Monkkee's Got Wind

Cupcake Giveaway on my new blog

2010-04-13T22:01:00.002+12:00

Visit my new blog at http://www.eggshellgreen.com and enter the Cupcake Giveaway!
Entries close Monday 19 April 2010.

New blog

2008-12-08T12:54:00.000+13:00

My new blog is at http://www.eggshellgreen.com

Cheers!

Benhi

Counting Down

2008-01-19T12:39:00.000+13:00

4 weeks until the wedding - whoop! The weather is getting better and I'm getting rather excited. I still have shoes to find though. Wish I didn't have the smallest of adult feet! And they have to be wide too. What a nightmare trying to find shoes that fit and are also comfortable and safe to wear. I will have to find shoes soon as that will determine how much of my dress we'll need to crop. Like that lady at the shop said, I am very short!

So what else is left to do? We will be finalising the venue setup on Monday and the ceremony by the end of the month (with a rehearsal later on). We also need to decide on what booze we want (Neil's father is kindly supplying the wine), and the music for the day. There is also a need to get some wine glasses and other bits that the Dransfield doesn't already have.

A work mate is having his reception at Dransfield tonight so I will be keen to see some photos and steal some ideas :) I think the key is keeping it simple. As I've been told by several people, the small details don't really matter as the day should be about celebrating and being merry :)

No pain, no gain

2007-05-01T18:37:00.000+12:00

In light of my quest for self-beautification, brought on by the impending wedding (which is actually still at least 10 months away), I decided to try out IPL. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would! Maybe I'm just a wuss but I haven't felt that sort of sensation before. It was short bursts of *very* hot light, and it felt like lots of needles pricking my skin. It brought on a bit of a sweat - whether it was from the heat or from the anticipation of the next "shot" I'm not sure. If you ever get IPL, ask for an ice pack to numb the skin - I really needed one!
Right now I am still at work. Not working, just waiting for Leon to get into the city from Upper Hutt so we can catch up. Leon is down from Auckland *again* for work. His work has asked him to relocate and he's thinking about it. Saves them money I guess, seeing how many times he has had to come down so far. Might go the Feathers for dinner. Right now I'm keen for pub food. It must be the weather - winter has arrived. But at least I'll get to spend a week of it in the Gold Coast this year :)

An Announcement

2007-04-25T12:27:00.000+12:00

For the sake of our friends abroad (namely Robert, Carly, Megan and Celeste), just wanting to let you know that Neil and I have set a date for our wedding - 16 February 2008. And can Robert please log in to his MSN Messenger and let us know how we can best contact him for future updates? Cheers!

Stormy nights and strange dreams

2007-03-14T20:38:00.000+13:00

Rain! Yes it's bucketing down today. The cold snap has indeed arrived and it feels like the "change in weather" is taking its toll on me. Or maybe its just extra dusty in the house and my hayfever is playing up. Whatever it is, my face feels like it could explode, and I'm so tired - the second part is not so unusual as I do love my sleep. And with the weather cooling down, maybe I won't get so many weird dreams. I always seem to get a handful of the same strange dreams: trying to get gum off my teeth but the more I pull the more there seems to be until I pull a tooth out; getting stuck in elevators that just keep going up and down; not being able to dial a phone number because I keep on dialling the wrong numbers or taking too long; vicious dogs trying to get into the house (and you have to make sure all the windows are locked because they can jump that high); the more usual flying dreams and turning up naked dreams; and then there are the cool super hero dreams. The strangest dream I recall is the one where the rotweilers from the DB bitter ads (you know, the ones wearing the dark sunnies) were firing machine guns at us while we were taking cover in my parents' house - all the meanwhile a miniature bull was rampaging around the property. Try and decipher that one! I have to go and find out what my other dreams might mean now.

Skid and crunch - not a good sound...

2007-03-13T22:05:00.000+13:00

Well it's been a while since my last blog. And a while since I cut my fingernails because they're getting in the way of my typing.

Summer seems to have finally come and gone for New Zealand yet again. We've had a lot of good weather lately, but only lately. Now we are expecting a cold snap tomorrow, with snow in some parts and it's only the start of Autumn.

I was interrupted from my thoughts just then because there was a(nother) car accident outside of our house. Looks like someone came around the corner too fast and skidded on the wet road, spinning across to the other side and ending up rear-ending someone's stone wall. We thought it was a hatchback, until the towie pryed it from the wall and it was in fact a sedan! Me thinks the car's going to the wreckers after tonight. That was our 30 minutes of reality tv.

Last week it was a car that didn't even make it around the corner. It drove straight through the bend, over the road island, knocking through someone's fence and then lodged itself into another house. There have been numerous bang ups on little Wellington Road, each one making your heart skip a beat when you hear that ominous screech and then a crunch. Perhaps it has something to do with the short 70kph speed zone just before it, that suddenly changes to a 50 zone as you get to the corner. It would make a whole lot more sense if the whole stretch (and it's only a small one) was a 50 zone. Anyway, these things may have contributed to the 7 properties having been sold along this road in the last year and a half. Our neighbour told us that even our property was crashed into years ago, causing a gas leak. Let's hope people take a little more caution on the roads. And easy on the rubber-necking too folks! Also, be careful rushing to the windows wearing socks on polished floors.

How bizarre

2006-11-16T18:52:00.000+13:00

Our office was burgled last night! What a strange thing to happen seeing as the building is supposed to be secure and we're on the 10th floor. Appears that there are no signs of forced entry and no other floors are affected so it's all a bit fishy. Also, the buggers were very selective as they only took the newest of our laptops, plus some cash. They may even be a bit a slow as they decided to steal the handful of coins off someone's desk but only after emptying it out of the zip-lock bag and leaving the bag behind. So that's off to the labs for some finger-printing. What's also funny is that only the notes from the petty cash box were taken and not the coins.

It was all quite exciting though having the police investigating the scene and asking questions etc. Hope they get the b*stards.

In other news, Neil's building had to be evacuated because there was a gas leak. At least we didn't have to stand outside in the rain in our case.

Something from the archives

2006-11-14T20:42:00.000+13:00

This was Halloween a few years back. Neil immediately thought of this when he heard Carly needed glasses! I'm sure hers are much nicer though :)

yawn

2006-11-03T19:34:00.000+13:00

Waking up at an ungodly 5:30am today has left me feeling like I'm in constant need of a coffee. Too bad I don't really like coffee (unless it's accompanied by a sweet treat). Today was the Standards New Zealand annual forum - a chance to recap the the year with SNZ stakeholders and thank those who've made a difference. For me, it was to learn a little more about what SNZ is all about - the free breakfast and memory stick were only *small* incentives to attend :)

An auntie again!

2006-10-14T08:06:00.000+13:00

My brother's wife gave birth to their little boy at about 3am this morning. He's 8 weeks early so they haven't quite decided on a name, but it looks like "Leon" is the favoured one so far. He won't be coming home for 4 more weeks, and I won't get to see him till about Christmas when we can get to Auckland, but it's so exciting. Congrats to them both! And let's hope Stacey (the terrible-two'er) won't be shoving Play-doh up this baby's nose!

Barbecue blues

2006-10-09T22:01:00.000+13:00

We asked for the instructions and missing washers to our bbq to be sent to us - got those today, but we are *still* missing 18 washers!! GRrrR. On the brighter side; we got our fridge back this morning - yay. I can now find all my frozen goods again (too bad there's no ice cream in there though).

This weather continues to blow

2006-10-07T15:27:00.000+13:00

... and blowing hard it is! Made the mistake of putting our washing outside today. It was looking a bit grey so I had them hanging on the clothes airer inside but decided to put this on the deck as the weather was looking nicer. Then we heard a crash as our clothes airer had taken flight and had landed upside down at the bottom of the steps! There were undies every where - and our neighbour happened to be outside at the same time doing her washing (the proper way with fancy pegs and things). Shame.
We got another charcoal BBQ today - our third in the last year, but this is *the* one. I got this particular one for my brother one Christmas, and wanted one myself but it seemed that noone was selling them anymore. So we ended up having to buy substitutes, and when I saw the bbq advertised on Wednesday I knew I had to get it. Unfortunately, when we went to assemble it we found we were missing some instructions as well as some parts. Don't you hate it when that happens? Seems to happen a lot to us. There always seems to be something broken, missing or not quite right with most of our purchases. I think we're retail-cursed :[

This weather blows

2006-10-05T20:58:00.000+13:00

Well it's been a week since I started my new job, and I even got paid yesterday - woohoo! It's so good to be earning again. I am still getting used to my role title - IT developer. It's my geekiest title yet! And I'll even have it on my business card - whenever it is that they'll arrive... Talking about things arriving, our couches finally turned up albeit 2 weeks late. They are so luffly! Now all we're waiting for is the return of our fridge/freezer which we finally got around to getting it looked at because its noises were beginning to wake us up...
And how about this weather we're having eh? Auckland is as rainy as ever, with flooding in Ranui?! Wellington is damn windy and the temperature's suddenly cold again. I'm *so* looking forward to summer. Can't wait for those summer vegies either. Our seedlings are coming along just fine. The only problem is now we have to figure out where to plant them all. We're not growing so many tomatoes this time round, but we're also extending our range and having cucumbers and zucchini in the mix. Mmmm, home grown vegies, especially the corn. *So* good!

One more day of being a bum

2006-09-25T14:24:00.000+12:00

And my bum can't even be comfortable because our couches haven't arrived yet. I chased them up Friday afternoon and found out that apparently they're not even available for delivery. Nice of them to keep us informed... well that's post-sales customer care for you!
Went into the MED today for a nice morning tea to offially detach myself - and to collect my "poo" (something that was given to me in Hong Kong to hold a roll of toilet tissue, and we've decided that it must be a poo because what else is brown and has a maggot friend...). I also bought myself two pairs of pants today, and they weren't even jeans, so hooray. Just readying myself for my new job which seems to be really an excuse to go shopping.

I got me a job!

2006-09-21T16:57:00.001+12:00

So I'm no longer a bum - well, I'm still a bum until next Wednesday when I start I suppose. But at least I can buy things now without feeling *too* guilty. Whoopie. And our new leather couches are arriving tomorrow - double whoopie!

'tis Talk Like a Pirate Day

2006-09-19T14:10:00.000+12:00

So...
Roll yer r's and drop yer g's
And we can be havin'
A jolly rum-swiggin'
Day o'er the seven seas.
Else yer ship be sank,
'tis time for the plank
*har de harr arr* me maties!

By the way

2006-09-05T13:14:00.000+12:00

I'm not saying that tipping is entirely bad, but for some people to expect it before the service, that's just screwed.

I love NZ

2006-09-05T12:46:00.000+12:00

Yay, we are back in New Zealand! Thank goodness. After 4 weeks of USA, it's so good to hear the kiwi accents, and be amongst the relaxed atmosphere of the Long White Cloud. And no more having to work out how much to tip people! Damn that's an annoying custom. If you don't tip the hotel maid, she might not clean your room properly (so I heard). If you don't tip the tour guide, she might scream at you on the bus! Travel tip: if you plan to take a bus tour from Boston, think twice about booking with a Chinese company, especially Sunshine Travel Tours (Boston). This was the worst tour I had ever been on in my life, and the tour guide was such a witch during the 3 days that we refused to tip her at the end (we have a huge list of all the things she did/did not do, including misleading (and sometimes missing) instructions, not offering to help when one of our rooms was double-booked, and forgetting about my parents in the park where she told them she would be back to get them). That resulted in public verbal abuse which was only diffused by my aunty giving her the cold cash (which still really didn't shut her up). I can't believe this company *expected* you to give the US$15 tip at the beginning of the tour. She had already shouted at us (after giving us the wrong instructions on where to sit on the bus) before we even took off, so we told her she would get her tip at the end as this was based on service. It went downhill from there. We sent an email complaint to the company using the email addresses on their website. Out of the 5 addresses they had, 2 actually made it somewhere - I assume so anyway as there has been no reply yet. I don't expect a reply anyway. But never in my life have I had such a bad experience with any kind of business. We were not the only ones that agreed she lacked professionalism and had a bad attitude (but everyone else had already paid the "gratuity" at the beginning). This gratuity, according to the pamphlet she flung at us, is for the "courteous service" of the tour guide. Courteous service my arse!
We were planning on taking their bus to NY, but easily decided against it after this tour. Seems like we weren't the only ones frustrated with Sunshine Travel, as this story proves. Take note of the comment about the on-board toilet - for emergencies only - duh. Our tour guide emphasised that we shouldn't use their toilet if we could avoid it, and that she would "not be cleaning it" if we created a mess. How patronising! Anyway, that is my review and I hope it serves as a warning to others.

We got ripped off

2006-08-15T17:50:00.000+12:00

Can't trust those dodgy Tijuanians! We did get a nice bottle of tequila, albeit US$5 more than it should have been and that was *after* the "$20 discount"!! We now also have a humungous sombrero (which we also haggled for and found out it was worth the lower price elsewhere anyway). Ooh, I forgot to mention that you can get 99 cent margaritas in Las Vegas - exxxcellent.

The trip so far

2006-08-13T06:47:00.000+12:00

It's been a very busy 11 days since we left New Zealand. We have made it into the US thank goodness. Customs was a very intimidating process involving fingerprinting and photographs and several check-points with burly uniformed officers on patrol.

It is hot here but I've been told it's cooled down quite a bit since the heat wave. Hard to imagine what it was like then as we had 41 degree weather while travelling to Las Vegas and that was certainly hot enough for me. I am almost beginning to miss the Wellington southerlies!

Las Vegas is the strangest town I have ever been to. It's relatively normal during the day (apart from the odd roller-coaster attached to hotels) but come night it's one *gigantic* light show. And the pokie machines were great although I was a bit disappointed that many of the pull-levers didn't actually work. Gamblor's heaven.

Heading to San Diego tonight.

Quick summary:

Cities visited

Sydney
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Barstow

Attractions

Sydney Opera House, Bridge and Tower
Universal Studios, China Town, Hollywood
Lots of casinos in Las Vegas
Fremont Street Experience
Grand Canyon
Barstow Outlet Malls (not the most exciting but it was included in the Las Vegas tour and we got some very cheap Vans and Levis)

What a Bum

2006-07-28T11:40:00.000+12:00

Well I am officially an unemployed bum again (as Neil always likes to call me). My fixed term came to an end on Wednesday, and it was a hard decision but I decided not to take on another fixed term and it would be best for me to spread my wings a bit more. So... on the job hunt again - one of the worst things to have do to - the searching, the phone calls, the interviews, the waiting etc. etc. *argh*.
Anyway, we're about to embark on our big trip so I'll have to allow myself to de-stress for that. I will try not to worry about anything until I come back. All I'm going to do is eat, drink and be merry! And perhaps some sight-seeing in between.

"Rise of Robert" Returns

2006-07-15T16:08:00.000+12:00

The Rise of Robert [link to YouTube website] clip has a new home and is available once more.

Rise of Robert

2006-07-14T22:33:00.000+12:00

Does your family know that you're possessed Robert?

[sorry folks, angelfire didn't like the movie and closed the site down after a day... not sure why, maybe they found Robert offensive]

Remember the Good Ol' Times

2006-07-14T21:12:00.000+12:00

Some of you may remember back when digital cameras were big, black and plastic, and alcopops were favoured over beer and wine, I had a website that was dedicated to capturing all of our fool-hardy moments. The Picture Gallery is still up and running, although some pages may no longer work (that may be due to the fact that I used to get too much traffic to the pages and they didn't like it that I didn't have to pay anything...). Unfortunately, the Shame page is one of those not working anymore.

Winter Blues

2006-07-11T21:19:00.000+12:00

The Wellington wind broke my umbrella today :[

So what's been going on lately then...?

2006-06-20T20:00:00.000+12:00

Leon is currently down in Wellie, so it's good catching up with him again. We will have to go to the Cambridge tomorrow for the free bbq with a drink deal followed by pub quiz - yay, pub quiz again. I've missed those pub quizzes at Shadz... ah Shadz, the only place where the bouncers recognised me and hence I actually didn't have to show ID - even though after 4 years they still didn't know my name but somehow remembered Neil's, bastard.
So I hear that our friends Sarah and Daniel are not only engaged but also pregnant! How exciting, there will soon be little Danrahs (or at least one) running around. No doubt they will be getting married before Neil and I even decide which city to have our wedding in. We better get our act together before all of our guests decide to ditch New Zealand for Boozy Britain.
USA, here we come! Our next holiday is in the midst, and this time it will be an interesting one with my parents (*shriek*) joining Neil and I. I'm really looking forward to it - Boston cremes, Walmart, Pop Eyes, hot-dog stands etc., all those things that Americans take for granted, sometimes excessively. It's kinda like having Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts, Mamuska's Cheesecake Shop, good Asian grocers and calm days in Auckland and living in Wellington *sigh*. Anyway, I'm actually going to finally visit Australia, as well as Canada, and hopefully Mexico at the same time.
It's cold. Was 5 degrees this morning, but tomorrow's high should be 14 which is rather warm in comparison to late. At least they've fixed the heating at work now so I don't have to wear my jacket indoors - whoopie!

Sick and tired...

2006-05-16T16:53:00.000+12:00

Literally.
I've taken the last couple of days off work cause I'm sick *sigh*. It's the winter blues again. Doesn't help that I've got a cold sore too so whenever I sneeze I have to be careful or else the cold sore cracks and it *really* hurts. Woe-is-me. At least I can take advantage of Neil when he's home - "Can you get me a hot drink please... because I'm sick" etc.

Don't Park at Wellington Airport

2006-04-30T10:16:00.000+12:00

If you can avoid it, please join me in a stand to boycott parking at Wellington Airport. After waiting around for about 20 minutes the airport finally told us that my parent's incoming flight was going to be delayed by over an hour (doesn't take a genius to figure that out as by then it was 15 minutes after their scheduled arrival time, and of course also past the cut-off point for free parking). We decided it wasn't worth going home and coming back in an hour as it would have cost the same if more in parking fees, so we waited. After a couple more delays my parents finally arrived, and we ended up clocking exactly 3 hours and 0 minutes (as the receipt says) of parking. Already frustrated by the lack of communication that resulted in the 3 hour wait, we were then charged for 3 and a half hours! The explanation here is that (conveniently for them) the next half hour rolled over on exactly the hour, but I don't see how it's $12 for 120 minutes, and $2 every half hour thereafter equates to $18, as there are only 2 half hours in an hour right??? If I had parked there for 3 hours and 1 minute that would have been logically to charge $18. It makes me laugh that upon ringing their staff, I ensured that parking for 3 hours exactly would cost $16!! This shows how badly explained their parking schedules are (both on their website and on the carpark signs). The business manager I contacted will not even offer a $2 refund to settle this descrepancy and has chosen to ignore my requests on how they intend to ensure that other consumers will not be charged for the next time bracket when they assume otherwise. Oh, did I mention that this little airport charges more for short-term parking than the larger Auckland airport? I have no intention of ever parking there again and encouraging others to park a little further outside the airport grounds for free and walk (which we did when we farewelled my parents).

Food and Look-a-likes

2006-04-05T22:16:00.000+12:00

Me bad. I had McDonald's for lunch today - only a McChicken burger but I later found out that I have to do at least 25km on my exercycle to burn it off… It's all been about food this week. There is still half a cheesecake left in the fridge as Neil was sick the day I made it and has had only one piece so far (yes, 'twas me that had the others). I also baked myself a French stick which was very scrumptuous and way too large (and Neil has only had one piece of that too). Also, we had "Train the Trainer" training yesterday at work, and that was fully catered… all the meanwhile our Sunday market greens are wilting.
I've just read Leon's blog about being robbed (again) and all his body piercing rings have been taken. I hope that doesn't include "you know what you know where"! And does anyone else think Leon with a beard looks disturbingly like Al Borland? :) Can't be worse than someone thinking Neil looked like Nick from Shortland St! Or that waitress in Palmie that could have been Robert's twin sister… Tee hee hee.

Draw a pig

2006-04-04T21:41:00.000+12:00

A site I got from Carly's blog - draw a pig and have it analysed… (I took the test for "real" but then decided to have a bit of fun and draw another). I should've drawn a pig on a swing eh Robert? I wonder if that picture is still on that whiteboard…

Benhi Scores With the Baseball Team

2006-02-16T19:21:00.001+13:00

This is something I found while searching for my name on Google (was bored). Seems like I have quite a bit of history with the Bennington baseball team - and those 60's boys wearing my name on their shirts - oh shucks.

Monkkee's got lots of wind!

2006-01-07T10:38:00.000+13:00

Camping was a lot windier than anyone expected this year. In fact, there was more wind in Waikawau than I have had (yet) in Wellington! The gazebos broke under the strain and had to be dismantled (relieving my paranoia about being impaled by flying poles in my sleep). Even our camping chairs had to be laid down to stop them from flying away. It was crazy, or some might even say, retarded.
Anyway, apart from the constant gusts and the involuntary exfoliation received on the beach (legs good, eyes bad), it was a good trip. I made it to New Year's - yay, but had to retire soon after midnight because of the cold I was developing. Being sick on holiday is not the best, and Neil and I left that morning for our long drive back to Wellington. We only made it to Palmie because of the long break I had to take an hour into the trip to throw up in the public loo of some quaint little coastal town. Yes, being sick on holiday is not the best. But now the holiday is over, and it was Neil's birthday yesterday (Jan 6 - 2 years till 30 now). And because I was crook all week, the only thing I managed to give Neil for his birthday was my cold...

What is it with this season?

2005-12-09T20:50:00.000+13:00

Two weeks till Xmas huh... is it just me or does it get really busy at work every year at this time? Anyway, the 10 days off will be well received (yay for the 3-days-between-xmas-and-new-years "Ministry" holiday that doesn't come off your annual leave!). Can't wait. Palmie, Auckland, then Coromandel for New Year's.
Must tell you about yesterday. I got followed home by a Tongan man wanting to be my boyfriend... it was the most uncomfortable 15 min walk ever. His English wasn't very good and he had lots of trouble getting the point when I said I was engaged, had a fiance, lived with my fiance, and even when I had to say bluntly "I already have a boyfriend" he didn't quite get that I wasn't interested. I had to walk past my house because I didn't want him knowing where I lived. Thank god for the dairy on the corner where I managed to fob him off by making the excuse that I had to buy something. I won't be walking home at that time again!
Hmm, I think a Baileys and coffee calls.

What have we here...

2005-11-16T18:45:00.000+13:00

The things you find out once you move into a house:
- you have a lemon tree
- you have a peach tree
- you have a lancewood
- you have absolutely no insulation
- your ceilings are too high to easily install insulation
- there's a giant lampshade stored in the roof (and a fully assembled desk which is impossibly bigger than the trap door)
- there are condom wrappers in the roof
- there's an empty packet of very ancient-looking Nestle's Cherry Milk up there too
- it gets loud along Wellington Rd
- the ex-tenants did not clean
- the ex-tenants grew pot

Tremors

2005-10-10T14:19:00.000+13:00

I had my first earthquake last night - 11:22pm, it was stormy and then it was shakey. Was only a 3.9 and I'm told that's wussy, but it was quite an experience for someone who had never been in one. I'm sure Wellington has plenty more where that came from.

Score!

2005-10-05T14:20:00.000+13:00

Well not really - it was there all along. I'm talking about the 4th bedroom of the house we bought. I managed to find another real estate site that still had our listing posted and after examining the pictures we can confirm there *are* 4 bedrooms - what a bonus! The ad did say there were 3/4 bedrooms but we could only remember 3 bedrooms plus the lounge at the back that could be closed off and assumed that must be the other potential 4th bedroom. How embarrassing that we couldn't remember a crucial detail like that (although it *had* been a month after the open home that we bought the house at auction). And Neil and I were arguing about which side had 2 bedrooms and which had 1 - turns out that both sides have 2!

Anyway, how excellent is that. I'm doubley-excited now. Oh, and this is the deck on which I will be enjoying margaritas in the sun :]

Oh poos

2005-10-03T06:20:00.000+13:00

The market's going to be closing soon, but Neil's stil in bed. He was at work till 4am last night so I don't blame him. I just need to get some avocados and some other veges. The Victoria St market here is about the best market in Wellington (that we know of). It's nothing compared to the Avondale one in Auckland though, but it will do (and it is far better than wasting your money on veges at the supermarket).
The weather's turning to crap again *sigh*. I was looking forward to exploring more of Wellington again today. Since we haven't had to house hunt these last few weeks, we've been having a few long walks around Wellington - it started as an excuse to do a "walk-by" of our new house. We've gone for a hike up around one of the bays, spent two hours walking around Kilbirnie and Lyall Bay, and last week we walked over Mt Vic and down to Oriental Bay to see the mountain running competition. We got free potatoes on the way (apparently the runners are powered by potatoes, by "La Fraiche" branded ones in particular). I will probably have to wait until next weekend to exercise again.

Who's Got the Giant Buns

2005-09-29T20:25:00.000+12:00

Neil and I will be coming up to Auckland for the weekend October 14 to 17 - so you guys better keep a day free to catch up (you know who you are...).
Been having a few morning/afternoon teas at the MED this week. Sad to see Melissa leave, and Sheetal's last day is tomorrow (another morning tea - yay!). Gotta love the morning teas. In other fattening news, does anyone else take advantage of New World's gigantuous chelsea buns?? For only $1.50 you get a plate-sized chelsea bun with lots of raisins, cinnamon and icing - spread the word :) And that's another thing - we've become New World shoppers ever since moving to Wellington. Hardly a Foodtown or Woolworths in sight, but we did find a Pak 'n Save which happens to be near our new house. Can't wait - only 4 more weeks...

Chilly Willies

2005-09-23T15:50:00.000+12:00

If I was a guy, I'd have shrinkage... it's been damn cold here in NZ this last few days hasn't it? Last week I was breathing a sigh of relief as I thought Spring had finally arrived. Then we got that cold snap. People warned me about the Wellington southerlies - "what-ever" I thought, "wind is wind"... So out came the hot drinks and biccies again - I'm having one right now. Chocolate chippie cookies and coffee... mmm. I deserve these cookies, after doing that mountainous load of dishes. Flat-dishes eh... 2-day old steak left-overs still sitting in the plate (puddles of "jus" or more like blood thrown in for free), forks stuck to plates, the food containers that you don't want to open to clean out, and so forth.
Anyway, only 36 more sleeps until we get to move into our new house - whoopie!

No more open homes...

2005-09-16T15:20:00.000+12:00

.. cause we've bought a house!! YAY!

The auction was tonight and we really didn't expect to come home as home-owners but whoopie! We are sooo happy.

Well here are some pictures of our soon-to-be abode (unfortunately these are the only ones available now because the listing has been taken down). Notice the wooden floors, high ceilings, deck, french doors, and don't forget the sunshine! Plus it has a large back yard.
We get the place on 28 October and hopefully we can resume normalcy. You can only live out of boxes for so long and 5 months seems to be a good limit. I am so stoked - what a high - *breathe*.

New Bed and Avocado Trees

2005-09-06T14:00:00.000+12:00

We got a new bed - yay!
We already have a bed in storage but that's in Lower Hutt and we needed a new bed anyway because the springs were beginning to do funny things to me. After much trouble we no longer have to sleep on the floor (and I don't have to be careful about shattering my tailbone when I plonk myself down). Ahhh, a wonderful slab of heaven I reckon. And we got free pillows, and free delivery. And to think that other companies lost out on our business because they were too cheap to add in that little touch of sweetness for the customer (what's a couple of cheap pillows anyway, and delivery should be free I say). Let that be a lesson to you! Praise the delivery men for hiking the bits down the steps to the house and then up the stairs into our room. Oh by the way, we haven't bought a house yet. We're currently staying at yet another "temporary" location until we do find something we're willing to give our freedom to - bye bye luxuries then eh... *sob*.
But I do hope this arrangement doesn't drag on too long because I miss having everything I need with me - that and my avocado tree needs a home! I grew it from seed in a shot glass, and 7 months later it's almost fruiting - BHAHAHAaA - excuse me while I get back on my chair. Just needs a little nurturing and a graft from another tree, that's all.
It does grow fast anyway - the first picture was taken on 22 July, the second 15 August and the third on 3 September. I have another sprouting in a shot glass and that'll need re-potting and planting soon too.
Ooh, Shorty Street is on so better go!

Consumers Beware #1: KFC Nuggets

2005-09-05T16:09:00.000+12:00

Spending endless hours driving around and attending open homes on Sundays has more drawbacks than just paying $40 and only getting 26 litres of petrol. You get hungry - and that usually means fast food... and today I succombed to the lure of the new KFC chicken nuggets. Mainly because I had been wondering for so long as to why they didn't do them - and I have a thing for being a chicken-nugget critic.
Ok, so we all know that chicken nuggets in general are going to include the processed bits of the chicken that they can't give a label to if they wanted to sell it as meat. However, when you claim something is 100% chicken breast then one would expect it to be 100% chicken breast. So then why are these new chicken nuggets at KFC so spongey and soft? If you want to break it down, it may be fair to say that they are constituted by the following: 50% chicken, 40% spongey white matter (perhaps the coagulated run-offs of the chicken meat...?) and 10% air. Might be a good recipe for a type of chicken souffle dish but where's this 100% chicken breast they're talking about? Maybe they were meaning that the portion of meat that is actually there is 100% chicken breast (which can explain the absence of the grey-brown stuff that can usually be found distributed in many other nuggets - beats the segments of arterial tubing that you find in sausages though)? Maybe seeing as most businesses like to aim for 110% that 100% means something slightly different today? Who knows. It still tasted good, I admit, and I can confidently say that was due to good ol' flavour enhancer 621 - what a life-saver. High ratings for the taste, low ratings for the respectively low level of chicken breast. Maybe wash it down with some beer, like Timmeh Tater here, and move on.

Breaking wind...

2005-08-25T20:34:00.000+12:00

Hi guys. Just created this blog and I have to christen it with a post.

Not doing much lately except for house-hunting and working. I'm currently at the Ministry of Economic Development (you move to Wellington and work for the government, of course), as a web administrator. I fiddle with the MED website all day :) (if there're any errors on that site, it wasn't me, it was the other administrator, honest...hehe).

I miss being a jafa (there are too many hills and too much wind and too many politicians and protestors...) but I say that because I miss all my friends and family.

I hope this googley-eyed pooch didn't scare too many of you (she looks less insane in the picture below...). Her name's Jackie, and Dino made friends with her while in Hong Kong (for those who don't know what Dino is, he's Neil's $2 claw-game prize that the people at gen-i like to take on holidays). Just wanting to share her beautiful picture, that's all.