Flying down here on Sunday was a lot of fun. When we finally got to fly that is. Sunday afternoon there was thunder and huge flashes of lightening. When it'd flash the *boom* would shake the house so badly, it was like the bass kick you get at a rock concert. Due to the fantastic weather I got to sit around in Auckland airport for 2 hours while 100 people jammed into a terminal designed for about 50 max. It was lots of fun as you can imagine.

Once I made it to Wellington I got to check into my room, my new home for the next 3 months. It's nice enough, but the deathly stink it has isn't so hot. It smells like when you wash your clothes, then accidently leave them in the washing machine for 5 days. Maybe that doesn't happen to you as often as it...

Hello! I'm back in Auckland, woohoo! Until Sunday that is, bugger! Be sure to check out Sarah's Flickr for some cool photos taken with the new lenses she's got for her camera.

Err, that's all, really.

Flying back to Auckland tomorrow. Log in if you want to read a bit about what the week's been like. I'm looking forward to getting back home, even though it's only for a couple of days! Wellington's a great place, but it's not home.

I've managed to survive without the coffee machine! There's a (crazy?) guy who has his own coffee cart out near where I'm working. He's not really crazy but he's a real character. Very engaging, laughs a lot and sometimes manages to accidently offend people. He makes good coffee too, so that's a bonus.

Hello from wet and windy Wellington. I'm glad to be here, last night the plane hit the tarmac so hard on landing I thought for a split second we were going to swerve off the runway, start cart wheeling and go boom. Thankfully we didn't, though a few people screamed and the captain came on the intercom to apologise for the landing. Tail winds apparently, not total pilot incompetence were to blame.

So then arrived at my hotel which of course was ready for me with my booking and everything. Hahaha ok no, seriously, they had no idea who I was or why I was there. That's always a bit of a bugger. I had to sit in the lobby for about 30 minutes while phone calls were made and websites were checked. Finally they managed to get me a very nice room. This morning I was told that I'd...

I'm making custard in the Microwave, isn't that exciting? Ok you've got me, it's not that exciting. [Two hour pause after typing this...]
Last night we were all primed and ready to go to the gym. But Sarah got home at 5:30 which was the time we were supposed to be there. So of course the next best thing to going to the gym is to go down to Mission Bay and have pizza and chippies by the waterfront. It was such a nice sunny night (the first in about a year it seems) that it would have been a real shame to miss! Especially because I head off down to Wellington on Sunday night.

As I am typing this I currently have a right ear full of WaxSol. That's right, ear wax softener. I went to the Dr yesterday to get rid of the big wax ball in there...

Hello!

Yesterday was a day of much geekiness. I bought myself a cheapie USB phone, which plugs into the computer and works with Skype. It's really cool, when someone rings you on Skype the phone makes ringing noises. Which is better than the computer making them, because I often have heaphones plugged in and don't hear it.

The other bit of geek stuff I did was to replace the battery in my iPod. It was pretty much dead, only lasting for 2-3 hours before running flat. It was quite a mission to replace the battery, though now I've done it once it'll be a lot easier the second time (when I do Sarah's)

Nothing much else to report!

Tim

A screaming hello to everyone out there!
This weekend was packed full of fun and excitement, the same as all our weekends are. Friday night we went out for dinner with Kelly and Bonita to this great place on K-Road (where I used to live) then went to the Dog’s Bollox’s (local pub) to watch a band that Kelly knows a member of play. We got there too early though, they were settings up and doing all the “Check 1 2, Check 1 2” noises and some demo songs with way to much painful feedback. So we left there!

Saturday morning we rushed up and turbo cleaned up the house because Sarah’s parents were coming over. They just got back from their 2 weeks at Rarotongo which by the sound of it (and the few bit of video they showed us) was really nice!

Once they’d left we sat around...

A few weeks (maybe even months) back we were looking at the notices in the supermarket. As you do in the hope of finding some numpty selling a 500" widescreen TV for $50 or similar. Sarah found a notice from a product developer looking for feedback on some new products he'd developed. I sent him a txt message saying I'd be interested and he txted me back some details the next day. Then I forgot all about it. However on Monday he rang me up saying that he was getting a bit desperate as his thesis was due soon and he didn't have enough people's feedback. So I agreed I'd go during my lunch and give my "emotional responses" a couple of the products he'd developed.

They were REALLY cool too! I'm not going to tell you what they are yet because I'm allowed to bring one home for a...