I went out to eat last night with a few friends to a dodgy little spot called the Nippon Club. These places are apparently pretty typical around Sydney. It's a members type of bar with restaurant, but open to anyone. You sign in when you get there and they give you a little name tag of sorts. Picture a Knights of Columbus, but only slightly more kept up, but still dated.
The Nippon Club, as you might guess, has a sushi restaurant as well as a bar. The place itself feels like it's right out of the 1950s. The cozy bar area has one TV and two speakers playing a random assortment of music (the Austin Powers theme song was on when we were leaving). They have the obligatory slot machines that you'll find in most bars around the city as well. In back was the restaurant with what looked to be a small karaoke setup and piano. Thankfully, the night didn't go that route. The sushi was good and fresh and reasonably priced. They also had Sapporo on tap, which was a nice touch.
But the sushi wasn't the best part of the night. One of the other people there is an American expat and he told me that Costco has plans to open a store in Sydney. When I got home, after a few too many beers for a Tuesday, I looked it up and sure enough, Costco is currently building a 150,000 square foot warehouse with plans to open sometime in (hopefully) early 2011 about 30 minutes from me. I'm hoping that the store opens on a weekend so I can camp out and be the first person in the store. This also means that I'll need to take a few more test drives in a car over the next couple of months to make that drive a little easier than the one to Ikea. Which, by the way, ended up costing me an additional $85 in tolls and late fees which I didn't realize I had accumulated during that short trip seeing as though there were no visible sensors that I drove through. Oh well.
That's it. Just thought I'd share my big news for the week.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
I miss Costco... There I said it
Living in a country with only 22 million people makes a few chores a little more difficult than I was expecting, namely shopping for clothes. Things that I took for granted back in the states are turning into un-needed adventures.
Take this weekend for instance, I went out to try to find a few suits and came back empty handed. I found a few, but none of them fit. The size I'd normally buy in the store was way too big and the next size down fit with the exception of the sleeve lengths. I swear, it came halfway up my forearm. That was just the jacket too, I didn't even bother trying on pants at that point. It didn't even seem like there was enough fabric to let out the sleeve length to make it somewhat normal. And I haven't had to have many suits tailored to know how big is too big where they can't take it down a size. So needless to say, I'm still looking.
I then went to look for a few dress shirts and pants. Easy enough you might think. Wrong. Since Australia only has 22 millions people, imagine that half of them are men and then, at most, half of them wear business shirts on a regular basis. That means they only need to make shirts for 5.5 million men. With that small of a number, I quickly found out they don't do dress shirts based on neck size and sleeve length. They do them based on Small, Medium and Large because they don't have the demand to make them all in specific measurements. Frustrating, but at least the sleeve length was normal. That and there aren't many options seeing as there are only 5.5 million people. So you walk down the street and see everyone wearing the same shirt.
Then I went looking for undershirts (and this is where Costco comes in). Buying in bulk has it's advantages. Buy a six pack of undershirts for what, $30 maybe $40? Not so down under. The only package of undershirts I found had 2 and was $90. I was blown away to the point where I couldn't justify buying them. I'm sure in a few days I will just accept it and buy them.
The other reason I miss Costco, bulk food (and the samples). I've stopped paying attention to prices at the grocery store because there aren't any other options, but here's a little run down of what some typical foods cost:
Take this weekend for instance, I went out to try to find a few suits and came back empty handed. I found a few, but none of them fit. The size I'd normally buy in the store was way too big and the next size down fit with the exception of the sleeve lengths. I swear, it came halfway up my forearm. That was just the jacket too, I didn't even bother trying on pants at that point. It didn't even seem like there was enough fabric to let out the sleeve length to make it somewhat normal. And I haven't had to have many suits tailored to know how big is too big where they can't take it down a size. So needless to say, I'm still looking.
I then went to look for a few dress shirts and pants. Easy enough you might think. Wrong. Since Australia only has 22 millions people, imagine that half of them are men and then, at most, half of them wear business shirts on a regular basis. That means they only need to make shirts for 5.5 million men. With that small of a number, I quickly found out they don't do dress shirts based on neck size and sleeve length. They do them based on Small, Medium and Large because they don't have the demand to make them all in specific measurements. Frustrating, but at least the sleeve length was normal. That and there aren't many options seeing as there are only 5.5 million people. So you walk down the street and see everyone wearing the same shirt.
Then I went looking for undershirts (and this is where Costco comes in). Buying in bulk has it's advantages. Buy a six pack of undershirts for what, $30 maybe $40? Not so down under. The only package of undershirts I found had 2 and was $90. I was blown away to the point where I couldn't justify buying them. I'm sure in a few days I will just accept it and buy them.
The other reason I miss Costco, bulk food (and the samples). I've stopped paying attention to prices at the grocery store because there aren't any other options, but here's a little run down of what some typical foods cost:
- Half gallon of milk - $4.19
- box of cereal - $6
- Pint of blueberries - $10
- Tomatoes - $5/lb
- Ground beef - $7.50/lb
- 2 liter of coke - $3.50
- loaf of bread - $4
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Even the politics make it feel like 2000
This past Saturday was the major election and as of this morning, there is still no winner. If only I better understood how a winner was chosen, it might make sense. Let me back up and little and explain how I think it happened.
About two months ago, the previous Prime Minister was challenged by his own party. In the span of 12 hours, the Prime Minister was out and there was an election with a new Prime Minister elected. It almost seemed like a challenger walked into the PM's office at night, challenged him to an "Over the Top" style arm wrestling match and in the span of 30 seconds, there was a new Prime Minister.
Then, the ruling party that just ousted their Prime Minister apparently felt that their party was in a good place, so the new PM Julia Gillard, scheduled a general election for August. There wasn't a set election, they just decided that they were in a good place with Australians and felt they could win, so they announced an election. Well, that apparently wasn't the case.
So Saturday the country was forced to go to the polls, literally. Apparently, if you're a registered voter you're REQUIRED to vote in all elections or face a fine, about $400 for a federal election. Imagine the voting results of everyone in the US was forced to vote. But what this also does, it allows anyone who wants to run to pretty much create a party and run. Now, you're not fully voting for a particular person, but rather their party. And if that party wins enough seats, the person running becomes the Prime Minister.
What apparently is going on is that neither of the two major party's won a simple majority of the lower house seats to be declared winner, a hung parliament. I think they're split at 73 a piece and needing 76 (I think) to "win". There were a few seats that went to the smaller, grass roots party's. Now, apparently both major party's are trying to convince these smaller party seat winners to sway to their side to get the majority so that one of them can be appointed the Prime Minister.
And that's where Australian politics is at the moment, from my eyes at least. Another interesting bit is that one city elected a 20 year old to be a Minister of Parliament. Not sure what this role is, but I think it's the lower house. That's right, they have their own Doogie Howser politician. I still haven't figure out if the kid graduated college early, or never went. But either way, he won.
About two months ago, the previous Prime Minister was challenged by his own party. In the span of 12 hours, the Prime Minister was out and there was an election with a new Prime Minister elected. It almost seemed like a challenger walked into the PM's office at night, challenged him to an "Over the Top" style arm wrestling match and in the span of 30 seconds, there was a new Prime Minister.
Then, the ruling party that just ousted their Prime Minister apparently felt that their party was in a good place, so the new PM Julia Gillard, scheduled a general election for August. There wasn't a set election, they just decided that they were in a good place with Australians and felt they could win, so they announced an election. Well, that apparently wasn't the case.
So Saturday the country was forced to go to the polls, literally. Apparently, if you're a registered voter you're REQUIRED to vote in all elections or face a fine, about $400 for a federal election. Imagine the voting results of everyone in the US was forced to vote. But what this also does, it allows anyone who wants to run to pretty much create a party and run. Now, you're not fully voting for a particular person, but rather their party. And if that party wins enough seats, the person running becomes the Prime Minister.
What apparently is going on is that neither of the two major party's won a simple majority of the lower house seats to be declared winner, a hung parliament. I think they're split at 73 a piece and needing 76 (I think) to "win". There were a few seats that went to the smaller, grass roots party's. Now, apparently both major party's are trying to convince these smaller party seat winners to sway to their side to get the majority so that one of them can be appointed the Prime Minister.
And that's where Australian politics is at the moment, from my eyes at least. Another interesting bit is that one city elected a 20 year old to be a Minister of Parliament. Not sure what this role is, but I think it's the lower house. That's right, they have their own Doogie Howser politician. I still haven't figure out if the kid graduated college early, or never went. But either way, he won.
Monday, August 16, 2010
After two hours in line, an hour in a store and an hour on the phone with a call center in India...
...I finally picked up the new iPhone. It was quite the stressful two weeks that culminated in my patience ready to explode standing in line. Even though the phone has been out for two weeks here, I still had to get there 45 minutes before the store opened to wait in line. Once in line, I at least brought along a magazine to help pass the time, but by the time that ran out (two hours to be exact) I was still waiting. The worst part was when there were only three people in front of me. Of the three apple employees ringing people up (for a line of 100 plus - talk about great customer service) two of them decided to leave while the third was having a solid 10 minute conversation about nothing with the person buying a phone. Needless to say, my jaw was clenched and the vein in my forehead was very visible.
I thought it was a victory when I got the phone, but then head to deal with Vodafone. It took upwards of another hour to just get a micro sim card for the phone. By the time I got that, I didn't have the patience to wait for iTunes to upgrade at home. So I called a few friends up to try a new restaurant just down the street from me called the Wine Library. I walked in and was in heaven. A wall packed with 300 plus wines and a charcuterie aging room. I sat down and waited for the other people to arrive. Only one other person ended up coming so we sat and drank and ate and drank some more and ate some more. An all around good afternoon.
Today, one of the other people who was going to meet up stopped by to grab a drink and struck up conversation with the bartenders. And low and behold, they remembered us. Which I suppose is a good thing. They remembered us as the two Americans (damn accent) that stuck around for a few bottles of wine and two meals. And as I look back at the afternoon, it really did end in the evening with multiple bottles of wine and two meals. And seeing as though they remembered us, I'll have to stop by again soon to capitalize on the recent visit. And to order the chicken liver parfait and homemade fennel salami.
Oh and of course, the wine.
I thought it was a victory when I got the phone, but then head to deal with Vodafone. It took upwards of another hour to just get a micro sim card for the phone. By the time I got that, I didn't have the patience to wait for iTunes to upgrade at home. So I called a few friends up to try a new restaurant just down the street from me called the Wine Library. I walked in and was in heaven. A wall packed with 300 plus wines and a charcuterie aging room. I sat down and waited for the other people to arrive. Only one other person ended up coming so we sat and drank and ate and drank some more and ate some more. An all around good afternoon.
Today, one of the other people who was going to meet up stopped by to grab a drink and struck up conversation with the bartenders. And low and behold, they remembered us. Which I suppose is a good thing. They remembered us as the two Americans (damn accent) that stuck around for a few bottles of wine and two meals. And as I look back at the afternoon, it really did end in the evening with multiple bottles of wine and two meals. And seeing as though they remembered us, I'll have to stop by again soon to capitalize on the recent visit. And to order the chicken liver parfait and homemade fennel salami.
Oh and of course, the wine.
Monday, August 9, 2010
How many drinks per week do you have per week, on average?
You know that uncomfortable question you have during a physical when the doctor tries to gauge how much you drink? It's hard to pin down an exact average so you end up guessing, and erring on the low side just to be safe. Well, I had a checkin at the gym over the weekend and it started to turn into one of those uncomfortable conversations where I felt I had to lie a little bit to make him feel better. I didn't really set any goals for myself when starting to work out other than to help strengthen my running. I didn't have any weight loss targets or anything like that, I just wanted help getting into shape.
So when my trainer took my measurements this time around there was some improvement, but I guess not as much as he would have wanted for me. It was rather awkward because he started asking questions about how many times per week I go to the gym, if there's room to pick up the intensity and then we went to nutrition. While I didn't get the exact "drinks per week" question, I did feel like I was being judged a little bit for my eating. But frankly, I workout and run so that I can eat and drink what I want. I think I forgot to include that "goal" in my initial sit down session. My next weigh in isn't for 10 weeks so I guess I'll really need to up the weights and hope that helps the improvement.
But frankly, I'm getting exactly what I wanted from the program. And by the results from the run on Sunday, I'm pretty happy. They finally posted results in the newpaper (but not online) and I was just outside the top third percentile for finishing. I came in number 23,089 out of 67,974 finishers and clocking in at just under 9:30 miles. For not running more than 2 miles at a time in the past 12 months, I'll take it. Now I'm just deciding if I have enough time to ramp up for a half marathon in a few weeks. As you can probably tell, the marathon goal for this year is pretty much out the window at this point. I'll have to settle for 2011.
So when my trainer took my measurements this time around there was some improvement, but I guess not as much as he would have wanted for me. It was rather awkward because he started asking questions about how many times per week I go to the gym, if there's room to pick up the intensity and then we went to nutrition. While I didn't get the exact "drinks per week" question, I did feel like I was being judged a little bit for my eating. But frankly, I workout and run so that I can eat and drink what I want. I think I forgot to include that "goal" in my initial sit down session. My next weigh in isn't for 10 weeks so I guess I'll really need to up the weights and hope that helps the improvement.
But frankly, I'm getting exactly what I wanted from the program. And by the results from the run on Sunday, I'm pretty happy. They finally posted results in the newpaper (but not online) and I was just outside the top third percentile for finishing. I came in number 23,089 out of 67,974 finishers and clocking in at just under 9:30 miles. For not running more than 2 miles at a time in the past 12 months, I'll take it. Now I'm just deciding if I have enough time to ramp up for a half marathon in a few weeks. As you can probably tell, the marathon goal for this year is pretty much out the window at this point. I'll have to settle for 2011.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
I'm number xx,xxx
I can say that I've successfully completed the worlds largest "fun" run. The annual City2Surf run took place yesterday. It's a 14K run from downtown Sydney along the coast and ends at Bondi Beach for me and 79,999 of my closest friends. I was rather unprepared for the run seeing as though the longest I've run in about a year was 2 miles and I'm pretty sure I walked half of that. But I will say that the CrossFit program I've been doing for the past 6 weeks is definitely helping. I was able to power through the whole race, including the 2K long Heartbreak Hill, and finish with a respectable time. Now I don't know exactly what time that is because results won't be posted until Wednesday. Again, the technology here is a little behind.
Here's a rather choppy video of the start to get an idea of what 80,000 people look like. They sent everyone off in 5 different waves and this is just the start of the elite group. There were still 79,000 people to come. I don't know exactly what time I crossed the start line because I was trying to get around all the people walking already, but it was probably somewhere around 18 minutes after this group.
The post race party was pretty lacking though. After the finish, there was Gatorade and water, but no food and worst of all, no beer stand. Next year I'm going to have to weasel my way into one of the corporate tents on the beach. I certainly didn't let that stop me though. I met up with a few friends and we did a little day drinking along the beach in Bondi and followed that up with dinner at a restaurant on the beach in Coogee. It was a family style dinner with 5 or 6 courses and all the beer and wine you could drink. Needless to say we're all feeling a little fuzzy headed today.
If I can find more pictures of the run, I'll try to post them. And if any one's looking for a good get in shape program, I'd highly recommend finding a crossfit gym.
Here's a rather choppy video of the start to get an idea of what 80,000 people look like. They sent everyone off in 5 different waves and this is just the start of the elite group. There were still 79,000 people to come. I don't know exactly what time I crossed the start line because I was trying to get around all the people walking already, but it was probably somewhere around 18 minutes after this group.
The post race party was pretty lacking though. After the finish, there was Gatorade and water, but no food and worst of all, no beer stand. Next year I'm going to have to weasel my way into one of the corporate tents on the beach. I certainly didn't let that stop me though. I met up with a few friends and we did a little day drinking along the beach in Bondi and followed that up with dinner at a restaurant on the beach in Coogee. It was a family style dinner with 5 or 6 courses and all the beer and wine you could drink. Needless to say we're all feeling a little fuzzy headed today.
If I can find more pictures of the run, I'll try to post them. And if any one's looking for a good get in shape program, I'd highly recommend finding a crossfit gym.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
5 Days and 7 Visits
So I stopped by the Apple store a few times today (let's just say I was lucky to have meetings just down the street) and each time there were lines. Ridiculous lines that weren't moving. The last time the line looked short, but it turns out they stopped the line as they ran out, again.
I'm hoping to pick one up before this weekend because I'm going to give the City 2 Surf 14K run a shot on Sunday and I'd like to have some sort of GPS device to help me translate kilometers to miles without having to think too hard. I haven't been able to quickly translate miles per hour into kilometers per hour and on a 9 mile run, I don't want to over work the brain. If it has to work too hard, I might have to stop at a bar to quiet it a bit. And while I'm certainly not as prepared as I'd like to be, I figured I should give it a shot anyways. I don't have the miles under my legs to feel comfortable with the distance or the hills, but I have been hitting the gym about 4 days a week and am feeling in pretty good shape.
Speaking of the gym, I have a 6 week status check in on Saturday. It feels similar to the Biggest Loser weigh in without the cattle scale. They take all your measurements and compare those to the last check in, measuring everything from height to weight to body fat percentage. I am rather curious to see if there's been any improvement from the first week. With the pain that those kettle balls have given me, there better be some decent improvement.
In true Matt training fashion, instead of hitting the gym tonight or going for a run, I'm going to see Miike Snow. I've heard he puts on a pretty good show so it should be a nice Wednesday night, most likely with way too many drinks. But hey, what else do I have to do, other than wait and hope Apple gets more phones in tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and work.
I'm hoping to pick one up before this weekend because I'm going to give the City 2 Surf 14K run a shot on Sunday and I'd like to have some sort of GPS device to help me translate kilometers to miles without having to think too hard. I haven't been able to quickly translate miles per hour into kilometers per hour and on a 9 mile run, I don't want to over work the brain. If it has to work too hard, I might have to stop at a bar to quiet it a bit. And while I'm certainly not as prepared as I'd like to be, I figured I should give it a shot anyways. I don't have the miles under my legs to feel comfortable with the distance or the hills, but I have been hitting the gym about 4 days a week and am feeling in pretty good shape.
Speaking of the gym, I have a 6 week status check in on Saturday. It feels similar to the Biggest Loser weigh in without the cattle scale. They take all your measurements and compare those to the last check in, measuring everything from height to weight to body fat percentage. I am rather curious to see if there's been any improvement from the first week. With the pain that those kettle balls have given me, there better be some decent improvement.
In true Matt training fashion, instead of hitting the gym tonight or going for a run, I'm going to see Miike Snow. I've heard he puts on a pretty good show so it should be a nice Wednesday night, most likely with way too many drinks. But hey, what else do I have to do, other than wait and hope Apple gets more phones in tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and work.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Damn you nokia
Well, it's been 5 days since the new iPhone came out here and after 5 trips to the Apple store, I'm still empty handed. I'm beginning to think I'm under the spell.
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