It's contest time!

So, apparently there is a contest to give Toronto a slogan so that it will be a world class city. I heard about this on Fark.com, so anyone who has heard of that site can see where this is going. (Fark is a comedy news site)

Here are some of the best:

1. Toronto: English enthusiasm, Scottish hospitality, Russian optimism, West Indian work ethics, Chinese hygiene and American cars. Diversity is our strength!
2. Toronto:Where transit comes to a stand still when it snows. Who knew it would snow in Canada in the winter.
3. Toronto: a city of identical neighbourhoods, each with a neat-sounding name.
4. Toronto: So much to see, no place to park.
5. 
   Toronto: Come check out our Os.

And finally, my personal favourite that will keep me laughing all day:

Toronto: Where the Leafs keep blowing until April

Movin' On Up

So, I get a text message from my boss this morning, she wants to have a chat. *shudder*

We have something coming up at the zoo called Twilight at Taronga, which is a series of concerts every weekend through February. She wants me to run the VIP section at the concerts!

I don't know if you can count that as a promotion, but running a section for VIPs sounds fairly important - so I'm calling it one anyway.

Also, I get to work on January 26th! Which means nothing to anyone back home, but here it's Australia Day, which means double time and a half for public holiday! That'll be about $50 an hour! Woohoo!

Mmmmm, bouncy

Stumbled upon this while picking up some veal for dinner and couldn't resist:



Been a long time since I had any roo. I've heard people describe it as springy. HAHA! Get it, I made a funny.

P.S.

One more thing.

Dad, Jess, Barb -> Thanks for the gift card - I bought a ticket to go see Top Gear Live @ Sydney Olympic Park, and had a bit left over to put into my diver course.

Mom, Gord, Steph -> Thanks for the gift certificate, it paid for the other part of my diver course.

Photos from the underwater camera are being developed as we speak, I'll scan them and post them either early next week or in a few days. Hopefully they turned out good.

Planning for the Future

So, I've officially been promoted to function supervisor at work, and my first function is tomorrow with another person where I get to learn what the hell I have to do. It's nice because I get paid more!

It looks like my plans are shaping up to be somewhere along the lines of this:

Feb. 25 -> Last day of Work
Feb 28-Mar 1 -> Advanced Open Water Diver course
Mar 2-Mar 6 -> Kangaroo Valley @ Penny's parents house
Mar 8 - Mar 23 ish -> Contiki tour to Cairns (and beyond!)
Mar ?? - Mar ??+5 -> Liveaboard dive boat in Great Barrier Reef

After that, I'll take a look at my funds and either travel a bit more, or head back to Sydeny and get a flight home. If work continues to give me this many hours through February, I Should have accumulated about $11,000 before paying for the trips. Not including taxes paid (of which I don't know how much I'll get back) and superannuation (about another $1,500).

The more I look at the things I will be able to do the more excited I get. The best part is, I told my boss my plans and she is happy for me! If you've seen the emails I get from her, you know how much of a bitch she is, so I'm fairly impressed.




I've uploaded a few albums to the picture site. The albums are:
Life -> While going to work I took a photo of whatever I was looking at every few minutes, so you could see what it was like going to work for me.
NYE08 -> New Years Eve, there aren't any bridge fireworks photos because I took a video of the whole thing. I'll show it to everyone when I get home because it's 12.5 minutes long and 1.2GB.
Chrismas Day -> Christmas day wandering around the city and then hitting Manly Beach
Sculptures by the Sea -> An annual thing they have at Bondi Beach with artists creating things to put on display. Like most art, I didn't get it and neither will you.

Lastly, I went out to do gift shopping today, and found absoutely nothing. All I could think of for getting everyone was t-shirts or hats. So, while I'm adventuring if something screams Dad or Shannon or Jess or Mom or Barb or whatever, I'll pick it up and bring it home with me, other than that suggest something Aussie you want and I'll go find it.

That'a all for now, cheers!