§

Thanksgiving Dinner 2008

Toasted Le Moulin baguette with:
Cream cheese & caramelised onions

Apple pie & cream
Christmas fruit mince pie

§

Catherine made everything from scratch, even the coleslaw! Here’s a photo of my adopted family in Wellington. Catherine (the chef) and Craig (the sous-chef) are on the right:

And here we are at the end of dinner, waiting for dessert:

So good! It reminded me of dutch apple pie, without the cinnamon.

Thank you so much C & C, it was superb!

The view from my room in Queenstown

This was one side of Mitre Peak in Milford Sound

There are hundreds if not thousands of waterfalls in Milford Sound, and the captain had a wet sense of humor

I drove up to the top of Coronet Peak. Who knew the south island was so sunny?

Last weekend I went skiing on the North Island’s most popular volcano and it was beautiful:

This photo is pathetic! You have to see it for yourself.

§

When I arrived at the ski area, I went to the ticket counter to buy my gear and lift pass.

“Hi, can I have skis, boots and poles, and a upper mountain lift pass?”

“Sure, you might be eligible for a youth discount. Are your parents here? How old are you?”

“I’m 27.”

§

By the end of the day, I had a fresh set of bruises from:

• falling off a t-bar lift with Anouk

As Egon said about crossing the streams, “Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.” The same applies to crossing your skis. Anouk was not happy!

• jumping into a wall of snow

Not nice, fluffy snow. The water which formed this snow used to flow in the sewers of Gary, Indiana, I’m sure of it.

• dodging a boy (like a good samaritan), who happened to fall next to a ski ramp

When I landed, my skies, gloves, hat, etc. were scattered across the field, as if I were Mr. Potato Head and a screaming child threw me against a wall.

In a few weeks I’m flying to Queenstown for some more skiing (yes, I am a masochist). Feel free to fly down and join me!

*swoon*

From the article: “But Xero might be a more interesting example, simply because it targets the traditionally dry domain of accounting. Users compared this interaction to playing Tetris and described it as fun and addictive. Come on, making accounting fun? That’s an award-winning design.”

Great job team! (especially Philip and Grant)

I made him on commission from a colleague at work. I’m pretty happy with the way he turned out.

If you’d like to buy him, he comes in a variety of colors. You can go to the Ponoko website to buy it, or you can contact me through the comments here or by email.

You can buy him in any color Ponoko offers. If the color isn’t listed below, please contact me and tell me what color you would like.

Doesn’t it look great? You can buy a tiki pendant here!

The bright rainbow ends on my house!

Did she just say pashing?¹ I didn’t know she was a lesbian. Funny that.

*slap*

No, she said passion!

What the devil! Even after four years my brain is still confused every week.

Here are groups of words in New Zealand that are impossible to distinguish for the American ear:

• bull, ball and bowl
• hair, air and ear
• pen, pin and pan

For people from Chicago the difference is obvious. The sounds of the vowels are distinct. But some Kiwis skip their vowels, which leaves me befuddled.

Can you think of other words that sound similar? For example in Australia “six” and “sex” are too close to call. Think of the despair of the weary traveler in Australia’s hostels!

_{1. An Australian term for heavy duty kissing between teenagers.}

On my way to Crazy Horse¹ someone threw a water balloon out of a window and it nearly hit me. It landed next to my right leg.

I looked up at the sky and shook my fist! They were out there somewhere! It was probably the same person who hit the back of my head with a fork.

I thought I escaped embarrassment. But during dinner, Vicky said, “You should go salsa dancing.”

“I don’t salsa dance,” I said.

“Why not? They always need more men.”

“The last time salsa danced I kicked the toenail off my date.”

“Ouch!”

“I had to make a tourniquet out of a napkin for her bleeding toe,” I said.

“Right,” Vicky said. “I always forget that story!”

Salsa dancing confuses me because there’s too much stepping. One wrong move and bang! She loses a toenail.

If I tried again, I would make her wear steel-toed boots. Not very sexy, but safe.

_{1. Crazy Horse is an excellent steak house in Wellington. I had filet mignon. In New Zealand “filet” is pronounced “fill it.”}