This Just In

Ok so I’ll try to stop talking about the view (gorgeous), and the weather (similarly gorgeous) and starting talking about… well, stuff. That’s going on.

Have a friend (Simon) up from Melbourne already, which is pretty cool. I’m not entirely sure where to show him (and his friend) around, but the tourist spots (Manly, Bondi, Darling Harbour) are ticking their own boxes pretty nicely. The weekend however poses a problem, as I’ve realised that I have stuff to take care of (cleaning, washing clothes, cooking dinner for the week – such is the life) but chances are I’ll be out for most of it. Dad’s up on Sunday night too, so a bit of family time is going to be a change from getting home and finding no one else there. In a good way as opposed to unexpectedly finding someone there that you don’t know and think might not have the most honest intentions. So must work out how to manage the weekend.
Breaking news: the QEII has just left the harbour. It was almost as big as the Opera House. But I’m not to mention the view much…

Got my first paycheck! Much sweetness. I’ve worked out that I was actually earning more, hour for hour, back at uni – but that is due to me actually paying tax this time around. I suppose as a contributing member of society now I have some rights to demand (more) from the government.

We’ve met some of the more important people in the organisation, and had conversations prefaced with “This doesn’t leave this room, obviously…” Our second day here we’d been lectured that we’d be exposed to sensitive information that not family nor shrink should be told, so to actually hear things relevant to that lecturing is exciting in a way, and scary in some others. “What if I let slip?”, you ask yourself, and try to find a way to forget. Invariably however your memory finds a way to make exactly that fact prominent.

I’m blogging at work, yes. We’re in a test phase and that means a lot of time spent doing tedious tasks which vary very little. So I figure I’ll take some time out to blog, because at least that’ll keep me awake (although only just). I’ve got a good team of people here, but everyone does stay busy. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I have 3 screens at work. Two are attached to a linux box, and the other to a Windows box, and it gets very confusing with the peripherals. Sometimes I need to adjust something on the Windows box while I’ve been working on the linux box, and the mouse ends up stopping short before I work out that I have to transfer hands. Same goes for keyboard and copy-pasting.

India’s won its one day series against Pakistan after narrowly loosing the Test series. Winning against Pakistan means as much if not more than the Ashes do to Australia, so we’ll take every win as a boon from the gods.
I’ve finally been writing more of the stuff I wanted to do on my wordpress.com blog. Highly political.
I’ve started exploring a redesign for pushing the sky, but it’s at least a month, probably two, away.

And planning, or at least brainstorming, begins on The Europe Trip. It’ll be at least October before we’re actually able to go on the trip, but already all the discussion amongst the grads is about who/what/when/where. Ideas welcome from anyone that’s been there. Also, being the “baby” of the group, younger than most by about 2 years, discussions are already underway about what to do in London 4 days after landing. It looks like I’ve got fun promised =)

All in all though, missing you peeps. Come on up, y’all.