For any Americans visiting the site, how was Thanksgiving? I did not celebrate the day. Apparently on Wednesday the American embassy had some kind of Thanksgiving meal at a local church. Thanks but no.

Friday I was in Palmerston North for my PRP (job review). Thankfully such events cause me no anxiety. I believe I do my job well and I really like the people I work for, no reason for any stress, eh? The only part I didn't like is having to drive to PN and back. Otherwise it was quite enjoyable. It is a chance to discuss the year past and the year coming. A good opportunity to talk about possibilities for the future, ways to improve work and all. I continue to talk about going back to study for my Doctorate, that will definitely have to wait awhile with the kid appearing soon.

I think we have taught our pup how to be lazy. We went to the beach yesterday and he ran around a fair amount, but not excessively. When we returned home he pretty much passed out for the remainder of the night! Lazy Sammy :-)

Tomorrow is our final Antenatal class. It is a bring-a-plate night. We will take brownies I think. Celeste makes some good brownies. In fact, time for a shout out to Celeste's cooking overall! She always manages to make very nice food for us to eat.

Need to let you know that I am playing Pump Up the Volume by M/A/R/R/S now :-D

I have found that Kiwis put up with my 'inappropriateness' as well, or better, than Americans. Anyone who knows me knows I can push the boundaries a bit and my friends here seem able to keep right up with me, quite enjoyable! I had worried about that quite a bit. Even some of the most unexpected people can be pretty edgy by American terms.

Tuesday we fly. That means 9 days in kennel for Sam :-( hopefully he enjoys himself.

And then our first visit to Oz. I must admit I am very excited to check the place out. Can't believe that the weather report shows rain for at least the first four days we are there! Still, it will be warmer than it has been here and hopefully it will be intermittent and we can still get around and see things. I know, I'm from Portland why would I let rain slow me down?

Carrie is in Paris! Though maybe on her way back now. She happened to be there during the worst transit strike in over a decade. Probably wore out her shoes :-) Sounded like she was having a great trip. I can't wait to take another trip to Europe.

Celeste and I have so many plans for travel but not sure when we'll be able to realise them. The plan is to be in Europe for Christmas '08. We would be seeing Vanessa (Celeste's sis) in Copenhagen (and the rest of the fam would be there also). We would also visit Jason in Scotland. Hopefully make our way to Ireland for a quick visit and then I would LOVE IT if we could rent a car for a couple of weeks and drive around Eastern Europe. I have wanted to do that for about 15 years or more.

Then we have also been thinking about our USA visit and of course we want to do travels in Asia and Africa plus back to Manila and the Philippines.

Much to do and no time nor money to do it with :-P

Time to concentrate on being a DJ

Hi, Church of Bush is on the air spreading the gospel in both German and English! Are you not traurig that you are missing it?

Today Sammy and Celeste are in the studio! After this we will probably go to the market and get some veggies. Then maybe the beach or some such so the pup can run around. Oh, also there is some Santa Parade this afternoon that Celeste wants to attend so I suppose I will be roped into that exciting activity.

Last night I went to a friend's place and watched his slideshow of pix from his two month trip to Euroland. Made me miss the travel there. One of these days we will make our way...

Also been thinking a lot about a trip to the USofA to visit friends and family. Have to introduce little Liam and of course Celeste to all the peeps. We have a lot of traveling to do and no money nor time to do it! Hmmmmm...For now we are thinking of landing in Vancouver BC and then renting a car to drive down the coast to Seattle, then Ptown, then San Fran then to Charleston and up to NYC, maybe to Vermont and Mass. if we have the time...

Australia is only about 10 days away though. Excited for that trip, pure vacation time! We will get an idea of what it's like across the ditch. One good thing is that because we are "permanent residents" of NZ we received one year multiple entry visas to OZ so we can go back as often as we like for the next 12 months, not that we'll have the time, but nice to have the option. If I find a need a weekend away from Celeste and Liam :-)

Work is finally calming down. The high schools are all finishing off the year and the students are done at Massey. The only thing I really have remaining are Prizegiving ceremonies at schools. Those are a combo of fun and boredom, but overall I like all of these new experiences. It is also a chance to meet more people at the schools which is definitely a good thing.

We bought a dresser for Liam off of Trademe. Only $30. Celeste wants us to repaint the entire thing, I think it looks good the way it is. The only issue is that it has the name Emily painted on the top, but that's small and we can just sand and repaint that little spot. I also suggested we could just remove the Y and name our boy Emil in honor of my teacher from MLC oh so many years ago :-)

We have yet to purchase a cot but we are getting closer to a decision in that realm. I really want to buy one of the "4 in 1" solutions that can be a bassinet, cot and bed (don't ask what the fourth option is). Though they cost a bit more it seems as though the useful life is so much longer than the average cot that it is worth it.

And so it goes...

Hi, we were in Auckland last weekend so no new post.

I had to go up for a seminar with my fellow SLAs throughout NZ. Celeste came up for a bit of a vacation and we spent the weekend checking out a bit of the Big City. After having heard that Auckland was the NZ equiv of Los Angeles I was ready to not like it at all before I even moved to NZ. Then the people I've met in Wellington were pretty negative about it as well. After visiting, I must say, I am not certain I would want to move there, I certainly have better feelings about the city than I did before. Yes, it is a sprawling city and I don't enjoy that, but the CBD does not seem as bad as was implied and seems to have some really nice neigbourhoods close by. Central city public transport appears to be pretty good with bus stops that tell you precisely when the next bus will arrive (Portlanders already have that).

We ate some good food, walked around quite a bit, hung out with friends of Celeste's, saw a lot of parks and slept in a very comfortable bed for the weekend. It was quite nice.

Samson was in a kennel for the period. He seemed no worse for wear when we returned.

Next trip is to Sydney Australia. Quite excited for that one. 8 days of fun in the sun? I'm not a sun worshiper but should be nice none-the-less. We will be staying with Ange and Daniel friends from work here that have moved back home to Sydney. That trip is at the end of this month.

The downstairs neighbour is now moved out, that is a relief. Now hoping that the next tenant is a little more accepting of living below a dog and two humans.

Happy Birthday to Ash, Cait, Misha, Saul, Vanessa and Marti. Anyone else I'm forgetting? Sorry!

Life is quite nice, no?