Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category
Thursday, November 24th, 2005
I've been stuck into work, and it's interesting how the cycle of
the day is different here. I only overlap the West Coast of America's
work day for five hours--by 2pm my time, they're all heading home. So
I email furiously in the morning, and get replies, and spend the
afternoon clearing ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2005
It's wonderful how easy it is to see a doctor over here. Our local
GP, Elspeth, had a busy day but still managed to fit Jenine in.
Jenine was dizzy, which was diagnosed as nothing more than a virus
affectin gthe inner ear: walk around, get the brain compensating,
all's well. Less ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Saturday, November 19th, 2005
Finally we went to the beach today (Sunday). It was good to walk
on Omaha again, white sand crackling underfoot. The kids could have
spent all day there, and I'm sure they'll spend many days this summer
there. Looking at them running into the surf, digging sand castles,
and burying my ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Saturday, November 19th, 2005
Another full day: we drove to Auckland to collect a fridge we bought
on TradeMe, I cleaned the rusty
grill, and began the rehabiliation of teh house. I hosed off the
front wall and windows, digging out spider webs with the brush, and
swept as much of the dirt, dust, and leaves out ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Friday, November 18th, 2005
I don't know whether it's the equinox or the move, but it feels
like there's SO MUCH TIME in the day. I wove flax with the kids, my
parents arrived down the road from us (they're also moving back to NZ
from the US), went out on the boat, caught up on ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Friday, November 18th, 2005
The problem with flying to New Zealand from America is that if you
get a well-timed flight, you don't really have jetlag on the first
day. You get this fantastic feeling of competence, because you've
flown halfway around the world and are fizzing and popping with
energy. That lasts until the next ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Thursday, November 17th, 2005
Flight summary follows. Qantas: very good. Kids: great. Sleep:
taken where it could be got. Customs failed to care about our coffee:
Customs: What are you declaring?
Us: Coffee.
Customs: Any honey or fruit juice?
Us: No, it's coffee.
Customs: Ok, through you go.
I swear, you could be declaring the bloody Hope ...
Posted in New Zealand, Personal | No Comments »
Thursday, November 17th, 2005
Great
guest rant on Public Address by a CRI (formerly DSIR, government
scientific research org) talking about insanity of current contestable
funding mechanisms. "A staggering amount of a scientist's time is now
spent writing funding proposals rather than doing science. The red
tape is almost unimaginable. On some occasions it has been necessary
for our ...
Posted in Business, New Zealand | No Comments »
Thursday, November 17th, 2005
Straight from the Ministry of Education comes 2006 Term and Holiday Dates.
Posted in New Zealand | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 16th, 2005
I was prepared to think of the questioning of Maori rituals as more
political bizarrity, until I read this
eloquent explanation from Pita Sharples in Public Address. Now it makes perfect
sense.
Posted in New Zealand | No Comments »