Random thoughts...

1) I am super excited as the English Premier League soccer season opens tonight! Even more exciting is the fact that I can supposedly watch up to 9 matches a weekend for free on the internet through our internet service provider (IINet)! I can't wait to test this out tomorrow morning...although I am a bit bummed that Chelsea vs Hull is not on the list of matches shown this weekend. :-(

2) Nearly four months in, I've noticed that although Melbourners (?) are on average better drivers than Nashvillians, they have absolutely no respect for pedestrians. Just about one car in 10 actually stops for you at a zebra crossing! As a daily pedestrian myself, this really pisses me off!

3) I cannot wait for the next two months to roll by as that would bring on the start of the serious sporting season here in Melbourne! Domestic and international cricket at the MCG, the Aussie Open at Rod Laver Arena and the F1 Aussie GP at Albert Park are all on tap starting in October. It should be great fun to be able to watch all this action live! However, for the time being, we've got to live through a couple more months of this cold weather. I'm really getting sick of it...

4) I'm enjoying my role at work lately. It has been almost no science and all engineering and management, but it has been a pleasant change from my experience of the past five years. I'm learning a lot and the only thing that really gets me frustrated is having to deal with our building designers and architects! They have done a shoddy job so far and we're facing a battle of some sorts to fix the flaws in our building and still have it completed relatively on-schedule. This has meant we've had to put off any planning for the Christmas/New Year period till later. Let's see how things go.

5) For the first time in 9 years, I'm now unable to follow the beginning of the American football and basketball seasons! These sports just grew on me during my time in the States and it just feels a bit weird to only have to read about the respective lead-ups on ESPN. To be honest, I'm a little bit surprised at how much I miss football, basketball and the fantasy leagues!

6) We're visiting a local community health club this weekend in the hope of getting a membership to their gym and exercise classes. After several months of inactivity, the Wife and I are both looking forward to getting into an exercise routine!

That's it for now, mate. G'day!