How Now Brown Cow?

It seems that I can only blog when I'm on the work computer. I tried uploading some stuff from my holiday from my laptop from home, but I got bored and gave up.

Anyway, the thesis was handed in EARLY. I didn't know what to do with myself after that so I went to get a pedicure - the first one ever. Woo. I didn't even come in on Friday because I didn't have to. I'd worked every day for the last month before the thesis was due and the last place I wanted to be was my office.

On Saturday, Damien and I whisked ourselves away from Brisbane and headed to Sanctuary Cove for the weekend (pictures coming). Palazzo Versace didn't get our reservation and the only thing I could find was Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove and that's how we ended up there. It was a real blessing in disguise because it was a beautiful resort. It was a nice resort town with golf courses, enclosed beaches, marinas, shops and cheap places to eat. The seafood was fabulous and it was cheaper and more tasty than the dismal seafood in Brisbane.

On Saturday afternoon, we left Sanctuary Cove for the Gold Coast where we checked into Q1: the world's tallest residential building. It was very impressive and very big. The room was spacious and more than we really needed, but I thought it was a bit cold and I preferred the warmth of Sanctuary Cove.

Six days after I left, I came back to Brisbane and to QUT in time for the ANZMAC conference: Australian New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. It was much fun. I was a bit starstruck for a while because Robert East was at the conference. Robert East is an English researcher in the area of loyalty, which was my area in my Honours research. I never did muster up the courage to say hello :( I did get to meet Mark Uncles, another loyalty researcher. He was very friendly and he was at my roundtable, so it was useful getting comments from him about my research.

I didn't care so much about the research because I was done and my PhD area is in a different field from loyalty. But it was quite nice telling people that I was not a PhD student, but an Honours student who had just submitted a week before. Early. Everyone was generous with their advice on doing a PhD and surviving the 3 years.

The conference ended with a big blowout at the Hilton on Wednesday night. It was a 3 course dinner with an open bar. Mm.. my 2 favourite words... "Open Bar" I'd had so much free food and so much free alcohol for the entire duration of the conference. All meals were catered including morning and afternoon tea, so I didn't really have to cook lunch for a week. And I enjoyed 2 free 3 course dinners; one at Kapsali at SouthBank and another at the Hilton.

The dinner at the Hilton was followed by dancing and it was very interesting and amusing to see drunk academics on the dancefloor. Rhys was smashed. I'd had a bit to drink but I was still alright and sensible. After the band had finished, Dom, Rhys and I went up to the bar to continue the festivities and everyone else seemed to have the same idea. We left the Hilton at around 2am. Dom had parked her car at my building and she gave Rhys a lift home. I woke up the next day at a reasonable hour and I've been bumming ever since. I did have a function on Friday but it was more fun than work for me. It was the Women's Network Australia Christmas Luncheon and I scored tons and tons of freebies. Woo hoo!

I spent the weekend with Damien Christmas shopping for gifts for his family. He got presents for Cameron (his brother) and his mum and then got bored and decided he was all shopped out. I'm guessing we'll be getting dad's gifts this weekend. So after the weekend of shopping, Monday rolls around and... I don't have to go to work. Wow...

It's nice to be bumming around again after a year of being so frazzled, but it''s starting to lose its lustre. There are only so many days that you can shop non-stop (it's actually quite a boring and tiring activity). So here I am now, in the office after having seen Rebekah, filling in paperwork to become an RA for Charmine and about to start work writing up journal articles. But I'll do that tomorrow.