Things I'll Miss About New Zealand, Part 3

Fantails, the birds that make up for their itsy-bitsy size with a whole lotta cheek.

So, what makes these birds so special? I mean, they're just a bird, right? Well, let me tell you a bit about them, and you might see why fantails are cool.

These birds are not hard to find, as they can live in any reasonably extensive greenery -- large urban parks, for example. When you encounter a fantail, you will probably first hear its call. It is not a bird call as we know it, more of a repetition of an angry "beep!". This alone is funny, since it sounds a lot like a squeek-toy.

Soon after, the bird will likely appear within view, as these birds seem to profoundly enjoy human attention. The bird itself is smaller than a sparrow, but has a long, lovely tail that spreads into (you guessed it!) a fan. About six feet away from you, it will then begin flying around in a showy manner -- specifically, a figure-eight pattern -- whilst flaring its tail and continuing to beep. It can continue doing this for hours. Occasionally, to keep things interesting, it will charge you, then dart away just in time.

The Maori call this bird the Piwakawaka, which means 'messenger'. Given how this bird seems to seek people out, get their attention with its acrobatic flights, and beep at them urgently, this seems a fitting name.

So, I will miss these cheeky birds -- they're so cute, and so much fun to watch.

Things I'll Miss About New Zealand, Part 2

I will definitely miss the view from my desk.


As of right now, I only need look up from my monitor to see Wellington Bay. It's lovely. Green hills rising from blue water, with a random smattering of white boats and houses throughout. To the north, the gargantuan South Island ferry goes by many times a day. To the south, a multicoloured container port has cranes and forklifts busily shifting crates around into an unseen order. On special holidays, a live cannon on the bay is fired many times, which is fun to watch from my desk.



The view is also very handy -- looking out over the water, one can always tell what the weather will be like in the next 20 minutes. Plus, as the weather tends to change all the time, the view remains entertaining.

To clarify, this appreciation of the view does not in any way reveal some secret urge to live by water. Rather, it is only indicative of the sad fact that I've a great while left in the expected decade-long wait for a StatCan window office. .... Hence, I'm enjoying the view while it lasts! :-)

Something remarkable

Paul Wells linked to this, and he's right. It is absolutely beautiful.

Meet Paul Potts, a Welsh mobile phone salesman who decided to compete in the Britain's Got Talent competition. The winner gets 100 thousand pounds and the chance to perform before the Queen. I'd say the man's in with a shot...

Things I'll Miss About New Zealand, part 1

TIM TAMS!!!! Mmmm...

Canada has no cookie like this. Tim Tams are deliciousness incarnate in two syllables. Two layers of cookie surround a creamy/icing middle, then the whole thing is dipped in chocolate. Good quality chocolate, even.

Better still, this cookie can be made even more delicious through the technique, "The Tim Tam Slam". The lovely Dave will demonstrate how this is done.

Step 1) Assemble hot drink of choice, and one or more Tim Tams. Ideally, the cookies should be the double-coat variety, as that ensures less mess for the coming steps. Ensure the drink is not hot enough to scald, and that it is filled to near the top of the mug.

Step 2) Bite off both ends of the cookie.

Step 3) Insert one end of the cookie into the mug, making contact with the drink.

Step 4) Suck drink through cookie -- like a straw -- until cookie is fully moistened. This usually only takes a second or two, and practise is required to time it perfectly.

Step 5) Pop delicious, caffienated, gooey chocolate cookie-ooze in your mouth. Bliss!

Hopefully, Canadian importers will gain enough sense to import this southern-hemisphere wonder; but until then, I'm scheming a way to get them to Canada. I love you, Tim Tam.

The Effects of Being About to Leave a Workplace

...is having the freedom to publicly say what you really think about things. (With diplomacy, of course.) I'm deeply enjoying it.

Sometimes I wonder whether this newfound verbal freedom is a manifestation of my inner leader, the insightful non-yesman. Or perhaps it's just me being a badass. Or, perhaps they could be the same thing? I can't say I know.

What I DO know is that I take some pride from the (wholly justifiable) use of the word "neutered" in the annual project progress report I've just written. (Hehehehe... Take that, lame-o bureau-speak!)

Eight Minutes to Midnight

Two months tonight, eight minutes to midnight, I will arrive back in Winnipeg.

It is now official, as I actually have my ticket. August 12, I will board a Wellington plane in the early eve. After an ungodly amount of flying and transfer time, I will arrive in Winnipeg just before midnight. Two months now.

I might feel more conflicted if the moving/job-wrapup/wedding stress would subside awhile. There's so much I will miss about Wellington, which is truly a great place to live. In fact, that very sentiment has inspired me to begin an ongoing list of specific things I'll miss -- the idea being, if I identify them now, I can still appreciate them before I go. That series should start soon... stay tuned! :-)

Until then, I'll have a drink tonight to reflect, and to celebrate. At eight minutes to midnight.

Victory!

Just got home after a winning effort on the rugby pitch. This was our first win this season, ending a major major drought in the 'W' category. Pink Ginners over the Dead Ants 24-13.

So I'm stoked. Next thing is to head off to see the All Black's play France at Westpac Stadium (aka the Cake Tin). at 7:30pm. Karla and I are meeting the fellas in about an hour.

The bonus of today, and a marvelous reflection on just how awesome Karla is: last night I was telling Karla about my determination to win this game, and about my desire to score a try before we leave NZ. So she says: "Tell you what. You guys win tomorrow, and beer and food at the AB's game is on me. You score a try tomorrow, and I'll take you out for dinner wherever you want."

The try has still proven elusive. But with the win today, it's free eat and drink for Davey tonight! Woohoo!

C'mon Sens!!!

I can't watch the bloody game. I can only constantly refresh the CBC website to get my Cup fix, and it's now 5-2 Ducks in the third.

I fear impending doom. But I still have hopes.

Good vibes coming at you Sens from down under! Go Sens Go!

UPDATE: 6-2? Methinks Sens Mile is mighty quiet. And me? I'm gutted, man. Gutted.

Cue the Eye-Roll...

Sometimes I wonder why I bother checking the news sites. It's so depressing sometimes... and no, I'm not necessarily talking about wars or crime or viruses. The truly, deeply depressing thing about the CBC site are the tales of the bickering children we elected.

Harper (retorting in defense of his "Canadian-ness"?!!?):"...But at least I've always lived and worked and paid my taxes in this country."

His remark was a swipe at Ignatieff, a former university professor who taught at schools in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Ignatieff dismissed Harper's barbs.

"We can all play these silly games about who's the better Canadian," he said. "If they seriously believe that someone who's contributed to this country outside and came back to Canada is less of a Canadian, they should get up and say that to the two million Canadians who live and work overseas."

Apparently, Stevie Harper doesn't consider Dave or myself as fully Canadian. What a git. And worse yet that this utter foolishness was dignified with comment on both the Liberal and Conservative sides.

It's one thing to have a nonsense-spewing parliament of preschoolers... but who will send them to bed without their suppers?

Digging Through Old Photos, Part Two

As before, this is a post dedicated to neat things we've seen in NZ that may not have been mentioned earlier. These pictures are from our first few months, January and February 2006.

Our first day here, we visited the Wellington Botanical Gardens. The best part was the rose garden, which was positively huge! This is only about 20% of it.


Another neat thing about Wellington is its all-ages downtown skate park, pictured below. There's a climbing wall, multiple half-pipes and jumps for bikers and boarders, and most importantly, comfy benches for the parents to supervise from. It's one thing to SAY that kids should be more active, and quite another for taxpayer dollars to be spent on something so wonderful. Yay, Wellington!


One morning, long ago, I was awoken from my sleep by an enthusiastic -- "Wow!!! You have GOT to see this!" Dave was right to wake me up for this sunrise... it was so beautiful, I could even appreciate it through my sleepy grumpy stupor. Amazing, eh?

Our first whole weekend here was the 2006 Wellington Rugby Sevens, an event of unfathomable insanity. We partied awhile, then decided to retire back to our hotel... only to be ambushed by the nutty kiwis in the room opposite us!!! They would not hear of us NOT partying with them, and we were literally dragged into their festivities. What a great time, though! This picture of them might give you a general idea of the evenings' levels of silliness.

Well, that's all for now... stay tuned for Part Three!

And Now for a Special Announcement

Happy Birthday to Andy and Mike! Besides being two of my favourite fellas, you also hold the distinction of being the Hunkiest He-Statisticians around**!

This one is Mike, a former room-mate of Daves', and the guy who introduced us. In this picture, Dave appears to be... threatening him? I have no idea what's going on, but they seem to be having fun anyways. (Boys are weird sometimes!)

And here is Andy, surrounded (as usual) by beautiful women. Dude, you seriously need to write a book about how ya do that -- most guys would pay big money to know!

Anyhoo, happy birthday to you both, and hope you had a great time. :-) Dave and I'll have a drink (or three) for ya.

**Particularly since the former titleholder has flown the coop to be a flight attendant.

Update

As of now, I have a tentative date to return to my position at Statistics Canada -- October 19. Life as it was before shall resume as of October 19, a thought that is simultaneously thrilling and ominous.

It's strange to think that this time at Statistics New Zealand is coming to a close... some days, it feels as if I only just got here. Other days, it's hard to imagine living anywhere else. I already know I'll miss it here.

Part of my mind is already back in Canada, but part stays here, giving the feeling of living in two worlds at once. It's like bad sci-fi, where a layer of reality gets peeled back to reveal a totally different one. And I live, aware of both at once. It's downright weird.

In some ways, I can barely wait to get back. It was bad enough missing four weddings of my closest friends, but even besides that I've missed my dad's election campaign, a friend's first baby being born, a family health scare, two graduations, a neighbours' successful-immigration celebration, two moves, countless birthdays, and even an official wrap-party for the comic I've been following since 1993. You know, all the kind of stuff that you want to be there for, and I wasn't. I'll be grateful to be back, if only to be within striking distance of any further life-events like these.

Suddenly, Ottawa and Winnipeg don't seem so far away anymore. That's a nice feeling. Funny how living so far away lends one new perspectives on things, eh? :-)

Pictures for the Easter Trip

...are now available at our Flikr site. Apologies for not getting these up sooner, but life is truly starting to pick up the pace around here!

The Abel Tasman pics show what a divine park it is. As for the Franz Josef pictures, well, I had to climb a damned ice-mountain to get those shots, so ya bloody well like em! ;-) (At least you get the view without the cold and wet clothing.)

Anyhoo, do enjoy them. :-)

Only in New Zealand

...would such a movie be made.

Dave and I got the chance to see this movie a week or so back, and it was fun. And gross. But mostly fun. It's done in the style of early Peter Jackson... before his Lord of the Rings fame, he was the NZ icon of funny, ultra-gory horror movies.

For those of you who don't believe me, check out 'Dead Alive', which I had the misfortune of seeing at a good friend's birthday, back when we were thirteen. I couldn't eat pizza again for a month.

Anyhoo, for those of you with strong stomachs, I do actually recommend 'Black Sheep'. Dave and I enjoyed it, despite the gore. (Actually, it wasn't the gore itself that was so bad -- it was the stirring-meaty-Hamburger-Helper noises that went along with it.) :-P

It's a sweet, funny, and strangely, quite innocent movie... that just happens to have lots of guts flinging about. Perhaps that tells ya something about the Kiwis, eh?

Baaaaaaa!

Yep. I have finally followed the flock into Facebook land. A part of me is bemoaning the increased role in my life that online-ness is taking, and another part of me can hardly wait to get back on the site.

For those of you not yet aware of Facebook, it is a website designed entirely to network people. How does it work?

1. First off, you link it with your email address,


2. It rifles through your mail and makes note of every email address you've sent email to, or gotten email from.


3. Then, it takes that list of email addresses and sees who is already registered on Facebook.


4. The site tells you who is already on Facebook, and you can add them as "Friends".

The end result is you having your own page, with info about you, and places where people can leave you messages. There are mini-pictures of the people you know (Friends), and clicking on them brings them to each of their pages -- where you can read their info and leave them messages.

Then you can look at their friends to see who they know, and those pictures bring you to more personal sites. Whoa.

So, who do YOU know? Who do your friends know? Who do your friend's friends know? The site, in general, is an interactive and all-too-intriguing exercise in Six Degrees of Separation. And a highly addictive one, at that.

I've said this about Ebay, and I'll say it again now -- RUN AWAY while you still can.

(...or leave a message on my wall sometime.) ;-)

Baaaaaa....

Mum's Day

With it being Mother's Day a few days ago, I have been thinking happy thoughts about my amazing Mum, Christina Hume. I have also been thinking about the marvel that is my future Mother-in-law, Margaret Hartley.

Now, I can hear you all saying: "Hume, you're such a suck up." And that would be a fair accusation.

But yesterday I came across a something very cool. My friend Briana Rayner wrote a beautiful testimony to her mom in the Globe and Mail that really inspired me. Surely my mum and future mum-in-law deserve no less (though it's a tall order to top Briana's piece, lemme tell ya). Why not send some love out into the blogosphere to two such important people?

Here's a couple great things that came out of Briana's reflections:

• Mothers are such important teachers
• Mothers are almost always right

For me, these struck home. From my mum, I think the most important things I've learned are probably the most important things in the world: how to be kind, have a spine, and make people laugh. If I've ever made a witty comment, it's thanks to my mum's example. If I've ever stood my ground, it's because I know that, even if my mum is kinda small, when she gets mad, she's ten feet tall! So I know I can be tough too, if I need to be. And if I've seen the opportunity to be kind to someone, it's because my mum showed and encouraged me again again to always be kind.

She's also been right about just about everything, ever. Really. Ask my Dad.

Anyway, I love you Mum.

Dunedin

A couple weeks back Karla and I went south--as far south as anyone can, really, without hitting the Antarctic.

Our destination was Dunedin, a university town on the southern tip of the South Island, in a region known as Otago.

As per usual, we did lots of sight-seeing, taking in the albatross and the rare yellow eyed penguin on the Otago Peninsula, the dramatic coastline of the Catlins, the world's steepest street, and the very tasty oysters in Bluff.

My favorite three stories from the trip:

Story #1--G'day, cityslicker

We stop to fill our tank in a very small town on the way back from the Catlins to Dunedin. A little old lady--easily in her seventies or eighties--totters out of the gas station and proceeds to try pump the gas, an attempt I categorically refuse. We get to chatting, and I remark that for a Saturday, I was surprised that there weren't more people on the local rugby pitch.

"Well" she says, "you know there just aren't that many people here these days. Most are moving to the city." I nod sympathetically, silently bemoaning this modern world's cruelty to the rural life. "And besides," she continues, looking at me accusingly, "no such thing as weekends for farmers. The sheep don't know it's Saturday, do they?"

A thoroughly humbled city boy, I pay, say thanks, and hit the road again.

Story #2--Bath Search

Karla loves baths. Like, really loves them. And she hasn't had a real bath for a very long time. We're a shower only household. There is no tub to be found here.

We're driving through the Catlins, in tiny remote places where everything shuts by seven, but we decide it's time to find Karla her bath. So we search and we search. We stop at one hotel, right on the water, but it only has showers. We press on into the darkness, hoping the next place will do.

Lucky for us, it will. But only if we have cash. We don't have kiwi dollars (hey city slicker, don't you know they don't take bank cards out here? Why didn't you take some money out before you hit the road, ya silly bugger?), but how about I rummage through my backpack to dig up some of Dave's emergency US bucks? Why, yes sir! That will work nicely.

Karla gets her bath. And Dave wins brownie-points for making it happen, barely. Hooray!

Story #3--Dolphin spotting

Sitting over lunch we're watching the local fish boats come in. We notice one of the guys on the boat is leaning out over the bow. To our amazement, there are dolphins escorting the boat into Bluff's harbour! What enterainment...it was almost like they knew we were coming. One of the women that works there said: "You sure are lucky, I work here everyday, and hardly ever see them."

Lucky? I'd say blessed.

Digging Through Old Photos, Part One

While doing a backup of my computer, I found some fun photos I'd forgotten about.

Such as, the time Dave found the remnants of a cyborg in our garden.

If no one hears from us after this post, we've clearly uncovered an evil conspiracy, and gone into hiding. Send money and Cheezies to the airport locker #11.

I also found pictures from my 26th birthday, when dad surprised me at Crazyhorse Steakhouse. More pics of this are being uploaded to the flickr account.

Also, there's the disturbing resemblance I noticed between my enthusiastically dining fiance and a certain muppet...

Hehehe... anyhoo, that's all for now. 'Til next time, when we continue on with "Digging Through Old Photos, Part Two"!

And Speaking of Kitties...

...a co-worker of mine found this story in his daily perusal of Stuff.co.nz.

Canadian Post cowed by 'very threatening cat'

It's neat to think that New Zealanders -- and people all around the world, for that matter -- are reading about a cat in Winnipeg. At least it preserves our badass image... (if only for our cats) ;-)

I Love This Website

If anyone needs a pick-me-up involving many, many pictures of cute bunnies, check out this site. Never fails to cheer me up, even after a tough day at work. ^_^

You can also navigate around to see pictures of other cute things, including dogs, cats, wild animals, and even hedgehogs.

Go on, have a smile. ;-)

Phew... Done!

Thanks for all your well-wishes, everyone... I finished the duathlon, and I am indeed still alive. ;-)

My running was much stronger than last year (I was able to go over 2km with NO walk-breaks) but I lost that time and then some during the biking segment. Turns out Karla is not a strong cyclist in very strong winds, which decided to make an unwelcome appearance this year. Blech.

All in all, though, I finished 10k of cycling and 5k of running/walking in an hour and eight minutes, which is two minutes longer than last year. Not bad, but I hope to do better next time. In the meantime, I'll work on the cycling. ^_^

The funny part is, I felt absolutely terrible the next day. But it wasn't sore muscles, you see. Rather, it was the direct result of being finished at 10AM, and having the whole rest of the day to have an all-too-dangerous "I earned it" mentality.

Do I want a bacon and avacado sandwich? Of course I do, and I earned it, dammit! What about some chips and TimTams? Yes indeed, I earned it! What about champagne at 11AM, drinking solidly throughout the day? I earned it! Bring on the rich food and booze -- I earned 'em!

The next day was awful, and as you can imagine, it had little to do with sore legs. I spent the whole next day in a fog of toxins, sullenly consuming only fruit and water.

(Note to self, avoid the "I earned it" mentality in the future... its aftereffects can be worse than a duathlons'!)

Nervous...

Early tomorrow morning, I'm running a duathlon. It's the same one as last year, with a 5 km walk/jog/run broken up with 10 km of cycling. With any luck, the weather will be as good as last year. Then again, this year it's about a month later, so winter's winds and rain are now making regular appearances. Hopefully they keep away for the morning, at least.

It's still a bit nerve-wracking, though, since I haven't trained as hard as last time. :-/

Anyhow, off to bed... wish me luck, people...

Cosplay Results, Nerd Convention

Two weekends ago was Wellington's Armageddon conference, otherwise known as The Nerd Convention. I was thoroughly in my element, but Dave seemed unnerved by the strangely-costumed girls and smelly fanboys. Since not many of you are nerds, I'll give a brief overview of fun events that transpired...

We saw Doug Jones -- better known as The Faun from "Pan's Labyrinth", Abe Sapien from Hellboy, The Silver Surfer from the new Fantastic 4 movie -- discuss what it's like to act under all those prosthetics, makeup and animatronic parts. Dave and I saw "Pan's Labyrinth" the next week, and it was cool to realize that we'd already seen the human underneath... his complete unrecognizeability is a high compliment to the costumers for that movie.

The AMV (anime music video) contest was a lot of fun, the winner being a cartoon redubbed to have the main characters bickering over being gay. Given the reputation that japanese animation has for having girly, girly men as main characters, this video was dang funny.

Next was a Fear Factor-esque contest, renamed to be "Wuss Factor", in which nerds competed in eating disgusting innards for a Nintendo Wii. I decided that in this case, shelling out the dough for the system would be a better option. :-P

The day's finale was the cosplay contest. Here, nerds (usually she-nerds) dress up as their favourite animation or video game characters, and spend months in advance putting together the perfect costume.

My own costume turned out quite well, but I missed the contest registration (and pre-judging rounds), so did not compete in the contest. No worries, though -- I used the extra time to sightsee and get autographs. ;-) Here are the final results, courtesy of a camera lent to us by Dave's lovely co-worker Yen Ping.
:-)

...(Also, to make the comparison fair between myself and a fictional character, I took the liberty of "realistically-proportionalizing" Shion to the tune of 15%...) ;-) Still, not bad, eh?

I got to meet two prominent voice actors: Susan Eigenberg and Crispin Freeman. Susan is best known as the voice of Wonder Woman from the Justice League of America cartoons, whereas Crispin's work varies across a decades' worth of animation and video games.

Unfortunately, I was already at my geeking-out threshold, and was completely thrown over the edge of weirdo fandom by Karla's brain-kryptonite... Crispin Freeman turned out to be a smiling, blue-eyed Jude Law lookalike. (Since when are voice actors cute?! I always thought they were behind the camera for a reason...)

My usual schmooze-skills utterly abandoned me as my tongue-tied, fourteen-year-old self returned, stammering, "Err... uh, could you... sign this?"

"Sure, what's your name?"

"Uhh... I don't... know...?"

So much for suave. But then again, if I was all that concerned with suave, would I have ever been at a nerd convention in the first place? ;-)

Dave and I missed the window for meeting the Bro'Town guys, but we saw them wandering around the convention, which was good enough for us. Also, for those of you wanting to check out NZ's answer to Family Guy / The Simpsons, check out Bro'Town on APTN, Saturdays at 11PM ET.

Lastly, and best of all, I met the one and only Brian K Vaughn, author of Y: The Last Man and Pride of Baghdad. We chatted awhile, and I got my Kimono Dragons book signed. He seemed like a really neat guy, and he got a good laugh out of the fact that I was introduced to his Y series by my mom. He said that he'd never heard of that happening before, and that she sounds like a cool lady. Which she is, of course.

Thus we ended our adventure in the wacky Land of Nerd. I miss it already...

Abel Tasman Park

Here we are back again, and I am officially two holidays behind. So, I now commence the telling of the Abel Tasman adventure such that I am no longer in blog-debt.

If you'll remember, we were on our way up the island from Franz Josef Glacier to spent the night in Motueke, a small town near where we were set to head off on a one-day kayaking/hiking adventure in Abel Tasman park. On the way we stopped at the Pancake rocks, a geological marvel of ancient limestone that has been carved by seawater into the most amazing shapes. You can walk around the rocks and observe a few "blowholes" where the seawater traps enough air to cause mini-explosions of moisture up through tunnels in the rock. We went for a quick walk around on our way up to Abel Tasman.

The carpark there also offered an interesting diversion insofar as I managed to leave the car's lights on. After enlisting the help of a generous kiwi family, and through Karla's quick thinking in borrowing a set of jumper cables from the local cafe, we managed to get things going again. The best part was Karla's little chat with the girl at the cafe:

Karla: Hi--do you have some jumper cables? My boyfriend managed to leave our lights on and now we're stuck.

Cafe Girl: Sure thing. That's five dollars, and you'll have to leave something here in the meantime, like some ID or a bank card. You know, something you'll want to get back afterwards... so, definitely not your boyfriend!

Haha! Grrr.

Now, a couple of fun facts about the park:

• It is located at the top of the South Island.
  
• At 22,530 hectares it is NZ's smallest
  
• Its main natural features are its incredible golden beaches and turqoise blue water
  
• It is one of NZ's newer parks, having been established in 1942

Our plan was to spend the morning kayaking and the afternoon hiking to where we would be picked up and brought back to town. Unfortunately our plan (at first) went radically awry--we got lost on the way there.

Due at the kayaking tour company at 8:30am, we missed a turn and had to make a panicked phone call to let them know we were going to be late. Luckily, the easy-going staff weren't phased at all. They just got an ETA from us (we were half an hour late), told us to be there as soon as we could and all would be put on hold to wait for us. This was super nice of them. And breathlessly, we arrived.

Immediately we launched into our training, complete with gear. Karla took advantage of the thermal underwear on offer ("I can do cold, I can do wet, but I CANNOT do cold and wet"). While functional, she more or less looked like a Dr. Suess character, candy striped legs and all. Obviously she carried these off with her usual grace and style, making things look good as always.

We paddled our way along some magnificent coastline complete with swirling eddies, active wildlife, cliffs and caves. It took a while to get totally comfortable, but eventually we started working better as a team and made a really enjoyable time of it. It turns out that the world looks really good from a kayak.

Two hours later we built up a head of steam and hit the beach. There we had a great cooked lunch, and started off on our hike. It was magic.

Wandering up through rainforest to the top of a hill, we could see down onto three or four bays and inlets. There were birds galore, and Karla was happily making friends with many of the plants along the footpath.

When we got to the beach where we were to meet the shuttle we still had a bit of time. So I took off on a short walk to another point, while Karla found a comfortable spot on soft golden sand. I had a great quick hike, made really good time, and got to take in some nice views looking back on the bay. I even made it back in time to go for a (cold) swim! It felt great.

Later on, the water taxi came to get us and take us back into town. Tired and happy, we slept really well that night. Next morning we were off again and back to Wellington (barely). We almost missed the ferry, dropping our rental car and getting on board just as the final calls were being made. But we did, and the whole trip was tons of fun.

I "bleg" forgiveness

Okay--so I'm wayyyy behind telling you about our further adventures kayaking in the Abel Tasman. This is compounded especially because Karla and I are off again to visit Dunedin in the deep South Island. So there'll be even more to tell you about when we get back.

The thing is, I've been completely bombed at work. I actually should be working now, but thought I'd take a quick break to explain myself to you all. Anyway, hopefully by the end of this week, we should be all cleared up.

A couple cool things I thought I'd mention though.

1. Graham Fox, a friend and former colleague from my KTA-Crossing Boundaries days, has just won the Ontario Progressive Conservative nomination for Ottawa-Orleans. He'll be battling it out for a seat in Ontario's legislature, Queen's Park, this October. I'm not usually a supporter of Conservative candidates, but this time will be a definite exception. Graham is a hugely talented guy and has a lot of great ideas. So I'm excited to help him out once we get back.
2. Don Lenihan, my old boss from KTA-Crossing Boundaries is arriving in Wellington next week to give a workshop and some speeches here in NZ. It'll be great to see him. Don is a very fun , very smart guy. He even has a new book out. It's been a while, so it will be great to catch up on all the Ottawa gossip, talk some shop, and maybe press for some job leads in O-town! Yay jobs!

That's all for now...will get on that post ASAP, I promise!

UPDATE: Tomas tells me the link to Don's book was broken. All is fixed now! You can also head to www.crossingboundaries.ca and find it there as well.

The Jacket's Arrived!

This weekend is the Nerd Convention, and I am getting excited. Partly because of the event itself, and partly because I will, in fact, be attending in costume. Hooray!

Long story short, I had not brought ANY of my usual costumes to New Zealand. At the time, I thought they would be impractical, and take up space and weight that I would need for stuff I would actually use.

So instead, I packed multiple tank tops. Surely, in the tropical, South Pacific of New Zealand, they would be needed... right?

Wrong. Non-NZ trips aside, the most use I've gotten from the tank tops have been wearing them as an extra warmth layer. Sad, but true. Plus, given Wellingtonian's penchants for dressing in costume at any opportunity, I now know I would have gotten good use of those costumes.

Meanwhile, part of Karla's plan in coming to New Zealand was to live in a self-imposed video game exile. Meaning, despite all the pretty, shiny, wonderful new games coming out on the market, I am forcing myself to sit down and play all the ones I've already bought, yet not gotten around to playing. So far, it's worked well, and there has been little to no bitterness about the games I cannot yet play... save one.

Xenosaga is the best video game series ever. Its final instalment, Also Sprach Zarathustra, was released in October... and it's been a long, long six months in which I have not bought it.

Anyhow, the main character in Xenosaga is female, which already makes the game unusual. More so because she wears real clothes -- Lord knows that if I ever was unveiling a conspiracy spanning the universe as we know it, I'd be wearing capri pants and flat shoes too!

The coolest part of all, though, is that Shion Uzuki is not a rich, semi-idle heiress like Lara Croft, nor is she a felon, a stripper, or a porn star like the girls of Grand Theft Auto... she's a scientist. More specifically, she is the lead scientist for the most important project in the universes' most prominent R&D organization. Needless to say, she is very smart... but in the true vein of science-types, she is also clumsy, spacey, and at times charmingly socially inept.

A capable, intelligent, self-sufficient and sensibly-dressed woman who's not in any need of a man's rescue? What a novel idea! It's appalling how infrequently characters like this happen in video games.

So, partially to visibly support the creation of such a character, and partially to cope with my pain at not playing the last game, I've been obsessing about dressing up as Shion. I already own most of the pieces of her costume in my regular wardrobe... but I needed the jacket, and without a sewing machine, making it was not an option. Luckily, Ebay came to the rescue, and now I am delightedly putting together the finishing details. I can hardly wait to wear the ensemble to the convention... hooray for cosplay!

The Star Wars Personality Test

In a mutual moment of boredom, David and I decided to do an online personality test... Star Wars style. Yes, we are nerds. Anyhoo, the results gave us a laugh, and perhaps they will for you, too.

Karlas' Star Wars Personality
Open-mindedness of Yoda, Moff Tarkin's conscientiousness, Lando's outgoingness, R2D2's neuroticism, and... err... I'm as agreeable as Emperor Palpatine. (Dave really found that one funny.)

Davids' Star Wars Personality
Dave got the same for open-mindedness and outgoingness, but with Han Solo's level of organization, Princess Leia's level of unruffledness, and the agreeability of Obi Wan. Hey, how did he get all the main characters?!

Better yet, you can take the test and comment with how YOUR results turned out! ;-)

Wedding Update

Quick wedding-related update... we've found accommodation for our out-of-town guests! It's The Landis, situated in downtown Vancouver. Further booking details and whatnot found on our "wedsite", under the Travel tab.

I hope to update more of the site later this week... I will keep you posted! ^_^

A Sad Goodbye to Bindy

Love her or hate her, it's sad to see her go. It takes a certain kind of bravery for a woman to elbow her way into the cockfighting world of Canadian politics. Let alone one whose potential merit would be so often dismissed due to her youth and beauty.

I may not have always agreed with her decisions, her conduct, her ideas, etc., but she has my respect and admiration for rolling up her sleeves and getting into the fight. More women need to, else Canadian politics will remain the chauvinistic mire it is today.

We lost a key player. It is a sad day, today.

Easter Trip Part 1: Glacier Goodness

This past weekend was a long weekend with Easter and all, so Karla and I got out of Wellington for some fun outdoorsy activity down on the South Island. Namely, we were headed for the Franz Josef Glacier, and Abel Tasman Park.

We knew were in for a great trip when the ferry Captain announced we were being escorted by a pod of dolphins on the way to Picton. They looked great, and there were so many of them - even baby dolphins sticking close to their moms. I also had a chat with an older gentlemen who was sitting near Karla and I. He was an 86 year old WWII vet, who had been a motorcycle messenger during his army days in Italy. He liked the fact that I was Canadian. He had been 'bosom mates' with a Canadian fella in Rome. The mate's name (as I remember it) was Blondie Desmond. Why don't we have such good nicknames now?

After landing, the first stop was Nelson, where we overnighted in a nice little hostel with incredibly comfortable beds. It's not right to sleep so well away from home, and it sparked a bit of a debate about our current arrangements. What could be the secret? New pillows? A new mattress? New pillows! A new mattress! Further testing is necessary.

We were up again early and off for a long drive to Franz Josef glacier, with a quick stop in Hokitika to see a jade gallery Karla's Mom and Dad had told us about. They did not over-exagerate its excellence. The carver there, whose business card reads "philosopher, poet and carver" (gotta get me one of those) makes really unique pieces, and even lights a few in a darkened room near the back of the store. The effect of the light on the jade or pounamou is amazing. And I was fortunate enough to be given one of his nicer pieces of jewlery by the fabulous Karla. I am a lucky man.

The next morning we were set to hit the glacier. Franz Josef is one of the world's most unique glaciers. It sits only 200 metres above sea level, and descends to meet the rainforest that runs through most of the valleys it has carved out over the centures. Unlike the many shrinking glaciers pictured in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, these days Franz Josef is advancing. It moves about 15 cm a day as the massive amounts of precipitation the area gets (up to 5m a year--sometimes they get in one day what London, UK get annualy) turns to ice in the peaks and pushes its way down and into the valley.

Our climb up the glacier was tough, but fun. Karla the prairie girl did great on all the ups and downs involved in climbing the walls of ice that formed the crevasses and precipices we encountered. She even had the support of an encouraging Kea when things got really hard. The bird spirits were looking out for their girl!

The ice itself was gorgeous--in its deep parts it was an amazing opaline blue. We found ourselves wiggling through ice caves and tight passages where the ice walls shot up twenty or thirty feet on either side in beautifully surprising forms. Imagine a constantly changing garden of ice sculptures--it was quite a spectacle.

The way down was harder than the way up, but we made it back to town and to fresh accomodations--the amazing Rainforest resort. Before leaving Canada, our great friends Mike Kim and Analise Saely had gifted us a night there, and we settled into our king size beds and took advantage of the private spa pool blessing both their names. Plus we ate huge burgers. Lemme tell ya, there wasn't a lot of talking over dinner. But after a long day of exercise (8 hours on the ice people!), the food tasted great.

Next day we were on the road again, pointed back up north to Motueka, a small town that is noted for its ready access to Abel Tasman Park, one of NZ's most prized nature reserves. The next morning we were booked for a day-long kayaking and hiking trip. But that'll have to wait for part 2....

Randy Campbell--New Zealand's Greatest Stuntman

"You may ask yourself... Well, how did I get here?"

Today, in an eerie moment of clarity, I feel like I'm officially a career woman. It's kinda weird.

8:45 AM -- Arrive at work to be confronted with a last-minute event-organization emergency. Negotiate between parties, reconcile their schedueles, timelines, and technological requirements with very, very limited room availabilities. Solve by 10:45, whereby I notify my division of said event.

10:50 AM -- Join team at weekly morning teatime. Discuss our weekends, life in general with teammembers. Eat cookies. Mmmm...

11:15 AM -- Boss walks by the team, informs us of the Minister of Statistics visiting this afternoon. Warns us, when asked to shake hands, not to scream and run away.

11:20 AM -- Tea wraps up. On the way back to my desk, aforementioned boss runs an idea by me: that I be specifically introduced to the Minister. The general theme for introducing me seemed to be something to the effect of "raising StatsNZ's international visibility by reinforcing inter-organizational relations within the international statistical community". Nevermind that within mere line of sight, there are representatives from Germany, South Africa, China, Samoa, USA... it speaks highly of the esteem StatsNZ has for StatCan. Nice, huh? I tell him I'd be delighted.

11:30 AM -- Return to my desk, resume work. Begin testing data received from our systems-development branch, who had already caused a two MONTH delay in the entire survey processing. Upon brief inspection, I see immediately that crucial instructions were not followed.

11:45 AM -- Write terse email to systems developer informing him of this discrepancy, and encouraging him to reread the system specifications. CC to project managers, so that they can anticipate further delay, and know what the reason for it is.

12:10 PM -- Annoyed, I get a tasty coffee from the cafe downstairs. Upon arrival, I notice that there is a line, and remember that this is when normal people get their lunch. Change coffee order to coffee and muffin. Both are yummy. And the clerk was very nice. I feel better now.

12:25 PM -- Resume work at my desk, this time on my work for a different survey. Do research on editing and imputation methodologies for Census 2006. Make detailed notes, as this information concerns several of the projects I am working on.

2:00 PM -- Discuss the upcoming visit from Pacific Island statisticians: What information/guidance do they need in order to maximize their enjoyment of Wellington? What training will they be requiring, and at what level, and how to customize it to suit their informational/cultural needs? Brainstorm with other project helpers, distribute tasks between us.

2:45 PM -- Resume Census research at my desk.

3:45 PM -- Hear a commotion in the usually-silent StatsMethods section. Assume it's the Minister's visit. Discreetly check a handy reflective surface for muffin-bits between my teeth.

3:50 PM -- I hear the boss's preamble ("...and, representing our Foreign Contingent...") so I turn around with a smile. Then it's the usual schmooze: Stand up, handshake, introduction and brief chitchat, and usually a joke thrown in there somewhere. It went well, as he was extraordinarily pleasant.

Minister: "Canada, eh? Do you miss the snow, then?"
Me: "Not at all. Central Heating, on the other hand..." ^_^
Everyone: (ho ho ho)
Minister: "Aaah, yes, snow or not, Wellington can still get cold. My assistant's husband is from Whistler, and always talks about how he misses the snow. Where are you from?"
Me: "Originally, Winnipeg, but I moved from the StatCanada office in Ottawa."
Vince (boss): "...and to complicate matters, she's planning her wedding in a third city, Vancouver, from here!"
Minister: (surprised) "Wow! What's the statistical probability of all those cities being linked that way?"
Me: "I don't know, but the probability of getting grey hair while arranging such a thing is equal to one!"
Everyone: (ho ho ho)

3:55 PM -- Minister and his party continue their rounds, whilst I get back to work. Reflect on how I am glad I got a manicure the day before!

4:20 PM -- Work interrupted by persistent, unsettling feeling of being a manicured, high-heeled career woman. When did that happen? Scary...

4:30 PM -- Leave work a little early, humming Talking Heads, "Letting the Days Go By..." Thank you David Byrne.

(This post goes out to anyone who ever wondered what I actually DO for a living...!) ^_^

The Action Never Stops

... or at least, it doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Just when we thought that a trip to French Polynesia would be followed by uneventful, regular workweeks, we came back to anything but. I'll spare you many of the details, but here are the last two weeks, in point form:

• Dave and I celebrated our three-years-of-dating-anniversary. Well, not so much celebrated as realized it had happened, and stammered congratulations while gob-smacked in schock. Has it seriously been that long?
  



• My proposal to send some Statistics New Zealand staff to an upcoming conference -- GOVIS -- was received warmly, and with the brass suggesting that I myself attend! As to why this is a big deal, there is an international statistical megastar running a workshop... and I'm gonna be there! Now, this is not the usual statistical talk on the archaic, abstract, and largely useless minutae of statistical formulae (snore!). This guy's specialty is about using graphical interfaces and animations to make huge amounts of complex information readily understandable to regular folk. It's time to bring stats to the Information Age!
  



• After a historic search spanning longer than Dave and I even KNOWING each other, I have found Bran Van 3000's Discosis album. Mike gave me a burnt copy shortly after us meeting, and it's been an absolute favourite since. Given that I wanted to support the band, I tried buying it -- the thieving HMV quoted it as costing $69.99! "But don't worry," the gum-chewing sales associate assured me, "you won't have to pay that, 'cuz it's not like we could even get it in for you anyway." Now on a mission, I checked every last music shop, used CD store, pawn shop, etc. I came across, and would only get a solemn shake of the head. "We haven't seen that disc through here in years." The situation was looking desperate, and I had resigned myself to "cheating" by buying it at amazon.ca once I returned to Canada.
  

  
  

  Then, last Monday, I was early for my art class, so went to the offbeat music shop next door. Wandering around, looking for nor at anything in particular, I saw her sitting on the shelf. Just sitting there, in front, looking right at me. It didn't even seem real, especially with the price tag of $15.99 NZ dollars (= about $13 Canadian)! I grab it, run to the counter, and exclaim "I've been looking for this for YEARS!!!!". Quoth the gum-chewing clerk, "Uhhh, yeah... do you wanna, like, buy that?"
  

  Good to know you can cross an ocean and still get the same staff at CD stores. ;-)
  

  Anyhow, it's been in the CD player continuously since getting home. I'm so happy.
  



• Dave the Wonderful fought the evil Telecom dragon, who had, in December, replaced our high-speed internet connection with hacking-death-rattle-speed, left us with a "Yeah, sorry, it sucks to be you" letter, and then charged us the same monthly price as before. Dave the Wonderful was victorious, and has since secured for us a fast, reliable net connection, by New Zealand standards.
  



• We have finally secured my wedding ring. It's a piece done by Peter Minturn, a Kiwi of extraordinary talent who we'd met at The Wellington Jewelry Exhibition earlier this year. Meeting him was very cool, and a story in and of itself, for he's every bit the wacky artist-type I know so well. The piece is beautiful -- both ornate and plain -- and hey, if his stuff is good enough for the Queen, it's good enough for me!
  



• Aside from my usual methodological work at Stats NZ, I've somehow become a multipurpose event organizer. My latest ordeal has been planning the two-week introductory course for new recruits, and last monday was Day one. No catastrophes to speak of yet, and overall, Week One has gone quite well. At one point I had to stand in and teach a course -- the SAS Coding & Conference Technology module -- and it's gotten consistently positive feedback, despite taking place on a Friday afternoon. Hooray!
  



• Lastly, Armageddon cometh. Last year, Dave and I attended this Wellingtonian Nerd Convention, and had a great time. I even got to meet Claudia Christian, who played one of my favourite female sci-fi characters of all time. This year's lineup is even bigger, though. Dave is stoked to meet Billy Dee, otherwise known as "Lando" from Star Wars. I, on the other hand, have other ambitions. First, meet Crispin Freeman, a voice actor whose work I know very well through my many years of gaming and anime-viewing. Next, get a copy of Bro'Town DVDs signed by The Naked Samoans, the writing troupe and creative force behind that brilliant show. And last but not least, meet Brian K. Vaughan, THE man behind "Y: The Last Man", a comic I follow religiously. He'll be there, and I'll have my copy of Kimono Dragons ready for him to sign. Sigh... I'm so happy! :-) (And, with any luck, I may even be attending in costume this year... but more on that later.)

Yes, life is good. :-)