Hi Ho

Well...fi-na-leee, I've found a place to rent. What's weird about it (among other factors I'll discuss soon) it is the cheapest rent ($175/week) but the nicest, cleanest place I've looked at in all of the Illawarra. Ok, I didn't really look at everything, just those places that were either in town (Wollongong) or close the a train station and the beach. This one is halfway between station and beach. 2 bedroom, hardwood floors and even a refrigerator, which is unusual as that's considered personal furniture here, even in rentals. It's at the end of a cul-de-sac

What is...unusual about it is the location. I'm in Fairy Meadows, right off the Princess Highway. At least I'm not in the place across the street...69 Donald! You might really begin to wonder, not that there's anything wrong with being gay. In fact, my decades on Gay...I mean, Vashon Island has steeled my manhood to take the anticipated beating for living in a place with this name. Vashon Island has bumper stickers that say "20% Gay, 79% Gay Friendly." I am in the majority there so please don't jump all over my butt for the jokes about my new residence.

Today I'll take the train into the big city of Sydney for a Satellite Workshop my company is sponsoring. So far, nearly 70 people have RSVP'd for this morning workshop. It'll be a good chance to meet some of the company's clients and hopefully, I'll be able to understand what they're saying (both technically and because of accents).

I work with a very nice young guy (30ish) named Brett who has offered to take my junk from the hotel to my new place, which is only about 3 km from here. A suitcase, a briefcase and contents of the fridge...beer. He is familiar with the area and after I drop off my junk (no Fairy Meadows jokes, now) he'll show me some of the places he likes to go out to for a beer or 2. I realized this morning that Australia is the Wazzu of Countries in this area. There are 'clubs' that have very loose restrictions on people who can enter to eat and drink cheaply. Like Eagles clubs without the stringent membership requirements.

Anyway, gotta get for my 2 hour train ride into the big city. Sydney, the New York City of Australia. I hope it doesn't eat up and spit out this poor little Yank from the country. I hope this isn't an example of what a friend said about blogs, 'sober blogs = boring blogs.' It is 6:00 AM and I'm not even under the influence of caffine...yet.