Melbourne TripAuthor: jawapro
Date: Mon 02/07/2007 11:08 AM
Well - I'm back in Tassie after almost a week in Melbourne. I was away for a training course in ITIL. And the course had an exam - seems I cant get away from those things.
Anyway, the course itself was pretty good. Well taught and so on. I'm not 100% sure I passed, but I'm thinking and praying I did. Quite embarrassing otherwise.
Work paid for a hotel - which is the fanciest hotel I've ever been in. But I'm not exactly a hotel sort of person. I'm much more likely to be found camped up the bush than in a hotel.
Well, I made it to the hotel in Melbourne. And far out - you should have seen this place. It’s really flash. And the guys at the front counter are just so robotically polite and unhuman that you almost want to bash them with a cricket bat to see if the respond. I actually had some small problems - because Tim (my immediate boss) had booked us 2 rooms for 2 nights - but then my real boss Clinton (yes Klutz, powerful name that) decided to send me a day early - so I'd booked a third night, but on a separate booking. And convincing them that I was there for 3 nights instead of 1 took some doing (I didn’t want to have to change rooms).
Anyway - I was talking to this chap at the counter while he was trying to sort my booking out - and I eventually managed to make him crack slightly. I was bagging myself out (like I always do) and blaming myself for the trouble and eventually he relaxed and agreed with me for a while - and then seemed to realized what he'd done - and hastily apologized and returned to being a polite robot - the sort you want to hit with the cricket bats.
Maybe that's where Douglas Adams got his inspiration for the lifts in Hitch Hikers Guide. Pleased to be of service!
Anyway - this hotel is really swish. I'm on the 8th floor. Tim is up on the 11th. There's a little area outside the window where you can go and stand in the rain - but I only did that for a second before I almost fainted from the height - so I scrambled back inside and closed the curtain again. I'm not good with heights. Not that there's much a view - although you can see into all the office building windows next door - and if you were interested in watching cleaners work and things - it'd be interesting.
The room isn’t huge - but it aint small either. And its really posh. But stupidly there isn’t a number for room service anywhere - so I had to ring reception to find that - and have since forgotten. Work said to get room service - but it's pretty expensive. $20 a meal - which I guess isn’t that bad - but an extra $5 for bringing it up to you - and I don’t think you can go and get it to save money.
And drinks are shockingly expensive too.
So anyway - the course was pretty good. Doesn’t feel that strange - after so long at uni only last year. It is slightly odd though - because there is none of the superior teacher style mentality though - everyone is equal - and he's always getting us to tell stories of how our companies work about this and that.
I also finally appreciate the breaks between lectures at uni. Not so much the breaks themselves - but the walking to the next lecture hall and having a different topic. After the same thing all day it gets annoying.
I did the sample exam on the first night - and I failed by a point. I got 25 out of 40 - and I needed 26. Considering I hadn’t done half the unit - that’s not too bad. But I thought I'd have done better - cause there were too many mistakes in the section I had already done. Bother - more study for me.
One night I decided to go for a walk. Mainly because I wanted to buy something to drink. All there is in the room is water (which tastes funny) and little milk containers. I drank the milk the first night. So I walked around Melbourne's CBD. Its raining down here (only lightly when I've been walking so far) and it's slightly insane the number of people and umbrellas on the paths. I'm used to Launy and the very quiet streets (in comparison). I bet America and China and even Sydney make this place look extremely tame - but it's more than I’m used to.
Amidst the seas of suits - there was a guy walking down the street in his akubra and dryzabone. Looked about as out of place as I felt.
Anyway - I discovered there was a Macdonalds right next door to the hotel (missed that last night when I arrived), but I kept walking. I was looking for a corner store - so I could buy some coke or something. Apparently these aren’t common in the middle of Melbourne. I found two subways though - which didn’t help. And a whole heap of strange little foodcourts and restaurants. And finally - I came across a 7-Eleven - which looked like an expensive corner store. But just as I was about to go in - I spied an IGA up the street. Perfect! So off I went to the IGA, and bought myself some coke, some juice (for breaky) and some icecreams. Turns out buying 8 icecreams was cheaper than 2 - so I did. I ended up leaving a few in the freezer of the hotel when I left.
The TV there had a movie channel - where you can watch movies if you pay for them. They have Ghost Rider and some other newish things like that - but its $15 a movie. Not cheap. But I had my Dad’s laptop, some books, and of course a lot of study – so I didn’t end up watching any of the movies.
I was watching the movie trailers on the TV (Man of the Year looks very funny) where you can choose what movies to watch. I saw some the previous night and the same ones were on tonight - so I pressed the arrow key to see if I could skip them - but apparently it's not an arrow - its a "C" key - whatever that stands for, and it sent me to the porno menu. Whoops - where's the back key. Apparently that's the “A” key. Greatly obvious remote this.
At least the great big green button says "Pay/Confirm" - not touching that one.
The then came the exam for the course. And it wasn’t exactly fun. It was a multiple choice (or multiple guess) exam. And after a few years of uni – I’ve grown to loath them. You’d think they’d be easier – but they generally aren’t. The answers are generally so specific it isn’t funny. This one wasn’t as bad as some of the others – but it wasn’t great either. We don’t get to find out how we did for a few weeks. The paper exams get mailed overseas to be marked, and then the results get sent back. Good to see such a high-tech system for an IT course.
And then another tram ride back to the Pier, and a night on the ship coming home. But the tram ride was interesting. When it started moving, I wasn’t prepared, and half fell over. Normally I’d have stumbled a little, and righted myself. But unfortunately my bags were right in front of me, so I had to sort of jump over them, and jumping when you’re already falling over isn’t easy. So I ended up crossing half the length of the tram by the time I got my balance back.
And then, a few stops down the line, the tram was suddenly swarmed by inspectors checking tickets. I’d been in line for my ticket when I’d done my falling over act – and had gone back to get my ticket – so I was fine, but one of the other guys there wasn’t. He hadn’t got a ticket – and was escorted off the tram. A $100 on the spot fine for him I think.
So I finally made it to the ship, and then back to Tassie on Saturday morning. I’m very tired after it all – and have to get used to the fact that I have to cook for myself again. Ah well…
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