January 2006 - Sydney

Leeeeet's see. The first couple of weeks of the year 2006 has really been uneventful. That's why I haven't updated my blog for a while. Jan 1, 2006, however, is in the record books for being the hottest new year's day in Sydney. That's eventful! And I took part of it for being here. Sigh!!!

But even then, I still went out to check other parts of Sydney. Next stop...Wooloomoolloo. Yup! That's an aboriginal word (but I don't know what it means). A lot of the towns/cities here are named after aboriginal terms. Just like California towns/cities are named after spanish terms as it used to be part of Mexico. At Wooloomoolloo (let me just call it wooloo for short...better yet, just woo), I wanted to check out the 'W' hotel (yes, its one of the branches of the same name, the 'W' hotel, in San Francisco). FYI before I forget...this is just for my reference in the future...take the 311 bus from Circular Quay if I want to go back there again and I plan to. Or get off at the city townhall, walk to Liverpool St and catch the 311 bus.

The 'W' hotel is located by the Woo wharf and the hotel shares the building with residential homes. From what I hear, one of those residents is Russell Crowe. The hotel is really nice. Very trendy. Nice reception area, nice cafe and bar. Will definitely check it out again later on.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1295

The other "uneventful" thing during this new year's weekend was that I had to work on Jan 2nd so we can do our year end closing of our books. The finance team worked that day (and I'm sure other finance depts from other companies had to report to work, too). The city was pretty much "dead" except for employees from finance departments coming in to work and those unlucky ones who have run out of vacation days. By working on Jan 2nd, which is a holiday, I have accumulated 2 vacation days in lieu of that. Not bad at all. Wooohooo!!!

The following weekend, I've organized a bowling event where bowlers who scored 200+ are frowned upon. And sure thing, none of us scored 200+...not even 125+. That night, I was invited to a trivia night. It was a fundraising event for some kids to go to the Philippines and help renovate an orphanage. To my surprise, a lot of the questions were about US history and a lot of them knew the answers. On the other hand, do we know a lot about Australian history?

Next day, I went to Piermont to check out Sydney's fish market...its supposedly a tourist spot so I had to check it out. I think I've mentioned before that I'll be a tourist in Sydney forever. I was hoping to get some cheap seafood but because the place is touristy, Paddy's in Chinatown was cheaper. Oh well.






During the week, the finance team celebrated our year end closing by going to dinner at Phillip's Foote restaurant at the Rocks. Its a steak house. You choose your meat and you BBQ it yourself. I told my boss, "man, I have to work hard for my own food?" He says, "oh, you Americans!" He doesn't like the US and George W Bush (well, nobody likes Bush anyway). But remember, my boss works and reports directly to our US HQ...and he hired me! He calls Americans 'Sepos' as in septic tanks. I told him I've been applying for a credit card. He says, "oh, they don't issue credit cards to Sepos." He wishes! Anyway...my motto is, if the company is paying, order the most expensive one. So I ordered the fillet mignon. After dinner, we went to check out "The Establishment"on George St, one of the "it" bars in Sydney these days. Another place to check out if that's your thing to do. I asked my coworker. It appears Aussies hang out more in pubs and bars than going out dancing/clubbing. They just love their cold beer over here!