The week

This week has been fairly hectic even though I haven't been able to report. Here are a few of the highlights:

Wednesday- The offsider (driller's helper in the states) decided to go MIA. Just didn't show up. So, I got an office day. It was pretty nice! Did a lot of web surfing in the afternoon after I'd wrapped everything up. Turns out that when they say "flights are so cheap between mainland airports", they mean "flights cost the same here as they do everywhere else". Plus, they really mark up the last-minute flights. I mean really. So much for the last minute visit to Brisbane. I'll have to rely on my charm tactics and have them send me there for work. Wednesday night I met up with Alicia, a friend of my friend Ivon back in Denver, and we went to dinner in Toorak. A posh neighborhood a little south of the office that boasts lots of restaurants. We went to an italian place and I had something that I can't remember the name of, but it was basically ravioli. It was good. It was crazy expensive though. Everything involving food is expensive here. I don't get it. They have all the room they want for farming...

Thursday- Offsider number four at DTP, and I'm training Carl, who just started with GAP and was previously working on the test pitting program also at DTP. I am weary of how easy he seems to think GAP's role is for drilling. The drillers think he looks like Roger Ramjet. I swear I will eventually call him Roger.

Friday- Offsider number five shows up two and a half hours late. We have to end the day early as a result because we have to wash bore (mud rotary without the mud for anyone who cares) in order to install the well and it's one of those can't stop once you've started things and it takes five hours. So, back to the office and I'm finally in time to attend the "tech talk" that they give every Friday afternoon (hello GAI Denver! Idea?). Unfortunately it was not an interesting talk and I had trouble daydreaming, especially since they give you a beer for showing up. I can tell you though that this office is very environmentally conscious and that they take their use of natural resources very seriously. Twenty minutes on paper/electricity/composting/bicycling to work seriously. Wow. The good thing is that I run into Lorenzo and he invites me to go to the St. Kilda Short Film Festival with him tonight. We take off right from work to St. Kilda, a once sketchy area south of Melbourne that boasts swimming beaches and an amusement park. Turns out we are seeing the best of the European short films, all nominated for the EU's equivalent of the Oscar. All were good. Some were "deep". I personally liked the cartoon about four neighbors in an apartment building and all of the sound was percussion. It worked. After the films, we went in search of dinner and found a Thai/Vietnamese/Malaysian restaurant (I think they just couldn't decide which they wanted to be) and it was actually really good. Lorenzo had a fish though and it came out whole. Eyeballs and everything. Ick.

OK. That about wraps it up. Oh, and I got a roommate. I've already forgotten his name. (That's bad, I know. I am hoping that when I go home he will have stepped out and I can sneak a peek at his luggage tags.) He is from our Seattle office, so nice to have another yank around. The funny thing is that my boss was really scared of telling me that I'd have to share the apartment. I expected to share, so it was no big deal. Then they came in and put locks on the bedroom doors. That cracks me up. I know for a fact that this is not the first co-ed situation at the flat, but they are being extra cautious for me. Funny.

OK, that's really it.