I got a call from my grandma last night.
‘Neily can you come over? I need to speak with you. Its very important’ she said in a frail voice barely audible through my cell phone. We often have trouble speaking to each other over the phone because I have an accent she can hardly understand (even though she was born in Australia and her sisters and brother live there) and she has a voice that is so quiet that she could fool one of those animals that can hear their predators from miles away – I cant think of any!
‘Ok, grandma. Is everything alright? Ill be there after work. Around 5:15pm’ with that I hung up the phone and wondered why she would make such a call. She never calls me, for the very reason I mentioned before so I usually just pop over once a week to say hello to her and my ailing grandpa who is riddled with cancer and has deteriorated so much he thinks he is still on the Air Force some 60 years after retirement.
The next day at work I had a field trip to one of our projects to assess what the recent storm had done and on the way I figured I would stop by grandmas house to see what the previous nights phone all was about.
Ding dong…
The door opens and standing before me is my mum. She sneaked into the country without anyone knowing, both of us startled because she was expecting me at 5:15pm and I was expecting the maid.
Grandma had mischievisly called me to come over so I would be surprised by mum. Everyone had gotten a shock but I was particularly happy for my grandparents because my grandpa is bored and has nothing to do all day and my grandma is finding things hard to deal with because she is lonely being with a man who doesn’t remember her or what they last had a conversation about.
My mum is here for 2 ½ weeks. She is sure to get on my nerves but I think I can handle it so long as she gives my grandpa his second wind and gives grandma some conversation worth remembering.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Home Sweet Home
I’m going back to Australia in 7 weeks. It’s been 14 months since I was there last so there is an excitement in the air I haven’t experienced since I traveled around the world. I will be doing a 16 day tour of Brisbane, Sydney and their surrounding areas with stops in Noosa, Gold Coast and if time permits, The Great Barrier Reef.
My whole life I have lived by the old adage that ‘the grass is always greener’ and so far every time I have made choice to see if in fact the grass was greener, it has been. So, now that I am living in California where the beaches are long and white and the people welcome you with open arms all I can think about is how much I want to be back on the year-round warm beaches of Noosa or Mooloolaba with my friends doing absolutely nothing.
No matter how much green grass here there will never be whiter sand then that on the beaches of Australia.
Five years ago I was lucky enough to be blessed with an opportunity to travel through Europe, United States and Asia. The lure and prestige of the Greek Islands, South Beach and others seemed such an elusive destination and one I thought I would never see. Now that I have, as beautiful as they are, none compare to the Aussie beach of Mooloolaba that has so affectionately named its restroom sitting atop the beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean ‘loo with a view’. Ahh now if that doesn’t show the class and prestige that it deserves then I don’t know what does.
It is the great Aussie spirit that I am most looking forward to seeing from its people.
My whole life I have lived by the old adage that ‘the grass is always greener’ and so far every time I have made choice to see if in fact the grass was greener, it has been. So, now that I am living in California where the beaches are long and white and the people welcome you with open arms all I can think about is how much I want to be back on the year-round warm beaches of Noosa or Mooloolaba with my friends doing absolutely nothing.
No matter how much green grass here there will never be whiter sand then that on the beaches of Australia.
Five years ago I was lucky enough to be blessed with an opportunity to travel through Europe, United States and Asia. The lure and prestige of the Greek Islands, South Beach and others seemed such an elusive destination and one I thought I would never see. Now that I have, as beautiful as they are, none compare to the Aussie beach of Mooloolaba that has so affectionately named its restroom sitting atop the beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean ‘loo with a view’. Ahh now if that doesn’t show the class and prestige that it deserves then I don’t know what does.
It is the great Aussie spirit that I am most looking forward to seeing from its people.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Big Bucks
Today is a big day for all of us here in the office. We have investors flying in from the Netherlands to inspect our offices, evaluate our land value and complete their due diligence. If all goes to plan they are going to invest $75 million with another $125 million to follow from other investors.
Its all very interesting to see how it works. See, if the Dutch don’t come on board it will have a domino effect that will filter down to the smaller investors who will also pull out. Basically what the Dutch are doing not only for themselves but also every other investor is providing a due diligence strategy that will be used as a benchmark for success.
If the Dutch are willing to invest $75 million based on the information we have provided then wouldn’t the smaller investors follow suite? Yes. If they don’t invest then why would the smaller investors want to throw their money at us? They wouldn’t. So, cross your fingers, toes and anything else you have to cross for us because today is a BIG BIG day for my firm.
Its all very interesting to see how it works. See, if the Dutch don’t come on board it will have a domino effect that will filter down to the smaller investors who will also pull out. Basically what the Dutch are doing not only for themselves but also every other investor is providing a due diligence strategy that will be used as a benchmark for success.
If the Dutch are willing to invest $75 million based on the information we have provided then wouldn’t the smaller investors follow suite? Yes. If they don’t invest then why would the smaller investors want to throw their money at us? They wouldn’t. So, cross your fingers, toes and anything else you have to cross for us because today is a BIG BIG day for my firm.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Good ol' days
Louie and I were in the bed last night, forever trying to catch up on sleep, we had gone relatively early at 10:20pm. Sometimes when I go to bed early im not quite ready to fall asleep so random thoughts pop into my head of the weirdest things and last night was one of them.
When I was in tenth grade (almost 10 years ago, yikes!) myself and two of my friends would always get off the bus after school and go to the Video store across the street appropriately named ‘Video Ezy’. We would go in there and walk around, talk to the staff, play games, whatever. It was great. We had a fun time just hanging out ‘shootin the shit’.
While waiting for the bus on a hot afternoon at school we had come up with a devilish plan to embezzle some pornographic videos for our very own viewing. While on the bus we had drawn up a plan of attack that was fool proof. We would go in, take off the security tags, place them in someone’s backpack and do away with the videos without anyone seeing. I said it was fool proof!
Somehow Cameron was chosen as the designated video carrier. Looking back, there was no more difficult job or function of the plan that was more important then his and he possessed the most risk of any of us because he was the one who would ultimately be carrying out the stolen goods.
Maybe that’s why he agreed to be the lead in the bungled heist. He was to be the messiah who brought us hours of pleasure and we would be forever indebted to him. Sounded good to him, all he had to do was walk out of the store.
Once we were in the store we had made eye contact and agreed today would be the day. With a slight nod and a quick shuffle to the back of the store we were quickly undressing the videos of any tags, markings or such that would make the beepers go off.
After stuffing the videos into Cameron’s bag, Dj and I walked first through the security detectors as though this would secure his escape unharmed. As the two of us walked out through the electric opening doors we heard a piercing alarm. Cameron had made it half way through the detectors and somehow, somewhere a tag had gone unseen on one of the videos.
From that point on things seemed to go in slow motion. Dj and I both looked back to see Cameron looking at us with a pained look on his face of confusion and fear. His shoulders were shrugged up, his hands in the air as if to say ‘what happened? Our plan was fool proof!’. He probably weighed his options for about 2 seconds and im sure today he would agree that his decision thereafter was not the best ‘clutch’ decision he has ever made.
To the two villains who had miraculously escaped unharmed, Dj and I then saw Cameron running past, looking at us with a backpack full of illegal merchandise screaming ‘what do I do? What do I do? I’m screwed!! Oh my god, I am in SO MUCH trouble!!’
The manager of the store knew Dj pretty well so she quickly asked Dave to ‘Chase that boy, he’s stealing something!’ so Dj, caught between acting like he played no part in the act and not wanting to citizens arrest a friend did the thing that any friend would do, he ran up to Cameron and said ‘You have gone too far now, you have to keep running and act like I tried to catch you’.
So Cameron run all the way home. The manager had already called Cameron’s mother once he had made it home. It turns out the manager had called the school and through a process of elimination had pinned him for the hit. He was busted, served a good portion of his summer cleaning up the store and its surrounding gardens without neither Dj nor I ever being accessories to the crime. Thank you Cameron!
…………………….
This story took me a good twenty minutes to tell Louie because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t contain myself. Its great to be able to look back at your younger years and laugh so hard you are in fits. It truly was an instance where the cliché ‘the good ‘ol days’ held its weight.
When I was in tenth grade (almost 10 years ago, yikes!) myself and two of my friends would always get off the bus after school and go to the Video store across the street appropriately named ‘Video Ezy’. We would go in there and walk around, talk to the staff, play games, whatever. It was great. We had a fun time just hanging out ‘shootin the shit’.
While waiting for the bus on a hot afternoon at school we had come up with a devilish plan to embezzle some pornographic videos for our very own viewing. While on the bus we had drawn up a plan of attack that was fool proof. We would go in, take off the security tags, place them in someone’s backpack and do away with the videos without anyone seeing. I said it was fool proof!
Somehow Cameron was chosen as the designated video carrier. Looking back, there was no more difficult job or function of the plan that was more important then his and he possessed the most risk of any of us because he was the one who would ultimately be carrying out the stolen goods.
Maybe that’s why he agreed to be the lead in the bungled heist. He was to be the messiah who brought us hours of pleasure and we would be forever indebted to him. Sounded good to him, all he had to do was walk out of the store.
Once we were in the store we had made eye contact and agreed today would be the day. With a slight nod and a quick shuffle to the back of the store we were quickly undressing the videos of any tags, markings or such that would make the beepers go off.
After stuffing the videos into Cameron’s bag, Dj and I walked first through the security detectors as though this would secure his escape unharmed. As the two of us walked out through the electric opening doors we heard a piercing alarm. Cameron had made it half way through the detectors and somehow, somewhere a tag had gone unseen on one of the videos.
From that point on things seemed to go in slow motion. Dj and I both looked back to see Cameron looking at us with a pained look on his face of confusion and fear. His shoulders were shrugged up, his hands in the air as if to say ‘what happened? Our plan was fool proof!’. He probably weighed his options for about 2 seconds and im sure today he would agree that his decision thereafter was not the best ‘clutch’ decision he has ever made.
To the two villains who had miraculously escaped unharmed, Dj and I then saw Cameron running past, looking at us with a backpack full of illegal merchandise screaming ‘what do I do? What do I do? I’m screwed!! Oh my god, I am in SO MUCH trouble!!’
The manager of the store knew Dj pretty well so she quickly asked Dave to ‘Chase that boy, he’s stealing something!’ so Dj, caught between acting like he played no part in the act and not wanting to citizens arrest a friend did the thing that any friend would do, he ran up to Cameron and said ‘You have gone too far now, you have to keep running and act like I tried to catch you’.
So Cameron run all the way home. The manager had already called Cameron’s mother once he had made it home. It turns out the manager had called the school and through a process of elimination had pinned him for the hit. He was busted, served a good portion of his summer cleaning up the store and its surrounding gardens without neither Dj nor I ever being accessories to the crime. Thank you Cameron!
…………………….
This story took me a good twenty minutes to tell Louie because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t contain myself. Its great to be able to look back at your younger years and laugh so hard you are in fits. It truly was an instance where the cliché ‘the good ‘ol days’ held its weight.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
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