Back To You

Ok, does anyone remember the marketing of this stupid show? It premiered in a huge media blitz of billboards and bus shelter signs all over Philly, NY, etc. I didn't want to leave the house, for fear of being confronted with 15 foot images of Kelsey Grammar's smarmy face everywhere. Everywhere!

Then we moved to NZ. Whew!

Until now. 'Back to You' has followed me to New Zealand, in keeping with the other horrible TV shows they've brought over here. The list includes 'The View', 'Kimora: Life in the Fastlane', 'NCIS', 'Ghost Whisperer', that stupid spin-off from 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Reba', 'Growing Up Gotti', and the worst show ever: 'Two & A Half Men'.

Camera

Our brand new (thanks, insurance company!) camera has a weird scratch on the inside of the viewer, so we dropped it off to be fixed under warranty. I'm so glad it's still under warranty, but I'll be sans camera for about 2 weeks which SUCKS. Get ready for lots of recycled pictures...

We went for another drive in the country yesterday, this time around Howick, Clevedon, and the surrounding beaches. We keep thinking we'll find our dream house. Actually, we did: (http://www.uprealty.co.nz/property.aspx?ref=UPR11155)
but it's T O T A L L Y out of our price range!!!

It was another gorgeous day -- people were actually swimming in the ocean despite the fact that it's still only in the high 60s at best. I can't wait for summer, though!!

We rented some movies and are settling in for an evening of wine, movies, and Iain's homemade marinara sauce!

CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE & SCOTT!!!

Our pals Jamie and Scott get married today!!!! Way to go guys!! Woo-hoo!!!

I Can't Wait!

Silly Jennifer Aniston. She's been working out daily for 15 years with personal trainers, Pilates instructors, and nutritionists. But with this simple four week plan, I can achieve the exact same results!

Stay tuned!

Loo

Actual sign is posted on the boys' bathroom door at school. The "toilets across the road" refers to the grody public bathrooms.

Shout out to Matilda!

Dumbass

So, I've been trying to upload two new pictures and I keep getting a network error message. On my 9th attempt I stared at the error message and thought, "Man, I should take a picture of this error message and post it!" It took an embarrassing number of milliseconds to work through the logic to realize why that wouldn't work...

The Sopranos

On Sunday we took homemade tomato sauce and meatballs over to Toni and Max's to watch The Sopranos (even though we've already seen it at least twice... some of us three times.) They live in swanky Ponsonby where all the houses look like this.

Picnic

It's been really nice out lately so on Saturday we drove out to the country for a picnic by the ocean. Unfortunately it was a little chilly right by the water but it was still fun.

We also looked at houses in hopes of finding some incredible house in the country with room for a pool that we could actually afford. Good luck....

We drove by a house with an Open House sign in front so we stopped. We were snooping through the backyard and peering in windows before the owner came out and informed us that the open house was actually up the street. Nice job. (Her house is also for sale, and we'd driven past it before, which is why we assumed she had was having an open house but we still felt pretty stupid.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYTHAM!

My nephew turns 7 today.

Palin ?!?!?!??!????!!!!!!??

On The Bus

I started taking a different bus home to mix things up a bit. The stop is a few blocks away from my usual stop, and there's less people so you're pretty much guaranteed a full seat to yourself.

Whether I like it or not, the bus is a big part of my day.

Today, there was a woman was sitting across the aisle from me. She was about 50 or so, I guess, and was fumbling with a bunch of CDs she'd just purchased. I smiled, thinking, "Man, who still buys CDs?" She started the horrible task of trying to get the plastic off, and the noise make me glance back over. I looked at the CD. It was Toto! How random!! Then I looked at her other CD. Toto! I didn't even know Toto had more than one CD! Awesome. And she looked SO excited, like you know she couldn't wait to get home and put them on.

But the BEST was this other woman. She was carrying around a box of tissues -- not sure what that was about. Her outfit consisted of hiking shoes, Mom jeans, sweatshirt with some school emblem on it , and a F.U.B.U. baseball hat. I was DYING to ask her if she knows what FUBU means, but of course I didn't. I'm not saying whiteys shouldn't wear FUBU*, but the fact that this woman was SO white and it's New Zealand just made it that much better.

And then there's Revolting Hairy Lady, who thankfully is not a regular passenger. She is unshowered, has what appears to be a beard, and completely reeks of stale cigarette smoke mixed with horrendous body odor. She's filthy. It's so bad, even when she leaves, the bus still stinks. I need to be more tolerant of this poor woman, who is clearly mentally ill, but it's tough when she chooses the seat right in front of me.

(*after a brief visit to the FUBU website, maybe we should all wear FUBU -- they donate tons of money to charities around NY and stuff. I bet The Gap can't say that.)

Sunday!

Sunday we did work in the morning (ok, some of us worked, some of us watched rugby). Afterwards we drove over to Mairangi Bay for a long walk along the clifftops. This is without a doubt one of the most gorgeous walks in Auckland. On one side is the ocean, and on the other are gorgeous holy-crap-what-do-these-people-do-for-a-living-to-afford-this type-of-house houses. Afterwards we met Glenn and Claudine for brunch and drinks. I LOVE brunch!

Iain took me on this exact same walk when we visited New Zealand in 2005, so it was neat to come back. I remember being so blown away with how pretty it is. Back then, it was summer so after the walk we jumped in the water for a swim. We'll have to come back in a few months and do that again.

Here are some of the eight gazillion pictures I took. I tried to get a few shots of some of houses, but they're obviously well-fenced in, so it's mostly balconies and over-the-wall reaches.

Check it out: wild calla lilies!

Saturday

Well, my project was considered perfect by my teacher except for a small fix. Awesome! On Saturday morning I started making the revisions. Time consuming, but easy stuff.

Four hours into it, I announced, "Cool! I'm almost done!" and that's when it happened. I did something wrong and my entire site crashed. I got a horrible error message on the screen with no clues to help fix it.

So, panic set in, anger, near-tears, mild hysteria as I started unraveling.... Lately whenever something like this happens, it starts snowballing: "Oh my god oh my god oh my god what happened to my site I am so sick of this why does this always happen to me I suck I never should've gone back to school I probably won't get a job what was I thinking my teachers stink and I don't even think they like me maybe I shouldn't even be in this business I should just give up completely and go back to producing but it's been so long now I probably wouldn't even get hired what kind of job would I even be able to get at this stage I don't know anyone or which agencies are hiring and - Huh? Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm fine. What? Ok, maybe I'm not fine..."

With a meltdown imminent, Iain strongly suggested we get out of the house, go for a walk, and get away for a while. We went for a long walk, then drove over to Takapuna to the Belgian place for a beer (ok, 3 beers). It was exactly what I needed.

The next morning I woke up, looked at my files and within seconds figured out what I'd done wrong (another benefit of walking away and then coming back with a clear head). I'm a dumbass.

But, now I can hand back my project today and be officially finished!

First Day of Spring!

Here's a picture of a neighborhood Tui bird in a cabbage tree. We're awakened each morning by the sound of birds. Iain loves it, and I should too, but I sheepishly admit that I sometimes find it a little annoying. But I'll take the sound of a few birds any day over the sound of squeaky Ford Taurus brake pads as one of the old Italian ladies from our old 'hood spends 30 minutes trying to park her car.