Views from the Ferry

One of my favorite things here is to just hop on a Ferry and enjoy a little cruise on the bay to wherever I need to be. Here are some shots I took today coming into and out of the Circular Quay area of Sydney Harbor.

Sculpture By the Sea

As promised, here are some of the photos I took at Sculpture by the Sea.

It was really an interesting and varied display of artistic impression. They are going to start holding a similar exhibition in Denmark - I just may have to put that on my travel schedule!

Bondi Beach

My friend Debbie took the day off today (thanks Debbie!) and we headed back to Bondi Beach. It was a gorgeous day in the high 80's, sunny, with a light cooling wind. We ended up spending about 4 hours just soaking in the rays, chatting, and, as I was there and couldn't help myself, eavesdropping on and commenting about our fellow sunbathers. Let's just say there were some very brave people there, many of whom felt no qualms whatsoever about stripping down on the beach and changing into their swimsuits right there. Changing rooms? Those are for sissies. I also learned that if you are a man, you are never too old or overweight to wear a bright red Speedo. If I had room in my suitcase, you would all be getting one for Christmas. Then there were the two guys next to us who set up their pretty pink umbrella that was so low to the beach that no adult could fit under it and then proceeded to roll a ball back and forth - identical to the game I am sure each of you has played with a two year old at some point in your life. It just seemed an odd way to pass the time at the beach. We also saw people playing soccer and paddle ball but no beach volleyball. So disappointing from an eye candy perspective.

Anyway, the time flew by and we ended up just enjoying the beach for much longer than either of us had anticipated (and for longer than my sunscreen was prepared to do it's duty). After that we grabbed lunch where the restaurant was out of both my first and second choices so I defaulted to "I'll just have what she's having", which ended up being a hamburger with BBQ sauce. Not the best meal I have had here but it served it's purpose. Then we headed back over to the Sculptures by the Sea exhibit (more photos on that later) and the coastal walk. Above are some of the coastal photos I took today. I find it to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. We ended this perfect day with ice cream. I had never had Creme Brulee flavored ice cream before and I highly recommend it. Well, that's it for today. I am off now to reapply the aloe vera gel to my sunburned knees and my right foot. Not sure where my left foot was all day but it is just fine.

Whale Watching - What Was I Thinking???

In a momentary fit of insanity (and apparent amnesia to my ongoing and persistent battle with motion sickness on all moving vehicles), I chose to go whale watching. Seriously, what was I thinking? The ride out of the bay was great, very scenic, no motion sickness at all and then I was even doing OK for a bit on the open sea. I was mentally thanking the Dramamine and the ginger pills for working so well when I made the monumental mistake of standing up with the rest of the passengers to look at the whales. Heave ho. Quickly sitting down again it became a mental exercise in stomach control. I finally popped two more Dramamine and went into a very nice semi-coma. I did see dolphins - as they were nice enough to come swimming on my side of the boat while everyone was on the other side of the boat looking at whales and I did see whales as they were gracious enough to surface where I could see them from my seat through the tiny hole in the crowd. After that I just closed my eyes and pretended I was somewhere else. When we hit the harbor my eyes popped open and the two ladies next to me were very happy to see that I was still alive. Suffice it to say, there is not enough Dramamine in the world to get me back on the open sea again any time soon.

What I Did Today

Today I sat at the beach and watched the waves roll in. It's Monday and preseason plus the day started out overcast so there was almost no one else there. I listened to a book on my MP3 player, ate a guava ice cream cone (the best flavor of ice cream ever), and just relaxed. It was the best day ever (and definitely made up for yesterdays crazy mishaps). I hope each of you gets a day soon to just do whatever you want - it's incredibly restorative.

Vacation Day Three: The 4 S's

Today started exactly like yesterday. I was up at 3:30, grabbed an early breakfast, and decided to take a walk at the beach to start the day. I walked for about an hour and then sat on my favorite step to relax and just watch the water. I took a bottle of water out of my bag, twisted the lid part way off and suddenly found myself completely wet. I had forgotten that the lounge was out of still water so I had grabbed a Soda water. It exploded so fast that I was totally drenched (and completely startled) in the blink of an eye and no one around me even noticed. Fortunately it was a bright sunny day so I shrugged philosophically and and sat back to let the sun dry me off and to soak in the rays. Apparently the soda water also turned me invisible as people kept almost stepping on me (yet going nowhere near anyone around me) and one kid decided right where I was sitting was the place to drop his boogie board. His mother was horrified and started apologizing profusely, and I said, as I had just been thinking it, "no worries, I'm invisible today". I am sure she will tell her friends about the crazy lady in the wet clothes who thought she was invisible.

But back to the original story of the 4 S's. I was prepared for soaking in the rays. Before leaving my hotel room, I liberally applied sunscreen. Australia is the one place in the world where I have a tendency to burn instead of tanning. They also have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world so they regulate their sunscreen and it is hard to find anything less than a 15 spf, so I brought my own. I applied 4 all over my arms and legs and 15 on my face, chest and neck. It was a great day with plenty of sunshine. I sat on the beach, rode the ferries, walked a lot, and pretty much spent the bulk of the day outside. I was proud of myself for remembering to reapply the sunscreen every 4 hours. Well, fast forward to the end of the day when I glanced in the mirror and it became apparent that my spf 15 sunscreen had expired. My arms and legs are a nice golden brown and everywhere I applied the 15 is Sunburned. Drat.

This caused the need for a little shopping this evening to get sunscreen that wasn't expired as well as an Aloe Vera cooling gel for the sunburn. Before I left the hotel, as I always do, I put everything of value into the Safe and locked it. Or tried to anyway. What I ended up doing is jamming it open which necessitated a call to maintenance and waiting around in my room until someone could come and unjam the safe. Apparently, as I was informed, this happens all the time when people aren't paying attention. I was advised by Mr. Fixit to start paying better attention. Really, I couldn't object to the snotty advice, as it would have come in handy for every part of my day starting with the Soda water, moving on to the Sunburn, and progressing to the Safe. Oh if I only I had listened at that point, I could have avoided what I hope is the last S of the day.

Once the safe was fixed, it was time to go buy sunscreen. I stepped out of the hotel and looked at the convenience store across the street. After a moment of debate, I decided to walk the 8 blocks to the grocery store as it was a beautiful evening, still light out for another hour and a half and I knew the grocery store would be cheaper. When I entered the store, I failed to grab a basket. Walking through the store, I picked up a couple bottles of water and then the sunscreen and Aloe Vera gel. I tucked the sunscreen under my arm in an effort to free up a hand so I could grab some snacks for the hotel room. I was walking down an aisle debating whether to go back to the front of the store and get a basket or if I was done and should check out when I noticed white on my arm. As it turns out, the sunscreen I picked up left it's lid behind on the shelf, and, thanks to tucking it under my arm, I was now wearing Sunscreen all over my arm, down both sides of my sweater, both the legs of my Capri's, and on both my shoes. There was also a nice trail marking my path through the grocery store. A very nice employee, doing her best not to laugh as I was wearing almost an entire bottle of very white sunscreen on my clothes, got me a towel to clean myself up with. I should note that the couple shopping, the cashier, and the guy renting a DVD didn't even try not to laugh.

Sometimes, no matter what you do, it's just going to be one of those days! I am hoping, however, since I have turned in for the night, that this will conclude today's mishaps.

Defy the Man Drought, Put the Kids on Ice

So, it is 3:30 in the morning in Sydney and I find myself once again awake. To entertain myself, I grab the newspaper that I picked up from my doorstep and dropped in my room without looking at as I left for my adventures yesterday. The front page headline from the Sydney Morning Herald that greets me "Defy man drought, put the kids on ice". The article then proceeds to cover the "handful of women who have chosen to freeze their eggs in a bid to beat mother nature and the man drought" but, as a friend of mine was told when she moved here, Australia is about a decade behind...in this case, a decade behind the US in the freezing process so not many frozen eggs survive the thawing process and those that are "socially infertile" are not covered by Medicare. The saddest quote from the article for me (and many of my friends) "If I have a single girl come to me at 39 or 40, it's just not worth her while". Of course, I am 38 for 34 more days so I guess I could squeeze it in before I hit 39. Except that once I return home I will be starting my new job and there are three weeks of hormone injections to deal with so maybe not. Anyway, the best quote from the article: "For now, though, I sometimes forget I have them until the bill arrives and I think, 'Ah, a postcard from my kids saying, Mum, please send money." Ah, the things that will entertain at 3:30 in the morning.

Vacation Day 2: Sculptures by the Sea

G'Day. Today started at 3:30 am when my eyes popped open and I was wide awake. I got up, got ready for the day, ironed my clothes, watched a video, and was the first person in the lounge for breakfast at 6:30. I dragged that out as long as I could and finally decided to pop a couple of ginger motion sickness prevention pills and hop a ferry over to Manly beach (upper left corner of the collage). I took an early morning walk/jog and then ended up sitting and watching the surfers for an hour - which was a great way to start the day (lower left corner of the collage). Next, I headed back across the bay and went shopping at The Rocks open air market. This is a great little market with lots of hand made items. Some are gorgeous, some are fun, and some make you wonder "who would ever buy that".

After my shopping spree, my friend Debbie (upper right corner of the collage) picked me up at my hotel and we headed to Bondi Beach (which I will note for my brother Jeff is not nearly as far from the hotel as you might suppose based on our last experience getting there) and the annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibit. The exhibit is a compilation of 100+ sculptures presented outside along a beautiful coastal walk. We stopped for lunch along the way where we were reprimanded for not following the "someone has to be at the table while someone else places the order or you can't get your food for eat in" rule. Who knew? Anyway, once we followed all the rules and were able to order, we had a great lunch and then proceeded along the coastal walk for the rest of the exhibit. The five middle pictures of the collage are a sampling of the art we saw.

Of course, once you finish the walk you realize your car is back at the beginning so you get to do the walk again in reverse which is entertaining as you spy sculptures you completely missed the first time around. For an added bit of fun, there was a pod of whales off the coast line that kept us entertained for quite awhile. I think this may have been the first time I have seen a pod of whales. Unfortunately my camera just didn't have the power to pick up much so I have no pictures to show. After that we decided to head back. At this point, my early morning caught up with me and that pretty well concluded the day. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

We got five inches of snow in Centerville, Utah today - which wasn't nearly the record in the state but is 5 inches more that I wanted to see in October. Last week we were in the 70's and 80's. Apparently I blinked and missed fall! Oh well - at least it's pretty and my heater works :).

And the winner is...

After several weeks of interviewing and two job offers, I have accepted a job offer with Lawson Software as their Director, Global Learning Development. I get to stay in Utah, working virtually. Apparently I will have to turn my home office back into a business office :). I will be managing a group of 11 people, 4 in the US, 4 in Sweden, 2 in the UK and 1 in the Philippines. It should be an interesting adventure. I start on November 10th which will make it 8 months after leaving Audatex. I have to say, the 8 months flew by. They were educational months though - I learned all about garage selling, college football playoffs, every job search engine out there, how to stick to a budget, and how to excessively clean my house! I also got to spend time with my nephew in Boise, visit my family in New Hampshire three times, vacation for the weekend in Rhode Island, and spend time in Stamford, CT. Next up - two weeks in Sydney, Australia if I can get it to all work out before I go back to work.