A Place for my Stuff: Some NHL, Aussie TV and a Giraffe

Another weekly update...although I have posted the previous two days. So I guess this is a daily update or rather something to keep my mind busy.

It has been a mostly stress free 48 hours since losing my job. I would consider that a good sign. I worked out yesterday, walked/jogged/ran around 5 miles today. I feel great. All the pants I bought when I left for Australia definitely are too big now. I need to find a short, stalky guy to sell them to.

Surfing the net today, I stumbled upon a blog that was created in 2006. It was written by a Canadian student who spent a year in Australia. The title of his blog? Ryan Down Under. See, I had a feeling that Ryan Down Under wasn't an original title.

Did you know that KMart is a huge store here? I saw a TV commercial about 20 minutes ago for it. Wasn't it going out of business in the USA? I know it left Keene a long time ago. What did Rain Man say about K-Mart....K-Mart Sucks.

I am missing being in New England right now. Two of the past three days, the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins have won games on the same day. What a week for you! (Most of you) I was able to watch game 5 of the Celtics/Magic series, but today they played the Minnesota Twins vs Detroit Tigers live from the Metrodome. Truly one of pro sports' most boring matchups ever.

The NHL playoffs have been pretty amazing so far this year. There are three game 7's in the next couple of days including The Bruins/Hurricanes that I am most interested in. I called it that this thing would go seven. All the games so far except one have been very one sided and Boston has the big advantage of being at home for game seven. Also the Chicago Blackhawks are going to the Conference Finals. Amazing.

Mothers Day as I mentioned before was pretty uneventful. I did finally get to talk to Mom (or mum as they call it here) on Tuesday. Great to talk to you!

Wednesdays are a great TV night here for me. Wednesdays feature LOST, House, Family Guy, My name is Earl and a new Australian show I enjoyed tonight called Thank God You're Here. It is an improv show featuring famous Australian comedians. I don't watch all of the shows I mentioned above, but definitely LOST and Family Guy and sometimes House. Tonight is the 3rd to last episode of LOST for us in Australia. Those of you in the USA are two weeks ahead of me. No spoilers please. Also they play about every cop drama you can name. NCIS, CSI, The Mentalist...the list goes on and on. I could never stick with those shows.

Most of your standard reality TV shows, they have here as well. Master Chef, The Biggest Loser, So you think you can Dance, Australias's Got Talent. They are basically the same. Australia only has 20-22 million people. The participants really become celebrities here overnight.

Speaking of celebrities or personalities in the spotlight. A famous National Rugby Player is involved this week in a sex scandal dating back to 2002 with a then 19 year old woman. In fact, the NRL is starting to get a reputation for bad behavior including assaults and public drunkenness. It gets so much attention here. As an American, I guess I am used to my sports scandals by now. With the legal problems over the past 10 years in the NBA, NFL and the drug scandals of MLB, nothing really surprises me anymore. I think that Australia is becoming politically correct finally and that still shocks a lot of people here.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again...It is illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving in Australia, but your passenger can drink an entire six pack of beer and there is no crime being committed. Is that strange to you?

I found a great website that can distort photos of you for free. Check it out sometime. http://www.befunky.com/ Here's what I did with one of mine...