brisbane

got back from brisbane late last nite. i swear this is the most relaxed i’ve been for probably close to a year. i was there for 3 days, 2 of which were filled with a conference. i did a little reading for the thesis while i was there n lots of thinking but otherwise completely ignored my homework.

i really enjoyed brisbane. the weather was fantastic. i found pizza like nyc pizza and it was good (lots of grease). i smelled freshly roasted coffee blocks away and followed my nose to 2 free flat whites, a sample of espresso ice cream and some beans to bring home. kim & i went to a bar that had like 80 vodkas and a bar top coated in ice. even the tables had a bit in the middle that contained ice cubes to keep ur vodka cool. did i mention the weather? there’s lots of open air places & cool street art. did i mention the weather? pix will be forthcoming.

thru december

qantas is offering good prices for us 2 au & nz thru early december (ie our spring in melb)… check it out and come visit me…. my time here might be running short…. deals

keep your fingers crossed

i got an update re: the PhD yesterday. they’re making a decision this week.

now i’m not all that hopeful because as far as i know, they haven’t called any of my references.

they said there *might* be interviews but i haven’t been called for one.

i’m saying i didn’t get it which makes me sad. the more i think about it, i’d like to do it. but everyone keeps saying stop being pessimistic… that i haven’t heard the final word yet…

united ads

at the train station tonite i noticed 2 ads for united airlines. one said

Visit the place voted the best country to visit by Americans.

(that might not be exact. but u get the idea)

the better one said

Don’t fret if you get lost. New Yorkers love to tell people where to go.

IM social networks & a small rant

cool article on TRN about using IM and your social network as a knowledge/expertise base. personally, i’d love such a thing. most folks will understand the importance of network/s/ing but move to a different country (or 2) and you REALLY begin to understand their importance. Unfortunately, folks in australia generally have a negative opinion of the word (and deed) and not many of them seem to use IM.

when i lived in london, i remember people saying how they were 2 years behind the usa internet wise. at that point i would have said maybe a year behind.

here it’s a bizarre mix. home broadband isn’t all that uncommon (though behind usa usage) but there’s not much listed on e-bay, a netflix copy has only started, there’s no last minute flight deals via email, and i can’t name one single book seller in australia that has a nice site you can order from (a la amazon). in some ways (probably b/c of the lack of population) it’s like 1996 here….

olympics

the ceremony was on live at 330am but i waited for the 11am repeat to watch it. very cool. sooo wish i was there. one of the channels here (remember, there’s only 5 in total) is running 24/7 olympics and another is running the ‘minor’ sports almost 24/7 so when i’m home i’ve had it on in the background. i see a new addiction….

last week

haven’t updated in a while so here’s a catch up…

yesterday i booked a flight to brisbane which is about a2 hr flight from here in the state of queensland. brisbane is often called brisVegas so we shall see. at least it will be warm!!! probably sunny & mid 20s/70s instead of the grey rain and cold (it was supposed to be near freezing last nite but normally it’s in the 13/55) of melbourne winter.

the trip is to attend a conference, going virtual: the future of work (if you don’t know.. my thesis is about virtual teams). last monday i had a wonderful conversation with the research director (or whatever her title is) where i asked for some money for this and she informed me they don’t even have much money for PhD students so there’s none for masters students. although she did agree this conference was perfect for me to attend. so i’ve decided to fund it myself.

i also handed in my PhD application last week. yeah, u heard that right. i’m pretty pissed off about the way this thesis is handled at my school (‘oh, it’s wonderful, it’s great, the research you do is worth 50-60k on the open market’ but then there’s no support at all and an unrealistic time frame) and i heard about this scholarship so i applied. i’ve been told there’s only 6 of us so keep ur fingers crossed. i’d really like to do this research properly … i’ve scaled back what i want to do soooooo much for the thesis.

last wednesday i went cross country skiing for the first time. i stayed up til 5am so i could get work done (had 2 assignments due last week), had a couple hours sleep and then a 2 hr drive to the snow. here they say they’re going ‘to the snow’, not going skiing or snowboarding. its kinda funny but i guess since it never snows in melbourne it makes sense. like if u said u were going to the snow in nyc, that might mean walking outside the apt.

anyway, it was fun. i’ve never been on skis before and was expecting to break a bone so i was a bit freaked out at first. we took a lesson which was great. ended up being the 2 of us and the instructor who’s from england and follows the snow (freak). the lesson lasted an hour and by the time it was almost over i was feeling fairly confident (had fallen only once n that was when i first put the things on). i wasn’t confident enough to go off w/o the instructor so i decided to go down the mountain (um, it was a hill. there was nothing mountain like at this place) with the instructor. i ended up falling 3 times but that’s because i was confident enough to go pretty fast (he even commented that i didnt seem to be afraid of speed) even on the turns.

but it was fun. i’d def do it again.

and then i just worked or sat in front of the computer and worked the rest of the week and pretty much all wknd.

oh… speaking of the plane… here’s a shocker for everyone… this will be the first time since i’ve arrived in melbourne (18 months ago) that i’ll be on a plane. yes… travel addicted me hasn’t been on a plane. really weird…

time zones

i downloaded this great little taskbar time zone app today. it’s called zone click and puts multiple time zone clocks in the task bar. so now i know it’s 3pm in london, 10am in nyc and midnight here.

and it’s only like U$15!

here’s looking at you

tonite is the 2nd installment of the ‘faces’ tv show. this one is ‘here’s looking at you’.

did u know only chimps and humans know they are looking at themselves in a mirror and not another animal?

they are talking to this girl who has a birth defect that made her face grow weird. weird as in it’s very large. a huge longated jaw. an oversized face on a normal body. she almost looks cartoon ish.

next segment… this mexican chick who lives in LA and wants to look less latin so she’s getting a smaller nose and her eyes widened AND eyebrows raised. all so she can fit in with her whitebread jewish friends.

there is one place in the brain, in the back about a cm big, that deals with face recognition. every face is stored in that one place.

wednesday

it’s 10:19pm. i’ve just made some chocolate (with hershey’s syrup!!!!) peanut butter (with JIF!!) ice cream. barely put any pb in there but a strong flavour. very good.

i have a case study to write tonite which is due tomorrow nite. i’ve had 4 hours of sleep the last 2 nites.

at work today we got samples of this sushi we might carry, the guy told me which rice paper roll was veggie. so i take a bite and as i’m moving the roll away from my mouth, i realise there’s meat in there. sort of looked like tuna. i hadn’t even chewed yet and i immediately spit it out. my coworker said i made the most awful face. so then i figure the other roll MUST be veggie so i try again. repeat… the second i take a bite and move it away from my mouth i realise its chicken. fuck. spit it out, rinse mouth again. very gross.