Sunday, March 25, 2007
Ah the joys of writing research articles! Sitting here in the finishing stages of one, yet my brain seems to be running around like a rat on a wheel! Aaaargh!! 
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
20: Miramar: Eastern Walking Track
Here are some photos from the Eastern Walking Track taken near my house last week. This is about 10 minutes up the road, offering stunning coastal views out to the south island and Baring Head. Very nice. Enjoy.
19: My First Visitors from the United States
Visitors from home
It's always great to get visitors from back home. Of course, I can say "home" when I refer to either New Jersey or California. Much to my pleasure, I was greeted with visitors from both homes in February. Legendary local NJ surfer Kevin Morris made a cameo appearance in
Wellington in mid-Feb while on honeymoon with his lovely wife Dana. They arrived into Christchurch on the south island, rented a camper van, and drove around the south island and finished off on the north island, passing through Wellington on the way. There's always a sense of belonging when someone from passes through. It was such an odd feeling being all the way in New Zealand and talking about people and places from my childhood. We both surfed for our respective high schools back in the day, so we used to see each other out in the water quite a bit. I think the last time we saw each other was in 1999 when I passed through NJ at the end of my big 1998/99 around the world trip. We were able to get out to the Wairarapa for some surf, but the swell was too big, mixed up, and from the wrong direction. We did manage to squeeze in a surf, but it really didn't turn on the goods like we'd hoped!
Then about a week later, Frank and Marilou Radford from San Diego graced me with their
presence while doing a cruise around New Zealand. There was a stop off in Wellington, so I gave
them my number and had them ring me when they were available. Fortunately, my schedule on that day permitted and we were able to meet up for a while. I know them both from San Diego when I worked at Sharp Hospital. Marilou is one of my personal heroes, having undergone a heart transplant around mid-2006 if memory serves me correct. She had a difficult time during her recovery at first, but soon found her groove and proceeded to perform like the champ she is. I've seen a LOT of people with heart transplants come through the program and I will confess, they must've put the heart of a lion in her! We took a scenic drive around the perimeter of Wellington before dropping them off at the cruise ship terminal. A sad goodbye, but then again, in my world, a goodbye is merely what precedes our next meeting!!
It's always great to get visitors from back home. Of course, I can say "home" when I refer to either New Jersey or California. Much to my pleasure, I was greeted with visitors from both homes in February. Legendary local NJ surfer Kevin Morris made a cameo appearance in
Wellington in mid-Feb while on honeymoon with his lovely wife Dana. They arrived into Christchurch on the south island, rented a camper van, and drove around the south island and finished off on the north island, passing through Wellington on the way. There's always a sense of belonging when someone from passes through. It was such an odd feeling being all the way in New Zealand and talking about people and places from my childhood. We both surfed for our respective high schools back in the day, so we used to see each other out in the water quite a bit. I think the last time we saw each other was in 1999 when I passed through NJ at the end of my big 1998/99 around the world trip. We were able to get out to the Wairarapa for some surf, but the swell was too big, mixed up, and from the wrong direction. We did manage to squeeze in a surf, but it really didn't turn on the goods like we'd hoped!Then about a week later, Frank and Marilou Radford from San Diego graced me with their
presence while doing a cruise around New Zealand. There was a stop off in Wellington, so I gave
them my number and had them ring me when they were available. Fortunately, my schedule on that day permitted and we were able to meet up for a while. I know them both from San Diego when I worked at Sharp Hospital. Marilou is one of my personal heroes, having undergone a heart transplant around mid-2006 if memory serves me correct. She had a difficult time during her recovery at first, but soon found her groove and proceeded to perform like the champ she is. I've seen a LOT of people with heart transplants come through the program and I will confess, they must've put the heart of a lion in her! We took a scenic drive around the perimeter of Wellington before dropping them off at the cruise ship terminal. A sad goodbye, but then again, in my world, a goodbye is merely what precedes our next meeting!!
18. Sex in the City? Nah, sex in the SHOWER!!
Ok ok, I've been busy. Gimme a break already!
To all my demanding travelblogue "fans" around the world, I apologize for being so profusely scarce. I've been flat out with a combination of both PhD work and work to keep a roof over my head and food in my mouth. Since my last writing, I have moved out of my previous arrangement in Pukerua Bay due to it being approximately to 30 minutes from town, so in terms of driving time and petrol, it was getting to be a bit of a bear and was wearing me down both physically and mentally. On top of that, my living situation was turning into a major drag on my energy. Let me explain....
You see, my former flatmate, as darling and sweet as she was, never really clued in that her mother and the maid didn't work there, or that maybe it's not not the most considerate gesture to clop around the house at 7am in wooden heels on a hardwood floor, slamming doors when it would have been just as easy to shut it gently. I lost count of how many times I was woken up by unnecessary noise, as if there was nobody else even living there. I was also subjected to the audio version of the bathroom sex show when her and her boyfriend would "have fun" in the shower, either in the morning or at night. This didn't bother me so much except for the fact that it was right up against my bedroom. I entertained the idea of reciprocating with my own brand of noise while she was sleeping, but I figured two wrongs don't make a right.....but two lefts do. I just bided my time and dealt with it knowing I was on my way out. To do anything else was simply too much negative energy to expend.
Regarding responsibility, I guess when your parents buy you a house for a few hundred grand, you tend to take things for granted. As I mentioned, she didn't quite clue in that mommy and the maid weren't stopping in for clean up duty. The common area was almost constantly in a state of disarray, looking like a hurricane swept through the place. Dishes sat on the counter and in the sink for days on end. Dried spills on the counter sat there unattended.
The living area where the "office" was looked like a perpetual distaster zone. Now I'll be the first to confess, I get busy and things get a bit disorganized from time to time, but I do get around to giving it a good tidying from time to time. I am also concerned about those around me because I don't think it's fair to leave the common area a mess, simply out of common respect. Unfortunately, this was not reciprocated....at all. As for the privacy of the bedroom, I could care less she wanted to leave chicken carcasses under her pillow. I'm completely indifferent. But when it encroaches upon my ability to have a nice respectable place to call home, then I have to draw the line. And you might ask, "well did you say anything?" The answer is NO. By the time it really got under my skin, I had already signed a lease for my new place in Miramar. I figured that if I had to tell somebody to exercise common courtesy then they simply wouldn't understand. To me, it's common sense, but then if common sense was common, everyone would have it. We should all be so lucky
I now live in nice clean two story flat (apartment) in the Miramar part of Wellington just next ot the airport. We get a little airport noise, but it's not so bad. My new flatmate, Stuart, is absolutely PERFECT. He's the epitome of the kind, considerate, clean flatmate we all so desperately desire. He has his PhD already so he understands what I'm going through. He's gainfully employed on contract here in New Zealand from the UK. I couldn't be more pleased. In fact, everything my former flatmate was, he's the diametric polar opposite. And he's much more savvy with computers than I am, so I'm learning heaps of new tricks on the computer, HTML programming tricks, etc. As you can see in the photo, observe the profound beauty of something so simple as a clean kitchen. Observe the conspicuous absence of stains on the countertops. Life is good!
To all my demanding travelblogue "fans" around the world, I apologize for being so profusely scarce. I've been flat out with a combination of both PhD work and work to keep a roof over my head and food in my mouth. Since my last writing, I have moved out of my previous arrangement in Pukerua Bay due to it being approximately to 30 minutes from town, so in terms of driving time and petrol, it was getting to be a bit of a bear and was wearing me down both physically and mentally. On top of that, my living situation was turning into a major drag on my energy. Let me explain....
The maid called, she said she won't be in today......or ever. Clean up after yourself
You see, my former flatmate, as darling and sweet as she was, never really clued in that her mother and the maid didn't work there, or that maybe it's not not the most considerate gesture to clop around the house at 7am in wooden heels on a hardwood floor, slamming doors when it would have been just as easy to shut it gently. I lost count of how many times I was woken up by unnecessary noise, as if there was nobody else even living there. I was also subjected to the audio version of the bathroom sex show when her and her boyfriend would "have fun" in the shower, either in the morning or at night. This didn't bother me so much except for the fact that it was right up against my bedroom. I entertained the idea of reciprocating with my own brand of noise while she was sleeping, but I figured two wrongs don't make a right.....but two lefts do. I just bided my time and dealt with it knowing I was on my way out. To do anything else was simply too much negative energy to expend. You mean dried veggie juice on the countertop for 4 days isn't acceptable?
Regarding responsibility, I guess when your parents buy you a house for a few hundred grand, you tend to take things for granted. As I mentioned, she didn't quite clue in that mommy and the maid weren't stopping in for clean up duty. The common area was almost constantly in a state of disarray, looking like a hurricane swept through the place. Dishes sat on the counter and in the sink for days on end. Dried spills on the counter sat there unattended. If common sense were common, it would be a better world for all of us
The living area where the "office" was looked like a perpetual distaster zone. Now I'll be the first to confess, I get busy and things get a bit disorganized from time to time, but I do get around to giving it a good tidying from time to time. I am also concerned about those around me because I don't think it's fair to leave the common area a mess, simply out of common respect. Unfortunately, this was not reciprocated....at all. As for the privacy of the bedroom, I could care less she wanted to leave chicken carcasses under her pillow. I'm completely indifferent. But when it encroaches upon my ability to have a nice respectable place to call home, then I have to draw the line. And you might ask, "well did you say anything?" The answer is NO. By the time it really got under my skin, I had already signed a lease for my new place in Miramar. I figured that if I had to tell somebody to exercise common courtesy then they simply wouldn't understand. To me, it's common sense, but then if common sense was common, everyone would have it. We should all be so lucky Miramar
I now live in nice clean two story flat (apartment) in the Miramar part of Wellington just next ot the airport. We get a little airport noise, but it's not so bad. My new flatmate, Stuart, is absolutely PERFECT. He's the epitome of the kind, considerate, clean flatmate we all so desperately desire. He has his PhD already so he understands what I'm going through. He's gainfully employed on contract here in New Zealand from the UK. I couldn't be more pleased. In fact, everything my former flatmate was, he's the diametric polar opposite. And he's much more savvy with computers than I am, so I'm learning heaps of new tricks on the computer, HTML programming tricks, etc. As you can see in the photo, observe the profound beauty of something so simple as a clean kitchen. Observe the conspicuous absence of stains on the countertops. Life is good!
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