why else would the call be changed

I am enjoying the watching of the Australian Open (tennis) and it entices me to go there someday to attend the event in person.

After having that thought; it then occurs to me to check out Wimbledon, the US Open and the French Open also; as all four of those together represent the main tennis events.

Typically these events have a duration of about two weeks. My inclination at the moment is to go during the first week maybe slightly overlapping into the second week; the price for tickets for the earlier rounds I would expect would be less expensive compared to the quarter, semi and finals. During those earlier rounds I still ought to see some good tennis, and if I work it out right, be there to support Canadian tennis players.

This will be a rather expensive endeavour, especially for Australia as the airfare alone will be quite a lot; but in all of these major cities, paying for accommodations during these events will be quite a lot. As always, my goal would be to stay within walking distance; or, if there is an easy public transit route; to be able to do that and be further away.

The least expensive would be to attend the lesser tournament here in my own city as it comes every August. In 2019 I went one time; at an evening event. Maybe the next time they allow fans, whether it is this August or next, I'll take a few days off of work and go.

caught

I generally shave no later than 48 hours since the last time I did, and usually between 24 and 36 hours. Well, this morning I awoke late as I had a conference call with UWA last night and so I was up later than I normally am, so I skipped the shaving this morning, pushing me past my normal maximum of 48 hours since the last time.

Surprisingly, I bump into my boss on the way into my building, he is uncharacteristically early today. Why? Because he is interviewing someone for their second interview. So what does he do? He asks me to meet with the candidate at the time she is to have come in, along with him.

I wish I had known; I don't like looking scruffy, and to look so in the presence of a candidate might give off a wrong impression about the company and/or me.

Anyhow, I was ill prepared to participate in the interview. I asked one question about how one would handle having to deal with customers who are in various time zones. Then I asked a question about her past working experience, asking her to explain a project or implementation that went exceedingly well. As a candidate I would have loved to have been asked that question as it offers the opportunity to explain a situation where I would have shined.

Then my boss mentions to her something she had fully admitted, which was a lack of technical expertise, and then he asks me a question, how important is it to have a technical background to do the job?

I minimize the importance of it, but that is because of my technical background. This job is significantly less technical than the one I had previously and so when I am asked that question I feel that this job is hardly technical at all. For someone who does not have the background I have, though, it is evident to me that the technical aspect of our job could present a challenge. She eagerly admitted her lacking, and indicated vehemently that she would 'train up' as required.

I was dismissed from the interview at that point. I don't know what the decision will be with respect to her being hired. I suppose I will find out soon.

And yes, I will be shaving either tonight, or tomorrow morning.

QF bad to good

So, I was booked on QF774 but arrived at ADL six hours early. I asked at the sales desk about switching to an earlier flight, they did the research and found that they'd have to charge the difference between my fare and the actual one as mine is a combined flight back to YUL. They put me on the phone with the international sales agent where I had to wait for thirteen minutes before someone answered and he gave me the same spiel, though he said I could ask at the service desk, explain that it is an internationally booked AC flight but could they put me on standby for an earlier one.

So, with that, I checked in my QF774 flight, passed through security, found a QF service desk, asked exactly as instructed by the sales agent, and lo and behold I am now on QF756. Yay! I'll arrive in Sydney four hours earlier and may actually have some daylight to go visit a little bit.

So the QF bad was the sales agent saying it wasn't really possible unless I paid a large amount.
The QF good was the service desk accommodating me.

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Photos of my day in Adelaide, April 15th.

A fountain in Victoria Square

Look, in Adelaide too there is a building that is reflecting another building.

Something about this appealed to me, though I'm not sure what.

I forget what these are called and I couldn't find them online...

They have water pumping through them very slowly and going down all of the sides evenly.

I wandered in here for about 10 minutes, I was not too impressed and did not stick around.

I wandered in here for a few more minutes and took some photos.

This is Sydney Nolan art.

This is either the work of Rollin Schlicht or Ron Robertson-Swann. The card to the left of it had both names and it wasn't clear which one was referring to this piece.

This is Sydney Ball art.

While wandering on Rundle street I caught this aircraft spelling Sarah's name in the sky.

This is the Rundle Lantern during the day. I think it is more impressive at night.

Here was a really neat statue, only because of the moon which you can't see too clearly here.

So I zoomed in a little, the moon was perfectly lined up.

Here was a statue on Rundle street.

And here is another one.

Any here is another one.

Underneath the bridge where Montefiore crosses North Terrace, the pillars had been painted.

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From my balcony at the Mawson Lakes Hotel.

To the left, this modern looking building.

A closeup of the UniSA logo embedded into the corner of the building. I quite like this logo.

Another UniSA modern looking building to the right.

The empty space looking straight out from my balcony, between the two buildings.

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More from the David Fleay park.

A lizard.

A kangaroo with her joey.

A crocodile.

A koala.

The same koala.

A wallaby.

The importance of building a nesting box

From the David Fleay Wildlife Park.


No matter how many cross walks we crossed, I did not once ever see a pair of disembodied legs attempt to cross the street.

It rained on and off the whole time I was in the Gold Coast. We saw many of these (boats and rainbows).

Adelaide

I did not have the energy to stick around Adelaide until dusk to see the Rundle Lantern. I wish I had, but I was too tired.

I've come back to the hotel and have taken it easy for a little while, and then have continued to prepare for the training I am starting to deliver tomorrow. Because the university I am training has asked to condense the training significantly, I am having to rearrange and remove quite a bit to meet their desired schedule. Even still, I hope that as things go they realize that the fifth day is necessary. Time will tell.

I will be posting some more Gold Coast photos as well as some Adelaide photos sometime over the next zero to 347 hours. I suspect I will also have some UniSA photos to post as here at the MLH I can see already that the UniSA campus is very nice.

Don't forget to wash down your tibia.

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The flight from YUL to YVR was uneventful. Got to watch 'The Help' and 'Green Lantern'.

I was hoping to hook up with two Vancouverites while waiting in YVR, but that didn't work out. This airport is quite nice for what it has in it, including this:

Note that you can click on any of the images to make them bigger.

And this:

And a few others I didn't photograph.

The flight from YVR to SYD was long, and the screen in the seat back in front of me that is for my viewing pleasure was not operational. I asked them to fix it on two separate occasions but they did not have the know how to do it - they tried resetting it but that didn't help. On the flight from SYD to YVR, if when I sit I find that it isn't working, I will insist on changing seats.

The Sydney airport was quite plain, or at least the parts of it that I was in, so I didn't photograph anything there. The flight from SYD to OOL was uneventful and short, Deb met me at the airport and we went touring a little bit. Drive here and there, walk here and there, it was quite nice. I took the photos below and will caption those that I can remember. Oh, you'll note that the top right corner has a dark spot, this is because my lovely daughter V-8 'played' with the camera rendering the lens cover somewhat incapacitated. Maybe it is time for a new camera.

This first one included the first surfers I saw.

This is a view of Surfers Paradise from Burleigh Head National Park.

The next three photos are from a walk we did.

After the walk, Deb had prepared a small snack lunch so we sat at a picnic table and ate. As soon as we sat down we had these visitors keeping a watchful eye on anything we might drop.

So far it has been a very pleasant visit. It has been especially fun doing all of the Canada vs Australia comparisons. Snow, winter, chips, boot, driving on what side of the road, roundabouts, ridiculous political decisions and spending...