Pop the Champagne!

Time for the formal introductions: friends, family, [random strangers trolling the internet] - meet our new beach house. Beach house, meet our friends and family. This house is the first Murray-Bailey business (ad)venture [Murray-Bailey Ventures - a good name. We're one 'Jameson' short of a good irish law firm]. Melissa and I together with her parents have joined forces to bring an Ocean City home back into the family.

It's a charming and cozy duplex on the north end of the island and within a stone's throw of the boardwalk/beach/water. We really lucked out. It's one of the last 'original' beach houses on the street, now dwarfed by mc-mansions on either side. Aside from the traditional bookcase and pillars separating the common rooms, there are some great architectural details including traditional hardwood floors, crown molding, and high ceilings. The second floor is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom. The first floor is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom. With off-street parking, outdoor shower, covered porch, and even a bit of grass, it's a gem! [Did it sound like a sales pitch ;-)]

If this news catches you a bit off-guard, then here's the quick back story. Last August, the house was recently listed and we informally checked it out. After initial discussions with the agent, the price was still a bit high and the sellers were not interested in negotiating. Before long, an offer was extended by another party and the house was off the market - so we thought. Fast forward to November when Melissa stumbled across the listing online - 870 3rd St was available again! Melissa reopened the line of communication with the agent. [Did I mention the sales agent just happened to be a long-time friend of Melissa's parents :-)] An intense cross-continental negotiation ensued, a middle ground was reached, and the house was ours.

Remember this address: 870 3rd St OCNJ. We've listed it for seasonal and weekly rental at the following website:

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/51728.html

Be sure to enquire about mates' rates ;-)

Cheers to 3-0!

Time for a break... again.

Yes, we just had a vacation in SE Asia over the Christmas holiday. But that wasn't really a vacation, it was more of a discovery mission - uncovering the hidden gems in Cambodia, experiencing the craziness of Bangkok, and learning of the cultural differences Vietnam. We were up with the sun most mornings and didn't have any time to just relax.

Enter the Fiji excursion. A week of nothing but nothing. Enjoy the beach and pool; get back to work-out basics with yoga, meditation, and swimming; and don't leave the island unless absolutely necessary. Timed perfectly, we also celebrated in style the big 3-0 for Melissa.

Fiji is like the Bahamas for Australia and New Zealand. Its a five hour flight from Melbourne and located in the South Pacific, almost directly north of NZ. As we did nothing, there is nothing really to blog about. You may notice a few interesting pictures featuring Melissa. We discovered Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold (both beers) and that our balcony had a great view of the sunset each evening. We also discovered that there are lots of bugs. We made the mistake of leaving our balcony door open one night - we had not yet discovered the screen door - and were awoken with many bug bites. One momento we would have preferred to leave in Fiji.

An interesting story... after a few drinks one evening, we headed out towards the beach and the hotel's hammocks. After laying peacefully, admiring the stars for a few minutes, we decided to head back to the room. As Melissa rolled one way - that way being towards my side - we were both dumped by the hammock onto the ground. Luckily, I broke Melissa's fall. Unfortunately, my foot took the brunt of the fall and my running days were limited the rest of the trip. My feedback to the Westin, add a sign above that reads, 'danger, beware of hammocks when drinking'.

A Dark Day for Australia

...and I'm not talking about the lack of Oscar nominations for the movie 'Australia'. Saturday, February 7th will forever be remembered as Black Saturday. Regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country's history, bush fires destroyed several towns outside of Melbourne. As my mom remembered, Healesville [where we visited the animal santuary and Big Steps Winery and not too far from Melbourne] is on the cusp of the fire line. Early Sunday, the death toll climbed above 50. Within the last week, over 200 people have been confirmed dead, and due to the circumstances of the tragedy, many remains are still left unidentified. Based on your emails, phone calls, Facebook messages, etc, its clear that the US media picked up the story and reported the countless personal tragedies. I can assure you that Melissa and I are just fine; we do, however, have friends who have been significantly affected by the fires.

Its hard to comprehend until you put it into perspective: Marysville, a small town just beyond Healesville, where friends have said to visit as its a quaint country town in the mountain foothills, is no more. It just doesn't exist on the map. No more library, police station, post office, school, gas station, and definitely, no homes. On that Saturday, Melbourne was one of the hottest places on earth! You can see from the screen shot of the weather station below, the temperature in the late afternoon topped 115F. Yikes! Add to that hurricane force winds - yep, winds that were knocking us over as we walked through the neighborhood - and it was like being in a convection oven. Imagine the feeling when you put your cold hands on the baseboard heating to warm-up during the winter - you know how its hot but the warm feels good - until you have to pull your hands away from the heat. Now imagine the air surrounding you is giving you that same feeling over your entire body. Yeah, its that hot!

The good story following this tragedy is how Australians have banded together to support those most affected. Not known for their charitable giving, nearly every large Australian corporation - including Accenture, CEB, and Australia Post - have made considerable donations to the bushfire appeal. Clothing and other donationed items were being turned away from shelters because of the overwhelming response. If you'd like to help out, please donate here. http://www.redcross.org.au/

A funny footnote on the day... Melissa and I had to run an errand across town in the middle of the afternoon using the un-airconditioned trams. That's one hour each way. We had to pick up Melissa's laptop... the laptop she left at the Sydney airport a day earlier... the laptop that a friend picked up from security but couldn't get it beyond her mother's house in Kew... the laptop that couldn't be picked up on Sunday when it was 20 degrees cooler. I know, I know... I'm a great husband.

It's Summer!!!

After a stormy December and cool start to January, the last few weeks have reminded us of the real Melbourne summer. With three straight days above 40C (110F), even the players at the Australian Open were feelin' it! With the extreme heat, the rail system collapsed, rolling blackouts hit the city suburbs, and city office buildings' A/Cs were put to the test. Good thing Melissa was working from Sydney where the weather always seems to be perfect. Add to the mix no substantial rain for 40+ days and our gardens are looking great ;-)

Since the trip to SE Asia, I've turned my focus to the Gatorade Triathlon Series. I competed in my first Olympic distance event in Sandringham (beach just 20mins south). I was very happy with my result; I finished in under 2:30 and in the middle of my age group. A few weeks later, I competed in a sprint distance event in Portarlington (1.5 hrs from Melbourne near Geelong) and was within striking distance coming out of the water - I think I went alittle too fast in the water because the bike and run suffered. Rookie mistake. My next race will be the final race in the Series in St Kilda at the end of March.

In the meantime, we have more travel planned. We head to Fiji for a week to celebrate Melissa's big 3-0 next week. Upon return, Melissa gets back on a plane and heads for Beijing. She's been asked to help launch the CEB programs in China, and this is her first trip to meet with current members and assess new opportunities.