I arrived in Perth this afternoon after a 5 or 6 hour flight and went straight to the office. Thankfully it wasn’t 40 degrees C! It was more like 26, which is about 80 degrees F – and no humidity (or little, it’s hard for me to tell after 6 weeks in Bris)! The area is beautiful and seems to suit me more than Brisbane (so far)…mainly because it’s not tropical and wet, I think. It’s more like Nevada – except with trees. No more humidity…and crystal BLUE sky!
The office seems a bit like a maze and they don’t have anywhere for me to sit permanently yet, but everyone seems very nice – and I already have a project sitting on my desk in the morning. It’s a potential drill job in Fremantle next week, if we can get the permits in time.
I’m staying at a lovely hotel at the fringe of the city, walking distance from the office if I hoof it a ways. It’s an updated old "boutique" hotel with an old wooden elevator and a grand staircase. There’s a pub and a nice dining room on the main floor which have been very convenient and tasty. I think I’ll be enjoying staying here (until the end of the week when I move to another apartment leased long-term by Golder, I think).
As for life in general, I finally hit my wall last week Thursday. It’s not unusual for me to have a bit of a “blues” session after a certain period of long-term change like this. The homesickness bug bit HARD. Nothing really sparked it, maybe having another slow work week, maybe the continued unsettled schedule/living arrangement, maybe feeling like I’m never wearing the right clothing/always being underdressed with frizzy hair, maybe others having their own friends around or having their loved ones visit…who knows! All in all, I've just been feeling a bit blue. No big deal, but it is kind of a drag at the moment. As before, it will pass...and it provides me a great opportunity to tell those of you who are my friends and family how much I miss and love you. I also want to send a big thank you to Jen and Shah at the Brisbane office for keeping me company and keeping me laughing!
One more piece of news before I sign off. I found out on Sunday morning that my sweet ‘lil Cabby had to be put down quite suddenly on Friday night. I will miss his happy and unashamedly exuberant ‘welcome home’ greeting. He was the softest (literally), cutest, full of personality, easy-going dog I’ve ever seen. It’s rather embarrassing, I have been randomly breaking into tears (luckily nowhere too public yet) – and it’s only a dog for goodness sake! I can just tell that I’m going to be one of those old ladies who cry easily – happy or sad. Oh, well. I don’t care, life is painful sometimes and can be worthy of a good honest cry.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Up to Mach 20
Well, well, well, it’s been a while! The weeks have seemed to go by so quickly! I have finally reached a level of comfort here. It’s hard to explain, but when I first arrived everything felt a little…off balance. But, things are much better now. The spontaneous laughter is back and so is my confidence level. I don’t have to check every-other-word (and can now tease back when the Frenchman at work tells us we’re only American and he is a superior race). The last two weeks have been anything but boring. It’s been a roller coaster at work, one great adventure weekend and several eventful evenings out on the town.
Work is super dependent on the weather here…and of course they have had record breaking rains this whole season and record breaking rains the week after we got here (ESPECIALLY up north near our project area). The rain doesn’t seem to soak in, or run off, or evaporate quickly. It just puddles and floods everything. I am told that the first meter or so of the ground is mostly clay and at the first sign of a rain, the roads become impassable. After the last rains, it was estimated that the ground would take 4 weeks to dry up, but…THAT was before a cyclone (southern hemisphere version of a hurricane) was reported off the coast. It’s predicted to hit up north at the project area…bringing more rain. So, with the roads being impassable and the environmental concerns associated with muddy ground and heavy equipment, we are on standby. At first, there was enough work to keep us busy in the office, but now with further delays there is less and less to do. I have been asked to be available for a job based out of the Perth office next week at a mine near the town of Newman in Western Australia. It is forcast to be 40 degrees C for the whole week. YIKES! That’s HOT! I am excited for the opportunity despite the heat, both to be doing something and getting to go to Western Australia. It was one of those places that I really wanted to go, but because of time and distance I didn’t think I’d make it. I should find out next week if it will really happen.
This weekend, the decision was made to stick around town and chill, get organized, settle into our new living arrangement (cute little furnished two bedroom apartment), and finally go to church again. Wonderful!
Last weekend Ali and I struck out towards the coast and an area called Fingal Head, south of the Gold Coast. Beautiful….and WINDY! We had to put our car in front of our tent to ease some of the gusts. Since the beach was rather uncomfortable with all the wind, we decided to go for a drive down to Byron Bay, which was only about 45 minutes south. It was an excellent decision. We ate lunch, got gelato, walked the shops, and visited the lighthouse at the most easterly edge of Australia.
The lighthouse was my favorite. It had a gorgeous walk that extended almost to the very edge of the rocky outcrop where it joined the sea. The waves thundered against the rocks and the dolphins played in the surf. Raw and awesome.
We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to camp and made an amazing meal of grilled veggies and steak on the bbq. (Photos of the weekend are posted via the link on the right side of the page…and for those of you with facebook accounts, I have posted a video of the waves at Byron Bay).
Work is super dependent on the weather here…and of course they have had record breaking rains this whole season and record breaking rains the week after we got here (ESPECIALLY up north near our project area). The rain doesn’t seem to soak in, or run off, or evaporate quickly. It just puddles and floods everything. I am told that the first meter or so of the ground is mostly clay and at the first sign of a rain, the roads become impassable. After the last rains, it was estimated that the ground would take 4 weeks to dry up, but…THAT was before a cyclone (southern hemisphere version of a hurricane) was reported off the coast. It’s predicted to hit up north at the project area…bringing more rain. So, with the roads being impassable and the environmental concerns associated with muddy ground and heavy equipment, we are on standby. At first, there was enough work to keep us busy in the office, but now with further delays there is less and less to do. I have been asked to be available for a job based out of the Perth office next week at a mine near the town of Newman in Western Australia. It is forcast to be 40 degrees C for the whole week. YIKES! That’s HOT! I am excited for the opportunity despite the heat, both to be doing something and getting to go to Western Australia. It was one of those places that I really wanted to go, but because of time and distance I didn’t think I’d make it. I should find out next week if it will really happen.
This weekend, the decision was made to stick around town and chill, get organized, settle into our new living arrangement (cute little furnished two bedroom apartment), and finally go to church again. Wonderful!
Last weekend Ali and I struck out towards the coast and an area called Fingal Head, south of the Gold Coast. Beautiful….and WINDY! We had to put our car in front of our tent to ease some of the gusts. Since the beach was rather uncomfortable with all the wind, we decided to go for a drive down to Byron Bay, which was only about 45 minutes south. It was an excellent decision. We ate lunch, got gelato, walked the shops, and visited the lighthouse at the most easterly edge of Australia.
The lighthouse was my favorite. It had a gorgeous walk that extended almost to the very edge of the rocky outcrop where it joined the sea. The waves thundered against the rocks and the dolphins played in the surf. Raw and awesome.
We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to camp and made an amazing meal of grilled veggies and steak on the bbq. (Photos of the weekend are posted via the link on the right side of the page…and for those of you with facebook accounts, I have posted a video of the waves at Byron Bay).
Monday, March 8, 2010
Rain, Leeches, and Squeeky Sand
March 1. Monday. 4-wheel drive class.
Bright and early we headed north of Brisbane…again. 4-wheel drive class, round 2. …and this time we made it on time, without any mishaps! …though, still raining. Unfortunately, because of the rain we were unable to do all of the course…but still, TONS OF FUN! We learned so much about off roading and how to control the vehicle in extreme situatios, and what to do when stuck. Very practical. Some of the obstacles included a “river” crossing, steep slippery hills, huge ruts, and moguls (which are paired pothole and hill in a checker-type pattern – this means that when the front right tire and the left rear tire are on hills the other two tires are floating in the air…and 4-wheel drive can’t accelerate with only two wheels on the ground.) For those of you on facebook, I’ve uploaded a couple videos showing both Ali and I going through the moguls.
Also, there are new photos if you go to the link called "Photos" on the right-hand side of this page.
Tuesday through Thursday were pretty chill. Worked in the office, still diggin’ the landslides, and faults, and debris flows…etc. Ali and I hit up the fancy restaurant in town for dinner on Wednesday night. It was an Indian place that had a sampler meal for two people. We got to try so many more options. One funny thing about eating out here though, you bring your own booze to dinner. Most places don’t have liquor licenses, but they’ll allow you to bring your own in. Some places charge a ‘corkage’ fee, but others don’t.
There are really large bats here. We have been going for runs along the river after work, usually right before dusk and the bats COME OUT! They’re everywhere…in the sky that is! Mitch told us that they are fruit bats. The wing span is about 3 feet and whenever I see them flying over, all I can think of is… Gotham City!...and that Batman must be near. To top it all off, there’s a building that looks exactly like a Gotham City building in the middle of downtown.
…and a small vocabulary lesson:
That’s okay – you’re welcome
No worries – you’re welcome
Dodgy – sketchy
Tyres – tires
Toggs – swimsuits
Budgee smugglers – men’s speedos
Reckon – think
Right-O – sure
How’re you going? – How’s it going?
Haych – “H”
March 5 Weekend. Lamington National Park.
A co-worker from the office here, Shah, a Malaysian transplant of 8 years, asked us if we wanted were interested in going somewhere for the weekend. He had a car, we just had to come up with a plan. So, plan we did! We left Friday after work and stopped for food on the way…at a Texas style roadhouse! Very weird. I suppose that’s what it must feel like for Aussies to go to the Outback steakhouse. The ribs were good and messy, so I left satisfied and grinning. By the time we turned into the park it was dark and raining. The forecast had been for rain all weekend long, with possible breaks on Sunday, but we decided we could handle it…besides, it was still about 75 degrees! The road got narrower and more windy as we drove up, up, and up, in and out of fog. We made it to the campsite just about 9pm, still raining. The rain is different here. It’s like a weird warm rain that feels like a mist, but soaks you within seconds. I don't mind it as long as it's warm.
Saturday morning we woke up to wallabies nibbling on the grass in the small field below our tents, so cute. We had a full day of hiking planned and packed up to hit the trail, but not before stopping for coffee at the resort across the street from the hike entrance. The coffee was good, the hike was wet, and leeches are NOT your friends. The hike was very jungle-like with vines hanging all over the place, broad-leaf plants crowding any available patch of free space, wild birds singing loud exotic songs, mist hanging in the air, and LEECHES everywhere! They sit on the trail and when the feel vibrations of your feet stomping closer, they stretch out and latch onto you as you pass. If you stay in one place…they actually chase after you! And they are NOT slow like slugs, nor do they die easily. At one point – before we discovered that deet or skin-so-soft works on the little suckers – we thought about turning back they were so thick. But thankfully we conquered (and re-applied often) and continued on our way.
The waterfalls were beautiful. We only saw 5 people on the 12 mile loop trail. We encountered a blue lobster looking creature, both in the water and far from it – called the Blue Mountain Crayfish. It hissed and stuck it’s claws out at you if you got too close. Unfortunately, since it was raining and cloudy the viewpoint was a point with no views, but the waterfalls and the jungle were totally worth it. After dragging ourselves across the finish line we did a leech check and settled in for dinner and drinks at a picnic table under a canopy. Stories were told, laughter was had, jungle sounds, minimal bugs, no leeches. Perfect.
Sunday morning we went in search of a hot breakfast. We found a great little café in town with open air seating and COFFEE! After sleeping two nights in a row on hard ground, you’d need a nice tall mug of vanilla latte too! (I couldn't fit my sleeping pad into my luggage...grr)
After breakfast we zipped off toward the Gold Coast, to Broad beach, an area just south of Surfer’s Paradise. I slathered on the sunscreen before hitting the beach and it’s a good thing I did. I am a whitey compared to most people here and the sun is intense! (apparently the hole in the ozone layer is directly above Australia) I only got a tiny little burn on my shoulder after putting on 30+ and being out for 3 hours. Just down the beach there were tons of people and loud speakers going, so Ali and I headed over to check it out. (Shah took a nap under a tree in the dunes) It turned out that there was a huge competition where teams of all ages from towns up and down the coast were swimming, boarding, kayaking…etc in races and relays to buoys approx. 200 meters out from shore. It was fascinating to watch.
After doing a little swimming of our own followed by sunbathing, we headed back to our little hotel ‘home’. I slept like a rock.
Bright and early we headed north of Brisbane…again. 4-wheel drive class, round 2. …and this time we made it on time, without any mishaps! …though, still raining. Unfortunately, because of the rain we were unable to do all of the course…but still, TONS OF FUN! We learned so much about off roading and how to control the vehicle in extreme situatios, and what to do when stuck. Very practical. Some of the obstacles included a “river” crossing, steep slippery hills, huge ruts, and moguls (which are paired pothole and hill in a checker-type pattern – this means that when the front right tire and the left rear tire are on hills the other two tires are floating in the air…and 4-wheel drive can’t accelerate with only two wheels on the ground.) For those of you on facebook, I’ve uploaded a couple videos showing both Ali and I going through the moguls.
Also, there are new photos if you go to the link called "Photos" on the right-hand side of this page.
Tuesday through Thursday were pretty chill. Worked in the office, still diggin’ the landslides, and faults, and debris flows…etc. Ali and I hit up the fancy restaurant in town for dinner on Wednesday night. It was an Indian place that had a sampler meal for two people. We got to try so many more options. One funny thing about eating out here though, you bring your own booze to dinner. Most places don’t have liquor licenses, but they’ll allow you to bring your own in. Some places charge a ‘corkage’ fee, but others don’t.
There are really large bats here. We have been going for runs along the river after work, usually right before dusk and the bats COME OUT! They’re everywhere…in the sky that is! Mitch told us that they are fruit bats. The wing span is about 3 feet and whenever I see them flying over, all I can think of is… Gotham City!...and that Batman must be near. To top it all off, there’s a building that looks exactly like a Gotham City building in the middle of downtown.
…and a small vocabulary lesson:
That’s okay – you’re welcome
No worries – you’re welcome
Dodgy – sketchy
Tyres – tires
Toggs – swimsuits
Budgee smugglers – men’s speedos
Reckon – think
Right-O – sure
How’re you going? – How’s it going?
Haych – “H”
March 5 Weekend. Lamington National Park.
A co-worker from the office here, Shah, a Malaysian transplant of 8 years, asked us if we wanted were interested in going somewhere for the weekend. He had a car, we just had to come up with a plan. So, plan we did! We left Friday after work and stopped for food on the way…at a Texas style roadhouse! Very weird. I suppose that’s what it must feel like for Aussies to go to the Outback steakhouse. The ribs were good and messy, so I left satisfied and grinning. By the time we turned into the park it was dark and raining. The forecast had been for rain all weekend long, with possible breaks on Sunday, but we decided we could handle it…besides, it was still about 75 degrees! The road got narrower and more windy as we drove up, up, and up, in and out of fog. We made it to the campsite just about 9pm, still raining. The rain is different here. It’s like a weird warm rain that feels like a mist, but soaks you within seconds. I don't mind it as long as it's warm.
Saturday morning we woke up to wallabies nibbling on the grass in the small field below our tents, so cute. We had a full day of hiking planned and packed up to hit the trail, but not before stopping for coffee at the resort across the street from the hike entrance. The coffee was good, the hike was wet, and leeches are NOT your friends. The hike was very jungle-like with vines hanging all over the place, broad-leaf plants crowding any available patch of free space, wild birds singing loud exotic songs, mist hanging in the air, and LEECHES everywhere! They sit on the trail and when the feel vibrations of your feet stomping closer, they stretch out and latch onto you as you pass. If you stay in one place…they actually chase after you! And they are NOT slow like slugs, nor do they die easily. At one point – before we discovered that deet or skin-so-soft works on the little suckers – we thought about turning back they were so thick. But thankfully we conquered (and re-applied often) and continued on our way.
The waterfalls were beautiful. We only saw 5 people on the 12 mile loop trail. We encountered a blue lobster looking creature, both in the water and far from it – called the Blue Mountain Crayfish. It hissed and stuck it’s claws out at you if you got too close. Unfortunately, since it was raining and cloudy the viewpoint was a point with no views, but the waterfalls and the jungle were totally worth it. After dragging ourselves across the finish line we did a leech check and settled in for dinner and drinks at a picnic table under a canopy. Stories were told, laughter was had, jungle sounds, minimal bugs, no leeches. Perfect.
Sunday morning we went in search of a hot breakfast. We found a great little café in town with open air seating and COFFEE! After sleeping two nights in a row on hard ground, you’d need a nice tall mug of vanilla latte too! (I couldn't fit my sleeping pad into my luggage...grr)
After breakfast we zipped off toward the Gold Coast, to Broad beach, an area just south of Surfer’s Paradise. I slathered on the sunscreen before hitting the beach and it’s a good thing I did. I am a whitey compared to most people here and the sun is intense! (apparently the hole in the ozone layer is directly above Australia) I only got a tiny little burn on my shoulder after putting on 30+ and being out for 3 hours. Just down the beach there were tons of people and loud speakers going, so Ali and I headed over to check it out. (Shah took a nap under a tree in the dunes) It turned out that there was a huge competition where teams of all ages from towns up and down the coast were swimming, boarding, kayaking…etc in races and relays to buoys approx. 200 meters out from shore. It was fascinating to watch.
After doing a little swimming of our own followed by sunbathing, we headed back to our little hotel ‘home’. I slept like a rock.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Frizziness Knows No End
Feb 25 – Feb 28
I realized in the course of reading my last post that I had not introduced Ali or discussed how this Australia opportunity came about. In early October (2009), I got an email from Mitch, whom I had worked with before he transferred from the Redmond office to Golder’s Brisbane office. He told me about a project they were bidding on, that if they won the bid, they would need several more people to staff the project….if I was interested in coming to Australia for 4-6 months. Of course I was interested! Longs story short, after months of waiting and the ups and downs of “YES! You’re going.” and in the next breath “oops, sorry. No you’re not.” Well, somehow after all that, I find myself here!
Ali is a coworker who has been at Golder Redmond a little longer than I have, she’s a year or two older and married to JB, who is somehow living without her for the next couple months. We both think rocks are cool, and are having lots of fun together as a great adventure team tackling the wilds of Brisbane and beyond.
The project (without going into overwhelming detail) is to provide geo-hazard and geologic information to geotechnical engineers for design and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) parameters for a two connecting potential pipelines north of Brisbane, that combined are approximately 530 km long (roughly 300 mi).
Well, now…back to the story.
Feb 25 and 26 Thursday and Friday workdays.
Thursday morning I woke up with only a slightly sore neck (it healed very quickly!) and off to work again. Throughout the week in the office Ali and I had been given several fancy pieces of equipment to use…mostly for work in the field, but also in the office. We have 3G cell phones (strictly called mobiles here, NOT cell phones), Tablets, GPS cameras, handheld GPS with ArcPad (like a Trimble), SAT phones, and UHF radios. (At all times in the field they want us to have 3 types/options for communication.) The Brisbane office here is trying some alternatives to logging boreholes. Traditionally we work with a paper format in the field and then input the information into a program back to the office. Here they are testing out the latest and greatest version of a ‘tough book’, called a tablet, that we can literally write in the information into the program by drawing on the screen using a stylus into a program that automatically inputs it into the right borehole format (and the handwriting recognition is really good!). Obviously, from the amount of time I’m spending yakking about it, the tablet is my favorite so far, it has GPS capabilities (with ArcExporer), normal computer capabilities, internet anywhere with cell coverage, post-it notes program, and a window Journal program that allows you to scribble, draw, and take notes that stay exactly as you put it or can be converted to typing. Needless to say, a large part of the week was getting familiar with our new ‘toys’.
Ali and I also started working on some project work on Friday. I started a landslide study using LiDAR and google maps while Ali helped Mitch with some of the reporting from his field work. Fun, fun, fun! I love landslides!
Friday after work, Ali and I were both invited to go out with a bunch of the people from the office to celebrate a couple birthdays. We got all jazzed up (well, as much could with our limited wardrobe) and started off at a nice restaurant downtown (the downtown area called Fortitude Valley). It was Indian/Mediterranean style and very yummy. After dinner we follow the crowd of Golder-ites (about 30 in all) to a cocktail bar down the street. Turns out, that even in our best clothes we were turned away for wearing flip-flops. I will take a moment to note that our wardrobe has been yet another hurdle to deal with here. First of all, I brought way too many warm clothes…and by warm clothes I mean that jeans and a t-shirt is simply too much. I hardly ever wear jeans…they’re too heavy. The temperature ranges from hot to really hot (even when raining) and I didn’t really need more than 1 or 2 jackets (the office is cool). Also, the Bris office is more dressy than the Redmond office. Ali and I thought we would only be in the office 3-5 days until going out to the field for the majority of our time here. So, needless to say we’ve had to be a little creative to attempt the ‘fresh and new’ look. Also, as the title of this blog entry states…the frizziness is unstoppable. I’ve been to Virginia in the summer before, but somehow I cannot get my hair to look calm or professional. It insists on the juvenile. I feel like a teenager with bad hair all the time - all over again. I tried letting it have it’s own way, I tried blow drying it…and then I finally got my hair straightener to work the other day by getting a step-down transformer…but it seems that the second I straighten, it just curls right back up. Nothing is working…yet. The next step is to turn to product. …will venture in that direction next week, especially if it turns out that I’m not going into the field for a while.
Feb 27 Saturday. Rain.
Saturday really starts with Friday….just before we headed out with the crew, Ali got a call from the project manager to see if she would be willing to go out to the field last minute on Sunday to replace a sick team member. So, first thing Saturday we were headed back to the office to get her all set up for field work, and me to finish up some work, and skype, and email, and bank account stuff and…whatever. It was a nice day of catching up and organizing. It had started raining (it’s the end of the Wet here…the wet season) so it was nice to be inside and I was able to get ready for Sunday and looked up a church that is loosely affiliated with my home church (Mars Hill Church) through a church planting network called Acts 29 Network. It’s a small church plant that started up only two weeks earlier. I got the address and directions, so I was read for the next day….or so I thought.
Feb 28 Sunday. Adventuring in BBQ land.
Sunday started out as a nice beautiful morning. An hour before church started, I bid Ali farewell and good luck in the field, and headed off to a suburb south of town called Norman Park. Whooweee! What a fiasco. I started off at the local train station where I would need to take two different trains to get to my location. I was told that I had a half hour until my train arrived and that I could either wait for my train or walk down to the city cat and catch the boat to my connecting train. Of course I took the boat…the only problem was that the train was a lot further away than they train station guy had told me. But finally I made it – to the train terminal. By this time it was about 10:15 and I was only half way! I got off at the right stop and promptly realized that my directions were street/road map directions…and the road signs were not marked. After wandering around for a while, I finally found some shops that were still open. A very nice lady showed my on a map where to go…and the directions were easy enough. Turns out I went exactly the opposite way I was supposed to go. Ha! Figures. I snuck in only about 20ish minutes late – sweating, but happy to be there. Sermon was great. The church is indeed small, but very friendly. After the service I met the couple sitting next to me (Rob and Dora, about my parents age), then went outside and met a few of the gals who are about my age, then proceeded to meet just about the entire church (I’d say about 30 ppl). A few of the guys invited everyone over for bbq. I stopped by the grocery store with a couple of the girls and got meat before heading over. Lively conversations, lots of laughter, good community, yummy food, and a huge potential for making several awesome friends.
I got ‘home’ to the apartment and guess what?!! Ali was still there! Her job had gotten cancelled last minute due to rain up north. I have to say that I was really happy about having her stay. It’s so nice to have a friend to be around and do stuff with. All in all, it was a wonderful day for me.
I realized in the course of reading my last post that I had not introduced Ali or discussed how this Australia opportunity came about. In early October (2009), I got an email from Mitch, whom I had worked with before he transferred from the Redmond office to Golder’s Brisbane office. He told me about a project they were bidding on, that if they won the bid, they would need several more people to staff the project….if I was interested in coming to Australia for 4-6 months. Of course I was interested! Longs story short, after months of waiting and the ups and downs of “YES! You’re going.” and in the next breath “oops, sorry. No you’re not.” Well, somehow after all that, I find myself here!
Ali is a coworker who has been at Golder Redmond a little longer than I have, she’s a year or two older and married to JB, who is somehow living without her for the next couple months. We both think rocks are cool, and are having lots of fun together as a great adventure team tackling the wilds of Brisbane and beyond.
The project (without going into overwhelming detail) is to provide geo-hazard and geologic information to geotechnical engineers for design and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) parameters for a two connecting potential pipelines north of Brisbane, that combined are approximately 530 km long (roughly 300 mi).
Well, now…back to the story.
Feb 25 and 26 Thursday and Friday workdays.
Thursday morning I woke up with only a slightly sore neck (it healed very quickly!) and off to work again. Throughout the week in the office Ali and I had been given several fancy pieces of equipment to use…mostly for work in the field, but also in the office. We have 3G cell phones (strictly called mobiles here, NOT cell phones), Tablets, GPS cameras, handheld GPS with ArcPad (like a Trimble), SAT phones, and UHF radios. (At all times in the field they want us to have 3 types/options for communication.) The Brisbane office here is trying some alternatives to logging boreholes. Traditionally we work with a paper format in the field and then input the information into a program back to the office. Here they are testing out the latest and greatest version of a ‘tough book’, called a tablet, that we can literally write in the information into the program by drawing on the screen using a stylus into a program that automatically inputs it into the right borehole format (and the handwriting recognition is really good!). Obviously, from the amount of time I’m spending yakking about it, the tablet is my favorite so far, it has GPS capabilities (with ArcExporer), normal computer capabilities, internet anywhere with cell coverage, post-it notes program, and a window Journal program that allows you to scribble, draw, and take notes that stay exactly as you put it or can be converted to typing. Needless to say, a large part of the week was getting familiar with our new ‘toys’.
Ali and I also started working on some project work on Friday. I started a landslide study using LiDAR and google maps while Ali helped Mitch with some of the reporting from his field work. Fun, fun, fun! I love landslides!
Friday after work, Ali and I were both invited to go out with a bunch of the people from the office to celebrate a couple birthdays. We got all jazzed up (well, as much could with our limited wardrobe) and started off at a nice restaurant downtown (the downtown area called Fortitude Valley). It was Indian/Mediterranean style and very yummy. After dinner we follow the crowd of Golder-ites (about 30 in all) to a cocktail bar down the street. Turns out, that even in our best clothes we were turned away for wearing flip-flops. I will take a moment to note that our wardrobe has been yet another hurdle to deal with here. First of all, I brought way too many warm clothes…and by warm clothes I mean that jeans and a t-shirt is simply too much. I hardly ever wear jeans…they’re too heavy. The temperature ranges from hot to really hot (even when raining) and I didn’t really need more than 1 or 2 jackets (the office is cool). Also, the Bris office is more dressy than the Redmond office. Ali and I thought we would only be in the office 3-5 days until going out to the field for the majority of our time here. So, needless to say we’ve had to be a little creative to attempt the ‘fresh and new’ look. Also, as the title of this blog entry states…the frizziness is unstoppable. I’ve been to Virginia in the summer before, but somehow I cannot get my hair to look calm or professional. It insists on the juvenile. I feel like a teenager with bad hair all the time - all over again. I tried letting it have it’s own way, I tried blow drying it…and then I finally got my hair straightener to work the other day by getting a step-down transformer…but it seems that the second I straighten, it just curls right back up. Nothing is working…yet. The next step is to turn to product. …will venture in that direction next week, especially if it turns out that I’m not going into the field for a while.
Feb 27 Saturday. Rain.
Saturday really starts with Friday….just before we headed out with the crew, Ali got a call from the project manager to see if she would be willing to go out to the field last minute on Sunday to replace a sick team member. So, first thing Saturday we were headed back to the office to get her all set up for field work, and me to finish up some work, and skype, and email, and bank account stuff and…whatever. It was a nice day of catching up and organizing. It had started raining (it’s the end of the Wet here…the wet season) so it was nice to be inside and I was able to get ready for Sunday and looked up a church that is loosely affiliated with my home church (Mars Hill Church) through a church planting network called Acts 29 Network. It’s a small church plant that started up only two weeks earlier. I got the address and directions, so I was read for the next day….or so I thought.
Feb 28 Sunday. Adventuring in BBQ land.
Sunday started out as a nice beautiful morning. An hour before church started, I bid Ali farewell and good luck in the field, and headed off to a suburb south of town called Norman Park. Whooweee! What a fiasco. I started off at the local train station where I would need to take two different trains to get to my location. I was told that I had a half hour until my train arrived and that I could either wait for my train or walk down to the city cat and catch the boat to my connecting train. Of course I took the boat…the only problem was that the train was a lot further away than they train station guy had told me. But finally I made it – to the train terminal. By this time it was about 10:15 and I was only half way! I got off at the right stop and promptly realized that my directions were street/road map directions…and the road signs were not marked. After wandering around for a while, I finally found some shops that were still open. A very nice lady showed my on a map where to go…and the directions were easy enough. Turns out I went exactly the opposite way I was supposed to go. Ha! Figures. I snuck in only about 20ish minutes late – sweating, but happy to be there. Sermon was great. The church is indeed small, but very friendly. After the service I met the couple sitting next to me (Rob and Dora, about my parents age), then went outside and met a few of the gals who are about my age, then proceeded to meet just about the entire church (I’d say about 30 ppl). A few of the guys invited everyone over for bbq. I stopped by the grocery store with a couple of the girls and got meat before heading over. Lively conversations, lots of laughter, good community, yummy food, and a huge potential for making several awesome friends.
I got ‘home’ to the apartment and guess what?!! Ali was still there! Her job had gotten cancelled last minute due to rain up north. I have to say that I was really happy about having her stay. It’s so nice to have a friend to be around and do stuff with. All in all, it was a wonderful day for me.
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