Preparation.

We leave this afternoon for Rarotonga. The cats stay home.

A week ago, Tama escaped AGAIN, and we found him wandering the neighbor's driveway, scared and meowing. What took place after that was an annoying chase around the driveway as Tama ran under the neighbor's car, then back out again -- all of this in the pouring rain at 9pm. I was on my stomach, half under the car, with a bag of treats. Eventually I got a hold of Tama's back leg and dragged him out. We were both soaking wet and filthy. Not a good time.

Subsequently, both cats will be locked inside for the duration of our trip -- our vacation would be RUINED if we got a call from the cat sitter saying that Tama had gotten out again. Yesterday, we locked and covered up the cat door with a big piece of cardboard, but Tama sat beside it and howled for most of the day. Too bad, kitty!!

We've got our passports, library books, sunscreen, and snorkeling equipment. I'm mostly packed, Iain still needs to pack. I checked the weather and Rarotonga is averaging 76F / 24C, which is slightly nicer than Auckland, which had frost this morning.

Coworkers

I met my coworkers yesterday!

Here's what I was afraid of:

1. There'd only be 2 of them, or 200. You don't want a TINY office, but you also don't want to be surrounded by strangers.

2. They'd be my classmates all over again. Young or just weird.

3. They'd be ridiculously well-dressed and professional looking.

4. There'd be no cubicles or offices - just a big open-plan.

I was elated that Fears 1-3 were totally unfounded. Yeah, it's a big open plan, but I can get a set of headphones if I need to. And have I mentioned that we're all on Macs? Yeah. That was seriously my BIGGEST fear -- working in an office on a PC.

The creative department houses about 7-8 people, and everyone looked to be my age. And in jeans. I'm glad I went shopping for new clothes but relieved that I didn't go TOO nuts. It looks like a few of my more casual items will work just fine.

I was only there for a few minutes, so while everyone SEEMS friendly and glad to have me on-board, I'm sure more interesting personalities will emerge.

Builders Builders Builders

We received the revised architectural plans for our house -- Blue was especially interested.

Here's a few pictures of what will be our new home in hopefully less than 4 months. I'm sure I just totally jinxed us by writing that.

HOLIDAY!

Countdown to Rarotonga: 3 days! Rarotonga is in the Cook Islands between Fiji and Tahiti.

The time difference is minus 22 hours. I'm having the worst time trying to wrap my head around it. The flight from Auckland is under 4 hours but with the time difference, we leave at 7:15pm Sunday and arrive at 1:05am Sunday. Bizarre.

I contacted the resort to find out what their internet policy is, and stopped by Vodaphone to find out what the deal is with cell phone coverage. Unfortunately, it's impossible right now to completely cut ourselves off for a week, but hopefully Stan the builder won't need to call us too much.

We're staying in a beachfront buré at the Palm Grove Resort. Our friends recommended it, saying it's quiet, reasonably priced with few or no children, and has a great bar. Perfect.

Our friend Kevin (originally from Buffalo NY!) is also going to be in Rarotonga, so we're hoping to hook up with him for a few drinks one lazy afternoon when we're sick of sitting on the beach doing nothing.

Kitchen Layout

We finally decided on a kitchen layout. If interested, click on the image and it'll enlarge. "F/S" means freestanding and "MW" is microwave. Our biggest issue was what to do with the left hand corner. After an insane amount of deliberation, we decided that instead of a counter-top cabinet or appliance garage or anything fancy, we're just going to have a cabinet over the counter. Sometimes the simplest things are the best. Although I was excited to be able to get the pantry with pullout shelf/drawers underneath. We'll investigate cabinetry near the rangehood at a later date.

We'll be able to have a big kitchen window and a set of French doors. The builders keep talking about the amazing amount of light that streams in, so I'm glad we won't be loosing any of that.

For those not from NZ:
bench = counter
cooker = stove (obvious)

And some metric conversions:
900mm = 2.95 feet
600 mm = 1.96 feet
3000mm = 9.8 feet

Preparation

1. Bought new clothes -- check.
2. Timed how long it takes me to blow dry and do my hair in the morning -- check.
3. Rearranged wardrobe to separate old crap from work clothes -- check.
4. Driven to work in rush hour to determine whether the bus is faster - check.
5. Attempted to get in as much slacker sleeping in / watching TV / hanging out with the cats time as possible before re-entering the workforce grind -- not really.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAIN!

Much to my dismay, Iain doesn't like to make a big deal out of his birthday. Out of respect, instead of a celebratory picture of Iain or the cats, I've chosen a photo of a sink we were looking at a few weeks ago. It's a beauty!

Beaches, mussel fritters, and appliance garages

As I've said before, constant appointments and phone calls with builders, kitchen designers, draftsmen, screen installers, plumbers, and lawyers while also trying to work full time (Iain) and freelance (me) has had one major effect: we have NO interest in cooking and only want to go out, have a beer, and EAT. The result isn't pretty. The guy at the local Indian takeaway recognizes Iain's voice ("Good evening Mr. Iain!"), and the woman who runs the local beer shop now gives me sideways glances as I enter her store for the second or third time in a week.

But it could be worse, and we've been really good at time management, making sure we have one afternoon each weekend to forget the house stuff and jobs and just enjoy ourselves. At the end of the day, it's just a house and I'm doing my best not to obsess over it! (ok, there've been a few restless nights spent mulling over sinks and carpet and windows) Here are some pictures we took this weekend at Muriwai Beach (for those of you on Facebook, my apologies for the repetition). We went for a quick hike along the beach, but it was really windy so we headed back, stopping at a local café on the way home for some mussel fritters and a glass of wine. The café had an amazing view, and was adjacent to an old-fashioned campground with vintage-style campers and wooden cabins. There was a local cat who hung out while we ate who reminded me of Blue.

Employment

The contract and benefits package for my new job was couriered over last week. Good god! I've never had this much paperwork for a job in my entire life.

Perks include discounts for family and friends, cheap parking, and a staff cafeteria. The last time I ate in a staff cafeteria was back in 1995 when I was working for Wolf Advertising and would sneak into the Marine Midland staff cafeteria with my coworkers.

The one benefit I won't get anymore is having a small kitty next to me as I work. Oh well.

First Setback!

There are some things you never want to hear a builder (or mechanic, or doctor...) say. At the top of that list is, "Wow - I've never seen anything like this before!"

But that's exactly what we heard last week when Stan the builder informed us of some pretty awful water and borer damage along the base of the house.

He took great delight in poking at the damage with a crowbar, exclaiming over and over, "Look at that! That's just powder. It's dust. Never seen anything like it. Hey Johnny -- ya gotta take a look at this!!" We just stood there and cringed.

We knew there would be a few nasty surprises once they started opening up the walls, and we weren't disappointed. We immediately wanted to blame someone, and Iain was all fired up and ready to call the dude who did the house inspection, but it's the type of damage you just can't see until you start hacking away at the walls. The builders are now working raising up the house so they can get in there and fix it.

DEMOLITION!

We've started gutting!

In truth, this is about as far as the workmen can go -- now we need to submit the architectural plans to the local council for approval. In the meantime, the guys can clear all of this away and get started on outside repairs to the roof, etc.

Balance

Last weekend we did house stuff for most of Saturday, and then went for a long walk. It's nice to realize that even though it's the middle of winter over here and a bit chilly, we can still walk along the beach!

Thanks to diligent research and random polling of friends and family, we've finally settled on a decent kitchen design. I'm gathering quotes now, and we just need to finalize some details. It's amazing how much second-guessing is involved with everything. We bought a beautiful dark brown vanity for the bathroom and all I've been doing is wondering if we should've gone with a lighter color. Then I'll see a dark colored one in a magazine and think, "That looks good -- we did the right thing." But then I'll see a light colored one and the obsessing starts all over again.



I'm sure not having a job has contributed to this constant mental back-and-forth. I don't see Iain freaking out over faucets and tile selections and kitchen door handles. Once I begin working, I won't have time to obsess over this kind of thing. Hopefully.

HIRED!

I got a job!

Buy! Buy! Buy!

There was a huge appliance sale all over Auckland this weekend so we hit the stores, along with what seemed like half the population of New Zealand. Everyone was out. It's always a nerve wracking experience buying appliances because they're something you use almost every day so you want to get it just right, and they're also really expensive.

For example, we drove to one store, saw a stove we liked (last year's model on sale) then drove to two other stores to see if we could find a better deal. At one of the other stores, we found the same stove at around the same price, bu noticed a major design flaw we hadn't seen before. We ended up back at the original store to haggle with the salesguy, who acknowledged the design flaw and offered us a newer model at $400 off. Not bad. So sometimes all of the running around really pays off.

All told, we purchased a stove, dishwasher, toilet, vanity, and walk-in shower. It was a very productive and very expensive day. But it feels like we've finally accomplished something -- after weeks of pouring over websites and brochures and visiting stores, I think we've made some really informed choices.

As an added bonus, I'm finally starting to think in metric measurements, which is rather important. I'm excited by our 1200mmX915mm shower and think our 1200mm vanity will be really swank. And we're very pleased that we realized that we only need a 600mm stove, not a 900mm.

Now we just need to buy fixtures (shower head, faucet, etc.). Note: The vanity and shower pictured here are similar but not identical to the ones we purchased.

We got home around 5pm and stopped off for some bottles of strong beer and tandoori chicken!

Today we're taking a day off from house stuff and going for a nice long walk followed by brunch.

Kitchen Fun

While waiting for our builders to submit their estimates and the draftsperson to update his plans of the house, we've started looking at kitchens. I've learned some valuable lessons already:

Rule #1: Not surprising, kitchens can be insanely expensive. But still a major reality check.

Rule #2: Just because it looks cool doesn't mean it will actually BE cool, or useful, or remotely practical.

Rule #3: Work with the space you have. Huge island? No room. Major shelf action next to loads of full length pantries? Maybe in the next house.

Rule #4: It's just a kitchen. If we don't get it perfectly right, the world will not end.

Rule #5: When all else fails, design conservatively. The next owners may not appreciate your awesome orange Corian countertop.