Well, that didn't last long...

I quit the internship. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Experience? Guidance? Design input? Code help? Ok, that's what I was expecting. Sadly, they just don't have enough projects for us to work on, so I was spending my time trying to look busy without actually learning anything or doing anything valuable.

I tried to stay optimistic, but it doesn't come naturally. I was going into "work" every day for 8 hours, but I was unable to look for jobs online or work on my resumé or portfolio. Weekends became this frantic rush of activity: "Oh my god I have to redesign my homepage, revamp my resume, send out ten cover letters, do a Flash tutorial, and try to land some freelance -- ALL BEFORE MONDAY!!"

It was driving both of us crazy. It's one thing to feel nuts and pressed for time when you're working and getting PAID, but not when it's a lousy internship.

So, starting next week, I'll devote myself full time to job searching, freelance, on-going training and hopefully land a J-O-B.

KEEP OUT!!

Yay!! Our fence is installed!!! Now we can keep out the pesky neighbors. It'll look better once we paint it (painting it is on The List, right after finishing the windows, stripping the wallpaper in the guest room, and touching up the trim in the living room, finally hanging the new blinds that have been sitting in the hallway for 3 months... in other words, it won't happen until next year. Or never.)

M.I.A.

I have been working full time at my internship while applying for jobs, so I haven't been able to post anything new.

But stay tuned! Lots has happened: Birthdays! Fences! Crappy movies!

Ok, maybe not a LOT has happened...

In the meantime, here's a picture of the weta we found on our drainpipe (seen also on Facebook).

Jungle Gym!

Iain built a jungle gym for Tama! We're already discussing expansion plans (another level? a ramp?)

Check it:

Public transportation

As I've established many times before, I hate my commute. The internship is at my school, so my commute has remained the same, only with different hours. It's usually a fairly annoying ride filled with loud school children or idiots with cell phones.

But every so often something happens that reinforces some of our reasons for moving here. On Friday, I got on the bus to go home, and realized that I didn't have my bus pass. I fished around in my purse and found nothing. I gave an apologetic look to the driver and explained that I didn't have my pass, and turned to walk off the bus.

He said, "Wait - -which stop do you get off?". "Beach Haven," I replied and he said, "There's an ATM there -- you can pay me then."

Relieved and a little stunned, I said thank you, and sat down. As I walked to my seat, a complete stranger had out her purse and said, "How much do you need? I'll pay for you." I couldn't believe it. I declined and explained that the driver was going to let me run to an ATM once we got to Beach Haven. Once seated, I rummaged through my purse again and found the bus pass after all, so everything worked out.

Dinner Party!

Last weekend, we had a dinner party for Wayne & Sue and Glenn & Claudine. We thought it would be a fairly tame evening, but at 1:00am, I ended up being the first to go to bed. Wayne stayed over, and he and Iain hung out talking until the wee hours of the morning.

(Whoops! Blue assumed the position, 30 minutes before the guests were due to arrive...!)

Wayne & Sue!

After our almost two week holiday, we managed spend a week catching up with our friends Wayne & Sue, who were visiting from the UK.

It was a perfect (although expensive and gluttonous) way to come back from vacation.

I would've taken more pictures but sometimes I go overboard. Details magazine had a great article a few years ago about etiquette in an electronic world, and one of the points they noted was "Your constant trying to capture the moment is ruining the moment." Also on the list was incessantly checking your phone while you're sitting with friends and subjecting total strangers to your banal 'status update' calls ("Hey. Yep, I'm on the train."; "Hi. Yeah, standing in line... uh-huh..."). Anyway, here are a few pictures:

Update

I haven't had a chance to post anything new since I started my fulltime internship.

The internship is like a job, only we don't get paid. Here are some other things we don't get:

1. phones
2. garbage cans
3. access to copier
4. stapler / post-its / etc.
5. access to a kitchen with a fridge or coffee maker

But we DO have decent computers. That's it.

It's a bit of a joke, really. We're supposed to be in this "real world" environment, but they're still treating us like lowly students. But it's still sorta fun -- the other students are all pretty cool, and I'm hanging out with the two designers and trying to absorb as much information as possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!

It's our friend Pete's birthday today!!

Boring

Well, we're back from vacation. Actually, we got back three days ago but it's taken this long to update the blog.

The downside of car camping is cleaning everything and putting it all away when you get home. We did eight loads of laundry! And of course the house is filthy -- two weeks' worth of cat hair has accumulated.

We're having a fence built around the front and side of our house - we can't WAIT. It'll help the value of the property but also give us some privacy.

My internship begins on Monday - that should be interesting. The job market still sucks - I haven't gotten one interview (or maybe it's me who sucks!)

Anniversary... of sorts

Five years ago on March 4th, Iain and I had our first date. We don't usually celebrate our first date, but five years deserves some acknowledgment. To commemorate, we made reservations at a really nice restaurant we went to back in 2005.

Back in 2005:


In 2009 (I think I'm wearing the same earrings....!):


Times have changed, and The Fireplace wasn't nearly as nice as we remembered, but we got our old table and still enjoyed a delicious meal.

To get to the restaurant we took a ferry across the bay, which is half the fun.

Lynch Creek Trail

We struck up a convo with our "neighbors", Lorraine and Mark, who were camped across the way in a really swanky blue tent (with fringe!!) that they got from Holland. Apparently Holland makes really good tents.... who knew?

Anyway, they recommended to us a great day hike that took you 2.5 hours into the woods and emptied out onto a beach. We were looking for a decent hike (Cathedral Cove is only 90 minutes roundtrip) so off we went.

It started raining while we were in the middle of the forest, which resulted in lots of slipping and cursing and soaking wet shoes (there were 30 stream crossings -- that's right, I counted), but also some incredible wildlife sitings. We saw:

6 wild pigs! (I think this remains the highlight of Iain's entire holiday)
2 owls (pretty amazing -- we've never seen owls in the wild before)
2 Tui birds
1 Fantail bird

When we finally made it to the beach, we sat down and had our lunch: canned chicken, crackers, and cheese. I'd underestimated how challenging the hike would be and had stupidly brought a bottle of beer , but we had no opener. Beer and hiking don't really mix, so this was a good thing.

Six hours later we returned back to the camp, covered in mud and sweat. We showered and went out for dinner. There are few things more satisfying than collapsing in front a huge meal after a day of hiking.



I am sure this meal (these are our appetizers!) totally canceled out whatever calorie burning we enjoyed on our hike but it was still worth it.

Iain Quote

"Why ruin a perfectly nice holiday by reading the Bible?!"

Winery! Food! Cats!

Despite one reader's observation that this blog does nothing but talk about food and cats (Pete Todd!) I am going to proceed with the following post!

We passed this little winery on the way to our campground and had to stop in one day to check it out. I had this romantic idea that it would be this super old wooden building with loads of gardens around it, great food and wine and we'd have a really nice lunch. But how many times have you walked into a place with those types of expectations ("I bet this Italian place will be super authentic!") only to be totally disappointed? I cynically thought, "Either this place'll be closed or it'll be totally lame with some cheeseball gift shop and overpriced scented candles and wine."

But I was wrong! This place was EXACTLY what I'd hoped (although the wine wasn't so great). And the BEST is that while we were sitting outside, I said, "The only things missing in this place are some CATS." and that's when I saw the kittens!

The pictures of the yard do not do this place justice. It was so lush, and the kiwi fruit vines over everything was a great touch.

Cathedral Cove

Vacations make me want to eat, so it's important to keep exercising. Luckily, the Coromandel Peninsula is so ridiculously gorgeous, you can't wait to get out and see everything. Here's some pictures of our walk to Cathedral Cove. It's a famous bay that you get to from walking along the beach and then up into the hills and bush.

I took a gabillion pictures, even after Iain pointed out,"You realize that you took these same pictures in 2005, right?" It didn't stop me, but then when I looked at them later I thought, "Man, I took these same pictures in 2005!" Oh well!

Spawn!

Our friends Danielle and Nam are having a boy -- due date is August 2009! God help us! Seriously, though, we're really psyched.

And slightly afraid.

Car camping: an essay

If you've car camped before, feel free to skip this entry, but if you've never done it, I really recommend it! I'd never been car camping but was intrigued when Iain suggested it. Here's a few observations I made:

CAR CAMPING IS VERY SOCIAL

You're outside, a few feet away from the campsite next to you. Your car is right there. There's public showers and bathrooms. There's no internet or electricity. And there's children everywhere. On paper, car camping sounds like my own version of hell. But I totally loved it, and I loved it for all of the reasons I thought I'd hate it.

CAR CAMPING IS LIKE LIVING IN ONE BIG COMMUNITY

Okay yeah, the sound of whining 4 year olds at 6:30am reaffirmed my decision to stick with cats, but it was also like, "Ok, I guess it's time to wake up now." The camp woke up together - you can't sleep in when there's only a few layers of nylon and canvas between you and the people next door. We also went to bed at the same time. By 10:30pm, everyone was quiet -- you'd walk around the camp and see people with lanterns reading in front of their tent, or enjoying a glass of wine. You'd hear parents reading to their kids. You went to bed looking at the stars, and you woke up to birds and sunlight. You put on your shorts and tshirt, unzipped the tent to walk outside and make coffee. You'd look over and the couple next to you was doing the same thing. You'd nod hello, maybe say something like, "Looks like another gorgeous beach day!" and then fix your breakfast. It was sort of like being in a commercial for orange juice.

CAR CAMPING IS TOTALLY RELAXING

During the day, we'd go for hikes or swims, then come back to the camp to make dinner. We'd sit in front of our tent with some drinks and people watch (there's LOADS of people watching). You had nothing else to do -- there's no TV. I totally admit it, this was one of my initial concerns: "What the hell do you DO?!" The answer is "Nothing." and that's why it's such a perfect vacation.

THERE'S NO FACEBOOK AND SEEK WHEN YOU'RE CAR CAMPING

The first day, I was frantic because their advertised wireless internet didn't extend all the way to our tent. I figured out where their internet lounge was, and took my laptop over. On the third day I decided to take an Official Break From The Internet (a withdrawal akin to giving up smoking). I was really getting into the whole vibe of camping. By the fourth day, Iain was going online more than me. I'd lost all interest.

CAR CAMPING VARIES IN LUXURY

We thought we were livin' it up in our 6 person tent, but we soon found out that our tent is the equivalent of the middle class starter home. You've got the lower class - the backpackers with their tiny two-person tents that you crawl in and out of. Then there's the mansions -- these are like houses made of canvas. They're huge and require separate trailers to lug them to the campsite. They were really amazing. They have shelves and tables and wardrobes. I'll post some pictures (though the pictures don't do it justice. Some of these tents housed Mom, Dad, 3 kids, a kitchen, and all of the toys and clothes.)

CAR CAMPING IS CHEAP

$32 a night. Not bad in a recession!

Some thrilling pictures of our camp:






Other people's tents:

Hahei

After a few days in a hotel, we packed our bags and headed to our final destination: the small beach town of Hahei in the Coromandel Peninsula, one of my favorite places EVER.

Here's where we stayed in 2005:
Hahei Oceanfront B&B

And here's where we stayed in 2009, right down the beach. The accommodation is very different but the cocktails are much better.