Die Geek Die!

In the interest of being more productive and keeping work separate from home, I’ve been going to school early and staying late. I bring in my laptop and set up camp in an empty classroom until my noon class begins. It's been a great way to quietly catch up on my notes and review the lessons for the day.

Then the geeks found me.

At first, it was just one. He’s annoying but means well, and kept quiet unless asking me competitive Mac questions like “Do you have Tiger or Leopard?” I didn’t mind, and even had fun geeking out with him by comparing Leopard and Tiger, and whining about the crappy Auckland internet.

Word has spread and today my quiet empty classroom became HQ for 4 of the biggest geeks in my class, including the little kid I suspected of being American (wrong – he’s from Holland and is 16 years old).

I was trying to work, but the intermittent WiFi I was using/stealing from a nearby company kept going out. (that’s right: the school that specializes in digital and internet technology and design doesn’t allow its students WiFi access)

When the boys all started talking, it was game over. Topics of note:

1. the train conductor who didn’t know how to open the back doors (repeated to each person upon arrival)

2. Celsius versus Fahrenheit

3. Whose laptop gets better WiFi

4. My friend who owns a design company in Chicago says, "......"

5. Dude, I'm so psyched - I finally sold my old PC on TradeMe last night!

6. Whether a blog uses PHP or JavaScript

7. My girlfriend is hot - you should see her. She wears bikinis.

8. The roadblocks down the street: why are they there? (LOTS of debating over this one)

9. Oh yeah? Well, you know my friend? The one who owns the design company in Chicago? HE says, "....."

10. whether the A/C and heat is adjustable in our classroom (this revived the Celsius and Fahrenheit debate. It was ruled that Fahrenheit is "stupid" and all eyes turned to the American, like I would take offense somehow)

11. who makes the best external harddrives?

12. why Safari is the worst web browser

13. I'm just waiting for my Green card so I can go to Chicago and work for my friend. He owns a design company.

I sat there quietly, rolling my eyes and stifling all homicidal urges. After all, these kids and I will be spending almost as much time together as one does with coworkers. But it's safe to say that I will no longer be going in to school early. They've effectively taken over my once empty classroom. Geeks: 1 Sas: 0.

Nothing.

Let's see... the highlight of the week so far has been my failed attempt at using my 3-hole punch because the paper over here is a different size. It's slightly larger than 8 1/2 x 11 and this fact threatened to ruin my evening. I was on the couch armed with my 3-hole punch stolen from some ad agency I used to work for (RT? EMA? Who knows...). I was very excited to put all of the loose papers from school into my brand new binder when I realized there was a problem.

I said to Iain, "What the --- ! How come this paper is the wrong size?! It doesn't fit!" He retorted with, "How come your 3-hole-punch is the wrong size?"

In other news, Iain won his bid on an extension ladder on TradeMe (like eBay) last night - we're very excited.

Our neighbor's dog escaped somehow and got in to our yard yesterday. I heard her yell "JAKE!!!!!!" and thought, "This can't be good." I went down to the kitchen just in time to see a gray and white streak of kitty race through the cat door (Tama). Blue was not as quick, and was standing on the porch all poofed-up to like 5x his normal size. I looked down in the yard and there was Jake, the neighbor's black lab, racing around our lawn. It was all pretty funny (not for the cats) but I hope it doesn't happen again. The cats are not used to dogs!

Action shots!

Here are some pictures of Iain and me enjoying our Thursday evening with TV and the cats.

Iain gets dressed up - that's hot!

Working from home has allowed Iain the luxury of putting his suits and button downs in the back of the closet for good, while jeans, shorts, and t-shirts have taken over. This was rather bittersweet for me -- I love the way Iain dresses but sometimes a conservative button down or a nice pair of pants (I will NOT say 'slacks') is really hot. This sexy shot features an old button down and was taken while Iain cleaned and prepped our deck for staining. I sat inside writing the blog while downloading "How I Met Your Mother".

Token cat pictures

I woke up this morning to the unmistakable sound: "Oh sh*t -- somewhere in the house a cat is getting ready to puke -- where is it? Follow the sound!!" Anyone who has ever had a cat will know what I'm talking about -- the sound will wake you from the deepest sleep. It's probably similar to a mother waking to the sound of her baby crying, only the thing that's making you bolt upright at 5am isn't concern for your baby, it's concern for your carpet, or your clothes, or worse: your comforter. 95% of our house is hardwood floors, but the puke always winds up on the carpets.

So, my morning began by cleaning up cat puke containing a whole dead grasshopper -- SO glad we're letting them outside now.... The puke wasn't on the bed (thank god) or on the floor -- it was under the bed on top of a plastic zipper bag containing winter coats. But it can't be ALL on the bag -- it's got to be half off the bag, and all over the zipper.

Here are some pictures to remind us of why we love our cats despite the puking.

(for those wondering "Where was Iain when all this was happening? ", he was on a 6am conference call -- I think that rivals the cat puke for grossness)

Exercise

We wake up around 6am most mornings and are in bed by 9:30pm. I try to get my walk in by 7:30am so I can do homework until I have to catch the bus at 10am. The walk has gotten pretty boring -- there's only so many places you can go to within an hour walk, and I'd grown really tired of the same old streets. And this is only after 2.5 months -- I can't imagine what my motivation will be like in a year. I am not one of those people who enjoys exercise. Iain is. Iain feels a difference if he doesn't go for his walk and do yoga. He likes to fit exercise into our vacations and our weekends. I could (and will) sit on the couch for 6 hours watching tv and there'd be no problem.

The only reason I exercise is so I can eat and drink what I want on the weekends and not gain 40 pounds. That is my only motivation. So, anyway - I was super excited the other morning when I stumbled upon this incredible nature preserve right behind a senior citizens home. I usually walk around the rugby field by the home, and on this particular morning I turned right instead of left, walked into the woods - excuse me, bush - and all of a sudden I'm on this cool path leading down to the water. Excellent. I can't wait for the summer - I will totally go swimming here.

I went back this morning and took some pictures. I had to stop for milk on the way home, and I was feeling super self-conscious because I look like a total freak when I'm exercising. I get REALLY red - it's mortifying. So... to make me look more legit, I jogged up to the store. I know.... But it seemed like a good idea. See, that way, the people in the store wouldn't be like, "Man, look at that girl just walking down the street - why is her face so red?" This way, they'd all be like, "Wow - that chick must've been doing some serious running. Maybe she's a sprinter!" It was a total George Costanza moment and absolutely no one noticed. I'm an idiot.

No, it's not!

This is awesome. Iain lived in Philly for like 5 years and never got called for jury duty, until now.

Anzac Day

Today is Anzac Day and we have the day off.

I'm using the free time to update the blog and catch upon emails and laundry.

School update:

School has been going well but it's a real challenge. I'm working every day before and after school, except when Blue decides to sit on my notes. I get kind of obsessed with it, which is a good sign. Today however is a day off. I'm exhausted.

We designed a 4 page website this week - it was fun but it took almost as many days to build using XHTML and CSS, and my design skills are severely lacking. It doesn't help that the teacher gives us the goofiest assignments for fictional companies. I mean, "Lavish Lawns"? I found some fancy pictures of lawns and gardens, spent an embarrassing amount of time in Illustrator "creating" a logo (read: typing the name in a cool font in pretty colors ), and then built the site in code which was the REAL challenge.

I was TERRIFIED that my site would be laughed at. I figured that all of my classmates would present gorgeous sites done in Photoshop and Illustrator (most of the kids have design backgrounds). But after seeing everyone else's, I was pretty proud of my own. That felt really good. I actually thought mine was better than some, which I did not expect. It's still dorky by professional standards, but that's okay.

The best part is that it's valid, which means all of my code is correct according the internet police, aka the World Wide Web Consortium (w3.org). I was really psyched about that. You upload your file to their site and it tells you if it's right or wrong. Okay, I'm really geeking out so I'll move on...

Here is a picture of the cemetery by my school. I eat lunch here every day -- it's pretty in a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil sorta way.

Classic headline from Slate.com

I thought this summed it up perfectly! Of course, I didn't read the article, just the headline...

Damn it!

I should've checked the link I provided for the Uncle Mark spot. It's for a site you have to pay for -- I'm sorry guys. I did a search for the spot online and can't find it.

More about advertising in NZ

Check out the latest public awareness spot for drinking, titled "Uncle Mark". I actually gasped when I saw it. Iain and I don't like the tagline, though.

http://www.advertolog.com/paedia/reels/2008/4/16/511522/

It's part of a campaign. Another one is about a woman having drinks after work. I must admit, I saw it and was like, "What?" but then in the end she gets dragged down a backalley by a rapist.

They also have these great spots about being the designated driver -- they're aimed at teenagers and 20-somethings. A bunch of guys are going out and they first do a game of sorts to determine who the driver will be, then the rest of the spot shows everyone drinking except the driver. They're actually funny because the guys in the spots genuinely appear to be drunk.

(side rant: I don't know why, but it's really difficult for actors to act drunk. It always comes off as really phony - the classic example being Tori Spelling on 'Beverly Hills 90210'. See also: the episode of 'Friends' where Monica turns 30. Yet Brian on 'Family Guy' nails it! I'm trying to think of more examples but I'm drawing a blank.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

My Mom turns 65 today and is off to Saratoga to party with my Dad for the weekend.

Reality Check

Well, unless NZ starts airing some new reality shows (and I do NOT mean Keeping Up With the Kardashians) we'll be nearing the end of stuff to watch. Maybe we'll start watching American Gladiators.

In fact, Iain skipped the season finalé of Rock of Love the other night. I watched it by myself, got bored, and practiced typing code instead. Though, I already knew the winner - I stumbled upon it by accident during a Google search on whether Bret's hair is real.

By the way, we watched season 1 of R.O.L., not season 2, so please don't reveal who wins season 2!

Advertising in NZ

They get away with a LOT more over here.
Look at this print ad:

Philly!

We found a Belgian place last night for dinner. It totally reminded us of Eulogy and Monk's but much nicer and just as delish. The beer was pretty pricey, though. Damned imports.... Here's a picture of my fries, beer, and grilled mussels.

They also had a TV in the corner playing great 80s videos like Stevie Nicks, Duran Duran, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

We will definitely be going back!