One Down ...

Sorry about the lack of posts this last week or so - I've been lazy. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

Two Saturdays ago we headed out to South Bank for Oktoberfest. It was a long day of German beer and German food, but thankfully the weather was nice and the music was loud. Another American has joined our group - Gene. He's from Dallas, Texas and will be here for a year. We've also picked up a POM (Englishman) too. He wasn't quite able to keep up with us on Saturday as he passed out on the table and had to be escorted out!

This past Friday was Oranit's (OP) last day of work. We can a day-long bbq for her on Saturday where we all ate, drank, and played hacky-sack all day/night long. OP flew out on Sunday morning and is finally back home with her dog (& husband) after three months away.

Jeff, Joe & I are heading down to the Gold Coast this weekend to learn how to surf. Should be interesting. Will write about it next week to let you know if I was actually able to ride some waves.

Be very very quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

Here are some pictures from yesterday:


My birthday card


My t-shirt


My stubby holder



From earlier this morning:
I believe a picture says a thousand words

I Look Like a Monkey and I Smell Like One Too!

Update:
The guys at work got me a birthday cake and a couple of presents for my birthday today - a stubby holder (beer coozy) in the shape of a bikini-clad Aussie girl and a t-shirt with + beer = on the front of it.

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So today is my Australian birthday and tomorrow is my American birthday ... one of the benefits of being overseas is that I can celebrate on two different days.

I've told some, but not others and some have found out through others and not me, so I'm telling everyone now. I will be back in Illinois on Tuesday November 20 and will be back in Chicago on Saturday November 24. My last day of work is November 2 and I will be travelling around Australia and the South Pacific for a while after work.

A Wet and Wild Weekend

**Update: I've updated the photos from the Australia Zoo & Oranit's trip to Cairns**
Some of our group went to the Australia Zoo on Saturday. This is the zoo that used to be ran by Steve Irwin & is still under control by his family. I decided to pass on the zoo, but I am posting a bunch of photos that Craig, Jeff & Lino took during the day.

On Sunday the same group (with me included this time) went down to the Wet n' Wild water park. It was a perfect day for it - sunny but not too hot & humid. We were there until it closed at 5pm, so I was able to ride the better & 'scarrier' slides multiple times.

Also, Oranit & her husband Robert just got back from Cairns (upper Queensland) and I've posted some of her photos that they took while snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

There's Always Next Year

So my theory that the Cubs would go far in the playoffs because I'm here in Australia fell apart this weekend after the Cubbies got swept by Arizona. So my new theory is that the reason the Illini are playing well is because I'm here in Australia. Hopefully the football team's end result will be better than the Cubbies.

Thank God for MLB.TV

In about a half hour, I am going to watch the Cubs vs. D'back's Game 2 of the NLDS on a delay becuase a couple of us forked over $25 to watch postseason baseball. This will be the first time in over three months that I will have seen a baseball game. I can't wait! Go Cubs!

'Gay Bomb' for Enemy Soldiers

Taken from the Courier Mail:
The "peace award" presented by the science humour magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, went to an inventor who created a bomb that makes soldiers fall in love with each other.

"Peace Prize" - The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon, the so-called "gay bomb," that "will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other". (article)