a sunday in Rotto

Now that it's warm in the states I'm allowed to do this and nobody can classify it as inhumane torture.

This is where I spent last Sunday- a little island off the coast of Perth called Rottinest Island. (aka Rotto) It's only accessible by ferry and no cars are allowed on the island so biking is the the main mode of transportation. The beaches are fantastic. This is just one of the many bays on the island- going left to right we have my towel, Rob, Rob's dad, Rob's mom, and Rob's uncle, his wife and her daughter.

Please also note the glistening turquoise water. Natch.

Twittering

After all this Twitter racket in the news lately, I decided to join to check it out. First of all, I don't quite get how it works. And secondly, it's becoming clear to me that it's only fun if you have friends on Twitter too.

So, beloved readers, if you're on Twitter please friend me. My Twitter name is cam1213. As of yet I haven't sorted out how to find my friends if they are already on Twitter so I'm all alone...

If you're not on Twitter, I'd love to hear why that is too. Is it truly as annoying as everyone says it is?

Things that will happen when Hillary Clinton becomes president

November 08 is fast approaching (or at least that's what CNN wants us to think). And when Nov 08 comes and goes, and Hillary is escorted into her chair at the helm of the oval office, several exciting things will happen for the nation, the world, and for me personally.

Why the day Hillary Clinton becomes Prez will live forever:

1. Spare me your wrath but I like the woman. Therefore, I will be quite happy.

2. A triumph for women everywhere, regardless of what your actual opinion on Hillary is (you really can't deny that a woman president is a great thing, even if you aren't a fan of the particular candidate)

3. I recently (by invitation of my brother Robbie) became a member of a Facebook group named "If Hillary Clinton Becomes President I will Move to Australia." Therefore, if Hillary Clinton becomes president there will be many of my friends as well as my brother moving to Australia and I'm quite happy about that.

4. Rob will join Facebook. He is vehemently against Facebook BUT has made a verbal agreement with me stating that he will not join Facebook until Hillary is in the White House (I suspect this is his way of giving the common colloquialism "when pigs fly" but I intend to take full advantage since pigs may not be able to fly but Hillary sure has a shot at presidency. His mistake.)

Lots of phones, one number

This is one of those "Why didn't someone think this up sooner?" moments. And also a little bit of "Why didn't I think this up myself? I'd be a millionaire." Unfortunately, the potential for me to gain millionaire status has passed (for now) but the world will be a slightly better place now, which I suppose is pretty great too.

I just read an article by David Pogue* of the NYT about GrandCentral.com, an internet service that consolidates all of your phone numbers (cell, home, vacation home, etc. etc.) into one number. So if I enter in all of the phone numbers that my friends and family can use to reach me (you know- the yacht, the ski chateau, the beach cabana, and my mobile) into GrandCentral.com the site will spit out one number which I can give to my admirers. And anytime someone calls this central number, every single one of my phones will ring.

Personally, I think this is genius. And when I actually do own all of the aforementioned properties (just give me time...) I'll be sure to sign up. For now, though, my one single mobile phone number is pretty much sufficient- I can't even see the point of paying for a landline at my house.

*I also lost a bit of respect for David Pogue based on his exceedingly cheesy video spot on the grandcentral.com website. C'mon man, you're a reporter. Not a infomercial spokesman. And from what I can gather, the New York Times sends him his paycheck, not GrandCentral. Perhaps someone can shed a little light on what seems to me to be a major conflict of interest.

All those ex's

It's been a while since I've relived my days at Bite. And by relive my days at Bite I mean do a little extracurricular ex-client media monitoring. I know. I'm a complete nerd.

But the point really is that it was tough to go cold turkey after I'd been constantly on top of every move these companies were making. And while I did (emotionally, and a full 2 weeks after leaving NYC) delete their names from my RSS searches, every once in a while it's nice to check in. Honestly, I really liked my job. A lot, if you couldn't tell.

It all started when I watched ABC's 4 Corners special documentary on SecondLife last night. It got me reminiscing. Heck, even a few things happened "in-world" while I wasn't watching with a hawk eye like I used to. Apparently the real estate market is booming and somebody exploded a nuke. C'mon, it was bound to happen.

From the looks of things, all those ex's are doing swimmingly. The blogger affiliate scheme is up and running at www.net-a-porter.com. Jack is still jack at www.thebar.com. [Although, I did have to pretend to be in America to get into the site. My Australian brethren will just have to live without!] And AMD and ZTE are doing just fine without me, natch.

Meanwhile, my new clients are big oil and gas companies here in Perth. Quite a switch. Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to help out with a great fashion event that a friend of mine is putting on in Perth called Unwrapped: The Marketplace. It's a fashion and design marketplace tied in with a series of local Perth arts and music events happening over the next 2 weeks.

See, I'm actually a huge nerd, and now the secret is out. Like you didn't already know.

Baby Fratelli

CDs have long been on their way into the circular file. And USB sticks are taking over. In bulk orders, branded USB sticks are nearly free, and in PR agencies they're often used as a compact way to send journalists home from an event with an entire press kit in digital form.

Now, the USB stick is changing the way we do music. And it's further proof that music is really just another digital medium that has moved on from the days of CD and record collections lining the shelves.

The Fratelli's, a [very cool] UK band, have released their latest single on USB, complete with video. The catch? They're not eligible for the charts since it's not a CD. But I doubt that will last long- the charts have already been forced to add download figures to their measurements.

Here's the story:
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21405584-10388,00.html

Housewarming Party

The preparations have been made. The moving in has completed. The barbeque has been installed. It's time...

Cluck Cluck Cluck

Yesterday morning I went into the city to visit the Department of Immigration. Which, is in itself a bit of a circus. They've got the whole "queue up to queue up again" thing happening. You get in a line to get a ticket and then get in another line to wait to go stand at a counter. Waiting around in one big room always seems to foster a bit of community: I was ticket J027 so J026 and I ended up watching bad 80's Australian soaps (Sons and Daughters) together for 45 minutes until our numbers were called, respectively.

I only needed a visa label in my passport, but some customers are not so lucky. Some are in for interviews or putting in complicated applications to bring their wife and children from the middle east to Australia. Imagine how nervous they must be, their entire livelihood hanging on one interview with an immigration agent to decide their family's fate. I have a lot of sympathy for these people since I can imagine myself sitting in that seat as well.

All this was very exciting, but by far the best part of the trip was ducking into Target to pick up clothes hangers. I ended up in what resembled a jungle scene of women in business suits racing around the women's apparel department grabbing at merchandise like their lives depended on it. The new Stella McCartney collection just opened one hour earlier (apparently) and it was like nothing I've ever seen before.

Picture: a platinum blond gay man/target employee running down the aisle pushing a wheely rack with silk tops and scarves yelling "I've got scarves!! This is the last of them, after these are gone there are no more! I've got the scarves!!" at the swarms of women. Who were, of course, clambering over top of each other to get at the scarves. It was comical. I wish I had a video phone because it would have qualified for a YouTube video. I mean, the clothes weren't even that cute. Sheesh.

White Teeth

I'm reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith right now. So far it's good, but it's one hell of a long book and really it's only because we don't have a TV or internet to keep me otherwise distracted. Still, it's a good book and I think I'm sufficiently hooked to read through to the end regardless of the TV/internet situation.

In the beginning of the book, before the first chapter, is a quote I really like- it could be misinterpreted to mean that we should be paranoid about our actions but I read it as take note of little things and opportunities in your life, for the little things that happen to you (or that you choose to ignore) could actually hold the weight of the world.

"Every little trifle, for some reason, does seem incalculably important today, and when you say of a thing that "nothing hangs on it" it sounds like blasphemy. There's never any knowing - how am I to put it? - which of our actions, which of our idlenesses won't have things hanging on it for ever."

- Where Angels Fear To Tread, E.M. Forster

Yep, it's been busy here.

Several exciting things have happened in my life lately. Due to a [painful] lack of internet access I've been unable to inform the blogosphere of these exciting developments. But fear no more, I am alive and well. Very well, in fact, and this is why:

1. I've moved into a house in Victoria Park, which is 10 minutes from university, a 5 minute walk from the river foreshore opposite Perth city centre (fantastic view), directly across from a gigantic park which has men in white playing cricket* on it all day every Sat and Sunday, and a 10 minute walk from an enormous cafe strip famous for its cheap asian food. I'm a happy camper.

*The cricket, apart from reminding me constantly that I am not in the United States, causes Rob to wake up on weekends at 7:30am and then shake me awake wake to tell me, excitedly and very wide-awake-ly, that the sound of cricket bats hitting cricket balls is coming through our bedroom window and it's time for a new day.

2. I'm employed for the full 20 hours allowable on my visa. I'm working for Careers@Curtin, which is the careers office at my university. My job requires me to help organize and advertise employer seminars on campus where big companies send their execs to come talk to Curtin students about why they should work for their big company* after graduation. It means lots of poster hanging, event managing, coordinating employer demands, and baby-sitting men in suits while they are on campus. Not soooo different from PR, really. It's a good job, it pays well, and I can run straight to class at the end of the day.

*Big companies in Perth means resource companies. Mining companies, Petroleum engineering companies, Western Power, Water Corporation, and engineering firms. My hopes for finding a job with a PR consultancy that represents companies other than those that deal in rocks, gas, petrol, water, or electricity are diminishing. I say "consumer and enterprise tech" and people say "what? like mining and surveying technology?"

3. Classes are kicking my butt and I'm enjoying it immensely. Most everyone has prior work experience. And many are working full time while studying. Curtin is 42% international students so most of my class are half international. International = Asian. Class discussions are fantastic, and I'm doing group projects with students from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and the occasional European. I'm the only American [not just American, the only North American] in my entire program. And I love it. I had some minor wavering as to whether a masters in marketing might be more beneficial in the long run but I'm steering back towards PR now that I'm writing supply and demand, export/import, foreign investment papers. Blech.

As you can see, life is going well. The only complaint- my house has no internet. Which is why my blog has been drastically deprived of attention lately. Soon that will change, as I'm on the case and my life without internet hardly functions properly. I'm a complete addict and proud of it.