KISS - 20 (or 30) years after the fact

Well, I've got to admit that all of the hype leading up to the F1 Grande Final KISS Concert got me quite excited. I mean, I've never been a KISS fan and I was pretty sure I only had ever heard of one song. But in every commercial they played that one song and I was getting pumped. Many of our loyal readers maybe KISS fans and laugh at the fact that people are still seeing them in concert. My dad found it hilarious, but I told him find someone cool you want to see, add 30 years and then they tour in Australia (remember the Police Concert on Australia Day?)

After a hot day in the sun and quite a few Victoria Bitters (Foster's local brew), the time had come. It was packed and people were decked out. They sounded pretty good - especially given how old they are and still in all the make-up so you couldn't really tell the difference. Well time went by and then alot of time and I still didn't recognize a song. The funniest thing they said was, "Well as you can imagine over the decades, many women have thrown their bras on stage. We assume they bring them in their purses and through them up, but this one - this one here is different. It's soaking wet. This is the real thing!!"

She also must have been out all day in the sweltering heat drinking too many VBs. Well, it was getting late and frankly we were a little bored - although the old guy dancing in front of us was pretty hilarious. So funny in fact I took some video, but Sean didn't think it was fair to him to post it. Anyway we decided to leave early. And wouldn't you know it, as we arrived home we could hear them finally singing, IIII WANT TO ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT...AND PARTY EVERY DAY!

In One Word... HOT!!!

And in another word, LOUD! Those two words best describe our Sunday afternoon. A week of unseasonably hot weather culminated on Sunday with temps breaking 40C without the smallest cloud or the faintest breeze to provide relief. The noise, well that was not generated by Mother Nature. The ear-piercing, stomach-wrenching "WHIZ"was caused by twenty Formula One cars racing in our backyard - literally. The F1 season kicked off in Albert Park last week. [For those not familiar, we live in Albert Park. Don't be confused if you thought we lived in Melbourne because we do. Melbourne is infact very close, but our official address is Albert Park. Very similar to the idea that we used to live in Washington, DC, but infact we lived in Arlington, a much better place ;-)] Since our arrival in the Albert Park neighborhood, we've been constantly warned about the autumn race. The traffic, the noise, the tourists, the noise, the city disruptions, the noise, etc. You get the idea, we should be prepared for the noise. I told Melissa to work from Sydney Thursday and Friday to escape the deafening sound of the F1 race cars, but she held her ground here. And as predicted, as I was leaving for work Thursday morning, I could here the faint "whiz" of what sounded like really large misquitoes flying close by. As if that wasn't enough, there were air shows on Saturday and Sunday involving the F-18s and helos from the Australian Air Force and a Qantas 747 flyover - they where very cool.

In reality, the noise from the cars was not really bad at all. [I may be exagerating slightly for affect - a wonderful trait i've picked up from my wonderful wife.] The noise did not bother Melissa during her work days - the heat is another story. You could hear the practice runs, but you really had to pay attention. It was nice, however, to watch on television some of the undercard races and be able to hear the real noise from our open back door.

As for Sunday, we got over to the park in the afternoon and found that no shady area was left - surprise. There was beer though. And ear plugs. You'll notice our picture. Every covering has a purpose. The hats and glasses to provide protection from the sun, the earplugs to save our ears. What you can't see is that we aren't wearing any pants in order to stay cool - jk!

Labour Day Weekend (for some)

Before we get to the new posting, I must first print our first correction. In a previous posting, I said Pop-pop was a football coach. In fact, he was a baseball coach. I apologize for any confusion this misstatement might have caused and ensure our readers both Melissa and I will work diligently to confirm all facts from our various sources. On another note, the opinion of this writer that Pop-pop reminded him of Joe-Pa was just that, an opinion.

This is the first of a string of long weekends and short workweeks. Is there a better combination?! This weekend was Labour [the correct spelling Down Under] Day – well at least for one of us. Since Melissa works in Sydney and New South Wales does not celebrate Labour Day until November, I had the Monday off but Melissa [unfortunately] had to work. And Labour Day is not the only holiday that is different across the country. All states celebrate the Queen’s birthday – just which Queen each state is celebrating is anyone’s guess since they are all celebrate on different dates. I’m especially looking forward to Melbourne Cup Day in November – Melbourne [and Victoria] shuts down for a horse race. It would be as if Maryland took the day off for the Preakness Stakes. At least with Melissa working from home, we were able to swelter together in our still not air conditioned house [it topped 35C] and enjoy a long lunch at our new favorite lunch spot – The Avenue Foodstore.

Unlike in the US where we all tend to flock to the beaches for one last long weekend, many around Melbourne take the holiday to go camping. It just so happens that many of the best campgrounds are also near beaches. Maybe we’re more alike that I thought?! Combine the long weekend with the unseasonably hot weather and everyone was outside enjoying the last throws of summer.

This past week was also the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. It’s apparently quite a draw as designers, models, and fashion goers [if there is even such a thing] worldwide were in town. Melissa really wanted to check out one of the events as fashion shows, drinks, and dinners were happening all week. I agreed to check out the Target Rocks event on Sunday at the Docklands. Yes, even Target exists here in Oz. Events included a fashion show, an outdoor Red Market, and a performance by the Veronica’s. Perhaps I agreed to go with the thought of being able to check out international models up close for the afternoon or perhaps I agreed to go along because I’m just a nice guy who does nice things for his wife – I’ll let you be the judge. ;-)

We arrived a little late and missed getting tickets to the indoor fashion show [blast!]. We strolled through the Red Market and something very obvious soon became very apparent – Melissa and I were not the target demographic for this event. We were surrounded by 13-18 year old girls. The Red Market had few attractions to offer and in the sweltering heat, this afternoon quickly spiraled into disaster. At least the Veronica’s were due on stage in 20 mins. Surely we could grab some food and a seat to ride out the boredom?! I’ve added another video clip to share the Veronica’s with you. They’re somewhat popular here and are in that phase where new pop groups just show up everywhere. With how much we hear them on the radio and tv, there were not a lot of people at the concert to cheer them on. Oh well, it turned into the highlight of our once promising – then disastrous – and nicely recovered Sunday afternoon.

Becoming Aussies

A few things happened today that made me realize I was really starting to get the hang of this Australian thing. First off when I left my office building in Sydney to visit a client (oblivious as ever), someone said hi to me! I knew someone and they knew me. I had a quick chat on the street! Yes! This is the first time that has happened. I walked off (very happily) to my meeting (which I didn't have to look up on a map beforehand). Double yes! Here comes a big one. At the end of the meeting when the gentleman said thank you for coming, I said no worries. Like a good Australian, "you're welcome" may have disappeared from my vocabulary. Later on today there was a passing storm. The man I was with at the time said, "I hope you brought your brelly". Hee hee. It was a good thing I had had a good brekky this morning or my brain my not have been able to figure that one out. For those of you still trying to figure it out:

Brelly=umbrella

Brekky=breakfast

And for those of you who think you've got it, the priest said at the end of mass on Sunday, don't forget to pick up your bully - I think I laughed out loud. I really laughed when we were leaving and he said to Sean, "good on you mate".

The final thing of the day that spurred me to post this is I got a coffee at the airport on my way back to Melbourne. (Yes, I've been drinking coffee - it's delicious here) When the man at the counter said $4, without even thinking about it I reached into my wallet and grabbed two of the smallest coins. This is an amazing feat. I paid only with credit card for the first couple of months because it took me so long to figure out the money. The smallest bill is a 5 and they have 1 and 2 dollar coins. The $2 coin is a thicker version of the dime.(If anyone's jaw is still on the ground about the $4 coffee, see the posting about the day we bought the books).

For those following the Aussie dollar, it's now at 95 cents to the Greenback! When we got here it was 81! I hope we elect a good president and turn the US economy back around. More updates to come on our past few weekends of fun.