Boring You To Death

Great eats

2009-10-21T17:35:00.001-07:00

Here's some taste-titilating tid-bits for you all, things I've been cooking up lately.

Delicious fresh-as-a-button baby squid

Things off the grill: spinach and feta damper, grilled baby zucchini, grilled red onion, grilled butternut squash - awash with a cilantro chermola

Steamed rainbow trout with chili and ginger, pumpkin and sesame salad, and Vietnamese cucumber salad (this is what I cooked for myself when jono was away)

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Super cute necklace giveaway that i MUST share, I totally respect others who are out there making a living by doing the stuff they love. This lovely thing was created by the talented lady from Orange poppy, and she has lots more lovely things in her store.
And while you're at it, check out my etsy store!

www.wharfsisters.etsy.com

sustainable staircase sustenance

2009-09-29T14:45:00.001-07:00

As you mostly all know, both Jono and I are quite keen on gardening - upon close inspection a hint of green radiates from our thumbs. Ok, I just made that last part up. Since we live on the top storey of an old Victorian, which we share with 4 other flats, we dont have access to much outdoor area for planting - and no 'real' patch of dirt.

Our solution was to fill handy-man buckets with a compost/potting mix solution and plant tomato's, pepper's (including capsicums, cayenne, jalapeno and habanaro) basil, thyme, oregano, rocket and mint. We placed them in the only 'private' area we access: our backdoor steps.

We're pretty wrapped with the results, though we think it might actually be too hot occasionally for softer herbs; luckily fall temperatures are approaching.

I wanted to do this post now because we will be moving out of this grand old house sans airconditioning, outdoors, pool and gym.. to move into another apartment with one of jono's work mates: Marcel. It will save money as well as give us all those lifestyle aspects we're missing, and also a tiny bit of dirt to call a garden.

I'll update you all on that in about a month!

homewares: before and afters

2009-09-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

I finished the chair I reupholstered but neglected to post the final before and after shots! How lackadaisical of me. So here you all go!

I had lots of the fabric left over (stupid upholstery guide make you buy WAY more than you need) so I did my sewing stool too.

Hope you're all well and happy, and ready for the summer!

Outside Lands

2009-09-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

San Jose has a great local rag called 'Metro', which gives locals the low-down on cool music gigs, restaurants, events and general happenings around the area. I follow them on twitter as well as facebook, and a few weeks ago entered a drawing for tickets to San Fransisco's "outside lands" concert.

We only discovered this on the day of the concert: after coming home from an early church service I received a text saying 'meet me at the park down the road for your tickets'.. So within the hour we were chillin (literally) out in san fransisco's golden gate park to the likes of 'the avett brothers', 'calexico' (kinda like gotan project) 'modest mouse' 'robert randolph and the family band', 'tenacious D', 'M.I.A', 'band of horses' and 'john vanerslice' to name but few.

The concert covered a huge area, and had about 4 stages in different areas of the park. Unfortunately, we underestimated the unreliability of san fransisco weather and had to cut the evening short due to freezing our butts off.

Main stage, modest mouse

Crowd watching Avett brothers

San fransiscan's Love sustainable transport, so do we!

Peace out yo

John Vanderslice crowd

All in all, a great unexpected day listening to some sweet sounds and embracing the free-spirited pot-smoking dread-wearing crowds of san fransisco.

Shopping - my way!

2009-09-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, Long time no see!

Jono and I have been busy little bees lately, travelling and working hard (well, jono at least for the last part).

However, I have been creating little pieces of love for a wee while now, always with the intention of perhaps opening a shop with my sisters one day. Because I'm finding it hard to find a suitable 'real' job, I've decided to take a little plunge - more like a pinky toe in the ocean of possibilities - and open up an online store, with the idea to see what people want.

So come and check me out! I'm starting small, with only a few bits and pieces, but no doubt the inventory will grow and diversify as I keep creating.
Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome,

Enjoy!

THIS is for real people!! Rainbow Warrior

2009-07-15T13:49:00.001-07:00

Score this design: "The Rainbow Warrior," to help it get printed on Threadless!

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Rainbow Warrior

by me, is now up for voting folks.
It is a super sweet design, and it deserves to be on a tshirt!!
For this to happen though, like I've mentioned before, you all have to go and vote for it. This is the only way!! In other words, its all up to you.
When you go and vote, also remember to click on the 'I'd buy this' button, that up's my chances aswell.
If you're even more awesome than I already think you are, you could even send/forward this on to you're other friends or family.. the more the merrier!
I'll be in you're debt forever.

Sorry about the false starts last time, it had to go through an initial screening stage to make sure its all kosher for printing. It's got the go-ahead now though, so get those mouse's clicking!
The site is so cool that you might even end up buying some sweet t-shirts, there's tonnes of great designs out there.

Thanks in advance folks!!

Home projects

2009-07-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

While jono was spending some quality time in Montpellier (france) I kept myself busy doing some home projects: painting/decoupaging a desk, and recovering a chair. Here's some pics!

Butano And Ano Nuevo state park

2009-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Jono and I went tent camping last weekend, and it was lovely. The tent site was very secluded, private and nice and level, and our solitary night at Butano was a pleasure.

Our tent site at Butano state park

We also went for a stroll at Ano nuevo state park, which is famous in the area for it's very large sea lions and elephant seals - which smell bad and are very noisy.
There was a movement in the 50's (I think) to bring these beasts back from their endangered status, and it went so well that they completely over-run this homestead - set up to house the lightouse keeper and scientists that visited to check up on the seals - and its gardens on an island a few miles from shore. The people living there simply abandoned it and left it to be occupied by nature.

I wouldn't want to meet this guy in a shady ally..

A small-sized sealwith abandoned homestead in background

The handsome jono

If you want more photos, check out facebook or flickr.

Threadless Designs

2009-06-22T11:58:00.001-07:00

Hi folks
If you haven't heard of the site "Threadless", here's you're introductory lesson.
Threadless is site where users design and critique t-shirt prints, among other things. Anyone can create a design they want on a t-shirt, submit it, and then the general public vote on whether or not it is 'cool' enough to get printed. If it does, the 'designer' gets some money, and lots of kudos.
They also translate some of their best selling/most popular designs to 'prints' (or art for you're walls) and also 'bliks' which are giant wall-stickers you can adhere to you're walls and move round when you get bored of them.
They do lots of fun stuff, like 'spins for wins' on Thursdays (I won $50 of threadless gift certificates just by commenting) and other neat competitions.
So anyway, I just submitted my first design for a t-shirt and was hoping you'll all check it out and vote for it to go to print - or, if you don't think it worthy, you could perhaps give a bit of constructive criticism.

Foody goodness

2009-06-12T12:04:00.001-07:00

Hey folks
You might be aware if you are a slave to facebook, that Jono and I went for a nice stroll the other week (A.K.A one-of-the-most-grueling-hikes-EVER) in Yosemite National Park to the top of 'Half Dome'. We in fact didn't quite make it to the top, on account of
a) An electical thunderstorm
b) Severe cramps in Jono's calves
c) The tiredness I was experiencing after attempting (without success) at sleeping in the car in a rest area next to a power station (well, thats what it sounded like anyways..)
However we were only about 45 minutes away fromthe cables - the cables are used to climb, as its simply a steep granite 'dome', hence the name.. - but we took the long way back and so clocked in the approximate length in miles we had attemped to do that day (about 24 miles I think).
Photos of this adventure can be found on facebook, and we're going to get our video's sorted out eventually, now that Jono's put more harddrive memory into the mac.

Besides this, I have completed the Accounting paper I set out to do, and sat the exam for that on the 8th. Here's the aftermath:

Jono is waiting to hear about whether or not he gets to go to France for work, which should eventuate in a week or so.

All the while I've been cooking up some nice food as usual:

Pesto and Grogonzola, Fresh tomato and Oregano, and combined, homemade Pizza

Baked on a sizzling pizza stone for 4-6 min till perfection occurs - drizzle with balsamic and fresh baby spinach

Retrieved Mirror

2009-05-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

The other day I was walking past this huge skip filled with 'rubbish', and I spotted this super cool antique-styled HUGE mirror. I enlisted the help of Jono once he came back from work, and we hauled it up to our apartment.
After a good wipe-down, I primed it, and gave it a good lick o' paint, to match our walls.

Before:

After!

Its way too heavy to hang, so I've ended up having to prop it in our room. But it looks great!

Shopping

2009-04-24T17:09:00.001-07:00

Here is a list of items we purchased at our local Mexican supermarket, 'Suvianda mercados'. Not mentioned on the list include our milk, 1 L $1.29, and a Baguette, $0.79.

Eggs, med, 1 doz: $0.99
Grape, red, seedless, 1.37 lb: $2.73
Onions, green: $0.33
Banana, 0.36 lb: $0.16
Cabbage, green, 1.9 lb: $0.47
Limes, 7: $1.16
Jicama, 0.83 lb: $0.41
Pepper, jalepeno, 0.16 lb: $0.14
Carrots, 1.32 lb: $0.65
Orange, Navel, California, 2.61 lb: $0.52

TOTAL: $7.56

Post easter

2009-04-16T10:58:00.001-07:00

I forgot to say happy Easter to everyone, but to honor your memories and that of NZ Easter traditions, I made a huge batch of delicious Hot Cross buns. They were super super tasty, I just wish we could have shared them with you all back in NZ!

Unrisen:

Risen, Hallelujah!

Instead though, we had a lovely lunch with our friends the Kelbigs, consisting of Lamb Kebabs, couscous, Mediterranean tomato salad, and lots of yum sweets after - including a nice rich chocolate and lime pound cake made by me.

Sourdough in San Francisco kinda

2009-04-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been developing some tasty tasty fermented goodness in the form of a sourdough starter, which in essence is flour and water that is 'going off'. Its like a little pet that needs to be fed everyday and kept nice and warm, and it rewards you with delicious tangy mounds of light fluffy bready goodness. This is what it looks like after a month and after its eaten all its daily food:

And this here is my first loaf from my starter, after rising overnight:

And after a good baking:

We couldn't finish it all fresh of course, but discovered it makes DELICIOUS french toast, especially on a lazy sunday morning.

A public congratulations to Tim and Natalie on your up-in-coming marriage, couldnt say I didnt see that coming! We've already booked tickets for home (NZ btw) so everyone get your A's into G and be around between the 15th of Dec and 9th of Jan!! Cant wait.

Skyline walking

2009-04-07T22:35:00.001-07:00

In the weekend Jono and I went to the San Jose Flea Market. It is 14km of stalls - the biggest Flea Market in the US some say. No jokes. It was big. We bought fruit, vege's and socks.

We also did a walk on Sunday near the Santa Cruz Mountains, on Skyline Boulevard. There were some great rock-climbing rocks, and a nice little waterfall.

Also lots of little creepy crawlies, including a few lizards.

It was a very pleasant weekend all round.

We also gave our car a birthday.
Hope you're all well!

How to make soymilk at home

2009-04-01T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hey peeps!

Its been a bit quiet in blog-land I know, but we've been busy. I'm going to do a blog on how to make soymilk, cause I did and it was good. And cheap. So here goes:

Hopefully you can click on the image above and see it more clearly for the instructions...

Here's what the very final product looks like:

Jono and I made a trip down the 101 to San Deigo this past weekend to visit our friend Becky who is studying there. We've taken a bunch of video, but it will all need to be processed, my next task.

In other news:
-On our trip Jono made a new purchase, he is now the official owner of a Longboard (as in skating). Stop laughing!, even though the image in you're head is probably correct, it is a purchase of conveinience. He can now 'skate' to the lightrail (AKA train) and get to work - minimizing his carbon footprint and making use of his $1000 eco pass.

-we are excited about two up-in-coming concerts: Fleet foxes on the 21st of april, and Ben Folds in may. We have to keep reminding ourselves becuase last time we booked an outing we forgot to go to it. It was Swan Lake Ballet, and we feel very stupid.

Th th thats all folks

Hope NZ is Hip Hopping Fabulous

That reminds me, Happy Easter everyone!!

Good bye rental car

2009-03-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we made the journey to San Francisco to drop of our free two-month car rental (courtesy of IBM). To make the most of the trip, we decided to do some perusing of a part of San Fran thats got some mint boutique shops and half decent coffee producers: Fillmore and Hayes area. (check the map)

We saw "the painted ladies", you know those old victorian nicely-painted houses on 'Full House' that you used to watch as a kid?

And the remainder of our wander was shop-browsing and coffee-drinking. We found a great little place called "Blue Bottle Coffee co." in a garage-like hole down a small street, kinda like the peoples coffee place in wellington down Garret Lane on Cuba st. Anyways, it was great.

Another one we found was "Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe" down Fillmore (also check the map) where we had delicious home-made esspresso marshmallow and chewy delicious nutty chocolatey goodness.

We're planning on going again this weekend, using our very own sweet station wagon (below) to cart our bikes up and bike around the port area. Should be good!

Check back for more adventures and remember we're both on flicker, where we stash some pretty great photos!

dinner time at the wierengas

2009-03-05T16:19:00.001-08:00

So not much has been happening of late, but dinner always does!

I made some fresh spinach, pea, and four-cheese filled ravioli last night.

Also, spring is on its way. I celebrate with a beetroot, orange and ginger juice - if you have a juicer, you should definitely try. Super invigorating and delicious. Just scrub a medium sized beet, cut off the stalks, cut into juicer-sized bits and juice intermittently along with 1-2cm piece of peeled ginger, and a segmented peeled orange. Drink while admiring cheery daffodils and the world will be a lovely place despite the rain outside.

DIY and House Tour

2009-02-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of DIY lately, which kills two birds with one stone: saving money and creative activity to occupy my time.

So far, my projects have included stripping and repainting a TV box/cabinet, a old box, our dining table (still a work in progress) and a chair; sewing cushion covers and a bedspread; sprucing up ugly fan/light fixtures; installing curtain rails to add both insulation and texture; and lastly revamping a hideous gold-enamel lamp and shade.

I've also got a few long-term projects stored up - reupholstering a funky 40's art deco arm chair, stripping and repainting an old desk and two cabinets, and perhaps making a slip cover for our long couch.

Here are some photos of the process I went through and final pics of some of these mentioned projects as well as a little insight into our cute Apartment. ENjoy!

I got this lamp from Goodwill (america's equivalent of The Salvation Army) for $7, and the shade for $2. I painted the lamp base with a flat wall paint, and i covered the shade with some patterned tissue paper, using spray glue.

I hated the look of clunky dark ceiling fans, so i bought some cheap $3 chinese rice-paper umbreallas, chopped off the stalks and tied them to the light fittings - first removing the light shades. much better!

Clockwise from top left: $15 birdcage for our up-in-coming bird; retro glazed ceramic lamp $10 from craigslist (a crusty version of trademe); a view of our living room; soon-to-be reupholstered 40's arm chair.

Clockwise top left: Papasan Chair from craigslist $30, with cushions i recovered; TV cabinet I stripped and painted; Ikea Drawers decorated with removeable Decals which i repainted; our kitchen.

Our Dining room (note the Maori matryoshka Dolls); our funky $100 craigslist couch in MINT condition, with giant wall Decal poppies behind; my sewing and crafty space.

Hope you're all doing well, and comments are most welcome!!

Waitangi Day

2009-02-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

First post in a number of months!

Not that in the past I have done anything in particular to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, today felt especially un-Waitangi-Day-like. A fairly extensive search on Google in the past few weeks found no Bay Area events of interest. The best effort was a black tie dinner at the San Francisco yacht club, but that didn't sound like much fun. Unlike 2007 where some 100 Kiwis created that big fern on Santa Monica beach. Today was just a rainy and dreary San Jose winters day. I had a taco for lunch, and watched some 7's clips on the web.

But while channel surfing through the plethora of junk on TV this evening (still trying to make sense of it - since when are channels named 1.2?), I flicked onto a news channel showing some footage of John Key. I knew what it was about because I read the story on stuff this morning, but I eagerly turned up the volume to learn that the Prime Minster of New Zealand, John Keys (sic) was manhandled by a warrior while attempting to enter the sacred 'Murray', before security personnel rushed to his aide. And no, this wasn't even Fox news..

New favorite vege

2009-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

I 'discovered' a new favorite vege, Jicama! (pronounced Hee-Ka-Ma) It is super delicious, has the texture of a water chestnut, but is really sweet and juicy. And very versatile! Most of the time it is eaten raw, sliced into matchsticks in a salad or fruit salad, or else used to dip into sauces and dips. But you can also use it like a potato - boiled and mashed, roasted or made into chips.
And its super healthy too!
Anyhow, boring the pants off everyone is not my purpose. My purpose is to write another post, and this seems to be it.
I'll start adding photo's when I actually take some decent ones - they all seem to be on the iphone, which jono posts onto facebook.
Last weekend we went to Monteray, where there is a large aquarium which we didnt go to, but also various tourist traps such as 'Cannery row' and 'Fishermans wharf' where there is an abundance of clam-chowder outlets, and 'candy' making stores.
We also went on a historical walk through the town, where we saw very old 'historical' houses and in particular a lovely old Spanish church into which we peeked; deciding against sneaking a sprinkling of holy water housed in the first vestibule upon entering.
Jono's highlight i believe was the 17 mile drive through ridiculously opulent houses sprinkled throughout ridiculously perfect golfing greens, the more famous pebble beach included. It was lovely though, right up along the Californian coast scattered with Hollywood-set like granite boulders strewn higildy-pigildy amongst the whitewash. I used the 25 mile-per-hour speed limit as a good opportunity to hone my american driving practice - still working on getting my Californian license this time round at some stage...
And who can forget superbowl! more like super-boring in my opinion. But nice company and excuse for eating American food - think hotdogs, tortilla chips, guacamole, bean dips, supermarket-bought vege platters, beer, twizzlers, M n'Ms and soda.
Today, perhaps in a few minutes, our biggest purchase thus far will be arriving. We (well, more like jono) succumbed to the pressure of widescreen digital HD tv, our American assimilation well on track. I am torn as to whether or not this is wise, I know my self-control limits and am fairly anxious about refraining from all the reality TV that will no doubt be calling my name every evening, much louder than the more important voices of our friends Yosemite or Tahoe.
Anyhow, enough banter.. You must all be wondering when I'll find something productive to do, but i have a bunch of 'rustic' furniture that awaits my heat-gun and paint pots, so I'll get to it.
Go the Pittsburg steelers! (i actually had to google that, shows how much i paid attention :P )

New country = new post

2009-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hi, you might not remember us but we're still here and alive 'n kicking. A few changes though: blog template, new country of (non)residence and new year. Plus lots more.
Also, since my computer is at technology hospital, I am forced to use my giant digits to type this out on the ever-famous iPhone. Which I must admit has been my best friend over the past few weeks (especially googlemaps, craigslist and facebook).
So, in conclusion keep an eye out at this here address and you might be pleasntly surprised in the near future.

squid

2008-06-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Righto. Dont get your hopes up, this isnt a super interesting post - mainly because we have not being doing super interesting things.

One day, I decided to be a little bit adventurous, so I went to the local (its good to support local businesses) fish supply store and had a squiz round and spotted a squid. I bought said squid, and brought him home. Then I looked through my cookbooks till I found the section about preparing a whole (yes, whole - as in allthe guts eyes and gooey bits) squid.

Then I attempted to clean and prepare it. It was a cold cold wellington winters day, and my fingers lost their circulation half way through - exposed to the cold cold water I was using to save power instead of the hot water.

The process is as follows: Separate the head from the 'mantle' (the big bit at the end which people generally cut into calamari rings) but gently tugging and twisting the two separate pieces.

Next, pull out all the guts. Be careful not to burst the ink sac thing, you can save that for later and make a 'lovely' (more on that later) 'Risotto Nero'. You'll discover its spine thing, its like a long shard of plastic that runs the length of the body, and remove that too.

Then, skin it by peeling the spotty membrane covering most of it's body off.

With the head and tenticle section, chop the tentacles off from the head of it, and separate out. Skin these too.

Then you can chop it all up however you like, I was stir-frying so I lightly scored (in a diagonal fashion) all over the main mantle piece with a sharp knife, and chopped it into rectangular pieces. I left the tentacles whole, but pulled all the suckers off. all this took about an hour - much longer than I expected!

Then I marinated it in the fridge for 1/2 an hour or so in ginger, garlic, chilli, spring onion, soy sauce and oyster sauce, and then stir fried it for a couple of minutes till no longer transparent. I served it with a rice-stick noodle salad and sesame/honey bok choy.

The next day I made 'risotto nero', which is squid ink risotto. I will never again eat risotto nero. It was a waste of 40 minutes. It still looked amazing though, so black!

In other news, I've officially finished my BA majoring in Design Studies and Geography, and am still working behind the coffee machine most days.

Also, I won a pair of very expensive Shannon Britt shoes from shuzsociety (http://www.shuzsociety.com/FabFridayArchive) check it out!!
yay for my first ever prize.
Hope everyone in the states is doing great, and congrats Jordan and Will! hope the day was great.
Also, best wishes for Steve and Alexis on their up-and-coming big day, should be swell - just wish we could be there!!

Apologies for our boring lives. After next weekend might be something to post, my cousin Jacob is getting married down in Christchurch, we're flying down on friday for the weekend.
And we've booked flights to Perth on the 27th of August till the 7th of September, so check back after that for some great travel goss.
Have fun children!

Matts Wedding

2008-04-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Tricked ya!! No photos of matt or his new bride, just US having fun there. Sorry about the lack of posts peoples, due to busyness and lazyness. Still thinking of everyone!! Especially jono who's seeing you USA folk in a few days time. GRRR that i cant come!!

Mr. and Mrs. Heeringa

2008-02-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

Congratulations (Belated, of course) to Ilse and Matt on their wedding, Hooray for the happy couple! This is a result of trudging through our photo files, and the realization that we have not paid them any respects. It was a great day/weekend had by all, and a particularly beautiful Bride and Bridal Party.

Matt and Ilse

World famous in the Aro Street Video Store

2008-02-13T00:11:00.001-08:00

So we had a bit of excitement today in Aro Valley. Well, let me clarify; there was excitement today in Aro Valley, but I wasn't there to experience it. A couple minutes walk from our house is a little video shop called Aro Video Store. And today, the Flight of the Conchords held a secret performance there to launch the NZ version of their DVD. Choosing that video shop was a rather unusual place for a launch party - it is a smallish two story house converted into a store.. and they could only fit 50 people inside. But it looked rather comical. Too bad I missed it...

It does seem that I have a lot in common with Germaine and Bret. Born in the same city, we went to the same school, university, and had some stints in the US. I gave Germaine a friendly punch on the arm when I walked past him in Courtenay place, and dressed up in his eagle costume at the sevens. So we are practically long lost brothers.

Lent

2008-02-08T02:46:00.000-08:00

Celebrating Lent I don't think is a particularly Reformed thing to do. However, I think it would be worthwhile to engage in prayer and fasting of some sort, as a way to focus on Easter. Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days while he was tempted. I can't help thinking that for me to take a vow of 'no meat' or 'no booze' for 40 days is in some ways missing the point. Jesus fasted that he might overcome temptation, and to reject the ways of the Devil. Yet he didn't do this for himself, he did this for us - that he might defeat the Kingdom of Satan and in turn allow us to enter his Kingdom. I need to think of a way to make Lent reflect that. Over and out.

Waitangi Day

2008-02-05T01:30:00.000-08:00

For those of you not in the know, or have forgotten since I told you last, tomorrow is Waitangi Day (pronounced something like why tongue eee). A day where we commiserate/celebrate - depending on your views - the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi - named after the place it was signed at. The Treaty of Waitangi was in a sense NZ's founding document, signed in 1840, and formed a treaty between the British Crown and a bunch of Maori tribes.

Over the years though it has been a source of grief for three reasons. Firstly, the British didn't really respect the Maori property rights expressed in the document, and took a lot of Maori tribal land. Secondly, there was a great deal of difference between what was expressed in the Maori and English versions of the treaty, and most of the misunderstanding is over how the concept of 'sovereignty' is applied. And thirdly, Helen Clark tiresomely uses it to remind us year after year how once she was shouted at and made to cry by some crazed Maori woman activist when trying to speak at the Marae during Waitangi celebrations. Just another one of the many reasons why you shouldn't be voting Labour in the 2008 election.

And in other news, we had a pretty good time at the Wellington 2008 Sevens. We dressed up as the two main characters from Eagle vs Shark. Had pretty good feedback on our costumes, lots of people asked us to take our pictures. There was a Stuff.co.nz blog entry about us, and some random guy also made a blog post (not a bad photographer actually). So we are pretty famous.

Great photos

2008-01-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Although we have been completely useless at documenting any kind of fun times over Christmas, Bex has taken some wonderful photos and put them on her farcebook page.

I give you a sample here.

It's the end of the world as we know it

2008-01-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

Far be it for me to be an alarmist and dispair-about-the-state-of-the-worldist, but I found this article from the economist very interesting. The end of cheap food.

And the political statement of the day*:

Surprise surprise, John Key and Helen Clark both said in their speeches they want to educate the youth more. Helen Clark says John Key's speech lacks ambition. Does that mean Helen Clark's also lacks ambition? YES, OF COURSE IT DOES. SO THATS WHY WE SHOULDN'T VOTE FOR LABOUR.

*This message cost $120,001.99 to research, create and advertise and was funded through an anonymous network of third party donations and secret eating. The colour of the text was chosen for artistic merit only and similarities between the colour of the text and the logo of any party running for Government is purely coincidental.

Eats

2008-01-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

My mummy gave me a beautiful pasta machine for my birthday in December, and so far I've made two scrumptious dinners out of it. One was a delicious herbed fresh breadcumb tagliatelle dish with anchovies, the other was a fresh tomato sauce with papardelle noodles.

Amazing minds

2008-01-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

(via swissmiss)

Golfing with Rich, Tim and myself

2008-01-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of video that I took over the Christmas / New Years period, which is all very well and good, but unless you do something with it it just sits as relatively uninteresting clips on your PC. So tonight I spent a couple hours making this one of us guys going golfing.

As far as golf courses go, the Hutt Valley Golf Course is about as bad as you can get, but is also just about as cheap as you can get as well ($1 a hole). It was so classy, there were kids who were hiding in trees behind a fence stealing balls and yelling obscenities.

Conditions were not ideal, with inconsistent greens and a brisk wind affecting our games. I think Rich ended up winning, but as you might be able to tell from the clip, we didn't take it too seriously..

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

2007-12-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hello all

As you may have noticed, the new year is about to tick by, and so this is our last chance to sneak in a post before the end of 2007. About this time last year we were probably stuck in a traffic jam in the Mojave desert on the way to Vegas. And right now I am stuck inside in Intis family's home on a fairly rainy New Years Eve.

It has been a brilliant year. The first full Jan - Dec of being married. Climate change. Our first home (flat) in NZ. Our first sibling wedding. Global warming. An anniversary night spent apart. Jono turned 25. Inti turned 22. Family 'reunion'. Many engagements (Steve and Alexis - congratulations, not to mention any number of Inti's cousins.. we can't really keep up). World cup failure. Californian roadtrips. Vegetable garden. Touch rugby. The list goes on and gets more and more comprehensive with each comma...

Currently Inti and I are on holiday up in Hawkes Bay. We spent a wonderful few days with Richie and Rebecca and rest of family in Waikanae. And now we came up here for a wedding to attend, and celebrations to ring in the New Year, if that turns out to be anything worth noting. Original plans were for a sober night on the beach (Police are hinting at arrests for public drinking at some trouble spots apparantly), but with the rain and all, it may well be a quiet one.

So I leave you with some photos of our little family get-together.

A happy New Year to everyone both near and far.

Oma and Opa and Uncle John came up for Christmas day.
Back - Richie, Rebecca, Peter, Rachel, Dad, Mum, Uncle John, Aunty Gerda
Front - Me, Inti, Opa, Oma

Inti feeling rather chilly on Waikanae beach

Me and Richie throwing some passes outside the beach house

Pohutakawa, or 'New Zealand Christmas Tree'. If it flowers by Christmas, the summer will be fine

Richie on the tramp

We found this cute 'Kiwiana' shop just down the road

The nonth of movember

2007-11-08T00:03:00.000-08:00

Some of you Americans may remember last year how I tried to indoctrinate you with the idea of turning November into 'Movember' (without much success I should add). Well here we are again. Movember - the month where men grow mustaches to offend women, scare little children, and raise awareness for men's health issues. Well the idea is that you are supposed to be sponsored while doing it, but many who are facial-hair impared like myself simply use the opportunity to test out the mo - a practice which would be inexcusable during any other month.

As you can tell from the image, my mo is progressing very nicely thank you very much, and with the benefit of a self-developed advanced computer algorithm for facial hair analysis and growth simulation, I can predict that come the 31st of Nov, I may infact be unrecognisable.

Uncovered terrorist activity strikes fear into the hearts of everyday average hard-working middle New Zealand

2007-10-16T01:33:00.001-07:00

Those who in the past have labeled the recent 'Terrorism Suppression Act' as 'drachonian', 'anti-peace' and 'so George Bush' will today be eating their words. Late yesterday and today, New Zealand police swarmed in on a number of locations in a powerful display of authority and arrested a number of suspects, as well as seizing various items of illegal weaponry. Police claimed that the life of Helen Clark, male white men, and the country as a whole, were under threat after intercepting a number of SMS text messages and making tape recordings in top secret surveillance operations over the past year.

Maori activist Tame Iti and wierd angry white guy Jamie Lockett were among two who have been accused of running guerrilla-warfare training camps in remote forests. In these camps, men would were reported to have been wearing 'para military-style' outfits and 'balaclavas', and were being taught in the firing of handguns, hand to hand combat, and how to throw a Molotov Cocktail.

Lockett was quoted as saying 'I am declaring war on this country very soon'. While we don't know how serious or how wasted he was when police intercepted this message, we do know this: terrorism has arrived in this country, and these are frightening times.

Hot Press! Local Election results!

2007-10-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

The people have spoken, well 32% of them. Delays in publishing results came after a supercomputer was called to compute the winner under the rather complex 'STV' system.

Property developers collectively sighed in relief as Kerry P took a resounding victory with 22,000 votes. So comprehensive was her victory that not even a Ryan Ahipene-Peppermercer alliance could have snatched victory.
Helene 'I hate men' Richie came in 4th in her 5th attempt at mayoralty. Jack 'temper temper' Reuben sat in 5th, but also loses his seat as people were fed up with his rants. John McGrath came to a painful realisation that a) he had no mojo to bring, b) Wellingtonians aren't the kind of people to think a supposed endorsement by Donald Trump is a good thing. Carl Gifford's 8th position showed Wellingtonians still have some taste; better to leave the stonemason-junk-art hidden away in Owhiro Bay I think. And finally, it seems like Nick Kelly will be driving buses for a few more years yet after finishing in second to last place. Of course, he could always fufill his socialist impulses by going back to VUWSA.

Reminiscing

2007-10-09T18:45:00.002-07:00

I just found a great photo of us all on the last day of living in our apartment in San Jose. Enjoy!!

Duncan, Anita, Blayne, Inti, Jono

Spectacular Scintallting Sushi

2007-10-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I havn't been in the blogging sphere for a while now, since i'm a working woman and all. But i thought i'd better get my A into G and spew somthing out. Especially because its such beautiful weather today. Not.

So a while back, my lovely sis Anouska came down from Havelock to visit me and some art galleries, and one night she was here we thought it would be nice to have a cousin reunion. So Rachel and Lucy came over and I made a Japanese feast for everyone.

Being the larikins we are, afterwards we romped about Wellington making fools of ourselves through the lovely and lively cuba quarter.

Me, Rachel, Noo and Lucy

Our street

Wild weather back home

2007-10-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

3 reasons why the All Blacks are useless

2007-10-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

They are chokers
They lack passion
All they had to do was do something differently to '99.... now we have to wait 4 more years?

Letters to mayoralty candidates: in response to mhjb

2007-10-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Picture taken from stuff.co.nz - the worlds best 'I don't know if I am a tabloid or a newspaper website' website

1. Dear Kerry P

I seem happy enough with the direction Wgtn is heading, so don't see a need for change. Thank you for your vision to complete the byepass and tidy up the scum that was upper cuba street. It makes me proud to live in Te Aro. And surely the fact that R@dio Active only mention that it has been a failure twice a week means that it has been a raging success. It has also been endorsed by my colleague Tim Sterne. I can now use the awesome bike lane to ride from New World Chaffers without being hit by one of a thousand crossing cars. And while I don't particularly like property developers like your husband, people in a rising population have to live somewhere, and living close to the city is all good. I don't think Wellington downtown has the risk of turning into bathroom sized studios. That said, I think the carving up of Brooklyn Hill into cardboard boxes is despicable. Also, if more 'Centers of Excellence' means more Creative HQ's, then I am all for that - seems to discourage the draining of brains. From your secret admirer.

2. Dear Ray Ahipene-Mercer

Despite the fact that getting people to 'work together' is probably the most meaningless election statement one could dream up, I respect the fact that you are a Luthier and don't seem to have an ego like the other 9. However, I feel the 5-6 syllable last name is counting against you. Mind you, the Wellington Chamber of Commerce rated you as the 2nd most business friendly candidate, so you must have said something that someone liked. Cheers

3. Dear Mr Pepperell

Judging by the size of you in the photo on your billboards, you obviously have a love for food. I noticed on your website you enjoy riding bikes - Ill believe that when I see it. I support your focus on energy conscious housing, and a car-less inner-city precinct (but you probably stole that idea from my wife). Despite being center left, it is hard to find someone on the right who isn't a prat, so I reluctantly vote for you as number 3. As for your commitment to delivering lower rates - I have heard that under you it would be the opposite. However, the main reason you are not my number 2 is that you were against the south coast aquarium. WOW, because the alternative of leaving Te Rae Kai Hau Point as an undeveloped gravel pit is just so attractive and useful to the public.

4. Rob Goulden

Hi Rob. You are clearly someone who is challenged by the local <-> strategic distinction dichotomy dilemma. You want to continue to control weed and pest control, which is a great thing (I was disturbed at how Aro Valley is pillaged by Wandering Jews), but only an idiot wouldn't want to do that. Oh oh, you want to continue to spend on 'infrastructure' - that is going to ruffle some dreadlocks, and when you say that we have the best public transport system in NZ, is that an excuse not to invest more in it? I don't seem to use public transport at all, but after being convinced by mhjb, I shouldn't just vote for things that make benefit myself. Supporting programs for youth, great, but who doesn't... hmmm, Rob, you sound pretty run-of-the-mill, but maybe that is why I don't object to you, and why you are number 4. Regards.

More to come, time for work

Nice try buddy

2007-10-01T03:05:00.001-07:00

Have faith - USA rugby may yet turn into something. This try by Takudzwa Ngweyna is poetry in motion...

Online Videos by Veoh.com

P.S. I am practically famous, I made #94 on the top 100 sports clips of the day.
P.P.S Now it has been removed due to copyright infringements at the request of RWC Ltd. What a bunch of eggs!
P.P.P.S I put it on a different site

Why put birds in a box?

2007-09-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

This expression 'A Box of Birds' seems interesting, although not very common. I can only find 2 references to it - 'How do you tell the difference between Kiwis and Aussies?' , and a page from a website full of idioms. Apparently the Aussie equivalent is 'Bonzer Mate', and while that sounds ridiculous, we can't really hold it against them because they are only descendants of criminals.

So essentially it means to be joyful or happy. So as for the question - 'Why put them in a box?', the answer is obvious - they must enjoy being in a box.

Onto more important things, it is Rugby World Cup time, and initially I was anxious because we don't have a TV, and after being rugby starved for the last couple years, I feel the need to catch up. So I bought a satellite capture card from trademe, attached it to the dish on the side of our flat, and after a couple weeks of fiddling around I finally have all (4) of the freeview channels working. And the best part is even though all the games are in the middle of the night, I can record them and wake up in the morning and catch all the highlights. And the even better thing? The rugby is in widescreen!

For make benefit of American viewers, I take a screenshot of a 'scrum' in action.

You Americans can follow the progress of your national side on the RWC website. Although they haven't got any points, apparently they put up a pretty good showing against England, the defending world champs...

Welcome to the social!

2007-09-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Although I refuse to use facebook for multiple reasons (facebook bullying and the fact that someday, the inventors will be very rich from it may be some of them), I have welcomed myself to the social by signing up to last.fm. You can cliky through to view my profile here. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends on it, which is making me feel really sad, so if any of you are last.fm listeners, please add me. And the best thing about that widget on the side is that you can click right on the songs and it gives you a live preview, so you don't even have to leave the comfort of our blogpage. Brilliant!

work space

2007-09-13T01:43:00.000-07:00

Jono asked me to do a post on his workspace. I think he wanted me to do it so he'd not be embarassed talking about himself all the time.
So this is his workspace(the spare room):
And this morning i felt like having crumpets for breakfast, but we'd run out. So i thought in all my wisdom that if I can buy them, someone must be making them, so why cant I!
After about 2.5 hours in the kitchen, here's the result:

HOrray! And for all the americans, you can actually get crumpets from Trader Joes, they're probably next to the English muffin things. Crumpets from the store are nice when you put them in the toaster and then put jam, or syrup (maple, or NZ golden syrup) or butter on them and take a nice big bite. mmmmm yum.
Another news item: We SAFELY picked up all our shipping! And yes, Vaughn, it did arrive on our doorstep in one piece. So now all i need is a big hunky transformer for my sewing machine so i can get creative again!
Ps, our home is looking very homely and nice! I didnt think jono would be the type to tell you that, and probably only the girls would care anyway.

Aro Valley

2007-09-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

So we are living in the colourful Aro Valley, somewhat different to San Jose, and I thought it might be useful for you California types to learn a bit about it. There are a few photos on flickr that give a good illustration of how it looks.

The entrance to our street, Boston Terrace. On the left I guess is our version of the 'Painted Ladies'

Looking up Boston Terrace, which is almost as wide as the 101, but not quite. Good luck trying to find a park!

The 'Philosophical Society' building that is a couple houses over

The small park across the road which seems to attract a lot of drunks and bums. And has also been labled by some as 'beautiful' - not sure what they were smoking at the time

Aro Valley's name came from the Aro Stream, which has since been replaced by a road which runs up the valley. It is home to an interesting mix of students (since University is close by) and working professionals who want to live close to town but would also like the sense of being out of the city. Sometimes a little squating goes on in the University-purchased-with-the-intention-of-expanding-but-currently-left-unoccupied-houses.

Most of the housing has a Victorian look and feel (where the feel is 10C [50F] inside temperature during winter). Some are extremely derelict, like our next-door-neighbours, some are retro and funky, and others are modern, tall and boring.

You can't really escape the Aro Valley community feel. They have a bunch of cool shops only a couple minutes walk from our house, and regular carnivals and other events. And for a prime example of the political-social feeling within the area, I leave you with a commentary of the last 'meet the [election] candidates' meeting held every time an MP is required for the electorate. It is quite amusing to attend, very famous for its heckling, and generally any candidate from the right is guaranteed to be eaten alive.

We are online, yippee

2007-09-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

Being a bit of a nerd, I find it frustrating when I have my all my gadgets laid out in the lounge ready for use, yet crippled by a non-working internet connection. But this morning I finally convinced TelstraClear that it was a problem within their network, and the IP they gave me wasn't being routed properly, so they gave me a new one. In the process though I learnt that you can pick IP addresses at random, some of which will provide internet access and not even be billed against your account. I'm not really sure how that works, but it was an interesting find nonetheless.

And now I will give a shameless plug for my new-found interest: Human FM. Although the low-powered FM transmission won't quite reach our friends in California you can stream it as well!. At this point I should give kudos to the relaxed standards of the relevant New Zealand broadcasting association for allowing them to set this up; it seems Human FM only have to pay a nominal fee to stream online, which is far removed from the dillemas streamcasters are facing in the US thanks to the rediculous royalty hikes from SoundExchange.

Our internet does not work = our phone does not work

2007-08-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

Q. How many technicians does it take to admit the cable modem isn't working properly?
A. At least 3 (and counting)..

On a different note, this story is quite amusing. Lets hope they don't apply this to the resurection, otherwise all the underground Christians in China could be in serious trouble.

Yay, a house!

2007-08-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

Hooray, we were 'verbally accepted' for the Aro Valley house - 4b Boston Terrace. Who would have thought we would become hippies so soon after arriving back. Thanks to Richie Flinn for a reference which no doubt was the chief driver in our succesful campaign.

Tomorrow we go up to Hastings sometime to say stay for a few days with Inti's family. We also get to pick up our wedding presents, which Inti seems far more excited about than I...

And I have a new phone number: 049749029. On the face of it, this might seem like an ordinary number, but underneath there are many wierd and wonderful surprises to be had. (No doubt crappy voice quality will be one of them..) You will just have to call me to find out.

Finding a house

2007-08-18T00:58:00.000-07:00

So we have spent the majority of this week doing one of two things: looking for a new bed, and looking for a place to live. This first task was a success, we looked around a lot of shops, were advised there was some 'kick-ass' sale on Sat, were the first ones in the shop this morning and scored a great deal.

But, ohhh, the house hunting. We have seen probably 20 properties in the last couple days, and maybe we are being too cheap (we set ourselves a limit of $280p/w), but very few of these have caught our eye. And I'm pretty sure it isn't because we were spoilt in San Jose.

For starters, at least 3 looked simply uninhabitable. In one of those, it looked like a hobo had been in there for the last few months (carpet smelt of piss, smashed window that they had just boarded up), and another was so rediculously small that when walking through the externally attached kitchen, we noted it didn't even have a stove. Another didn't have a shower, only a bath, and the landlord said we wouldn't be allowed to attach a shower head because it might rot the wall.

So essentially, it seems that if you want a 1 bedroom flat/apartment in Wellington for under $300, this is what you will encounter. A landlord will take a relatively large house, and then arbitraily partition off either the lower portion, or a number of portions, depending on how aggressive they are. They will then take the largest room, and divide that in two again. The largest room will be the bedroom, and the bathroom/kitchen will be allocated in the next largest respectively. If your kitchen ends up being the size of a telephone box, then so be it. The front door will then be the nearest available door to the exterior. If there is none, then a hole is cut in the wall to serve this purpose (one landlord told us today he knew of a house which required stepping over the toilet to enter). And if it so happens that the rooms don't get any light or ventilation, then the landlord will fix this by painting over the mould every couple years.

Well, despite my griping, we did find one that we liked in Aro Valley, it has a nice little deck and garden and gets at least 1/2 a days sun, so we are holding out for that. Should find out monday.

apologies

2007-08-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Righto. well, as i sit in syndey airport i think about the transition this blog will undergo in the next chapter of our lives. We will now have a different focus audience, namely our delightful American friends! so now, be prepared (New Zealand friends of ours) to show yourselves off to our buddies accross the seas, as they have - without complaint - done so for you. However, as this is a mixed-content blog, anything really goes. So perhaps all i've just said is a bit pointless.. anywho.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again, and already miss all you californians.

4th of July, AKA America Day

2007-07-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

4th of July as you all know is Independence Day. Whether you think of Aliens, or American flags, the Beach, or nothing is up to you - but it was clear that everyone here had the same thing on their minds, America. So in the spirit of our host country, I decided to do something I'm good at: Baking. But not just any baking - Patriotic Gingerbread Cookies!! Oh the joy of red white and blue.
To celebrate, we also went round to our friends house, in order to set off some fireworks or at least watch them. Unfortunately, we didnt do either. Instead, we watched the annual hot-dog eating contest, which was won by a fellow San Jose'an'. It was revolting.

Hot off the press

2007-07-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Got to love NZ, even on a slow news day, the newspapers are not prepared to sacrifice quantity for quality. Check out 'Cleaner stranded on balcony in howling wind'

Cheese Monkeys

2007-07-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

"Referring to a teacher by her first name was odd enough. A nickname seemed like nudity"

But one does these things when one goes to art school. This quote (above) is from "The Cheese Monkeys" by Chip Kidd, a graphic designer and author (obviously). Wiki sums it up nicely:

The Cheese Monkeys (Simon and Schuster, 2001) is an academic satire and coming-of-age tale about state college art students who struggle to meet the demands of sadistic art instructors. The book draws on Kidd's real-life experiences during his art studies at Penn State.

So unquestionably, i was particularly drawn to this novel, as I have experienced numerous questionable art instructors, as most art students would agree. Kidd is a witty and clever writer, with a fantastic grasp of his subject. But I wasn't drawn to this book because of the content, but, alas, due to my 'artistic' nature i was drawn to the cover.

Now, being a book-cover-designer, Kidd made sure his was a stunner (p.s, the picture above says NOTHING). And he doesn't disappoint. I spent about 15 minutes 'discovering' it (the cover), and at first when i picked it up i couldn't make out what the book was actually called. I will not describe any of the details of the visual, as i expect all of you to look it up and find it out for yourselves - you will not be disappointed, even if you are not an art student.
Another favorite quote:

Her nostrils were on a mad dash to either side of her face, and her spectacles, bottle-thick lenses and frames of gilt-edged plastic, were perpetually refereeing the outcome. Behind them, her olive eyes shone brightly. They rarely pointed in the same direction, but at least they sparkled.

So anyway. Read it, you'll love it.
Only 30 days till lift off guys! See you all then.

Summer=Beach

2007-07-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

So we've been going to the beach for 'youth' outings a bit lately, due to the hot hot weather and holidays (at least for the college (uni) students).
The sea is pretty fresh, probably a little warmer than island bay though, but they've got these awesome 'fire pits' that you're aloud to use till a certain designated time at night.
The first time was just a casual get together, with no organised food or anything, which was great.

steve with mike on guitar

fire, becky, steve and mike

speaks for itself.

the whole crew: jordan, becky, steve, mike, vaughn, and jono with cigar.

The second time was more organized, for our church '20 somthings' group event. We brought a grill (BBQ) with us and other ingredients for tasty tasty burgers, as well as some brats and wieners.
We have in our circle of friends some amazingly talented singers and guitarists, so naturally we eased into and out of the night to some delightful music.
The beach we go to is in Santa Cruz, called Manresa. Its about a one hour drive, so we don't do it too often, with the price of gas the way it is.
One of the guys who was there is quite a smooth photographer, and stuck some on the net. Here is a great LINK. unfortunately, those of you in NZ will just have to guess who is who. Though no doubt we'll stand out.

Japanese Gardens

2007-07-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have also recently visitied the Hakone Japanese gardens with our friends Vaughn and Jordan.
This garden is the oldest Asian and Japanese estate in the Western Hemisphere, and spans about 18 acres.

Jordan, Vaughn + Jono

Jordan and I Being Japanese

The website is actually very interesting (well the history part that is) and i Learned that Silicon Valley back in the early 1900's was actually called "Valley of the Hearts Delight". That might have been the case back then, but it is aptly named today.

Tahoe

2007-07-03T09:19:00.001-07:00

We decided that since we have not been approved for the Visa we needed, we'll make the most of our time here in the states and travel a bit before we leave. So we started out by going to Tahoe, a few weekends back.

We've already done a post on last time we went to Tahoe, but this time it was summer and a completely different story. On the drive up, we stopped off at the Jelly Belly Factory, and took the Free factory tour. It was jolly interesting. We even got free jelly beans out of it. They now have a 'Kiwi' flavored bean, among others. We ended up buying 4 1KG bags of 'belly flops', the beans that aren't quite perfect; It was buy 2 get 2 free so thats the reason.

Before we hit tahoe, we stopped off at a hiking area, in Desolation valley. We did a little walking and saw some nice waterfalls, and really huge ants.

The sign Speaks for itself

We . Have . Big . Antsandwecannotlie

Our Dear Jono, with a lovely waterfall behind

We stayed at a nice hotel called "the Blue Water Hotel", about 2 blocks from the lake. We made evening excursions after dinner each night to the beach close by.

Dusk on the beach

Beach #1

Beach #2

An Example of American 'Baches'

The first full day we were there, we headed to the shops to get some togs for me (I had left mine at home) in preparation for Kayaking. We found a lovely fairly empty little white-sanded beach where they were renting Kayaks, and took a double out for an hour. It was more than enough, as the wind had picked up and the water was chilly. We then lay on the beach all afternoon - and got very burnt. It was nice though to be sun-bathing and swimming in the lake while snow was still on the mountains surrounding.

The next day (sunday) we packed everything up and started driving home. We had decided to take the long way home - a 'Scenic' route - back through Yosemite area. It was definitely worth the 8 hour drive (vs. 4 hour for the regular trip).

Me at a Vista point in Yosemite

Jono at said vista, with lake in background

So that was our Tahoe trip! I will post more on what we've been up to, i think we've fallen a little behind with our trip and activity summaries, so more on the way.

Flight of the Concords - rocking!

2007-06-21T22:46:00.001-07:00

So I remember last year that Flight of the Concords (here after referred to as FotCs) had signed a deal with HBO to record one series, and it has finally arrived. Don't know if it has been screened in NZ already, probably has, so treat this as a plug for people here. Basically their format is a fairly dry script with two of three hilarious songs thrown in. I'm not sure how well it will take off, people here don't really have a decent-enough understanding of Kiwi culture to appreciate our humour. (We tried to show some Billy T clips on Youtube once and we received some puzzled looks).

Anyhoo, this was my favourite clip, but there are more on HBO's website.

P.s. This clip entitled 'Frodo - don't wear the ring' is brilliant. (via Tim)

No wonder no one in California understands me...

2007-06-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Northeastern

Most people don't know it but this is actually what dictionaries are based on. If you don't believe me, pick up any American dictionary and look up "source" and "sauce" and you'll see they are written with the same vowel pronunciation.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

'Best Cinnamon Bread' really is the best cinnamon bread

2007-06-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing these Americans know how to do well, it cinnamon. Cinnamon gum, cinnamon buns and cinnamon candy, all things that will quickly rot your teeth, but make you feel oh so sweet in the process. But at our very own local farmers market, which is very reasonably priced, friendly-slash-happy-go-lucky, lets-support-our-hippy-Santa-Cruz-farming-friends-who-probably-farm-in-the-nude, a-nice-excuse-to-walk-down-the-road-because-thanks-to-suburban-sprawl-we-have-to-drive/ride-to-buy-most-groceries, they-offer-so-much-free-stuff-you-might-as-well-skip-breakfast, and thanks-but-no-thanks-Costco-we-don't-need-your-cheap-but-waistline-destroying-bulk-foods, we have stumbled across gold. Presenting the 'Best Cinnamon Bread':

(It really is the best).

Although quite pricey at $6 (yes that is $8.50 NZ - I can't believe we actually paid that much), it will really put a smile on your face on even the rainiest of days (not that we get many of those). Inti describes it as 'spirally and delicious, with sweet pockets of spiciness - like a spice trader's spiciness', and I say 'Its really, really, ridiculously good tasting'.

Maker Faire

2007-05-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, jono surprised me with a day trip to a Fair i had been wanting to go to, namely the "Maker Faire". What is this 'Faire' thingy, you might ask. Well the organizers define it as:

"A two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful folks who like to tinker and love to make things. We call them Makers."

And here is a small video that gives you a good idea about what it was like:

And here are some Personal photos done just by us:

A stall with felted goods

Crafty things

Me and a little car

a cute innovative space-saving caravan

A cycle-driven side-show ride

We had a great time, and spent ages there. The highlight for both of us was the craft section, where a lot of 'craft bloggers' were collected, showing their wares. It was cool to see some of the things i'd only seen electronically up close and personal like.

There were also lots of nerdy computer-type inventions, robots, all things to do with bicycles (including side-show rides driven by cycling parents in the middle who watch the fruits of their labour -in more ways than one- twirl around them) a giant 'Mouse Trap' board-game-style incarnation, legomania, swap-oh-rama-rama where you bring a sack of clothes you no longer want, and then rummage round all these tables with everyone's collective unwanted clothes for treasures and then once found, head to the sewing machines and screen-printing stations along the sides to 're-new' the particular item. So lots to do!

After the fair, we went to Japantown in San Jose, which consists of a small street lined with various japanese cuisine outlets. We had dinner at one of the small restaurants and it was delicious. We both had Sushimi and miso/salad/rice.

Hopefully jono will do a post about what we got up to last weekend, which was a long one since it was memorial day. It can be a surprise.

Fury as gas prices rise further

2007-05-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

Questions are being asked and lots of fingers are being pointed as gas prices in California increased again this week. In fact, Americans on the whole are now facing record gas prices, drawing reactions such as 'Enough is Enough', 'Lets Boycott the Man' and 'Screw this, I'm buying a Prius'. The national average last week was $2.80, causing even the reddest of rednecks to consider giving up drinking moonshine to be able to afford to run their antiquated 4Mile/gallon ford pickups.

President Bushe, pictured on the right, was forced to make an announcement this week, to try and dampen the anger.
However, his attempt at a comment - 'America continues to have an unhealthy addiction to oil' sounded more like 'American troops are hard at work on Iraqi soil', which did nothing to quell the conspiracy theories floating around regarding the purpose of the 'War on Terror'.

So what is the cause for these rises? Some say it is a complicated supply and demand issue, others say cry 'Peak Oil', and others cite the general nervousness about the situations.

The only genuine explanation however, is the effect of the Kiwi Dollar. As we can see on the graph to the left, the stronger the dollar has grown, the higher the cost of gas has become in the US and A. Clearly the inflationary pressure from the high cash expenditure has created a tumultuous economic situation that has contributed to the somewhat undervalued fiscal policy when viewed in light of the geopolitical turmoil.

But the real question people are asking is not 'why', but 'when'. When will prices turn for the better? When will average, normal, 7-day-a-week people who are held ransom by the ever-sprawling suburbia they live in be able to comfortably return to their Escalades and not feel the oppressive guilt of needing to stick to the speed limit in order to save a gallon here or there? Unfortunately, with NZ interest rates predicted to rise again very shortly, and the consequential strengthening of the NZ currency, the outlook is very dire indeed.

Part I of the 'Survival in Extreme Environments' series: The data center.

2007-05-10T22:05:00.000-07:00

It has happened or will occur to all of us at one stage or another in our lives. Wandering aimlessly and absent-mindedly though long, barren and sometimes endless corridors, one wrong turn through a normally secured perimeter left open by a disgruntled employee, you may find that you have accidentally breached access into a data center.

In the next few minutes, your actions could have direct bearings on your hearing, financial status, or even your life. Here are a few steps that can help you survive this extreme environment.

1. Grab some earplugs. There is a reason why the world is facing an energy crisis. Its because of your internet browsing habits, reading pointless crap like this, that data centers such as these exist. And when lots of energy is used, lots of noise is produced. Mere moments in this kind of environment could cause permanent loss of hearing.

2. Identify hazards. There are probably many grey or black boxes around you, some hazardous, others not so much. Identifying non-hazardous boxes could provide adjectives that will greatly increase your chances of surviving. Usually these come with a label saying 'IBM'®. However not all these beasts are the same.

Specifically, if you can pick it up, you are probably looking at an IBM® System X™ server, which will provide you with exceptional availability. If you can't pick it up, but you can push it over, you are probably looking at IBM® System I™ server, which has probably already spotted you because it has built in intrusion detection. And if you can't pick it up or push it over, you are probably looking at something by the name of IBM® System Z™, otherwise known as the 'mainframe', which is probably a good thing to get familiar with because it will provide you with a great deal of consolidation and virtualization. And what to avoid? Well obviously, anything by the name of 'Dell', 'Sun' and 'HP' - these are nothing but trouble.

3. Watch out for those powercords. They say that downtime is costly. Accidentally tripping over power cords will cause a major outage (unless of course you were fortunate enough to trip over the power cord of the IBM® System Z™, with built in business resiliency), and you will be the one to pay. And when you see the kind of money thrown around by these mega multi-corporations who pay for these data centers, you will be praying that they won't sue.

So there you have it, 3 tips for surviving the data center. Stay tuned for next week when we show you how you can survive the rewiring of a switch board.

Wildly exciting conference hits SVL

2007-05-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your hats folks, because it is time for IDUG! That is, the International DB2 User Group Conference, where users of DB2 gather from all over this planet to come and discuss how they optimized those awesomely difficult queries (Aaron mutters 'been there, done that' to himself), or managed that crucial backup after that catastrophic disk failure, or implemented your migration plan from version 9.1.0.0.1 to 9.1.0.0.2.

This afternoon I had the privilege in attending the IDUG reception at SVL, which consisted of busing 900 odd attendees to the swelteringly hot SVL courtyard and feeding them a variety of alcoholic drinks and nibbles. No doubt the end goal here was to make them all a little tipsy and then pounce on them in their inebriated state, and in the process convince them of the benefits of emptying their corporate pockets and upgrading to DB2's latest and greatest version.

Yes, it was a cunning ploy of IBM to dump these customers for 2 hours in the hot hot sun with nothing else to do except for listening to sales pitches. Well actually, they were offering tours of SVL, but I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to see, unless one really gets off on those big heavy black boxes they call 'mainframes' that are bunkered underground, or they were particularly interested in touring through my toilet sized office.

Personally, a highlight for me came after being caught up in all the excitement, after 3 or 4 beers from the tap (Amstel light - I'm watching my weight), when I decided to go try some wine. So, I walked up to the place that was pouring the wine, and I asked for a 'Chardonnay', and the waiter lady looked at me kind of funny, possibly because she didn't understand me because of my stupid accent, or maybe because I was slurring my speech. In anycase, it was really amusing, and that moment made the afternoon.

So there you have it folks, IDUG! Its going off!

Goings' on

2007-05-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

In the weekend we went to San Francisco to see if we could see some festivities in relation to Cinco de Mayo.
We didnt.
Instead Jono and I discovered the SF waterfront area, checked out an awesome book and printing exhibition, perused the Norway-day celebrations and coveted some amazing shoes.

San Franciscan Street

Try-hard oriental parade

Near the palace of fine arts

Another thing i discovered was this neat site that has a tool to represent your site as a map, here is "http://jonoandinti.blogspot.com":

The Tech Report

2007-05-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

by Jono Wierenga

I guess explaining what I do for a job is about as interesting and meaningful to you as listening to Simon or Richface talking about their jobs is for me. I mean, our work has striking similarities, such as the fact that much money is spent achieving very little, and complicated terms like 'algorithms' and 'jurisprudence' are thrown around. If they use incorrect logic they could lose a case, if I use incorrect logic I could make a customer mad. We even have awesomeclever slogans like 'What makes you special? ' and 'Best Clients, Best People'.

But the similarities end there.

For example, Simon and Richface need to look immaculate and wear suits to work, but I wear shorts and haven't shaven in 2 weeks. And while I largely write 1's and 0's, they need to use all sorts of difficult words to defeat the opposition.

Anyway, I thought I would share some progress on my work. I have been working on a project since about December last year, and I guess you could say we are pretty much at the alpha release stage. And this week we are going to do some performance testing, and if the performance looks good, then lots of people will be really happy and there will be pats on backs, lunch shouts, and then trillion of dollars of new revenue brought into the coffers. Of course this involves a lot of secret eating, and I can't mention what it is all about, because then I will be fired.

In other news, there are rumours, and rumours of rumours, that IBM is about to lay off half of its 'Global Services Division', which could be as many as 150,000 US employees. Now I guess while the likelihood of that many people being fired is rather small, it is still disturbing. But the weird thing is that I have NO idea what function 'Global Services' or any one of its 300,000 employees perform. Is it outsourcing for floor cleaning? Do they sell printer toner? Do they hack mainframes? Do they advise on 'best practices'? I don't even know if I work for them. In summary, if I ever become CEO of a ridiculously large company, I will at least choose names for its divisions that will give its employees some concept of what function they perform.

Visa Stuff II

2007-05-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Well, really, there isn't much to say, apart from the fact that the chances of me having been selected in the H1-B lottery are extremely slim, and the likelihood that IBM immigration are simply waiting for my returned application are very high (it has been over a month now). Woohoo, time to find a job that isn't in US and A!

Oh, plus I had a funny conversation today with another person at work. Went something like this:

Me: 09 f9 11?
Other guy: 02 9d 74 e3.
Me: 5b...
Other guy: d8 41 56 c5 63.
Me: 56 88!
Other guy: c0.

So yeah, make of that what you will. Oh, and to all you NZers back home, happy Cinco de Mayo!

Mac vs. PC

2007-05-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

I just found an amusing series of ads for Macs, have a squij:Make sure you flick through the other ones too, at the bottom of the main screen.

Aspara-mania!

2007-04-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought after the disparaging things we said about Stockton earlier, we would end up returning to that awful hole? Well, who could blame us when Vaughn exclaimed that despite the heat, crime and pollution, Stockton's true claim to fame is its annual Asparagus festival. Ok, so that in and of itself sounds pretty uneventful, but our eyebrows were raised when we discovered that there you can delight in equisite cuisine such as 'Deep Fried Asparagus' and 'Aspara-rito', and indulge in such beverages as 'Aspara-ritas', 'Aspara-Marys' and even 'Asparagus Ale'. Heck, we'd even get to meet farmers who lived and breathed Asparagus. We were sold.

Vaughn and I are beside ourselves with anticipation as we line up for a deep-fried treat.

All in all, it was a fun little excursion. Not quite the same class as say, the Martinborough wine and food festival, but good fun. I learned some useless trivia, such as the fact that it takes 2 years to develop a bed to grow asparagus, but on a hot summers day they can grow 4cm in 24 hours. Also, in the beginning of the season, the fat ones are the sweetest... wow, got to remember that one.

We just missed out on seeing celebrity chef 'Martin Yan', which we were a bit gutted about (I remember watching his cooking show when I was a kid, he is the one who says 'if Yan can cook, so can you' in ridiculous engrish). There was some singer called John Waite whose songs sounded familiar, but a number of middle aged people were getting into it so I decided at that point in time to dismiss it as more generic American country crap.

The highlight of the day was stopping in at a particular craft stall selling a line of clothing branded as 'Human', with the slogan: It's not just a life...., it's an adventure!! (TM). Being a little under the influence of Aspara-ritas in the 38C heat, in a manner quite uncharacteristic of myself, I decided to strike up a minute-long conversation with the stall owners. When asking them what got them off, they gave me a little card saying:

Human is the greatest common denominator...
Human applies to every person on planet earth...
Human transcends the difference of race, color, creed, gender, age, or occupation.
Human's goal is to touch every person with the message of self-realization and peace.

While I looking at the labels, I observed they were made in Thailand, and I couldn't help thinking how self-realized those sweatshop workers must feel. Power and transcendence to the greatest common denominator! OK, enough blabbing. Thanks Stockton for another entertaining visit, and to Vaughn, for once again being a wonderful host.

Air

2007-04-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last night jono me and duncan went to AIR at the Masonic Hall in Nob Hill, San Francisco. It was pretty awesome, a great sit-down concert with fantastic acoustics and lighting.
Because we didn't take a camera along, i drew a little picture before the show began of what we were looking at. I really hope you all get a clear idea about what it was like, becuase it was simply amazing. As one man put it who was sitting behind us:

"This band is ****ing Trancendental man!"

And so it was.

Biking+Biscuits

2007-04-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Jono and I went for a lovely bike ride in the weekend. Unfortunately, we cant prove this with the use of pictures, so you'll just have to trust me.

We were planning on biking farther, but unforeseen circumstances (lack of gears on my old bike) proved otherwise, and we had to cut it short.

This little outing started me thinking about the use - or lack of- of cycle lanes and bikes here in the US of A.

When we first arrived, i had preconceptions that America was far behind in time when it came to providing safe and easy bicycle routes. However, when one experiences them first hand, one realizes one was wrong. NZ could certainly take a leaf from their book in this regard. Most roads conveniently possess wonderful wide and easily-seen bike paths, in addition to the parking lanes. this means that there is a 3-4 meter verge to cycle your heart out in. So even if I'm biking on a four lane highway, i still feel relatively safe and sound.

The Bike route we used, was make entirely for cyclists however. It meanders through the back of various Tech companies and residential housing, at times guided by a small - mostly stagnant stream. And since it is approaching summertime, everything is fresh and green, birdies chirp in the trees and squirrels are just waking up.

That night (it was a Saturday) we had been invited to a BBQ at a co-workers and co-NZ'ers flat. So first of the season!

We still haven't heard about the visa, which is absurd. We assume we haven't got it as a handful of others at IBM have heard and they all got it, those who haven't heard are probably going home. Oh well!

Lest we forget: start baking those ANZAC biscuits ladies!

More wedding photos

2007-04-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos I have put up on flickr of Richie and Bex's wedding. Enjoi!

Rebecca is all smiles as she anticipates an afternoon of photos. Her smiles however will soon turn to a painted face at best, when she discovers that it is really very tiring...

Bobbins

2007-04-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

I've always been curious as to how a bobbin works

now i know! thanks to the blog at Craft Magazine

Visa stuff

2007-04-14T01:04:00.000-07:00

Some people were wondering what was happening with the job prospects over here. So to work here I need an H1-B visa. On April 2nd, USCIS (that friendly organisation charged with 'protecting the US and A') began to accept visa applications for the 65,000 quota. And by that evening, they had received 133,000 odd, and applications were closed. So it will be based on a lottery, and my application has a 48.8872% chance of being reviewed. Sweet!

(For more information that will bore you to tears, you can read here.)

Wedding photos

2007-04-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

I have fixed up some of the wedding photos, and have put the on our flickr account. What a wonderful day it was. More to come!

Buying vs. Renting

2007-04-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

A few of us have to think about these sorts of things, and i just thought that it might be enlightening to get an american perspective on things.

Thanks New York Times for your Interactive graph helping us to decide whether it is better to buy or rent

Tripping for 10 days

2007-04-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

We are back safe and sound after a blissful 10 days of family and friend fellowship, well aware that a blog post is in order. So here is a summary of what we got up to, and some musings about it all.

Friday 30th
Arrive wellington 8.30am, reception from mum and dad wierenga, and pete. Home, chill out, lunch with vogel's bread and freshly picked cherry tomatoes. Reunion with wellington and coffee in arvo. Inti leaves for Havelock on bus at 4. Arrives at 9.30, visits grandparents and then home.

Sweet tomatoes

Saturday 31st
Inti: Reunion with ocean beach and extended family. Blissful weather, first summer sea swim while at the same time last winter sea swim. Dinner at the gorgeous pipi cafe, gnocci, salmon, squid, and lotsa pizza - celebrating sassies 23rd birthday.
Jono and co have eventful stag night (bucks night for you Aussies) in Waikani.

The van der Werff's at Ocean Beach

Stags in tub

Sunday 1st
Sassies birthday! Church and then family lunch. Jono arrives soon after.

Bouncing on the tramp

Monday 2nd
Mum and Dad van der Werff kindly take the day off from work and we go fishing out in the Hawkes Bay on the new craft, caught 13 each of Kawhai (or 'sea-trout' for you Aussies) and Blue cod, as well as a gernet, a few rock fish and nearly a massive sea eel. Home and then cleaning fish, cooking 4 of the biggest cod whole and roasted with ginger and chili seasonings.

A veritable feast: fresh whole cod, steamed rice, stir fry'd veges and tomato feta and cucumber salad

Tuesday 3rd
Reunion with Havelock north and their coffee/boutiques, picking apples, Driving back to welly after lunch with 2 big kawhai and some fillets for tea.

Wednesday 4th
Not much happening here, more excursions to wellington town. The best ever night at the Matterhorn with over-the-top purchasing of expensive and decadent wines. Oh, and dont forget the Kebabs

Thursday 5th
Town again, suit fittings, Lunch at Katipo cafe, Dinner at Long-bar, Pool and Foozball at the Bristol.

Decadent iced coffee from Fidels

Friday 6th
Wine-tasting in Martinborough. Rehersal at church. Fish'n'chips with intis parents on the beach

Wine and cheese/olive/salmon platters in Martinborough

Saturday 7th
BIG DAY! wedding prep all morning for girls, relaxed care-free breakfast at black rocks for the boys. Ceremony at 1, photo's after at massey memorial and Atrium House in Welly CBD. Reception at 5.30, Hogs breath resaurant. All in all, an absolutely spectacular and beautiful wedding with tonnes of love and fun. Thanks for being married bex and rich!!!

Boys breakfast at black rocks

Yip, thats us

The Hike up to Massey Memorial

The spectacular couple

The fantastic bridal party in it's entirety with the equally fantastic wellington in the background

Bridal party at Atrium House

Bridal Table at the Reception

Excitement is building

Sunday 8th
Church, family/friends lunch, cricket on the lawn, and bonfires at night-time. oh, and a easter-eg hunt put on by pete. Easter would not be the same without it!!

Relaxed Sunday Dinner, Thanks Jackie!!

Monday 9th
HUGE communal breakfast at Parade Cafe for goodbye's. Everyone leaves periodically throughout the day. We leave at 4, arrive back in USA the same day at 1.00pm, take public transport back home, then go out to friends house to catch up with them.

THE END

It is possible that various events were mixed up or left out, not intentionally however.
Also, there will be an extra effort for more regularity with blogs, as there were some complaints and concerns raised back in Aotearoa. We appologise for any crushed hopes or expectations and in future, please do keep checking up on this here blog.
Kind Regards,
Jono and Int

New Space

2007-03-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

On account of one more body in our apartment, we shifted rooms to give Duncan and Anita (the new body) the master room. So now we're in this cute (another word for much much smaller) room, sharing a bathroom with Blayne. Its quite nice, jono mentioned that he liked the challenge of continually keeping it clean as there is no room for mess. But that hasnt really happened.

In other exciting news: squirrel's climb walls. Look closely past our wonderful chive and coriander plants, past our happy pigs, next to the tall evergreen and you will see a stretchy little squirrel which provided jono and I our Saturday morning entertainment as we lay in our bed.

I have a job now, which is just one of the reasons we havnt been blogging much, and its all going reletively well apart from a few spells of boredom. And minimum wage. Though i can say i like that I can quit whenever i want, i've never had absolutely no ties to a job ever! All my other jobs were working for people i knew and had a lot of contact with outside work. And also that i am not working for the money.

Even though I've been busy, i've been doing a bit of sewing. In fact a lot of sewing. I made the bag pictured here, and also just finished a great spotty messenger bag today. I also sewed the dress i'll wear to Bex+Richies wedding. And on top of it i've got a secret wedding present project on the go and am knitting a halter-neck top for summer.

Speaking of Summer: Its !!RIDICULOUSLY!! scorchio hot here at the moment!, like its only JUST spring and we're in the High 20's! No amount of Caps lock'd words can stress my point. Or exclamation marks. People have even been spotted swimming in the complexes pool, THAT is saying something.

So Apologies for lack of posts, please bare with us as we navigate the busy bits of our boring mundane lives.

cheerio for now, and yay for only 2 more weeks till NZ!! and Weddings!!

Haircut

2007-02-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

Mm. So i got a haircut.

Since jan 28th

2007-02-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

One person proposed the question about what jono and I have been up to since January 28th. Though if I transcribed all that has happened since then from my diary, half the world would be asleep. (yes, half the world probably reads our blog - its that great; and also yes, whenever something exciting occurs in our lives i usually write it in my diary).

However: I have been making things and bits and bobs. I dont know if i told you already, but on our jouney to Las Vegas at New Years i learned how to crochet. Apparently i'm becoming an old woman. But i've made some choice stuff since then and i would also like to recommend that if anyone is interested in learning how to crochet they hunt down the book entitled: "The Happy Hooker". Also just as brilliant and up-to-date is the corresponding book by the same author (Debbie Stoller) on how to knit: "Stitch 'n Bitch".

So i made some badges, a scarf and a bag:

I also crocheted some bracelets for my friends as a belated chrismas present:

On other more important matters. I have a job now, Horray! I havnt started yet though, so i cant give you a rundown on what i'll be doing persay. It would be classified as retail work, but to me it is much much more. I will be working at my favorite Hideaway, cubbyhole, sanctuary, refuge, and of course fabric shop. HANCOCK FABRICS is my new home-away-from-home, and i'm quite excited about making more of a contribution to this little family over here in San Jose. Now i dont want any of you rude New Zealanders conjuring up rude expletives concerning the Store's name, you have been warned.

Duncan had his 23rd birthday on friday last, and we celebrated with banana/raspberry cake baked to perfection with 23 pink and blue candles glowing away merrily on top. Our apartment is still decorated with cheerful 'flag-streamers' which I made when i remembered how to from calvinettes.

Another New Zealander made his first home here in San Jose our lounge for the last few days, he is called Stephan and he is of polish decent and very co-habitable. He now lives elsewhere, but no doubt will pop in now and then.

Speaking on behalf of jono now; I think i will take the liberty of recommending a book he has been reading (actually, two books, but by the same author). One is called: "you shall know our velocity" and the other is called "How we are Hungry", both by Dave Eggers. I do this because reading is what jono has been up to while i crochet, and he has been giggling into the pages of these novels for a while now, so they must be good. I stumbled across these works after looking for another book which was recommended by the same author: "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" which a few of you may be aware of. I have yet to find it/reserve it.

Last night there was a BIG fire in an apartment complex about two kilometers from here. Lots of people are now without a roof over their heads as it literally burned down. It was on the news, and there were lots of noisy fly-like aircraft in the skies around us half the night.

That is our life, this is your entertainment. Goodnight.

The Armpit of California

2007-01-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

What is smelly, ugly, and should generally be hidden from view (and shaved, if you are a woman)? An armpit of course!The fabulous urban dictionary (the final word on the meaning of all colloquial phrases), describes Stockton as...

1) A piece of shit ghetto located just south of Sacramento and surrounded by cows. Nothing happens outside of criminal activity.
2) The armpit of California. Never live here.

and also:

place located in nor cal. (caution: more dangerous than la and oakland put together.)

... which begs the question, why did we go there? Well to visit our good friend Vaughn of course.

But before we delve into the details, I want to provide you with a few more facts from Wikipedia which helps to explain why we found this city such an amusing place.

In the book 'Cities Ranked and Rated, 2004', Stockton rated second worst out of 331 metropolitan areas to live in. This was due to the high unemployment, crime, cost of living along with low educational attainment.
Stockton had the third-highest auto theft rate in the nation in 2005.
Prior to its incorporation in 1850, Stockton had several names, including Tuleburg, Gas City and Mudville
Lying in the San Joaquin Valley, it is sandwiched in-between Modesto/Merced and Sacremento, which are the 4th and 7th most polluted cities in USA, according to Forbes.

Well that's enough Stockton bashing for one day. Vaughn studies at University of the Pacific in Stockton, a university that is reasonably well known for one reason or another. As he gave us a tour of the 'historic' and 'reasonably picturesque' college grounds, he proudly rattled off facts about famous Alumni, like Dave Brubeck who studied at the school of jazz, or the well known buildings, such as the one that featured in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or interesting architectual trinkets, such as the tower that is leaning over at an alarming rate (yes I witnessed the cracks in the pavement) and also conducts an artifical bell-ringing over loudspeaker on the half hour. (Sorry Vaughn, one fact you missed was that it was the first co-education facility in California.)

Vaughns house is the one half a gunshot away from the center just past the cloth smothered in blood hanging from the string that was used to strangle his university collegue who shot the gun in the first place.

Here I also saw my first fraternity/sorority houses (finally know the difference between them), and gave me new reasons to hate the concept. It was amusing to hear that most of the houses were on probation for pot-smoking or something similar. But well, living in Stockton, I could hardly blame them. We went through a tour of the notorious ghetto area, where according to legend, 5 minutes sitting alone in a car is a sure-fire way to ask for a mugging.

We really went there to watch a basketball game. Vaughn announces for the college side, so we got to listen to it over the radios which Jordan brought along. The basketball game I guess was about as thrilling as they are supposed to get, yet I can't help that deliberate fouling at the end of a game to prevent the other team getting any momentum should really be treated as a professional foul...

Well thats about all. It was a fun little trip, and who knows, if Vaughn's basketball playing flatmates someday become famous, I can say something along the lines of 'I shook their hands once'. Thanks Alexis and Steve for driving us!

happy pictures

2007-01-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

There is not much to blog about, so I'm going to show you all a lovely picture I drew for my lovely friend Harriet who has recently turned the big 21. Harriet, I hope all went well and your shindig was a musical feast. I'm sad I couldn't be there!Also we have some fresh new New Zealand faces at our house: the new intake of IBM interns from Victoria University. They are doing a similar thing to what me and Jono did, as they're engaged and going back to NZ in April to get married then returning. Only she came over to begin with obviously. They are Brendan and Tina.
Also I have become slightly more proactive about a job and have put an application in to work at 'Hancock Fabrics' which is the big shop I go and waste all Jono's money buying cool fabric, beads, cotton, wool, needles and the like. The other day I weaseled a big bag of fabric offcuts from them for FREE!! Horray for craftiness.

Winchester Mysteries

2007-01-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

All the church folks were back from university over the holiday period, which was a good excuse to get out and do something packed with adventure, fun, hilarity and spooky old women. So naturally we all headed down to the famed 'Winchester Mystery House'. I will just give you a snippet about what makes this house unique on so many 'levels'.

In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death thirty-eight years later at age 82. The Victorian mansion, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress, is filled with so many unexplained oddities, that it has come to be known as the Winchester Mystery House.

Sarah Winchester's Death bed and tiny sitting room

Sarah Winchester built a home that is an architectural marvel. Unlike most homes of its era, this 160-room Victorian mansion had modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. Rambling roofs and exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors, gold and silver chandeliers, Tiffany art glass windows (today worth $25,000 each) and hand painted tiles from France are just some of the expensive and beautiful details of the House. Bizarre details inside the House include stairs that just continue to the ceiling, doors that open onto walls, windows opening into walls, doors that open onto nothing, small rise steps to accommodate Sarah's arthritis, prevalence of the number 13 in details like lights, windows in rooms, hooks in cupboards and just the general small scale of everything due to staggering height of 4 foot 8 inches. She was also a bit of a conservationist at heart apparently, as all surfaces that came into contact with water (such as bench tops, plant pot areas etc) had sloping systems whereby the excess water would drain down back into the garden.

The door to no-where (the one with the white edges and yellow panels)

BUT WHY??

No one has been able to explain the mysteries that exist within the Winchester Mansion, or why Sarah Winchester kept the carpenters' hammers pounding 24 hours a day for 38 years. It is believed that after the untimely deaths of her baby daughter and husband, son of the Winchester Rifle manufacturer, Mrs. Winchester was convinced by a medium that continuous building would appease the evil spirits (who she thought was haunting her) of those killed by the famous "Gun that Won the West" and help her attain eternal life. Certainly her $20,000,000 inheritance was sufficient to support her obsession until her death at 82.

Vaughn in front, with (back, left to right) random guy, Jordon Becky and Alexis. ME!!

So we had fun and ended up walking about a mile inside the house on a guided tour that was very expensive ($22 pp) and took about 90 min. Our tour guide was a bit tapped however.

Things i find

2007-01-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

I've decided to share things i find interesting on the net and things i like more often on this blog, to keep you all entertained when your not browsing digg.

If you haven't heard already, Demeter has a wonderful Fragrance library, for girls and boys. Though as you will find out, most scents are neither here nor there. For instance the cannabis flower scent-
Cannabis Flower: "The shredded flowers of Cannabis Sativa, the hemp plant"
I'm not so sure who would want to wear this fragrance, though I'd presume you'd get a lot of dodgy people coming up to you asking strange questions regarding 'dealing' or what not.
Other interesting fragrances and their corresponding fragrance definition which are supplied by Demeter include:

This is not a pipe - "This is the title of a painting by Rene Magritte painted in the 30s. It shows a very realistic looking pipe and under it are the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or This is Not a Pipe, i.e., it's a picture not a thing. Wow, heavy! And very cool too. Get it? This just smells like a pipe."
Play-doh - "Those fresh-from-the-can, full-of-potential, childhood memories... Now in a convenient spray!"
Turpentine - "You know. That odorous ointment for bad paintings. Well here it is. Hey, people like it!"
Mildew - "One of our odder aromas. Think of turning on a window unit air conditioner for the first time each year. What you smell is…Mildew!"
Laundromat - "This is simply the freshest, cleanest scent imaginable. We don’t know if anyone can tell us why, but this may be the most comforting, comfortable scent in the Library. And if you can tell us, please call…"
Dirt - "Dirt from the fields of a Pennsylvania Farm"
Fireplace - "Wood and Fire"

Dont get me wrong however; they also have delicious scents such as Peony, Green Tea, Dust, Rain, Apple Pie, Brownie, Baby powder, Birthday cake and even New Zealand. And they're not even too expensive.

Chekc THIS out

2007-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Watch a video with Jono and Me being practically famous

Dog walking

2007-01-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Well, i've decided to be a little more proactive with work and things. So I made up 200 pamphlets advertising myself as a dog walker. I gave them out yesterday but so far i haven't had any phone calls. But see what you think about my fabulous junk mail:

Sprinkles

2007-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Just reading stuff, came across this fantastical site you simply MUST visit: http://sprinklebrigade.com/

I know. I should really get my mind out of the gutter. But you must admit, sometimes it is so amusing!

What did you do for New Years?

2007-01-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Like moths to a very bright neon flame, we went to Las Vegas. Still making the most of our exclusive use of the mighty Sable (our shared car) we ventured on a whim to that neon city on Saturday the 30th of December, 2006 (RIP). It took 10 hours. We were stuck in traffic BTB (bumper to bumper) for 1.5 hours, which meant luckily that the drive back took only 8.5 hours as there was not so much traffic.

So we drove straight to our hotel that first night, which was very lovely and had a mini kitchen, a lounge, bathroom and separate bedroom; all for a reasonable exchange of moolah. We had to be out by 11 o'clock the next day, and we drove into the city to find some parking.

The 'New York New York' portion of the Strip

Las Vegas is obviously huge on casino's, themed blocks, neon lights, drive-through wedding chapels, and cheap food; but it is also all about free parking, free drinks (when you gamble), lots of traffic, smoking indoors, souvenir shops, and expensive coffee. We encountered all of the above (Minus participating in the drive-through wedding chapel thing).

m&m gift factory

It really is the ultimate consumerist, materialist and American city to sum up. A new Casino/Hotel (all the casino's are hotel pretty much) called the Wynn really takes the cake. It has everything every other casino has, the wedding chapel, spa's, pools, shops, Theaters, casino etc; as well as an 18 hole golf course, a 150 foot man-made hollow mountain with a cascading 70 foot waterfall which drops into the man-made lake, a ferrari maserati dealership, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) betting chips in the 110,000 square foot casino, 9000 employee's and 42 story's with 2700 guest rooms. It was estimated to have cost $2.7 Billion to complete. The cheapest room costs about US$400, plus $40 tax.

Jono at the French Portion of the Strip

Sunday was New Years Eve, and we had planned to wander round the city all day and then some of the night, and bunk down in our car if/when we got tired. The parking is free because casino's do everything they can to get people in the door and spend money, so we just left our car in a good central spot, got changed and packed a bag with red bull and some alcohol (we being the ultimate cheap-asses) and left to see if we could find a nice little spot to hanker down and enjoy the fireworks and drunk people, which there were a lot of. We didnt last very long after 12, and went back to the car exhausted. We ended up moving though to a darker spot because we couldnt sleep with all the lights on. I think i only got an hours sleep. But we saved ourselves like 200$ in hotel fees!

Int outside the Bellagio, the Italian Portion where the big fountain is

New Years Night Scenes

We've established that Las Vegas is opulent and ritzy; but drive about 20min out of the city and you'll encounter the polar opposite, ie. NATURE. We ventured out into the Red Rock area once we rubbed the sleep from our eyes and took the seat belt buckle out of my ribs. As you all probably know, Las Vegas is situated in the middle of a desert, so its rather warm during the day and very very cold at night. Red Rocks looks very similar to the grand canyon (so jono says) and its truly beautiful. We went for a few walks and managed to not get bitten by snakes.

Desert Scenes

After our natural adventure we drove back into the city and went to our hotel for our last night, the Monte Carlo. It was a nice room, though it didn't have a microwave so we couldn't heat up my dinner I'd prepared to save us on take-out bills. And the TV channels were really crappy. The bed was like sleeping on clouds compared to the car the night before.

That was our new year adventure, and we both hope and pray that all of you friends and family had a great one too, and all the best wishes for the new year.

Holiday Festivities

2006-12-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was Decidedly wonderful, Thanks to the Klebig family.

The Church service in the morning was lovely, We both thoroughly enjoyed the traditional hymns and having a giant christmas tree and decorations around the church was definitely a lovely touch. We were invited to the Kelbig Family's christmas celebrations, that is Jordan and Vaughn (who just got back from a few months 'studying' in Chile) and of course their wonderful and hospitable parents. It was truly a wonderful afternoon and evening; chatting round a table full of delicious tid-bits and then eating an absolutely scrumptious dinner of ham, Swedish meatballs and potatoes, fresh beans, cranberry sauce and sweet potato mash.

After dinner we played a great game of scrabble, and jono, of all people (he hates the game most of the time) kicked everyones bottoms. Jono also won the pickle present: the Klebig's have a family tradition (with German roots) of hiding a pickle-like (like a gherkin) ornament in the Christmas tree and then everyone gets 5 min to search for it and the person who finds it receives the pickle present. The gift was this book entitled: "Horrifically Bad album Covers" and it is a masterpiece.

Our Boxing day was predominantly spent 'doing up' my Recently-acquired bike: a brilliant bright green Schwinn Suburban 1969 10 speed which i found on craigslist. We had to sand down the chrome as it had rusted up a lot, and replace the tires tubes and a brake cable, but apart from that it was in mint condition. We had to get another bike as one of the two bikes we had was stolen from outside our door, someone snipped the lock.

My bike and I

My Birthday. The 27th of December. I was rather spoiled, from jono and also our wonderful families back home. In the photo above you can see the awesome t-shirt i got from the wierenga family, it says 'Home' with a picture of NZ beside it. I had wanted one for ages! I Also got the silk Batik Scarf i'm wearing on my head from my Oma from Singapore. It is beautiful. You cant tell in the photo, because no-one has designed a smell thing for computers, but i'm also wearing a delicious scent by Issey Myake, Leu deIssey. That was from my Mum and now i smell like flowers.

For my birthday i spent the day with jono who 'worked' from home, while i pottered and cleaned in the house. All the fun began in the evening, as our friends had organized a wonderful dinner/gathering for me. We had delicious pasta and salad and bread for dinner and a chocolate cake for desert. Then we played games for ages, and it was fun. Then we went out. We went to a great Karaoke bar, where there was some terrible and fantastic singing - though it all started to sound the same towards the end. Steve, Alexis, Jordan and Us were there and we all had the time of our lives.

All in all, we've had a great holiday period, and we both wish you all back home and everywhere you are to be blessed with as much fun and happiness as we have, and also be safe on the roads. yeah. Also a huge massive thanks to all our friends here who have really welcomed us into their lives and given us such a great christmas.

And Happy New Year everyone!!! We will blog about that later.

Christmas in the Park

2006-12-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

San Jose has this tradition whereupon scores upon scores of Douglas fir christmas trees are installed upon this park, and various organizations and groups/clubs get to 'sponsor' this event by decorating one or two trees. General public such as ourselves revel in the lights and sparkles and fake snow spewing from machines while our smelling senses are assaulted by the numerous seasonal food stalls scattered along the way.

The Crew

Among the waving palm trees on a side road proudly stands an ice-rink, where starry-eyed teenagers pay for the privilege to glide and stagger around and around a circle of slush for copious amounts of money.

Glorious Ice Rink + Jono, Vaughn, Steve, Eric

Tahoe

2006-12-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Jono and I made a trip to Tahoe. Since our wonderful flatmates are away in NZ for Christmas, we have singular use of our shared car, so we're making the most of it by going on a few trips.

We left friday lunchtime, and it took about 4 hours as the traffic was reasonable. The Hotel we were staying at was a real crapper, but when something is that cheap you just cant pass it up. And it also means more money to spend on other things. So We had this budget room, with a shower that didnt go, no jug, microwave, extra pillows, and a strange musty smell. It was great fun! we got to watch endless hours of fantastic american TV till we drifted off into a weary and itchy sleep. (I'd swear there were bed bugs).

On the Saturday we got up and hopped into the car, dressed in our lovely new snow jackets and traditional stubbies over polyprops. It was forecast for snow and 'bitterly cold' temperatures, so we were prepared. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Jono gets really excited at the first sign of snow

Our plan was to just make our way around the whole lake, stopping off at various spots for walks or sights or whatever, and our first stop was this cool frozen lake. It took about half an hour to walk to it, and by then the cold had well and truly seeped all the way into the ends of my toes and fingers, the wind literally made it hard to breath. So back to the car.

Frozen Int on Ice

Then it started snowing quite hard. One of the preparations we made was to purchase snow chains for the car, they're a compulsory item up in the mountainous areas. And boy i'm glad we had them. Before we decided to actually put them on our car, we had witness 3 crashes, though none terribly serious, but enough to write off the cars. So we put them on. It took about 20 min, fiddling round with freezing metal stretched out on the ground and reaching round the back of the car tires. I would not recommend it.

After that, we went to Squaw Valley, where one of the winter Olympics was held. It was extremely poash. We got a muchly overpriced starbucks there to melt the icicles off our fingers. I felt a bit ridiculous in my 'sneakers' and jeans...

The Olympic Flame, Squaw Valley

Nerdy looking int with not-so-nerdy Hummer at "Resort at Squaw Creek"

We pretty much just kept going till we got home after that, just snow snow and more snow.

Sunday was spent walking round the South Lake Tahoe village/town/city place, where the Ruapehu villages are totally put to shame. It reinforced my dislike of the whole snowboarding/skiing culture: just a bunch of pretentious knobs with too much money trying to outdo themselves in front of their peers. So if you wanna know why we didnt go skiing, thats the reason.

Int with skifields and snowbunnies at South lake Tahoe, Heavenly Skifield

On our trip back, we drove through San Fran again, and visited the goldengate park thing. It was quite spectacular.

"Camera Trick"

Overall, a great weekend. Enjoy the photos.

schnizzle wizzle shoes

2006-12-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

I got new shoes!!

USA Christmas

2006-12-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone is well aware of impending holiday tidings due to christmas, but what does christmas mean for americans?

We have discovered that it does not mean lovely hot days at the beach (yes, we are in a different hemisphere after all) pohutakawa's, pavelova's cold ham and long stretches of work days off to do whatever you please.

No.
So far, all evidence suggests that American Christmas's are one of the only times of the year where American fathers use their two-storied ladders and hang copious numbers of illuminated colored plastic things and bits and bobs on their houses, out and probably in aswell. It is a time of soggy matted grass (at least in San Jose, where it has been raining a lot), lots of poinsettia plants, chistmas Fir tree sales, popcorn in large bucket-like tins, candy canes (we do have things in common after all) fake christmas trees, fake santa's in the mall's, and mainly just lots and lots and lots and lots of christmas lights.

We were bored on a saturday night, it was pouring cats and dogs, and neither of us own rainjackets so we logically decided it was time for a stealth mission to gather evidence of what i have been describing. Well, at least in the christmas-lights area. So here are our findings, in about a 5 block radius; and BELIEVE me when i say that this evidence is almost literally just the tip of the huge shining fake plastic iceberg that is american holiday decorating.

Green card

2006-12-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Jono and I have applied for the green card so we might not ever need to leave this wonderful country.

Here are the vunderbar passport foto's we used.

We dont mind embarrassing ourselves for the sake of your entertainment.

It also shows of my need for employment; oh the joys of photoshop

Fugby

2006-12-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

We forgot -please forgive us- to do a post about the fun fun day after thanksgiving, so this is a little chronologically wacked.

Well, after sleeping in for a nice long time, savoring the still-full belly from the night before, we went out to the park just outside our complex to meet our church friends for football. They arrived a bit late, so jono and I had lots of time to become pro's. While we were waiting for the last people to arrive, we tried - and almost succeeded - in teaching them how to play touch rugby. I give them credit however, as when they tried to teach me football, i was fairly useless also. And we surmised that both games are very opposite in play.

So we did that, and also a bit of basketball or 'horse' to be honest; for a few hours. Afterwards, we all stormed into our complex and invaded the spa. It was bliss, as the weather is now turning a bit cold - just like it should be turning a bit warm in NZ.

After that then, we had planned to go to the new james bond movie: Casino Royal, but I thought it was silly for everyone to go home and then come out again, so we herded them to our humble abode and i cooked up a big batch of moma's spaghetti, which was somewhat successful.

The movie was smashing, we all recommend it tenfold.

So that was a great day with our oh-so-cool church friends!

Yosemite

2006-11-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

So on Saturday we decided to venture out to Yosemite. This glacial valley, which is 5 million or 5 thousand years old - depending on your world view, is truly spectacular. Unfortunately, Inti's finepix 3000 struggled in the difficult conditions, so these photos only paint half the picture. Being there in fall was particularly beautiful, and we avoided the traffic jams that plague this destination during warmer months. The downside was that the waterfalls were reduced to a mere trickle, so I am tempted to venture back in the spring. Click on any of the images to go to our flickr page.

Jono is afraid of heights

Nice reflections

Yosemite Valley

Inti, Redwoods and Yosemite Falls

Giving Thanks

2006-11-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

America has this tradition of celebrating the last thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. It was my first thanksgiving, and so far the best. Jono says he has partaken of this feast day when he was 17 in Wisconsin, so he's well 'used' to it.

We were invited to a few different family celebrations in the church, but chose to go to one of our friends family's one. All we had to contribute was bread, so i made Foccacia.

We were supposed to arrive at about 3 in the afternoon, but arrived late in NZ/vanderwerff/fashionable time. The smells wafted in through the glowing interior of the house, this along with the inevitable warmth of being encased in four walls, drew us in without question. It has started to get quite chilly at nights here, as winter deftly approaches. So a cozy fire and soft lighting was apt.

The evening consisted mainly of talking, eating, talking, eating, games, talking, eating etc etc. Here is a list of the items on the thanksgiving table:

turkey #1: BBQ'd whole
turkey #2: Deepfryed whole
cranberry sauce #1: from a can
cranberry sauce #2: Jello style
green beans with mushroom-flavored sauce
mashed potatoes with American cheese on top
sweet potatoes/yams with pineapple and marshmallows
stuffing
foccacia bread
gravy
salad
citrus jello
Pumpkin pie x2
pecan pie
cranberry and almond cake x3
whipped cream
knives and forks
plates
glasses
wine, red
sparkling grape juice
floral autumnal arrangements
butter dish with butter

It was all delicious, especially the cranberry cake. That was jono's least favorite as it has almonds. We were very full. It is nice that a country can have such an obvious heritage of food types pertaining to one special celebration. I was trying to think about what NZ eats on any special day, and even christmas brings about different menus for different folks.. However.

It was great, and I recommend any foreigner to USA to join in this fantastic eating celebration, and give thanks for turkeys.

Just some things

2006-11-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Its autumn [fall] here at the moment, and it is really pretty. The weather is much more bearable than in the summer, and all the leaves are nice golden colours. Today is my birthday, and Int made me a lovely cake and a really cool scarf. Here are some pictures.

Me getting into the spirit of 'Movember'

Boring You To Death

Great eats

Orange Poppy Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

sustainable staircase sustenance

homewares: before and afters

Outside Lands

Shopping - my way!

THIS is for real people!! Rainbow Warrior

Home projects

Butano And Ano Nuevo state park

Threadless Designs

Foody goodness

Retrieved Mirror

Shopping

Post easter

Sourdough in San Francisco *kinda*

Skyline walking

How to make soymilk at home

Good bye rental car

dinner time at the wierengas

DIY and House Tour

Waitangi Day

New favorite vege

New country = new post

squid

Matts Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Heeringa

World famous in the Aro Street Video Store

Lent

Waitangi Day

Great photos

It's the end of the world as we know it

Eats

Amazing minds

Golfing with Rich, Tim and myself

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

The nonth of movember

Uncovered terrorist activity strikes fear into the hearts of everyday average hard-working middle New Zealand

Hot Press! Local Election results!

Reminiscing

Spectacular Scintallting Sushi

Wild weather back home

3 reasons why the All Blacks are useless

Letters to mayoralty candidates: in response to mhjb

Nice try buddy

Why put birds in a box?

Welcome to the social!

work space

Aro Valley

We are online, yippee

Our internet does not work = our phone does not work

Yay, a house!

Finding a house

apologies

4th of July, AKA America Day

Hot off the press

Cheese Monkeys

Summer=Beach

Japanese Gardens

Tahoe

Flight of the Concords - rocking!

No wonder no one in California understands me...

'Best Cinnamon Bread' really is the best cinnamon bread

Maker Faire

Fury as gas prices rise further

Part I of the 'Survival in Extreme Environments' series: The data center.

Wildly exciting conference hits SVL

Goings' on

The Tech Report

Visa Stuff II

Mac vs. PC

Aspara-mania!

Air

Biking+Biscuits

More wedding photos

Bobbins

Visa stuff

Wedding photos

Buying vs. Renting

Tripping for 10 days

Sourdough in San Francisco kinda