My goodness. It has truly been some time since I wished I was still shaving my legs. Today is one of those days.
And on a mountain bike, too. This was truly, a good effort. Well done, you klutz.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Parallel Importing
The San Franciscan in me dies a little when I see this, but at least this type of stuff is available. NZ is much better than Oz about having products from other countries, at least in terms of booze. NZ has a much more international selection of both wine and beer.
But really, $7.95 each? Shit.
NZ also has a pretty significant microbrewing scene. That's a good thing.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Appliances
I've come to a conclusion. I don't think I ever want to buy a place with an electric cook top.
I don't recall complaining this much at our place in SF, but the cook top in our place in Auckland sucks. Boiling water is a chore. And heaven forbid, you get the element hot - you can't STOP cooking stuff.
Gas range, all the way.
I don't recall complaining this much at our place in SF, but the cook top in our place in Auckland sucks. Boiling water is a chore. And heaven forbid, you get the element hot - you can't STOP cooking stuff.
Gas range, all the way.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Flood
Everyone who says you should only do laundry when you're home... is right.
My washer, which is already on it's last legs, (ask not for whom the bell tolls, washer... it tolls for thee) was doing it's thing tonight. After a very successful call with Vodafone, it occurred to me that I hadn't heard the washer squealing during the rinse cycle.
You can imagine I wasn't shocked to find my garage under an inch of water, as the latch on the door blew open. Upshot - I know the guys hooked the cold hose to the cold valve.
Good thing I had cardboard left to use as a push broom. I think my day went from "fine" to "I'd like a beer."
My washer, which is already on it's last legs, (ask not for whom the bell tolls, washer... it tolls for thee) was doing it's thing tonight. After a very successful call with Vodafone, it occurred to me that I hadn't heard the washer squealing during the rinse cycle.
You can imagine I wasn't shocked to find my garage under an inch of water, as the latch on the door blew open. Upshot - I know the guys hooked the cold hose to the cold valve.
Good thing I had cardboard left to use as a push broom. I think my day went from "fine" to "I'd like a beer."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Catch Up, Again
It's safe to say that I've done a pretty terrible job of writing this blog during the move and the start of the new job. Hopefully I can break that cycle soon. Let's try to start tonight, shall we?
When we last left off with anything of importance, I think I needed a car. Check. 1998 Impreza Rx-I, with about 169k km on the clock. Needs a cam belt (timing belt) as there is no record of replacement ever but I didn't exactly break the bank getting the car, so I can sink a little cash into it. Clutch squeaks, too, but I can deal with it. First project for myself is adjusting the wiper throw. Second is taking pictures so Shannon can see it, because I am slack. Key detail - it is silver.
I got moved into our new place. Our stuff was delivered. Because they could only drop off on a Tuesday, I only opted for the partial unpack, which left me with twoish weeks of lovely unpacking. But, there is no more cardboard in the house, so it's basically done. Victims of the move - one pint glass and our washing machine, making this the Worst. Move. Ever. The plan is that it was sufficiently insured. We shall see.
Two weeks back, I took my first trip to Melbourne, so it was the first time I had seen Shannon in three weeks. It was a lovely trip, paid for by someone else. But we had a lot of fun. We got to see some old friends. We got to act like we didn't have the 10,000 lb gorilla in the room (living internationally) and mill about the city like tourists. The weather was awesome, although it got quite hot Sunday.
We had a Brew Dog Hardcore, which Ryan hasn't had. We had to sell an organ to get it, but quite tasty.
And me, getting out of town.
When we last left off with anything of importance, I think I needed a car. Check. 1998 Impreza Rx-I, with about 169k km on the clock. Needs a cam belt (timing belt) as there is no record of replacement ever but I didn't exactly break the bank getting the car, so I can sink a little cash into it. Clutch squeaks, too, but I can deal with it. First project for myself is adjusting the wiper throw. Second is taking pictures so Shannon can see it, because I am slack. Key detail - it is silver.
I got moved into our new place. Our stuff was delivered. Because they could only drop off on a Tuesday, I only opted for the partial unpack, which left me with twoish weeks of lovely unpacking. But, there is no more cardboard in the house, so it's basically done. Victims of the move - one pint glass and our washing machine, making this the Worst. Move. Ever. The plan is that it was sufficiently insured. We shall see.
Two weeks back, I took my first trip to Melbourne, so it was the first time I had seen Shannon in three weeks. It was a lovely trip, paid for by someone else. But we had a lot of fun. We got to see some old friends. We got to act like we didn't have the 10,000 lb gorilla in the room (living internationally) and mill about the city like tourists. The weather was awesome, although it got quite hot Sunday.
We had a Brew Dog Hardcore, which Ryan hasn't had. We had to sell an organ to get it, but quite tasty.
There was new street art in Fitzroy, as you, loyal readers, may recall from my occasional series on the same.
It had recently been Australia Day over there, so there were some remnants of the annual protest of Invasion Day.
What I didn't realize until this year was that Australia day is the day of landing, not the day the colony became a Commonwealth country. So I can now understand the resentment. We'll not get into any religious debate, as that's not the point.
Sunday was easily the highlight. We went up in gliders! We went to a place in Benalla, which I think was called the Victorian Gliding Centre (or GC of V or something close) where they drag you up in a two seater with a pilot behind a tail dragger to 4000 feet, and let you go for about a half hour. You get to fly a bit once you're up and stable. It was a blast. There was a decent view of the mountains, but generally, it was just awesome to be up, and essentially floating. It's also extremely quiet (save wind noise) after you pop the tow rope off.
Shannon, taking off, and landing.
And me, getting out of town.
Photos from flight were take with Shannon's camera, because it's smaller, so I'll need to pick those up this weekend, when I head back. According to my pilot, we were in a sort of touchy glider, in terms of flight controls. I found it pretty tricky, but still a lot of fun. Definitely makes me think about flight lessons. Again.
On to more serious matters, this is my 5th week at work. Things are going well. I'm learning things and leveraging my previous experience. I like the people I work with, despite missing the folks I used to work with. I think I'm getting good experience.
The goal, after this weekend, it to finally start exploring New Zealand. I think I'm finally set up enough to work on that. More to come...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
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