Now I know...

A few things about myself that I did not before. This week my wife had some of her wisdom teeth removed, so I took some leave and worked from home for the rest of the week in order to look after her and the two children (both under five). Now I know that I do not have the patience to be a nurse. I also know that I do not want to be a single parent - EVER! Having to look after two children and then work in the evenings (after the kids are in bed) must be one of the hardest things to do. Well, that's what I reckon after this week. I also know that I have no patience to be a Kindergarten teacher. I can't get one four year old to listen to me, let alone twenty (keep reading).
I also know that I am immensely proud of my son. He graduated from Kinder this week and I was fortunate enough to not be travelling and saw their concert and ceremony. The kids performed a few songs for us with actions and then they had a graduation ceremony - of sorts. There was lots of food waiting for them after all. Can't keep hungry kids at bay for long. Lachlan performed quite well, but it was a bit weird for him to have all the attention from the mums and dads whilst doing so.
I'm off to Singapore now for a week and then Christmas Holidays - cannot wait for those. It's been a long year.

Sunset on San Diego

Well, I am on my way home again after what feels like an eternity away from home. Ten days is a long time. I cannot wait to see the family again. Cazz (my wife) sent me some pictures during the week and it seems like Caitlin (my daughter) is growing up daily. Lachlan (my son) has been a good boy this time as well, which is great. Really helpful to his mum.
My flight out of San Diego departed just as the sun was setting. My gosh, what a sight! The clear blue water stretching off into the horizon with an orange-grey sky above and only a few wisps of cloud. This certainly is a beautiful place this earth of ours. I hope we don't bugger it up for our kids.
I'm glad to be sitting in the airline lounge typing this, it really makes a difference to be able to relax before a fifteen hour flight across the pacific. Still had to battle through LAX security though. The security guards in LAX are the second most self important security people in any airport I've been to. Closely behind the one guy at Bangalore. I had to laugh though. Right out of nowhere, with a queue of about 100 people waiting to get through security, one of them yells something incomprehensible at the top of his voice - everything stopped. People with half a shoe on were told to immediately stop what they were doing - for no apparent reason. Five minutes later we were all told to continue on. I think the boss simply wanted to go for a piss, but us plebs couldn't be alerted to that fact.

Singapore Sling

So, here I am sitting in the Qantas lounge at Singapore airport after another week of business travel. Apologies for the tardiness of this blog. My last update seems like ages ago. I had a free day today and went to the Singapore Zoo and Simlim square for some electronics shopping.
Singapore Zoo is very beautiful. Set amongst lush tropical forests, the animals are in their element. Saw three white tigers and a lot of monkey species. They also have a large variety of African animals and big cats.
Simlim is the shoppers paradise for all of you who are into techie gadgets. Mobile phone shops abound and be prepared to bargain hard.
Anyway, short and sweet, they are calling out my flight to board.

Satchmo was right!

Currently I am sitting in my hotel room in Johannesburg having travelled all the way from San Diego. My itinerary was via Heathrow. Very simply, just want to detail something I saw on the way which proves just how beautiful this planet of ours is. And, why we need to look after it.
After taking off from Heathrow on British Airways BA057 at just after nine in the evening, we climbed into the clouds. England at this time of year still has daylight savings and the sun was still bathing the green countryside with it's fading warmth as we set off.
When we poked through the clouds I got to see the sun shining over what seemed to be a pillow of the softest fabric you'd ever feel. Glistening like a perfect kimono. Then, the pilot banked the aircraft to the right in order to head us toward Africa. At that moment, I got to experience the exact opposite sensation. The moon in all its full glory. Reflecting the suns rays down onto the same pillow of cloud. What a sight. Won't forget it in a hurry. Also one of those times where not getting the preferred aisle seat was a bonus.
What a wonderful world!

Now I know why they call it LAX

Hello everyone. Sitting in LA airport right now tapping away this update and am thinking how boring this airport is. No shops to speak of. No televisions to speak of. Nothing to occupy yourself to speak of. Now I know why they called it LAX. Because those that planned it were "lax" in thinking about passenger comfort. Perhaps the LA Airport corporation should take a trip to Singapore and check out the airport there?
Anyway, it's been a busy two weeks in San Diego. As Murphy would have it we got the best weather today - my last. I am mentally exhausted from the week and hope to sleep for a large part of the next flight to Heathrow. That airport at least has some decent shops to look at, if nothing else.
The next time I will be sleeping in a normal bed again will be in about 40 hours from now. Joy.
Looking forward to getting into Johannesburg again though. The little hotel we stay in is very relaxing and I can switch off from the world for a bit.

Only in America

Hi Peeps!
Simply want to say I'm missing the family, love them very much have received a couple of emails from home which is always very welcome and nice.
Also want to relate a few observations of things that could only happen in the mighty U S of A. Only in America:

• will you get a weird look for walking up to a Drive-In ATM
• will you find a bar that has four different baseball games on four different large screen TV's going on at one time - on a public holiday
• will someone boast about only getting 10 miles to the gallon (considering the current oil prices)
• does the number of pick-up trucks outnumber small cars by ten to one - when I say 'small', I mean like a Toyota Sedan. A Yaris would be considered a scooter here.
  

Opening a Beer bottle with no opener

Today's update is going to mention nothing about work at all, but the power of the internet. Indulge me, if you would. Imagine a man who has worked three days straight with a sum total of about twelve hours sleep. Jet-lag is a killer. Also imagine walking into the supermarket five minutes from the hotel and finding they sell nice, cold, inviting beer! Imagine, if you will, this exhausted man, buying a six pack of Sam Adam's pale ale - a very nice drop. Now imagine getting back to the hotel room and realising the bottles are not twist top. There is no bottle opener in the room. Nor is there one in the kitchen down the hallway. SHOCK.
Here's where the power of the internet comes in. More importantly, those brilliant guys at Google. So, you need to find a solution, open up an internet browser to the google homepage and type in, "how to open a bottle without an opener". Hey presto, lots of solutions.
All I can say is - thank god for metal door latches. Simply open the door, place the bottle in the cavity where the latch would normally sit and Bob's your uncle - watch out for the spillage.
Have Fun - I am.....now.

Hi Gang,
Made it to San Diego safe and sound. No thanks to Qantas though. We left Melbourne an hour late and were given the customary excuse, "due to the late arrival of the aircraft." Why is it that we all have to work doubly hard if there is a deadline, but big companies obviously do not care? So then we get onto the plane and as we taxi out to the runway, we lose all power. Promising. The captain restarts the engines and the air conditioning system and we take off. Then, we find out that the power spike has fried the entertainment system. We are stuck with reduced list of movies for 14 hours, even better. Oh, forgot to let everyone know that when the airline says to you, "we realise you are concerned about your connections due to our late departure and we will have staff on the ground to assist you." They are simply telling you what you want to hear to get you out of their face. no help. No ground crew. The quickest process was the US Customs, which is usually the reverse, they must have improved. Again waited an inordinately long time for bags and then managed to get to my connection with ten minutes to spare and probably a year or so less life.

On the Road again...

Hi everyone, yes, I am doing the good ol' Willie Nelson and am "on the road again" this Sunday. Off to San Diego for two weeks and then a week in Johannesburg. This is the longest I have ever been away from the family so I hope they recognise me upon my return.
This trip I will be working on getting the new Service Desk application as near as complete as possible. I will be in San Diego with an international bunch again - a German and a South African. I will also be circumnavigating the globe in the space of a few weeks - take that Phileas Fogg! Should look good on the resume.

We will be in the USA for their sacred 4th of July holiday. We have already been promised the time of our lives and the biggest fire works show we've ever seen. So it would be good to compare it to seeing Sydney Harbour light up on NYE.
Take Care. Have Fun. See you soon.
Adam

First Entry

Hello there everyone. Adam here. I figured there must be a better way to keep everyone up to date on all my travels, so here is the place to get that info. I'll keep it updated regularly whilst I'm off on my very difficult work assignments (also referred to as Junkets by Cazz). If I can figure out how to insert pictures and video, will do that too.
Last Sunday, June 8 I jetted off to the beautiful South Africa. This time it's only a week. We will be developing and testing the newest prototype or our service desk application.