First, both Sydney and Melbourne are gorgeous cities – although Sydney has a bit of a harder edge to it. If the last 5 years hadn’t happened, it wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d chose to study there instead of Auckland back in 2004;)

Fast Walking

One of the differences I noticed most compared to NZ is how quickly people walk, especially in Sydney – which I reckon is a sign of how things are faster-paced there. I thought I was quick, but was barely keeping up with the short girls in high heels!

Another anecdotal comparison: when comparing the speed of deli service at the most urban supermarkets in Sydney and Auckland on multiple occasions, the apathy of Auckland’s service is stark (and consistent.)

Prickiness

And while I liked the added intensity of daily life in OZ, the overall friendliness as compared to NZ is definitely lacking. I joked about this on my status message at the time by saying “Dave thinks the average Aussie is a much bigger prick than the average Kiwi, but nowhere near as big a prick as the average Yankee.”

So being American, Sydney felt much more like a big US city than Auckland does (which isn’t always a good thing.)

Quality Over Quantity

But despite my friendly jabs at Auckland, I always seem to like it more after being gone awhile, and this was no exception.

And when not on anthropology duty, I was really lucky to see several of my friends – Mitch, Julia, Paul, Maria, and Kai – and also meet some cool new people.

As you can see from the above screenshot, 11 of the 20 most recent status updates are related to New Zealand’s “national depression.”

Besides the fact that New Zealanders are unhealthily obsessed with really into their sport, I think this little experience is just another small example of how information these days is being spliced and diced, fragmented across an ever-growing number of channels, and increasingly likely to be delivered by digital word of mouth rather than “Big Media.”

Isn’t that just freakin’ cool? I think so!

Luckily, I ran into a really nice guy at an auto shop that is continuing to store the desk for me at his house, but how am I going to get the desk back? It would certainly be hella expensive to have it shipped back to Cincinnati because of its odd shape, and I can’t say when I might be back in the area to pick it up. I may just bite the bullet and have it shipped, but there must be a better way.

I think that better way is for someone to start a community website in the the spirit of eBay and CouchSurfing.com enabling individuals to help each other with long distance shipping. This could be done for free or perhaps a small fee, and put a dent the businesses of existing commercial shippers. Think about how often people are traveling long distances and have a little extra space in their vehicle. I bet this happens fairly often, and with the right technology in place, this unused capacity can be harnessed to meet the unserved demand.

I don’t know how all of the logistics would work, but I do know that most people are willing to help each other out a lot more than is commonly thought. One striking example of this was recently highlighted on an episode of the ScobleShow where the community website Front Porch Forum was profiled, a service that aims to connect neighbors with each other. A young couple with a newborn baby was looking to move house, and sent out a request for help on the website. There were dozens of people that replied, and within a couple hours, everything in their old house was packed, moved, and completely unpacked at their new house – completely free of charge, crib assembly and all.

This is an amazing example of how technology is enabling communities to help each other out and not be so dependent on “the establishment.” I wish someone would apply this idea to shipping so I can get my damn desk back without paying a small fortune!

So I was having dinner with my friend Priscilla at a Japanese restaurant last night, and realised that Asian restaurants are missing out on a huge opportunity. As with almost any non-Asians, both of us had pretty much no idea what all of the options were on the menu, and we ended up making a little game out of the experience of guessing what we were ordering.

So instead of keeping their customers in the dark, or futily trying to explain all of the options for their patrons, I think Asian restaurateurs should leverage this opportunity by providing an incentive for the customers to play such a game.

I think the best model would be to provide one free desert for each group table and letting the customers pick and mutually judge their own game – something like “Pick a random menu item, and whoever’s order turns out closest to their guess will get the desert.” A little card on the table could explain the incentive and provide game suggestions.

This would have a couple of positive effects: encouraging groups to patronize the restaurant, incentivizing the “losers” to buy their own deserts, creating a memorable and fun experience, and most importantly, creating repeat business in a highly competitive industry.

So would you play the Asian Mystery Menu game?

My friend Susan, who is Taiwanese, really helped me realise this by telling me how she has been having difficulties socially assimilating into the New Zealand culture. I figured that if a person of university age was having that difficulty here in New Zealand, which is supposed to be a very socially tolerating culture, it couldn’t get any easier elsewhere in the world. I also had a date with a Korean girl a week or so after that happened and although I enjoyed myself, there just wasn’t a solid connection in thoughts and ideas.

When I describe these people as Taiwanese and Korean, I’m not talking about what they look like, where their parents are from, or even where they were born, but where they actually grew up and became cultured.

I was hoping to travel to India sometime this year to see a friend I worked with at my old telephone job, but I’m opting out of that partially because of the money, but even if I did have the money, India isn’t a place I could ever see myself living. If I’m going to plunk down a few grand at this point in time I want to go someplace I might want to immigrate to eventually. I’d rather spend that money on my trip back to the States where I hope to see New York, Las Vegas, and Seattle around New Years, or on a trip to Europe at some point in time. I’ll save the trips to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East for when I have millions of dollars and just want to leave reality for a few weeks.

Although most people aren’t around, it doesn’t really bother me that much. I find that it’s much easier to get along with and socialise with the people remaining in the hall (which is only a handful on each floor.) I suppose that’s not surprising since I’ve always been better getting along in more personal situations than large group functions. It’s also an opportunity to get out and see what’s around more. I really want to find where the best thrift store is here in Auckland so I have more time to do things like that. Someone told me that thrift stores are called opshops here, supposedly because you have the opportunity to find a really good deal. As an aside, a question that I’ve gotten a lot from people here is whether or not schools in America are really like those portrayed in the movies with different groups of jocks, dorks, ‘popular kids,’ etc. I tell people that there certainly are schools like that and everyone seems to be perplexed as to how kids could be so segregated. Anyway, when I was coming back on the bus from Northland (where Kerikeri is) I met a traveler from Switzerland and her and I are probably going to meet up tomorrow or the day after to see some of the sights around Auckland. I have to keep reminding myself that there’s more to life here than just university stuff.

Another thing that I can keep myself occupied with is continuing to do some work for the firm I’m now working for in Arizona. I can’t remember off hand what I’ve written about that before, but as a refresher I’m doing research for an Internet firm my Cousin is the CFO for. It’s pretty sweet so far because it pays well, I have total discretion of my work environment and when I work, and I can obviously work from anywhere that has an Internet connection. I found out that the first project I did for them, which was to find the best online credit card gateway, was really helpful for them and my research lead them directly to the best solution. I hope that I can continue to do this for quite some time and that they come to rely on what I do.

To be perfectly honest with everyone, there are several things I wish I could write about on here more candidly, but I have to keep in mind that anyone could read this so I do keep some subjects off limits. I’ve found writing about things can be very helpful in clearing my head and I’d like to do it for some more personal things, but at the same time I don’t want to write something if I’m the only that will ever read it. Besides, I know that I can always call a friend or family member if I need to discuss something important, and it’s not like EVERYTHING has to be written down.