Mobile Phone

I talked to Mom and Michelle via Skype this morning. It was a lot of fun and it was great to get to talk to and see my family. Hopefully we'll be able to do that again and I might even be able to Skype with other friends provided that we can work around the 15 or 16 hour time difference (CST or EST respectively). After that, I worked on data analysis for work. I spent a good amount of time doing that because work stacked up a bit last week since I was busy doing all sorts of fun things.

Following work, I decided to run a few errands in the city. As of this afternoon, I now have an Australian mobile phone. I have a pre-paid plan with a phone that previously belonged to a group member at CSIRO. I was shocked that the process of purchasing the pre-paid SIM card was so easy. I thought for sure the folks at the store were going to try to get me to buy a huge plan or upgrade the phone that I had (as would probably be the case in the U.S.). Instead, the guy in the store showed me the different pre-paid plans that they have and didn't pressure me when I chose the least expensive plan. If only the mobile phone companies in the U.S. could figure that one out...

I walked around the city for the afternoon and was amused by the book sale that was being held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. I decided to check out some of the side streets that I hadn't seen yet. I found more stores and restaurants and did a little bit of window shopping along the way. Finally, I came across a British Pub that looked like it would be a good place for dinner. So I went in and asked someone whether I should I should seat myself or wait to be seated. The person I asked snapped back at me with some comment about me being by myself - so I promptly left the establishment and resumed my search for a good dinner spot.

I ended up eating at a place called Lounge Downstairs. I think it ended up being a great find because the food was really good. The place was very trendy and the food was definitely prepared to look good in addition to being prepared to taste good. I ordered a lamb burger with beet root, lettuce, mint yogurt, and onion. The burger itself was stacked to be very tall, but the diameter of the burger was not that large. This made the burger impossible to eat traditionally, so I just cut it up. The presentation though was so good that I really didn't want to ruin it by eating it. Anyhow, the burger and fries (or chips as they are called here - owing to the British influence) were certainly more than enough food and they were very reasonably priced.

As I was walking around the city, I passed several people who were wearing tuxes or comparable evening attire. I wonder what was going on? Perhaps a show or concert of some type? I walked through the Arts Precinct and it didn't appear (at least on the outside) that anything was going on. Though it may have been too early to know whether something was scheduled for the evening.

I have seen several street performers since I have been in Melbourne. A popular thing to do here is to bring a battery-powered amplifier and play either guitar or electric piano along a sidewalk or in one of the public park areas. Some of the performers even hook up microphones and sing. I heard a couple playing this evening (the guy was playing guitar and the girl was singing). She was an excellent singer. I hung around and listened for a little while - as did many other people. I think it adds a lot of character to the city and it is kind of fun to walk down the street while listening to piano music for a change. In any case, it was another beautiful evening for spending time in the city!