Costume Party at Ali's New Flat

Ali's flat warming party was last night (Pictures Here); the costumes had to be made out of newspaper, bags or cardboard. I went a bit overboard w/ my outfit but hey why not. It took me about 5 hours to put it together. Me being new to NZ I had nothing necessary to complete the job so I was off to the hardware store for some paint and utility knife, the second hand store for a teeshirt and dress, and finally the dollar store for some fake diamonds and string. I wanted to be a gladiator so I went to the all knowing Google for some help finding out what one looks like. I came across this site called Instructables (http://www.instructables.com). Pretty damn cool place to find instructions for making a lot of things, not just costumes. I used the instructions for the belt and the rest was all me. A sword from cardboard with a couple diamonds glued on the pommel. A shoulder plate for off hand defense in case another warrior dared to show or step up :D. Wrist bands from the cut up dress and an old gray shirt cut down the front w/ some ties holding it closed. I also made a head band w/ another diamond in the center but paint got on the inside and when I put it on I would get a black ring around my head so I didn't use this piece. I am pleased with the overall outcome! What do you think?

Getting to the party was a bit more... how do you say... challenging. I met Marek at the bus stop and we had to hang out for about 15 minutes. Needless to say most people driving by looked over to stare or made comments. Dressed up like this in your own house or at a party is one thing, going out in public is another. I kept a smile on and thought to myself how proud I am of being able to grin at all those jealous people that don't have costume making SKILLZ!
Sitting on the bus proved to be another challenge, the slats don't bend; this means I'm going to be standing all nigh too, doh!
The party was great fun. So much drinking, laughing and dancing made for a long night that felt entirely too short. I met most of these people while staying at the Worldwide Backpackers here in Welly. I am extremely pleased to have met these great people the of whom I now consider friends: Marek, Connor and Ali. Not to say that the rest of the people are any less nice or friendly, you know what I mean. My costume was a hit and if I may say so won the Gold! Ali mentioned multiple times that she had wished that she had some prize to give, no worries Ali!

Today I didn't get out of bed until 3pm and still fighting to think clearly. I can thank my friend Marek for getting my ass home and paying for the taxi.


http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37136&l=4faa4&id=730638300

The Robinator

So I met some friends while staying @ the backpacker that invited me to play a game called squash. I've heard of the game but didn't know anything about it. So if you're like me let me now learn you. Think racket ball w/ a ball the size of a foosball but rubber, a tennis racket that is slightly narrower and more rules.
I've played a couple games of racketball, OK a few games in one day, but still, I'm pretty athletic and can run around swinging a paddle like some loon. The first game was a total lose, 1-9 against Chris and Irish blok :( Second game, was not much better , I scored three right towards the end; I think the French guy gave me those.
But the third game was all me, this girl Ali, was also new so I was able to crush her w/ sheer strength :) Now that's better!
Feeling better about my game ;) I played another Frenchy, this was a much better match for me, back and forth both of us scoring. On game point 5-8 I turned my ankle, not f'n cool. I haven't done this in a couple year and thought that I was over those days. I called the rest of the game and went out to elevate my foot. Frenchy didn't have another player since Conner was chatting away w/ chris. I was feeling like a puss because I took this guys win away by "faking" and injury; at least that is what I would have thought since I wasn't reeling on the ground in agony. So I sucked it up and went back to finish. I wasn't feeling a sharp shooting pain so I knew it wouldn't be that bad, lets just hope it doesn't happen again. Those damn wood floors just grab your feet some times!
I was feeling good and we went back and forth a few times until it was 8-8 and I make the final score! Booya kasha! With a real win under my belt I was ready to bring the pain to another and I hadn't yet played Conner. Conner is pretty good but I was hot! My serves were just so that it was hard to get a strong return and I was banking like I had all the money in the world! That final game ended 2-9, o ya watch out all you pro squash playaz Bob-o is rock'n the plexyglass...

Now I'm sitting on the couch stuffing chips in my snout, writing to you and icing. Thanks for reading peeps ;)

Remember kids, if you uncle Harry asks you to touch it, pull as hard as you can :D

Daily Ritual and Coworkers

Every day 3pm is hack time. A group of us head down to the parking garage if it's raining, the location for most days, or outside to the parking lot for some sun and hack! I think they were impressed when my mad skillz; I can thank my brother Scott and friends at senior corner during high school.


Clockwise from 9pm: Dongbo, Wayne, Jamish AKA Jamal, Shane, Raymond and Richard

This here is Wayne, my Jedi master. He has been w/ the company the longest and has a great understanding of software, he reminds me a bit of my friend BlaineC w/o the chattiness . He's also a pool shark.

NZ Bike Gods got word of my arrival

I had thought that I out tricked the bike gods by moving half way around the world, NOT! I have somehow gotten bad bike karma, I've done nothing to upset them unless they take offense to cursing?

I almost didn't get out of bed this morning due to my sore shoulder and general aches but there was something coming through my shades. It was different, white and bright. The sun does show its love here. Well I couldn't well sit in bed on the second day of sun in over 15 days so I decided to make give Mt. Victoria, Mt. Vic for short, a go.
This location is just up the hill from my flat so getting there took all but 5 min, sweet as! It was muddy, rooty and Rob wasn't impressed at all. This is supposed to be the location of a world cup race a few years ago, I must be in the wrong location... as I'm riding up a steep hill my bike stops and I tip over, no laughing please, turns out I had a link pop and get caught in the rear der. I guess I should be thankful that it didn't pull that off. This chain has less than 40 miles on it! What is it that I do or how I ride that makes brake at least 3 chains a season? I clean and lube them after every few rides and after every ride if they get wet or muddy, anyone got a clue?
I'm extremely skilled at chain fixing now and was back up and running in less than 4 minutes. Made it up the hill and was crossing a soccer or cricket field when some more popping started. I stopped and had a look to find the bugger.. Two more links about 6 inches apart had popped rivets, holy shit! As I'm changing them out in the middle of the marshy grass a lady approached and was nice to stop and chat. She asked where abouts I was heading and she told me not to even attempt. It was steep, muddy and generally not a good idea. So for the first time in my life I listened to a woman and turned to head home after 3 hours of climbing w/o much payout. The woman did affirm my suspicions that Mt. Vic had to have better trails and has offered to learn me a little in the next couple weeks. Sweet As Bro ;)

Wellington MTB cherry broken!

My first mountain bike ride in Wellington, NZ. It started out really nice this morning and then a storm came through again... fortunately it's coming down now and not when I was out this afternoon.

I rode from my flat in Newtown to point of interest numero one, the wind turbine. This is a long grind uphill, some on the road and some on trail; mental note good str training route. It's a service road so nothing to speak to other than the three steep sections, wind, Wind o and some more WIND. After the turbine and some great views of the Wellington harbor, city and coast it was down some rollers and a couple steep sections w/ hikers to a place called Watch hill. POI #2 was to make it to the Makara MTB park to test my mad skillz. Here it turns into single track through heavy veg, fast and tight turns and of course some mud after, um, 13 days of rain! ;) I wrecked once on this section getting some fresh mud on the new jersey.
The route dropped me out to a road where it was time for some urban assault, the path was marked, "Bike park this way" it just so happed to be 4 sets of concrete stair to chatter down; had my damn shock locked out cuz I thought I was gonna be on the road for a bit. With a 50% chance of choosing the right way at a T in the road I was wrong and asked a nice post man "Which direction to the MTB park?" I rolled up on a little parking lot w/ bathrooms and drinking water, mmmm yummy.
Grabbed a cheap and free map then took off up the Koru trail on a route that was gonna be 1-2 hours on the Average skill level. The trail up was nice and out of the wind, thank god because I was starting to get tired. I came out at an entrance to a terrain/jump subpark so I thought cool theres a way to get in over this log w/ some dirt up to the top. Full speed ahead into the dirt went my head and left shoulder. The log was wet and I came at it on a slight angle and was about 3 feet in the air as I felt my body turn sideways because of course my feet were still clipped into my clipless pedals while the bike sored sideways. To top it off a couple of kids were kick'n it watching the entire thing. They asked if i was ok and then laughed when I said "Well that sucked." So at this point I think Rob is tired enough to call it a day. So I head down a trail called live wires; the name is because the path goes over some power wire at some point. Anyway the little post next to the trail name stated "Average," ummm I don't think so! Much like what happened to me and BW in Rotorua this steep ass, stepped board bridge, came out of nowhere and I had no place to even get a look at the damn thing so there I went leaning back for dear life hoping that I have some room to maneuver at the bottom. Not so much luck, with a sharp 85deg right turn I was catching my breath as I fought through three more rock step areas to finally pull up and check my shorts. Thank god it was only mud... Anyway the rest was steep, fast and curvy but challenging because I was either scared shitless or seriuosly tired. I then took the road home for another 30 minutes or so.

As I'm looking at the map of the Makara park, livewires is a difficult... lot of good that does on the map and not on the damn trail marker...

The goal for tomorrow, Sunday, is to take on part of the Mt. Victoria area closer to home base.