Saturday, March 04, 2006

Are you there Blog? It's me, Nicholas.

A lukewarm day here in the city of Sydney. Peggy and I were at our respected bat-and-ball type activities, her at 'the Cricky' and me at baseball tryouts. Given that her activity lasts for eight hours whereas mine a quick two, I had some free time on my hands to go and check out the Mardi Gras celebration. I came home from baseball and washed the icy hot / tiger balm off my left wing, which has borne the weight of my recent athletic endeavors, and jumped in the cool Pacific for a quick swim. Waves are pretty powerful this weekend but the water felt so clean and good. Like a salty seltzer bath.

Then, with my one mission to photograph the Sydney festivities for all of my (two) faithful blog readers, I headed out on the town. Camera? Check. Lenses? Check. Camera battery? Whoops. So, instead I spent four hours bumming around the central business district with a large camera bag and no juice. Turns out, parade didn't start until dusk anyhoo and I just was milling around the pre-parade logistics. I've posted a photo of Liberace (way to shave the legs, Libby!) for those of you whom were expecting a thorough documentation of the homo-spectaculars. You can also probably find a slideshow at Sydney Morning Herald or our friend Paul Murphy's blog.

I've taken steps to try to set-up 'mobile photo blogging', for those opportune occasions where I would happen to say something funny during dinner and make a noodle come out of Peggy's nose. Gotta be prepared for that. We'll also try to do better than just the random, once a week postings - promise. Together, we can work through this lull.

Last night we got duped again in trying a Mexican food restaurant, thinking it would satisfy our fix. WE'VE GOT TO STOP DOING THIS. This one was, Cucina Newton and way too overpriced. The Margaritas were so-so, but at 10 dollars or so for a cocktail, you want the juice freshly squeezed and those corn chips better not be from a bag, amigos. So, the laments continue for the Austrexican experiment. Only 17 short weeks until we can drown ourselves in a glutton of pinto and pistole. I am going to experiment to see how many burritos I can cram into my mouth over the course of a twenty-four hour period. My guess? One hundred and eighteen.

posted by ncawthon at 10:52 PM

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Bidness as Usual

Hello from Aussie land! We're onto the 101st post with authority and promise. Hopefully, the next century will prove to be as fruitful as the first.

Had a good baseball practice tonight. I went out and recruited about a dozen UNSW Study Abroad students, all of whom said they were really keen (sorry, very Australian word) on playing. I scheduled a practice specifically for them, located in their little borough. Number of Study Abroad students in attendance: 0. What a group of wankers. I'll be trying out for the University squad this weekend - this league is pretty hardcore and uses wooden bats, a first for me!

Peggy is at pottery tonight, bringing back various mugs, chamberpots, spitoons and vases for the pad. Her new gig at University of Sydney is going well, she's a guest lecturer who assists on their research projects as well. She's got a few talks coming up for the public health students there. She'll take the Stage of Blog soon to project a bit.

I'm starting lecturing next Wednesday night, teaching Web Design and Programming to (as of today) 39 graduate students, many who are international in origin with English as a second language. Should be good prep for California. For some reason, I thought that class started on the 20th instead of next Wednesday. Whoops. But hey, what's two weeks of preparation between you, me and 39 international students? Should be fine, regardless. Will be transitioning off my contracting gig to a more humble and hopefully rewarding profession.

Campus is abuzz with excitement for the upcoming semester, but maybe that's me just realizing that I'm two weeks behind. Peggy and I get to ride in together each morning, which is conveinent, but can get a bit testy if there's traffic or a lack of parking.

Will shoot you an update this weekend - it's the annual Mardi Gras celebration in Sydney! Everybody is gay this weekend, except the Jews and Irish. There will be good parade pics, hopefully including some dykes on their bikes, as well as the latest in chap fashions.

posted by ncawthon at 9:01 PM