Friends!!!

Saturday I went to a really fun 21st, 50s themed, birthday party.  My bosses daughter, Liz, has so kindly included me in her group of girlfriends, thank you!!!  I just got back from dinner with them tonight as well, they are a great group of ladies and know all the local hot spots.  Besides the much needed social activity, I also found a secret sale this weekend!  I was looking for a mid-length black coat, for all that damn wind, at the big Australian department store Myer's.  I had narrowed it down to two coats... debated with myself for a good 20 minutes, made my choice and feeling pretty good about the $100 marked down from $180 purchase.... then the cashier says, $10.  I was on cloud nine as he explain that today only, not advertised, any Miss Shop or Tokito previously marked down items were $10!!!  So, of course, like any good shopper I continued to look at ever other item included in the sale and made four other smart choices.  I ended up with two jackets, two dresses, and a sweater for half the price I was originally prepared to spend.   What a sweet weekend.  

Gale Force Winds

Things are going great. I am slowly making some Australian friends, I am trying not to come on too strong but it's hard cause I have none... so any potentials are being hit with full force Marilyn, hopefully I don't scare them off.

I have been learning a lot at work and thankfully all my coworkers have been very welcoming and patient in teaching me how system control theory can be applied to irrigation water management, Rubicon calls it Total Canal Control, TCC.

Today was by far my coldest day in Melbourne so far... not because of the actual temperature but because of the Gale Force Winds. (The National Weather Service defines a gale as 39 to 54 mph of sustained surface winds). I was listening to the radio while getting ready to leave for work this morning and there was a severe weather warning due to Gale Force Winds, and I thought, hmmm... I wonder what that means... I knew windy, but how windy? I soon found out that Gale Force Winds can actually push you along or stop you in your tracks. Wow, weather! Something new for a native Arizonian.

The wind won the war... my MJ umbrella is officially toast. 

TGIF

Me at my desk.

So I made it through the first week of work and it was really no big deal.  The office is way more laid back than I was expecting... when we are getting tired of working we take ping pong breaks!  I have joined a group for lunches and have settled into a nice schedule of work, bikram yoga, and the internet.  Thursday was also exciting because I broke my routine of eating dinner alone and had a dinner with a coworker.  Tonight I went to dinner and drinks with my bosses daughter and her friends and had a great time.  I am looking forward to the rest of my weekend and plan to explore more of the city and nearby parks.

A shot I took from a cool rooftop bar in CBD (Central Business District), I will take you there if you come to visit me ;)

First day at the new job.

Today it was back to work.  A short walk to Flinders St. Station (in the pic), a short train ride, another short walk and I was there.  I got in at about 8:15am and was surprised to find I was the 2nd person in... I had been worried cause I had planned to get there by 8am but I missed the earlier train, having to stop for a flat white (coffee and steamed milk, haven't gone a day without one since arriving) before boarding, but most everyone trickled in closer to 9am, nice.  So the day went really well, all the coworkers were very nice and I felt like was absorbing a least a little of the tons of new information being thrown at me.  I was a little bummed that I had to eat lunch at the cafe just across the street by myself, apparently everyone packs a lunch. Other than that I was very happy with my first day and was just getting ready to leave when...  I created a mini disaster for myself.  One of my first day tasks was to go through a set of irrigation as builts... any engineer knows full size plans are the worst, and old hand drawn plans from the 1960's are almost pointless.  But apparently irrigation districts are the same on both sides of the Pacific and only could provide us with the original and only set of as builts, something I've had the pleasure of seeing before.  The new part for me was the giant death trap of a cabinet they were hanging in.  Seriously, everyone that walked by made a joke about how it looked like a torture device, I wish I had a picture of it!  No, don't worry, I didn't injury myself... but like I was saying I was happily packing up and just wanted to put away one sheet I had been trying to decode, when I learned that the cabinet had the capability of opening up way too far, sending literally hundreds of individual sheets to the ground... crumbling and the worst part slipping out of order as I tried to pick them up.  So, instead of heading home feeling good, I got to spend the next hour reinforcing my hatred of full size plans, resorting and rehanging the aging plans, while of covering my hands in the ink some poor engineer wrote in 1960 on the heavy mylar sheets.  Aww, Engineering! 

Bike ride to Saint Kilda

Neal and I took our loaner bikes for a ride down to the bay, St. Kilda area.  There's a helmet law here... what dorks!  It was a very nice ride, shorter than I expected and nice bike paths the whole way... just have to remember to keep left!  

I can't wait till summer when I can ride down there for a swim, the water is crystal clear and even now it didn't feel cold.

First few days in Melbourne

So far Melbourne is awesome- it's like SF or NY but with a Australia/European twist. It's a bit expensive but not too bad... Thankfully I don't have to worry about rent... my apartment is really SWEET!

It's a one bedroom on the 22nd floor of a very nice, secure building with an indoor pool and gym, concierge... The Rubicon folks are super nice, they hooked me up with an Aussie cell phone and $50 cash right when I arrived, rides, and time off the whole time Neal's here to get adjusted :)

We had lunch with a few people at the office Friday right after we got off the 18+ hour flight,and we meet Tony (the guy that hired me) and his wife for coffee Saturday and the other night we went to their house for dinner and meet their daughters, (20 & 17), it was really nice.

We took the train to their house but they drove us and two of their bikes, to borrow, home.

Rubicon also gave me the company tickets to the Australian Rules Football game- we had a super time watching the game and trying to figure out the rules. Neal's here until next Sunday and then he was to go back to LA to start working at Vans on the 16th...that's when I'm starting work too.

I'll be out here until the beginning of December at least so I hope lots of friends/family will come visit! The weather is nice- cool and cloudy but not as cold as I was expecting.

Anyway, aside from all that... These are some photos I have take so far in Melbourne!

More updates soon-

Marilyn