It's all over. Some guys at the office bought Guitar Hero for the lunch room. What a brilliant game. Thursday was someone's last day, but instead of going out to the pub as planned, we just brought in some beers and played it until late. It was the most fun I've had in a long while.

Back to house hunting...

They're kicking us out. Well, actually, they're just raising our rent to the point where we really can't afford to stay any longer. It was just a matter of time, really; we've been here almost four years now at the same rent, and it's a seller's market right now.

Today we hired a car and went by no less than nine different places today (there was a tenth too that we couldn't find). Exhausting. And none were up to snuff. Even if we find a place we like there's no guarantee we'll get it -- there's always a crowd at these viewings, and having to admit we have a dog is a liability. It's a grueling process.

We're looking north of the city, so Marjorie has an easier commute. There's some nice neighborhoods but nothing (I think) as nice as where we're at now. Still, a change of scene might be nice. But we may end up staying in this area if nothing pans out up north.

It was a lot easier four years ago when Marjorie wasn't working. We know we'll have to kiss a lot of frogs in the process but it can be pretty grating.

Not the most exciting post; I think I must just be burned out...

The good things about my new job:

• It's nothing but programming. No proposal writing, requirements gathering, design sessions, customer support, etc. like my last job; just the pure unadulterated fun stuff that I like.


• My time sheet takes about thirty seconds to complete, instead of the fifteen minutes of my last job.


• Magazines on the lunchroom table include Scientific American, my favorite magazine, which was a good omen on my first day.


• My boss is wickedly smart. Maybe even the smartest guy I've ever met, and I've met a lot of smart people. But he's also really cool and down-to-earth. It seems like he could do the job of any of the twenty or so people under him, but he doesn't micromanage.


• There's a MAME arcade emulator machine in the lunchroom (built by same boss). There's also an XBox.


• I have my pick of hardware, software, and books, plus a hefty yearly training budget.

The bad:

• Eight hour days instead of the Australian standard of seven and a half. I typically worked that much anyway so it's no big deal.


• It's all guys, save the receptionist.


• Pernicious Microsoft influence, now that we've officially been acquired. So far it's been no big deal. We have, though, been "discouraged" from working on open source projects.


• More pressure. I've already had a few work dreams.

Just got back from a lovely weekend away at a cottage (which was dog-friendly) in the nearby spa resort town of Daylesford. We did a whole lot of nothing for the long weekend, which was nice. The dog enjoyed herself too, but I still hate it that there's no way to explain to her what's going on -- she never knows if we're staying someplace forever or just for a visit.

On the way back we took a stroll around Hanging Rock, but failed to mysteriously disappear.

Interesting disclaimer on TV prior to a program we watched -- it was something like this:

SBS advises Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders that the following program contains voices and depictions of dead people.

Local celebrity spotting, in McNugget form:

Grabriella Cilmi, who recently knocked Madonna off the top of the British charts, is from Melbourne. I tracked down her song, Sweet About Me, which I expected to be pure bubblegum, but it's actually not bad -- kind of Amy Winehouse-y.

Sally Seltmann, who co-wrote Feist's international hit 1234 is also from here.

Nicolas Cage is apparently looking for a house in our neighborhood. This is probably in some way responsible for our recent rent increase. Maybe we can hang out. Though I imagine he'll be palling around with Hugh Jackman and Guy Pierce instead.

I was just watching a bit of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" episode about Singapore, and it got me thinking back. I surfed around a bit and came across this clip of a very typical Singaporean sitcom called "Under One Roof". All Singaporean sitcoms, I think, are about overbearing mothers.

I often go on here about the great things about Australia. One of the down sides, though, is the cost of things. A perfect example:

Item	US price	Australia price
Wii	US$250	US$379
Wii Fit	US$90	US$137

I want this, but the Australian price is a lot harder to justify. Electronics in general cost too much, as do clothes and housewares.

When we first got Laika she pulled on the leash too much, so we got her a halti. She hates it.

A few years later she started getting into kerfuffles with other dogs (particularly schnauzers) so we got her a muzzle. She hates it.

Now, after a leg surgery, we had to get her one of those lampshade collars o' humiliation. She hates it. Look how defeated she looks.

Fortunately for her she only had to wear it for one day, as we can now keep a watch on her, since we are both suddenly home sick with some bizarro virus. We both felt clammy and belchy at work on Monday, and now the symptoms seem to be a wildly fluctuating body temperature, belchiness, a complete indifference to food, and a general cold and clammy feeling. Marjorie chundered a few times last night while I got woken up by acid reflux at 3:30am. Always good to have to call in sick on your third week on the job. The dog at least appreciates having us around.

How to speak Australian. What would be your guess as to what these Australianisms mean?

A newspaper headline from a while back: "CATS FACE BLOW".

The government's new "Dob In A Hoon" campaign.

In bed with the devil? Naaaah... After one week on the job I no longer work for "FAST Search & Transfer" -- now we are officially "FAST, a Microsoft Subsidiary". There was a meeting today about how this will all affect us; the bottom line is "not much" (for now at least). We'll see. The group I'm working with seems strong and smart and sensible, so I'm confident that things will work out, one way or another.

Next month we have the official welcome bash. All the Australian branches are coming to Melbourne for it, and I've heard the word "degustation" mentioned. Lead us not into...

The dog is broken again. She started developing cysts around the sutures from her last surgery, so today she got the plate in her leg taken out. I came home to her whimpering and shivering a little, but she's just disoriented; she's fine when one of us is touching her. She's sleeping in front of the heater now. I have a big, complex emotion about all this that doesn't lend itself well to syntax.

Wildlife sightings while visiting the USA:

6 or 7 manatees: Cocoa Beach

3 bottlenose dolphins: Cocoa Beach

1 bald eagle (dead, roadkill): Cape Canaveral

Various hawks and cardinals: Arkansas

At least 15 different species of bird at our friends Dick and Carol's home feeder, including at least 4 new species for us: pine siskin, yellow-rumped warbler, Carolina wren, yellow-bellied woodpecker (says Carol, though I think this was actually a flicker): Georgia

Wild turkey: Berkeley

The parrots of Telegraph Hill: San Fran

3 or 4 of the lesser-known (Anna's?) hummingbirds of Telegraph Hill: San Fran

50 or so harbor seals: San Fran

1 acorn woodpecker, stuffing his tree like this: Palo Alto

I'm missing some sightings, I think...

I survived my first week at my new job for FAST Search. A lot of "drinking from the fire hose" so far as the system is pretty sizable and just about everything is new to me (including the operating system -- Linux/Ubuntu/Gnome). I've been advised that there's lots of hardcore algorithmic stuff deep in the guts of the system that needs work -- sweet.

All the people seem really cool -- serious geeks but no social misfits. There's a MAME box in the lunch room. They have a system of lava lamps that are lit whenever various software builds are broken.

Sadly it's a bit of a sausage party -- all white males between the ages of 25 and, um, my age. The one woman in the whole office (of twenty or so people) is (to complete the stereotype) an administrative assistant. By an odd coincidence, the guy who's been helping me a lot this week happens to play on my soccer team (I didn't know he worked there until after I accepted the offer). Should be good fun.

Some pics from our recent trip back to the USA. We had a super, super time, practically every day of the trip. More details to come.

My last day at my current job (yesterday) happened to correspond with their quarterly event. So I spent my last afternoon climbing rocks, which was a lot of fun. At drinks afterwards I burned the heck out of myself on an hors d'oeuvre and so get to start my new job on Monday with a scab across my lower lip.

Greets from the USA where we're just about to wrap up a lovely visit with Mark's side of the family. All the kidren are playful and rambunctious and growing up too fast. With twelve people staying at my parents' house it was like My Big Fat Greek Family. We saw manatees and dolphins in the canal that runs behind their back yard. I took some photos and movies which I will post later.

Our big joke this trip is to say "Oh yeah" whenever we see something that we used to see all the time but had completely forgotten about. Sales tax -- "Oh yeah". Texas Pete's Hot Sauce -- "Oh yeah". Towel dispensers where you have to pull the lever down a foot to dispense three inches of paper towel -- "Oh yeah". Supercuts, Panera Bread Company, Lance crackers -- "Oh yeah".

The US seems stranger to me in general than on previous return visits. The things that strike me the most strange are pennies (Why? Get rid of them already) and toilets (they give you a veritable lake to pee into in the US; seems like a waste).

Note to me Atlanta mates -- will be going Atlanta next -- spending a few days with Marjorie's parents before heading into town. Will be in touch soon!

More commercial goodness. A commercial down here refers to Easter eggs as "tarted-up chicken butt-nuts". I love Australia...

Great fun last night as I went and saw From The Jam, which is basically two former members of The Jam, one of my favorite bands, who broke up after I got into them in, um, 1984. The played all their old songs, but with a replacement front man. Kind of strange, really, considering that most of the songs were written by the missing guy. But if it was an odd situation for the band, it didn't show.

It seemed everyone there, like me, knew all the words to every song. It was a dream set list, where they played all my favorite of their hits, plus all my favorite of their non-hits, it seemed. From memory:

In The City

The Modern World

All Mod Cons

News Of The World

To Be Someone

David Watts

In The Crowd

It's Too Bad

'A' Bomb In Wardour Street

Down In A Tube Station At Midnight

So Sad About Us

Thick As Thieves

Private Hell

Little Boy Soldiers

Smithers-Jones

Eton Rifles

Strange Town

Pretty Green

Start!

Ghosts

The Gift

Thick As Thieves

Town Called Malice

When You're Young

Going Underground

After the show on the tram I chatted with a guy who flew up from Tasmania for the show, leaving his wife and two kids behind. It did seem that there were a lot of people like me who were there by themselves, just because they had to. Come on, this is as close to The Jam as you'll ever see. (Well, I said that about the Pixies too.) But I still have a happy buzz from the show the next day just writing about it.

Oh yeah, I have a new job too.

Seeing as my feet are size 12, I think I'll avoid visiting Canada for a while.

Posted without comment. We just saw this commercial on TV down here.

Your literary quote of the day:

There was something distinctly intimidating about her stare. It seemed to come from a one-woman mob, separated only by time and chance from her knitting bag and a splendid view of the guillotine. -- JD Salinger, "Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters"

Somehow I never noticed this book on our shelves before. So I'm reading it on the tram now, and it's brilliant.

My new crusade: ALL words in book, movie, or song title should be capitalized. Leaving small words like "the" and "and" uncapitalized only leads to confusion. Why not just capitalize them all?

Yesterday we met up with my internet-cum-real-life friend who was in town visiting with his sister. This is the third continent we've met on (previously we've met up in Atlanta and London). Had a great time showing them the city and our neighborhood. He works for Apple, so I got my first look at an iPhone and was wowed. To my surprise, given all the hype and my previous distaste for most things Mac-ish. That is one sexy gadget. Want.