Kayaking Sydney Harbor

We are past the halfway point and no better way to reflect on that feat by hitting the highlights............

Best experience thus far:  Now I am supposed to say having my sister and mom fly 348 hours across three planets to come visit me and spend a month in another country living off the land with only our wits to sustain us.  That is what I am supposed to say and while that might be the best lifelong memory that I take from this trip, because it was pretty amazing.  I am going to go with the whole scuba diving experience.  Scuba diving is supposed to be a rich man's game full of clams with pearls in them and yachts.  In Australia for $199 and some lying on a waiver form you can hop right down in the ocean and live underwater for a half an hour at a time.  If you really take some time and think about what a feat that is, not for me, but just to be X feet underwater and pretty much a tank is keeping you alive, its pretty amazing.  Add in all the stuff you get to see, people throwing up on the boat, staying up till 4am the night before, the Willy Wonka style elimination of  my fellow divers and a dive instructor named Grace that pretty much let me do whatever I wanted and you have a pretty memorable life experience.

On to today:


This is how this story should have gone.  A large group of us went kayaking in the harbor.  It was sunny and we all had a great time. 

What actually did happen was much less fun and exciting, but it does make for a decent story.

I woke up early so I could watch the 4-2 Huskies play against Arizona State.  Could not get the game streaming online until after the first touchdown.  7-0 Dawgs and it seemed like we were rolling.  Fast forward about 40 minutes of crap later and we are getting whipped on both sides of the ball, Keith Price can't complete a pass, the line can't block, and the D stopped tackling.  Really fun to watch.

After the third quarter of more BS, our group packed up to make the trek to Manly Beach for a kayak adventure.  I work for from town so I purchase an unlimited rides pass each week.  This entitles me to all the bus, train, and ferry rides that I need to take for a week.  The majority of the group takes the 12:10 fast ferry ($$$$) and I am going to wait for the 12:30 which is free.  I am denied entrance into the ferry terminal, of course the rules have changed and my pass no longer works on the ferries.  So, I get in the 50 person line and miss the 12:30.  We are all meeting up at 1 by the way.  So as to not miss the next ferry I get straight in line and am herded into the waiting area that is so packed you hold your wallets to make sure you don't get pick pocketed.

It is in this moment that a young Asian boy decides to yak his lunch on my leg.  No big deal, at least I can move, go wash up, and still make the ferry.....................nope, no I cant.  They offer me ONE wet nap and I proceed with a pukey leg cause we are so packed in there is no turning back.  The ferry actually takes off early, things are turning around, and we are headed to das beach.  Midway I get a call from Stu to learn where I can meet the rest of the group.  

Phone dies, and I am lost forever.  Luckily my specialty is wandering lost so I am fairly certain that I can find everyone, how many kayak stands can their be??  Too many is the answer, I never find anyone, wander aimlessly, and take the ferry home defeated.

The weather was perfect, the ferry ride beautiful and I did get a decent tan started.  It was not a total loss of a day, minus that "football" game in the morning and my leg is starting to smell

We have recently had a crazy sting of bush fires out here.  I guess the worst its been in nearly a decade or so. These are some pictures I took after work.  One of my bosses houses was right on the edge, and I think she just missed losing her house by a few feet (I almost typed meters).

Fleet Week

It was Fleet Week here in Sydney this week and they were celebrating 100 years of Australian Navy.  Boats from all around the world came to celebrate and I hear Rihanna, Prince Henry, and some other celebs where here.  Here are some photos from the weekend (I did not take all of these, but I wanted you to be able to see what I saw).

The city was buzzing all weekend because of this and was extra packed.  Which is exactly what I was looking for in coming here.  Had a great night out with the crew and it pretty much lasted until an early morning.  The next day I went and watched the UW game............moving on I stayed up till 3am to watch the Hawks game.............and that was the weekend.  Not sure what happened in either game and I blacked out with rage.

What a bummer that Dawgs game was.  Reasons why we lost:

Opening Kickoff Ret TD

End of first half secondary mess up

Penalties in first half

And magical camera ferries that showed that ball hit the ground when all the angles they showed on tv game NO CLEAR EVIDENCE to overturn the call on the field, had they called incomplete, and those were the two camera shots they had to go on, I would not have been upset if they kept the ruling on the field and we lost, but since they called catch, it should have remained a catch, no arguing that.

At least the Game Day crew will be headed to Seattle next week, someone take out Corso if he puts on the Donald Duck head!!!!!!

Another question I am asked quite often is what you miss most from the US.  Other than all of you, here are the products that I have been unable to find here:

Like I said before the beer here is not good, unless you go IPA.  And not being a beer fan in general I need my beer to taste like delicious water.  Nothing in the world better than Bud Light!!!!  I think the #1 beer drunk over here is called Toohey's New, it is ok, but its the sweet sweet nectar that is Bud Light!

They don't have it here and Diet Coke sucks, I drink a lot less soda then I used to.  Probably a good problem to have.  I have increased my coffee drinking by about 1000% though.  I hear that the coffee here is better than the coffee at home, whatever, but I guess that means since I did not drink coffee at home I am going to be missing the kinds you get here.  Regardless I'll be back on the DP most likely when I get home.

All the deodorant down here is spray, which is great if you want to smell like a cologned up, lasts for 20 minutes in this heat, all day BO Aussie.  But, most countries where we shower at least once a day, colonging up 5x a day is not really going to prevent the smell.  (Think NYC taxi, but everyone).  Its a really easy way to tell who is local and who is not.  This exact brand, this exact kind, I have one stick left and I am getting nervous.

Just so good.

I don't let my hair get too long, so I have made do for 6 months with one of these bad boys, however its getting low and seeing as hair products cost $47 about down here I might just be letting nature have its way for a while.  Speaking of hair I went in and got my haircut about 4 weeks ago.  It was magical.  The guy sat me down, asked me what I wanted and then we did not speak again until he asked me if I wanted my side burns shortened.  My god, he didn't ask me a thing, I loved it!!!!  No, "Are you off work?" "Where do you work?" "Have any kids?" "How's the weather?"  Just the most mundane talks you can have and I hate them, I hate them so much.  If you could pay extra to guarantee no conversation would transpire I would go as high as $7 extra.  I also have an amazing idea for a new kind of hair cutting place that I have shared with some of you, it would be a $$$ maker for sure.

Other Stuff:

Group night out, fun bunch of people.

I am Chandler Bing, nice awkward hands

This picture was taking in the main corridor of Central Train station.  I wandered in there on my way to work as I do everyday, however on this day they were filming an Aussie reality TV cooking show.  There were about 10 station like this one, with couples doing some sort of cook off.  There was a six foot barricade that was blocking people from the one you see in this picture.  I walked right past that and up to where they were cooking.  Then I took about 5 photos.  Then I was accosted by security and a lady that tried to take my phone.  Several lies later I was on my way with just this one photo.  I even got some of the cameras to turn in my direction.  By the way if you have never seen a reality show (why would you), they had like 8 cameras on each pair, which would drive me crazy.  There were more cameramen in that place then anything else.  In summing up I am an Australian Reality TV star, channel 7, look for me.

The following pictures are my home gym.  These are the torture stairs, mostly used for torture and going up and down between floors.  About 20 minutes of them will do.

You know those long bands that people use in the gym and do self propelled flys and other various workouts.  We use towels and they are awesome.

Multi-purpose bar and weights.  The bar weighs about 5 lbs and we have about 50 lbs of weights, so there is only so much you can do, but when its too light, just have to increase the reps!!!

These are detergent jugs full of water.  Great for lunges and replacement kettle bells. 

Yoga Mat

Then this guy.  I know its hard to see, but that is his hair.  He has it in the shape of sun glasses, pretty awesome.

1-7

1-7

That is the current record of my two fantasy football teams.  One league I am in with 7 Brits that know nothing about "American" football, and the other is with the Issaquah boys that we have been doing for well over a decade.  Basically what I am trying to communicate is that NFL does not exist down here, I have watched one game, and all I know for sure is the Hawks are 4-0.  Games start at 3am on Monday morning and are pretty much only on while I am at work.  Sucks, sucks bad.  Another team that I am actually able to follow is the also 4-0 Washington Huskies.  Huge game coming up this weekend, and it will be the first televised in Australia, so while the rest of you are out Saturday night watching the Dawgs, I will be at a sports bar on a Sunday at noon trying to find a place that has ESPN 2.  Can't wait, and I am not being sarcastic.  I even have about 6 of the Brits shouting U-dub upon my entrance or exit of a room.  Its pretty great.

I asked for some topics to write about and here is some of the questions I was asked.

How are the Aussie Women??

- Crazy, they are fun and loud and quite unstable.  I know I am making a very broad generalization here, but from what I have encountered in 6 months, they are equal parts awesome and equal parts nuts.  I have been on a couple dates, been in the trenches and I have not taken marriage off the table, but its teetering on the edge.

Lingo that I find stupid

- Mackers- this is what they call McDonalds, its a dumb nickname and all the menu items are not good and overpriced.  EXCPET the .30 ice cream cone, oh god how much do I love the .30 ice cream done.  Best deal in the country.

-How you going- How are you doing, how are you?  I have refrained from adopting this and have yet to ask sonmeone, but you will hear it 5-6 times a day.

-Unlucky- Aussies will say this is anything on the planet does not go your way.  Miss a crazy basketball shot, "ahhhh, unlucky."  Get caught robbing a bank, "Ohhh rough go mate, unlucky"  

-Toliet- Bathrooms do not exist, only toilets

-Return- This is a round trip, its a tiny thing that drives me crazy.  If you are going to work and back it doesnt take 2 hours round trip, its 2 hours return.

-Take Away- This means to go.  This phrase is also annoying

Ill do some more as I am too agitated now. 

Here is what has been going on lately for me:

Monday- Work, Men's league hoops, home, bed

Monday 2- Work, Co rec league hoops, home, bed

Monday 3- Work, Workout on the roof at the hostel, movie

Monday 4- Work, make up an excuse as to why I can skip working out (I had a vegetable earlier in the day, its too windy to run, or the walk to the bus was at least a 5k (about 100 feet) ), bed

Friday- Sleepwalk though work, nearly pass out at my desk, get off work, 100% awake and ready to go enjoy the Sydney nightlife

Saturday (park hoops, try not to get robbed, win some games, explore the city)

Pre Monday (Sleep, blog maybe, watch the dawgs on pirate internet tv, movie, hate life as its almost Monday)

*Weeks do vary, and I am making them less exciting than they are, part of that is to keep this pg and the other part is that I live in a freaking hostel full of idiots (not all the people in here are idiots, just most)

Here are some pictures of recent events:  I apparently need to take more pictures..........  The first two are murderball, USA vs New Zeland vs  Australia.  US #1 and Australia is #2.  Turns out US is still #1, weird!!!!

The bottom one was 5:30 am on a Tuesday, while you were all enjoying Labor Day, I was drafting my 0-4 fantasy football team.  The things we do.  And one fun night out (ok those wont post, ugh, next time)

Much more to come soon, again anything you want to know just ask.