Is it available in black?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24775436@N02/sets/72157621924009910/

Well we FINALLY arrived in New York after 33 hours of sleep deprivation. We got to New York on Friday 31st at 4.40pm, but it took us until 11.30pm to get to sleep. I’m now awake (at 11.30am) as we are meeting Rowena and Charles for lunch. But think I need more sleep. Davo is still dead to the world.

I will be more enthusiastic once I get another good sleep.

The hotel we are staying at is great. The room is very quiet, bed very comfortable and enough room to swing a cat. I slept like log. Just need more of it.

We walked around a couple of blocks last night to find somewhere to eat, and thought the vibe was great. Friday night in NYC seems like fun! It’s hilarious as there were 2 Starbucks in very close proximity, so the Chaser were right! Dave has already found 2 huge shoe shops. No chocolate shops close but I suspect I’ll just search for Godiva in the next week.

Ok time to get ready. Will write more exciting stuff (hopefully) later.

Well two of our very best friends are moving to Berlin this week. Lisa and I met at Tweekin’ in 1998 (I think) discussing a similarity in taste of males at the time, and have gotten along like a house on fire ever since. Lisa and Ant started going out in 2000 (I think) at a birthday part of mine, and Dave and Ant have gotten along like a house on fire ever since too.

But they are off to the other side of the world this week. And we’ll miss them

It seems to happen a lot. Back in the 90s, a lot of friends went over for a year or two, and then came back. In the past ten years, so many of our friends have gone to Europe to stay. Most have moved to England: Beta & Aaron, Bec, Brad & Hayley, Dave & Valli, Samantha & Glenn, Monica (started in Ireland). Some moved to India - Silvana & Ben. And now Berlin: Lisa & Ant, and shortly Natacha.

So I’m feeling a bit sad right now.

Off to bed, and to (hopefully) dream of a one month trip to Berlin next year. August 2010 is in the diary.

So yep I haven’t posted in a while. Been a very busy 3 months. What’s been happening?

* Music - Harbour cruise (although RPR cancelled), V festival (Madness & Human League), Deep as Funk (Daniel Dreier, Minilogue), Berlin Sessions (Stimming), Kink (Konrad Black), Metro (Loco Dice), Qirkz (Fourplay), Liverpool St (MotorCitySoul), We Love Sounds (Dinky, Anja Schneider, Guy Gerber).
* Food - Yum Cha (a few times), Bathers’ Pavilion, Tetsuya’s, Epoque, Pendolino (twice), The Longueville (a few times), Globe Bar, Pony, GPO food court (a few times), Almond Bar, Cafe in Chatswood, Settlements Bar, Lindt Cafe (a few times), Fink Chocolate Cafe.
* Trips away - gone to Bowral a few times to visit family, Berry to do some shopping.
* Movies - Berlin Calling, Summer Hours, Star Trek (at the Imax), My Year Without Sex, Angels & Demons, What Just Happened, The Proposal, The Girlfriend Experience, Cheri.
* Comedy - Danny Bhoy, Jeremy Hotz, Reginald D Hunter, Nick Sun.
* Friends from o/s visiting/leaving to go overseas - Hayley came back from England for a friend’s wedding, Beta came back from England for her sister’s wedding, seeing Lisa & Ant as much as possible before they move to Europe, discussions with Rowena & Charles about our upcoming USA trip together.
* Art - volunteering a few times a month at the NSW Art Gallery, Private Eye at The Observatory Hotel, talk about The Opera House, Trivia Night.
* Family - my niece Sasha’s confirmation (and me as her Sponsor), family coming over and vice versa for catch ups.
* Work - too much to do in too little time, with March to May being budget time. I’m still recovering. Now gotta complete training so that I can go on my holiday without stressing too much.
* Home - dishwasher playing up, oven now playing up, but I got half my filing done, and put in my tax return. Now I want my bonus!

And our USA trip planning. 45 days left until we head off. Flights, trains and buses all organised. Half the accommodation organised and paid for. Going to book Alcatraz and Statue of Liberty tonight. Have to figure out what clubs to go to.

The trip has been updated a bit. Now it’s New York (8 days), Philadelphia (1 day), Boston (4 days), Chicago (5 days), San Francisco (4 days) and Los Angeles (2 days).

Gotta save a lot for the trip over the next couple of months, so going out will be done cheaply. And we wanna go to Melbourne (for our 11th anniversary and to see the Dali exhibition) and to Adelaide (to visit Davo’s family) later this year, so I think I’ll be going out to few expensive things in the meantime.

But I’ve found out that the shoes I buy here are 125% less in in the USA. And some other things are very cheap as well. Here’s hoping the exchange rate gets better

So we were planning to go to Europe in July/August this year. But it’s not happening anymore. Can’t get away from work in time to go to Depeche Mode and the Melt Festival. I’m rather miserable that I’m not going to Berlin this year, but I think I’ll make it a present to myself for my 40th

So now we’re going to the USA. Only ever been there for 24 hours before, way back in 1992, coming back from England.

So Depeche Mode twice in New York should be great - with Davo, Rowena and Charles. Figured out there’s so much to do there, but hopefully 10 days will be alright.

Also planning on going to Chicago for a week - the birthplace of house - and San Francisco for a week. Oh, and Philadelphia for a day (I need to go to The Barnes Foundation).

Tickets were purchased today. Thanks to Delta for such cheap flights.

Planning is well and truly underway.

So hints for places to go in these cities would be great! Got quite a few things in mind so far, but please add more! Especially clubs that play techno, tech-house, minimal house, minimal techno!

New York
Clubbing: The Bunker, Rebel
Everything Else: Depeche Mode at Madison Square Gardens (twice), Empire State Building, Twin Towers Memorial, Central Park, go in a TV show audience (like Saturday Night Live), MOMA, Guggenheim, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Rockerfeller Centre, Times Square, a zoo, Manhattan Bridge, Coney Island, Kaz Deli, Stage Deli, Meat Packing District, Harlem, Lennox lounge, Soul Food.

Chicago
Clubbing: Ideas please!
Everything Else: Sears Tower, Wrigley Field. The Art Institute of Chicago, Ferris Bueller Self-Guided Chicago Tour (Dave’s favourite movie ), a zoo, The Art Institute of Chicago.

San Francisco
Clubbing: Ideas please!
Everything Else: Alcatraz, Napa Valley, Trams, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Coit Tower, San Francisco Cable Car Museum, Union Square, a zoo, Audium Civic Centre, SFMOMA, The Castro, Chinatown (esp Nan King).

And if you’re in the US while we are there (either living or touring), it would be great to hang out

Am excited!

Well I think I’ve had a mostly pleasant day today. It’s been bloody hot, and still is - 30 degrees at 8pm! But it’s been mostly relaxing.

I’m gonna go watch 30 Rock and The Office with Davo. Restful time today, before the weekend of mayhem! Can’t wait

What a busy month. Work was ridiculously busy, and so was the social life…

Clubbing
* Luciano at Pulseradio harbour cruise, The MV Starship. This was such a fun and funny day. Musically, not all that inspiring, but definitely fun. Luciano played a “festival” type set. I’d seen him before at Fabric in London and Love Family Park festival in Hanau and thought he was excellent, but he didn’t live up to the hype this time. Lots of fun hanging out with friends, meeting a lot of new people, and getting rather drunk. It was lovely weather for a day on the harbour. There was an altercation on the boat between two people, which has had quite an interesting outcome. It seems that some people with ego problems have now pulled their heads in a bit, and I think it’s making it a nicer scene as a result. Quite a few issues on the boat with toilets closing, horrendous drink queues and running out of bottled water. But had so much fun (or was that due to being very drunk? ). Thanks to all that I had a fun day with - Davo, Sebastian, Tad, Nataly, Andrew, Becy, Jarrard, Tom, Alex, Josie, Mark, Kimberly, Glen, Dariya and anyone else I may have forgotten. Can’t wait to the next one - birthday shenanigans Apologies to Liz for not helping keeping Tad from getting too drunk - I was too drunk myself!

* Andrew Wowk at Home. After the Luciano cruise, we staggered (in our still drunken state) to Home to see Andrew Wowk play. Was a great set, and lots of people too. Pretty good for 6.30 in the evening. Mostly the same friends on the boat wandered down. Spent most of the time amusing ourselves with watching the antics on the podium, whilst enjoying the music. Luciano turned up and danced too! Great end to a great day.

* Paco Osuna and Audiofly at Lost Baggage, The Cross. Had lots of fun. Nicer vibe than usual, and enjoyed Audiofly a lot. Had lots of fun hanging out with Davo, Tad and Dariya.

* A Guy Called Gerald at Future Classic, The Civic. What a great night. A Guy Called Gerald played a brilliant set. After all I’d heard about him, I was looking forward to it a lot, and was really impressed. Danced for ages. Had lots of fun with Davo, Sebastian, Andrew, Mel and Amy. I hope we get to see him in Europe this year.

* Sammy Dee at A Late Night Shuffle, Macquarie Hotel. Having seen him before in Berlin, I was really looking forward to the night. He played a lot of good tracks (mixing a little messy), but made up for it in enthusiasm. Really good crowd and reasonable drink prices. Spent quite a while chatting with Davo, Ant, Piero, Natacha, Cameron, Alex and Jimmi. Dave decided not to wear his “Vinyl kills the mp3 industry” t-shirt, which was lucky, as Sammy Dee was wearing it! Will definitely go back to A Late Night Shuffle after this experience.

High Tea
* Christmas High Tea at The Sofitel. With Davo, Fiona, Alisia, Helen F, Mark, Murray, Roberta, Josie, Jenny and Rachel. It was great to catch up with lovely friends before Christmas, to relax the afternoon away with great chocolate tea food. Service could have been a lot better, but we were all pretty happy with the food by the end. Am thinking of doing Christmas High Tea again next year, if we’re in Sydney at the time.

Lunches
* With Sandra at GPO. Was lovely to see her - it had been ages.
* Christmas lunch with Stephanie, Anny, Helen F and Alison at Doyles, Watsons Bay. We had such a great Christmas lunch here last year, that we decided it would be where we would go this year. What a fabulous afternoon. We got a water taxi from Circular Quay to Watsons Bay. Great conversation, loads of yummy seafood - lobster, crab, oysters, fish, chips, desserts - and quite a few yummy drinks. Oh and the most surprising event was the lawyer in budgie smugglers mooning people from a dinghy near the shore, then coming and having a chat with us - whilst still in his budgie smugglers, dripping with water. Think the character Smith in “Sex and the City” and he’s pretty damn close to it

Dinners and/or drinks
* Dinner at Tad & Liz’s place, with Davo. Very pleasant evening, yummy food and drinks. And especially company. I love their new place - I want Liz’s study!
* Cocktails and tapas at Sugarmill, Kings Cross. Tad & Liz organised this fun evening at their new local. Met some of their friends from various areas, and spent most of the time chatting with Liz, Dom and Mark. Cocktails were good, nice vibe upstairs, and yummy tapas. Will definitely go back.
* Christmas Dinner at Catalonia, Kirribilli. Had a great night of tapas and cocktails with Davo, Tad, Liz, Ant, Lisa, Murray and Roberta. The service is always great there too so we always leave happy. We should do this again next year!

Birthdays
* Libby’s first birthday at Jen & Rob’s place. Lovely morning spent watching Jen & Rob’s little one celebrate her first party. Very impressive Ladybug Cake - good work Jen. Was great to catch up with Rachel (hard to chat at work!), Paul, Nicholas (who turns one in a few weeks), Richard, Mrs Williams, and lovely friends and family of Jen & Rob.

Health
* Hand getting better but not brilliant. Up and down, especially during month end at work.
* Off for my 6 monthly dental check, and all was good

Comedy
* The Chaser Annual Q&A at NSW University Roundhouse with Davo. This was so funny. The questions from the audience were sometimes completely ridiculous (Ninjas or Vampires?) and other times pretty normal. It was definitely a good way to spend an evening. And they were so nice and polite when autographing my Chaser Annual. And Chas is definitely still the nuttiest of them all

Trivia
* Trivia night at The Longueville. Had lots of fun - and our team managed to come third! Was great to see Scott and Lauren for the first time since we saw them in London (July 2007!) - wish they were moving to Sydney instead of Brisbane, but you can’t have it all! And great to catch up with Damien, Tim & Nicole.

Work
* Farewell to our CEO of the past 7 years, to his new life in retirement. John will be missed.
* Welcome to our new CEO Craig.
* Corporate Services’ Christmas Party at Strike Bowling, King Street Wharf. Spent most of the afternoon drinking cosmopolitans, and chatting with Richard and Ronen. I can’t play bowls for the life of me, but was highly amused that I managed to get some strikes, followed up by hitting nothing at all. I’m pretty sure I came last, but they didn’t hand out prizes for that this year. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon at work!
* Farewell morning tea’s and drinks for our FC Rodney (who’s heading to work in Saudi Arabia) and Teresa (the other Senior in our team, who is heading to another Financial Institution). They will be missed.
* We have 3 contractors in our team now - Daniel, Lili and Albert. It’s fun having new people around - there hasn’t been a lot of turnover in our team in years. It tends to happen all at once.
* Corporate Services’ Kris Kringle. For the 3rd year in a row, I organised it, but am probably going to leave it for someone else to do this year. I actually got a present that was very useful - a book called “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle”. One of those books you can’t stop reading.
* Team and Teresa’s farewell lunch at Sydney Tower Restaurant. Good way to get to know the new contractors as well. And for Ishani to eat!!!!
* The busiest December I’ve had since about 2000 at work. I need a long break.

Lunch
Generally too busy at work to even have more than a few minutes for lunch. Managed to go with Michael G to a Thai Place in Wynyard. I have a feeling we were celebrating his birthday

Clubbing
* Style of Eye and Shonky at Lost Baggage, The Cross. Meh, not inspiring, and the crowd was crap (as usual). And we hardly saw Ant and Piero!
* Oliver A and Pepperpot at Minimal Fuss, The Civic. Bloody fabulous night. Memory a bit hazy now, but I remember enjoying it. Dave, Phillip and I enjoyed ourselves. Was great to see Sameer and Dave C. Although I missed Libby
* Kraftwerk and The Orb at Global Gathering, The Hordern. Kraftwerk were just brilliant. Had lots of fun hanging out with/bumping into Dave, Rowena, Charles, Sebastian, Peter, Rodney, Andrew, Jarrad, Boris and Pia.

Birthdays
* Tim’s 30th BBQ at Tim & Nicole’s place. A lovely way to spend a summer’s afternoon.

Health
* Hand getting better but not brilliant. Up and down, especially during month end at work.

Anniversary
Went to Melbourne with Dave for 3 days 2 nights. Photos on Flickr, showing a bit more detail. Had an awesome time. Things we did included:
- Stayed at The Hotel Windsor. Fabulous room, pillows from the pillow menu, and excellent mini bar.
- Lunch at Y-yu. Always good there.
- Shopping in the city. I found chocolate - Loads of it And Dave was happy as he found t-shirts.
- Dinner at Vue de Monde. Divine. Drool. Drool. Drool. Can’t decide whether I like this place or Tetsuya’s more now. Exceptional food and service. I wanna go baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
- Breakfast at The Hotel Windsor. Eggs Benedict (Dave) and Pancakes (me).
- Chocolate Walking tour (me) and Chapel St shopping (Dave). Chocolate tour involved Koko Black Bourke St, Haighs, Cacao, and Koko Black Collins Street.
- Late lunch at Bar Lourhina. Tapas and cocktails (Stolen Town Bike).
- Dinner at Movida. Tapas and cocktails (Mojito).
- Seeing “Quantum of Solace”. Excellent movie. Crappy cinema.
- Back to Bar Lourhina for after movie Tapas and more Stolen Town Bikes.
It seems that Tapas was a theme on Saturday!
- Breakfast at Madame Sousou. Eggs Benedict (Dave) and Chocolate Crepe (me).
- Shopping in Brunswick Street.
- Lunch with Quest & Sara at Babka. Babka is no longer good unfortunately.
- Tram to St Kilda and wandered around the shops.
What a brilliant way to properly celebrate our 10th Anniversary

Family
* BBQ at my Uncle Joe’s. We usually do this on NYD, but my cousin Mark was getting married on 2nd January, so we had it in November instead. Lots of fun catching up with the relatives. And some who I hadn’t seen in maybe 20 years!

Movies
* Brideshead Revisited with Juliet at Roseville. Very well done, but still such a sad story.

High Tea
* At The Sofitel with lovely old school friends Lisa, Bronwyn, Kate and Angela. The last ever Le Notre high tea there. All very good!

Miscellaneous
* Got my iPhone. Yay! After serious bad delivery service from Optus. Grrrrr.

Work
* New Financial Controller started. He’d googled me!
* A number of finance staff left or went on Maternity Leave. To say goodbye to the leavers, and celebrate with the maternity leavers, we went to the Guylian Cafe at Circular Quay and to James Squires Tavern.
* I can’t remember the last time when things were slow at work. Seems like more things happening day after day.

I think I’ve enjoyed Christmas a lot more than usual this year. Lots of great time with Dave, family and friends. Yummy food and alcohol. And movies!

Will write more when I get a chance. Have to catch up on the last few months. Especially Dave and my long weekend to Melbourne for our 10th anniversary - best trip to Melbourne we’ve had together I think.

Hope you’re all enjoying the public holidays. I’m off to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona soon. It was being filmed while we were there last year - I want to be reminded of the sights! (hopefully there are some).

Friday
Didn’t start well. Missed my brother’s BBQ due to working back. Went home afterwards to relax, and ended up getting sick. Great. Not a lot of sleep as a result.

Saturday

Morning: “A Day in Paris” seminars at the NSW Art Gallery
“Everyone loves Paris, and this special day looks at the City of Light from three perspectives. Popular lecturer Christopher Allen looks at the extraordinary collections housed in the Musée d’Orsay, in particular its Impressionist paintings. Joanna Saville, author and presenter of SBS TV’s The Food Lovers’ Guide to Australia will entertain you with a feast of food tales - including some Michelin star ones…And dynamic young artist Ben Quilty will tell of his experience of Paris, after winning the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. Morning tea and light lunch included”.

Alisia, Marg, Emma and I were there. It was great fun. 3 brilliant lecturers, who kepts us laughing throughout. I’d seen Christopher Allen talk a few times before. He never ceases to impress me with his knowledge, and he was on fire this time. Joanna Saville was very interesting, making us drool about the food she’s eaten in Paris. Thankfully, this was followed by lunch! Then onto Ben Quilty. His talk was excellent. It was funny, I’d seen him wandering around the lunch area, and thought, that’s not the usual sort of guy we get there! Wasn’t really surprised when he ended up being one of the lecturers.

Have to look at upcoming things at the gallery, as I enjoy them a lot. I think Alisia, Marg and Emma would agree!

Afterwards, signed up to do volunteer work at the gallery. Fingers crossed. And bought a lovely Monet umbrella, to replace my crappy one. Yes, it isn’t black!!!

Afternoon: Ant’s 30th
Ant had a BBQ for his 30th in the park near their place, with Lisa, Dave, me, Rob, and Bianca. It was a lovely afternoon (not too hot, and didn’t rain). Was lots of fun just chatting and drinking (especially Dave), playing with the various dogs in the park being walked, and eating yummy food (THANKS GUYS!). Must do this again soon (And thanks for the lift Rob & Verity).

Night: Nada
Well it wasn’t supposed to be like this. We arrived home around 8pm, and proceeded to crash out (Dave drank too much beer, and I was still overtired from last night). Unfortunately, we didn’t wake up until morning. Which means we missed Marshall’s gig Sorry Marshall and Lucy. We’ll have to make it up to you.

Sunday
Day: Nothing
I was going to head to Juliet’s for the afternoon, but unfortunately this co-incided with track-work. So we’ll have to meet up soon for movies.
Instead, we did nothing. Which I suppose is a nice change from usual! Dave mixed records, whilst I cleaned up a bit, and then watched some TV.

Evening: Early Dinner with Dave, Charles & Rowena
Charles and Rowena came over for a little drink, and then we headed to Sky Bar in Roseville for dinner. Great Thai food. We just sat around eating and chatting, it was nice and relaxing (and thanks for the lift guys - can I sit in the front one day? ).

Night: TV and sleep
Watched some of the Office (US) and Pushing Daisies, and actually went to sleep early for once.

Monday
Will try to get to sleep earlier from now on. Woke up feeling not so bad, and early! New Financial Controller starts today, so time to get to work!