You start the video below by clicking on the play symbol on the screen. Once you've clicked on the play button, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the pause button. By doing this you will give it time to load. You can tell how quickly it is loading because a grey line will appear across the timeline. Once a good amount has loaded, you can watch the clip by clicking the play button again (which will now be located at the bottom of the screen). If you don't allow the video to load a bit you will notice that the video keeps stopping.
Sorry for pointing out the obvious to those of you who are familiar with this. But I wanted to accommodate for those who are less competent in this field of knowledge.
I have been offered an internship at an undisclosed business downtown. The job mainly consists of spying! In hope that everything will come together regarding Visa issues, I will be working for a company that's contracted by businesses to go in and spy on their employees. My role will be to train people on how to use the spy camera. I will wire them using a range of different cameras; from the shirt buttonhole, to the mobile phone, to the trusty old briefcase. I will then edit that footage to make a package for each of the clients. I am told that in order to unsertand all apects of the job, I will start by doing a bit of spying myself. I hope they let me have an alais because I want to be able to say "Hello, I'm Doctor Pennypacker. A wealthy industrialist from the Arab Emirates. Show me your things". And I hope I get to wear a fake mostache.
Dr Mae Jemison was the first black woman in space. I listened to her present tonight as the third speaker in the 'Distinguished Lecture Series'. My main reason for attending was because I love space travel, but I was happiest to listen to her concern for environmental issues. I was lucky enough to once ask Captain Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 a question so tonight I thought I would get my astronaut-directed-questions-count up in the Q&A session by asking her what it was going to take to get us to stop producing so much waste. The question really served as an oppurtunity for me to have a winge at the incessant consumption of Americans. Not that I put it that way!
A speaker in the 'Not-so Distinguished Lecture Series' will be me when I present 'Aussie Night Mate!' on Thursday
I heard an unfamiliar sound the other day.... birds chirpping. I guess they have returned from the south - but they kinda mistimed it because we got a dumping of snow the other day, which was nice because the finer weather that followed has melted it away.
I have myself a job interview on Tuesday and it wil coincide with my first ride on public transport here (I hope its more frequent than Adelaides) The company is downtown, it's 'Service Connections' and I believe the role is to edit secret shopper video footage. It would be good as it serves as an internship as well. It's a long shot but you've got to try for these things.
So this Thursday marks the evening of 'Aussie Night...Mate!'. I got on to my Vegemite and my Ausse Footy (thanks Jac) so hopefully it will go okay. I don't know why I ever thought to do this as I get nervous speaking in front of groups of people. But that's ok - I can just have some Fosters before I go!
The photo below is of my housemate, Michel, (his wife took the photo) and his mate Rafa from Mexico City. We're out to some Mexican.
A group of 44 students traveled on a chartered bus south for 14 hours through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and onto the Mississippi coastline. The things that I found of most interest were; the annihilation by Katrina; a preacher who would tell us each night that he believed "we are truly in our final days, the end is near"; the amount of trucks traveling American roads at any one time; feeding quarters into Galaca in a backroom of a Kentuckian gas station; getting out of the bus in Alabama and thanking the good Lord that the earth's atmosphere is still able to rise above freezing; Butler students lauging at my bloody pants; looking out at the ocean and noting that the land I was standing on is quite obviously below sea level; listening to a gentleman who was telling me that late Saturday afternoon he was looking out at the ocean, listening to the updates on the approaching storm on his radio and sensing that the wall of pitch blackness that was rising vertically from the horizon was a pretty good indication that this was his last chance to leave; starring at a great moonrise in Tennessee while listening to Where Eagles Have Been and meeting a girl named Shad! One of the least devastating sites pictured above - 6.54am, mild and muggy, couple of mile inland
The only thing remaning at the resort next door to us. It was not the winds that created so much damage, but the rising of the ocean which produced a 40 foot wall of water
A lot has been cleared, yet they say it will take 10 years to rebuild
1300 people are still unaccounted for in the region. They either left and never returned... or never left
A house and its foundation. Looking through the window of the house I saw photos stuck to the fridge, a big screen tv and an unidentified dead anaimal. Many people had to go on a further hunt from their property to find their house - one up to 6 miles
Some folk had a problem with looters. One house had a sign spray painted on it, "Looters will be injurned, then tortured". I did find in the top draw of one chest set that I was about to throw out for rubbish collection, about forty dollars including a large number of one-dollar and half-dollar coins. We donated it
Derek, Dan, Andrew, myself, Adam and Zack out the front of our room, Humble. (approx 9' by 15')
God's Katrina Kitchen drew volunteers from all over the country. Most groups are affiliated with a church. I'm here with a youth group from "Monticello, Lawrence County" the girls would tell me in their great southern accents
Back in Indy just after midnight. My 100th and final photo with Jackie. We slide togeher (moonwalk sideways)
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Bush commented last night he was upset with suggestions that his son failed to provide immediate help to those affected by Hurricane Katrina because a large majority of those southern states are African-American. He added that such comments do nothing for race relations which is why I decided to speak on the topic. As you may have read in the previous blog, not many stuck around for that speech. But that's okay, I've decided I will let my actions do the talking. So this Spring break while the rest of the Butler community will be lying on the beaches of Florida, I'm headng down to Mississippi to help with the relief efforts. George said 'ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country'. Despite the fact that this is not my country (and that it may not have actually been Bush who said those words), I will be heading down to Pass Christian, MS, which 70% was wiped out by Katrina. The water in Pass Christian has been rendered unusable as some samples tested positive for more than 250 bacteria and parasites. The 30 foot storm surge flattened out Pass Christian and it now lays half a mile inland from the shore.
I will be building houses (poor buggers) and this will be no time for self promotion. However, the trip will take us through many crucial states which we must secure: Kentucky, Tennessee (especially Lynchburg for obvious reasons) and Alabama. No doubt there will be a lot of baby kissing and palm pressing along the way.
After George H.W. Bush finished his speech I got up to the podium to share my views on race relations. Unfortunately, most people left. But I did get one thing out of it - I learnt not to wear a black shirt and suit when you have a black background because you just end up looking like a head and a pair of hands as you can see here. Maybe this is why the people did not stick around to listen to me - they were scared of the talking head.
It was good to hear a (ex) president speak. Though I'm not one for Bush politics I did find some of his words amusing. He was honest to say that he struggles to pronounce the word 'sesquicentennial' and added that he most likely developed the problem from his son. I heard a whispher that I'm not supposed to repeat that we are getting a particular late night show host in the 'fall' whom we are going to shoot. (Unfortunately, not the one from Indiana as he is a Ball State University alumnus). ...
The only thing remaning at the resort next door to us. It was not the winds that created so much damage, but the rising of the ocean which produced a 40 foot wall of water 
A lot has been cleared, yet they say it will take 10 years to rebuild
Some folk had a problem with looters. One house had a sign spray painted on it, "Looters will be injurned, then tortured". I did find in the top draw of one chest set that I was about to throw out for rubbish collection, about forty dollars including a large number of one-dollar and half-dollar coins. We donated it
Derek, Dan, Andrew, myself, Adam and Zack out the front of our room, Humble. (approx 9' by 15') 
God's Katrina Kitchen drew volunteers from all over the country. Most groups are affiliated with a church. I'm here with a youth group from "Monticello, Lawrence County" the girls would tell me in their great southern accents
Back in Indy just after midnight. My 100th and final photo with Jackie. We slide togeher (moonwalk sideways)
