The Niemi Family – Olympia to New Zealand
I should have done this a year ago, but I finally got a second monitor for my computer. Now I can remote control my work PC on one full screen and see my local desktop at the same time. It’s much better than switching back and forth on one screen. I really missed my dual-monitor setup I used to have. The new 22″ monitor was only $342 at PB Technologies in Dunedin.
No time for a real life? Try the WiiFit.
Fa’s new computer just arrived. Unfortunately, she’s at a field trip to a cheese factory so I get to set it up. It’s a Dell XPS M1330:
She’s going to have a lot of fun with it!
We have been living and breathing supply chains in Operations Management for the last couple of months. Every time I go shopping or get a bite to eat I think about the logistics of how the products got here and who the suppliers might be. I must say it has been very interesting, but now I actually feel one with a supply chain (not quite in the Borg sense, but close). My 6 year old laptop is dying and I am afraid it won’t make it through my dissertation (the sparking when I plug it in is kind of frightening), so Gary bought me a new Dell XPS. Well of course we study Dell in every course, because they are sweet as, but now I truly believe. From order to New Zealand delivery in just days. Amazing!
Anyone still remember minesweeper? It’s still on my XP computer – I’m not sure about Vista, haven’t checked. I remember back in the Windows 3.0 days playing it for hours. I think I got pretty good at it too. I assume everyone my age, geeks at least, played it. Well, now its been made into a movie. See the preview here: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1770138.
We’re getting ready for our big ski trip. We’re leaving at noon and coming back Sunday, with one day of skiing tomorrow. I’ll post pictures. Next week.
We finally got all of the boxes we sent to ourselves. We picked them up on our way to squash with Phil. (Unfortunately, I lost 3-1. I’m getting worse, it seems.) Then after getting the boxes home. I dropped Ginny off at ballet and Hank and I picked up a new monitor, since we need one now for the old computer. We got a “MAG” 22″ monitor for ~$NZ600. Then we got a wireless PCI card for the new computer. This was pretty risky buying all this stuff since I didn’t know at that point if the computer made it across the Pacific intact. Finally getting home, I set up the new computer in Ginny’s room and the old one in the office. It worked! The only hiccup was the wireless mouse took a while to find itself. No biggie. Then Windows needed to install 24 updates. An hour later I was good as gold. After setting up the printer and webcam, I think we’re in business. I’m using it now to write this. Now to get to all of those things I was putting off until the computer came, like doing some video editing and downloading some maps to the GPS, and all of those other things I was waiting for but forgot now. It’s our weekend from school starting tomorrow, but no big trips this time, just exploring Dunedin and to the beach. Bye.
Tuesday we had grand plans. We were going to clean the house, then get ready for our trip. But right in the middle of the vacuuming, the new computer came. So we dropped everything and set it up. Of course before we set it up we had to reorganize the office and clean it. Then we put it together. It took about 2 hours in all, but now here it is:
It’s a “cheap” Dell with a 20″ screen – not bad, but I’m sure several of my friends would be very disappointed. At first it seemed dog-slow on the internet. I was about ready to call Dell to complain, but then I noticed that the free McAfee it came with seemed to be a bit bloated. It had all this anti-phishing, anti-spam, anti-this, anti-that – man, it was slow. I turned off most everything and it works much better.
Then we finally got going to run some errands for our camping trip. We went to Pak N Save supermarket because Hank really wanted to go there (it’s mentioned in Wallace and Grommit). Not my favourite, but fine. We hurried to The Warehouse to get some bins, but we didn’t find a chilly bin (cooler) we liked. Then home for dinner, but we weren’t in time to make dinner before Fa’s ballet class, so she left and we had pasta.
We went out later looking for a chilly bin, but we couldn’t find any stores open. Most close at 5:30 pm, except for the supermarkets which close at 8 or 9. We ended up going back to The Warehouse and got one that was acceptable for $85. Unbelievable. We should have sent ours! Finally, we thought we were ready.
Yesterday, we woke and began packing for our overnight trip. Somehow we filled the whole back of the car! We only had to get diesel and some white gas for our hiking stoves. I had heard we could get white gas at a petrol station, but BP didn’t have it. We tried The Warehouse – nope, only butane. By the way, no such thing as “white gas” here, try “white fuel”. We tried Katmandu – they sent us to the supermarket. New World – no, Countdown – no. We finally went to the outdoor shop which sold me the fishing license and they had one bottle of “Coleman Fuel”. They also said it was known as “fuel light”. Obviously not a popular product here.
We were finally on our way 2 hours late at 11:00. We drove Highway 1 south, through Milton and Balclutha, turning off on 92 to Owaka, then into the Catlins Region. We were heading for Purakaunui Bay Conservation Camp, which is run by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Fortunately, we had a good map (New Zealand Atlas) because at no point before we got there were there any signs for a campground or park. Turned on progressively smaller and smaller roads, we left open sheep country and entered native (somewhat) bush. Finally we came out on Purakaunui Bay. It’s an
amazingly beautiful place. Wow. Unbelievable. And under 2 hours from home.
We took a look around and chose a campsite, but right then we saw a Toyota Hilux Surf (Forerunner?) and a Subaru Legacy drive past us on to the beach and up to some other campsites, so we followed them. If I hadn’t seen them I probably wouldn’t have, but it was very easy with 4 wheel drive and high ground clearance. We set up camp on a grassy point right next to the beach.
We had lunch and changed into our wetsuits. The kids played in the little stream where it entered the surf while I waded with them. I was frozen and wouldn’t get in – too cold. I was a party-pooper because the conditions were a bit rough, so I didn’t let the kids do any boogie boarding. It was tough because there were several surfers out there in the big waves, but it looked too dangerous for us. Anyway, we had a great time.
We changed and the kids played in the sand for awhile while I drove back up the road to find cell phone reception. I did eventually and called Fa to tell her where we were. I guess phone reception is not that great or we were way out in the wilderness. I followed a Toyota Hiace (minivan) back to the camp, then passed it as I went back on the beach to our campsite. I was surprised to see a few minutes later it followed me out. Unfortunately, it immediately got stuck in the soft sand. This is not an off-road vehicle of any kind so it wasn’t unexpected. A British guy and his girlfriend were driving around the South Island in it. It was pretty run-down, but I think this was the worst that had happened to him so far. I helped dig him out and we pushed it back, but not quite far enough. He got stuck again and I helped dig him out one more time. Then he backtracked to the path from the sand to the road, where he got stuck again. This time I couldn’t help him. Everything we tried made it worse. He even tried jacking up the van, but it didn’t work and the jack bent the body of the van so much he couldn’t close his sliding door anymore. Some campers nearby tried towing him up with a Honda Accord – didn’t work. Finally he asked the surfers for some help and the Hilux came. They pulled it down and then, with a running start, pulled it up. Funny thing, though, when the Hilux unhitched the Hiace, it couldn’t move because it was stuck for the fourth time! On flat, grassy, ground. This time was the last because we quickly pushed it out of a hole and he was good as gold. He drove a few meters and parked for the night out of sheer relief. The door wouldn’t close, but by morning he had fixed the door enough to close it so he could drive the thing.
After that very interesting experience we had dinner. It was too windy for a campfire so we figured we’d cook over the stove. I hadn’t tried the hiking stoves before we left Dunedin and so of course they both had problems. In Olympia they worked great right before I sent them. Now the good one leaked, so I tried the not-so-good backup stove. It leaked less, but the burner wasn’t working right. After a long time Ginny’s veggie hotdogs were lukewarm. I got fed up and switched to the leaky good stove and voila, it didn’t leak anymore. After an hour wasted we quickly finished cooking with the good stove and ate. By now we were freezing as the sun dropped in the sky but we found we hadn’t brought any hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or Milo (Kiwi drink). So I boiled some water and drank it straight. Weird, but not bad. This prompted me to start a list of things we forgot, which reached about 15 by the time we got back. Better preparation next time.
After a short walk we went to bed by about 9:00. I wore just about everything I had with me (3 shirts & 3 sweaters) because I thought it would be cold. It turned out about right because I never was cold except my fingers. The kids did pretty well too, although Ginny woke up at 5:30 to put on another sweater. We slept in until 9:00, listening to the wind beating on the poor tent. We got up and had breakfast. It was much easier to cook this time because I got the stove up and running instantly and had water boiling for oatmeal in ten minutes. The kids played on the beach for a while and we briefly considered swimming, but it was too windy. We packed up the camp and headed home by noon. I stopped for a look at the Clutha River and decided I’d have to give it a try. It was my first attempt at fishing in New Zealand. No luck, though. I did see the didymo everyone’s talking about. It’s known as “rock snot” and now I see why. I didn’t see any on the bottom but there was a lot of it floating downstream through the water. It looks like a white algae. It didn’t affect me but would be a problem for spin anglers. After a stop for Hokey Pokey ice cream at a dairy in Milton, we reached home by 2:00.
(Fa says – Gary & the kids are on holiday in Purakaunui Bay for a couple of days, so I am taking over blog duty…) Today was a day of firsts
Tonight Corinna and I went to the new Hugh Grant movie (Oops, I can’t remember what it is called). It is worth seeing just for the opening scene. Oh course I adore HG and he is definitely in good form in this one, just the right mix of ‘About A Boy’ cynicism and ‘4 Weddings & a Funeral’ stuttering charm.
The theatres in NZ are amazing (very ‘flash’ as they say) – assigned seating, very comfy chairs and unbelievably wide aisles. I had to walk up the big hill twice today, so I am pretty beat. Cheers!
Yesterday – more schoolwork. Then off to the business school to watch the Superbowl. Some of the students wandered in and out of the social room while the kids and I watched the game. I did enjoy watching but have to say it was probably the worst Superbowl in a long time because of the poor quality of play – turnovers, etc. I was happy the Colts one, though. I don’t know why but I hate Chicago.
After dinner I ordered a computer from Dell New Zealand. Since the computer we shipped hasn’t arrived yet, we decided we couldn’t wait. We’ll see in about a week if the old or new one shows up first.
Since it was Waitangi Day today, we decided to take the day off from school, I mean the kids and me. Fa spent several hours itthere and still has lots more to do. I had a squash game at one so I took the kids down with me. Phil was warmed up from a tennis match and handily beat me 3-1 this time. Ouch. I’ll get him next time, though.
We picked Fa up after squash and headed to the beach. We chose St. Kilda because it has the best area out of the water for Fa to sit. Because of the holiday the beach was very crowded. We forgot the boogie boards but good thing because the waves were too big and broke right on shore for boogie boarding. Instead we played in the waves and had a great time. We got worn out eventually and headed home.
Earlier Phil invited us to his house for a beer at 4:30, so I checked the map and it looked very close so we tried to walk there. Unfortunately, I got the street wrong and we couldn’t find his place. After wandering around for a while, Hank skinned his knee so we decided to head home. Once home I checked the map and discovered we were about a block away at one point. Oh well. Phil called later and we decided to do it another time. Sorry about that Phil.
After dinner I found a pruner in the basement and spent a few minutes pruning back some of the overgrown roses so we can get around the house a litter easier. I met our neighbor Jeff, who is feeding another neighbor’s cat across the street, who has adopted us. This black cat comes in the house through the cat door and acts like he lives here. Pretty funny, although he isn’t the only one, there’s another cat next door that does the same thing. Sometimes it’s surprising to open a door and see a cat inside your house when you know you don’t have one. These are very nice cats, though.
We got a bed for Ginny today, just like Hank’s, so I believe our furniture situation is all sorted. We dropped Fa off at school and headed for squash with Phil. I beat him this time: 3-1. I must be getting better or more used to the court.
We ran a couple of more errands: State Insurance again and then for a PC place to pick up a printer (we’re trying a cheap Canon bubble jet). Then to the beach. I finally got a chance to use my new wetsuit. We went to St. Clair by the (unintentional) back way, where we discovered the tide was in so far that there wasn’t a beach to go to. We had to go back to St. Kilda, where there is always a beach. We boogie boarded for about an hour. Our wetsuits made it tollerable.
I was bidding on a squash racquet on Trademe, which I won. Trademe is the kiwi eBay, but I like it better, actually. This was my first purchase on Trademe. Hank and I drove to the seller’s flat, but we couldn’t understand the address: 2/5. We had to ask someone where to go. I guess that kind of address is common here.
After pulling into the garage, I heard a hissing sound and steam was coming out from under the bonnet. It just happened as I turned off the ignition. I opened the hood, expecting something horrible, but it was the hose from the radiator to the overflow tank. The metal tube the hose attaches to broke off. I’ll have to get the dealer to fix it, but I’ll probably be able to drive it there. Hopefully, it’s under warranty, but there are so many loopholes I don’t know. Too bad. The car has been great so far and I really love it.
I got up and walked over to the supermarket for a newspaper, ham, and eggs. The eggs were a mystery – size 5, 6, or 7. Hmmm. Try brown, size 7. Seem to be large. Then I got what looked like ham, but it was “middle bacon”. Whoops. Need to cook before eating. I cooked the bacon and made omelettes for us all. Yummy.
We puttered around for a while, then finally got going by noon. Down to The Warehouse again for more household items – dishes, towels, etc. Plus, Fa and I picked up spring wetsuits for $40 each, and we got another boogie board. We got back and unloaded, hoping to get to the beach quickly, but I tried the internet one more time and it worked. Yahoo! So we forgot about the beach so Ginny and Fa could read their email. I had so much I was overwhelmed, so I didn’t deal with it yet. I will tomorrow, though. We spent a while on the webcam with Patria in Olympia. Amazing. Just like we were next door. If anyone has windows live messenger, let me know and we’ll do a video call.
We had portebello mushrooms, green beans, and lamb for dinner again. Great as always. Then Fa and I went for a little walk to scout out routes to school, and we grabbed the kids for a quick look at the local playground. We came back and the kids and I played Mille Borne for a couple of hours – great fun. See ya.
Moving Day
We woke up early to get a good start on the big day. Unfortunately, this is the worst day, weather-wise, since we got here. Hard rain and very cold – 9 degrees C. We ate quickly, packed up, and began loading the car in the rain. I backed the car as close as possible to the apartment, but still got wet as I was loading. The path from the door was flooded so I had to walk in the grass and got pretty muddy. Eventually all was loaded and we were off. Good thing we have the Delica – we fit all of our stuff in one load.
We checked out at the motel on George St. We were expecting all of the extra charges you get elsewhere – sales tax, hotel tax, stadium tax, other charges, etc., but here in New Zealand everything is always included in the price – nothing extra. Very nice.
We dropped Fa off at school and went up to the house to meet Vicky and get the keys. She showed up a minute after us and let us in. We walked around for about half an hour while she briefed us on all of the details. Everything had been off for a few days so the house was very cold. The thermometer in the living room said we were in the “fridge zone” – 12 degrees! After exchanging numbers Vicky left and we unloaded the car. We rearrange the furniture, moving the bed from Ginny’s room into ours, moving around some of the chairs and tables, but mostly we just enjoyed being in our own house. I turned on the heat pumps as we unpacked some of our things.
By noon the rain stopped, the clouds broke up, and the sun came out. We turned off the heat, opened the doors, and had lunch. I got the phones working and checked our messages – 4 already. Fa called about 12:30 so we headed down to pick her up. Once there we were drafted to take a barbecue to Jorit’s place for this weekend’s bbq. Again, good thing we had the Delica because the bbq just fit. Fa and the kids stayed at the business school while Carinna and I drove to Anderson’s Bay to drop it off. Once back I collected Fa, Ginny, and Hank, who were going over Hank’s school books, which had just arrived.
On the way back to the house, we filled up with diesel for the first time – about 45 litres for a week and a half of around town driving. It’s not great “mileage” – 15 liters per 100km, but pretty cheap – $.899 litre – less than in the states! We stopped by the car dealer to pick up the manual – finally – and then picked up a $20 daybed at a 2nd hand shop. Then to the house.
Once here Fa immediately saw some improvements and so rearranged some of the furniture – quite nice. I called the Toroa House about the single beds and they had one for us so we ran down to pick it up. Again, just fit in the Delica – yes! We set it up in Hanks room, rearranged the living room, and relaxed for a while. Hand and Fa walked to the local supermarket (Fresh Choice) and brought back mussels and tortellini for dinner. Fa and I got ready to cook them when we realised that we had no pots and pans! So we quickly drove to The Warehouse to buy some. While we were there we figured we should get some sheets and pillows too. Back at the house we had a great dinner of Green Lipped Mussels and pasta (with Montana Sauvignon Blanc). Fantastic.
I puttered around with the ADSL Modem for a while, spent some time on the phone with Telecom, but no luck. Try for Internet again tomorrow.
I got internet! I got pig iron! I got internet!
I’ve been writing everyday so I’ll catch up, with pictures.
Today Fa was better but Hank came down with a cold. He had a cough this morning, running nose, then eventually a sore throat. However, he was in pretty good spirits so he did come with us to the library. Dunedin has a good library and we got a couple of books each. While we were down there we stopped at the “Dollar” store ($1, $2, or $3) and the kids picked up some knick knacks. We also looked at mobile phones, but they are so expensive here we couldn’t make a choice. In the States cell phones are often free with a contract, but apparently not here. The cheapest clamshell design was $149 and they went up to $999. We’ll put off the decision until we’re in the house.
Fa came home with good and bad news. First the bad: we can’t get the laptop wireless to work with the university’s system. It doesn’t support WPA2. She went to Dick Smith’s to get a WPA2 PCCard, but they didn’t have one. We decided to drop it for now. We’ll have to wait until we get the house to get internet access. The good news is that we get to move in to the house on Friday! We’re meeting Vicky the current tenant at 9:00 to get the keys. Yay!
(A quick note from Fa) I started my preliminary papers today with Maths. It is a nice review and the prof is great. My cold lingers on, but we’ve only got half-days at school this week, so I’ll take naps and rest up for the start of module 1 next Monday. My classes go from 8:30am to 6pm on Mondays (starting with 1 1/2 hours Statistics and ending the day with 2 hours of Managerial Economics). Cheers! Fa
Today we started at the business school to get the laptop working on their network. Unfortunately, we could find a hot ethernet port and so couldn’t get it working. We met up with Carinna, Martin, and Rohit to go on a trip up the peninsula.
After picking up some snacks at Countdown, we drove the windy Portebello road for about 30 minutes to the Albatross Colony at Taiaroa Point.
We looked over the Pacific and watched gulls and shags fly around the cliffs. We wandered through the visitor center, but no one wanted to pay the $30 each to go on a tour and see the albatross, so we left.
We took a backroad a few kilometers back and headed over to the Pacific side of the peninsula. We first stopped at Sandymount and trekked up the 319m mountain. The view from the track was incredible but by the top we were in cloud. It is very similar to being in the mountains on Hawaii!
We came down and drove to Ridge Track, which took us to Sandfly Bay. It was quite handy to have the Delica to drive these unsealed roads. Although most cars would have done it, I would have been nervous in anything without four-wheel drive on the greasy bits. Needless to say, we had no problems. It was also nice to carry 7 people with no worries.
The track to Sandfly Bay took us through several sheep paddocks and across a couple of fences, some electric. Luckily, we met the woman who owned the neighboring farm who told us where to go. After 30 minutes walk we arrived at the beach. We took off our shoes and walked another 20 minutes down the beach. As the seven of us spread out on the beach Hank ran to catch up with the Kiwi as she went down the beach. Fa and I then noticed a lumbering hulk moving towards them. We thought it lucky Hank was with the Kiwi as they passed the Hooker Sea Lion.
However, the rest of us eventually reached it, and, while trying to figure out how to pass it without being charged, just about stepped on a couple of females lying on the sand. They looked like logs or something. The Kiwi and Hank were waving and yelling at us in the distance, but we couldn’t hear them or figure out what to do. We kind of stood there while the male charged the females and herded them into the sea. He soon followed and we could continue down the beach. It was very exciting – like the leftovers from last night. Discovery Channel or National Geographic!
We reached the end of the beach where we hoped to spy some Yellow-Eyed Penquins. We waited in a penquin “hide” for a while, but all we saw were New Zealand Fur Seals and Hooker Sea Lions. Hank counted a total of 12 for the day.
Eventually we realized the penquins wouldn’t return to the beach when the Sea Lions were there, since penquins are a favorite prey of Seals and Sea Lions, so we left. We had another encounter with the male Hooker as we walked down the beach. He sort of escorted us off his beach, slowly moving closer and closer. Six of us made our way past him, but eventually we realize Fa was on the other side taking pictures. She just squeezed by and we were off. Very exciting again!
We retrieved our shoes, climbed the track back to the car, and drove 14 km back to Dunedin. After dropping everyone off at their flats, we came home and had leftovers from last night for dinner. Wow. What a day!
So we woke up a 3:00 am this morning – 6:00 am Olympia time. Luckily, we got back to sleep for a couple more hours. Then we had a great breakfast at the hotel – very simple but delicious continental style. It was a nice change after the strange food we’ve been eating lately – airplane, snack machines, bad restaurants, etc.
We made our way to “The National Bank” and got an account opened. It was very easy and the people were all super nice. What a relief to deposit those thousands of dollars in cash and traveller’s checks! Then we stopped at the financial office to sort out the tuition, etc. Looks like next week it should be fine.
We dropped in to the Business school and I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but suddenly Fa was on the phone with Vicky, one of Fa’s professors who is moving out of a rental house at the end of the month. Soon we were racing to get a cab and run up to Kilgour St to inspect it. After getting some history lessons from the cab driver (remember, absolutely no tips in New Zealand!) we arrived at the house. We all fell in love with it immediately. It is partially furnished, so we’ll only have to get a “lounge suite” and 2 beds. We made arrangements to talk to the owners, who are running a backpackers in Bay of Islands at the extreme north end of NZ. Then we rolled down the hill to Moana Pool, where Fa left Hank, Ginny and I to swim while she did some errands.
Moana Pool is the nicest public pool I’ve ever seen. It has a wave pool, endless river, 2 water slides, various diving boards, and a temporary blow up thing that takes up half of the olympic pool. The kids and I spent about 2 1/2 hours there while Fa inquired about a motel for the next couple of weeks. We then met up at the hotel where she informed us that it was on for the house rental. We’ll be moving in on the 28th probably, so in the meantime we’ll be in a temporary apartment at the north end of town. However, we can’t get in there until Tuesday so we’re staying here at the Executive Residence until then. Unfortunately, we may not be able to stay here on Monday night so who knows? We may be at the Holiday Park!
Oh yeah, sometime when all this was happening we contacted Pegasus Car Rentals to see about getting a car. They came and picked us up and took us to their office, where we rented a Nissan Bluebird. I can’t say I’ve ever been in a bluebird before. I’d say it’s a little smaller than our 2005 Camry, maybe more like the previous generation Camry, the late 1990’s one. On our way to the rental shop, I remembered how different it is to drive on the left side of the road, so the whole time we were filling out the paperwork I was getting more and more nervous. When I finally got the keys my adrenaline was following as we accelerated out onto the street. Fa as copilot’s job is to say “Keep Left!” as much as possible to remind me to drive on the correct side of the road. She did this perfectly as I never once strayed over to the right, although a couple of times, when we were at an intersection where there were no cars, I looked around and asked where they would be coming from if they were there, but no matter, it was clear. I must admit it is a lot of fun driving here, especially with a stick. I do need to get the turn signal down before too long, since I keep hitting the windscreen wipers when I want to turn.
And another good thing happened – I didn’t need those wipers because the sun has finally come out. After getting the car, we walked around downtown Dunedin, soaking up the sun and looking for food. We found a Vietnamese restaurant and had dinner. We asked about vegetarian food for Ginny but they initially said they had absolutely nothing without meat. They relented and made up a shrimp salad without shrimp which Ginny really enjoyed. The Pho is not like Olympia but it was nice. We grabbed some dessert at CountDown, a large grocery chain, along with some NZ wine, of course, and headed back to the room. I’m enjoying the wine now as I write this at the computer in the conference room of the hotel.
Sorry no pictures today. Tomorrow we look for a car. Take care.
I guess it’s time to get started, so here is my first real post. I really need the writing practice – please bear with me.
Yesterday we got in line at the downtown post office first thing before it opened to send our last (hopefully!) 3 packages to New Zealand. These were packages 6, 7, and 8 for a total of about $250. They contained mostly winter clothes so it’s OK that we will beat them there by about a month. I keep forgetting that we’ll be in summer in a few days!
My dad Wes invited us to Anthony’s Homeport last night. We had a very nice dinner. Of course it was excellent as always. Even Ginny, who has been sick with a fever for the last 5 days or so, had a great time. Our waiter told us a little about the new restaurant Anthony’s is building at the old Genoa’s site. He said it would be in the style of a New York steakhouse with beef and burgers and less of a seafood emphasis, and less formal also. We’ll have to wait a year and a half before we get to try it, although I think he said it would open in March. Anthony’s always is a special place for Fa and me since we’ve been going to the Kirkland restaurant for 18 years and I proposed to her at Chinook’s in 1989. I’ll miss it.
Today was a strange day in that we didn’t really have anything big to do to prepare for the trip to New Zealand but it has an event-filled day just the same. Fa’s office gathered for lunch at the Mayan restaurant to say goodbye to her and I went along. It was nice to see the large turnout, especially from the management. I finally met the people Fa has been talking about for the last couple of years: Casey, Harvey, Griff, and others. What a diverse group. They had some very touching things to say about Fa. And she had some nice things to say about the team. I know she’ll miss them greatly. We really appreciate the gifts of computer games, phone card, and puzzle books.
Justin came by to familiarize himself with our computing setup so he can support Patria while we are gone. He has volunteered to be the tech support for her so that we can mainly keep up the communication. He was quite impressed with the house and I was reminded what a nice place we have. It’ll be nice to come back to it in a couple of years.
I just finished getting the laptop back connected with the NAS device. Somehow this morning the laptop ended up with the same IP address as the NAS, so I had to remember my old ipconfig commands to get a new address. Then all was well so I tried connecting the NAS directly to the laptop with a crossover cable. After another hour of fiddling I got it working so I think now our computing situation for New Zealand is completely set up.
Hank spent the last couple of hours making a suit of armor, a sword, and a horse out of the software boxes Fa received from her team. He’s quite creative and determined when he puts his mind to it. Funny how the kids have thousands of dollars in toys and can spend hours with free things they make themselves.
Phew! That’s a lot for my first post!
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