you'd be amazed at how often my american friends say to me "mason, i'm fascinated with maori culture and music, and i love old skool breakdancing, but isn't there some way that these two loves could be combined?". well friends, the search is over. i give you poi e:
apparently this was a big hit back in the day, not just in the enzed, but in england as well. the song came out at a time when you wouldn't hear any maori music on mainstream radio and was a way to get maori kids to be proud of being maori, but in a way that appealed to them (hence the hip hop/breakdancing tie-ins). the result is pure new zealand 80's awesome.
arguably new zealand's most well known musical export, however, was (were?) the split enz (note the 'nz' on the 'enz', signifying new zealand), the most famous members of which were neil and tim finn (for you music aficionados out there, yes these are the same finn brothers that were in crowded house. so yes, crowded house can be considered a new zealand band and were definitely more well known than split enz, at least in the states. but crowded house was formed in australia with several australians and we're trying to Keep It Real here. but i digress).
anyway, the split enz's six months in a leaky boat was one of their biggest hits and is something of a kiwi anthem because of the line 'Aotearoa (maori name for NZ), rugged individual / Glisten like a pearl / At the bottom of the world'.
anyway, here is the song and video:
you may now consider yourselves culturally enlightened.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
at the intersection of sinatra and fish
the last night in the accursed auckland international backpackers (though this night it was cooler and with fewer mosquitos). no matter, for today was the day of the auckland seafood festival. one foodstuff that kiwis do well. i got up, fortified myself with pancakes, then rode out to drop my gym bag at a locker in the bus terminal. it felt, in the immortal words of stewie, "deliciously white trash". i wanted to get a jump in the seafood action, but found out that the festival wasn't starting until noon. shenanigans! fine. i'll just go to victoria park market and have an ambiguously gay croatian man who i think likes me watch my bike (and this isn’t some euphemism, I actually mean actually watch my actual bicycle) while i kill time window shopping. and get to see sir edmund hillary's handprints.
back to the seafood festival. it was really good. there were at least 100 different booths taking up one entire wharf and selling a wide variety of seafood. i finally got to try a whitebait fritter (remember the mishap with the fridge in the basement apartment?). i shouldn’t have bothered. it tasted about like nothing. but there were lots of grilled shrimp, steamed and raw mussels (pak-n-save, the kiwi equivalent of a low-rent costco, was selling a grocery bag of raw mussels for two bucks), paella, etc. i, like many many others, failed to get a tennis ball into a life preserver in a casting contest. i then attended a cooking demonstration for a seafood dish that only the people in the front row got to try (more shenanigans!). in the middle of the afternoon, i rode back to auckland domain to get my bike back to logan to take home. i still had enough time to get back and spend a few more hours at the festival. and i’m glad i did, because that’s when IT happened.
after attending another cooking demonstration (for spiced calamari rings, which were awesome) i wandered over to where a series of contests and giveaways had been going on throughout the day in one of the larger pavilions. they were calling for contestants and no one was volunteering, so i went up to the front and did. i ended up being teamed up with two middle aged maori women for a game against three other random people for what amounted to be a race to five right answers in a trivia contest about fish. i got three for our team, including knowing that a group of fish is called a school (i’m not making this up) and knowing that sometimes japanese people die from eating fugu. my other teammates weren’t great, but they came through when it counted (knowing, for example, what the most commonly caught fish in auckland harbor is (because I had no fucking idea)). anyway, we won, so i picked up (in no particular order) a book on new zealand commercial fish species, a cd of frank sinatra’s greatest hits (nana says that there’s some really good songs on it including several that she doesn’t have) and a free pass for two to auckland’s wine and seafood experience (i think john will be the lucky one to join me on that, just so long as he doesn’t walk in and announce that he’s “not drinking any fucking merlot”). truly, a random assortment of prizes. but hey, their value beats the hell out of the price of admission, so i really can’t complain.
after leaving the festival i headed back to the ferry landing and had a little gelato before walking to the bus terminal to head for home. all in all, it was a good weekend in auckland. the times i’d been there before were only to spend some time with newly arrived or soon departing visitors, so i’m glad i took the opportunity take a more in depth look at what the city has to offer.
back to the seafood festival. it was really good. there were at least 100 different booths taking up one entire wharf and selling a wide variety of seafood. i finally got to try a whitebait fritter (remember the mishap with the fridge in the basement apartment?). i shouldn’t have bothered. it tasted about like nothing. but there were lots of grilled shrimp, steamed and raw mussels (pak-n-save, the kiwi equivalent of a low-rent costco, was selling a grocery bag of raw mussels for two bucks), paella, etc. i, like many many others, failed to get a tennis ball into a life preserver in a casting contest. i then attended a cooking demonstration for a seafood dish that only the people in the front row got to try (more shenanigans!). in the middle of the afternoon, i rode back to auckland domain to get my bike back to logan to take home. i still had enough time to get back and spend a few more hours at the festival. and i’m glad i did, because that’s when IT happened.
after attending another cooking demonstration (for spiced calamari rings, which were awesome) i wandered over to where a series of contests and giveaways had been going on throughout the day in one of the larger pavilions. they were calling for contestants and no one was volunteering, so i went up to the front and did. i ended up being teamed up with two middle aged maori women for a game against three other random people for what amounted to be a race to five right answers in a trivia contest about fish. i got three for our team, including knowing that a group of fish is called a school (i’m not making this up) and knowing that sometimes japanese people die from eating fugu. my other teammates weren’t great, but they came through when it counted (knowing, for example, what the most commonly caught fish in auckland harbor is (because I had no fucking idea)). anyway, we won, so i picked up (in no particular order) a book on new zealand commercial fish species, a cd of frank sinatra’s greatest hits (nana says that there’s some really good songs on it including several that she doesn’t have) and a free pass for two to auckland’s wine and seafood experience (i think john will be the lucky one to join me on that, just so long as he doesn’t walk in and announce that he’s “not drinking any fucking merlot”). truly, a random assortment of prizes. but hey, their value beats the hell out of the price of admission, so i really can’t complain.
after leaving the festival i headed back to the ferry landing and had a little gelato before walking to the bus terminal to head for home. all in all, it was a good weekend in auckland. the times i’d been there before were only to spend some time with newly arrived or soon departing visitors, so i’m glad i took the opportunity take a more in depth look at what the city has to offer.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
another quest completed
after a fantastic night where high heat, no breeze and mosquitos forced me to go sleep in the lounge at the backpackers, i got up and headed out to meet up with logan (one of the postdocs from the lab) at auckland domain. logan was kind enough to bring my bike up to auckland with him so that i could complete a quest i've had since the first day peter was here: to get out to stony batter on the east end of waiheke island.
stony batter is a WW2 fortification, complete with tunnel networks and gun emplacements, that was put there to fend off an invasion by the japanese hordes that never came. when peter and i went out to waiheke, we wanted to go see it, but no buses ran there and we didn't have a car. so i decided the cheapest way to get out there was to bring my bike some time in the future. well, that some time was now. and by now i mean then. whatever. you know what i mean.
i collected my bike and headed down to the wharf, allowing myself to be distracted by a free tour of the HMNZS te mana frigate. i've never been on a working vessel of a foreign navy before, so figuring "when the hell will i ever get this opportunity again?" and went. the sailors were very friendly and answered everyone's questions. little kids were climbing all over the equipment. they had examples of all the small arms out ("small arms" included weapons up to and including a .50 cal) so you could pick them up and dry fire them. the last ship i'd been on was the USS yorktown, and significant changes have taken place on naval vessels since that one was retired, specifically in the areas of navigation and weapons targetting (all the sailors said it's like playing a computer game now).
afterwards, my bike and i got our tickets and headed out to waiheke island. remember how hot it was the day before on rangitoto? yeah, this was hotter. and i discovered something about waiheke that you don't realize on a bus: there isn't any horizontal land (aside from individual local minima and maxima -- a little math humor for you) on the entire fucking island. no matter, i'm in shape, right? well, that was all good until i got to the point where you turn off the paved road onto the gravel road. and i was on my road bike. and stony batter was still 5 miles away.
it sucked. no traction and high gear ratios meant that i had to push the bike up every hill. and i was worried about flats, rattling the bike too much, etc. but i'm proud to say that i made it and the bike held together just fine. and once again, the effort was worth it.
the fort is awesome. there are many hundreds of yards of tunnels (probably not up to 'miles', but still lots). and let me tell you, this is right up at the top of the list of places that wouldn't be run this way in the US. flashlights are required this time (although they'll rent them to you, which was a first) because there are no lights in any of the tunnels. you're walking along in complete darkness, so hope your batteries are fresh. there are also a number of places where the stairs don't have handrails (apparently handrails are for the weak) and instead of blocking off dangerous places, they just hand painted signs on the walls saying "dangerous". in fact, most everything in the tunnels was just hand painted, including the 'tour this way' arrows. that part is homey and kind of cool, since the entire complex is administered by the locals. but the eeriest thing about it, even more eerie than hearing a non-jeffrey dahmer looking derek rank at the backpackers, is that they have 40's era music playing on a boombox at the tunnel entrance. so you're walking along in utter blackness, hearing reverbed-out andrews sisters coming from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at once. it was an odd sensation.
i made it to all the emplacements and was treated to fantastic views off the east coast of the island, which i'd never seen. i called peter for the obligatory "i'm at stony batter and you're not" taunt. he really needs to learn the proper response of "your parents were never married". but it was a really cool place to have lunch, looking out over the water.
upon leaving i was faced with a choice: take the 5 mile dirt road back and have a long ride to the southern tip of the island, which is supposed to be beautiful, or take a 6 mile dirt road south and have a much shorter ride to the southern tip. i chose the latter and shouldn't have bothered with the southern tip at all. it was okay, but certainly not spectacular or any better than 100 other places like it i've seen in new zealand. i then had a 2 hour ride back to the ferry, racing against time to catch the 8:00 one so i wouldn't have to hang around until 10:00.
on the ferry i sat with a nice couple from auckland who i'd seen out riding during the day and we compared notes. i made it back to the backpackers and had my second bad experience with germans in the service industry in this country when i tried to get help putting my bike away at the backpackers. after my shower, i lay in bed, trying to decide if i was too tired to eat. i'd ridden or pushed the bike over 40 miles in the heat. over two days, i used up an entire canister of gatorade. but that's okay, because the next day would involve seafood...
stony batter is a WW2 fortification, complete with tunnel networks and gun emplacements, that was put there to fend off an invasion by the japanese hordes that never came. when peter and i went out to waiheke, we wanted to go see it, but no buses ran there and we didn't have a car. so i decided the cheapest way to get out there was to bring my bike some time in the future. well, that some time was now. and by now i mean then. whatever. you know what i mean.
i collected my bike and headed down to the wharf, allowing myself to be distracted by a free tour of the HMNZS te mana frigate. i've never been on a working vessel of a foreign navy before, so figuring "when the hell will i ever get this opportunity again?" and went. the sailors were very friendly and answered everyone's questions. little kids were climbing all over the equipment. they had examples of all the small arms out ("small arms" included weapons up to and including a .50 cal) so you could pick them up and dry fire them. the last ship i'd been on was the USS yorktown, and significant changes have taken place on naval vessels since that one was retired, specifically in the areas of navigation and weapons targetting (all the sailors said it's like playing a computer game now).
afterwards, my bike and i got our tickets and headed out to waiheke island. remember how hot it was the day before on rangitoto? yeah, this was hotter. and i discovered something about waiheke that you don't realize on a bus: there isn't any horizontal land (aside from individual local minima and maxima -- a little math humor for you) on the entire fucking island. no matter, i'm in shape, right? well, that was all good until i got to the point where you turn off the paved road onto the gravel road. and i was on my road bike. and stony batter was still 5 miles away.
it sucked. no traction and high gear ratios meant that i had to push the bike up every hill. and i was worried about flats, rattling the bike too much, etc. but i'm proud to say that i made it and the bike held together just fine. and once again, the effort was worth it.
the fort is awesome. there are many hundreds of yards of tunnels (probably not up to 'miles', but still lots). and let me tell you, this is right up at the top of the list of places that wouldn't be run this way in the US. flashlights are required this time (although they'll rent them to you, which was a first) because there are no lights in any of the tunnels. you're walking along in complete darkness, so hope your batteries are fresh. there are also a number of places where the stairs don't have handrails (apparently handrails are for the weak) and instead of blocking off dangerous places, they just hand painted signs on the walls saying "dangerous". in fact, most everything in the tunnels was just hand painted, including the 'tour this way' arrows. that part is homey and kind of cool, since the entire complex is administered by the locals. but the eeriest thing about it, even more eerie than hearing a non-jeffrey dahmer looking derek rank at the backpackers, is that they have 40's era music playing on a boombox at the tunnel entrance. so you're walking along in utter blackness, hearing reverbed-out andrews sisters coming from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at once. it was an odd sensation.
i made it to all the emplacements and was treated to fantastic views off the east coast of the island, which i'd never seen. i called peter for the obligatory "i'm at stony batter and you're not" taunt. he really needs to learn the proper response of "your parents were never married". but it was a really cool place to have lunch, looking out over the water.
upon leaving i was faced with a choice: take the 5 mile dirt road back and have a long ride to the southern tip of the island, which is supposed to be beautiful, or take a 6 mile dirt road south and have a much shorter ride to the southern tip. i chose the latter and shouldn't have bothered with the southern tip at all. it was okay, but certainly not spectacular or any better than 100 other places like it i've seen in new zealand. i then had a 2 hour ride back to the ferry, racing against time to catch the 8:00 one so i wouldn't have to hang around until 10:00.
on the ferry i sat with a nice couple from auckland who i'd seen out riding during the day and we compared notes. i made it back to the backpackers and had my second bad experience with germans in the service industry in this country when i tried to get help putting my bike away at the backpackers. after my shower, i lay in bed, trying to decide if i was too tired to eat. i'd ridden or pushed the bike over 40 miles in the heat. over two days, i used up an entire canister of gatorade. but that's okay, because the next day would involve seafood...
no sleep till…auckland (rangitoto island)
not terribly much happened for a week or two after stephanie left. geek movie night with the original ‘war of the worlds’, geek board game day with some good games. geek science at work. lots of geekiness, i guess. so, for the weekend of jan 23- 26, it was time to get back out of town for some more exploring. and what better destination than auckland for auckland anniversary day weekend?
so in new zealand, they do this thing where they have regional holidays based on the founding of the major city in the region. in the Waikato (the region where hamilton is and the basis for the name “university of waikato”), they default to auckland anniversary day, which is jan 26th, which this year created a three day weekend not to be wasted. so the friday before, i took the bus up to auckland after work and stayed at auckland international backpackers in parnell (and no, for those travelling to auckland, I would not recommend them). there was a whole range of activities planned for the anniversary weekend, all kicking off with a fireworks show over the harbor (see how much time i just saved by not spelling it ‘harbour’?). it was great because all I had to do was walk out of the backpackers, go about 3 blocks to a city park with a view of the harbor and enjoy the fireworks from one of the benches. no crowds, no parking issues, nothing. Fantastic.
the next morning i headed out to rangitoto island in auckland harbor. one of the many volcanic cones in the greater auckland area, the entire island is now a nature preserve accessible by ferry (and of course i missed the 9am ferry by 5 minutes. blast.). after killing an hour and a half walking around the waterfront to find where the seafood festival was being held (more on that in the post about monday’s activities), as well as the locations of more than one latin food restaurant, i caught the next ferry over to the island.
the first thing you notice about rangitoto from the water is how green it is. there are a number of islands in the harbor and the shoreline of the ‘mainland’ is very crinkly, so there is a lot of area to look at from the harbor side. rangitoto is definitely the greenest thing around, not having been developed at all, neither for housing nor farmland. the problem i had upon arriving is that with my 1.5 hour delay, it would be a real push to walk all the tracks i wanted to before the last ferry left for the day. and if I say that nothing is on the island, i mean that NOTHING is on the island. No phone no lights no motorcars, not a single luxury. so missing the last ferry would suck. this meant having to plan carefully what i thought i could reasonably do before 5:30.
my first excursion was to a series of old baches along the shoreline. for those not in the know, the concept of a ‘bach’ is one near and dear to kiwi hearts. baches are beach houses, usually with very few amenities, but still comfortable. these historical structures are pretty old and it’s not clear to me if anyone actually lives in them (it looks like someone might, but i was told no one lives on the island, so it is a conundrum). but they are really cool. after that it was a quick trip through the kowhai grove and kidney fern glen, then on to the summit track itself. halfway up i let myself be distracted by a side track heading out to the western end of the island with its lighthouse. i’m ordinarily a sucker for lighthouses, but this time i shouldn’t have bothered.
let me take this opportunity to describe how hot it was this day. as my grandfather would say “you know how hot it was? it was so hot it was unbelievable.” as green as everything appeared from the water, none of those trees actually cover any of the footpaths on the island. bastards. plus, the entire place is covered with (not surprisingly) volcanic rock, which seems to be very effective at absorbing and re-radiating the sun’s heat, regardless of how cool it is to look at.
anyway, i eventually made it to the summit, which i have to say is completely fucking worth it. if you ever go to auckland and have a day to devote to it, go to rangitoto and head for the summit. the view is absolutely spectacular. you get an unobstructed 360 view from the top. on one side is the auckland harbor, with the entire city in sight. you can see the harbor bridge and the northern suburbs, plus all the other harbor islands. it’s really awesome. and there is (thankfully) and old WW2 era outpost at the top that actually provides a bit of shade. i’d have loved to stay up there all day, but i had to continue on to get back to the base.
next was a walk along the crater rim (remember, old volcano) and a trek to the lava caves. these are yet another example of ‘torch recommended’ new zealand, but i was ready this time. as usual, the entrance to the caves were nearly unmarked and there were certainly no warnings. but really, why should anything be different this time? the caves themselves were kinda cool, but not piss yourself awesome. from there it was an uneventful walk back to the ferry landing to wait for the trip back to auckland. while waiting for the ferry, i verified empirically that soaking your feet in the cool ocean after a day of hiking in the heat is one of the best damn feelings in the world.
back in Auckland, i decided to treat myself to a meal at mexi-cali fresh, touted as the best mexican food in auckland (not sure how much competition there is; also, atlanta residents, this is not to be confused with fresh mexicali) and had a carnitas burrito and a damn cup of coke with damn ice in it and i got a damn refill when i damn well felt like it. the food was passable, but the feeling of a meal like you’d have in the states (i.e. okay mexican food and refills on soft drinks in a cup with ice) was totally worth it.
the only other moderately interesting thing from the day was watching NZ vs australia in beach cricket. if there is a more laid back sport than this, i don’t know what it is. all the players have a microphone, and the announcers talk to the batsman WHILE HE’S BATTING (“you need to pick up the pace there, eh?” “yeah, I suppose” CRACK “yeah, that was a good one, eh?”). i find this fascinating. also, NZ killed australia, something that never happens in actual cricket.
after this it was back to the backpackers for a shower. while i was eating dinner in the lounge watching starship troopers, i had this surreal experience of hearing a guy on one of the other couches who sounds EXACTLY LIKE derek rank. i mean, it was eerie. put jeffery dahmer’s face on him and you’d have derek’s clone.
so in new zealand, they do this thing where they have regional holidays based on the founding of the major city in the region. in the Waikato (the region where hamilton is and the basis for the name “university of waikato”), they default to auckland anniversary day, which is jan 26th, which this year created a three day weekend not to be wasted. so the friday before, i took the bus up to auckland after work and stayed at auckland international backpackers in parnell (and no, for those travelling to auckland, I would not recommend them). there was a whole range of activities planned for the anniversary weekend, all kicking off with a fireworks show over the harbor (see how much time i just saved by not spelling it ‘harbour’?). it was great because all I had to do was walk out of the backpackers, go about 3 blocks to a city park with a view of the harbor and enjoy the fireworks from one of the benches. no crowds, no parking issues, nothing. Fantastic.
the next morning i headed out to rangitoto island in auckland harbor. one of the many volcanic cones in the greater auckland area, the entire island is now a nature preserve accessible by ferry (and of course i missed the 9am ferry by 5 minutes. blast.). after killing an hour and a half walking around the waterfront to find where the seafood festival was being held (more on that in the post about monday’s activities), as well as the locations of more than one latin food restaurant, i caught the next ferry over to the island.
the first thing you notice about rangitoto from the water is how green it is. there are a number of islands in the harbor and the shoreline of the ‘mainland’ is very crinkly, so there is a lot of area to look at from the harbor side. rangitoto is definitely the greenest thing around, not having been developed at all, neither for housing nor farmland. the problem i had upon arriving is that with my 1.5 hour delay, it would be a real push to walk all the tracks i wanted to before the last ferry left for the day. and if I say that nothing is on the island, i mean that NOTHING is on the island. No phone no lights no motorcars, not a single luxury. so missing the last ferry would suck. this meant having to plan carefully what i thought i could reasonably do before 5:30.
my first excursion was to a series of old baches along the shoreline. for those not in the know, the concept of a ‘bach’ is one near and dear to kiwi hearts. baches are beach houses, usually with very few amenities, but still comfortable. these historical structures are pretty old and it’s not clear to me if anyone actually lives in them (it looks like someone might, but i was told no one lives on the island, so it is a conundrum). but they are really cool. after that it was a quick trip through the kowhai grove and kidney fern glen, then on to the summit track itself. halfway up i let myself be distracted by a side track heading out to the western end of the island with its lighthouse. i’m ordinarily a sucker for lighthouses, but this time i shouldn’t have bothered.
let me take this opportunity to describe how hot it was this day. as my grandfather would say “you know how hot it was? it was so hot it was unbelievable.” as green as everything appeared from the water, none of those trees actually cover any of the footpaths on the island. bastards. plus, the entire place is covered with (not surprisingly) volcanic rock, which seems to be very effective at absorbing and re-radiating the sun’s heat, regardless of how cool it is to look at.
anyway, i eventually made it to the summit, which i have to say is completely fucking worth it. if you ever go to auckland and have a day to devote to it, go to rangitoto and head for the summit. the view is absolutely spectacular. you get an unobstructed 360 view from the top. on one side is the auckland harbor, with the entire city in sight. you can see the harbor bridge and the northern suburbs, plus all the other harbor islands. it’s really awesome. and there is (thankfully) and old WW2 era outpost at the top that actually provides a bit of shade. i’d have loved to stay up there all day, but i had to continue on to get back to the base.
next was a walk along the crater rim (remember, old volcano) and a trek to the lava caves. these are yet another example of ‘torch recommended’ new zealand, but i was ready this time. as usual, the entrance to the caves were nearly unmarked and there were certainly no warnings. but really, why should anything be different this time? the caves themselves were kinda cool, but not piss yourself awesome. from there it was an uneventful walk back to the ferry landing to wait for the trip back to auckland. while waiting for the ferry, i verified empirically that soaking your feet in the cool ocean after a day of hiking in the heat is one of the best damn feelings in the world.
back in Auckland, i decided to treat myself to a meal at mexi-cali fresh, touted as the best mexican food in auckland (not sure how much competition there is; also, atlanta residents, this is not to be confused with fresh mexicali) and had a carnitas burrito and a damn cup of coke with damn ice in it and i got a damn refill when i damn well felt like it. the food was passable, but the feeling of a meal like you’d have in the states (i.e. okay mexican food and refills on soft drinks in a cup with ice) was totally worth it.
the only other moderately interesting thing from the day was watching NZ vs australia in beach cricket. if there is a more laid back sport than this, i don’t know what it is. all the players have a microphone, and the announcers talk to the batsman WHILE HE’S BATTING (“you need to pick up the pace there, eh?” “yeah, I suppose” CRACK “yeah, that was a good one, eh?”). i find this fascinating. also, NZ killed australia, something that never happens in actual cricket.
after this it was back to the backpackers for a shower. while i was eating dinner in the lounge watching starship troopers, i had this surreal experience of hearing a guy on one of the other couches who sounds EXACTLY LIKE derek rank. i mean, it was eerie. put jeffery dahmer’s face on him and you’d have derek’s clone.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
two fools in the airport
stephanie’s plane departed at 7:30pm on jan 9th. the gators were playing in the bcs championship game, which began at 2:00pm local time on jan 9th. you can see the problem here.
having failed to find a sports bar in auckland that might possibly be showing the game, we decided to go to the airport uber-early and try to get a wireless connection somewhere. this is the earliest I’ve ever gotten anyone to an airport for a flight. eric junker hasn’t ever even gotten to the airport this early. but it paid off, because as I wandered around the ground floor of auckland international airport holding my laptop out in front of me like a geiger counter, i found, strangely, an unsecured and free wireless network (though only on the first floor; the second floor – the one with all the comfortable couches and such—only provided wireless internet for the low price of 20 bucks an hour).
the next problem was finding the actual broadcast online. it turns out that my go to site, yahoo sports, wasn’t carrying the championship game, like they had every other game this season. not to be deterred, i found an online broadcast being carried by an AM station in the same podunk south florida town that my great grandmother was from. presumably she listened to the gators on the same AM station when she was a little girl. anyway, we set up shop at one of the columns near the air new zealand check-in desks and draped my small gators banner (given to me by the pollocks) over the laptop.
it was awesome. i don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun listening to a game on the radio. stephanie, in papa-like fashion, called the interception at the end of the first half, preserving the tie going into halftime (the play which, when i called home, mom said “about gave your father a damn heart attack”). every time florida’s offense scored or the defense held, we’d jump up and down and cheer. people checking in looked at us like we were nuts. it’s almost as if they never listened to a college football game on a laptop in the middle of an airport half a world away from where the game was being played before. we didn’t give a shit. and having a wireless connection made it even better than it would be if I just had a radio. i could call mom, dad and carrie (who were enjoying the game over at the despreit’s house) on skype. at the end of the third quarter, i found a video of “we are the boys” on youtube and stephanie and i swayed back forth. i played the orange and blue fight song when appropriate (i.e. lots).
alas, after the game the time eventually came for stephanie to board her plane to go home. we had a truly fantastic time while she was here. on my long drive back to hamilton, i once again realized how fortunate i am that my family and closest friends are willing to spend so much time and money travelling around the world to see me. after every trip i can’t imagine that anything could top it, but each one ends up being better than the last.
having failed to find a sports bar in auckland that might possibly be showing the game, we decided to go to the airport uber-early and try to get a wireless connection somewhere. this is the earliest I’ve ever gotten anyone to an airport for a flight. eric junker hasn’t ever even gotten to the airport this early. but it paid off, because as I wandered around the ground floor of auckland international airport holding my laptop out in front of me like a geiger counter, i found, strangely, an unsecured and free wireless network (though only on the first floor; the second floor – the one with all the comfortable couches and such—only provided wireless internet for the low price of 20 bucks an hour).
the next problem was finding the actual broadcast online. it turns out that my go to site, yahoo sports, wasn’t carrying the championship game, like they had every other game this season. not to be deterred, i found an online broadcast being carried by an AM station in the same podunk south florida town that my great grandmother was from. presumably she listened to the gators on the same AM station when she was a little girl. anyway, we set up shop at one of the columns near the air new zealand check-in desks and draped my small gators banner (given to me by the pollocks) over the laptop.
it was awesome. i don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun listening to a game on the radio. stephanie, in papa-like fashion, called the interception at the end of the first half, preserving the tie going into halftime (the play which, when i called home, mom said “about gave your father a damn heart attack”). every time florida’s offense scored or the defense held, we’d jump up and down and cheer. people checking in looked at us like we were nuts. it’s almost as if they never listened to a college football game on a laptop in the middle of an airport half a world away from where the game was being played before. we didn’t give a shit. and having a wireless connection made it even better than it would be if I just had a radio. i could call mom, dad and carrie (who were enjoying the game over at the despreit’s house) on skype. at the end of the third quarter, i found a video of “we are the boys” on youtube and stephanie and i swayed back forth. i played the orange and blue fight song when appropriate (i.e. lots).
alas, after the game the time eventually came for stephanie to board her plane to go home. we had a truly fantastic time while she was here. on my long drive back to hamilton, i once again realized how fortunate i am that my family and closest friends are willing to spend so much time and money travelling around the world to see me. after every trip i can’t imagine that anything could top it, but each one ends up being better than the last.
water underground, different examples of
on the 8th, the plumber came by because the sink wasn't draining. i'd tried using drano to no avail and an impromptu bent wire hanger (insert 'mommy dearest' reference here) turned up an old shrimp fork and some hair (not mine), but that was all. after the nice plumber finished, he asked if the sink had worked any time in the last 12 years, because there was about a 20 foot blockage in the pipe, full of old food, hair, etc.
it then occurred to me that whatever plumbers make, it isn't enough. the guy was crawling around underneath the house (the prospect of which would suck far worse in australia, both for the heat in the summertime and the increased chances for poisonous varmints) for an hour and had to deal with someone else's filth. ick.
meanwhile, i had my own issues, having gotten stephanie to help me turn the house upside down looking for my phone and my very expensive new camera, both of which i found at my office about 6 hours after i'd started looking. it took me some time to settle back down and was fit to be around.
however, it was all made good that evening, when stephanie became the 6th visitor i took underground at the waitomo cave complex (and the fourth one who got wet doing so). i think she maintains that the orange prison jumpsuit from the skywalk is still less flattering than the ridiculous caving wetsuits, but probably not by much.
we had a blast (though i knew i would, having now done it three times) and stephanie totally fell in love with it. the water was very slightly warmer than it was when peter was here, and it really did make a difference. but the clincher was, as always, the glow worms. there really is nothing like floating silently along and seeing thousands of them above you. i love hearing the gasps from everyone who is seeing them for the first time.
also on the glow worm caves front, i mentioned to the girl behind the desk how many people i'd brought along on this particular adventure and she gave me a free company baseball cap for all my troubles. not too shabby.
dinner was some feijoada that stephanie made (or the closest approximation thereof given the lack of certain ingredients -- i never thought i'd have to try to defend or justify new zealand's apparent lack of smoked pork products to an irate brazilian) and it was TEH AWESOME. having enough for lunch later in the week didn't suck, either.
it then occurred to me that whatever plumbers make, it isn't enough. the guy was crawling around underneath the house (the prospect of which would suck far worse in australia, both for the heat in the summertime and the increased chances for poisonous varmints) for an hour and had to deal with someone else's filth. ick.
meanwhile, i had my own issues, having gotten stephanie to help me turn the house upside down looking for my phone and my very expensive new camera, both of which i found at my office about 6 hours after i'd started looking. it took me some time to settle back down and was fit to be around.
however, it was all made good that evening, when stephanie became the 6th visitor i took underground at the waitomo cave complex (and the fourth one who got wet doing so). i think she maintains that the orange prison jumpsuit from the skywalk is still less flattering than the ridiculous caving wetsuits, but probably not by much.
we had a blast (though i knew i would, having now done it three times) and stephanie totally fell in love with it. the water was very slightly warmer than it was when peter was here, and it really did make a difference. but the clincher was, as always, the glow worms. there really is nothing like floating silently along and seeing thousands of them above you. i love hearing the gasps from everyone who is seeing them for the first time.
also on the glow worm caves front, i mentioned to the girl behind the desk how many people i'd brought along on this particular adventure and she gave me a free company baseball cap for all my troubles. not too shabby.
dinner was some feijoada that stephanie made (or the closest approximation thereof given the lack of certain ingredients -- i never thought i'd have to try to defend or justify new zealand's apparent lack of smoked pork products to an irate brazilian) and it was TEH AWESOME. having enough for lunch later in the week didn't suck, either.
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