Firming up more of my itinerary the next couple weeks made me realize how little time I have left, and how much more I still want to see. Which means I’m now flying out of Melbourne tomorrow morning, heading up to Cairns. continued

I’ll be joining up with Peter and Russ to fly into Melbourne this Tuesday afternoon (5th of October) for a spontaneously rescheduled Web Standards Group meeting that night. Dave Shea and his wife April are traveling to Melbourne, so they’ll also be there for the meeting. If you’re in the area, please come out and join us, whether you’re a member of WSG or not. Details on time and location will be posted to this page on the WSG’s site when they become available. continued

Man, is Sydney beautiful once the rain and overcast skies go away. I woke up at 6:30am this morning, gazed outside my window, and saw bright sunshine already casting its brilliance over Sydney, so I rushed to get out to experience the day. continued

Just arrived in Sydney this morning. Still trying to orientate myself. John Allsopp picked up Joe Clark and me (we happened to be on the same flight out of LAX) from the airport early this morning. I only have 6 minutes left on a pay-per-minute access account, so this is going to be a quick one. Dave and I have walked all over the Chinatown/UTS area looking for wireless access, or some place where we can connect our laptops to a wired connection. No one seems to know what wireless access or “wifi” is here. And all the “internet cafes” (they look more like gaming casinos to us) all require that we use their computers. And the local proprietors all stare at us blankly when we ask where we might find such a rarity. continued

As I sit at a gate at SFO, waiting for a hop down to LAX where I catch the Time Travel Express to Sydney, the fact that I’m leaving for a whole month doesn’t seem quite real yet. It’s a strange feeling. No anxiety or stress, but an odd feeling that I’m not prepared to be traveling for a month. Sort of like those dreams where you show up to school or some public place, then realize you’re wearing nothing but underwear. continued

One of the concepts that’s had my brain wrapped around a pole lately is the international date line. When working out times and flights to Sydney recently, I found it really difficult to calculate arrival times based on a 14-hour flight, a 17-hour time difference, and the fact that I was going to cross the date line and lose a day. continued

In less than one month now, I board a plane bound for Sydney, Australia. As I’ve mentioned here once before, I’m honored to be speaking this year at Web Essentials 04. The first annual conference on web standards will be held at the University of Technology, Sydney. I’ll be sharing the stage with Dave Shea, Joe Clark, John Allsopp, Russ Weakley, and geez, a whole host of Australian natives who I can’t wait to meet. continued

In just under two weeks, I’ll be joining Adaptive Path in Washington, D.C. for User Experience Week 2004, 16-19 August. AP’s guest speakers also include Jason Fried and Christina Wodtke. Topics will cover team and process, strategy, managing politics, interaction best practices, efficient use of a CMS, and fitting general user experience methods and practices into your organization. continued

My favorite photo from a 10-minute visit (that’s all the time I had) to Seattle’s Rem Koolhaas-designed Central Library:

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Feels like I’ve been running non-stop for the past week. I’ve been careful not to overdo it recently, as I injured my back about a month ago, and I’ve only gotten back into the groove in the past week or so. Regretfully, because of my back, I had to cancel my appearance in Portland at Web Visions. continued