Eureka Tower and Queen Vistoria Market

As promised from Thursday's blog, entitled "I finally got a digital camera".




Friday evening I walked around the city at night taking some pictures. Melbourne is lit up in many different ways and colors. It's a very beautiful city at night. So here are some of those pictures.


This first picture is of the spire towering over the art museum. This is just 1 block from the company apartment and cycles through colors and display patterns. It has a blanket of lights that canopies over the building itself before rising several 100 feet into the air. As with most museums there are some standard exhibits and rotating special features. On Sundays the covered walkway around the museum host a hand made crafts fair. Much like Saturday Market in Portland. I found this little shopping gem on Sunday morning while out on a exploring adventure. It looks like a great place to get some fabulous gifts for the coming holiday season.


The next photo is of one of the 3 Ferris wheels in town. This is the middle sized one and is visible from the many bridges crossing the Yarra river. It too has an array of colors and patterns to light up the night. My favorite is this pinwheel like pattern that crosses the rainbow of colors as it shoots out from the center. The shot I have posted captures a beautiful reflection in the river.












The next picture is of this mural projected onto the side of a stainless steel building in Federation Square. (The Pioneer square of Melbourne) This is the first time I noticed it. So I don't know if the image changes or not. The lights you can see illuminated at different angles are scrolling text messages promoting different things happening in the square. It kind of draws you into reading them. I found myself tilting my head at weird angles to try and read them better. There's also a large movie screen in Fed's Square that is always on, as far as I can tell. It was showing the Olympics for a while but now always seems to be showing "Footy". A sport that is a cross between soccer and rugby. I'm still trying to figure out the rules. But the HOT men in skimpy (NO padding) outfits keep distracting me.







In the last blog I posted a picture of the building housing Flinders Train Station. Here it is at night from a different angle.


On Saturday I looked a some more apartments in the morning. Then needed to pick up some groceries and took the tram up to Queen Victoria Market. I have mentioned this place before and it was the perfect opportunity to get some pictures to show you my shopping experience.


The first photo is of the produce area. it's probably at least an acre in size. With everything you can think of , passion fruit and broccoli, to somethings I don't know the names. There's a lot of the sames things from multiple vendors. I'm finding it's helpful to walk around first and check out the prices. I found red peppers for $6 each at one booth and $4 each at another. It's also my preference to go to the stands that allow me to pick the actual items. If it's a booth that is crammed in and you can't reach the item you want. The vendors end of handing you a crappy item that is on it's way out just to move the goods.




Then there's a indoor deli section. This part has lots of of choices on things I have never seen. Like a marinated figs stuffed with marscapone cheese or chili marinated smoke mussels and more varieties of dip, hummus, and stuffed olives than you can sample in a life time. I have been picking up small bit of as many things as I can, just to try every thing. The chili smoked mussels aren't that bad. I bought one of the figs but haven't tried it yet. Again here there's a variety in quality too. The chili marinated kalmata olives I got last week are better than the ones I got this week. But I'll be damned if I can remember which booth I got it at! There's also bread and pastry bakers here and some hot food vendors selling meet pies and more things I couldn't name, but I keep trying the booths with big lines. I figure the local must know something I don't and I have yet to be disappointed.




Now I've moved on to the fresh seafood area. I haven't bought anything from this section yet. But plan to once I have my own space and can try out some new recipes. As you can imagine seafood is expensive and I just don't want to spend the money when I'm just cooking for myself and there are so many other things to try. But I have included a couple pictures so you get the idea. First is some GIANT lobsters that go for $60 a kilo (2.2 pounds), Or whole fish. I'm not so butch that I want my dinner staring back at me. Let's not forget the raw squid either.

Last but certainly not least of the Queen Victoria Market is the meat section. This area, like all the others, is full of vendors trying to sell you their goods and promoting them over the person selling the same thing 10' away. I have posted a video instead, because pictures just won't do it justice. Now this is at the end of the market day (about 2pm, they open at sunrise) and there's only about 30% of the people here that are shopping in the morning. I've learned to come later. Prices get cheaper to move goods before closing and there are just fewer people to have to maneuver around.

Saturday evening I went out and met some new friends at a bar called "The Sircut" It was some special event commemorating the gay liberation movement here in Australia. Back in the 70's the police raided a gay bar arresting its patrons. This solidified the community and started most of the civil right movements here today, much like Stonewall did for the movement in the states. So anyway this bar charged a $30 cover to get in and it was supposed to be some special who ha event. I did meet with some new friends from the Melbourne Rainbow band and had a good time. but it certainly wasn't anything different then last weekend and not worth paying the cover to just get in the bar. Lesson learn, skip that event next year.

Sunday morning I slept in and then went over to the famed Eureka tower to capture the view of Melbourne. The first shot is looking east toward the area that houses all of the large sports areas. The big oval in the middle is the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. A stadium that seats 100,000 fans. You can get a good idea on how large the city is. In the fore ground of the picture is one of the many parks. It contains several statues and monuments to Australia's political figures and it's war heroes. It also has the Royal Botanical Gardens. The circumference of the park is more than 4 kilometers. I know because there is a walking trail around it that I did today. Things are just starting to sprout here. Some of the trees have buds and the early ones are starting to flower. I'm looking forward to spring and watching the foliage come to life.

I have a few more pictures but I've taken so long type up this blog that my digital camera's battery just died and I don't have the power cable with me so. They'll have to wait. Besides it's now 6pm on Sunday evening. I'm going to go up stairs make some dinner and watch a movie. Tomorrow is Monday and even though it's a national holiday in the states. It's not one here and I have to work. Take care all my friends! I'll type something new some time soon.

I finally got a digital camera

I know I haven't made a post in 9 days, but I wanted to wait until I got a digital camera. I bought one yesterday and took some pictures today.

Work has been very busy! There's a lot to do here. They have 6 full time CAD staff (plus me). They work in Microstation and AutoCAD and the people I supervise are from all of the world. Russia, Italy, China, America and 2 Australians. So there's a lot of different perspectives and accents. All of these foreigners, like myself, are 1st generation transfers and on visa. 1 year ago the CAD staff was only 2 people. So there's been a lot of growth. These guys are all good people .(although the other American is kind of a egotistical biker dude and one of the Australians reminds me of a cross between the "Family Guy" dad and Archie Bunker) . The group has done their best with no real CAD leadership and they have some good procedures in place but a lot of inconsistency in following them. Needless to say things are a disorganized mess at best! I think the office will soon find out I'm only diplomatic and politically correct for so long. Here's a picture of my cubical (step down from the nice window office I had in Portland).


Life in Melbourne is good. I have found a band to play with. It's the Melbourne Rainbow Band. Made up of about 40+ members .With all kinds of instruments, (Sorry Omar, no accordions) There are 5 saxophonist including me. They meet every Thursday. I've only gone once so far, but plan on going again tomorrow night. Last week I was only able to follow along reading the music as they played and occasionally chime in with a stray note. I had 2 very good alto sax players on either side of me, Adrian and Bob. At one single moment they both played an F when an F sharp was written and I played it right! It was totally AWESOME! I learned a lot just by sitting there and listening to them. (Meg, you'd be proud) They're practicing for a early November concert, with pieces from Phantom of the Opera and a Glen Miller swing band song. Far beyond my current skill level. So following along with the music and hitting a stray note isn't bad for me.

My weekend was spent looking at apartments mostly. I have found a person, Michael Richards, (No not the bartender at the Cove, but the same name). That I think I could live with. He's gay in his mid 40's and a Physic nurse at a local HIV Clinic. I'll post a picture when I can. I've decided to find a place together with him instead of moving into someone else's place. It will probably be in St Kilda (south of downtown). We're looking at more apartments this weekend. Apartments here in town are hard to come by. When we looked last weekend there were 5 or 6 other groups of people in each flat. Most are only being shown for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. (customer service, in any field, here is NOT what it's like in the states, no one basically gives a shit!) So the consumer does all the leg work and beg and pleads for some help!



I did have dinner with Giacomo, friend I met on line before moving, Friday night. He's Italian, only been in town 6 months and a pastry chef at one of the bakeries. A really nice guy that reminds me a lot of my old friend, Sven Gomez, (for those that remember him). We had dinner at a Thai place then went for Italian hot chocolates. Think melted chocolate in a glass, FABULOUS! A place called Burnetti's where he used to work. He then took me to "The Sircut" a ALL male gay bar. I had a good time when I was with Giacomo, but I did feel a little out of place. Maybe it's because in Portland I knew everyone and the scene very well. Giacomo introduced me to a few of his friends and those people made me feel welcome. After he went home I felt more out of place, I finished my drink and headed home.


Saturday night another on line friend. Brian (we could be brothers we look so much a like) took me to a bear function at "The Laird". Again all nice guys and I was more relaxed there. I met up with Melanie and Darrin about 10pm for a few drinks and then headed back to "The Sircut" around 1 am, which I found out doesn't close until 9am! The Sircut has a cruising area upstairs and it's more like club Portland than a bar, enough said, Mom is reading this!


Sunday was spent looking at more apartments, shopping at the market and catching up on household chores. (Boy, do I miss Michelle! doing the laundry myself SUCKS! I don't think I every thanked her enough. So THANK YOU MICHELLE!!!!)


I'm really getting used to the city and am able to find most of the services I need now. I have a good understanding of which train I need to be on and how to function on public transit. (My PDX coworkers are thinking.... You better! you spent the last 15 years working on public transit projects!). The city itself lies on the Yarra river. The picture to the left is a pedestrian bridge, named Sandbirdge. It links the south side of the river, where my office is, to Flinders Street Station, a major transit train station with 14 platforms.



Which is housed in the basement levels of this beautiful old building. The building 3 full city blocks by 1 city block in the photo to the right. It's a major hub of the city's transit system and thousands upon thousands of people flow through this spot every day.



The next picture is of the 92 story apartment building, Eureka Tower. It's the tallest building in Melbourne and touted at the tallest apartment building in the world. (Jan Newton, might be able to contradict that with some new building in the UAE) I mentioned this place before I left Portland. It's located between my office building and my current apartment building. I have not been up to the 88th floor observation deck yet. But hope to this weekend now that I have a camera. It's supposed to be around 70 degrees (19 Celsius) and sunny, not bad for the middle of winter! Everyone says spring starts on September 1st. (we all know the equinox is on September 21st) Not bad since in Portland spring starts around May 1st! about 5 weeks after the equinox!

Well friends I think that's enough for tonight. I have another big day at work tomorrow and my plans for the week are more mundane things. I hope you've enjoyed by thoughts and ramblings. I miss you all greatly and wish I could hear your voices. Have a great weekend and I'll try to post again next week. Brian

Week 1

Well friends and family,

I have been here 1 week now. A lot has happened, mostly mundane stuff , but I've learned something everyday. I'm sorry but I still don't have a camera. Hopefully this weekend I'll get one. Then you'll be seeing a little of what I see.

I told you about my adventures on Wednesday in the last blog. Thursday was spent pretty much the same wandering around trying to get familiar with the city. This time heading north of the CBD (Central Business District). I did try to get a cell phone but without a permanent address it's not possible. So I decided to get a bank account set up instead and was successful at doing that.

Friday, I stayed a little closer to home and attended, the first of many to come, happy hour sessions that take place in the main lunch room of my new office. I met a number of people and had a beer (I know, I drank beer, but when in Rome...) After that I headed to a bar, Transport, just across the river to meet with Luke Olson's sister in law Melanie Smart and her boyfriend Darrin. They are very nice and have made me feel quite welcome in a short period of time. Melanie had just gotten a new mobile and gave me her old one which has been very helpful. My mobile number is (61).04.3139.7120. Melanie and Darrin had a big day plan for Saturday so the evening ended early around 9pm. My plan was to hit some gay bars... but plans change quickly sometimes. As I headed out of the bar it was raining and cold maybe 48 degrees. not really knowing which tram to get on or how late they run I decided to hit the casino instead of the gay bars. This proved interesting. They do have slots (or as they're called here Pokies) but it's not like what we're used to. They're all 5 column style with pretty crappy payouts. No video poker at all. The table games are more computerized than what I'm used to. Roulette and blackjack have monitors where each player makes their own choices and the dealer stands in the middle hitting buttons for the next play. They also have more traditional tables too. but the rules are all slightly different. I dropped $50 bucks and went home.

Saturday, I went to the largest market in Melbourne. The Queen Victoria Market (Vic Market for short) This place is AWESOME! I'm going to get pictures and post them to you can really get the feel. But suffice to say it takes every farmers market, butcher, deli seafood and wine shop you can imagine. Then throw in some crap tourist shops for t-shirts, kids toys and cheap leather goods plus some good quality shoes and jewelry stands and other clothes. All in one place. It's crowded, noise full of strange aromas and exciting things I just must try. Prices vary greatly from one stand to another and some don't list any prices at all so it's best to shop around. I wandered around this place for almost 3 hours. Buying little bits of this and that and sampling as many things as I could. It was very cool! There's are 5 or 6 of these types of markets around town all with their own style. Most are open 5 days a week But none are open on Wednesdays and they all seem to close by 3 pm. Like I said you'll have to see it to believe it.

Sunday, Melanie and Darrin took me out with them on a Scuba diving trip they had planned. We went to a town way at the end of the peninsula called Portsea. It's cute little town with not much besides the dive shop, a pub and a general store. I spent the day wandering the beach, of course playing the sax and catching up on some reading.It was nice, quiet and very relaxing way to spend me last day before starting work.

Monday morning came along and I had to get back to work. The day wasn't too eventful. Lots of forms and small talk with new coworkers. I did start to get a handle on the needs of this group. But it's going to take time to fully understand the needs. I left the office around 6pm and headed home for a quiet evening.

Tuesday and today (Wednesday) were just full of work. I found out today I get to do the employee reviews of my 6 staff. YEAH! They're due at the end of August and I've been here 3 days. So we'll focus on the future and wing it!

The bars here are really different. Drinks are expensive like $6 to $10 EACH! They only have about 1/2 of a shot glass of booze! My liver is definitely drying out. I can't afford to get drunk here! I can barely afford to get buzzed! Thank god I bought my limit of duty free booze on the way in to AU. Last night I did go to one of the gay bars. I had 3 drinks in about and hour and barely caught a buzz. Then headed home around 9pm. They really restrict alcohol consumption! I've heard about what my friend Jan Newton is going through in the United Arab Emirates. Where you have to have a passport like book and all your booze purchases get logged and reported to the government. I don't like it this way but it's better than there! I only have found 1 gay bar open on a Tuesday night out of maybe 10. All are closed on Mondays. Most don't open until between 5pm and 10pm either. But some stay open until 9am or later on the weekends.

Boy, do I miss drinking with all of my Portland friends or just going to Starky's and have a few stiff ones and some dinner for $25 bucks! Anyway HUMP day is over and I need to go home and practice the sax and sew a button on my dress pants (you don't want that story!).

Take care I miss you all!!

Once again I'd like to thank everyone that was able to come to the airport and see me off. It really meant a lot to me. When I made my last posting I didn't have any pictures from that day. So I have posted a few below.

my last days in Portland....

Friends,

Before I start telling you about my new adventures down under. I have to tell you about how those final days were in Portland.

Thursday night before I left Omar, Dale, John B, Seth and I hit the Ambassador on Sandy Blvd. for one last night of binge drinking and karaoke! As you can imagine we had a great time and got way too drunk! To the right is Dale, Me, Seth, (Seth's room mate, sorry but I've forgotten his name), and John. Singing that famous Men at Work song "I come from a land down under"! Omar was running late and glad he missed this one.


Omar and I had our chance to belt one out together. But for the life of me, right now I can't remember what song we sang. Like I said, we got pretty drunk. Some other songs that made it to the stage where me doing a solo of Bob Seger's "Against the Wind" and a big group rendition of John Denver's "Take me home country road" was done by all the guys. With Angie and Heather laughing their asses off! Luckily we had the smaller back room to ourselves so the crowds in the front room had no idea of the awesome performance taking place in the back!








Omar and I managed to make it into the office by 10am on Friday. I'm pretty sure I was still drunk. Some power drink thing Omar gave me at 3am helped me not have a hang over. Which would have been a huge without it. So THANKS OMAR!



Friday evening it all started over again at the Mandarin Cove. My last, of many, going away parties. I went in saying to myself I wasn't getting drunk. Hell, I still could feel the vodka running through my veins from the last night. But I couldn't disappoint my fans (oh I mean friends). About 20+ people showed up to wish me well. Emily Moshofsky even came and didn't drink at all now that she's preggo! and due in January (Sorry, Emily you know I had to blab that one somehow). Jamie and Alan, Michelle and Rob, Ed Alcantar, Roger, Luke, Phyllis, Ruth, Bob Post and many more showed me how much I'll be missed. There was no camera at this event so you have been spared a few pics.



Saturday before the flight was spent hanging out with some fabulous friends Roger Vines. Who I met 15 years ago when I first moved to Portland and then Leslie Jones, The twin sister separated at birth I met at the Mandarin Cove bar. We did our usual (NO BOOZE AT THIS EVENT thank god!) gossiped about our lives, our dreams and our men.




Sunday, I spent the day doing something I LOVE with some people I LOVE just as much. Ed Sharick and Corina Aspaas! We did a hike on Mount Hood to Tamanawas Falls. This was another hike in the 100 best hikes book that is so popular in Portland. It was a beautiful day and we did everything we would have traditionally done! Stopped at Jack in the Box on the way out of town for breakfast, smoked too much, hiked a beautiful hike, and hit Paola's in Sandy on the way back for drinks, video poker and a huge amount of carbs. Just as we had done a 100 times before.




That's me standing at the base of the 100'+ Tamanawas Falls. The spray was all around me and the sun was out making it an awe inspiring final day in Oregon, a place I have grow to love very much. There's nothing like the Pacific Northwest. So for those that haven't seen it yet. You have to put it on your must do before you die list. I spent 16 years there going every where from the Redwoods of Northern California to Vancouver BC and at every turn there is more beauty than I have found anywhere else!


Sunday evening came and it was time to actually start packing my stuff for the plane. Thanks to Michelle's superb packing skills I managed to fit 150+lbs of stuff into 3 suitcases. Monday morning I had to run some final errands. I got my driver's license renewed and dealt with Sprint about getting my phone shut off. Sprint was a huge pain in the ASS! Way worse than DMV! I'll never go back to them. Then I let go of the anger and had lunch with the girls from the office, (Phyllis, Robin E, Jennifer, and Tara (so sorry I forgot to add you. Tara, when I first posted this.Please let me blame it on the jet lag!)) and my roomy Michelle, one last time at Gandhi's. Some good Indian food we used to go to all the time. After lunch it was off to the airport for more drinking and some tears. Robin M, Ed, Corina, Ken, Michelle, Aaron, Dale, Phyllis all came to send me off. Several others tried but weren't able to make it. The highlight of the event was that Ed brought this cute card with very colorful birds on it and everyone signed their drag names. Which is the first pet you remember and the first street you lived on. So mine is Checkers Turnpike! We did take pictures but I haven't gotten a copy yet. Look for them in my next blog. At 4:15 I had to get to the gate. My flight was leaving at 5pm. We walked out of the bar and thanks to Ed the tears started to flow. I hugged everyone and held on as long as I could and looked back from the security line waving to all my friends and trying not to cry again. It's not pretty when I guy my size is bawling his eyes out in the security line at the airport.


My first flight to LAX was good. It seemed to go by very quickly. I had to go from the domestic terminal to the international terminal which can be quite the walk at LAX. I had a 4 hour layover so in the open, smog filled air of the airport I broke out my sax and jammed! It was GREAT!!! Bringing me some inner peace I didn't realize I needed! It also netted my first paycheck as a professional musician! 75 cents!













In true LA fashion I couldn't find a person nice enough to take my picture. So I did it at arms length. The guy that threw me the money was gone too fast for me to ask him. After that I found my way through security and to gate 120. Then right to a bar (who'da figured!) I had 2.5 more hours to kill and a wanted a buzz to go with the pain killers I was going to take to sleep on the plane. So I had some crappy sandwich for dinner and 4 vodka's on the rocks, Met a very nice lady, Toby, that was going to Perth to live as a nanny and watched the Olympics. The flight it self wasn't bad at all! I watch the movie 21 (blackjack in Vegas movie) and then fell asleep. My planned worked because much to my amazement I slept for about 5 hours! without my CPAP! The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful Watched another movie, Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. Is no Christian Bale! Played some video games and read my Melbourne travel books.

The flight landed pretty much on time at 8am Wednesday morning and a coworker, Emilio Depaulis, picked me up. He took me to the apartment, which is right near the office. If you want to call the direct number to my room is 61.03.9694.5631. but please remember I'm 17 hours ahead of the west coast. Yesterday, I walked around trying to get familiar with the Prahran (pur ran) neighborhood. Picked up some groceries and got a massage. I made myself some dinner, ate Tim Tams and was in bed by 6:30. Now it's 4:30am and I've been up since 2:30 replying to emails and typing up this blog. Today's task is to try and get a Iphone so I can take some pictures and post them here. I also have to run to the office and meet the HR person, Patricia Lynch.

Melbourne is a beautiful city there are palm trees, subway, 7-11 and Parson Brinkerhoff (URS main competition) It's the middle of winter which means a light sweater. but no gloves, hat, parka like the people here are wearing. I want to save more of my travels for the next blog when I can post pictures too. So that's all for now.

I miss you all very much!

Brian

PS: please go to my website when you can (see past blog "the boxes are gone", is the one that has the links, I think) Shopcheaperhere.com one is bringing the most $ so please do that one if you can.

The time has come!

Well dearest friends and family, the time has come for me to leave URS Portland and start my new life at URS Melbourne Australia. This last week here has been exciting and nerve racking. I have sold my car, printed out the visa, cleaned my office, deleted years of old emails, made CD roms of more electronic data than I probably will need. On Wednesday Phyllis and I went and had a pedicure. It was my first and what a experience. For the guys out there that haven't had one you should go. For Laurie Wrobleski EEEWWW someone touch my feet! On Thursday the Portland URS office had a catered lunch for my departure. It was very kind of them. These people here have been my coworkers for over 13 years and many of them have become family along the way. Today is Friday my last day in this office. Over the weekend I have some more errands to run and some luggage to pack.

On Monday I will go get my drivers license renewed, stop by Sprint to have my phone shut off, Hopefully stop in the office one more time to say good by and then it off to the airport. Some friends are meeting me there about 2pm. My plane leaves Portland at 5pm PST. I arrive at LAX around 7:30pm. Then the big flight takes off at 11:45pm. Arriving in Melbourne at 8am Wednesday morning. The company recruiter, Russell Chapman, will meet me at the airport and take me to the company apartment. At noon that day I have a 90 minute massage scheduled. Beyond that my first goal is to get a cell phone and start looking for an Internet connection so I can look for an apartment. I don't start work until Tuesday August 19th. Which will be Monday evening for everyone here in the states. Melbourne is 17 hour ahead of the west coast. So 3pm PST is 8am the next day there. Once I have found that Internet connection I will be able to check my URS email and the blog. I'll try to do an update in those first few days if possible.


I want to say thanks to everyone in Portland for 16 years of great memories and friendship.

I want to say thanks to my family for being so supportive of my big move even though I know they wish I was moving closer to them, not farther away.


I also want to invite everyone reading this to PLEASE come visit me. I can't promise 5 star accommodations but you're all more than welcome. My visa is good until July of 2012 so start planning those trips.