Pack up your six shooters and mount up, because I have arrived in the Wild West.
Granted Phoenix Arizona is less wild than it was in the days of the gold rush, it is still quite a change from my humble hometown city of Brisbane, Australia.
for those who have never been, Phoenix is flat, sprawling and dusty. There are many more trees than you would expect from this desert valley. Conifers (pines), palms and many other trees that can handle the heat of summer, are mostly kept alive by tremendous amounts of water channeled down from the Colorado River. Lawns are kept green with sprinklers and in some cases a monthly flooding from the water main.

Random garden in front of Camelback Mountain
As a result of this care from the human inhabitants, Phoenix and it’s satellite cities are an Oasis in the desert, sustaining a large population of seasonal birds and insects, not to mention people.
I’m living with Lei in an apartment on the border between Phoenix and Scottsdale. The Apartment is small, but funnily enough I feel like I have more room, seeing as in Brisbane I spent most of my time in my tiny little room on the computer. Now I have the whole apartment to enjoy.

Lei and Hammy in our Apartment
There are several advantages to living in a big city like Phoenix, and in the United States in general. I just missed the Basketball season, which was something I was really looking forward to. They’re still playing games at the moment, but Phoenix didn’t make the playoffs, so there’ll be no games for me to watch here.

Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, Jan 26, 2009.
I could also watch the Baseball for as cheap as $5 (the seats are way up the back). One of the most important advantages however is the music. Bands and festivals touring the U.S. will almost always come to Phoenix.
Last weekend we went to U-fest, a rock festival sponsored by the local rock radio station.

Lei and Me at the U-fest
The rock music that’s popular these days doesn’t exactly float my boat, but there was one band that I really enjoyed. An 80’s Metal parody band called Steel Panther. The song below is “death to all but Metal”
What I’m really looking forward to however is Flight of the Conchords, playing this month downtown. We ordered tickets before I even arrived
They are making (or have made) a new season of their T.V. show, so I’m expecting to hear some new songs. One of my favourite Conchords song is below:
Finally, because Arizona is right on the border of Mexico, we feel a kinship with our south-of-the-border cousins. Because of this, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday (5th May), in honour of the Mexicans defeating the French. We drank Corona and ate Tacos. And the cats seemed to enjoy themselves aswell.

Hammy celebrating Cinco de Mayo
Until I post again, get ye gone varment, there aint enough room in this town for the two of us, ya hear?



















