Back in Sydney...

Sunday, 10/10/99

And now the week at home seems like the dream. Back in the Sheraton after an intensive work week marathon at Acer, it's almost like I never left. But dreams within dreams, I remember that things were different once.... "Familiar" sights are bittersweet, because I have memories shared with Janet...the pace of work has been almost a welcome distraction from the missing half of my life.

I left last Saturday night, flying from SFO to LAX to catch the available flight to Sydney. The flight was uneventful, uncomfortable, and even a couple of hours longer than it was supposed to be. We were diverted to Melbourne because Sydney was fogged in. The captain tried to console us by noting that we had the distinction of being United's first direct flight from LA to Melbourne, a month ahead of the scheduled premiere of regular service. But what it really meant was an extra hour's flight time to Melbourne, another half an hour on the ground to refuel. Confined to the plane and blessed with an aisle seat, I saw nothing of Melbourne, but the whole episode proved to be a bit of foreshadowing. After another hour's flight back to Sydney, I still managed to be on a taxi heading to the hotel by 10 am Monday.

Immediately upon checking in, I called Ron. Not finding him in his room, I tried his cell phone. Monday was a national holiday in Australia, so no one was working at Acer. Except for the consultants. He asked how I felt (after the long trans-Pacific flight), and when I assured him I felt fine, he admitted that he thought it would be a fine idea if I joined them at the office. After showering and changing clothes, I grabbed a cab for Homebush Bay.

Back in the war room (as our den of cubicles, desks and tables is affectionately called), I discovered that Thomas Lin (the AGS3 project manager) had returned from Taiwan. He and Ron were deeply engrossed in a project planning discussion, but they paused to welcome me back. Bob Hollenbeck (whom I had last seen in Emeryville) was also back. Gary and David rounded out the Connaissance team. On the Acer Taiwan (aka AGS3) side, Ellery Lin (no relation to Thomas, other than employee), Victor Chang (one of their lead technical people), and a couple of other programmers were also back. Table and desk space had also been reserved for the invasion of the Process Team (another contingent from Taiwan) which was scheduled for the next day. After getting myself set up on the local network again, I met with David to get an update on the training schedule and receive the hand-off for some other project tasks. Next thing you know, some 10 hours later, I'm in a cab by myself, going back to the hotel to unpack. The rest of the team was still very hard at work on tasks and discussions. And you thought I worked hard....

The training schedule as it stood was quite rigorous, so Tuesday was a 13 hour day in the office (not to mention another three hours in the hotel that evening). The Process team, Acer programmer/analysts from Taiwan descended upon us in the afternoon. My connection to the network mysteriously disappeared about the same time, I was unable to print from my computer for several days thereafter. I'll let you draw your own conclusions there. Gary had been moved to a cubicle in another part of the building to make room for the Taiwan team, and the rest of the Connaissance team disappeared into a meeting with the Acer Australia management, so I was left in a room surrounded by people speaking Mandarin. With a sudden horror, I felt I had been secretly transported back to Taiwan. I tried to focus on my documents, but the day dragged on forever. Back in my room, in peaceful silence, I put a CD in the drive and worked happily for several hours more to the accompaniment of the Stones and John Lennon tunes.

Wednesday, more of the same. Schedules shifting, issues arising. David returned to the States for a brief sanity check at home in Portland with Adrian and Sydney. By Thursday the training schedule has gone through several more permutations, and I am told I will go to Melbourne next Friday (October 15) to deliver basic training to users at the Melbourne office. The Taiwanese, no-nonsense to the core, expected me to fly in and out in a day, but Ron interceded and gave me a Saturday to explore Melbourne, so I hope to have a report for you next week.

By Friday evening, everyone was a bit fried. There were big plans afoot to blow off steam. Tagging along with the team, we met several Acer Australia managers (Linda, Paul, and Neil) at the Marble Bar in the neighboring Hilton. Several lower level Taiwanese people were also there. We drank Tasmanian beer, and Gary and I indulged in Monte Cristo cigars. From there we walked down to the Rocks to another of those cook-your-own-steak pubs. We had dinner and drank more beer. There was some flaming Zembuka (sp?) action going on, but I was happy just to watch. After dinner, I decided to call it a night. Neal and Ellery also went home, but the others continued to party into the night. I was home by 11:30, ready at last for my first full night's sleep since arriving back in Oz.

Sleeping in Saturday, I finally got up to attend to some freelance business that had been filling those waking moments not occupied with Acer business. Ivy (who had arrived with the Process team) kept calling to find out what time we were going to rehearse the Basic Training presentation. I called Ron about 10 am to find out what time he wanted to go in, but I got no answer. He called an hour later, and we met in the Conservatory for breakfast. After breakfast, we took a brief stroll through Hyde Park, just to enjoy a bit of the sunshine before plunging into the Acer environment. It was quite warm and very beautiful, feeling like a summer day. Another East Timor rally at the fountain, the ibises in the park, yes, I'm back in Sydney. After spending five and a half hours in the office, we went back downtown.

I had called the concierge from the office, so we had dinner reservations waiting when we got back to the hotel. Saturday is a busy night in Sydney, so the earliest he could get us was 8:30. We went back to our respective rooms, Ron to write a project report for his boss, me to get as chilled as possible. I was just starting to get really involved in some web design work when Ron called to say he was ready to head for Darling Harbour.

We walked down to Nick's, where Janet and I had dinner with Gary in the week before we left. Ron and I walked past the line of waiting patrons on the Promenade, as we had "reservations", and we were led to a wonderful table alongside the Promenade. Following Ron's recommendation, I ordered the chargrilled baby octopus for an entrée (remember, that's the appetizer course here) and the pan-fried dory. A couple of glasses of the Cockle Bay chardonnay complemented the meal perfectly.

The conditions were ideal for outdoor dining. The weather was perfect: comfortably warm, without being hot, and a very faint breeze, but not at all windy. We enjoyed a steady stream of people strolling the promenade. Springtime here, it must have been Prom Night, for there were many young people in elegant evening wear. The constant parade of attractive Sydneysiders and tourists alike, with the neon backdrop of the hotels surrounding Darling Harbour, was like a real-world version of Disneyland, complete with monorail. Only the food was much better, and there was plenty of alcohol available.