Clip of the beach my first morning in Australia

The cool moist breeze felt very good on my face. It was too cloudy to see the sunrise but I am sure I will catch one one of these mornings. I found a good place to go for a morning swim. They call them the ocean baths and it is basically a seaside pool that is ocean water. The point is that it protects you from the waves.





There were a few people out walking and running on the seaside walkway. I ran into a guy from work (in Colorado) who was out for a run.

Off to head to work in just a bit.

In Newcastle...

I got into Sydney and was immediately impressed with how nice everybody is. People do not relate to each other here the same way people do in big cities.

I went with Mic up the "mountain" here in the area. A quick hike but I got a couple of great photos. I also ran into a couple of the kids friends while I was up there.

More tomorrow.

Mr. Monk, Don't Panic! Your Tickets are Confirmed.... Sort of...

So I stop over by my supervisor's desk at around1:45 or so and tell him that I will be trying to scoot out of the office a bit early so I can get started packing etc. and he wishes me well. Then, I get back to my desk and realize that the itinerary for my trip that I had in my OneNote notebook is the wrong itinerary. I scramble to get a hold of the... corporate travel agent and eventually get a photocopy of the ticketing information... Problem solved right?


Wrong. I just got off the phone, (literally half way through writing the last paragraph the phone rang) it was the corporate travel agent. "Boy is God watching over you, Matthew!" she said. Sooo, somehow some sort of a mix-up made it so that my flight/tickets got canceled. Now I will be leaving earlier about 6 hours earlier, and getting there 2 hours later than originally planned. Plus one of my connecting flights goes through Vancouver now too. Thank God for a travel agent who catches this sort of thing before it is too late.

View from across the harbor

I just found this great photo of central Newcastle as seen from across the harbor. It was posted on Wikipedia. I am pretty excited to see this beautiful city.

2 Days... Houston...

Actually, Los Angeles, Sydney, then on to Newcastle. I cannot believe all of the preparations needed to get ready for a trip like this. You got to get prescriptions early, (thank the Lord I remembered that) get bills taken care of ahead of time. Find a proxy for meetings that will be missed...

Thought I'd share something I am planning on doing for my kids while I am gone. I cam going to take one of each of their small stuffed animals on the trip with me. I may be including them in some of the photos and stuff you will read on this blog. That way each of them has a friend who has traveled with Daddy even when they could not.

This morning my friend Richard called me after having read through the book "Dinner With a Perfect Stranger" it is a really great read if you have not read it before. It is a fictional story of a man in modern day America who gets an invitation to supper with Jesus. The conversation between them is intriguing as most Christians and even many non-believers have thought it would be amazing to have a conversation with Jesus face-to-face.

4 days and counting...

This Friday I embark on my trip to Newcastle NSW. I am heading over there to hold a training event for 3-weeks. This blog site is where I plan to write all of the details on what I am doing and stuff.

Stay posted!

E-mail vs. Snail Mail

Recently, I sat down and wrote a heartfelt letter to some friends. I put it on some nice paper, placed it in an envelope and will be dropping it in the mailbox (after I buy stamps of course). These friends have lost touch with me via e-mail but I have their physical address. By the time the letter gets overseas it will be over a week old.

This got me thinking about what it means to get a regular old (snail mail) letter from a friend vs. getting an e-mail from someone. The time it takes to sit down and put your thoughts to paper, maybe proof read it and even lick shut the envelope (yuck). All of this takes so much effort but in the end I feel more like I am communicating my care and love for them.

This opinion of mine is shared by others. I recently read an article written by Bobbie Ann Pimm . She made some great points about how much more it means to sit down and write a real letter, she even complains a bit about the lack of personal touch with greetings cards today.

I hope my friends get my letter and I hope they enjoy it. I hope it encourages them and I hope to hear from them. I hope they send me an e-mail too.

In this season of fast-paced consumerism and the rush to get Christmas cards out in time, take a moment and sit down to write a dear friend one letter. A real letter. Buy some good paper that feels nice, use an expensive pen. Enclose a photo. Maybe you'll write to someone you lost touch with. Maybe your mother or college buddy. Make it real, if a tear drops on the page as you write, write about that too. A tear can never make it into an e-mail. If your dog is the reason for the stain on the page tell them, I am sure they will appreciate it.

Blessings and Season's Greetings,

TrainingNerd

PS TrainingNerd will resume his regular writing in the beginning of 2008.