Celebration Time!

On Aug. 5, there was a fundraiser for a team from VMware that was training to walk 100km as part of the Oxfam Trailblazer. The theme of the evening was James Bond's "Diamonds are Forever". Here's a photo from the event. In the end the team finished the 100km in a time of 31 hours, 41 minutes. Absolutely incredible!



Then in celebration of Karen and Luke's engagement (Aug. 14) there was a party at Kit & Kaboodle where there was great dancing and toasts for the engaged couple. Here I am with the bride to be...

Friday the 13th - Ghost Tour!

What better way to celebrate Friday the 13th (August) than to go on a Ghost Tour of Sydney's Historic Rocks District where the convicts that the UK was trying to "rehabilitate" landed back in the 1780s.

It was a great tour where everyone in the tour group (about 25-30 people) had a role. I was "bubonic plague" and wore a rubber mouse that squeaked when I squeezed it around my neck - it was my bubonic plague necklace :) The ghost story here was that many lives were taken due to bubonic plague and they separated those with the disease behind steel gates and away from everyone else. The gates literally separated The Rocks right in half.

I was much happier wearing my necklace than the sock that Helen wore around her neck to represent the "Sydney Rock Gang" that would take their socks off, fill it with rocks (that's why this historic district is called "The Rocks") and use it to bash people's heads in.

It was Lisa, however, who got her own spotlight as she was "the Girl with No Legs". You'll hear the tour guide tell this ghost story:

Two Football Games in One Night!

It's hard to believe it's been more than a year and this is the first time I've ever been to the Sydney Football/Cricket Grounds and it's just a short 10 minute walk from my place!

I'll definitely plan to have more "meet for drinks and aps" at my place before heading to the games - it's like having an apartment right next to PacBell Park!

What did it take to get me to the Sydney Football Field? It was the last night of the Sydney International Football Festival (July 31) and I was in the corporate box watching the two final football games - UK vs. Athens and Sydney vs. Glasgow.

Foggy Sydney Harbour Bridge

On my drive into the office on July 30 I saw a sight that was more familiar to me crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge than the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Sydney Aroma Festival

It's a festival dedicated to coffee, tea and chocolate - pretty incredible! And only here in Sydney (July 25)!

There's an interesting piece of coffee cup art in this Flip Video as well as a sneak peak for my nephew Kai and niece Kalea of some New Zealand (Kiwi) treats.



Later this evening after the Aroma Festival I went to my friend Matt's house where we watched the finale of Masterchef Australia while we enjoyed yummy appetizers (called "mains" here in Oz), paella and chocolate fondue (using my copper fondue which I brought over from the US).



Of interesting note, a few weeks later I had a fondue party for my friends Lisa and Nadia - started with a cheese fondue, meat/seafood fondue and then a chocolate fondue. Rather than wash the one fondue pot all night, I tried to purchase another all-purpose copper fondue pot but after calling around to all of the major department stores and a few specialty cooking stores - only one sold a ceramic fondue pot which is better suited for a chocolate fondue. Bottom-line: Looked far and wide and a solid copper fondue pot was not to be found - I think Aussie's much prefer to BBQ than to fondue.

My Second NSW State Relay Carnival

Upon arriving at the Homebush Olympic Pool on July 18, I quickly learned that last year was an anomaly. Last year,due to two swim competitions taking place last year they shifted our relay to the 25 meter pool.

So when I showed up for the relay I was surprised we were in the 50 meter pool. So, what I thought was going to be a couple of nice, easy and short swims was actually quite exhausting!

I had four swims, all freestyle:

1. Women's Freestyle 4x100m (6:02.41) * New Club Record * and my split was 1:35.90

2. Mixed Medley 4x50m Relay (2:41.26) and my split was 41.1

3. Women's Freestyle 4x50m Relay (2:36.66) and my split was 39.6

4. Mixed Freestyle 4x50m Relay (2:25.91) and my split was 39.9



All of the results for the squad I swam with are here.

David Beckham on Cisco TelePresence

On July 14 (sorry it's been a while since I last blogged), David Beckham went into the Cisco UK office to meet with fans from 14 countries around the world via Cisco TelePresence.

In his 1.5 hour "the world interviews David Beckham" session, he displayed real charisma, personality and a sense of humor. The most memorable question from that night was when a fan asked Beckham whether his son asked for a tattoo yet (evidently Beckham has many, many tattoos) and Beckham said that he had to remind his son that tattoos were permanent and maybe he should wait awhile...

This reminded me of when my brother got his tattoo (it's "Horiuchi" in Japanese kanji) and he told my Mom to guess what he got a tattoo of and my Mom guessed "I love Mom"? And my Dad, his commentary was "did you get that so in case you forgot your name all you had to do was look (at your shoulder)?"

Look how close I was to Beckham!



Read more here on the official Cisco blog.