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the mushroom

during my days in sydney, i always referred warmly to this building as the mushroom. well, i'm in russia now, so why am i bringing up old photos?  i found out today, this pic was selected for a sydney city map guide.  the schmap website asked if they could include it in the upcoming guide.  since its basically public domain and anyone could have taken the shot, i said sure.  you can see it along with other city snaps, here: schmap's sydney city guide

if you're ever in sydney and find the mushroom. (martin place and castlereagh) check out the bar in the below ground level called the cta lounge. (cta stands for commerical travelers association)  the drinks are cheap.  however, there's an earlier than normal last call, so be ready to move on to the next pub after a few drinks.

apec

after months of planning and a rush of supporting activity up to the final days of apec, i was able to catch a photo op with the president. good thing i waxed my head that morning.

long break

no, i'm not in a coma.  the last couple months have gone by with a flurry of activity and I kick myself for not jotting down a couple notes about what's going on.

i've been busying finishing up all the final details for my departure from sydney.  Some of the highlights.

• bought a new toyota fj cruiser
• packed up and shipped out all my stuff, including the scooter
• helped a friend by letting "s" crash at my place while she looked for a new place in sydney
• purchased some exercise equipment for my new place in russia
• got my russian visa
• finished ordering all my consumables
• joined the rest of my co-workers for the ensuing apec (epic?) conference (ending this week)
• to do yet - spend the last three days before i leave hanging out with friends i hope to see again down the road.

no pics right now, but i've been busying snapping some whenever i can. should have more to post soon.

another week and i'll be back in the states visiting family and friends.  by mid october i'll be in a new country and trying to catch up on learning the language.

running low on virtual memory

nothing to mention of any significance. but i thought i post anyway. just a couple months to go before i fly out of australia and spend some time back home in the states. 

with the asian pacific economic conference coming to sydney, we're already busy at the consulate supporting various visitors that will be arriving.  well, actually i'm not. but that's giving me time to followup on my arrangements for my departure.

some of the things i'm working on:

• getting my russian visa
• buying a new car
• buying consumables
• buying new clothes
• booster shots for immunizations
• canceling all services for my home
• major cleaning for home after 2 years of wear and tear
• donating, trashing or selling anything i don't need
• sorting what goes back to storage, what goes to russia and what never leaves my side

the first one, i thought would take the longest but i'm learning it's even more difficult than i imagined. and i haven't even applied for it yet.

buying a car, sounds easy and it would be normally but i only have a month in the states and i'd rather use the time for something else. so i'm looking into buying it with the help of family back home.

vaccinations- another surprise. i discovered one of the immunizations i had for africa never actually took. when i asked the dr. if that happens a lot for that type of shot, she said "not really, only about 2% of the people taking it reject it." so i get to try again and see if it sticks.

when you begin to prepare for the next tour,  you unconsciously shift from priorities at work to what do i have to follow up on for moving. no matter what you hear about the foreign service, it's up to you to check on tickets, packing, training, home leave, etc. there's no one there to give you daily reminders on what to do next.  it can shred an ADD person to pieces.

talking to coworkers turns into speaking in different languages. when they mention a project that's going to happen after i leave, i mentally file it in the "make sure to tell my replacement" folder. and my "get-done-before-i-go" projects are "we'll-get-to-it-eventually" ideas.

did i mention the lists? no matter how many times i do this, i'm realizing i have too many to-do lists. my best advice for someone doing this, get one pda or one notebook or one scribe to keep everything written down.  because the list you just made at home, is going to be the one with the note on it that you need that day at work..

what's the minimum enlistment age?

since i missed posting on the 4th of july, here's a little update on what's stirring up gawkers in sydney.  the uss kitty hawk cv63 aircraft carrier arrived this week in the harbour.

the oldest active ship in the u.s. navy and the world's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier.  it was commissioned in 1963 at the philadelphia naval shipyard. this will probably be the last time it will visit sydney so i was happy to take part in a saturday morning tour through the u.s. consulate.

i was also able to join others in a private celebration friday night, for a hosted event by the ship's crew in the carrier's hanger.

the ship itself is a sight to behold.  when you approach it, it looks like just another office building that's sprung up overnight near the navy wharf.  sydneysiders were already queuing up for a look at it when i arrived at 930am for my tour.

the city has steadied itself for thousands of american sailors on their weekend leave.  but i'm sure the pub tabs will cover everything. j/k. 

docking station

the last two weeks of weather in sydney have been filled with rain, wind and colder temps. (remember it's winter here) the rain is usually always needed due to drought. most of the time it misses the land that needs it the most. so when it comes, no one complains.

this time the stormy weather brought with it some havoc. i can hear my outdoor patio furniture start to move under its own power when the winds get bad. so over the last week or so i got the feeling the chairs had some place better to be than on my balcony.

one of my neighbors told me the wharf (cremorne point) down my street was out of service due to one of the last storms. i figured it was just going to be for a couple of days until they did whatever they had to do. a week passed and one morning i figured i'd give my scooter a break and take the ferry to work instead. not even thinking about the wharf, i went down the hill to the ferry stop. as i rounded the corner, i first thought "what are they doing? expanding the wharf?". because all i could see was the ferry shelter and ramp leading down to the water. all the pylons that supported the cement landing were standing up through the water with nothing between them to support.

after a minute of staring at the bizarre sight i realized i better get on the bus that was waiting next to the stop or i'd have another 1/2 hour of waiting for the next one. in talking to the bus driver, i learned the storm had indeed come through and destroyed the landing. the city has brought in a crane to work on getting it repaired. for now it's skipped on the regular mosman ferry run.

as the pictures show, the pylons are still sticking up from the water. in the latter photo, they've brought in a crane platform to begin the work. i wonder if i'll see it again before i leave.

luna park

Luna park snaps from a few weeks ago..  I'm just a short hike from the park located at Milson's point.  It's taken several months to get around to spending anytime there but I finally made it there one Sunday.

Luna Park entrance

taronga zoo-ness

a busy weekend ends with a day off monday due to memorial day back in the states.  i took a couple friends around the city all weekend before finishing up monday morning with seeing one off to the airport. 

one of the things on my to-do list was finally completed sunday, a trip to the taronga zoo here in sydney.  i don't live too far from it, but i've always put it off since it seemed like i'd have plenty of opportunities to fit it in.  but after looking at my departure date which is coming up faster than i'd anticipated, it was time for the zoo.

i met up with A and M from work and we spent the afternoon walking through taronga's footpaths to see australia's common wildlife along with the other zoo's inhabitants. some of the other pix are on my flicker account but i'll put up a gallery link sometime soon. the one featured in this post is a meerkat.  sometimes the first shot is the best and can never be replicated.  just try to keep from smiling while looking at it.

bias upgrade

over the last couple of weeks, i've been the unofficial host to a couple of visiting staff performing a server network upgrade.  after several late nights, i think i set a personal record for five nights in a row where i was catching a mid-night cab.

it also gave our local staff a chance to dispel some of the misconceptions and educate visitors on the common venacular used in a pub or other common meeting place.  phrases such as "give me a schooner of VB, mate" were repeated with delight through out the day even though it was behind a server rack devoid of any alcohol in the immediate vicinity. i did my best to sway tastes to brands like coopers, squires, and other brews but i think carlton won out as a favorite among our guests.

i know what it's like to travel for computer system upgrades, so we made sure everyone occupied their any free time, however brief, to various landmarks ar0und the city.  one of the guys, M, even stayed a few extra days just to hang out in sydney.

after the project was over, i heard from the local staff that it was one of the best upgrades they'd had to do. i'd say it was in part due to both aussie and american cultures coming together and each learning a little more about the other.

breach

our office of public affairs presented a preview of the movie "breach" tonight at the hoyt theatre. the true story centers on fbi agent and convicted spy, robert hanssen.

while i enjoyed the solid acting of chris cooper, ryan phillippe and laura linney throughout the movie, i was a bit disappointed with the very last scene. Not giving anything away, it felt like a producers heavy hand was involved in tagging it with a hollywood ending.  up until then it played out with a realism that didn't involved your typical action picture cliches. so if you're curious about how someone becomes a traitor to their country than you'll definitely enjoy the protrayal of the worst intelligence disaster in the u.s. history.

not only did hanssen give up names of contacts to the soviet union, (some resulting in death), he also cost the u.s. govt millions due to classified secrets that were revealed. truly an embarrassement for the fbi and a constant reminder of how one twisted individual can soil the history of entire agency.