50 degrees and raining… Australia’s like “WTF, mate?”

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Quiz: Lach is either in Bellingham or Australia. He has to wear a coat to go outside, because it’s 50 degrees and rainy. In the place he is not, it’s nearly 100 degrees and sunny. Where is he?

If you guessed Australia you’re right. This is like a Seattle winter: 50 degrees, light breeze, rain. And yet I’m in Melbourne. Sorry Patrick Woods (guy on the airplane ride over), the climate is NOT “about like Los Angeles,” it’s about like home, or at least it is this week. Some are saying this is the coldest winter in 7 years. Great, thanks Al Gore. (By the way, totally ranting: only a guy as DULL and UNINTERESTING as Al Gore could get the WHOLE DAMN WORLD TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER!!! He’s like that annoying neighbor who can’t say anything to you but, “crazy whether we’ve been having!” No sh*t sherlock, did you think I hadn’t noticed? Guess it’s better than talking about how every time you shower I can see through your bathroom window which is directly across from my dining room window, because I can, and it’s really gross.)

I had some great adventures today. I left my hotel room around 11 (late start) and walked down Burke to Swanston, and down to Fed Square. I wanted to try one of the cafes in Fed square, and take in some of the sights.

Fed square is fairly similar to the EMP in Seattle. It’s a large modern building(s) that was built in an already popular part of town, with controversial styling in the name of promoting arts. It contains multiple art galleries (all free I might add) and numerous Cafes and communal spaces. It really is a pretty space.

One of my favorite touches is the building with the message signs all over it. It has numerous digital signboards wrapping around the building in multiple colors, with the yellow, green and red signs spelling out famous quotes, and the blue ones announcing events for Fed Sq.

After my Fed Square fun, I continued up Elizabeth street to Burke again, and did some shopping. I’m really having a hard time being away from Kari, not just the time away, but the distance. It sounds cheesy, but I can really feel the separation. One way to lessen the pain is to buy her things. She’s going to be sending me back here. Today I was looking for something that has some ties to Australia on it, without being corny and touristy. Of course that hasn’t stopped me before, since I bought her a “missing lach in texas” uniform complete with two Texas-themed tshirts to wear when I’m gone, admittedly bought in a gift shop in Houston. Anyways, I found something PERFECT to go with the other souvenir I got her earlier this week, and I’m really excited to see her face when she sees it.

Yesterday I got the prerequisite city Starbucks mug. Now we have Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas and Melbourne. I also picked up a Starbucks card that says Australia on it. I know I could have bought on off eBay, but it’s not the same. Now I can say “I got this in Melbourne on Elizabeth.”

One final note, then I’ll let you go. I had my beloved k800i unlocked in an unlock shop here on Monday. They were so nice, and did it in less than a day. Sure enough, it works like a charm, it is a seriously amazing phone. The only problem came today when I tried to upgrade the firmware. I paid the €7 to upgrade it, and suddenly it wasn’t unlocked anymore. I should have known better: less than a day turnaround means the unlock shop applied a PATCH to unlock the phone, and the firmware re-flash overwrote the patch, making the $75 I spent to unlock it worthless. Technically they should have applied a permanent unlock, not just a patch, but the fault is mine for not making sure that’s what they were doing. Now I will work with totalgsm to get a permanent unlock applied, and we’ll see how that goes. Just more money in the saga of the real jesusphone.

Whew, now THAT was longer than intended. I’m going to have another drinking chocolate and go to bed. Check Flickr! Peace!