I was picked up for work this morning just before 6am. Luckily, I’m normally awake at that time, and it wasn’t too much of a shock. We were on our way out of Wellington nearly immediately. A shade under 6 hours later, we reached our destination: an office of a forestry company that we’re doing some work with. The plan: data collection at a logging site. We avoided a few pitfalls, and got what we wanted. It’s nearly 11pm, and I just arrived home.

The ratio of travel to useful work is pretty horrendous: 12 hours to 1.5 hours. With some luck, we’ll get results that are coherent. I really want this trip to not have been a waste. Of course, it was intensely cool to see a 4-ton harvester running. It is surprising how delicate one can be with a 25m tree.

I just got a call from the optometrist’s office. My order of contacts has arrived and I can pick them up tonight after work. I guess I didn’t have to decide between wearing contacts for my volleyball game yesterday or for the game tonight. I could have had them for both, after all.

One of the guys from work volunteered to have a Halloween party at his house this past weekend. A few good costumes came out of the woodwork to celebrate. Thanks to Costume Cave, I was able to make a recognisable Willy Wonka, from the 2005 version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Aside from having a strikingly different face, I think the costume went fairly well. Top hats are also amazingly fun to wear. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz(1939_film) was with present, along with angels, devils, ghouls and a stripping mummy.¹

It’s nice to see that Halloween is starting to make an appearance in New Zealand. Many people consider it to be “an American thing” and would rather skip out on the chance to get dressed up and wait for Guy Fawkes a week later. While I like good fireworks displays, I’d much rather have a good costume party to go to.

¹ My camera didn’t make it to the party, but there were some others there. I’m counting on being able to get a copy of someone else’s pictures.

Before leaving for the 4-day trip, we’d decided to take two nights in Taupo and one night in Rotorua before spending the last day driving back to Wellington. We had a short list of things that we wanted to do, but with the dire weather forecasts, it seemed as if the outdoor activities were going to have to wait for another trip. In the end, the weather turned out to be mostly fine up until the drive back down. It may have slowed down traffic, but it didn’t stop us from doing anything in particular.

The hostels were booked before we left, based on recommendations from a travel guide. With two nights at Burkes Backpackers and one night at Funky Green Voyager, we were not disappointed at all. The closest thing to a criticism we could come up with was the smell of sulphur around Voyager, but it’s Rotorua, and that smell is nearly everywhere.

We were a little more relaxed about booking activities. With the uncertain weather, we didn’t want to be stuck with a bad choice. The only thing we booked in advance was the Maori cultural show [1]. For everything else, we relied largely on information picked up from the tourist information centres. It’s amazingly clear to see that New Zealand’s tourism industry is in good hands.

Having only one day in Rotorua was quite limiting. There were a lot of things that we could choose from to do, but only time for one. We went to Rainbow Springs to check out the wildlife, including a live kiwi.

The drive back was largely uneventful. It took a hellishly long time, but cost us little more than time. We were back in Wellington around 5pm, back to regular lives and crappy spring weather, looking forward to the next chance to take a long weekend away. It’s almost funny that it’s taken me over 4 years to get around to doing this stuff.

¹ It turned out to be a hugely popular show, and all 4 buses that traveled to the village were fully booked.

Highlights

• There’s a kick-ass playground in Levin. I never would have guessed how many times I could end up on my ass in a single go.
• Gravity Canyon—We could have done more thrilling stuff there, but I got some amazing pictures from a chair ride that went down 80m from the bridge to the canyon floor.
• The walk from the edge of Taupo out to Huka Falls. There is a warm spring just at the start of the trail that seems to be very popular with people with a bit of time to soak in the setting sun.
• For a longer soak, the Taupo Hot Springs leaves little to be desired.
• There is a strip of geothermal parks along the way from Taupo to Rotorua. Orakei Korako stood out above the others that we visited.

I’m back at work after a wonderful 4-day weekend trip into the central plateau of the north island. The weather held out much longer than the forecasts had warned. In fact, compared to what we’re getting hammered with today, the whole trip was spectacular. There were a few traffic hiccups along the way, but only one that had any significant effect.

We each made an effort to take pictures along the way. In total, we managed to go through around 300 pictures. It’s probably the most tourist-y I’ve ever been. After I get home from work today, I’ll make an effort to post a bit of a summary, and maybe some of the pictures.

It seemed odd to have an hour or so of actual free time last night, so I went trolling though my photo collection. I put a couple more of them up onto my Flickr account, but I also removed all of the pictures I had taken at the pro beach volleyball tournament at the end of January. The pictures were almost entirely crap—too far away, and poor action shots. I’ve still got my copies, but they’re not public at the moment.

I have a loose plan of what I’d like to do with my pictures, and just need the time to get things in place. I’ll continue to use Flickr to store some of the pictures that I’m at least somewhat proud of. In addition to that, I’ll set up a gallery somewhere on this server to host the whole lot. I’d hope to have a link set up between the two, or some way to tag the set which are in both places.

Further down the line, I think I’d like to strap together a calendar that lists entries for blog posts (by date posted), photos (by date taken) and events. It probably wouldn’t be all that difficult to do. The pycalendar module for pyblosxom does this for regular blog entries. Of course, finding the time for this is the hardest part. Expect something near 2008.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a weekend away from Wellington, without having also left New Zealand. Since moving to this part of the country, I have yet to see much of the surrounding area. This coming weekend is Labour Day in New Zealand. My girlfriend and I each have Friday booked off to make it a 4-day weekend. At this point, plans are fairly loose, but we’ve got bookings in Taupo and Rotorua. If the weather plays along, it should be a brilliant weekend. In any case, we’re both planning on going a little camera crazy.

In between getting home from work and running off to volleyball, I was told that my house is shifting all over again. One flatmate is taking a new job in Rotorua and the other has decided to take the opportunity to move on before a new lease ties her down. They asked what I wanted to do. I’m quite tired of moving around. I’ve been in this house about a month, and I kinda like it. However, I don’t own the house furniture, and I’m likely going to have to dump a bit of money into getting stuff. None of the options that I’m looking at are particularly attractive.

I’ve got about a month or so to get things worked out. I’m assuming that I’ll keep the place and just get in some flatmates, so I’ll need some time to arrange that, too. The rent isn’t so high that I couldn’t ride it out for a while, to find some people that I’d want to live with, but that’s definitely going to cut into my decent-furniture budget. There is a plus side, though. I get to decorate however I want, and I’ll have room to put plants where I think they belong, instead of just in the spaces that are left over.

The results have been posted from the Business Games. In volleyball, we posted 3rd¹, but not so well in petanque. I don’t think they numbered anyone from the bottom division. Both were great fun, though. I can see why petanque is a great social event in France. A couple glasses of wine, some good weather and some healthy competition can make for a great Sunday sport. With the new piste at Waitangi Park, there will be ample opportunity to play in the city. It will give us a chance to practice for next year’s games. I’m not sure about how legal the few glasses of wine there would be, but I’m sure it will happen anyway.

¹ There wasn’t a game played to determine third and fourth. I’m assuming that the result was based on stats obtained during the round robin. We’d swept our pool, which put us ahead of the other semi-final loser.

I wrote a letter tonight, to send to my dad. I don’t honestly remember the last time I wrote a letter. Not one that actually got posted, in any case. There have been flirtations with sending postcards, but nothing quite as committal as a letter. It’s easy to assume that letter writing is a lost art. I’ve spoken with a few older people who used to post a letter and wait for weeks for a reply, for the ship to cross the ocean and back. But the reply would come. I also don’t remember the last time I received a letter.

This is an age when even bills aren’t posted anymore. Instead, they might be emailed or be set up as a pre-arranged bank transfer. The post box is filled instead with fliers, ads, promotional offers and, thankfully, local weekly newspapers. I remember loving getting mail, especially when I was in university. It was a sign that someone loved you, usually your parents.

I hope he likes it. It’s something that you can hold. It doesn’t vanish when you hang up the phone.

I had my appointment this evening to get me accustomed to putting in and taking out contacts. Thankfully, I won’t be doing this every day. Given my preference for wearing my glasses or not, depending on if I’m at work, the contacts are more for sports than for every day. Because of this, I’ve got daily disposables, which means thinner, which also means that they go in a lot easier than they come out. That is, until I get better at it. I’m sure I’ll barely even think about it in a month or two, but it was mildly embarrassing watching the optometrist watch me cry.

As for the result on my volleyball playing, it hasn’t solved all my passing problems. I still take the odd ball off my thumbs. I’m sure that’s just laziness on my part. No manner of vision correction is going to fix that.

Edit 11–10-2006: While the slight blue tint of the lens does wonders for my already blue eyes, my eyes are incredibly sore this morning, and the redness today is drawing far more attention than the blueness was last night. I really need to get better at this.

Les Mills in Wellington is running a 24 hour relay event to raise money for Heart Children New Zealand. The event takes place over November 25–26, from 9am – 9am, involving 12–15 people taking turns on a piece of cardio gear. Teams choose between a cross-trainer, bike or treadmill, with prizes for the highest km-clocking team in each category, for the highest fundraiser and for the best costume. It sounds like a lot of fun and a lot of work, so a few of us are thinking about entering a bike team.

I don’t think I could handle a consecutive 2 hours on a bike, but I shouldn’t have a problem if I broke it into two segments. The only real questions are whether we can get enough people together to make a team and if I can get a cool costume that won’t affect my pedaling too much.

I like having regular activities to provide a rhythm to the week. Normally, I have volleyball games to play, french classes to attend, and a myriad of other things to keep me busy. As a balance, it’s nice to have something to keep things a bit casual. In the past, with the help of some friends, we’ve had movie nights (cheesy, classic, 80s) and dinner nights (usually kinda potluck). Things like this go a long way to bring balance to a busy life, but still keep it fun.

After a couple different conversations on the weekend, I want to start doing things like this again. There’s still a lot of old movies that I’d love to see, and sharing meals is a great way to eat well without running up the bills too high. So watch this space—if you’re around Wellington on a Sunday night, bring a nice dessert and maybe we’ll sit down with The Maltese Falcon.

Over the weekend, I completed the Massage & Sports Therapy class I had begun in September. It’s a very interesting class, and I learned a lot more than I had anticipated. At least a few things are worth noting:

• Even though it listed Stages 2 and 3 as prerequisites, one really should have a firmer knowledge of anatomy and physiology.
• Stretching is wonderful. A good reference is Kit Laughlin’s Stretching & Flexibility
• Release of fascial tissue can do a lot more than expected.¹
• Economy of both time and energy is key to practicing sports massage. It’s not easy to see everything and do everything, especially in 15 minutes.

I have an assignment yet to complete for the class, with 2 months until the deadline. It includes both theory and practical components, so I’ll be strapping someone to a massage table for a few hours yet. Further down the line, I have Stages 4 and 5 to complete, which will take me up to the Christmas break, with practical assignments going into the new year. Maybe I should ask Santa for a massage table for Christmas…

¹ Because of an old spinal injury, the fascial release that was done to me left me in a large amount of pain. It seems as if I don’t have the core stability to hold my back in place without the assistance of the fascia. I was almost unable to do my assessment because I was barely able to stand without a lot of discomfort. I stayed out of my volleyball game yesterday, but I’ll be playing tonight.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, but in addition to the southerly lashing that we’re getting in Wellington, something is up with the hot water in the house. By the time I was getting home last night, hot was merely warm-ish. By this morning, the water that was coming from the shower might as well have come from the fridge. Luckily, I was able to take a shower elsewhere, otherwise I would be a very grumpy boy right now.

We’re guessing that something happened when the gas provider was switched yesterday, meaning that the gas was turned off and on again. They’re charging an $85 call out fee to check. I’m just hoping that it’s all sorted before tomorrow morning.

I had a short conversation with an old university friend yesterday about whether I’d move back to Canada, or if I have settled into New Zealand permanently. I honestly can’t give an answer. I might move back. I might move elsewhere. Or I might not. At this point, I’ve had my residency for nearly a year, which means that I have one more year of obligation to receive the golden permanent Returning Resident’s Visa. After that, I can come and go as I please.

There are a lot of factors that would go into a decision to leave or to stay: work, family situations, relationships, money and political atmosphere. It’s probably most safe to say that I’ve consistently decided to stay, and expect to keep deciding to stay for a while yet—I like my job, the city I live in and my personal life. However, if something were to happen to my family at home, I could see myself leaving on short notice.

I had an idea while waiting for the bus this morning. I’d noticed that more and more tail lights on vehicles are composed of individual LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). It would certainly possible for the LED controller to turn each one on and off in a pattern. The delay between each LED would have to be small, so the effect wouldn’t be too distracting. I think a fast spiral would be simple and a cool effect. There might very well be laws regarding light response times, frequency of pulse, period of pulse and so on, but it shouldn’t be hard to work within those constraints.

Anyone interested in getting into the after-market tail lights, feel free to take this idea and run with it. I’d rather see something like this out there than sit on it and wait for nothing to happen.

Thanks for the note, Marc. I don’t think I’m a good photographer, by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a sucker for compliments. Besides, I think you’ve far outdone anything I’ve done.

I went to see an optometrist on Saturday. I’ve been having a hard time with slowly drifting balls when playing volleyball. I can’t play with glasses on, and apparently, I can’t play with glasses off, either.

My prescription hasn’t changed much, but I do have more of an astigmatism in my left eye, which has been my dominant eye for years. I’ll actually keep my old glasses, but I’ve got contacts on order to help with sports. I’ve only worn contacts a couple times in my life, and only for decorative purposes. It took ages to get them in the first time, and probably even longer the second. Needless to say, I’ve got an appointment to learn how to put them in properly, and how to suppress that damn blink reflex.

I won’t have them in time for any of my games in the next week, but I should have them in time for the week following. Here’s hoping that my vision problems are truly the source of my serve receive problems, and maybe the reason why I can’t win a game of pool to save my life anymore.