Adelaide - The Land That Time Forgot

Went to Adelaide...

 

Wow.

 

I had been there before, but really for just the day for work... this trip I spent the best part of 3 days there and because of the nature of the work I was therefore, spent most of that time out in the suburbs at a place called Mawson Lakes.

 

After spending the time there, I got the real feeling that the place was still hanging on to the 1970's.  I saw so many long haired / long moustached guys in flannellette shirts and tight jeans that I thought I was in some sort of old Clint Eastwood movie.  The place was dusty, cars were old / dusty (I know we're in drought, but more so than Sydney) and the place was full of hoons running up and down the street.  The number of cars running around without mufflers was amazing.

 

The cabbies were also a rare breed.  One of my colleagues is Vietnamese and the first cabbie we got made mention that he too was Chinese.  The problem was he looked Greek to me...  he kept chatting in some form of asian language, but we all agreed he was jibbering nonsence and was a bit mentally unstable.

Then that brought us to the fact that Adelaide is the murder capital of Australia and that stories of Snow Town came up... at one point Snow Town was mentioned in a cab and the cabbie hit the brakes and said "dont mention that out the front of the church"... and yes, we were driving past a church at the time.

 

Having said all that the Hotel was great (the Rooftop Majestic on the corner of Rundle and Frome) and we had some good food between all the meetings.  In particular we had dinner at The Manse, which was very nice.  Not normally a fan of French cuisine, but it was good...

 

Tomorrow, is Canberra....

Not much to say...

Am in Adelaide for work... a quick post before I head out to dinner, just letting you know Dear Reader that your favourite blog is still around...

 

Would like to post from my work BlackBerry but all the posts come through we work disclaimers on them.  I'd also like to learn how to post pics from the BlackBerry... will look up the Blogger Moblog feature at some stage.

 

But enough of that, its off to dinner at some swanky Adelaide restaurant - i think its French...

More travel...

Off to Adelaide tonight for work and will not be back until Wednesday night... I am really enjoying the new job but I better start getting used to the travel bit as there will be a fair bit of it.  The reason for this is that the company's global head office is in Sydney but they have absolutely NO work in NSW.  They have facilities in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland and Suva.  And they have small start up companies in the UK, US and the like plus they have close contractual relations with Spanish, German and French companies, but they have nothing in Sydney other than the corporate office.

 

Therefore, travel is a way of life when you work for this company... but the role is very good.

 

The weekend was a quiet one... Netball season was over so no early start, but the girls had a dance to do each at the Penrith Show.  They were on stage at 3:45pm but we got there around 2:30 and stayed until 6pm... the girls danced really well (they have NO stage fright) and then they went on rides etc.  Niki doesnt do rides so I got to go on with the girls on the big Ferris Wheel and the Rocking Tug Boat.  Kate loves the dodgems as well so we did that... she loved it.

 

Yesterday, no plans, but went to the shops after lunch and got the girls new school shoes - they were both growing through their current ones - and also bought a few knick knacks.  Friends of ours gave us an espresso machine that they had for years and used twice and I bought a milk frother and a new stainless steel milk jug as well to use.  The coffee i made last night tasted crap though, but I put it down to the skim milk... yes Niki, it does taste differently!!  ;-)

 

We also saw the Simpsons Movie and I tell you I have never laughed so hard at a kids movie.  I had tears streaming down my face.  The "Bart Skateboarding Nude" scene and the "Spider Pig" scene were both hilarious!  Like the TV show, there was the slapstick for the kids, but also the subtle adult humour as well... it really is a great concept the Simpsons.  It has lasted years hasnt it!

 

But last night, it was packing the bags again and I drove into the office this morning on the M4, M7, M2, Lane Cove Tunnel... about $15 in tolls I think!  The tag beeps and you just dont care anymore do you...

 

See you in Adelaide!

Dungeons & Dragons - 4th Edition Released

My favourite game, Dungeons & Dragons has just re-released its core rules to move into 4th Edition.

This of course after I just outlayed $80 for the 3.5 edition (a major update to the 3rd Ed books) about 2 months ago.

Early views are that the game can now be played online by subscription utilising special applications via the Net but also the rules have been really shifted.

My perusing of the various D&D messageboards is that people are annoyed / worried about the rule changes and the focus on technology, and others are really excited... I think that there are more people in the former category than the latter.

If you're a D&D player, what are your thoughts? I am a bit bemused at the moment...

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page

Bashed By BO

Am back in the office today and will be heading to Adelaide Monday night for work Tues / Wed and then Canberra for the day on Friday...

 

All very busy!

 

Got home last night at a reasonable time after I was able to wrap up my Melbourne work and get on the 5pm plane back... but not before I had to endure probably the worst case of BO in my life.  The cab driver that picked me up from Williamstown to take me to the airport was the stinkiest man ever.  I was in the front and my two colleagues in the back as we crawled through afternoon traffic for 40mins or so with the windows down.

 

When we nearly got on the freeway, the turban headed cabbie started to wind up all the windows but we insisted he leave them down.  He couldnt understand why we in suits wanted the windows down as we got up to about 100km/hr on the freeway but the alternative was horrendous to comprehend.

 

Even when waiting for the plane, we all could still taste / smell the odour and we started wondering like that old episode of Seinfeld whether the smell would ever come out.

 

It wasnt a food smell, it was pure and simple body odour of the highest degree.

 

Other than that, the trip was excellent!

Howard Meets The Brethren

Dont get me started...

 

Just read this article... what strikes me with this is that the long laundry list of what was NOT discussed.  How about saying what was actually discussed?

On the road

Apologies to the lack of posts, am on the road for work at the moment and its been pretty hectic... hence my sitting down at 6:30am to write this :-)

 

One thing that I have been itching to write about is Kevin Rudd's Strip Club visit... I cannot believe the big deal this has created, but I'd like to analyse this thing and the timing of it.

 

Firstly, this has been leaked to the media from the Liberal side of the fence.  It is fairly common knowledge that it is from Alexander Downer (Aust's Foreign Minister) was the source and it's obvious that he would be the most likely source given his duties as Foreign Minister.  Never mind his penchant for wearing stockings himself....

 

Timing of this issue is also classic Liberal election based profiteering.  2004 this strip club incident occurred... yet it doesnt air until the eve of Kevin Rudd's first election when he is ahead on the polls... mmm, uncanny.

 

Then there is the whole moral Christian right attitude that this has built into it on how going to a strip club is so unsavoury and that a man who goes to strip clubs is unfit to lead the country... what bull shit.  I would say a) every man at some time in his life has been to a strip club and b) it wasnt a sleazy live sex on stage style club with peep shows etc but it was one of these classier "look but dont touch as I rip you off with high drink prices" places - think Mens Gallery in Sydney.  This kow-towing to the Christian morals viewpoint is again another example of the fact that we've gone a long way down the road of US style politics since Howard has been PM.  And besides, remember when Malcolm Fraser lost his pants in Memphis?  That wasnt the end of the world was it!

 

But the thing that bugs me is the focus on the sleazy aspect of a strip club... what about the fact he was getting pissed on tax payers dollars??  What about the focus on that?  That is probably worse that these clubs cost so much and he's getting a free ride...

 

But if we did that though, that would spoil the rort for all the pollies wouldnt it...