What to say today?
Spent most of the past week in Nelson. Very pretty area, flat lands surrounded by hills next to the ocean. A great combination. I went for a few little walks in the nature but not as much (nature or walking) as I would have liked.
I found a Beastie Boys vs. The Beatles mash-up album that I am playing on my show this morning. I like it quite a bit. I do not like it as well as the Jay-Z/Beatles Grey Album so far...
Next week is NSR seminar in Auckland. We leave for that Tuesday and Sam has to spend from Tuesday to Sunday in a kennel!!! I am feeling some real guilt about that. I am sure he will enjoy himself but I really feel that I am deserting my pup. Then the next month we are having our 8 day stay in Sydney so he will be kenneled again. SUCKS, I wish we could take him everywhere with us.
Yesterday was quite stormy. Just a lot of wind and little rain showers but we took the pup out for walk on the beach and then parked for a bit just looking at the waves on the rocks. Quite beautiful. Before that we grabbed milk shakes from movenpick shop. They like the milkshakes much runnier in nz than I prefer.
I've been hearing from some peeps I've not talked to in a long time lately, I always (almost always?) enjoy that.
Man, ate at a place called the Smokehouse Cafe in Mapua(?), really really good seafood. Had smoked fish chowder and pan seared scallops in a vietnamese style salad. It was soooooooo gooooooood :-)
Indeed.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
OH SHIT! I forgot to mention my Brush With Fame! My first one since living in NZ (and one of my few ever). While at the airport awaiting my flight to Blenheim, some slightly rowdy folk start flying down the stairs to our gate area. I notice that at least one of them is carrying a ukulele. They are just being goofy, trying to cut each other off on way to go through the gate and things. So, of course I am looking at them and as they are walking out the door onto the tarmac I notice that one of them looks quite familiar. Turns out it is Brett from The Flight of the Conchords. DAMN! I then saw one of the airport workers taking his and the other folks (probably other members of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra) picture, I'm a little jealous. Cool Nonetheless!
Hiya,
If you like reading blogs and like movies why aren't you at penguindevil.com? That man knows movies, and many other things as well, check him out wouldja?
My nominee for best song title goes to Interpol's "No I in Threesome" it's definitely a classic.
We are having another lovely weekend here in Wellington, the wind has definitely been whipping about, but the sun is shining and I can wear shorts. Good stuff.
Yesterday we took the pup out for some adventures. We went to Animates (the big local pet shop chain) where he got to stare at bunnies and other pups and met a couple of dogs. He also wanted to mark the territory constantly, that was fun...After that we went to a filipino bakery in Petone and Celeste had breakfast (which she shared with me cuz she's so sweet). That wasn't so fun for Sam cuz he had to wait in the car, but I think he enjoys watching the world go by, but not as much as he would've liked being out playing with the world. Fortunately for him, that came next. We took him to the Petone shore and he got to run around for awhile on the windy beach. He also took one of his first runs into the water (without mom helping him). Celeste very much wants him to play in water but he has been quite hesitant, it now looks like he is getting a bit more interested.
Oh, during our visit to Animates we were trying to get some help choosing toys for Samson because he has a tendency to destroy everything we give him within a day or less. So this woman shows us quite a few things and we keep talking about how he destroys things. To illustrate the point we mentioned that he recently tore apart a golf ball, her mouth dropped. At that point she pretty much just said, we don't have anything that will stop him, but perhaps a couple of things that will slow him down!
So, we bought the thing we thought seemed sturdiest but also like Sammy would enjoy it. Well, before last night was over it was in pieces. The dog is very determined to see the insides of anything we give him and nothing stops him from achieving that goal...hmmmm. Now I want to take the toy back to the shop and show it to the woman, just so she knows we weren't kidding. We spend a lot of money to keep that dog entertained.
He is also now climbing into the neighbours yard, that's not so good (not our downstairs neighbour thankfully). Not sure how to keep him contained without putting up a fence, not really willing to take on that expense for a rental house. Blech! Is having a dog more trouble than it is worth? How am I going to take care of a kid when I can't even control my pup?
Speaking of which, Sam also got sick last night, probably from eating the toy, or drinking salt water at the beach (or a combo?). He threw up more food than I though could even be inside his little body! It was sad (and really disgusting). He was just sitting there shaking and wouldn't walk or lie down or anything. Finally we just took him to bed and wrapped him in a blankie. We all went to sleep. This morning he seemed pretty normal when I got up.
We interviewed for the other SLA on Thursday, 4 people and 2 of them seemed like pretty good options. Definitely one is the favourite so we will see what happens next. It will be nice to have someone, and it will be interesting training someone. Definitely looking forward to it.
I've entered into a travel phase. Yesterday I spent down in Blenheim visiting a couple of schools. That was nice, went to the beach and did a little (very little) walk. This week I will spend three days down in Nelson visiting schools. The following week is the SLA seminar up in Auckland (first trip up there). Celeste will go up as well and we'll spend the weekend exploring a bit. Then the end of November we are going to Sydney for our first visit to Australia. Also our last trip before we are parents. CRAZY.
Celeste's belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's very cute. I will look at her and obviously I just get a silly look on my face cuz she'll say, WHAT??? And I just say, you're so big and adorable :-P It is all very exciting, and I can feel his little movements sometimes. We have done just about nothing toward preparing for his arrival, soon we must start purchasing stuff and stuff.
We did begin antenatal classes last monday. that is good. very interesting stuff. they just start telling you the hundreds (thousands) of ways you can kill your baby! Aaaaargh.
I could go on and on, but I think that will do for now!
If you like reading blogs and like movies why aren't you at penguindevil.com? That man knows movies, and many other things as well, check him out wouldja?
My nominee for best song title goes to Interpol's "No I in Threesome" it's definitely a classic.
We are having another lovely weekend here in Wellington, the wind has definitely been whipping about, but the sun is shining and I can wear shorts. Good stuff.
Yesterday we took the pup out for some adventures. We went to Animates (the big local pet shop chain) where he got to stare at bunnies and other pups and met a couple of dogs. He also wanted to mark the territory constantly, that was fun...After that we went to a filipino bakery in Petone and Celeste had breakfast (which she shared with me cuz she's so sweet). That wasn't so fun for Sam cuz he had to wait in the car, but I think he enjoys watching the world go by, but not as much as he would've liked being out playing with the world. Fortunately for him, that came next. We took him to the Petone shore and he got to run around for awhile on the windy beach. He also took one of his first runs into the water (without mom helping him). Celeste very much wants him to play in water but he has been quite hesitant, it now looks like he is getting a bit more interested.
Oh, during our visit to Animates we were trying to get some help choosing toys for Samson because he has a tendency to destroy everything we give him within a day or less. So this woman shows us quite a few things and we keep talking about how he destroys things. To illustrate the point we mentioned that he recently tore apart a golf ball, her mouth dropped. At that point she pretty much just said, we don't have anything that will stop him, but perhaps a couple of things that will slow him down!
So, we bought the thing we thought seemed sturdiest but also like Sammy would enjoy it. Well, before last night was over it was in pieces. The dog is very determined to see the insides of anything we give him and nothing stops him from achieving that goal...hmmmm. Now I want to take the toy back to the shop and show it to the woman, just so she knows we weren't kidding. We spend a lot of money to keep that dog entertained.
He is also now climbing into the neighbours yard, that's not so good (not our downstairs neighbour thankfully). Not sure how to keep him contained without putting up a fence, not really willing to take on that expense for a rental house. Blech! Is having a dog more trouble than it is worth? How am I going to take care of a kid when I can't even control my pup?
Speaking of which, Sam also got sick last night, probably from eating the toy, or drinking salt water at the beach (or a combo?). He threw up more food than I though could even be inside his little body! It was sad (and really disgusting). He was just sitting there shaking and wouldn't walk or lie down or anything. Finally we just took him to bed and wrapped him in a blankie. We all went to sleep. This morning he seemed pretty normal when I got up.
We interviewed for the other SLA on Thursday, 4 people and 2 of them seemed like pretty good options. Definitely one is the favourite so we will see what happens next. It will be nice to have someone, and it will be interesting training someone. Definitely looking forward to it.
I've entered into a travel phase. Yesterday I spent down in Blenheim visiting a couple of schools. That was nice, went to the beach and did a little (very little) walk. This week I will spend three days down in Nelson visiting schools. The following week is the SLA seminar up in Auckland (first trip up there). Celeste will go up as well and we'll spend the weekend exploring a bit. Then the end of November we are going to Sydney for our first visit to Australia. Also our last trip before we are parents. CRAZY.
Celeste's belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's very cute. I will look at her and obviously I just get a silly look on my face cuz she'll say, WHAT??? And I just say, you're so big and adorable :-P It is all very exciting, and I can feel his little movements sometimes. We have done just about nothing toward preparing for his arrival, soon we must start purchasing stuff and stuff.
We did begin antenatal classes last monday. that is good. very interesting stuff. they just start telling you the hundreds (thousands) of ways you can kill your baby! Aaaaargh.
I could go on and on, but I think that will do for now!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
It must be Sunday!
The Church of Bush is now in session!
If you aren't listening, why not???
Hey Kurt, at this point you have to ask which player is Sam Bowie, the obvious is Oden, but now that Roy is having the continuing problem with his foot...
But I don't live in Portland anymore so I am giving up on skepticism and having faith in my team :-) We rocked the first pre-season game and I feel like there were positives in the second (from what I read, I didn't listen to the second).
Oh, this is an exciting development, apparently the NBA is going to allow me (and you too if you wanna) to listen to every single game this season for free! Now that is exciting news for me. The NBA is FANtastic...
My new toy is the iPod Touch. I like it, much! Now that I am using it as my DJ sidekick I am noticing a few things I do not like so much though. I do not believe there is a "on the go" playlist feature. that came in very handy when I did not make up a show playlist before coming to the station and I could just put one together on the fly. also, old school ipods automatically default back to showing the currently playing track (along with time remaining in song) after a few seconds of being on any other screen, not the case for the Touch. which just adds extra steps to my morning, not good at all! web browsing on the thing is almost perfection. websites rock, it's fast and smooth and all that. very intuitive to use.
No new drama with the neighbour, well, not that we have had to deal with directly. The landlords are apparently still hearing from her regularly though. They are tired of it. I am hopeful that she will realise the place just does not suit her needs and will find another. Hopefully we can find someone we know to take the place over, or maybe someone who is deaf and loves dogs. Hmmmm...
We do love our place though. It feels so cozy and comfortable (is that redundant?). Our pup likes it a lot too. He has now taken to exploring the hills behind the place. This means that if we let him into the backyard unattended we have no idea where he might end up. This is a bit unnerving and creates a bit more anxiety. We thought the hill was too steep (see: Cliff) for him to get up, but he is a persistent explorer and has found his way around.
We took him to the beach yesterday to let him explore a new place. He loves new environs to check out. He ran around for an hour or so then we drove around a bit, got the parents some ice cream and headed back home. It was a beautiful Saturday in Wellington.
Work continues to be crazy busy. Still doing a lot of enrolment visits to high schools along with many visits and tours of campus and the ever present email correspondence. Supposed to be interviewing for the vacant office next to mine this coming week hopefully someone great will be hired. I will be on the interview panel so I better choose well...
Okay, I will concentrate on being a dj for a bit, perhaps I will write more before the morning is over (perhaps not).
The Church of Bush is now in session!
If you aren't listening, why not???
Hey Kurt, at this point you have to ask which player is Sam Bowie, the obvious is Oden, but now that Roy is having the continuing problem with his foot...
But I don't live in Portland anymore so I am giving up on skepticism and having faith in my team :-) We rocked the first pre-season game and I feel like there were positives in the second (from what I read, I didn't listen to the second).
Oh, this is an exciting development, apparently the NBA is going to allow me (and you too if you wanna) to listen to every single game this season for free! Now that is exciting news for me. The NBA is FANtastic...
My new toy is the iPod Touch. I like it, much! Now that I am using it as my DJ sidekick I am noticing a few things I do not like so much though. I do not believe there is a "on the go" playlist feature. that came in very handy when I did not make up a show playlist before coming to the station and I could just put one together on the fly. also, old school ipods automatically default back to showing the currently playing track (along with time remaining in song) after a few seconds of being on any other screen, not the case for the Touch. which just adds extra steps to my morning, not good at all! web browsing on the thing is almost perfection. websites rock, it's fast and smooth and all that. very intuitive to use.
No new drama with the neighbour, well, not that we have had to deal with directly. The landlords are apparently still hearing from her regularly though. They are tired of it. I am hopeful that she will realise the place just does not suit her needs and will find another. Hopefully we can find someone we know to take the place over, or maybe someone who is deaf and loves dogs. Hmmmm...
We do love our place though. It feels so cozy and comfortable (is that redundant?). Our pup likes it a lot too. He has now taken to exploring the hills behind the place. This means that if we let him into the backyard unattended we have no idea where he might end up. This is a bit unnerving and creates a bit more anxiety. We thought the hill was too steep (see: Cliff) for him to get up, but he is a persistent explorer and has found his way around.
We took him to the beach yesterday to let him explore a new place. He loves new environs to check out. He ran around for an hour or so then we drove around a bit, got the parents some ice cream and headed back home. It was a beautiful Saturday in Wellington.
Work continues to be crazy busy. Still doing a lot of enrolment visits to high schools along with many visits and tours of campus and the ever present email correspondence. Supposed to be interviewing for the vacant office next to mine this coming week hopefully someone great will be hired. I will be on the interview panel so I better choose well...
Okay, I will concentrate on being a dj for a bit, perhaps I will write more before the morning is over (perhaps not).
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Doin' my show.
Still in love with the new Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog.
I have given in to my Apple Techno Lust and purchased an iPod Touch. Now I just have to impatiently wait for it to get to me, they are saying about 2 weeks...
The neighbour situation has not really improved. Friday night she showed up at our door at 10:30pm semi-hysterical because our dog was running around playing on the wooden floor. I feel for her, but I also think we have a right to LIVE in our home. We are looking at buying a large area rug for the living room ('lounge' in kiwi) in the hope that it will help dampen the noise for her. So now our adjustments include unplugging my subwoofer so the bass doesn't bother her, listening to TV and music quieter than we would like, buying a makeshift fence to help keep Samson from going down to 'her' area of the house, trying to keep our 8month old puppy from playing too loudly in the living room...woohoo! Nothing like having neighbours.
I really worry about what it will be like when we have a baby! Thankfully the landlords are very understanding of our side of things and are being quite cool about the whole situation. Nonetheless we are enjoying the new house quite a bit. It is a great little place and such an enjoyable location. We just discovered how close we are to Kilbirnie which has a lot of shops we can take advantage of.
Anybody out there want a bedsit that doesn't mind a little bit of puppy noise? I am starting to get the feeling that a place may be opening up soon. Oh, for those that are not aware, a bedsit is what they call what we americans call a studio. A living space with no separate rooms, just one living space a kitchen or kitchenette and a bathroom/toilet.
Work is still manageable though I am a little overwhelmed with doing two jobs. Hopefully that situation will be changing quite soon. The position closing date is this Monday so we should be having interviews pretty soon.
The All Blacks are playing France right now and NZ has taken a 10-0 lead. The funny thing about this match is that it is probably the biggest match for the 2007 Rugby World Cup hosts France, but it is being played in Wales for some obscure reason. I can imagine the French fans can't be thrilled about this. And I wonder how the French fans will greet the All Blacks when (if) they beat France and then show up back in France for the semifinals. Could be ugly, though the French rugby fans do seem to love the All Blacks. Hmmmmm...
BTW much love to my hometown bball team. Having some injury issues during training camp and have lost our #1 draft pick for the season but I am looking forward to an exciting TrailBlazers season nonetheless!
Right, the finally song from the I&W album is about to end, I need to be a DJ
Still in love with the new Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog.
I have given in to my Apple Techno Lust and purchased an iPod Touch. Now I just have to impatiently wait for it to get to me, they are saying about 2 weeks...
The neighbour situation has not really improved. Friday night she showed up at our door at 10:30pm semi-hysterical because our dog was running around playing on the wooden floor. I feel for her, but I also think we have a right to LIVE in our home. We are looking at buying a large area rug for the living room ('lounge' in kiwi) in the hope that it will help dampen the noise for her. So now our adjustments include unplugging my subwoofer so the bass doesn't bother her, listening to TV and music quieter than we would like, buying a makeshift fence to help keep Samson from going down to 'her' area of the house, trying to keep our 8month old puppy from playing too loudly in the living room...woohoo! Nothing like having neighbours.
I really worry about what it will be like when we have a baby! Thankfully the landlords are very understanding of our side of things and are being quite cool about the whole situation. Nonetheless we are enjoying the new house quite a bit. It is a great little place and such an enjoyable location. We just discovered how close we are to Kilbirnie which has a lot of shops we can take advantage of.
Anybody out there want a bedsit that doesn't mind a little bit of puppy noise? I am starting to get the feeling that a place may be opening up soon. Oh, for those that are not aware, a bedsit is what they call what we americans call a studio. A living space with no separate rooms, just one living space a kitchen or kitchenette and a bathroom/toilet.
Work is still manageable though I am a little overwhelmed with doing two jobs. Hopefully that situation will be changing quite soon. The position closing date is this Monday so we should be having interviews pretty soon.
The All Blacks are playing France right now and NZ has taken a 10-0 lead. The funny thing about this match is that it is probably the biggest match for the 2007 Rugby World Cup hosts France, but it is being played in Wales for some obscure reason. I can imagine the French fans can't be thrilled about this. And I wonder how the French fans will greet the All Blacks when (if) they beat France and then show up back in France for the semifinals. Could be ugly, though the French rugby fans do seem to love the All Blacks. Hmmmmm...
BTW much love to my hometown bball team. Having some injury issues during training camp and have lost our #1 draft pick for the season but I am looking forward to an exciting TrailBlazers season nonetheless!
Right, the finally song from the I&W album is about to end, I need to be a DJ
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