Summer weather!

It's heading into summer here, so we get sunny days more frequently. Last week, we had two! As you can see on the forecast here, we are preparing for the bright sunniness that will be partially covered by clouds when it shows up on Sunday. I'm going to wear sun glasses.

When it rains now, it is much warmer than the winter rains. Our winter had pouring rain and airport-closing wind, but no snow. I'm becoming rather obsessed with the weather and will probably post more updates about the rain if it keeps up. I'm ready for the sun!

Soccer is going well. My all-men's indoor team had a particularly rough game last night. After 5 flagrant fouls, the other team is awarded a penalty kick. We scored two goals off penalty kicks before the first half was over. The game heated up from there and both teams got numerous penalty shots. Regardless, my team won. Playing seven to ten games a week has improved my fitness dramatically. I don't really go to the gym anymore which isn't a bad thing.

Our classes are ending next week. I have my big improv performance on Saturday night and Perin will get some pictures and maybe some video to share. Hopefully it's entertaining. Perin's sewing class finishes and she's almost finished her sun dress she plans to wear in Hawaii. We've both signed up for classes in the new year - I've got Mandarin lessons and Perin's taking another sewing class.

Adult-education classes have historically be subsidized by the government, but the National (conservative) party is in power and it cutting funding for next year. So many of the smaller schools will not be offering classes next term and fees have gone up for everyone. Our school wasn't closed and it's still a pretty good deal, so I'm sure we'll take heaps of classes over the next year.

Work is slowing down a bit as we head in the summer/holiday break. Because I don't have too much to do, I procrastinate and then don't get anything done. And then I stress out a bit at having not done enough at the end of the day. At least I'm getting my exercise!

I heard on the radio about Christmas lights competitions, but I don't think I've seen a single house that has them up here. I think part of the reason is that we're heading into summer and the sun doesn't set until 8:30pm. Christmas ads have Santa wearing shorts and jandals, but it was explained to us that all the "white Christmas" stories are accepted by children here because they understand that he lives in the northern hemisphere and know that it's cold there.

With no Thanksgiving here, it's okay for holiday parties to start much earlier in the year. I think our first party was over two weeks ago. It makes more sense than cramming them all in together at the end of the year. And you can attend them all with less stress. My first work party was at the Staglands Wildlife Preserve and we saw all kinds of cute baby animals and walked around. Check out some of the animals we saw here.

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

We are months behind on uploading our pictures. Here is the first of about 6 albums we need to post. But its amazing what procrastination can help you get done. While avoiding work, I found I was incredibly keen to sort through photos.

In July 2009 we took a whirlwind tour of the US starting off in Hotlanta, then going to NYC, Philly, NJ and Colorado. It was so great to see everyone, especially all the little babies.

Enjoy our photos!

US Visit - July 2009

A cold wind bloweth

I've regaled you in the past with epic tales of the television opulence we wallow in here. But there is a new development: Digital video recorders have been introduced! For $100 plus another $20/mo. we can utilize this spectacular technology. That's for the cable company version. TiVo costs more. And they did just become available last week. You can read about a criminal getting caught trying to steal one from an early adopter here.

There isn't really anything I would record, but

I suppose I could have saved the Broncos game to

watch at a more convenient time. Because the Broncos played MNF yesterday, I got to see the game here (we only get the SNF and MNF games). It comes on live at noon, but they show a replay that starts at 10pm. So last night, I stayed up to watch. I didn't talk to anyone about the game, didn't read about it on the Internet, didn't look at any Facebook or Twitter updates. I was going to get to watch a real Broncos game! And what crushing disappointment for me. Good first half, but I could barely keep my eyes open when the fourth quarter rolled around at 1am. With the loss, no sleep, and freezing winds blowing up off Antarctica causing vicious cold and rain/sleet today, I am not pleased.

There isn't too much Christmas stuff in the stores here yet. Because the holiday falls in the middle of summer here, and everyone takes time off work to go away, I just don't think the decorations are quite as big of a deal. Many Kiwis get the whole family together, hire some caravans (rent campers) and park them on the beach for three weeks. Most caravans don't have room for many decorations.

Perin and I are heading to Sydney this weekend to meet my friend Greg. He's giving a seminar at some university in Canberra and then meeting us in Sydney.

I've never been to Canberra, but allow me to talk some smack about it. Melbourne and Sydney were fighting over which city should be the capital when they decided to found a new city halfway and make that the capital. It's in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do there. Or so I've been informed by numerous Kiwis and Aussies.

When we moved to NZ, we looked at the map and thought about how close Australia and New Zealand are, and pictured ourselves flying over for long weekends all the time. However, it's a 3.5 hour flight and good deals start around $500 per person. So we require motivation to make plans to go. Greg coming through means we're going to see Sydney. We're both pretty excited to check it out. Perin is also very excited about shopping opportunities that may present themselves.

Una actualización general

Again, it's been over a month since we updated the blog, so I thought I'd catch you all up.

Things are going well here. However, Perin and I are just about done with the rain here. Although we're heading into spring (I know, crazy hemispheres) it rains like nothing either of us have ever lived through before. No charge for drinking water though.

In my rafting course, we got all of our drinking water from waterfalls and drank straight from most of the rivers which was really weird for me. I know that it used to be like that for most fresh water around the world, but humans and livestock introduce a lot of bacteria and that changes everything.

It's still weird to me that there are more people in the Denver metro area (7M) than this whole country (4M). I recently learned that because NZ and Australia have close relations and similar world views there were plans for several years to join the two countries into one. But then they would have lost a vote in the UN, so they decided to stay separate...

Halloween is kind of a new holiday here. It is seen as American cultural imperialism by many of the older Kiwis, although the kids love it. People who have kids are like, "I have to buy a costume for my kid? And then buy candy for the kid and all the kids coming over to my house? And then have them all hyped-up on sugar for the rest of the night? Sounds like a waste of my money and a terrible night. Damn Americans and their damn holidays!"

Work is going well, but they want me to go to work every day. And work the whole day. It's BS! Mostly they want me to do project management and that's the worst job ever. A business wants to do a project. So they hire a project manager. But the project manager has no carrots and no sticks. The PM has to ask workers who have other jobs and tasks they're rated upon to do extra stuff. But the PM has no power to reward people for doing what the PM wants them to do, and no power to punish them for not doing anything.

The only people I've ever met who truly enjoy being project manager are small, vindictive people. They relish politically backstabbing anyone who doesn't do what they want them to do. Regardless, I'm working to have no one assign me any PM work after this project is done at the end of the month:)

Last week was pretty stressful, and since Halloween isn't too big a deal here, I had a beer and went to bed early. Plus I had three soccer games on Sunday so I didn't party too hard. I had two outdoor games, then came home and took a nap, then went and played an indoor game. Good exercise, but I'm sore all over today. And because last week was so stressful (I had to work through the night one night), I got Monday off. I had big plans to drop Perin off at work, finish my timesheets for work, go to the gym, stop by the library, do some grocery shopping, make lunches for the rest of the week, and do the dishes all before noon so I could lay back and watch NFL all day.

But guess what? No football because the Yankees and Phillies were playing. So I didn't do anything on my list. I walked into town to buy some beers then came home and took a three-hour nap. Speaking of naps, when I was sleeping between my soccer games, I told Perin to wake me up and I was like "C'mere. Give me a kiss," and she's like, "Well... okay. But only on the forehead, because that huge patch of drool down the side of your face makes it hard to kiss you on the lips."

Perin is doing well. She's got it all figured out by assigning all work to underlings (of which she has many). Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get a subordinate to do things she wants them to do, and she knows it would be faster and easier to do everything herself. But Perin is wise and understands that if she can train them to do what she wants how she wants, she can get out of lots of work. She's a real genius!

I'm taking an improv comedy class on Monday nights (like the TV show Who's Line is it Anyway) which is a lot of fun. I have a performance December 5th, and then after that there is a possibility I could join the Wellington Improvisation Troupe (yes, with all those weird British spellings) on Wednesday nights next year. I enjoy doing it because there is no real preparation ahead of time. We spend a lot of time learning about how stories are told. There needs to be a platform for the story to begin (which is very important), then some conflict, and then some resolution.

It's hard to keep that in mind without a script or plan. So the art of improv is working with other people without a plan to tell a story. And what makes everyone laugh is during failure. So embracing failure is another skill that we work on. Embacing failure and not hesitating are the two biggest skills we work on. In case you were wondering, I'm the best in the class:) And the most modest:)

Perin is back in a sewing class this session. She's working on a dress to wear to Hawaii this holiday season. Although not the most experienced seamstress, I think she enjoys being more experienced than most of her classmates and sharing her knowledge with them. She's had this tutor before (they're not called teachers here) and she really likes this one.

We've both been playing heaps of soccer. I'm on four indoor soccer teams, and just joined and outdoor team. Perin's been playing on two teams and started seeing a personal trainer at the gym. I think I might get a personal trainer too.

We both decided that when we're super rich and retired that we'll start every day off with a personal yoga instructor, then a personal trainer at the gym, and then have a flotation tank. Perin and I tried using sensory deprivation tanks (now called a flotation tanks) in San Francisco and they were really cool.

Although popularized by hippies, it's basically a bathtub in the dark with much epsom salt diluted in the water. All the espom salt increased the water's density which means you float easily. The water is warm, there is no light, and it's sound proof. Most people don't realize how much brain power they spend just to keep themselves upright in a chair or listening to ambient sounds. So by freeing your brain from "having" to do anything or process any information, it can do whatever it wants. Without any drugs, chemicals, or other stimulus the brain goes straight to relaxation and healing.

Anyway, whether or not you believe in anything like that, Perin and I are working and investing. With the US dollar sinking, our NZ dollars are becoming more valuable and we've been doing some dollar-cost-averaging transitioning of our savings back to US dollars. We're saving for a house down payment, our retirement, and a baby (or babies).

Oooooohhhhhh! Babies!!!!! I don't really have any more details for you right now. Babies are for later, but we're planning for them. The tentative plan is to quit our jobs when our work visas expire, see some more of NZ, then take a world trip back to the States over a couple a months, then come back and have some babies. Oooooooh! Babies!!!!