16 August 2007

Australian advertisements

Here are two commercials getting airtime here right now. The first is from the Rapid Transit Authority, the same people who remind you to 'Look Right' when crossing the street.

This ad is taking some heat right now—Heather saw somewhere that they get one complaint per day from men claiming that it is sexist. Her response is that nearly everything else on TV is sexist to women. Either way, I'm pretty sure that the guys complaining are the ones driving like this.

This commercial is for Pura Milk. I thought the 'Got Milk?' campaign was good, but this one gives it a good run.

08 August 2007

Lucky Sevens: University of Sydney

Sorry I'm a day late—I guess that makes this Lucky Eights. Been busy with school this week. If anyone can help me find some articles about Cuban language policy, let me know.

Which brings me to this week's question, which should require some research for you, too: Where does the University of Sydney's Faculty of Arts and Humanities rank in the world? Hint: dig around the University website.

05 August 2007

City2Surf 2007

The 2007 City2Surf 14K is next Sunday. As always, the run begins at Hyde Park, very near our apartment, and finishes at Bondi Beach. A new twist has been added this year: participants are allowed to designate a charity to raise money for. I have chosen UNICEF, which I thought was appropriate given that I have just begun my Masters in Development Studies. My fundraising page can be found here.

Please consider making a donation to UNICEF. I chose this charity because it benefits kids around the world who don't have any of the things that I took for granted when I was a kid. It is a United Nations run organisation and I have the utmost confidence that the money donated will be well spent. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

01 August 2007

Long time, no blog

Hi! My name is Chris and this is my blog about living in Sydney, Australia. I feel like I have to introduce myself again since it has been so long since my last post. Things have been busy around here. I have started my Development Studies program at the University of Sydney and all the homework and projects that goes with that. I have to make a fifteen minute presentation about Cuba in two weeks. Apparently, there really is no easing into a masters degree program.

Let’s see, what else is going on? Oh yeah, we moved. That was a shock to us. One day we got a call that our landlord put our apartment on the market, but didn’t really expect it to sell given his asking price. Next thing we know, it’s sold and we have to be out by August 20 when our lease expires. Apartment hunting in Sydney is a major pain, and quite a bit more expensive than it was two years ago when we moved here. There are lots of potential renters and not enough properties, so getting a lease signed is a competitive sport. We found a place we liked two and a half weeks ago, but were the second application in, even though we went straight from the apartment to the leasing office. The breaks went our way, though and we got the apartment. We signed the lease a week later and moved in this past weekend.

In case you didn’t know, moving is a pain, even if it is only one kilometre as this move was. All that saves you is a long drive. In fact, this move was harder than our move from the US to here in some ways. At least then, our stuff was picked up and dropped off at our front door. You still have to disassemble and package everything. Addresses still need to be updated. Utilities still need to be changed. That has been the worst part—I have gone round and round about our telephone and internet service. All is finally settled, although we still have to wait 7-21 days for our broadband to be activated, and the temporary dial-up connection is slow as.

I never got pictures of our old place up, but I hope to do that next week in the form of a ‘before and after’ post. While we were happy there, we have upgraded by moving into this new apartment. Details and pictures of those upgrades coming soon.