the small bowls.



Day three turned out to be the gem of the trip, with 13 fresh inches before we hit the slopes on Wednesday. It did nothing but snow all day, which had I-70 closed between Vail and Loveland Passes. We think that also kept people off the mountain. We made first lift, and subsequently, first tracks, a couple of times. Hands down, the best snow I've ever been in. It was the kind of snow where if you crashed, you had problems getting started again because the powder was so deep.





The day we left was a really pretty day, but it got over freezing before 10, and I suspect the snow wasn't that good. We really lucked out.

Back in Australia

Oh, we back. Finally.

It's been a long time, but Shannon and I are finally both back in Melbourne. It's strange coming from snow to 70 degrees F. It appears that summer rolled up while we were gone too. Gone seems to be the rain and chilly weather, replaced with sunshine and warm weather. It's also staying late until about 9, which is a welcome change, despite the days now getting shorter. In an odd twist of fate, I was in the opposite hemisphere for each of the respective longest days of the year. Bummer.

It was a fairly uneventful trip from Denver to Melbourne, despite United having some issues understanding Shannon's visa. Mine (attached to hers) was no problem. Now, it's just back to work and the normal grind. Until next week when I have to go to Seattle.

At least I got some time here. Colorado details to follow.

A Nation of Criminals

Despite the issues surrounding Guantanamo, I found it interesting that Australia is considering taking in some of the prisoners if/when the prison closes.

Getting back to the roots?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7807517.stm