Another day, another dollar

I don’t really have a lot of updates, but I have a few people requesting daily updates! Trust me, no one wants to hear about what I do on a daily basis – it even bores me! A lot of it is the same stuff I would do in the US – wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to work, eat some lunch, finish work, go home.
But I do have to say the last few weeks have had some abnormal things thrown in the middle of that routine. At least once a day someone makes fun of the way that I say something or tries to tell me where another great café or restaurant is, I promise there will not be enough time for me to try out all their suggestions.
Also, one key difference is that I do have a fabulous view from my desk. I’m sitting at the corner, so I’ll show you what the views are directly in front of me and then out the window to my right. With a view like this, it’s a wonder I get any work done. In the building with the giant cone shaped roof, there is a huge shopping area. I'll also be posting all the pictures I take on the website on the left of the blog page - just look for the link. Cheers everyone!

First couple of weeks

I have made it through my first couple of weeks in Australia. As expected, everything has been an adventure but everyone I have encountered has been very helpful.
A few highlights:
1) Upon my arrival, after 30 hours of flying from Atlanta to Melbourne via Chicago, LA, and Sydney (I really got a world tour in one day), I got out of the taxi at my hotel and started lugging my bags (now I know why they call it luggage) with a month and a half's worth of clothes up the sidewalk when 2 very nice guys insisted on helping me carry the bags up the 2 flights of stairs to the hotel. And it couldn't have been because they thought that I looked good - see previous comment about the 30 hour flight!
2) I get to the hotel and turn on the TV, when the first thing that I see on is Days of Our Lives and the second thing is Oprah! Not to mention on the way from the airport I see a K-Mart, a Target and a Dixie Chicks song is playing on the radio. Somethings are different here, but some are just the same as home.
3) As it turns out I arrived on Thrus and had a tough time finding a hotel room. Some of the company event planners had some luck finding me something in the city for 2 nights but for Saturday I had to travel all the way back to the airport to stay at the Hilton there. Apparently the rooms in town were all booked due to the G-20 economic summit and a U2 concert. But once I got to the Hilton, I made a couple of phone calls and then ended up sleeping 5 hours, so it all worked out okay.
4) I've decided I'm starting a list words that are different from how we would say them in the US - I suspect over the length of my stay here, this list will be quite extensive.
5) Driving on the left-hand side of the road - needless to say, there is no way I will be brave enough to try this in the near term!
6) This weekend I plan to run a 10K race that goes along the nice flat terrain next to the beach. This should be great! I also plan to break out the camera this weekend to take a bunch of pictures - so I'll have more to post in the future.

Here's a view from my hotel. That's the Port Phillip Bay in the distance.