Mostly working. :-) I took a 3 day training course on the software so I know a lot more about how it works. Sydney is a strange town. For being such a big city... it rolls up the sidewalks between 5 and 6 every night so there isn't anything to do when I get off work. Except Thursdays. Most things stay open until 9 and it is crowded. Can you imagine... both parents work and the only day you can get stuff bought during the week is Thursday?? What do they do when the kids tell them on Monday night they need supplies for a school project?
Other observations: The storm drains all have signs painted on them. They have pictures of fishes... or the name of the creek they flow into. My theory is that they are hoping people won't just dump chemicals into it if they are reminded that it is going right into the water.
They also have really interesting traffic calming. Some neighborhoods just have those really gentle speed bumps that are easy to take if you go pretty slow but are a significant bump if you go fast... the ones that are really wide. In other places they actually have grassy areas added to either side of the road so the road is only one lane for about 20 feet. And the one lane has a curve in it. I wish we could have one of those on our street.
Today is the Sydney marathon. I'm so bummed. I bet they had a half marathon and I would have signed up if I had known. Oh well. I only found out about it yesterday after my run...
I got a late start yesterday... which is especially a bummer when stuff closes so early. I set off for an inexpensive place to get souveniers called Paddy's Market. On the way I stumbled into the Chinese friendship garden. I really liked it except there were 3 paths to the top of the hill... that really bothered me... because in order to take them all... you had to take one path twice. I met this nice lady from England who was on her last weekend here and we talked about various places to visit. I'm thinking that next weekend I'm going to try getting out to the winery tours. I think I can take a train to a place where a bus tour takes you to 4 or 5 wineries.
(I almost forgot... those of you who are fans of Diamond Age be sure to check out the latest pictures!)
Speaking of wine. On the plane here I had this wine I really liked... but I didn't remember what it was called. Then at dinner last night I had it again. It is... Lonely Oak... or something Oak... Pino Grigio? Oh boy... I should have written it down. Anyway... I know I'll recognize the name. It tastes like grapefruit.
Another observation: Books here are outrageously expensive. Even if they are local authors. I paperback that would be 6.95 US in the states... is like 20 dollars AU here... even with a decent exchange rate... that is EXPENSIVE. I tried some used book stores and this remainders store. I did manage to get two books that were less expensive.
So other than that... I've been doing origami at night to keep busy. I have some pictures I'll post. That and watching a lot of sports... Twenty 20 cricket is fun... but I just heard on the radio today that Australia was eliminated so there might not be as much of it on TV this week. It turns out there are 2 kinds of rugby and I'm even learning to tell the difference. Mainly because in one you count tackles and in the other you don't.
Today I am going to try to get to the aquarium and some other museaums so I need to take off pretty soon. Next weekend turns out to be a 3 day weekend. Manly is having a jazz festival so I was planning to go to Manly this weekend but now I'm rethinking it for next weekend. Also the weather this weekend is gloomy. I hope next weekend will be really nice and I can do some more outdoor stuff.
Oh... and Kathy asked me to pay attention to what dog breeds I see. I've seen a 4 or 5 boarder collies. Some poodles. Mostly miniture not toy. Mostly white but I did see one black. Some other white ankle biter in a red sweater who was annoyed that I was running on his sidewalk so I didn't stick around for too close a look. Yesterday I also saw a Chinese Crested and managed to get a picture of him. I'll try for more pictures. I've seen a lot of unidentifiable mutts. Not a single Australian Shephard and yesterday I did see a Weimeraner (sp?) and it made me think if Haku. I haven't been able to get my camera out fast enough to get any other pictures of them... but I'll keep trying. Maybe next Saturday on my longer morning run I'll take the camera. I have noticed a lot of people "walking" their dogs but not on leashes... but I haven't seen a lot of cases of dogs wandering without an owner nearby.
Oh... one more thing on my run yesterday I went by a park and they were playing cricket. Looked like just a Saturday pick-up game. :-)
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