Happy New Year!

Well today is my birthday (Dec 29th), but I'm stuck at work with little chance of getting out early. Last night I went to the Texas Bowl with a few friends; Rutgers creamed Kansas State at Reliant Stadium. The place wasn't full by any means, but there was great support from both sides. I don't think many Houstonians like me were there just to see a game.

I had a fantastic Christmas....the generosity of everyone is really special. I don't have incredible NYE plans, but I plan to have dinner with Andrea and then hoist a few with some friends.

Not much is going on...need to get back to the grind on the last work day of 2006.

Have a happy, and don't go shooting your guns in the air on NYE.

I think I'm headed back....

It appears that I may be headed back to Australia in early February. A lot more travel for at least a bit more work....I think I'll be participating in a 1-2 day workshop. This time, I better get in a downtown hotel. I hope I don't miss the Super Bowl.

At least I'll get the frequent flier miles (and Continental Elite bonus).

I may also have to go to the UK for a preliminary workshop in early Jan. I will likely miss the BCS Championship game (college football to the ladies), but I suppose that isn't so bad for a trip to a cool city.

Pics of Joondalup Country Club

Here are some of the pics of the course. Note that the colors are outstanding. They are just coming into summer and there isn't any haze to be seen. Everything was dry (very dry) and crisp. Enjoy!

Here's one with several 'roos in sight. In the next photo, notice their back legs, they are like pillars! Their front legs almost look lame.

They are quite tame and you can get really close. They were only protective when near the younger ones, which is what you'd expect. Supposedly, they are like deer in America; the population needs to be controlled.

Yes, this is a pic of a lot of golf carts.....However, check out the colors. Fantastic!

This one is a bit dark, but it illustrates the great golf holes at this course. A single golf ball, encased in an individual box, was $5.95 AUS! Since there were 'roos in the fairway and snakes in the rough, I spent a lot of money on golf balls.

Look at this putting green, it's like mini-golf. Look, you can't even see the legs of the guy putting! It was a bit of a joke, really. The regular greens weren't that bad. They putt very true and fast.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to get that golf ball, thank you! Great holes....desert, but lush, and colorful...

This hole was their signature hole. I zoomed in on this shot to get a better perspective on that bunker. It's huge! It may not look like much until you look at the people on the green. From the green, imagine going straight down in elevation all the way into that bunker. From the bunker, it had to be 150 ft or more in elevation to the green. I was right and short of the green with my second shot, I thought I was going to die walking up that hill in tennis shoes.....my putting suffered.

Another shot of the ROOS!

One of their three nine hole layouts was carved from a rock quarry. Here, you can see that perspective, with the houses at "grade" level. If you hit a wicked slice, you could bounce back in play....too bad there weren't many holes like this and I was hooking the ball!

Last pic...another perspective of the rock quarry. Believe it or not, the wind was blistering that day, but it wasn't so bad in the quarry part. You can see the shadow cast from the quarry wall as we were well below grade. This was a par 3! Can you believe it!

Thanks for looking at the pics. Maybe I'll play again in February. Cheers.

The Dingo Ate My Baby!

There hasn't been a lot in the last month because I was recently sent to Australia the week of Thanksgiving. The downer was that it was an up-and-back trip as I was going for a four-hour meeting!

It was an arduous flight, about 38 hours each way. You smell pretty bad when you arrive. To complicate things, my flight from Houston to Tokyo was cancelled and I had to fly to Detroit just for the privledge to fly Northwest Airlines to Tokyo. That plane smelled like a locker room. When I arrived, I was staying 25km from the city, in a beachcomer/backpacker hotel, complete with paper walls and horseflies.

In the end, the meeting went well, and I got a few pictures along the way. On my departure date (10pm at night), I got to play golf in a company outing at a place called Joondalup resort. The course was fantastic and we saw 'roos, Kangaroos, on the course! I'll put a few pics up in the next post.

I also got to stick my feet in the Indian Ocean (see pic), so there's a tick off my list.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday and I hope you have a great Winter Holiday season.

Last update, I now have to go to London in Jan and back to Perth in Feb....looks like I'll rack up the miles in 2007. Wish me well!