Happy Birthday Andrea!!

Double Rainbow

We get these a lot. The weather's pretty schizo right now: it'll be really sunny and then it starts pouring rain for like 5 minutes then it stops and it's sunny again then it'll go back to drizzling... you never know what to wear. The temp here has been around 17 degrees C, or 63 F.

I'm looking forward to the summer!

My friends, the mavericks

A friend of ours had the misfortune of attending a conference in the same hotel as a McCain-Palin fundraiser.

The best is the picture he took of a registration form. If you look closely you can see what people pay to get things like dinner, photo ops, etc.

He wrote: "Explain how stupid people are because dinner for two with one picture is 10k, but two pictures cost 50k. Are they the same people who caused the bank failures?"

Slow News Day....

More birthday pictures

It stopped raining long enough to have a few drinks on the deck. Then at around 5pm we went inside to a surprise web cam call that Iain had arranged with Danielle & Nam. It was so much fun!

Burgers and birthdays

That's right.

I wanted a meat grinder for my birthday.

I'm sorry, but this country doesn't know how to make a decent American burger! We had to take the drastic steps necessary to ensure a proper BBQ.

"Could these possibly be the best burgers we've ever tasted?" asks Iain. I think so.

It's been an awesome day. Iain picked me up from school (no bus!!!) with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. I came home to a house totally decorated in birthday ribbons, and a bottle of champagne.

Birthday!

It's my 37th birthday!

I share my big day with:

Zog I, King of Albania (1865)
Wayne Gretsky's dad
Jesse Jackson
Chevy Chase
Johnny & C-Jay Ramone
Sigourney Weaver
Robert "Kool" Bell
Matt Damon
Soon-Yi Previn (yuck...)
Jeremy Davies

Dumbest quote ever

From an interior design magazine:

"When buying furniture, if you see a piece you really love, buy two!"

Family Photos

Last night we all hung out on the deck and discussed fun things like "Should we buy new curtains tomorrow?", "Is it worth staying here or should we continue house-hunting?", "How much money can be made from web design?" and "Where the hell are the American neighbors??" (we've only caught glimpses!!)

Then we went inside for an awesome steak & beet salad dinner and episodes of 'The West Wing'. Here are some pictures. Yeah, I definitely need a hair cut....

CNN versus SkyNews NZ

Hmm.... who's got a bigger budget?

Exotic Birds

Parrots in our backyard. These aren't indigenous but they're still cool.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE!!!

Happy birthday skank!

The first photo is from college -- I'm not sure what's worse: my sideburns or your gold necklace. Actually, I think the Sigma Psi mug in your hand is probably the worst....

The other photo is my favorite from your wedding. Happy one year anniversary!

The camera is back!

Monday

Occasionally the teachers will announce that a company is looking for help, and a bunch of us scramble to jot down the name and apply. A little over a month ago, a job opening came up that was awarded to a classmate who definitely deserves it -- she's excellent. Well, she obviously shares this view, because she comes into class each day and rambles on about how awesome it is. They're so nice! We drank wine yesterday! They let me work from home! They said I'm great at Javascript! They paid for my very own domain name! The work is really fun and easy!

It's obnoxious and really insensitive. I was not one of the people who applied for the job (thank god) but what about the poor schmucks who did? I know it's supposed to be a competitive atmosphere but she crosses the line between "discussing new job" and "openly gloating".

Don't get me wrong - I was happy for her (and happy for me -- with her already employed, I won't be competing with her for future jobs). And for someone her age, indulging in some bragging the first day or so would seem natural, but it's become an accepted daily event.

Our teacher encourages it and makes it part of the class. "Sarah has a real world job!" (I know, it's like we're 5). He takes up huge chunks of class time to help her with work-related issues. They're constantly talking about her job. Never mind the rest of us, working just as hard on sites we aren't getting paid for! I had my hand up for like 10 minutes the other day while I waited for him to finish answering a question she had about a work project.

The BEST was on Friday: I emailed my teacher to ask what we were working on that day. He said, "Sarah came to me with a bunch of questions for her work. As you know, she has a real world job that needs sorting, so we're going to help her with that today."

WHAT?!

Yeah, I stayed home.

Good news: we have 3 weeks left of this portion, then they teach us Flash (I can't wait), then it's on to the big Industry Project. Yea!!

Open Homes are a bit like dating

We saw three open homes today. Each had promise, each seemed to have all we were looking for, and we wandered up the driveways full of anticipation: "Maybe this is the one!!" And then 20 minutes later we'd wander back to the car, dejected, and disappointed, but thinking, "Maybe the NEXT one will be different!"

The first house would've been great, if you could pick it up and move it somewhere quieter. It was slightly larger than ours and had been renovated, but every window you looked out of looked right into another home -- and there was practically no yard. You could hear the loud bass music blasting from the home next door -- no way. Kiwis tend to subdivide, which means they cram homes into backyards, so you get a house with another house right behind it. Great for the original property owner -- they now get to sell 2 homes - but it's greedy and ruins neighborhoods and looks really crappy (in my opinion).

That was the deal with this place. It has no business being there. On to the next house!

The second house was massive -- the entire basement could've held an office for Iain AND an office for me and then there were three bedrooms upstairs and the whole house had a sweeping view of the water. But it was a total dump -- it had that old lady smell plus mold and mildew. It must've been a big family home at one point, but it needed a TON of work. It was also in the shade, and quite cold.

The third and final house seemed too good to be true (on paper) -- 3 bedrooms, 1 office, 2 bathrooms. The two (!!) guest bedrooms were REALLY nice. They looked like they belonged in a lush tropical inn somewhere -- it evoked fantasies of entertaining out of town friends: "... and here's where you'll be staying... yes, it's lovely, isn't it... Look at the palm trees right outside your window. Well, why don't you get settled in -- your bathroom is just off the hall -- and when you're ready, join us on the deck for some wine and hors d'œuvres..." SO cool!!!! Man, the bedrooms were awesome. Iain agreed they were nice but didn't share my romanticism: "Yeah, they're ok..."

It had a nice deck off of the living room, but it was a little small and not too convenient. Like, we imagined having guests over for dinner and we're out on the deck and someone asks for the salt and oh crap, it's in the the kitchen which means walking back in through the living room, down the stairs into the kitchen... It sounds stupid but these are the things that will drive you nuts. There were way too many stairs in this place -- it had like 4 levels. Imagine the vacuuming!

But what sealed the deal was the fact that it's a townhouse and had a narrow, cramped apartment feel to it, which we're not looking for. Also, the townhouse next door looked like a bunch of squatters lived there -- I meant to ask the realtor, "Um, who or what lives next door???" Old mattresses shoved up against the windows, furniture and crap everywhere... It wasn't cool.

Oh well. It's fun to look, and until I get a job we aren't really in a position to go anywhere.