Prius

Tried to rent a Corolla hatchback, they gave me a Focus hatchback instead. So the next day, I stopped by and tried to change. Still no Corolla, but they had a Prius they said they could give me. Quite surprised that it's the same category. So I'm playing with that now. I say playing, cause it's like a toy. And that computer screen is kindof distracting, especially using it to do things like change the fan speed or direction. And it's got pretty poor rear visibility. But it's still interesting for now.

Another week in review

So, as seen by the last post, the week didn't start out too good. Got sent on a few hours notice to another town to do work that shouldn't have needed doing and that I had no idea how to do. But anyways... met with some hotel management and basically confirmed what the previous guy had arranged. (could have done that by email). Tested the internet speed in the rooms. Didn't really know where to start regarding the airport, so I just drove to the airport, saw a sign for some management and drove to a security gate. Security guy didn't really know what to do with me, so he called someone who came out and met me... he was familiar with my situation from the previous guy. Answered a few questions and most importantly gave a few email addresses and phone numbers. I'm still suspicious whether the manager here already had an email address from seeing forwarded emails from the previous guy, but oh well. Sent some emails and waited. Heard back some prices and forwarded it on. Suddenly, it all became for nothing, as the prices were approximately 20x what they are in adelaide, for inferior facilities. And with the ongoing difficulty dealing with them, the entire plan to move to that airport was scrapped. Time to go home to adelaide.

Well, I'd made plans to meet a friend by that point, and with a bad weather system moving through the region canceling our acquisition flights, I decided/asked to stay for a couple more nights. Wrapped up work things, then spent a day on the "Great Ocean Road". Unfortunately didn't make it as far as I hoped (the 12 apostles) as I was a bit tired that day, but I did see a lot of beautiful coastline, and wander around a couple fern-filled hikes and waterfalls. So deep and so green, the air smelled so wonderful, it was great! The weather was overcast and showering on and off throughout the day which put a bit of a damper on things, made trails muddier/slippier and made us wetter, but also put less visitors on the road/trails. Got dark on the drive home. With eerie dim light, passed through "barrow downs". Did not encounter any barrow-wights.

Returned to Adelaide. Despite being tired from poor sleep and an early flight and no room to check in, and despite the cool overcast sky and periodic heavy rainfall, went for a hike with a couple coworkers. It was good, except for getting quite soaked. My jacket's not really waterproof, and the umbrella becomes useless when the rain is traveling sideways. Would probably do a "mary poppins" if I opened it on some of those cliffsides. But was still pretty fun.

Guess that's it for another week. Seems I have some more free time because of stormy weather, but I'm less inclined to go out and do outdoors stuff in the stormy weather.

Angry man

I'm so angry, frustrated, upset... got just a few hours warning that I had to move to another city and probably not come back. Forget about those things I planned on doing, forget about everything else about this nice city and nice hotel and restaurants and other areas to walk in and enjoy, and more importantly forget about the friend I finally made. And the objective of the trip, do a bunch of stuff that I've never done before and have no clue about, like finding out if the airport has sufficient fire suppression equipment and stuff like that. Even if I figure out how to set up a meeting with the airport manager or someone who would know that sort of thing, he'll say something like "we have class IV" and I won't know what that means. Supposed to try to negotiate fuel prices and hotel facilities and stuff?! We knew we would move to this area months ago, why didn't any of the people whose job it is to do this beforehand get it done? Really dropped the ball. So they had to do it last minute, and sent a mechanic last week. But the mechanic hardly gave any information in his report and then disappeared to be completely unreachable in his time off so it essentially has to be done again. Not sure why it has to be me either. So pissed off about the situation I can barely express it.

Week in review

Overall, my first week in Adelaide has been great. Was quite lucky about the timing of when I came in, that a bad weather (for flying) system was just moving in, so there were no flights for the first few days! Note that yes I still was doing some work before and after these activities! First day, as mentioned, walked around the park area a bunch. Second day, checked out the airport and went for a drive with the German in the adelaide hills area, including the hazy view over the city from Mt. Lofty, the tallest place around here at a whopping 700 metres. The view wasn't actually that great due to haze. Third day, did some exercise, then went for a hike with a few coworkers near to the previous day's destination. It really made my day. Mr Adventure hauled his 35lb of camera equipment and didn't even use it :) Saw a kangaroo, but it was through a fence in the wildlife park pseudo-zoo that's there. Fourth day, went jogging along the river for quite a while. Fifth day, went for a good bike ride with a couple coworkers along the river (more like creek) to a beach town, got back just in time to shower before the several hour acquisition flight. Sixth day, some more jogging along the river, and spent some time trying to figure out what other interesting things there are to do here.

Seventh day, went to a dragonboat practice! Had looked online, found some local teams, and made some phone calls and found a team I could join for this sunday morning practice. Considering it was my first practice of the season, having not lifted a paddle for 6 months, meanwhile it was essentially their last practice of the season (regular season's done, most just continue practicing up to the national championship in queensland this week), I expected to die! And, well I sortof did, but actually I was able to keep paddling the whole time they were, never clunked paddles or anything, but wasn't able to put much force into it. A big part of that was their crazy high rate especially the "sprint" part of the start. When asking me after practice if we do anything particularly different, I immediately mentioned rate. And another guy who recently came on from another team totally agreed. I didn't want to say much else though, don't want to seem like I'm coming from overseas and dropping in to tell them they're doing it all wrong or something. Anyways, it was awesome. Unfortunately probably won't get to practice again, most teams will be gone for the nationals this week and won't be practicing much when they return, (teams not going may have already minimized practicing), meanwhile my schedule's always weird and generally don't have free evenings anyways.

No idea how my chedule will go. May be moving around a bit. I'd really like to stay here as long as possible, I can't imagine the next location being as nice.

McHotties

There's a McDonalds very close by. Quite often when I walk by, I see quite attractive women heading in! I'm like "But... how.... why..."

Mr Adventure

One pilot seems to always be on an adventure. Always going hiking through norway or ice climbing who knows where, and slowly going through the list of the "big 7" (tallest mountain on each continent). Whenever he's had a day off here he's made full use of it, going diving or kite-surfing etc. Coming up as his work rotation ends, he's just renting a kayak and a tent and going kayaking around a national park island for several days. Sounds so cool. Wish I could do stuff like that. Honestly, the biggest barrier is simply not being an independent person. As cool as a trip like that sounds, I just don't feel I'd enjoy it that much alone. Or, I'd enjoy it, but still feel like something important is missing, someone to share it with. I become somewhat used to it, and force myself to do stuff alone from time to time, but I wonder if it's something I can actually learn to enjoy. How do you go about doing that? I guess the second problem is just learning about things. Seems trying to read/learn about stuff is very instantly exhausting these days even when it's something that should be interesting. It's like, ADD.

Driving

Me: "So what side of the road do they drive on here?"
Jean: "The wrong side."
Me: "Ok, at least I got to do that in Ireland so it's not my first time."
Jean: "Yeah, but it's even worse here cause you're also upside down."

PS

fob city.
awesome!

Idyllic afternoon

Went out to walk around and get some sun. Found the river nearby and it was nice, many small groups out walking about. I think it must be a holiday here. Eventually went "inland" through a university campus, and there were parrots in the trees! After some noodles, walked into the botanical gardens. It was so nice there! Myriad pathways surrounded by trees and plants, occasionally open grassy areas, birds in the trees. In the grassy areas especially the large park next to the gardens, were many groups of friends, and big family gatherings, and couples enjoying their time together. Blue sky, warm air, scents of soil, plantlife, and sometimes flowers. Children playing. Was just one of those afternoons that seemed like it was a perfect world. Unfortunately, felt pretty lonely too. Though part of that was just the few dozen hours since sleeping.

Theatre

I was just realizing... if my memory serves me correctly, I've seen 9 plays in the past few years (hmm received 0 invites, that's awesome). Anyways, the interesting thing I just realized is that I've never gone with the same person twice. Completely unintentional. Isn't that odd?

Plans change, as planned

As Robert Burns wrote, "the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley"
Yeah they speak funny.
Don't know how it'll affect me, guess we'll see in a few more weeks.

Interesting to read more of the poem. Seems to strike a chord:

Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e.
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

First mountain of the year

Near lunchtime I suddenly realized it would be a great day to go to the mountains. So I quickly decided to do, as you may have guessed, prairie mountain. It's my default fairly short relatively safe to go alone mountain. Wasn't trying to set any speed record (last time I did that I could barely walk for a week) but I did have an evening commitment and so had to push. The path varied between dry, muddy, flowing water, grippy snowy ice, and slippy snowy ice. The steeper parts almost seemed like they'd been smoothed down by a sled or something, became quite tiring trying not to slip too much. Thought it might slow me down enough that I'd have to abort. But, an hour into it I broke through the treeline, and under 15 minutes later I was sitting against the summit cairn! I'm actually quite impressed, even in good conditions that's a decent time.

Carried a whole bunch of clothes and stuff I didn't touch, but didn't know what it'd be like and have to be prepared for emergencies. The way up was mostly shorts and t-shirt with sweat dripping from the face until I put my headband on. I love my headband. Had to put on the gloves near the top in the wind, and the windbreaker once I stopped moving at the top. Didn't have much time to snack and relax, but was cooling off quickly so I wouldn't have stayed too long anyways.

Put on the gaiters for the trip down as I figured it would be slip-slidey. It was. Probably only took half the number of steps going down as I did coming up cause so many of them were several meter slides. Was pretty fun! If you're not comfortable with no traction though, or have bad balance, you'd hate it. Amazingly, never actually fell over. About 45 min to reach the bottom.

Didn't see anyone on the trail until a few minutes from reaching the bottom.

Took some fashion model shots (headband, sunglasses and jacket cool, above-knee zip-off pants, pale legs and gaiters definitely not cool), checked out elbow falls, and headed home in time for a snack before scuba. A good but quite tiring day. Unfortunately my next hike probably won't be for another 3 months.

Seagull crazy

Had a scuba review tonight. Was pretty good to be underwater again. You can go by yourself once in a while for not very expensive, too bad someone's not around to go play with... I remember in the last lesson/dive during the actual course 2 yrs ago we were kicking a ball around and stuff and you could do all the slow motion Matrix style moves and it was fun.

On the drive home, I saw just west of crowchild along the river, the sky was fuzzy, it was like an insect cloud, except it was actually hundreds and hundreds of seagulls in the air! Was actually kindof scary.

Misc

Had a mega snowfall 2 weeks ago. Don't think I could make it out of my parking lot, but it was awesome for going for a walk since it was warmish. Just have to put on my invinçaboots. I found a big empty field and walked out some artwork. Made a giant peace sign, a couple of pacman-style faces talking to each other, and a ghandi quote (that was the hardest). Wish I could see them from above. Made sure to leave a lot of blank canvas for anyone else.

A week later another snowfall. Chilly and underdressed, but I really felt like going for a walk in it. So quiet and peaceful at night with just the squeak of boots in the snow. Spent the night at the parents so I was ready to shovel snow there and at the neighbours and at the temple.

Went to the zoo on saturday with Evelyn. Definitely making the annual pass worthwhile. The coolest thing on this visit was a bald eagle deciding to take a bath. Brrr, cold even thinking about it. Didn't get to see any colobus which had been Evelyn's main target, oh well.

Went for a bike ride today in the nice-ish weather. Back when I used to ride to and from work from my parents area, I used to think I should someday get splash guards for riding in the rain. For some reason I never did. So today was fun, got nice and messy. Felt like putting on an awful british accent to announce "I've got a wet bum, I 'ave!" I wore shorts and sandals cause I didn't want my shoes getting soaked. Of course, icy water plus wind in this weather is still enough to freeze your tootsies! On the way home I went full speed through a particularly deep puddle. I didn't realize quite how cold my feet were until I got in the shower and felt the pain. But it was still fun! Maybe do another tomorrow.

So those are a few random stories.

Where to "vacation"

I should have a week or two at the beginning of may to vacation in the australia-malaysia region. Still no idea where I'll go or what I'll do though. One of the places I most want to see is New Zealand. But, maybe I will be back in Australia in the future, so maybe it can wait. I probably won't be back in Borneo again, so maybe I will try to tour around there a bit. Maybe try to go up Kinabalu? Maybe visit Brunei? Who knows. The main unfortunate thing is that I will still be alone, and for me, vacation alone is ok but not great. But of course it's forever hard to find anyone who a) has time, b) has money, and most importantly c) actually would want to vacation together. Hmmm I guess C&S have had a couple potential opportunities, just haven't worked out so far. Meanwhile, people "grow up" and have other priorities and the pool grows shallower.

Lacrosse

Went to a Roughnecks game for the first time yesterday. (Haven't even been to the saddledome for several years). It was pretty good actually. It's kindof like hockey but you're allowed to wail on each other with the sticks. My favorite is the sneaky behind the back shots/passes.

Parking lot update

The last funny thing was when Acclaim told me the new manager's name, they decided to spell it out for me... and got it wrong.

Though it was the York West guy's first day on the job, I emailed to let him know about the parking lot. the next day it was fixed. Cynically, maybe it's just to make a good first impression and won't continue that good, but for now I'm happy.

Of course, cause it had been so long, there's been weird thick ice build up around it with a perfectly clear area right at the drain, resulting in a 1 m wide 6 inch deep "pothole" that looks scarier now that the water's gone. Hopefully it melts and smooths off soon.

Parking lot

A week and a half ago, it was clear that water wasn't going down the drain. It was reaching the drain okay, just wasn't anywhere inside to go. Let Acclaim condo management know. Some more snow, some more melt, the water level rises. Can still reach through the puddle and put fingers through the grating so I know it's clear. There are some inches of ice bedded in much of the parking lot at this time, but there must be ground heat coming from the drain as this area generally remains liquid unless it drops several degrees below zero. Therefore, it has become a 6" deep water-filled pothole that cars almost bottom out driving through. At least the water hasn't spread up to the building yet. I'm concerned driving through it, and concerned that on a warm day, excessive melting of the remaining snow/ice could cause a larger problem. Anyways, despite a couple more calls, nothing seemed to be done, and noone was calling me back. Meanwhile, I had received notice from the condo board earlier in the week that we were changing condo management companies on apr 1. (apparently I wasn't the only one who thought Acclaim is crap). So, not much surprise that finally today I got a call from Acclaim letting me know that they are no longer the managers and therefore can't do anything regarding it. Yes, the bastards (actually it seems to be all women so therefore bitches?) deliberately ignored the issue while it got worse until it became someone else's problem. I was pretty pissed off and disgusted at them, but decided not to bother saying anything. Then was kicking myself for not having said anything, I mean why not, people shouldn't be allowed to get away with that, and I really felt like blowing off some steam. Oh well, nothing to really do now, phone calls and emails would just hit deaf ears at reception.

White lights on Calgary Tower

No more green?

TCM #last

Appointment was only a few minutes today. Decided that it didn't seem to be having much affect on me, so it wasn't worth continuing treatment. Disappointing. Oh well. Can continue to see if anything like reducing dairy etc has long term effects.

Waddup Miyagi-dawg

Arnold was jokingly calling me Karate Kid at Yoga, cause I'm white, and wore a white headband. So I decided to take it out from the library and actually watch it. Classic 80s. Meanwhile, I learned that Will Smith is planning to make a new Karate Kid movie, starring his son.