I thought I'd post a quick update for the last couple of days... nothing too major to report. I've started work and am getting into it here. Project life in the engineering and construction world never seems to change. Big projects undertaken by clients and joint ventures always seem to be more complicated than they should... but I guess that's a good thing because it keeps me employed. I suppose if I was really ambitious I'd solve the problem and the world would be a better place (i.e. large energy companies could turn a bigger profit and more efficiently rape the world of it's natural resources in order to feed our consumer driven and wasteful economy while destroying the environment in the "friendliest" manners). Then again, maybe I should bite my tongue...

I think I've decided to live "in the city", which is Australia means downtown or near the Central Business District (CBD). It just makes more sense given the short time I'm supposed to be here (under a year). It's still within walking distance to everything you'd want to do in and around the city without the hassle of commuting to work (or having a longer walk). The building I'm looking at is brand new (people started moving in only 4 weeks ago), so it has the benefit of not being lived in before, new stuff, high tech building, etc. It has a sweet gym, pool, spa, etc. too... I'll post pictures etc. once everything is finalised (vs. finalized) and I know I'm moving in for sure. I'm also getting two bedrooms (partly because that's all the have left), which means I'll have plenty of room for visitors if anyone out there gets ambitious.

What's everyone else been up to? The only thing I've heard lately is about Nabber's goat.

Hello from the future

I was a mere 10 hours landed in Brisbane before I had to go out for drinks at the pub.

My first day in Brisbane:
- Land at 6:30am, breeze through customs due to the Australia vs. Croatia World Cup game being on.
- Get a cab from the airport, try and get in the driver's seat, get a weird look from the guy.
- Check into yet another hotel, 27th floor, looking north, 2 blocks from work, perfect.
- Buy a $3.50 'Tallblack' from Donut Delight. Find out after walking another 20 feet that this is about $2 over priced, oops, live and learn.
- Go to work, get 'orientated', get a desk, phone, computer, etc. Meet a bunch of people who were awaiting my arrival.
- Get my work visa from an immigration office, walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk, driving will be interesting...
- Get a bank account
- Get a pay as you go cell phone, but it's like $0.40 a minute for local calls... oh well, it will come in handy looking for a place to live.
- Back to work, ride out the day setting up my office.
- Invited for after work drinks, been on the ground less than 8 hours and already thinking about the pub... I think I'll like this project!

- Go to the Pig and Whistle for a few Victoria Bitters, VB's. Introduce Australia to Jager Bombs.
- Stumble home around 1am, find out the CBD is a hotbed of activity with many many clubs and pubs everywhere.
- Buy piece of pizza, go to sleep, get ready for apartment/house hunting.

The Gig is back on

Going to Brisbane tomorrow, again... I won't waste too much space in case they change their minds again. I'll blog from LA when I'm about to get on the flight to Bribane.

Cheers mates!

Ben Roethlisberger Replica Motorcycle Helmet on eBay

The Dingo Ate My Assignment

Dirty ExxonMobil. Long story short the client on the job to which my bags were packed and I was on the way to the airport for has decided to delay my mobilization. While all those working on the project are begging for help and want people mobilized the client has temporarily (we hope) kiboshed my assignment. To go along with this, my visitor's pass in the US has met it's limit, so I have to come back to Canada to get my US work visa. I already have this application filled out, so I just have to come back to Canada (tonight), pick it up, then come back to the US to work.

Bottom line, not going to Brisbane quite yet, coming to Calgary for the weekend, leaving Monday to come back to Houston to either wait to mobilize on the Australian/PNG job or get re-assigned to another job.

So Calgary folks, I'm in town this weekend, call me for beers, I'm on expenses!! I'll be staying at the Hyatt downtown.

I'll keep all y'all posted. (There's some Texas lingo for you, at least I learned something here)

Second cuz, just like her daddy

Liquor Ban

Ahh! I just read an article from PNG that said the province where the project is taking place is considering banning beer and liquor in order to 'keep the peace' while the project is being constructed. I don't know what to think...?!?

Other interesting headlines from the paper over the last few weeks: Jail loses guards, Govts told to prepare for tsunamis, Drunken brawl ends in death, Boy minced by sugar harvester, Casino owner deported, HIV contributes to poverty, Grizzly find, Police arrest church thief, Gas to help environment, Cult clash , Four die as epidemic sweeps across East Sepik Province, Cult turns nasty, Activists detained over golden chainsaw award. All in all it sounds just like it's been advertised...

From one manor to another

They've made my hotel reservation in Brisbane, I'll be staying at a place called The Manor Apartments. Looks alright, it's right downtown and is close to work and the rest that the CBD has to offer... Things are looking up, I'm actually getting a little bit excited now... previously I was a little annoyed at the whole process and didn't let myself look forward to too much because of all the hoops to jump through, but now it appears things are coming together.

We're..... off to see the wizard!

Well, I hope I don't jinx anything by making this announcement but my flight is booked for Brisbane. I fly out Friday evening at 6pm Houston time and land in Brisbane 6am on Sunday morning Brisbane time. It's like a time warp into the future... 17 hours in a plane, 5 hours of layover in L.A., but I land 36 hours into the future. Weird.

The reason for the delay was that my original chest x-ray, which is required for an Australian work visa, showed a minor 'spot' on it. The doctor and x-ray doctor here in Houston didn't think it was anything but still had to report it to the Australian authorities. So they came back with a request for a 2nd x-ray from a different angle, which delayed the process a few weeks (and is why I came to Houston to work for the last month). We sent this x-ray in on May 30th, and heard last Friday (June 9) that my visa would be approved, but I'd have to fill out one more form. This form was a "Health Undertaking", which basically states that I'll check in with the Australian Health Authority when I arrive, and notify them whenever my address changes in Australia so that they can contact me if needed. The reason on the form is that my x-ray showed signs of possible tubuculosis or other diseases... Even though the second set of x-rays came up 100% clean, but they still wanted me to do this... So I have, and they're approving the visa, and I'm off on Friday.

I'll be staying in a hotel downtown close to work while I search out a place to stay. I've basically decided that I'll find a place close to and walkable to work, and hence somewhere close to downtown... much like my place in Calgary. Reason being is that while living close to the beach would be sweet, it's not like I'd be swimming in the ocean every night after work... I can head to the beach on the weekends for day trips, etc. But there are more advantages to living near the CBD (central business district / downtown) like walking to work, not commuting, nightlife, younger population, shopping, etc. etc.... mostly the same reasons to live close to downtown Calgary.

So when people come to visit I'll just arrange a place to stay near or on a beach for a few days in order to get out of the city... or whatever people want really.

Now I have to decide on my living arrangments and look for a place. Basically there are a couple choices... do I get a furnished place on my own, or do I look for someone looking for a roommate? There are advantages to both I guess. Obviously having a place of your own has advantages... but sharing a place with a person or people of the same age group and interests, etc. would also have it's advantages.... just ask Jared! It would be an easy way to meet people in a city of 1.8 million. The drawback would be having room / privacy when people visited, but this could be worked around, and likely won't be that frequent of an issue...

Anyone have any comments? Help me out here.....

Here's a pic of the Hilton as I walked home today, notice the temperature on the sign, 98 degrees. That's 37 degrees centigrade for all us 'Nucks. Right before I took this pic it read 100 (38C), but I missed it...

Here's a 3D google earth pic of downtown Houston:

That's my update for now, send comments or emails.

Vanmega.com's June Mix Tape

Fun with ice, the dry variety

Ex 1015 13 Ave SW dwellers... check out this video. Been there, done that. I love it when he goes to pick up his glove after.

Monkey Chow Diaries: Day 6

Anyone else keeping up with this guy? Poor bastard, but self inflicted so little sympathy.

Any day now.....

A few pics from the last few days...

Here's me on the 'Street Bob':


Me with a couple friends I met at the ROT Rally:


Someone got some beads!! yay! Although she's not even wearing a shirt so she didn't have to flash to get them...


My view from $12 tickets at Minute Maid Park:


How many people have actually seen this?

Also, Duece's cousin is a 3-day champ on Jeopardy... Congrats Dan Sander.

Monkey Chow

Check out this link. I hope I don't get this bored in Australia...

Arrr, I'm a pirate

Right now I'm watching The Breakup on my computer... it came out in theatres this last Friday, I feel bad about it, but it shouldn't be this easy. The only down side is I can hear the dude recording it cough once in awhile... too funny. LOL, someone in the theatre just stood up to go the bathroom... it's like seeing it right in the theatre!

On a more serious note: my work visa should be approved this week, so hopefully I'll know by the end of the week on when I head to Brisbane.

ROT Rally '06

Well that was a first. I can honestly say that it was all I expected and more! Those people take their bike rallies very seriously. There was an estimated 38,000 people in attendance and they were there to have fun. It took place on some giant fair grounds east of Austin and there was something for everyone there. Custom bike competition, Von Dutch model search, helicopter rides, trips to the lake, and music.

Mark and I rode out Saturday morning, taking back roads and riding through small towns. The hill country of Texas is a site to see. Small and medium sized ranches as well and the typical small town houses dotted the road along the way. We had to dodge armadillo roadkill and the buzzards feasting on them. Along the way we stopped a diner where the waitress had smoked 2 packs a day for 35 years and called us 'hun'. I think the Texas sized omellette I had was made with 5 or six 6 eggs... I didn't finish it.

The closer we got to the rally there were more and more bikes on the road. It's a sight to see, a packed highway and not a car in the bunch. It's hard to explain the number of people on the grounds when we arrived, it's like the Stampede grounds only everyone is wearing motorcycle shirts and leather vests. Mark's inlaws were staying in an RV right along the ride route within the grounds, so we set up shop in their lot. After settling in we went for a ride to the Hooters near the city, and let me say the quality of Hoot at Hooters is miles above anything we've seen in Canada. Afterwards we rode to Lake Travis and went to The Oasis, which is a huge patio bar overlooking the lake. They do it right there with misters around each of the multiple level patios.

We headed back to the fair grounds afterwards and chilled out for a bit before the evening craziness started. I walked around the vendor area looking for a beer coozie, which are a necessity in 95 degree weather. It took a couple hours to walk through all of them, and you could you buy anything you'd need or want or dream of for motorcycles. Cup holders, dog holders, spinner rims, ape hangers, du-rage, and assless chaps. All I got was 'Freedom Machine' coozie...

Shortly after supper we rode over to the stage area. Joan Jett rocked the stage Saturday night, she's turned rather punk these days and was pretty good. Bad Company came on after, but I didn't stay too long for that one. Overall it was a decent concert, almost more fun to watch the crowd.

And then the gong show started. There's a ride around the grounds where riders tour around, showing off their ride, doing burn-outs, and girls collecting beads. Yeah, it's basically like mardi-gras only the crowd is a little more weathered. For every attractive girl on the back of a bike bearing her chest for a set of .$0.10 beads there is 8 or 9 other 'women' who are a little (a lot) passed their prime.

In addition to bikes doing the tour there are other 'rides'. Basically anything you can imagine that fits on a flat bed trailer, quad, or golf cart drove by... Pimped out golf cars with bench seats on the roof, swimming pools, bars, packs of girls, bbq's, and even stripper poles. This parade of pandemonium continued from nightfall to around 2am.

Good times though for sure. We woke up and were on the road home by 8:30am. Alternating between the freeway and smaller roads we made our way back to Houston, stopping to see the house Mark is building in a small town / suburb near Houston. The whole town is classic Desperate Housewives suburbia. If you're into that sort of thing, it was perfect!

Overall it was another great weekend. My borrowed Harley Street Bob hugged the road, but was rather plain compared to the other bikes at the rally. Either way... going 80 mph on the blacktop in a t-shirt with the wind blowing through your hair in 95 degree heat is not like anything else. Just kidding mom, they lent me a helmut too and I used it.

Food Groups

I've officially sampled all the Texan food groups. Tex-Mex at Chuy's, Cajun at Zydacos, and finally BBQ at The Goode Company BBQ.

Note to self: Don't walk home from the office when it's raining, even if it looks like a mild drizzle.

Last night I went to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit at Houston' Museum of Natural Science. Check out that link... it was pretty damn cool. Basically Gunther von Hagens figured out how to take real bodies, disect them, and then "plastinise" them... or something like that.

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Anyone out there heard of "Torrents"? Not exactly user friendly, but I just downloaded every song on Billboard's top Rap/Hip-Hop list with a single click. From what I can tell a torrent is the addresses to one or more files on the internet, people pick what files on their computer they want to add to a torrent and then publish it. Then others can download that torrent, which essentially downloads all the individual files in it to their computer. The trick is that now that torrent is downloadable from your computer too after you download it. So essentially it's just another P2P program, but more anonymous and a lot faster than any I've seen before. I found out about this after reading a CBC article about the film industry trying to shutdown a website because it aided in the illegal downloading of movies.

Read about and search for them here, and download software to do it here.

Of course I deleted the song files from my computer after seeing how it worked because stealing music or any other copyrighted material is illegal (in most countries).

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This weekend I'm renting a Harley and going to my first bike rally in Austin. It's the ROT Rally. ROT stands for Republic of Texas. Ha! It's gonna be awesome. Not sure I'll be able to post any pictures from here it, but I'll try.