kangaroo sightings

I went to a lecture last night on Geohazards and Large Geographically Distributed Systems presented by Professor Tom O'Rourke from Cornell University. It made me realize two things: 1) I am a huge geek, but I was with 70 or so of my fellow geeks, so all is good. 2) I may be ready to start considering academia again. It was an amazing presentation, but it was on something that really only academia has the time or resources to fully investigate. It gave me another great example of how academia can work for industry though. Helping Professor O'Rourke's presentation (at least in my eyes) was a case study on San Francisco that included many photographs of my beloved and missed city. He also confirmed my thoughts about three places not to live: LA, New Orleans, and Christchurch.

While googling a phrase that keeps repeating itself in a spec I’m reading for work (inter alia), I came across Wikepedia’s List of Latin Phrases. Fascinating resource, especially for someone like me who never received any formal latin education. It’s amazing how many of the phrases seem commonplace to me. However, I did come across one phrase that I believe should be more commonplace. It is near the always popular ‘carpe diem,’ which I am a full supporter of. But I would also like to support this new phrase. Carpe vinum. Seize the wine. I am learning so much today! I plan on practicing my new phrases for the rest of the day. For example, u pon leaving work today I intend to wash away the woes of the week with, inter alia, copious amounts of booze. Carpe vinum. Note on inter alia: Yes, I am familiar with the i.a. abbreviation and use it often. Sadly though I must admit that I never actually knew what it stood for.

One of the girls I have been cycling with is an avid climber. She took me to a bouldering spot last week. The place was fantastic – sufficient padding for falls, sufficient comfy seating for in between falls, lots of routes at varying levels of difficulty, camaraderie amongst the climbers to both challenge and encourage you, and a group of truly inspirational climbers to observe in awe. My bouldering skills were not so fantastic. It has probably been 4 years or longer since I have even put my climbing shoes on, so my technique was average. I am several (5-10) kilograms heavier than what I was when I used to climb and probably also weaker than I was, so my strength was non-existent. Add both of those to the fact that all of the walls in this place were inverted. I didn’t spend much time on the wall but I truly enjoyed the few hours I spent there. Will I go back? Absolutely. After some training.

I have always been a bit of a fruit fiend. My Mom always blamed me for putting Shoney’s out of business because of their free salad bar for kids. I think I could eat my weight in fruits and veggies growing up. I probably still could actually. Moving to New Zealand recently has presented me with some new fruits though and I must say I am loving them, specifically feijoas and gold kiwis. I have always been a fan of kiwifruits (until now I only knew of the green variety). But the gold variety, c’est magnifique! This potential new favorite fruit made me remember a fruit that I did not try on my travels once, a durian . I first came across this large, weapon-like fruit in Singapore where one of the buildings resembles a durian. By large, I mean the size of a spherical watermelon and by weapon-like, I mean Singapore does not allow durians on their trains presumably to avoid impalement. They also may not allow them on their trains because they have a very distinct, overpowering odor. All o

We had a repeat of last week’s cycle again this past Saturday except that Brendan came along this time. He is still getting over his sickness, but I think the cycle was much needed fresh air and exercise. Despite the forecast, we had a mostly beautiful morning for the ride. We did end up getting a little wet towards the end, but not nearly the deluge that was predicted. Beautiful ride again. I spent a little less time thinking about how much pain my legs were in and a little more time thinking about which of the amazing houses with the amazing windows and porches overlooking the valley we should buy. Part of the ride is along Ridge Rd, which very much reminds me of Skyline Blvd in the Bay area, except that it is easier to get to (only a 20-minute climb on a bike at a much shallower grade). One of the houses up there has a big, gaudy sign out front that says “dotcom mansion,” which always makes me giggle. After the cycle, there was some lounging and some eating and then there was beer

With Brendan being sick and the weather being questionable, we were looking for something local to do last Sunday that was not too strenuous but still gave us the opportunity to get some fresh air. So, we headed to Cornwall Park in the suburbs of Auckland. We parked at the visitor centre and walked up One Tree Hill via the road (most gradual route). We passed some free-grazing sheep on the way up and Brendan, in his usual way, attempted to pet one. Despite the sheep not even looking up at the runner who just passed within 2 metres on them, they would not let Brendan even within 5 metres of them. He has some type of sheep repellent on him. I am convinced. Anyway, we instead looked from afar and picked out “our” sheep. When friends heard we were moving here, many of them asked whether we got a sheep and/or a sheep dog when we entered. We were standing in the “people’s park,” so we assumed that these were the “people’s sheep.” I picked out a very fluffy one. The wind at the top of One Tri

So the last several years (2 in grad school and 4 in the professional world) have led me to an incredibly unfit state (at least in terms of my previous fitness). So, I have decided to do something about it in NZ. For now, my fitness goal is to be in shape enough to enjoy all of the outdoorsy activities that NZ has to offer. Part of me is leaning towards actually racing again (either mtn bike or adventure racing), but I have not made that an official goal yet since the other part of me is hoping that we are travelling so much that I will not have time to race. So, what have I been doing? First, I have been trying to commute by foot as much as possible from work (bus there, walk or run home). I would say I average 2 days a week running and 1 day a week walking, but it is only the 5th week. The downside is that it is mostly in the dark unless I leave absolutely on time. The upside is that it is a way to avoid the often crowded and slow bus-ride home. The distance is probably only 4-5km ri

We bought one based on a local Aucklander’s recommendation for the winter (to keep it drier and therefore warmer in our apartment). Now, can someone tell me how to use it? Right now we just let it run (and run and run). We occasionally empty the water container and occasionally turn it around and/or move it to a different room. Any advice for optimizing though? I didn’t even realize that de-humidifiers existed until about 2 weeks ago!

My tent has suffered its first and second significant damage. Funnily enough, both bits of damage happened within 12 hours of me thinking about how great of condition we have kept that tent in. Both bits of damage are recoverable for not a lot of money, so that is good. I did have a bit of a sad moment though after seeing the damage. I now know how Brendan felt when I borrowed his tent for a climbing trip to Joshua Tree and then proceeded let it blow across the desert unattended. I did stake it down, the stakes were not sand stakes though and the wind was too great. Luckily some climbers in our group showed up late and were able to wrestle Brendan’s tent back into position. It was not without damage though as it ended up with a massive cut in the tent fly. Oh memories…

Photos to be added shortly... Despite having lived in Australasia for a few years now, this year was the first Easter that Brendan and I have had together in this part of the world (due to different holiday schedules, business travel over the holidays, etc.). We opted to take full advantage of our 4-day weekend to check out the far north of the north island. Day 1: We drove from Auckland to Cape Reinga. We had beautiful weather on our drive and, in our usual meandering way, we managed to turn a 6-hour drive into a 10-hour drive! Luckily we left early enough so that we made it to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga for sunset. We saw a lot of sights on day 1, but my favourites were where you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea collide at Cape Reinga and the massive sand dunes from a distance as we wound our way through the green cow paddocks. We stayed that night at the most-northern campsite in New Zealand, a DOC campsite in Tapotupoto Bay. The campsite was fine as we have found ma

Brendan and I seem to get a new start every couple of years. First California, then Australia, now New Zealand. We also seem to get a new apartment every year, but I am so sick of moving that I really hope we break that trend… I have recently jointed Brendan in Auckland and am just starting to get settled. One of my goals for New Zealand (perhaps the most achievable since my other goals include 'get back in shape' and 'take nothing for granted') is to blog more. I think most people have long-since given up on checking my blog since it is updated so infrequently, so this is mainly for my family to keep you up to date on what is happening in my life. So, for the first blog of New Zealand, here is a blazingly fast update on the last few weeks. I moved to Auckland. I started work. I dealt with issues like tax number and bank account. We bought a sofa (first sofa I have ever even had partial ownership in btw). Also, the sofa and futon are both open for visitors! And most exc

I am officially a terrible blogger. Lots of stuff has happened since my last post: - I downloaded the photos from gliding, but I didn't bother to post any (I'm still planning on doing this) - I've been working (a lot) - Brendan came for another visit. We drank and ate and listened to music and just generally caught up. It was lovely. - I've seen more varieties of Australian spiders in my apartment than I knew existed. - I've given up my no drinking alone policy (largely because of the above item) - I've finalized my latest two conference papers And...drum roll, please... - my NZ visa was approved! My next adventure is near.

Last week was a terrible week at work, but this weekend definitely made up for it. First, my NZ visa application was (finally) submitted last Friday. Here's hoping they process it quickly now. Next, Brendan came to visit me in Melbourne! We had a fantastic weekend. We had drinks with some friends, hung out in the city, had a lazy breakfast, had excellent but very over-priced beers, had a very average and over-priced Mexican meal, and went gliding. I will have to do a separate post about the gliding once I find the cable to download the pictures from my camera, but for now I will just say it was amazing. Now, back to the average and over-priced Mexican meal - I was sadly disappointed by our meal at Mamasita, a relatively new Mexican restaurant on Collins St in the Melbourne CBD. My disappointment most certainly stemmed from the anticipation leading up to our meal: we have read and have heard fantastic reviews about it, we had been talking about going for months, we had walked up a