Today was my first day at work in this land down under. And as if that were not momentous enough, Obama got Osama. I was surprised to see most of the office glued to the TV watching our president give his speech. Can you remember the last time you were glued to the TV watching Julia Guillard speak? Yeah, exactly, look her up, she's the Aussie Prime Minister, she even got to go to the royal wedding last week, which means she's important.
I on the other hand am just a "new starter" and you know what that means - yes, days on the phone with Helpdesk. I'm proud to say I left with my windows laptop connected to the exchange server. But my desk phone is still stuck in an infinite reboot cycle and I could draw you the Cisco IP phone splash screen from memory (it's Java powered!). I can't get my mail on my blackberry and microsoft communicator doesn't know who I am.
All is not lost though, interpersonal skills still have a place in our virtual lives and I made introductions and I even remember 75% of the people I met. Turns out there is a big Aussie wide company party next week - a black tie one. Somehow cocktail dress did not make my list of things for the 4 suitcases I brought, so it is time to shop. Chapel street here I come!
The end of my day was an inspection of a South Yarra 1 bedroom, ground floor apartment. Turns out that ads claiming "inspection is a must" aren't just throwing out marketing hyperbole, it is required by law that tenants see the apartment before signing a lease. I learned this and much more from the Irish tenant who was sad to be returning to the UK. Turns out Melbourne is quite a fabulous place to live. And so far I agree!
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