Blog of a bald geek.

Just about every fiber optic cable that is run any distance is made up of more than one fiber.
About the diameter of a human hair, its easy to fit a whole bunch of them inside the one protective cable.
At each end of the cable, you then split each cable out and put the required electronics so that you can send your information via light pulses….
That electronics costs money, so its pretty common that you dont ‘light up’ every strand of fiber.
Those that are not lit, are called ‘dark fiber’…. They are just sitting there, ready to go when and as they are needed.

Im a bit like one of those bits of electronics. This web site is like a fiber optic cable.
I send information out to you all via this blog.
Yeah, its hit and miss, but I dont think I have gone much longer than about a few weeks before I light up and spit out something, useless or otherwise…..

The project that I have been working on here in Sydney is gathering pace and they have asked me to be involved in the next phase of its life.
That phase will require me to go dark for about 6-8 weeks.
Frustratingly for some of you, I still, even after all this + that time, cant tell you about the project. I have to wait for the NDA to be lifted middle to late this year.
You will just have to wait. I will come up for air at the end of this next phase and let you all know that I am ok (I hope) and blogging will just carry on as if nothing had happen.
From that point, you will just have to keep checking back now and then waiting for the gag order to be lifted. At that stage, I will have to find out just how much I can tell you about this project. Im sure I will be able to give you a lot of information, its just a question of if I can share any of the photos I have been taking (I doubt it, but I will see).

So, enough to say, nothing has changed for me up to this point. Busy working long hours, 6 days a week.
In a few days I check out of my little room and my internet connection gets really hit and miss (hence the going dark).
Mentally and physically, the next few weeks are going to be really challenging for me, its a coin toss as to whether I am more excited or concerned. Time will tell. (As it has a way of doing).

Blog at yas in a month or more.

Sydney man. Personally, I am not a huge fan. Too many people.

But, as you have read in the past few blog entries, one of the things I am pleased about is that the room I am in is pretty quiet. Sure, there have been some noisy parties in some near by hall, but for the most part, its a quiet room…..
That said, I have come to relies that its not just the room…… I am not having my usual nap in the back of the Rangie at lunch time, the job is pretty stressful, there a ton of people going flat out around me all day, and they are long days……

Speaks the truth

I think I am getting home and crashing into bed around 8:30 each night. Some times earlier.
Sometimes I am up before my usual 4:30am alarm, sometimes not.

Anyway, what was it that lead me to consider that perhaps I am sleeping soundly rather than just having a quiet room?
This little event here……
Now, just in case the link goes down, here is the summery of the event…..
“Streets around a major Sydney hospital were locked down for five hours after an alleged armed robber fired shots at police and scaled the fence of the Chinese consulate.

The drama at Camperdown, in the city’s inner west, began when two men, aged 27 and 32, tried unsuccessfully to rob the Alfred Hotel on Missenden Road shortly before 1.30am (AEDT) on Friday.”

Um, this is over the road from where I am staying…. No really, its just over the road! If I look out my window, I can see the hotel!
I never knew a thing until I tried to go to work…..
Who knew, but apparently when the police search a building and they are happy the bad guy is not in there, they zip tie the doors shut from the inside… such was the greeting I got when I tried to get out and go to work.
Ended up having to do some parkour and jump off a balcony to get out!
Once out, it was like I was in a movie, there were police everywhere! Whole streets blocked off, there were scores of them!

Never heard a thing.

Oh, and I slept through the new years fireworks too.

Introverts. Deal with people all day. Sleep all night.
We are not broken. Do not try and fix us.

Yes, we are still here (sort of).
Still in Sydney. Still working long hours, still working 6 days a week.

The only change was that I managed to slip away for a few days around Xmas and get up to Matts family’s beach house (on his mums side) at Avoca Beach.
Best few days I have had in 10′s of years. I cant recall the last time I took time off to do nothing.
Dont get me wrong, taking the time to help Dan build his place, Dad frame up inside his house, me to rebuild the bike, clad the house at Yendon and so on were breaks, and I am glad that I did them, its just that I cant remember the last time I did nothing for 4 days.
Matt has been at me for years to go fishing with him. The fact that he lives in Australia and me in California never once dampened his drive to make it happen, who could have planed me at no notice heading to Sydney to work on this job, that it went 3 weeks longer than we thought and thus I could find myself standing on Avoca beach, next to my mate Matt with a surf rod in my hand;

Got one!

A shoved nosed shark, took the hook out and let him go. We also caught a baby sting ray, same deal, remove hook and set free.
The biggest kick was catching dinner. I caught a whiting and Matt caught a flathead.
We stuck them on the barbi and ate them up yum!

Xmas day got off to a great start, left the house around 5ish and walked the length of the beach. Not my usual power walking, but a rare treat walk, a dawdle. Watched the surf crash into the rocks at the other end of the beach (about a couplula kays at a guess), and dawdled back. Hung out with the Matt family for an hour or so, then they took off to Sydney for the family dinner.
I had the whole place to myself. Slept, talked with Freddy on the phone, did my washing, watched the Australian Rally Championships stage wrap up (its been 4 years since I last saw it, had forgotten how much I love the idea of driving rally cars through the Australian bush), slept some more and went for another walk, then to cap off a fantastic day, headed down to the beach with my camera and ended up taking one of Matts favorite photos of mine. Day 52 of my 365, check it out on Facebook.
It was just a really nice day. Its been a long long time since I have been so alone, so peaceful and so relaxed.
The last day there, I headed down to the beach at 4am to try and catch a gimps of comet Lovejoy in the pre-dawn light. No such luck. It was cloudy, but the hour of just sitting on the beach (I was the only one there) watching the sun rise was worth every cloud.
Sad that it came to an end, really could have used some more time like that…. Hope its not 20ish+ years before we get a chance like that again.

Im reminded of a line from a song that I know (Rush, by Big Audio Dynamite);
“Life just carries on, even when I’m not there”.

This blog is a little like that. I hope.
Working long hours (still). Working 6 days a week (still).
Going to be here at least until the end of January, but there is a solid chance (a very solid chance) that I may be off air for another two months after that.
Im not going to say exactly what until I am sure, but trust me, its both exciting and terrifying.

Getting on Ok other wise.
Sleep, Skype with the team and some of the family back home, breakfast, shower, walk to work, work, walk home from work, tech emails, eat, sleep. (Some where in all that, try and get a 365 photo).
That’s been my past 14 days and I see no chance or reason of that changing any time soon.
Thankful that my room is quiet and that the bed is comfy.
Thursday nights I go shopping to get supplies for the week.
Saturday, I sleep. Skype with my boy (who is at school when I am up through the week, so we only get to catch up on the weekends) and do laundry. (And usually sleep some more).
Today (Saturday), I listened to some music while just lying on the bed for the first time since arriving. It was very nice.
Started out with some Trace and ended up listening to Dido. The girl can sing, I will say that much.

So, I really hope this blog just carries on, even when Im not here.

Right, that’s it. I’m done!
Do I need to run the physics with you?
Is your day really that much so more important than mine?
Is your life, really that much more valuable than mine?
Your arrogance is staring to bore me.

In all regards, the American (and by that I mean Temecula) respect for the pedestrian is far, far, FAR superior than Sydney drivers.
In less than a week I have had two near life experiences and several blatant ‘I dont care if you are on the curb waiting to cross, Im going to drive in your path anyway’

It really is astounding just how little car drivers think of pedestrians here. We are like leaf litter. Meir trash. Its so bad, I am embarrassed for those drivers, and more so for their passengers.
Imagine going through life treating other people with such disrespect. How do they treat their wives and girlfriends sitting in the seat next to them?
No, I dont think I am jumping too far on this one. You run someone down that you make eye contact with, you chose not to stop 6 feet further back and allow them to cross safely in front of you, well, I just don’t think that you are setting a good example for those in the car with you, and I suspect that you treat them like dirt from time to time as well.

The car is not your right to go and do what ever you please.

Slow down and lighten up!

It was good to stop today.
Saturday here, so I was able to sleep in a little, catch up with the family on Skype, and just, well, stop.

The project goes ahead, the rest of the team is working, and I will be back with them on Sunday, but I am glad that my company supports me having one day off a week in times like this.
They told them that I don’t work Saturdays on the phone hookup we had when all this was going together, so they knew that I was not going to work Saturdays. It was a big load off my mind having it come from HQ right off the bat.

In an hour or so (once the sun goes down) I am going to do my first load of washing. I hope the machines work Ok.
Then I have to try my hand at ironing. Its been a while. Hope I remember.
Freddy looks after me too good! (Wait.. what….??)

And I thought you only worked hard in America……
6 hours on Friday when I arrived, 8 hours on Sunday and 12 hours today…. and I have only been in the country 3.5 days!!!!!!

Apart from that, going pretty good. The long hours mean I dont have time to get to the shops yet and buy a blanket, so I am still using the bath towels as blankets.
So much for summer in Sydney.
The room is quite, which is really nice as the office I am in all day has about 15 people in it, and a constant stream of about that many more going in and out all day… And there are no cubes, its all just desks everywhere. Pretty noisy and high energy for an introvert.

What else…. duno really. I now get why they are keeping this project under wraps after having seen it first hand. Its one of those things that in 10 years time I will look back on and say, yeah, I had a part in that and people will know. Not everyone, its not earth shattering, but nearly everyone.

Im still working out the food thing.
I think I picked a really bad month to give up drinking.

That is all.