Well here we are - Monday and the last post was thurs. Well so much has happened since then - how many times have I said that. But tis true tis true!

So Friday was a day of revelation - that access to the internet could be acquired pretty easily - well it can if you know what you are asking for. So I popped down at lunchtime to a dodgy shop called harvey norman which is a bit like currys - well it was handy for work - and once arrived finally got some assistance from a less than interested h/n employee who disappeared at the earliest opportunity. To there I was standing in front of shelves and shelves of boxes - all very flash but not a clue what it all meant. So I picked one up and off I went.

The cashier was not happy that I was dragging her away from her gripping piece of fiction in which she had been engrossed. And of course, it was Friday lunchtime, prime fiction reading time even if you are working in a department store with people wanting to buy things - heavens can't they see this is a good book!

So back to work Friday afternoon - oh found a brilliant food court in the base of the building and bought some deluxe sushi on the way back to my comfy desk. Then later after work, I popped into Rebel Sports which was having a sale and bought some dumbells for when I am feeling too lazy to walk to the gym and some runners to replace my somewhat battered gym shoes.

So anyhow I get home and, low and behold, I open the package all excited that finally I have internet access at home when I find that I have not got what I wanted. Had bought some sort of card when what I wanted was something to slot in my USB port.

So after grinding my teeth for some moments, I decided to head back into town to exchange the wrong purchase for the right purchase. Thankfully this was pretty easy, mainly due to el quicko train and also due to fact that shop was practically on top of the train station.

Anyhow after a heavy dose of more attitude from a different cashier I departed back home and magically all the software etc worked - a dream!

So no more desperate visits to magnation - oh joy.

Saturday was a busy day, gym followed by a flooded changing room - quite novel but thankfully I had a got a locker near the dry patch - quite a puddle on the other side though. Then into town to the Homebuyer show which enabled me to gain an insight to the house buying market and to the large numbers of people considering buying property. Also there were quite a few of the developers present so was able to do a bit of a recky on their marketing material.

After that a pop into badbacks.com.au and a purchase of a spine stretcher (much more pleasurable than it sounds) and a mini table/ desk which will enable me to use my laptop whilst sitting on the floor - helps me be more creative.

And then to L's, a tour round the Chef's Hat and a purchase of latte spoons followed by sushi from South Melbourne market and then to the pub - joined by M and L's bro and g/friend. Fun afternoon, headed back home quick turnaround and then to Js and then to indian meal with J and D which was good fun and was followed by coffee and cake (though we passed on the cake - no black forest you see).

Sunday was a busy day too - including tidy bedroom, decanting seven (rather heavy) boxes of books from storage, then to Ikea to get some more shelving units and then a bit of r&r followed by return home to construct said shelves and load with books.

Today has been a good day, started rather early - ie 4am as brain was motoring even if body was not. Still helped me get in work at around 8.15 and was a good start to the day. Also bouyed along by the purchase of tickets for Sting at the Sydney Opera House - YES YES YES!!!

Got a fair amount of reading done in morning and a bit of thinking and doing including sorting article for intranet and inclusion of entry for project. Also beginning to make movement on comms strategy amongst other things.

Went to lunch with K and had yum cha which was different - basically the waitresses wonder round with a trolley full of the same dish and you take want you want and they mark it on a sheet of paper which then constitutes your bill.

Afternoon full of e-mails, phone calls and more reading - hard life eh? oh and a meeting mid arvo with the groovy Miss B.

This evening has consisted of listening to Bowie and reading through more papers - just trying out the rice cooker at the mo - another late dinner - looks like will be eating again at 10pm. Still late start tomorrow - going to seminar which does not start till 10am.

Listened to Philip Glass on ipod this morning on the way in to work - love the stuff - why has it taken me so long to find his stuff? Ah well - oo I can smell rice - what fun!

Ttfn

Maybe a bit cryptic but the rationale behind the heading is that I finally have internet access at home. Three months without easy access has been something of a challenge at quite revealing on how it has so become part of daily life.

The last week or so has been pretty good - with the car, my boxes arriving, and the job settling in a more steady state. On the later has been very interesting in that am getting up at 7ish and catching the train in, arriving betweeen 8 and 8.30. Given that I am often there after 6, I guess I am packing in the hours.

But it is the most fascinating job!

This week has been more meetings. Spent most of Thursday travelling round the outer suburbs - including Whittlesea, Wyndham and Werribee. The scale of the building going on is phenomenol - just a sea of houses in places - all new and all with people likely to need DHS services at some point in the coming years.

Met up this afternoon with the person who was previously in my job - nice lady - can understand why she moved on. Fascinating chatting to her - heck this project is such a political hot potato and some of the people are intriguing in terms of their agendas.

Weather has been a bit all over the place - one minute sun, the next rain. Bit cool still. Looking forward to the temperature warming up very soon.

Well is getting late so will sign off here.

Ok so it is time for me to do penance - it is raining and has been for the past ten hours or so. Not floods yet as far as I know. Well not like the flood I had to deal with in my kitchen the other night. Second time it has happened and I am not too pleased. Water all over the floor and work surface, splashing onto the microwave near the powerpoint. At least a litre - bring on the summer!

Anyhow yesterday was a very good day. Managed to find all the boxes and my wii fit - which I have unpacked but not yet set up. Also set up the HDD recorder though cannot seem to find any aussie tv channels on it as yet - sure it must be something technical - must try to find the handbook for it.

Managed to squeeze in sorting out the boxes, shopping, a trip to Sandbar for brekkie and then to Sandridge and a very pleasant walk down by the edge of the bay. Then back home and into town to see Philip Glass movie. Wow flippin wow! What an amazing guy. The film was divided into 12 chapters and followed him in his work, meeting with other key people in his life, included interviews with his first wife, his sister and his current wife. It also showed him working at home and at his weekend place. It covered his relationship with his mother (good) and his father (bad). The guy is a genius and it was quite an emotional film. The film was sold out.

After that to Journal for tea and a bit of paper perusing and then to Greater Union for Persepolis. Again a packed house. And another brilliant film. Amazingly well done with a good coverage of the history of Iran, some very sharp humour and some full on philosphical content.

By the time I got home I was ready to crash out but managed to squeeze in a burst of Olympics and tidying up of apartment.

Today, Sunday was been to gym - what a good boy eh? and now am in magnation doing a bit more web stuff - just ordered my citylink e-tag. Also need to sus out a tomtom and RACV membership. Tried to get some diesel earlier at the BP garage but could not find a pump with it - very mystifying - unless they call it something else - like timtams.

Meeting up with L later today and going for a drive. Found out yesterday there is a chocolate festival in town - yummo - so a bit of a what should we do - chocolate or coastal drive - oh decisions decisions!

Woweeeee what a week! Am completely exhausted.

Not only do I start a new job, but I buy a car and I have my stuff (44 boxes) delivered from UK. What more can I squeeze in.

So first things first - the job. So I am now Project Manager, Servicing Growing Communities, DHS. The project is to formulate an approach to address the likely services required by the new growth areas. Now what do I mean by growth areas? Well basically hectares and hectares of land on which is going to be build lots of nice new and enticing houses. And the population numbers that are likely to move into these areas? Well I think we are talking in the hundred thousands. At the moment there are seven families a day moving into the growth areas and the expectation is that this will increase rapidly over the next five to ten years.

The project is half way through its life and I am the second project manager - the first one left, and left al their files and documents on the shared drive and I have taken over their desk. Quite bizarre really - like taking over someones life.

So in five days I managed to (almost) get through all the key papers, attend a meeting of the Steering Committee, chaired by the Secretary of the Department no less, and go out to one of the region to see what sort of task we have ahead of ourselves. Have started putting together a new project plan - there are so many version of old plans that I have lost track of how many. And I am gradually putting in place a framework to support the project to its final completion - in FEB!

More about the job in the coming weeks

So the car - oh wow the car. I have bought an ex-demo car from a VW garage. 'tis a Golf 1.9 TDI and I am loving it. Picked it up last night from the garage in the pouring rain and drove it home. Then drove it to the storage place this morning - was funny as got there just as the lorry was driving up to the entrance. The guys unloaded all the boxes and got them packed into the unit with about half an hour - all very quick. Spent some time afterwards sorting out what was what - seem to have a lot of clothes and books - boxes and boxes!!

So here I am again in magnation downloading the old podcasts whilst typing this up. Is still rather cold - around 10 degrees C but there is a clear blue sky and the sun is shining.

Today have got a couple of final films in the international film festival - one about philip glass the composer and one persepolis which was out in the uk before I came over but which I did not get chance to see.

Went to see a film consisting of russian newsreel from the fifties and sixties which was interesting if not a bit bizarre - revue the film was called.

Had another class of tai chi on Monday evening though was so tired and eyes looked a bit bloodshot in the mirror. Tuesday evening was last class of emotional intelligence which was a bit sad - but covered some good material as always and I think I will keep in touch with the tutor as she was really good.

Had a film to see - Barry Mackenzie - but was knackered and went to bed at 8pm. Slept through till around 5am. Practically hit the pillow and fell asleep. Must admit, had had a glass of Ned Kelly port which was pretty strong stuff.

Thankfully next week is completely empty evening wise - will help me recharge my batteries. Also now got my Wii fit board - hours of fun ahead. And my dvds - including the complete set of Shameless - so looking forward to watching all those brilliant progs!

Well better sign off now. Will be more in the next couple of days - ttfn!

So the last I was typing away was the evening of Thurs and now ‘tis Saturday so two days have passed – I think this is called thinking out aloud – am kinda preparing myself for the “journey of reflection” – also known as “what the flippin’ ‘eck ‘ave I been doing over the last few days”.

I slept well on Thursday evening after having ground my brain to a pulp trying to sus out how I could complete a two hour drive; get home, have a shave and collect together the various papers I would need for the four meetings I had and get to the first one (at 11.30am) in time. Oh I should put this in context that I had asked on arrival for a 9.30am, thinking “oh loads of time and a lie-in would be nice”. So the conclusion, skip breakfast and head off around 7.30am which I duly did. Oh and did I mention that there would be no water in the apartment all day so I would have to shave using water boiled in the kettle and rinse with water from the filter jug! Who thinks my life is dull – eh?

So packed up and crept out of the japanesey place, leaving a note to apologise for missing breakfast, to the car. Which, of course, it being winter was covered in frost. So putting my problem solving skills into action I rammed the heater on high and full blast and let the car warm up. Headed off on a pretty empty road which was good and managed to make good progress until I got to the outskirts of Melbourne. It was also pretty spectacular as the sun came through and melted some of the low lying mist across the fields.

What good fortune awaited me when I approached the outskirts of town. Not one, but a whole series of traffic jams. I tried to avoid them but taking a slightly off beam route and was pretty successful though conscious that this was a slightly high risk strategy as I had not a clue where I was going and not a map in the car. I was, though, able to keep an eye on the skycrapers so had an overall idea that I was taking roughly the right course. And low and behold, I ended up just near Queen Vic Market which was ideally for a scoot round the central CBD and over to Kingsway and then onto Commercial Road and home, arriving at around 10am. This gave me plenty of time to turn myself around without to much ensuing chaos.

And how fantastic that, although I had to wait for 10 minutes for a train, it whisked me to Parliament and my destination in 10 minutes so I arrived just under 10 minutes early for my 11.30 meeting. Popped into HR to prove I was a human being and then met up with P and sorted out the finer detail of my future workwise for the coming months. She wants me to start Tuesday!!!!!!

Then to my 2pm with a bit of internet surfing squeezed in. Was not quite sure when this meeting was and of course no taxis. So took a gamble and took the tram up to Melbourne Uni, got off and headed vaguely in what I thought might be the right direction. Luckily it was. Oh joy, on my arrival, a typical hospital. Lots of people and little space in which to move. And the lifts were on part-time working. World over, I thought, world over.

The meeting was in the Executive Offices and, surprise surprise, lots of nice carpet and plush surroundings. Wonder if the wards are similarly decorated. Anyhow the meeting went well. Three very friendly ladies of varying ages. Had a good chat. Be nice to get involved. We shall see. Oh the post – on a committee similar to the UK CHC format that the Blair Government abolished.

So then from hospital back to Parliament and to government agency office to meet Mr F. Had good chat. Mentioned job and start date. He was a bit disappointed I could not carry out work we had previously discussed but recognised the job was more longer term and a good move.

Once had finished in Spring Street, headed home. Was knackered and was supposed to be going to see Kate Bush film at 9pm. Spoke to L and we agreed that she would pop by and we would go shopping. We ended up at Chadstone in David Jones which was cool. Had a look at rice cookers, not much choice and also wondered into the food hall. Now this was something else, bit like Harrods Food Hall but not so big. Bought some mustard and black pepper oatcakes and bircher muesli – yumo! Then drove back and L departed home. Had an early night.

Saturday was a bit of a dooey day. Headed off to magnation to check e-mails first thing. Sadly not open, even though it was 9.10 and it said it opened at 9. Popped into Coles to get light bulbs and papers and then return to find the place open. Oh joy though, no password – as in yes we have free wifi which is password protected but you cannot access it as we do not know the password and as it Saturday there is no-one we can ask. Yay for good customer service

So anyhow luckily I managed to piggy back on someone else’s wifi to check e-mails. Also did a bit of off beam surfing. Then headed to VW garage to enquire about the VW Golf which has been smiling at me for the past month and then to Victoria St to sus out a decent rice cooker.

Landed on my feet by parking opposite an asian kitchen trade shop. Had a look round. Was brilliant and pretty good value too. And they had the brands I had found recommended on the net. So I ended up buying a Tiger (with computer according to the sales assistant). She also noted that she has had a tiger for 10 years, dropped it one the floor twice and it still works! Well I must get it then I thought. Not sure I need to drop it on the floor though – might break a toe or two.

And on the journey went, from Victoria Street to Chadstone. Yes I did go there last night. However I had forgotten how easy it is to drive there. So on arrival and taking advantage of the free and easy parking, I headed into David Jones again but this time up to their electrical department to explore the wonders of Ipod speakers/ alarm clock. And low and behold, through a process of fusing the options available and the What Hi-fi best buy page, I went for an iYiYi. And it is the bees knees – the best sound I have heard from a music system – even Bose.

So back home – and still not yet 1pm! I love Melbourne!!

Spent afternoon chilling out, reading papers and tidying up. Evening spent watching TV and another early night – it is after all winter the time for hibernation.

Well this is certainly different. Decided I needed to escape the excitement of my life, if only for a day and a bit. So here I am practically sitting on the floor in shizuka royokan, a Japanese country spa retreat. Thought I would try something different, and by gum, it is certainly that!

So here I am post three job interviews and still breathing, though my head hurts a bit. Funny how things turn out – more later. So had the interview at DHS, I guess I should check out what I posted previously, for all I know I may have already bored you rigid on this one. However as I am in the middle of the bush (Australian term for countryside) there is little access to the outside world. Lets face it I have not even got a tv in the place – apparently it goes against the Japanese karma or something – grief you can take a thing a little to far eh?
So anyhow back to the DHS interview which had at 12.30 – I think I have covered this already as I remember going on about the slow internet speed at magnation. Well better not repeat myself so shall we fast forward to Wednesday. Well this was the first time I have ever had two interviews on the same day – one in the morning for a uni and one in the afternoon for an agency. Now come to think of it – I might have covered this too – though am not too sure. Flip old age is creeping in. I hope I am not going senile – I have so much to give!

Well the uni interview was cool even though started late and only lasted 30 minutes and seemed to contain a degree of puzzlement over why I was applying. What I had not realised was that there was such a long gap between the morning interview and the one in the afternoon, which was at 3.30. This meant I had some 4 hours to engage myself in useful activity. So of course, as I had my laptop with me I thought I would pop to magnation on Elizabeth Street for a bit of downloading of podcasts and checking of e-mails. Of course when I got there I was greeted by a sea of laptops balanced precariously on knees and a sea of cables stretched across the floor from the extension lead. I managed to squeeze myself in near the powerpoint much to the annoyance of the guy who was hogging not only a fair amount of seat but also a complete table – shocking isn’t it! What is more I had a peek at what he was up to and concluded on glancing at this screen that he was lacking purpose in his life. Then reflected that may be that was something I could seek out too! However that thought did not last long once I looked at my itunes screen and watched the bars race across as podcasts were being downloaded at a rate of knots- words cannot describe the glee on my face as I saw those bars race across the screen and the increasing in the appearance of the word “done”. Sad eh?

So anyhow time flew by – as it does when you are sitting at a computer screen, dressed in suit and tie, in a magazine shop. Checked, or tried to check out, where my interview was to find that there were few reference to the street on which the agency was based. The only real clue was that it was in Albert Park. I concluded the best way to get there was via taxi, which I jumped into on Collins. Was very amusing as travelling down King Street when the guy typed in Queen Street only to be told to turn round and go in the opposite direction. How I chuckled inside my neatly ironed shirt and tie.

So I got to the agency, an office block, a Federal Government office block in fact. An office block over looking a golf course. I was greeted by a very pleasant chief executive and on entering her office, by another very genial gentleman. The interview went well and we had a good laugh. I felt even better when, on leaving the room, the chief exec said that it had been a pleasure interviewing me. Not bad eh?

By this time my brain was completely frazelled and I headed home and to bed for some rest and relaxation. Got up for a cup of tea and had a look my mobile, noticed had a missed call. Returned the call, it was P and she wanted to offer me the job! I was so wrapt I was beside myself. She wanted me to come in the following day but I said that Friday would be better as I was heading out of town Thursday. By this time my credit had run out and the call was cut short. So once I had chugged my way through recharging the phone and called P back we concluded that I would pop in to see her on Friday and work through the paperwork of proving that I was a bona fide human being. No sooner had I finished the call than the phone went off again and Mr F was on the other end of the line. And low and behold, he wanted to get me in to discuss the job we had previously discussed and how best to take it forward. Talk about three buses turning up all at the same time. Arranged to meet him Friday pm, after my meeting with the CAC.

I was absolutely beside myself after the two calls. From nothing doing to, heck I need to be cloned! So as my brain had gone into overdrive, headed back to bed and tried to and finally did get some sleep. Course going to bed early is never a good idea as it means you wake up at some ridiculous hour in the morning. So there I am awake at four in the morning – wide awake and brain doing at least one grand prix if not a whole years worth. Was absolutely impossible to switch it off – stuck a glass of milk in microwave and added some milo subsequently which helped slip from supersonic gear to something more like a normal speed. Went back to bed and managed to get some more sleep, waking up at around 7.

Got up as the speed had picked up again and was conscious that needed to sort out hire car and pick up e-mail from Pam before I headed out of town. Of course the hire car thing was easy. Got some brekkie and read a bit of the papers, then headed to magnation in Greville St for a dose of mega slow broadband – and this time it was snails pace. Managed to get what I needed then headed to Dick Smiths to find something to link ipod to radio. Found a contraption that included a holder and plugged into the cigarette lighter so could recharge ipod. Had a bit of a struggle trying to sus out how it worked but this was resolved by my going back to the store and playing dunce. Of course what I had not sussed out was that there was an LCD screen which switched on when you plugged the contraption into the cigarette lighter – certainly a Home moment.

Once had packed stuff and headed onto the road was pretty plain sailing. The road system here is fantastic – so smooth to navigate around and was practically a straight road all the way. Did have a little panic when though I had missed the turning but thankfully all was ok and got to Daylesford just in time for lunch. Was pretty chuffed too as the sun was out and the sky was almost clear blue.

Very quickly found that the spa for which I had travelled over an hour was actually closed. Renovations. Apparently it opens in September. Looking at the amount of work they are putting into it – it is going to be pretty spectacular even if some of the Victorian character is being lost.

So checked into my Japanese retreat and to the room without a bed. Was funny as they showed me round and then left. Only then did I realise there was no bed. So there I am walking around thinking- but where is the bed. Nice bathroom, nice main room with hardly anything in it apart from a lot of bamboo flooring, a rather small Japanese garden – sneeze and you would reach the back wall. No bed. Found an introductory folder and was relieved whilst slightly bemused to see that they put out a futon later in the day. Oh joy I remember those days sleeping on a futon – or trying too!

So anyhow back to reception for a few recommendations including a replacement for the refurbished spa. Luckily the place is crawling with them so all was not lost. The one recommended, Peppers, was just round the corner. Drove round and was soon sorted with spa session and massage to be had later in the afternoon. The spa was good as it included a full on steam room, an infra-red room (apparently it detoxes you from the inside out), and a couple of outside spa pools on either side of a very cold plunge pool.

Sitting here in in the old suit and tie. Just had an interview this morning and got one this afternoon. Oh what fun!

So what has been happening? Well quite a bit I guess including two new evening classes - one in tai chi and one in emotional intelligence.

So working backwards. Lets start with today - Wednesday 23 July. Well the interview this morning was with one of the unis here and the job was Strategic Planner. Was amusing as good there early. Reported to reception but they coud not locate anyone and did not know anything about the interview. Anyhow after 15 minutes a guy appeared and said that they had been waiting in the interview room and that obviously his PA was not in. Ho hum. Well there old three people panel and the questions were not too tricky. Was funny too as the interview only lasted half an hour. Think they were a bit mystified about how I had come to apply for the job given what I had previously been involved in. Ah well we shall see.

Tuesday morning headed to magnation on greville street once the downpour had calmed down. Got a coffee during which the guy behind the counter mentioned that they had exceeded their monthly download limit and that the connection was mega slow. And he was right! So gave up and came home. Did a bit of tidying up and then headed back into town (oh I love the 15 minute train ride to Parliament station) for interview with P et el.

Interview was good fun and I think I was ok. They asked for details of referees so we shall see. Pretty interesting project.

In afternoon was a bit bushed so after a bit of a power nap did a bit of reading and then headed to Borders for a browse (found a book by David Clark on big things in Australia - so of course I had to buy it) and then into town. Got another tuna salad and found they had wifi at the Journal cafe - yippeeeee!

Yesterday evening was emotional intelligence which was quite funny. The tutor is a bit of a character and has some great facial expressions. We did a couple of exercises and she talked through a few theories and lots of examples. Looking forward to the next ones.

Monday - Day was mostly spent at Magnation. Can't remember much else though am sure will come to me later.

Went round Jays after Tai Chi and picked up post. We ended up watching "The Farmer wants a wife" - a bizarre programme where several farmers are mixed together with various young ladies (most of whom seem to be blonde) and then allowed to sus out which one they would prefer.

I am still amazed that I get to the end of each week rather exhausted, feeling I have achieved so much and then pondering over how I fill each time given I am still to most, a man of leisure.

I guess today though has been a good example. It started off with me getting ready for my 10am meeting with P. Caught the train in and the obligatory standing all the way journey. This experience had been added to by the fact that it had been and was still raining – so there was an air of bedraglment in the carriage. Got off at Parliament (all of three stops) and headed down Lonsdale to get the papers and find a suitable cafe for a coffee. Noticed they also did ham and cheese croissants so had one of those too. Bemused to see it toasted when it arrived but hey why not.

Whilst was sitting perusing the daily headlines, overheard the woman next to me note to the guy who had just arrived to join her to not put own any papers as “you never know who are sitting next too”. Thought – jeez am only reading my paper. Still that warranted a bit of full on ear wigging to the rest of their conversation which consisted of her finishing her breakfast and referring to stuff like the weather, immigration and Zimbabwe – takes all sorts I guess.

Anyhow headed across the road to meet P. Had a latte (hold the front page stuff this – not as I seem to be living on them at the moment) and had a good catch up about what I had been doing since I left VAGO. P mentioned a post which she was looking to fill and that whilst they had recently advertised it, they had not found anyone they thought suitable. She wondered if I would be interested. It sounded fascinating – right up my street. Lots of liaising with different departments, visiting different parts of the burbs and “making a difference”. Agreed that I would meet up again with her next week once I had put in an application detailing how I met their person specification and key selection criteria.

After the meeting thought I deserved a bit of a reward to went to Melbourne Museum given I was up that part of town. Was still drizzling but I battled against the elements like a hardy explorer. Decided to join as I thought there was no way I would get round it all in one go and that there would different exhibitions so would be more cost effective. Was not that much to join for a year either. Headed up and ended up in the “Mind” exhibition which was absolutely fascinating. Spent an hour or so wondering round the displays which covered both the biology of the mind and how it works through to the impact that drugs can have on it, through to moods, personality and towards the end mental illnesses, their impact and treatments. They also had some very clever vox pops of people talking about their specific conditions and the impact on their lives. Fascinating.

After the museum I headed back into town. It was still raining, so I thought I would check my e-mails and update myself on what had been happening in the big wide world. Sent a quick e-mail to Allied Pickfords as I had not received the Customs form and low and behold they had sent them to the wrong address. So I got them e-mailed and printed them out only to pick them up and find that the toner was running out on the e-lounge printer. Unfortunately the “I have no customer service skills” woman was behind the counter and could see no problem with the fact that you could hardly read what had been printed. I let it go and headed off for some retail therapy, still battling against the elements.

Ended up in JB Hifi (kind of Australia equivalent of Richer Sounds) as they were having a big dvd sale and bought the whole set of West Wing.

Could have spent a bit more time there but suddenly thought that may be I should have been a meeting with Melbourne Health. Checked diary and it noted that the meeting was next weekend – tried to wrack my brain as was sure it was this weekend. Popped into another internet cafe to check e-mail but had no record of a date for the meeting. Called and left a voicemail but was still not sure whether I had mixed up the dates. Also noted had got a missed call on my new mobile – managed to sus out how to retrieve the number and called to find that the Rural Workforce Agency wanted me to go in for an interview. Had been a while and was not sure either what the job was nor where they were but they said they would e-mail me confirmation so that was that.

After all that was feeling a bit too stressed and tired so went to get some food in the place that did the Kitchen Boot Camp for Blokes course which was pretty funny as was now a fully operational cafe. After that headed home and ended up having a quick powernap.

Had arranged to meet with L and so headed back into town, except missed tram so caught a taxi. Met up with L and we headed off to Melbourne University to hear Tony Wheeler talk about travel guides past and present. Was amazing to finally see the guy who was responsible for writing the “bible” that I used some 20 years ago during my round the world adventure. Got his autograph at the end which was pretty wrapt about.

Headed back into town with L on the tram and got some food in one of the lane. Was kinda ok though my steak was over cooked and L’s chicken was burnt too. The wine was a bit crap too. Ho hum.

Ah well, struggling to keep eyes open so will sign off here for now.

Well it has been a few days I guess since I last updated, Wednesday maybe?

Yesterday was move career day, as in had two meetings almost back to back with the career advisors (lets call them the “wise men”).
After the fun I had the previous day spending an hour stuck in the lift, I was so looking forward to spending yet more time in the building. And if I ever forgot about the lift episode, I always had the lovely receptionist with the twanging US accent to comment of my recent episode of entrapment, with a rye grin on her face (not sure she would have been grinning if it had been her in the lift).

So yesterday, had to visit the wise men three times. The first occasion was to complete their “online” questionnaire. However as I had found the previous day, it was not online as their website was down even though they were not aware of this fact. Anyhow complete said questionnaire – a bit clunky if you ask me, design using some form of computer language which did not take account of graphic design or presentation. There were some bizarre questions in there like “do you like to work with plants and animals?” but managed to answer most of them without too much difficulty. Got a bit daft as one of the choices was “don’t know or both” which I would have thought would warrant different forms of analysis. So of course I answered this third option several times because sometimes I like to drink coffee and sometimes tea.

On the second trip in, had a useful discussion on how I could identify a short term contract role. This included a few tricks of the trade in CV (or as they call it here – resume) construction, “performing” well at interview and networking. Was also introduced to the concept of STARs – Situation, Task, Actions and Results – you have to have at least 20-30 of these apparently. I thought – flippin eck they want the cosmos (spot the joke?).

The third interview focused on more long term planning. The meeting included a review of my results from completing the “online” questionnaire earlier. Apparently I had a unique profile. Well, that was because I answered both/ don’t know lots of times so was straight down the middle. Do we had a bit of a discussion and run through stuff I had done previously. Was quite amusing. Not sure how I was supposed to react when the guy referred to me as a pup – could have replied “well if I am a pup you must be an old dog” – but didn’t.

Anyhow, two thirds through the interview the guy said I should do a section of the online survey again – and acquiesced just to keep him happy – only took 10 minutes – and this time I decided to either answer yes or no. Of course that provided him with the result he wanted. I am a hard-nosed completed/ finisher!

Talking about completing/ finishing, I shall soon be finished with this entry. Am sure you must be bored by now (having a quick respite now gazing out to see – sadly it has clouded over and the sun is nowhere to be seen).

So after a full on day discussing how wonderful/ flippin awful my work life has been, I staggered home. However I had decided I needed to reward myself so on the way, I bought an LG Viewty. Heck have just noticed they are clearing up and about to close so will stop here and continue when get back to the ranch (ie my fabbo apartment).

Well what a day - not achieved much unyet I guess I have. Certainly today is going to be know from now on as the day tat I got stuck in a lift. And spent an hour of my life doing nothing. Should have seen the omen that was the lift not working smoothly went it got to the ground floor- for some reason the doors did not want to open and had to keep the call button pressed down for the doors to open. The engineer took some 20 minutes to turn up and then could not resolve the problem - ended up forcing open the doors - why he could not have done that when he arrived I do not know - in fact that has just occurred to me. What is more got talking to some other people on the way down and they mentioned that most of ht elifts were on their last legs. There really should be some sort of warning oh and get this - you cannot take the stairs - well actually you could take the stairs in that you can take the exit door to them but you cannot get out unless you have some kind of security key - so you have no alternative than to take the dodgy lifts.

Anyhow enough of me ranting. It was an experience but not one I would want to repeat.

I guess most of the stuff have achieved has been done online - such as booking tickets for the international film festival and looking at sorting out what am going to be doing next weekend - tony wheeler on friday night as part of the writers festival - he is the guy who set up lonely planet - a bit of a god as far as I am concerned.

Hey and for those of you with a spare moment, check this out - dance like matt - is on youtube apparently - saw it on morning tv - this guy dances like i don't know what in some 50 different countries and often gets other people to join in - is pretty cool.

Went to see Mongol last night - film about Genghis Khan - another amazing movie - and for $8 which is some 4 english pounds. Another winner!

Anoyhow been using my new acquisition - a kinda laptop bag on wheels - was getting fed up with lugging lots of books and stuff around along with laptop so have splashed out - not realy - got it in the sales - and is f a b!

What else - weather has come up trumps - wondered around a bit earlier in me t-shirt which was good - also found train route which menas two stops from south yarra to flinders st which means can get into town mega quick - that is of course ignoring the fact that i have to walk from apartment to the station but that only takes about 15 minutes.

Ah well - again food time - bring on summer!