The Cigarette Hunter

Avid Reader, I almost titled this entry "DRIVE Japan", but then realized that you might be more inclined to read with what was to be the subtitle. Was I right?

I spent the day with the DRIVE Japan team at an all-day meeting. I was the guest speaker for the first 1.5 hours, then I sat through eight straight hours (yes, 8) of Japanese. Interestingly, I was starting to get it! Not the Japanese, mind you, but based on English words being thrown out every so often as well as gestures, I could actually follow along. Of course, my brain hurts now.

The other good thing about all-day meetings with dinner in the same building? No need to go outside! I walked the 20 minutes back to my hotel tonight... dripping with sweat. It's after 11PM here and the temp is showing 91 degrees... without humidity.

OK, back to the title as I know you're thinking I'm crazy. So, we got to talking tonight at dinner (Chinese. Where I enjoyed Shark Fin Soup for the first time)... the topic was where would you like to work if you didn't have to work from an office. "The Beach" was a popular retort. I surprised myself when I said "the mountains", thinking only of my parents stunning cabin in Crouch, ID. With that answer, and clarifying "in the woods with pine trees and deer", one of the sales guys engaged me in the following conversation:

"Do you hunt deers?"
"No, but my Dad does. Do you hunt?"
"I am hunter."
"Oh? What do you hunt?"
"I am Cigarette Hunter!"

I love Japan.


p.s. Another side story -- I watched TV the other night for the first time in Japan since I've started traveling here. Turns out, I caught the Japan women's volleyball team take on Brazil. And nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the setter's name. Yet another reason why I love this place.

Tokyo. is. H.O.T.

From dead of Sydney's winter (HA! Love Sydney winters!) to the middle of Tokyo's summer, a mere 10-hour flight and I am WORLDS away.

It's after 11PM here in Tokyo and the temp on the TV says its still well over 80 degrees tonight both in actual temperature and with the humidity index. This place is H-U-M-I-D. Blech!

The best point being, however, I made it! The flight went well today altogether and I'm settled in to my friendly hotel of trips past and ready to conquer two days in Tokyo (41 hour countdown!)!

The Last Day

I spent my final day in Sydney enjoying just that: Sydney!

I started the day with the aim of taking in Sydney and all her glory -- and started atop the Sydney Tower! Best, I could see out to the Pacific Ocean and Bondi Beach where I enjoyed adventures last weekend. I also caught Centennial Park -- home of the 2000 Olympics. I got a great shot of the DRIVE office such as to be able to show my colleague Saskia and by which I could remember my morning walk for the past couple of weeks. Of course, I caught photos of the Sydney Harbor -- interestingly, they have free telescopes on their viewing platform such that I could see all the way across the Taronga zoo... and watch the giraffes! INCREDIBLE! I also mapped out my walk for the day, including a tour of St. Mary's and around The Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Upon descending, I toured through Hyde Park to catch some day-in-the-life action. The city looks stunning in anticipation of World Youth Day -- St. Mary's is no exception as that is where many festivities are centered. They recently restored the marble floor as well as built a new altar. Interestingly, they also revealed a commissioned painting of the Virgin Mary & Baby Jesus that's stirred all kinds of controversy with its Australian portrayal of a young Sydneysider Mary and blue-eyed Jesus. Brilliant!

I stopped at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in The Domain to check out a few exhibits (note: I *love* free entry museums -- they're so accessible to all). My favorite work in the museum was by Jon Molvig. Not only did it remind me of my dear friends John Weaver and Amy McKenna who are marrying ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, it was simply my favorite in the place altogether!

I enjoyed a phone call with friend Jesse Paulson as I sat on a rock overlooking Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool and Woolloomooloo Bay, including Russell Crowe's alleged home. I caught Mrs. Macquaries Chair and more shots of downtown and the Sydney Opera House, this time from the East looking West. Awesome altogether.

I saw the infamous bats in the Botanic Gardens. Yes, Avid Reader, I just said BATS. No one really seemed to be bothered by the cat-sized vampires hanging from the trees overhead. Is it just me?! Am I CrAzY?!


Friends Jodie & Kai then met me and we went straight to The Australian Hotel where we dined on Australian pizzas. And not with just any toppings, Avid Reader, but with Emu and Kangaroo! Deelish! We walked around The Rocks and out on the Harbor Bridge where we caught more shots of the Harbor... and Sydney highlights.

I could go on and on about the day; in short, it was a '10' and the perfect ending to my Sydney fling. I leave knowing I'll miss her as I would a familiar & comfortable friend.

Good bye, my friend. And thank you!

Barefoot Bowling!

What an adventure had! Last night was the office's End-Of-Year Celebration -- which was a total & complete HOOT!

After a quick all-hands meeting (well done Australia on hitting 120% of budget!), we loaded into a huge bus and ventured to the Balmain Bowling Club for barefoot bowling! Why barefoot, you ask? Well, one has to wear flat-soled shoes in order not to mess up the playing area (the "rink", as they say), so folks would typically play without shoes.

Regardless of footwear, the game is a hoot. It's very much a combo of shuffleboard and curling, but with round-ish bowling balls (22 cm in diameter) that have a weight on one side such that they curve when bowled! It's quite a tricky little game!

Being uber comptetitive, I opted to captain a team (Go 8's!) and Terry the Instructor offered me his spare Balmain Tigers Bolwing Club shirt to wear for the event! We went heard-to-head for four rounds vs. other teams... and finished with 6 points with scores of 1-4-1-0. Unfortunately, we failed to make the final as two teams tied with 11 points on the afternoon. The 8s finished tied for 3rd out of the eight teams. We did well!

After adventures in Balmain, we boarded up the bus again and went back to Pyrmont to Blue Eye Dragon, a B.Y.O. place near the office. And did we ever B.Y.O.! (Speaking of, this place is heaps in to the B.Y.O. concept such that places actually post this on their doors and placards. I guess it's difficult to get a liquor license around here, so they've gone to Bring Your Own as standard restaurant policy -- pretty awesome!).

The team presented the Barefoot Bowling Championship tropy as well as Employee of the Quarter awards. I had the opportunity to speak and thanked the Aussies for their warm hospitality toward me & the DRIVE Japan team as well as commented on how amazing it is for me to see a fully-functional and profitable office in Australia after starting DRIVE nearly five years ago. Avid Reader, it truly is amazing to me!

More events and adventures transpired after with a quick venture up the street to a local pub where more adult beverages and live music awaited. We took over the upstairs and dominated the pin ball machine and lounge area. Knowing when is when, I ventured back to the hotel and smiled at the realization that Thursdays in Australia surely are the Nights Out of choice by Sydneysiders as all of the bars and clubs were hoppin'. Good times!

Update

Dear Avid Reader,

I realize you may be utterly stunned and confused by that last post. You may be thinking to yourself, "Self, what is Walsh? Who is Liam? And what in the world is a whinjing girlie?" If any of those questions crossed your mind, then you are wonderfully inquisitive and will be duly rewarded.

Short story, I am learning all kinds of good language differences here in Sydney, my favorites to date being "useless" (always was a fave when said by an Aussie), "budgie smuggler", "bugger" & its cousin, "bugger off", and "whinjing". The latter is a favorite of my colleague Liam Walsh who daily challenges me to use what I've learned. In return, he's mastered his ability to say "Hey Todd", but more like "Hey, T-aah-d" like it should be pronounced.

On the update front, not so much news to report. As for a brief update:

Monday -- Japanese colleagues arrived. Long work day. Dined at Nick's, a seafood restaurant on Cockle Bay Wharf.

Tuesday -- Full work day. Dinner at Rockpool in The Rocks with DRIVE Sales team and clients from Starcom Media.

Tonight -- Full work day. Dinner with Japan colleagues and DRIVE/Amnesia (AARF Australia) at Pony Lounge in The Rocks.

I'm back at the hotel now -- just having had to log on to finish up some work for the day, but wanted to provide some background on the last post as well as a quick, picture-free update.

I hope you're well!

Todd

p.s. my return to the states may be delayed. I was due to fly back to Seattle on Saturday, 7/12, but I may instead have to go to Tokyo for a couple of days. I'll know tomorrow and make the call!

Walsh

Liam is heaps of a whinjing girlie.

Welcome Riley Patrick!

Good news from Boise, Idaho, today: my dear cousin Tracy gave birth to her 2nd son: Riley Patrick Scherer!

Born 7/4 @ 11:30AM, he was a couple weeks early, but still hit the scales at a whopping 7lbs.9oz.! Riley joins older brother Brady who's first birthday is in two weeks! Yes, Tracy & Jason are now the proud parents of two little ones under a year old!

CONGRATS COUSINS!
(And Good Luck!)

Bondi Beach

I got up (late) today and decided to figure out and brave Sydney's public transportation. A believer in incentives, I put Bondi Beach at the end of the line such as to treat myself to a literal Day at the Beach!

Had I arrived earlier in the day, I definitely would have taken surf lessons. Instead, however, I watched others try to learn, did some journaling, and just watched the world of Bondi: surfers bobbing, kids building, mostly locals running & sunning and doing things Australians do.

As I sat there, the Coast Walk beckoned and I made my way south from Bondi to Waverly Cemetery. It was quite the little hike -- 3.5km of Pacific Ocean views with bays and beaches just calling my name. I smiled at the entrepreneurship of the sand volleyballers at Tamarama -- lessons! -- and caught the picnicers at Bronte. I also caught a couple of teenagers caught up in the romance of the view. Silly kids.

The cemetery itself was something to see. I almost turned back just before I got there, but am glad I didn't. Again, a believer in rewards, I promised myself gelato if I made it all the way! Having said that, songs from two of the most powerful movies of all time hit my iPod as I made it through: a song from Glory and 'Miserere' from The Mission. Spooky and powerful in their own right, it was doubly so in this setting.

I hiked back to Bondi, found dinner at a nearby restaurant and enjoyed the view and today's paper. I watched twilight rear her stunning head, then bussed back into Sydney.

And yes, I had gelato.
Chocolate.
With chocolate shavings.

Sydney Harbor & Taronga Zoo!

Avid Reader, I saw it! I caught my first glimpse of the world famous Sydney Opera House this morning. And it was all that it was cracked up to be! Stunning! And interestingly, it, too, was created in 1973! I love that!

I got up early and walked around Cockle Bay Wharf to check out the sights and sounds of Darling Harbor. I then enjoyed the Matilda Explorer -- one of the many harbor water taxis of sorts -- as part of the Zoo Pass to get me to Taronga Zoo. It was quite a site to round Miller Point, zoom under the Harbor Bridge and get my first sneak peak of that which is obstensibly Sydney!

The more I'm here, the more I'm falling in love with this place. Best, it's 100% pedestrian and tourist friendly and the weather -- remember July is the coldest month of the year here -- is stunning! I could definitely live here.

So, I enjoyed a Sydney Harbor tour on the Matilda and ended up at the similarly world famous Taronga Zoo. It was quite the setting! Taronga sits on a hill for the most part and most every vantage within the zoo overlooks Sydney Harbor and downtown. Upon leaving the ferry, I boarded a sky shuttle (read: cable car) and headed to the park's top entrance. From there, one makes their way down and around and catches this amazing place. Lions, tigers and bears were there, of course, but it was crazy to see some of the wacky animals both in *and* out of the cages (the birds here are nutso!).

Favorites, of course, were walking amidst kangaroos and wallabys in the Wild Australia 'walk-about'. I also captured the crazy looking platypus and enjoyed close-up encounters with giraffes and chimps. Best, Avid Reader, I accomplished exactly what I set out to: get my photo with a koala!

Since it was a bit of a slow morning and I was one of the first there, I got to spend about 20 mins chatting with the two zoo workers who were manning the Koala Encounter area. This one was Archie. Granted, he slept the entire time, but it was a hoot altogether. More, one of the zoo employees had a baby roo in her shirt! Turns out, it's mum was hit & killed by a car earlier that morning, so she was called to pick up the baby and bring it to the zoo. Turns out, it was a boy and they don't need any more male kangaroos, so it was being sent to a rehab facility to try to nurture to release back into the wild. But quite a story and I got to see a seriously baby joey!

I also enjoyed the elephants, parciularly when they started playing. Later, I found out that they weren't playing at all. Turns out the young bull was frisky. Avid Reader, I warn you know... don't click here if you don't want to know what I'm talking about. The meerkats were a hoot -- and all of the kiddos calling them "Timone" from 'The Lion King'. They spent their time trying to soak up as much sun as possible; though my favorite was the sloucher in the corner... not willing to stand, but still wanting the full sun effect.

I caught the boat again at the end of my Zoo adventure and cruised a bit more around the amazing harbor. The homes on the water were incredible; I'd do anything to be a rightful owner. Our friendly tour guides also pointed out a former Nicole Kidman residence... an apartment she sold a few years ago for $4M. I spent time in Ciruclar Quay enjoying the sites, a walk around the Opera House and more photos, of course!

All in all, an outstanding Sydney Saturday and I'm excited to see more of the sights tomorrow and into next week!

Happy Birthday, USA!

Happy Fourth! Not that I got to celebrate America's independence here in Australia -- what gives anyway?! However, another outstanding day here in Sydney -- this time in the dead of winter for sure: it rained! Curses! Solid day at the office; got a lot done and beat Stephen Dolan at ping pong again.

After, and as advertised, I ventured back to Balmain with Sarah such as to enjoy La Boheme. Before dinner, however, we stopped by Sarah & Johnathan's apartment, then ventured down to Balmain Park such that I could get a glimpse of the Sydney Harbor and its nighttime beauty. And was it ever beautiful. Sydney truly is a stunning city. I got a few shots of the harbor that didn't turn out (see left) and enjoyed a nearby anchor and subsequent photo ops.

Johnathan joined us for a pint at a local pub, then we ventured up the street to La Boheme. Very Czech cuisine despite its French name. Very slow service despite all the servers. Very hilarious "live music"... a gentleman singing to his iPod Nano which had innumerable karaoke hits on it, including hits from Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, and the Bee Gee's!

A low key night altogether, but a good thing as I'm on Day Two -- and Day Two always means my hardest relative to jet lag. I'm pooped. And I have to get ready for a day of adventure tomorrow! So, happy long weekends to you, Avid Reader! Happy Birthday America!

Darling Harbor & Balmain

G'day Mate! I will have to post the few photos I have later as I've forgotten to bring my USB cord to the office this morning. I wanted to provide a quick update on adventures to date in Sydney all the same, however!

Yesterday was Day One in the Sydney DRIVE/Atlas office. It's in a charming neighborhood -- much like Fremont in Seattle -- in an area that is developing as Sydney's online neck of the woods. It's an open, quiet office here and I'm trying to encourage 80's Friday. It's also now 7/4 here -- so it's up to the two Americans in this office & I to show them our USA Pride! Hot dogs, anyone?!

My days start with a walk across Darling Harbor on Pyrmont Bridge with a stop at a line-free Starbucks. (Starbucks isn't so popular Down Under. In fact, my colleagues celebrated the closing of the Starbucks in their neighborhood as we drove by the abandoned storefront last night.) The office is a charming 15-minute walk from my hotel and affords me the opportunity to take in the beautiful Aussies who are similarly work-bound. Interestingly, Avid Reader, it's the dead of winter here... so heavy winter coats and scarves are seemingly the norm. Friend, it's 50 degrees in the morning -- heaven to me!

After work, I ventured to Balmain, a working class suburb of Sydney now becoming a bit of a hot spot, with my DRIVE AU colleagues Stephen Dolan and Sarah Ward. We enjoyed several rounds at The London Hotel and dinner after with Sarah's boyfriend Johnathan at Pomegranate Thai.

My evening plans include another night out with Sarah & her posse in Balmain at La Boheme. I'm also in the process of planning my weekend tourist adventures such that I have fun stories and photos to post in the coming days!

Aight, I must start my work day now... granted, it's the fourth of July, and I should be celebrating America's independence, but instead I shall continue to coordinate DRIVE in Japan and work on instilling 80's Friday in Sydney! WOOT!

Australia is far away

And made even further with 14 hour delays in San Francisco!

Indeed, Avid Reader, I arrived in San Francisco to change planes after what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour layover at SFO. To my surprise, the flight was postponed from 10:40PM to 8:30AM Tuesday morning. But, Todd, you ask, that doesn’t add up to 14 hours! I agree!

Qantas gracefully put passengers on New Zealand Air or United flights as they checked in at SFO. Sadly, I didn’t get there in time to secure an empty seat so instead was put up in a nearby hotel for the night. My alarm went off at 5:30AM this morning such as to make the shuttle back to the airport and endure International Security. As I got up to shower, I noticed a note under my hotel room door. It was my friends from Qantas again, regretfully notifying me that my 8:30AM flight was now scheduled to depart at 12:45PM.

So, a couple more hours sleep, a courtesy breakfast at the hotel and I was off to the airport to brave security and wait again. Turns out the flight didn't BOARD until 1PM and we took off sometime close to 2PM.

It's nearly 11PM here in Sydney on Wednesday night... just before 6AM in Seattle Wednesday morning. Sydney is 15 hours ahead during summer hours and I've seemingly lost two full days with the delays and 13.5 hour flight here. But adventures to come starting tomorrow with my first day in the DRIVE Australia office and in Sydney!