Super Bowl XLIX

The Super Bowl is like an American national holiday, so my fellow Ameristralian Danny and I took today off work so we could watch the big game. Once again we went to Burger Mary's Super Bowl party, which was held at the Waterside Hotel on Flinders Street. This year's game was between last year's winner the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, who were three time champions under coach Bill Belichick. Normally I would have been a fairly neutral observer, but after last year's NFC Championship game loss against Seattle and their cornerback Richard Sherman's post game comments, I was firmly cheering on the Patriots today.

We had reserved seats up on the third level where there were long tables set up for people to sit at. It was amusing to see all these Aussies going crazy for Miller beer and the 15 varieties of chicken wings (especially the guy across from us who I think ate at least 20 wings himself). The game got off to a slow start, with the New England offense dominating time on the field but not translating that onto the scoreboard. At halftime the game was tied 14-14 after a brave decision by Seattle to go for a touchdown on fourth down in the dying seconds of the second quarter.

After enjoying Katy Perry's half time performance (especially loved seeing Missy Elliot) it was back to the action, and Seattle looked to be in the driver's seat with a 10 point lead going into the fourth quarter. However, you can never count out a team with Tom Brady as its quarterback, and he had two great drives resulting in touchdowns to give the Patriots a 4 point lead with 2 minutes to go. Then came the most insane couple minutes I think I've ever seen in a football game, with Seattle getting quickly down the field in a few plays, including a 33-yard juggling catch by Jermaine Kearse while he was on his back. It looked like the game was all over when Marshawn Lynch was stopped just short of the goal line. One would think you would just run it in, but then Seattle decided to throw the ball and it was intercepted in the end zone by Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler and that was it- the Patriots managed to hold on to win the Super Bowl. It was an amazing finish to a very entertaining second half.

Final Score
New England Patriots: 28
Seattle Seahawks: 24

Chantal's Bachelorette Party

My lovely friend Chantal is getting married next month, so last night we had her bachelorette party (or hen's as it is referred to in Australia, which I personally refuse to use). The theme was "Spec-Tacular" so everyone brought along funny glasses to wear. We started the evening doing some life drawing at The Artful Hen in Prahran. After some drinks and nibbles we sat in front of our easels and did brief introductions before our male model came out. Our instructor took us through several different drawing exercises as our model did various poses. At the end Chantal sat up on the podium with him and we had to do a progressive drawing exercise where we rotated to a new easel every 40 seconds. Some of the end products were quite humorous. My sketching got better as time went on, and it was good to catch up with Amrita and get to meet her 3 month old son.

Next we walked up Chapel Street to the Temperance Hotel for dinner, where we were joined by even more people. We had our own section of the bar reserved, and Chantal's sisters did a great job of organizing everything, including some rounds of trivia. For dinner we had our choice of an entree, main and dessert.  I ate the fried calamari, roasted salmon with garlic mash, and citrus and fennel salad, and the creme brulee with rose water and pistachio biscotti. All of it tasted pretty good. After some group photos I said my goodbyes and headed home. The evening was a great success and I'm really looking forward to the wedding festivities.

Early Birthday Celebrations

As I will be back in Australia when my milestone 40th birthday occurs in February my parents decided to throw me an early birthday celebration with family and friends from the Bay Area. Mom made three poster boards filled with pictures from throughout my life and hung those on the wall in the dining area. It was great to see some of my aunts and uncles, cousins and godparents who I don't get to see regularly. We also got a bit of kid wrangling in between my niece and nephew and Lynne and Jeremy's two little ones.

Lunch was very nice between the hors d'oeuvres and the main meal of chicken tetrazzini and a mixed green salad. The chocolate cake from Victoria Bakery was rich and delicious, and accompanied by a glass of Mumm Napa sparkling wine. The funniest gift I received was from my aunt who managed to save my high school graduation senior cruise t-shirt that was given as a hand me down to my cousins in order to give it back to me all these years later. It was a lovely afternoon and best of all I've still got a month and a half until I actually turn 40!

Christmas In The Forest

It was a beautiful day in Kalorama, located in the Dandenong Ranges, for Peter and Mark's Christmas party.  Fran was kind enough to pick me up along the way out there.  It's been quite a few years since I was last up at their house, and this year they held the party on the grounds near their live Christmas tree, which was decorated for the occasion.  As the tables and picnic blankets were set up on a slope it was a running gag all afternoon that we would end up rolling down the hill.  People brought different dishes to share for lunch, and music was supplied through people taking turns picking some vinyl to play.  Instead of traditional Christmas hats Peter had decorated some Fez hats for people to wear.  There were a few musicians in attendance, including Greg McCanish from Skyhooks, Andy White, and Nigel Griggs from Split Enz.  Fran and I chatted quite a bit with Andy, who we saw live last month at The Toff for his album launch.  After eating lunch the presents were distributed, and Peter managed to string up a Santa pinata to a tall tree branch for Rosemaree to hit (not sure Santa with a noose around his neck screams Christmas).  Overall it was a nice afternoon amongst the trees in the forest.

Super Bowl XLVII

After the San Francisco 49ers won the NFC Conference Championship I could feel a "Niners Flu" coming on for 4 February.  I received a tweet from Burger Mary about a Super Bowl party she was hosting at The Precinct Hotel in Richmond with an authentic menu of American food and decided to get a ticket.  I also managed to convince Danny take off work and come along as well.  It was nice to have a reserved table in a room where most of the people there were interested in watching the game.  We got a breakfast burrito on arrival, and also sampled the buffalo wings, shrimp po boy and loaded potato skins during the game, which all tasted good.

The 49ers were their own worst enemies in the first half, while the Baltimore Ravens pulled off some miraculous plays that defied belief.  The kick off run back for a touchdown at the start of the second half was almost the final nail in the coffin for the 49ers.  But then the power went out in the Superdome for 35 minutes, and after that it was like the Niners had finally gotten a spark and pulled it together as a team.  They stormed back to within 2 points and it seemed like the power outage would claim the MVP award, but unfortunately the 49ers failed to make it into the end zone on the final drive and the Ravens won the Super Bowl.  It was a disappointing outcome, and the "Quest for Six" still continues.

Of course, the Super Bowl is not only about football, but also the half time show and commercials.  Beyonce's performance was pretty amazing with her use of the screens, and I actually cheered when Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams popped up onto the stage for a mini-Destiny's Child reunion.  The Aussie broadcast doesn't show the American commercials, but I've watched them all on the NFL site, and the Tide "Miracle Stain" one was, not surprisingly, my favorite of the bunch:

The Long Goodbye

Sunday was the big farewell party thrown in my honor by my parents. The theme was Australia, so we had Aussie beer and wine, lamb for dinner, and various bits of Australiana decorating the house. Guests were family and friends of both my parents and myself. It was a fun evening and nice to see my aunts, uncles and cousins. I would like to give thanks to everyone for coming and for all the kind wishes.



Monday was my last day of work. I have been substitute teaching at my old school since August. Various students of mine have come up to me over these past few weeks telling me that I can't leave and that they want to come in my suitcase. They have been very sweet- running up to me whenever they spotted me on campus. My favorite reaction was from Jonathan. He asked me if I was really moving to Australia, and when I said yes, his response was, "YIKES!" My co-workers, who I will miss terribly, gave me a beautiful clock engraved with my name on it. I'm going to do my best to keep in touch with the school, and maybe I can get a pen pal program going once I am employed.

Tonight I had dinner at the Glisson's house. I have known them forever since Lynne and I went to St. Raphael's Grammar School and my brother and Mikey played on soccer teams together. We had a yummy dinner and I helped Lynne and Mikey set up their iPods, which have sat in boxes since Christmas. At last they will get some use. The Glissons gave me a great photo book on San Francisco by Morton Beebe, who is the uncle of someone Lynne and I went to high school with. I will miss my evenings at the Glisson house watching reality tv and basically trashing the contestants. We always had a good laugh at their expense.