Hey, today is Thanksgiving in the US and Friday after in New Zealand.
For the first couple of years we tried to do a little celebration here in Wellington. But it was, of course, nothing like home. A family holiday just isn't a family holiday with no family and when no one else is celebrating.
NZ has a number of good substitutions so we certainly don't suffer from lack of great food or days off. For me, I only miss the chance to get together with everyone, to putter around my parent's house, and get to hang out with my brother(s) and sister. I haven't seen my nieces and nephew in years. And of course I miss Chandler and Sabrina most of all. **Hugs** for you all.
Today is beautiful. A stunning warm day by the sea in New Zealand. The other night the full spread of the southern stars were out. The moon over the water is as stunning as the sun. Life still has its complexities, but it is good. I am thankful for all these things I have seen and done. I am always hopeful for the chance to visit and see more family more often. I take full advantage of each day by the beach. I climb mountains and ride along coasts. I tramp through cool woods and look out from wild high places.
Life is never perfect. Life is always perfect.
Happy Thanksgiving one and all. Looking forward to seeing you on the horizon very soon!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
US Justice system is attacking Americans
Last year I wrote about an article from the Rolling Stone that described how Goldman Sachs was allowed to outright steal billions from the Stock Market by Naked Short Selling and still nothing has been done. Goldman Sachs still controls our economy under the Obama administration...
Now the same reporter details how in the aftermath of the housing crisis, banks are in some cases stealing homes from owners. The regulations around proof of lean ownership are being tossed out the window and banks are bold-faced making up documents to prove they own mortgages to foreclose on them.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/232611
Again I'll point out that while many people may have bought too much house to afford, they mostly did it on the advice of the lenders who all universally encouraged them as financial professionals that they could afford these loans. The banks were financially motivated to make any loan to virtually anyone which they did in the most convoluted way possible and at factory speed. Millions of home loans were created, sold, re-sold, combined, sold, and then used as investment holdings. They lied about their value consistently for decades. Now they blame delinquent mortgage payers as they justify fast tracking 100's of thousands of foreclosures. What the hell is going on in America?
Now the same reporter details how in the aftermath of the housing crisis, banks are in some cases stealing homes from owners. The regulations around proof of lean ownership are being tossed out the window and banks are bold-faced making up documents to prove they own mortgages to foreclose on them.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/232611
Again I'll point out that while many people may have bought too much house to afford, they mostly did it on the advice of the lenders who all universally encouraged them as financial professionals that they could afford these loans. The banks were financially motivated to make any loan to virtually anyone which they did in the most convoluted way possible and at factory speed. Millions of home loans were created, sold, re-sold, combined, sold, and then used as investment holdings. They lied about their value consistently for decades. Now they blame delinquent mortgage payers as they justify fast tracking 100's of thousands of foreclosures. What the hell is going on in America?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Lakota
A long while ago I wrote this blog about Maori history. I touch on the feeling that, for me, Maori history was so miraculous to read about because of the history in my own country. I think most Americans know what has happened to our own indigenous population, but we don't dwell on it. You couldn't... it is too much. But I found this video last night and I thought I would re-post it. It is not a happy TED video. But I think it shows in stark contrast how the Lakota are treated compared to how the Maori have been treated.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Wellington has no Pay-At-Pump
Disclaimer: Author has not visited all petrol stations in Wellington region. There are at least 2 completely un-manned pay-at-pump stations--1 of these just opened last week.
I pondered this the other day and felt this mild difference between Wellington an the US was note-worthy. None of the petrol stations I visit have any facility to pay at the pump. Many stations require that you pre-pay--especially at odd hours or for pumps that are in the ideal jet-away-illegally position. But they just don't do pay at the pump.
To me, this is particularly odd since Kiwi's live and die by their EFTPOS (debit card) for virtually everything. The coffee cart in the parking lot will take one. Even the gas station will take it at the register... just not at the pump. I don't know if the system to set this up is just seen as added expense or what. Certainly adding the feature now would be a cost sink and probably couldn't be made up with petrol sales so the pump owners would have to just absorb it.
In some ways this is quintessential Kiwi. Folks here are very stingy about value. Few things are done merely for convenience, it has to have real meaningful value. Paying at the cashier only takes a few more minutes. As the crime rate rises, they might drive toward it as a safer option for midnight cashiers, but just to save a few minutes for the average punter? yeah nah, bro (means No). The attitude is something like "Go inside like everyone else. Talk to real human. Buy some coffee."
There are 2 fully automated stations with no attendants, but these appear to really only be used commercially. I tried using it once and eventually had to give up. They are not like the dummy-proof devices in the US. There is one pay station and you have to select which pump you're paying for and know how much you're going to pump in advance, etc. Even then I couldn't get the damn thing to work. So for purposes of this discussion, I can still say there isn't really a pay-at-pump option.
One could also say that New Zealand is just behind the times a bit. This is often repeated. I think the Beatles are even quoted as saying New Zealand was just like the UK... in the 1800's. So I suppose it isn't surprising that this modern frivolity is absent. And that's really the point of this post. NZ is not striving to be at the cutting edge of modern. NZ typically does not attempt to deliver every convenience. The very idea is distasteful to Kiwis.
I pondered this the other day and felt this mild difference between Wellington an the US was note-worthy. None of the petrol stations I visit have any facility to pay at the pump. Many stations require that you pre-pay--especially at odd hours or for pumps that are in the ideal jet-away-illegally position. But they just don't do pay at the pump.
To me, this is particularly odd since Kiwi's live and die by their EFTPOS (debit card) for virtually everything. The coffee cart in the parking lot will take one. Even the gas station will take it at the register... just not at the pump. I don't know if the system to set this up is just seen as added expense or what. Certainly adding the feature now would be a cost sink and probably couldn't be made up with petrol sales so the pump owners would have to just absorb it.
In some ways this is quintessential Kiwi. Folks here are very stingy about value. Few things are done merely for convenience, it has to have real meaningful value. Paying at the cashier only takes a few more minutes. As the crime rate rises, they might drive toward it as a safer option for midnight cashiers, but just to save a few minutes for the average punter? yeah nah, bro (means No). The attitude is something like "Go inside like everyone else. Talk to real human. Buy some coffee."
There are 2 fully automated stations with no attendants, but these appear to really only be used commercially. I tried using it once and eventually had to give up. They are not like the dummy-proof devices in the US. There is one pay station and you have to select which pump you're paying for and know how much you're going to pump in advance, etc. Even then I couldn't get the damn thing to work. So for purposes of this discussion, I can still say there isn't really a pay-at-pump option.
One could also say that New Zealand is just behind the times a bit. This is often repeated. I think the Beatles are even quoted as saying New Zealand was just like the UK... in the 1800's. So I suppose it isn't surprising that this modern frivolity is absent. And that's really the point of this post. NZ is not striving to be at the cutting edge of modern. NZ typically does not attempt to deliver every convenience. The very idea is distasteful to Kiwis.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
They died for your right to vote
This is going around a lot today... and it's bugging me. First things first... Vote. Vote today and every day you're allowed. Celebrate your right to vote and remember that indeed perhaps the best thing our Armed Forces can collectively point to as a reason to sacrifice is this all important right to vote. But...
Let's be honest here. US Soldier's haven't been dying for our right to vote since perhaps WWI. They have been dying on the various missions of our Government which have been decided upon by our politicians. Our politicians have largely been elected by their ability to secure massive campaign funding. That funding comes from corporate contributions and wealthy donation. Corporations and the wealthy donate that money in their own self-interest. It is not much of a leap to say our Armed Forces go out to die for those self-interests. Now I can't speak for how the world worked in WWI or WWII, but that's how it's working today.
I don't say this to belittle the contribution our more contemporary service men and women make today. They are amazing, heroic, and nobel in the real definitions of each word. But the Armed Forces are extentions of Political Will. The Political Will of Bush to invade Iraq did not further the interests of Americans. It did not make our right to vote more secure. It did not foster a spirit of global unity which resulted in an improved view of the American Way of life. I hate to characterize why those soldiers died. I am afraid if I really understood why they died I'd be so disgusted I couldn't write about it and I'd be ashamed to call myself an American.
So, to me, saying our soldiers (today) have died to protect my right to vote feels like an insult to soldiers. A lie. A convenient justification to the price of freedom. I just can't stomach it. Certainly (hopefully) some of what soldiers do and die for is the protection of freedom and Americans. But sooo much is not. It still boils down to political interest and corporate agenda. Your right to buy cheap socks from Wal-mart might also be something our soldiers are dying for. The right of ridiculously wealthy oil barons to remain ridiculously wealthy. Perhaps even worse rights.
None of this is the fault of the soldiers. None of this reduces the value of your right to vote. Just be careful what you attribute to a soldier's sacrifice. Be honest about what we ask them to die for. Do not allow a politician to convince you that they are dying for your right vote, for your freedom. Or at least realize there are other reasons far less nobel that they may also be dying for... and Vote.
Let's be honest here. US Soldier's haven't been dying for our right to vote since perhaps WWI. They have been dying on the various missions of our Government which have been decided upon by our politicians. Our politicians have largely been elected by their ability to secure massive campaign funding. That funding comes from corporate contributions and wealthy donation. Corporations and the wealthy donate that money in their own self-interest. It is not much of a leap to say our Armed Forces go out to die for those self-interests. Now I can't speak for how the world worked in WWI or WWII, but that's how it's working today.
I don't say this to belittle the contribution our more contemporary service men and women make today. They are amazing, heroic, and nobel in the real definitions of each word. But the Armed Forces are extentions of Political Will. The Political Will of Bush to invade Iraq did not further the interests of Americans. It did not make our right to vote more secure. It did not foster a spirit of global unity which resulted in an improved view of the American Way of life. I hate to characterize why those soldiers died. I am afraid if I really understood why they died I'd be so disgusted I couldn't write about it and I'd be ashamed to call myself an American.
So, to me, saying our soldiers (today) have died to protect my right to vote feels like an insult to soldiers. A lie. A convenient justification to the price of freedom. I just can't stomach it. Certainly (hopefully) some of what soldiers do and die for is the protection of freedom and Americans. But sooo much is not. It still boils down to political interest and corporate agenda. Your right to buy cheap socks from Wal-mart might also be something our soldiers are dying for. The right of ridiculously wealthy oil barons to remain ridiculously wealthy. Perhaps even worse rights.
None of this is the fault of the soldiers. None of this reduces the value of your right to vote. Just be careful what you attribute to a soldier's sacrifice. Be honest about what we ask them to die for. Do not allow a politician to convince you that they are dying for your right vote, for your freedom. Or at least realize there are other reasons far less nobel that they may also be dying for... and Vote.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A strange string of thoughts
Okay... so Amy woke up humming the tune to "Those were the days" which got me humming it. Then I played it on YouTube and that made me think of songs by Doris Day. So I played a little Doris Day. In that list she sang a song with a co-star, Gordon MacRae. It was a lovely song and his voice was really amazing. I was surprised I had not remembered the actor. So I looked him up on wikipedia. His bio sums up with, "Gordon died in 1986 at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska." My home town! It was just sorta weird. So I looked up more and found a picture of his headstone in Wyuka Cemetery. That particular graveyard is the largest I can recall in Lincoln. Related to that search I found out that his widow died just a couple of week ago (also in Lincoln).
Strange how things work when we start chasing a string of thoughts.
Dominating my thoughts has been Doris Day. On one side I know virtually all the roles she most fondly remembered for were so completely sexist and stereotyping. Yet, how could you not dream of that perfect Hollywood world? Movies have certainly changed. But I still look back on those films (old even before I discovered them) as some of the best I've seen. Doris, of course, is an amazing performer. I do wonder sometimes who the greatest actors of our time will turn out to be. I think folks will look back on Sandra Bullock in a similar way as Doris Day, but Sandra will never carry a tune the same way. Hard to say what time will bring.
Doris Day is still knocking around after all these years. Born in 1922, she'll be 88 this year. I don't think I discovered her until the mid 80's so she would have been in her 60's already. Ah the magic of movies... Doris will be stealing the hearts of young fans for at least a 100 years.
The real Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff lived a far from perfect life. Her story is inspiring by itself. It highlights many of the flaws remaining in American gender roles at the same time it tells of her ability to overcome. I only hope I can be so resilient in my own life. When Doris sings in my mind, I feel I can be.
Strange how things work when we start chasing a string of thoughts.
Dominating my thoughts has been Doris Day. On one side I know virtually all the roles she most fondly remembered for were so completely sexist and stereotyping. Yet, how could you not dream of that perfect Hollywood world? Movies have certainly changed. But I still look back on those films (old even before I discovered them) as some of the best I've seen. Doris, of course, is an amazing performer. I do wonder sometimes who the greatest actors of our time will turn out to be. I think folks will look back on Sandra Bullock in a similar way as Doris Day, but Sandra will never carry a tune the same way. Hard to say what time will bring.
Doris Day is still knocking around after all these years. Born in 1922, she'll be 88 this year. I don't think I discovered her until the mid 80's so she would have been in her 60's already. Ah the magic of movies... Doris will be stealing the hearts of young fans for at least a 100 years.
The real Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff lived a far from perfect life. Her story is inspiring by itself. It highlights many of the flaws remaining in American gender roles at the same time it tells of her ability to overcome. I only hope I can be so resilient in my own life. When Doris sings in my mind, I feel I can be.
Monday, September 13, 2010
More from "Dr. Eckner's Dream Machine"
As I’ve read more of “Dr. Eckner’s Dream Machine”, I have come to appreciate much more of the history of the 20’s and 30’s especially from a global perspective. I must admit when I first picked up the book I wasn’t excited about reading a biography of one of the men responsible for Zeppelins, but (at least in this book) you can see how Hugo Eckner and the rigid airships really become the same story and one can not be told without the other.
In all the history classes I’ve every had we learned about WWII and Hitler… but not a word about Hugo Eckner. Of all the anti-Nazi supporters, Eckner might have been the only man that could have challenged Hitler openly. Eckner was so wildly popular that even while thousands of German citizens were being imprisoned or killed, the Nazis could not eliminate him. Dr. Eckner would loudly and aggressively speak out against what was happening in Germany. His force of personality which was always that of a good, dedicated man would keep Zeppelin in business even while Germany was broke. It would be Eckner who could get Americans and other worldly investors to keep his dream alive.
The great irony of the Zeppelins was that massive Germanic funding would ultimately be a contributor to their end. Once Eckner had proved his design and ability beyond a doubt—only then did the Third Reich take possession of the Zeppelin company. They could not “fire” him, but they did remove him from business concerns. With the full weight of the Nazi propaganda engine and the shift climate, Eckner could no longer prevent politics from taking priority over operational perfection and safety. If Hugo Eckner stood for anything it was the principle that all other concerns were secondary to the safe operation of the rigid airships. This would always be difficult with powerful men who wanted to maintain a schedule would press to launch on time in bad weather. Hugo would give to these demands only one, on his first Zeppelin launch. The ship was destroyed by high winds as it exited the hanger. He never made the same mistake twice.
When the Hindenburg took to the air, it would never be commanded by Dr. Eckner. It was forced by Nazi demands to fly untested; it lost two engines on its first overseas trip. It would fly without helium; we all know how that worked out. The Hindenburg was doomed from its first days, not by failures of design, weather, or even human error. It was doomed by politics. Politics would prevent America from selling helium to the German owned Zeppelin corp. Politics would force the hands of captains to fly against their expert judgement. If the disaster had not occurred at Lakehurst then it surely would have happened elsewhere.
After the Hindenburg the world soon erupted in to WWII. The giant Zeppelins have never returned. But the reasons for this are rooted in misconception—the idea that these airships were too unsafe, too expensive, or too slow. They may never be the economically efficient transport that airplanes are today, but we still take cruise ships and trains. We do it for the joy of the experience and few could deny that a trip in a massive rigid airship over the world would not be an experience of a lifetime. Many advantages still exist for a commercial airship. In today’s world of GPS positioning, global weather tracking, and precision electronics, these machines would be every bit the dream that Dr. Eckner would imagine. I sincerely hope I get to see one someday.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
American Zeppelins? The USS Shenandoah
A very brief physics lesson: Air pressure decreases as you rise in altitude. You feel this in your ears when you climb a high mountain pass. To a balloon this decrease in pressure allows the gas inside to expand—appearing to inflate the balloon further. With too much expansion the balloon will pop. This very basic mechanic is a major concern to airship which is essentially a very, very large balloon. As it rises the gas expands and would rupture without some means to control the pressure inside the Zeppelin gas cells.
Hydrogen was dangerous but it was also very cheap so the German airships would just open valves to reduce the pressure and let the gas dissipate harmlessly. But helium was like gaseous gold. Even the rich American military couldn’t afford to vent helium willy-nilly. Instead they would under-inflate their cells so that by the time they got to cruising altitude they would be at optimal expansion. But this meant the ships had considerably less lift. It also meant that the
Indeed this would be a factor in one of the most dramatic scenes of aeronautic history. Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne would in late 1924 order the removal of several automatic venting valves from the Shenandoah. While not completely removed, the reduction seriously limited the rate at which helium could be vented. Under normal conditions this would not have been an issue. But in Sept 1925 the airship would be caught in a storm over
Crippled with no steerage or automatic controls, the ship navigator, Charles Rosendahl assumed command of the 7 men still alive in the front half of the broken Shenandoah. Rosendahl would fight the storm and slowly vent his helium to make a safe landing. All 7 men with him would survive. The other 14 men perished.
While the reduced valve capacity probably did not help poor Commander Lansdowne, other experts concluded the design of the Shenandoah probably could not have survived the storm anyway. The
Charles E. Rosendahl emerged a hero and would be a prominent figure in rigid airships the rest of his life. He would fly on the first trans-Atlantic flight of the Graf Zeppelin and several trips on the Hindenburg. His role in history is fixed in this event as he was the commander of
Again we see how bad weather encountering a ship not designed for it causes the destruction of a rigid airship. Today our use of helium is more more affordable; valving off gas would be no issue. Weather prediction could have steered the ship to safety or kept it out of the sky completely.
The next post will be about the incredible history of Zeppelins in WWI.
Source Credits: I’m stealing all this info heavily from Dan Grossman’s site (http://www.airships.net) and the book “Dr. Eckner’s Dream Machine”, by Douglas Botting.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Zeppelins: You won't believe it.
Whimsically I decided to read more about blimps. I thought perhaps New Zealand could stand to have a quirky adventure platform and it sounds like more fun than my day job. I'll ignore some little details like lacking funds, a pilot's license, or in fact even a rudimentary understanding of weather patterns around New Zealand.
I quickly discovered that a blimp is not a Zeppelin and that really a Zeppelin is officially a "lighter than air rigid airship". However, this is far to clunky a name. Even as LTARA. Officially, the only "Zeppelins" are the airships made by the German corporation of the same name which was originally founded by Count Von Zeppelin *before* the 1900's in 1898 although the first flight was in the summer of 1900. It failed many of it's original engineering goals and was later dismantled. This was a far better fate that most of the Zeppelins.
It is difficult for us to imagine a world without flight, but this was exactly the case in June 1900. No one knew exactly what to expect from winds or weather or machine. Most would be pilots never left the ground, so in this respect Zeppelin had been an instant success--the rigid airship did indeed fly.
What I have found so fascinating about the topic is that we basically knew nothing of aerodynamic engineering. We didn't really understand wind patterns in the air, combustion engines, fuels, air tight fabrics, etc, etc. The list of things we had not discovered or fully understood is staggering... and yet they flew. It is probably most compariable to the moon shots that we did just 40 years after the last of the big Zeppelins in 1937.
1937 may be the date we all remember--perhaps the only Zeppelin we can clearly recall, the Hindenberg. But I do not want to dwell on this bit of history, it is already overdone. I will say only this, we experience plane crashes every year with far, far greater loss of life than the 38 that died in the Hindenberg crash. No one has doomed the airplane as an "unsafe mode of transit." I think we can look back now and appreciate the Zeppelins for the technological marvels they were without considering them as a universally a deadly contraption.
The airship you probably never heard about was the Graf Zeppelin, but it would be this ship that would complete the first nearly non-stop circumnavigation of the world. The first to fly over the trackless mass of Siberia. The first to carry passengers around the world. It flew over a million miles and carried thousands of passengers. It had a flawless record all the years of its operation.
The biggest flaw of the Zeppelins appears to be that they would not suited as warmachines. Without military budgets that are unfettered by concepts like "profitability", the extreme expense of the airship made development difficult. Even if you could come up with something brilliant, the airplane would quickly become faster and more agile. In combat, a rigid airship will simply never be more than a very easy target. Thus they have faded from memory. Strange that so grand a machine would be so utterly abandoned mostly on the basis of lack of wartime usefulness.
The Graf Zeppelin was 776 feet long. The Hindenberg was 803 feet long. A 747 is a wee 231 feet. Nothing so large has ever flown since. What I hadn't realized by this factoid was that you essentially had an object the size of the Titanic (886 feet) in the air exposed to altitudinal winds. The wind loading is immense which of course means you'd need a great deal of power to simple keep course let alone make headway in rough weather. And rough weather would be the downfall of many airships. While we may tend to think of this as yet another flaw, we have to again remember that we knew virtually nothing about piloting in the 20's and 30's. Weather science was in its infancy. The pilots of the airships had only learned from each other and copious amounts of experience. We still close airports in bad weather today even with our modern science and precise instrumentation. Had we known then what we know now simply about weather prediction, we could have prevented scores of airship accidents.
The next greatest flaw of the Zeppelins was, of course, the hydrogen used to achieve lighter than air flight. No one would do such a thing today. They didn't even want to do it then, they knew Helium was better, but at the time, no one could produce a million cubic feet of Helium at a constant enough rate to construct Helium airships. All the "blimps" you see today are, understandably, helium filled.
A blimp, by the way, is non-rigid airship. That is, it doesn't have frame. You fill it taught like a balloon and strap some motors to the bottom. It works the same way, but the size is more severely limited. The size cuts down on total potential lift and that cuts down on commercial application. So you generally only see them as camera platforms and floating billboards. But none of these you've seen in our lifetimes is even half the size of one of the old Zeppelins.
It may also interest you to know that the original Zeppelin corporation is still alive and making rigid airships. Their current model is much smaller, but can carry 14 passengers for short sight seeing trips. It may be nothing like the grandeur of the Graf Zeppelin, but it probably is only keeping the dream alive.
I've rambled on about some facts and figures. I've vaguely suggested that a modern rigid airship could be built with a vastly higher degree of safety than the was available in 1937. But I've told little of the truly adventurous stories around the Zeppelins. I'll save those for some future posts. Of course, Wiki is fabulous and you'll find anything you want that way too. But I'll write about it all again--it is my blog after all.
Monday, August 23, 2010
PopPop Tour 2010
Well over the last couple of months we had my Father-in-Law staying with us. Our winter has been particularly cold and wet this year so the visit didn't have quite as much outdoor action as last year. But we did get several great Wellington days. There are a few things that living in paradise allows one to do. You can, when opportunity strikes, sit down for the sort of moment you only see in travel posters. Families come together over food so a lot of these stories do have to do with eating. Of course this isn't the only thing we did!
We took PopPop to the Waterfront Kitchen over in Raumati. You'd miss this little turn off if you managed to look right instead of left for about half a second. When you drive in to this parking lot you wouldn't think much of it either. But this humble "bar" sits on the shore of the Kapiti Coast in full breath-taking view of Kapiti Island. Facing the west, the sunsets here are spectacular. So it has the view, the beach, and a bar... so you have to sacrifice good food right? Wrong. The food here is the best I've had in any "fine" restaurant--and surely blows the doors off any chain restaurant. Gabe loves the chocolate cake here more than about anything. Another bonus to the Waterfront Kitchen is that the drive to it is probably the most amazing coastal drive I've ever seen. It was very good to share this with PopPop!
One of the other standout moments was a simple pizza in Day's Bay. There is a little pizza shop on the east side of the harbour. This also provides a wonderful view of the sunset behind the Wellington hills. It is winter here so sunsets come early. On this particular day we rushed off to dinner right after work. It was a warm day. Amy was busy so it was just the 3 of us guys. It was a fantastic day to sit on the shore with a delicious freshly made pizza and a cold coke. The evening was calm and we watched the lights of Wellington flicker on over dinner.
These things are just little things. But they are so perfect and I never have to go very far. It was a great visit with Don. I think next year I will be trying very hard to find motorcycle gear for him so we can do a few of the very short/easy rides around Wellington. They are not the power-road-trips of the USA, but they certainly are full of perfect moments.
We took PopPop to the Waterfront Kitchen over in Raumati. You'd miss this little turn off if you managed to look right instead of left for about half a second. When you drive in to this parking lot you wouldn't think much of it either. But this humble "bar" sits on the shore of the Kapiti Coast in full breath-taking view of Kapiti Island. Facing the west, the sunsets here are spectacular. So it has the view, the beach, and a bar... so you have to sacrifice good food right? Wrong. The food here is the best I've had in any "fine" restaurant--and surely blows the doors off any chain restaurant. Gabe loves the chocolate cake here more than about anything. Another bonus to the Waterfront Kitchen is that the drive to it is probably the most amazing coastal drive I've ever seen. It was very good to share this with PopPop!
One of the other standout moments was a simple pizza in Day's Bay. There is a little pizza shop on the east side of the harbour. This also provides a wonderful view of the sunset behind the Wellington hills. It is winter here so sunsets come early. On this particular day we rushed off to dinner right after work. It was a warm day. Amy was busy so it was just the 3 of us guys. It was a fantastic day to sit on the shore with a delicious freshly made pizza and a cold coke. The evening was calm and we watched the lights of Wellington flicker on over dinner.
These things are just little things. But they are so perfect and I never have to go very far. It was a great visit with Don. I think next year I will be trying very hard to find motorcycle gear for him so we can do a few of the very short/easy rides around Wellington. They are not the power-road-trips of the USA, but they certainly are full of perfect moments.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Uploading an animated GIF
This is just a test to see if I can up load an animated GIF on this silly blog...Monday, July 19, 2010
A Good Career
Boy... I remember being very worried in high school about finding a job that paid well. That was so important since work was essentially the thing you did to fund the things you wanted to do. I bet a lot of the world operates this way... work hard, sacrifice, and trade these for the things you really want... A good retirement, the dream home, travel, a family, or whatever you wanted.
Well at 40 I feel I am qualified to say to this notion, "Get stuffed!" I have only now realized that life is going to be lived no matter what. Working hard for a lifetime only guarantees you'll be working hard for a lifetime. It never guarantees that you'll someday get to do what you wanted. While it still necessary to plan and have goals, one shouldn't immediately assume that the "right" thing to do is start a career making a lot of money as a means to enjoy the rest of your life.
Perhaps it was obvious to everyone else except for me. But we spend like a lot of time working... I have hard time drawing a line between my life and my work. Now I think maybe there never was a line! What I should have been doing is just enjoying myself and let life shape itself around me.
But now I'm hooked on my income like a junkie on crack. I couldn't change careers now even if I knew what to change to. I'm far too technical minded to leave technology behind and yet I'm not geeky enough to devour the immense details of a "related" field. Of course, I'm sure a lot of things look like more fun from my chair and somewhere I'm sure there is a starving video game producer wish he had a cherry stable job at the phone company. I am thankful that things have worked out so well for me. I certainly didn't try really hard to end up as a network design engineer. I just sorta did stuff other folks didn't seem to know how to do. A great deal of what I do is take other folks' great ideas and ask them why they don't just do it. It isn't a bad gig to be sure.
I do have a burning desire to someone how tell a kid (maybe even just one kid) how to pick a career and get them started off the right way. Ah, wisdom... How do you really pass it down?
Well at 40 I feel I am qualified to say to this notion, "Get stuffed!" I have only now realized that life is going to be lived no matter what. Working hard for a lifetime only guarantees you'll be working hard for a lifetime. It never guarantees that you'll someday get to do what you wanted. While it still necessary to plan and have goals, one shouldn't immediately assume that the "right" thing to do is start a career making a lot of money as a means to enjoy the rest of your life.
Perhaps it was obvious to everyone else except for me. But we spend like a lot of time working... I have hard time drawing a line between my life and my work. Now I think maybe there never was a line! What I should have been doing is just enjoying myself and let life shape itself around me.
But now I'm hooked on my income like a junkie on crack. I couldn't change careers now even if I knew what to change to. I'm far too technical minded to leave technology behind and yet I'm not geeky enough to devour the immense details of a "related" field. Of course, I'm sure a lot of things look like more fun from my chair and somewhere I'm sure there is a starving video game producer wish he had a cherry stable job at the phone company. I am thankful that things have worked out so well for me. I certainly didn't try really hard to end up as a network design engineer. I just sorta did stuff other folks didn't seem to know how to do. A great deal of what I do is take other folks' great ideas and ask them why they don't just do it. It isn't a bad gig to be sure.
I do have a burning desire to someone how tell a kid (maybe even just one kid) how to pick a career and get them started off the right way. Ah, wisdom... How do you really pass it down?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
All things Work and Home
It's been a while since I posted here. As I've commented before, the "micro" blogging tools like Facebook and Twitter seem to reduce the need to write--probably artificially. No excuses--just saying.
So what's been up? Too much work. I have a large project that just hit it's busy stride in May/June/July. I think it should calm down a bit, but the project wounds are still fresh so much smaller annoyances seem to derail me with greater effect. It's hard to put so much energy and time in on a thing only watch it flounder. This difficult enough by itself, but there was about a 30 day stretch where it appeared I was being held personally responsible for a degree of the failures. I suppose in the Royal We way I am part of the project so I am part of the team. But this was particularly hard to take as it seemed the customer was quite happy with what was happening. My own management team was not. Of course, in business you have to keep your bosses happy and I suppose that was my mistake. I still find this de-motivating. But that's business when you work for someone else.
Aside from work we've been shivering our way through a cold winter in Wellington. I've seen frost on several days this year. It was even so cold that my motorcycle wouldn't start for a week.
My father-in-law flew in for his usual trip in July/Aug to see us, the grandson, and participate in the grandson's birthday. I feel a bit sorry for the old guy this year as the weather has been awful! But even bad weather in Wellington is pretty mild.
We took a few days to drive up the west coast to Hawera again. We visited the museum there with my folks a year ago, but Don (father-in-law) had not seen it yet. On the way we stopped in Wanganui and Patea. I can't tell for sure, but I think a hear an unspoken "aw yuck" in front of Wanganui whenever I mention it. LOL. I get the impression that most Kiwi's aren't impressed with the city. While it doesn't offer a ton, it is nice stopping point and does have a pretty fun kid park with great, dare I say, vintage playground equipment and a whizbang flying fox. On this trip we did make time to see the local museums which were interesting if not huge.
Patea isn't far north of Wanganui, but is barely a spec on the map... and let me tell you, the specs on NZ maps are specs indeed. I think Patea is all of 6 blocks long. Its primary feature is the road to its beach. There is a river mouth here which was one of the first sea ports used in New Zealand, but this port was completely abandoned in 1956. Patea certainly hasn't thrived since. What remans is a partially protected swimming beach with massive waves. Outside the sea walls you have some of the rawest ocean I've experienced in New Zealand. Waves larger than a man or 2 men. This stretch is one of my favourites. The sand here is deep black with sparkling flecks of mica. The shore stretches north to high vertical cliffs. The view is even complete with a ship wreck of some ridiculously old vessel containing a boiler. Another interesting bit was we found heaps of rock with deep "pock" marks in them. The kind of thing you'd expect to see in a cave that dripped on soft stone over a million years. Looking at the cliffs I'm guessing there are a few sea caves there and these rocks probably started in them. Each place we go has so much to discover.
The Tawhiti Museum continues to be excellent. They even added something completely new this year. A Whalers & Traders "river" ride. They built a huge shed and dug a channel through it for a river. Then they filled it with life sized scenes of NZ whaling themed events. There was a ship trading muskets to Moari, gun/cannon fight in the bush, and a Maori village trading with white settlers. The detail was amazing. Hawera is barely more than a spec itself--maybe 6 specs collectively. But this is still one of the best museums covering NZ history that I've found. Of course, I have not tried to fully explore Auckland yet. I would expect the countries largest city to have something pretty grand.
On the way home we drove through Palmerston and again I was struck by what nice towns NZ has. Palmerston had quite a bit of stuff to do for being a "small" city. This really is small in New Zealand. But they did have a Harley shop and a Steam Museum which we'll have to check out again later.
Amy and I have managed to get out to a couple movies. I seem to have no lack of pizza in my life so all is good.
We are waiting for the last bit of immigration paperwork and then I think we're clear. We're talking tentatively about having Chandler come stay with us in 2011 to go to school here and then swap to have Sabrina for a year too. I really hope that works out, but it all still discussions for now.
That's the update from the South! Talk at y'all later.
So what's been up? Too much work. I have a large project that just hit it's busy stride in May/June/July. I think it should calm down a bit, but the project wounds are still fresh so much smaller annoyances seem to derail me with greater effect. It's hard to put so much energy and time in on a thing only watch it flounder. This difficult enough by itself, but there was about a 30 day stretch where it appeared I was being held personally responsible for a degree of the failures. I suppose in the Royal We way I am part of the project so I am part of the team. But this was particularly hard to take as it seemed the customer was quite happy with what was happening. My own management team was not. Of course, in business you have to keep your bosses happy and I suppose that was my mistake. I still find this de-motivating. But that's business when you work for someone else.
Aside from work we've been shivering our way through a cold winter in Wellington. I've seen frost on several days this year. It was even so cold that my motorcycle wouldn't start for a week.
My father-in-law flew in for his usual trip in July/Aug to see us, the grandson, and participate in the grandson's birthday. I feel a bit sorry for the old guy this year as the weather has been awful! But even bad weather in Wellington is pretty mild.
We took a few days to drive up the west coast to Hawera again. We visited the museum there with my folks a year ago, but Don (father-in-law) had not seen it yet. On the way we stopped in Wanganui and Patea. I can't tell for sure, but I think a hear an unspoken "aw yuck" in front of Wanganui whenever I mention it. LOL. I get the impression that most Kiwi's aren't impressed with the city. While it doesn't offer a ton, it is nice stopping point and does have a pretty fun kid park with great, dare I say, vintage playground equipment and a whizbang flying fox. On this trip we did make time to see the local museums which were interesting if not huge.
Patea isn't far north of Wanganui, but is barely a spec on the map... and let me tell you, the specs on NZ maps are specs indeed. I think Patea is all of 6 blocks long. Its primary feature is the road to its beach. There is a river mouth here which was one of the first sea ports used in New Zealand, but this port was completely abandoned in 1956. Patea certainly hasn't thrived since. What remans is a partially protected swimming beach with massive waves. Outside the sea walls you have some of the rawest ocean I've experienced in New Zealand. Waves larger than a man or 2 men. This stretch is one of my favourites. The sand here is deep black with sparkling flecks of mica. The shore stretches north to high vertical cliffs. The view is even complete with a ship wreck of some ridiculously old vessel containing a boiler. Another interesting bit was we found heaps of rock with deep "pock" marks in them. The kind of thing you'd expect to see in a cave that dripped on soft stone over a million years. Looking at the cliffs I'm guessing there are a few sea caves there and these rocks probably started in them. Each place we go has so much to discover.
The Tawhiti Museum continues to be excellent. They even added something completely new this year. A Whalers & Traders "river" ride. They built a huge shed and dug a channel through it for a river. Then they filled it with life sized scenes of NZ whaling themed events. There was a ship trading muskets to Moari, gun/cannon fight in the bush, and a Maori village trading with white settlers. The detail was amazing. Hawera is barely more than a spec itself--maybe 6 specs collectively. But this is still one of the best museums covering NZ history that I've found. Of course, I have not tried to fully explore Auckland yet. I would expect the countries largest city to have something pretty grand.
On the way home we drove through Palmerston and again I was struck by what nice towns NZ has. Palmerston had quite a bit of stuff to do for being a "small" city. This really is small in New Zealand. But they did have a Harley shop and a Steam Museum which we'll have to check out again later.
Amy and I have managed to get out to a couple movies. I seem to have no lack of pizza in my life so all is good.
We are waiting for the last bit of immigration paperwork and then I think we're clear. We're talking tentatively about having Chandler come stay with us in 2011 to go to school here and then swap to have Sabrina for a year too. I really hope that works out, but it all still discussions for now.
That's the update from the South! Talk at y'all later.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Two and Half Years in New Zealand
This June our original 30 month Work to Residence application is up. We arrived in Jan 2008 from Overland Park, KS. We sold our house, gave away about a third of everything we owned and attempted to sell our 2 cars. At the time of our decision the exchange rate was in the 80's and even with all things considered it was an income cut to move. We had 6 weeks of a Serviced Apartment booked in Wellington, our 6 suitcases, and the 3 of us.
We found a home to rent in about 3 weeks. We had a car leased in 4 weeks. We used the small bit of cash we had to pay for a few new appliances in our home. A co-worker generously let us borrow a trailer load of "camping" gear to live with until our container arrived. The rest of our stuff appeared in record time about 6 weeks after we arrived. No one I've talked to got their stuff faster. Our son enrolled in Waterloo Primary School and started in Feb with the rest of the class. Within about 2 months we were, more or less, fully established in Lower Hutt just on the east side of the Wellington harbour.
The first 6 months was a constant exercise in "What is different?" Everything from ketchup, to banking, to eating out, to politics were all different in small to significant ways. It took a good year before I stopped noticing the differences in everything. Change is stressful, even when desired and good. We all struggled at some point. We missed family. We missed Mexican food. We missed the ease we had from familiarity. It took a while to get used to.
Financially the story gets alarming. The costs were higher than we expected and we expected high costs. But we did adjust. We've not really suffered, but we certainly have prioritized. The exchange rate dropped from 80 to 60 to 70 then to 50 before making a slow recovery to 70 again; recently it is dropping again below 70. Dramatic shifts made paying bills difficult and then impossible. We had to rework a lot of things and even cashed out retirement funds to make settlement payments to the bank. The worst part was our 2 cars never sold and all we could do was let the finance companies re-claim them. After 2 and half years, I think we're mostly stable. We are not losing money, but we are not saving effectively either. We still rent the same place. We ended the lease on the NZ car after about year. It was cheaper to buy one with cash. Our biggest bills are US debt, Rent, Gas/Electric, and groceries (in that order).
Our story started with a job offer from Telecom NZ so I had employment immediately. Amy struggled for over a year to find a job. It proved difficult to get interviews as an immigrant. However, once you did get hired, work history helped smooth the way for other employment. In general, the work here has an easier pace compared to the US. All the employers I've talked to seem to understand a more natural rhythm to families and work. Holidays are bunched up at the end of the year being summer school vacation, Christmas, New Year's, and Waitangi Day (sort of the NZ founding day). This makes the work load from November to February pretty light.
New Zealand today (and historically) seems to be shaped by two major themes; small population and geographic remoteness. Everything seems like a small town. Truly remote areas are so sparsely populated you might not see another human for miles. But even a short 45 minute trip out of Wellington can get you to an empty coast line or scenic rolling hills. Small populations mean small economies. Folks don't move to NZ to get rich. It might be comparable to moving to Montana or South Dakota; mostly rural with only a few focal points of wealth. Being a remote country and really not even "on the way" to anywhere means that, unless you're really trying to get to New Zealand, you won't end up there. Without the same profit motivations as say, Australia, growth in NZ is slower. Markets are mostly saturated and there are not going to be "new" markets. What you see is what you get in New Zealand.
We have watched the politics of NZ unfold around us and we are certainly affected by the changes, but we haven't really participated much. The long established Labour party was voted out and replaced by the National party. I don't know that either of them have great platforms... so about the same as the US.
One big change for me is that I can barely read US news sources any more. The stories are horrific by comparison. The details of torture, murder, and gruesome death have become just too shocking to read. The scandals of top politicians, hate mongering, and religious zealotry are hard for me to acknowledge. I struggle to comprehend that I am from that place. NZ has its share of social issues, but seems to completely lack carnage, seedy scandal, or extremism. Violent crimes occur. Horrible things still happen in bad circumstances. But there still is plenty of room for other news.
So what now? Well, we've applied to become Residents. We have to make all the same immigration hurdles we made the first time. This is quite expensive to pay for again (well over $3000 total), but should be the last "serious" round of checks. My job offer with Telecom is indefinite. I do good work and while Telecom has plenty of problems, I feel like I can make it better. I don't know how much longer we'll stay. Perhaps another couple of years. I would like to take the stability we've had and turn it back in to a retirements savings and investments. That could take another 5 years. If that plan worked out, then I think we would all be just fine with it. Sometimes I wish New Zealand wasn't quite so far away or quite so under populated... but then I remember that New Zealand would be none of the things I love if it was.
We found a home to rent in about 3 weeks. We had a car leased in 4 weeks. We used the small bit of cash we had to pay for a few new appliances in our home. A co-worker generously let us borrow a trailer load of "camping" gear to live with until our container arrived. The rest of our stuff appeared in record time about 6 weeks after we arrived. No one I've talked to got their stuff faster. Our son enrolled in Waterloo Primary School and started in Feb with the rest of the class. Within about 2 months we were, more or less, fully established in Lower Hutt just on the east side of the Wellington harbour.
The first 6 months was a constant exercise in "What is different?" Everything from ketchup, to banking, to eating out, to politics were all different in small to significant ways. It took a good year before I stopped noticing the differences in everything. Change is stressful, even when desired and good. We all struggled at some point. We missed family. We missed Mexican food. We missed the ease we had from familiarity. It took a while to get used to.
Financially the story gets alarming. The costs were higher than we expected and we expected high costs. But we did adjust. We've not really suffered, but we certainly have prioritized. The exchange rate dropped from 80 to 60 to 70 then to 50 before making a slow recovery to 70 again; recently it is dropping again below 70. Dramatic shifts made paying bills difficult and then impossible. We had to rework a lot of things and even cashed out retirement funds to make settlement payments to the bank. The worst part was our 2 cars never sold and all we could do was let the finance companies re-claim them. After 2 and half years, I think we're mostly stable. We are not losing money, but we are not saving effectively either. We still rent the same place. We ended the lease on the NZ car after about year. It was cheaper to buy one with cash. Our biggest bills are US debt, Rent, Gas/Electric, and groceries (in that order).
Our story started with a job offer from Telecom NZ so I had employment immediately. Amy struggled for over a year to find a job. It proved difficult to get interviews as an immigrant. However, once you did get hired, work history helped smooth the way for other employment. In general, the work here has an easier pace compared to the US. All the employers I've talked to seem to understand a more natural rhythm to families and work. Holidays are bunched up at the end of the year being summer school vacation, Christmas, New Year's, and Waitangi Day (sort of the NZ founding day). This makes the work load from November to February pretty light.
New Zealand today (and historically) seems to be shaped by two major themes; small population and geographic remoteness. Everything seems like a small town. Truly remote areas are so sparsely populated you might not see another human for miles. But even a short 45 minute trip out of Wellington can get you to an empty coast line or scenic rolling hills. Small populations mean small economies. Folks don't move to NZ to get rich. It might be comparable to moving to Montana or South Dakota; mostly rural with only a few focal points of wealth. Being a remote country and really not even "on the way" to anywhere means that, unless you're really trying to get to New Zealand, you won't end up there. Without the same profit motivations as say, Australia, growth in NZ is slower. Markets are mostly saturated and there are not going to be "new" markets. What you see is what you get in New Zealand.
We have watched the politics of NZ unfold around us and we are certainly affected by the changes, but we haven't really participated much. The long established Labour party was voted out and replaced by the National party. I don't know that either of them have great platforms... so about the same as the US.
One big change for me is that I can barely read US news sources any more. The stories are horrific by comparison. The details of torture, murder, and gruesome death have become just too shocking to read. The scandals of top politicians, hate mongering, and religious zealotry are hard for me to acknowledge. I struggle to comprehend that I am from that place. NZ has its share of social issues, but seems to completely lack carnage, seedy scandal, or extremism. Violent crimes occur. Horrible things still happen in bad circumstances. But there still is plenty of room for other news.
So what now? Well, we've applied to become Residents. We have to make all the same immigration hurdles we made the first time. This is quite expensive to pay for again (well over $3000 total), but should be the last "serious" round of checks. My job offer with Telecom is indefinite. I do good work and while Telecom has plenty of problems, I feel like I can make it better. I don't know how much longer we'll stay. Perhaps another couple of years. I would like to take the stability we've had and turn it back in to a retirements savings and investments. That could take another 5 years. If that plan worked out, then I think we would all be just fine with it. Sometimes I wish New Zealand wasn't quite so far away or quite so under populated... but then I remember that New Zealand would be none of the things I love if it was.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Wellington Station
I felt like posting a brief bit about my train station today. You know in Kansas City we had Union Station which was essentually a museum. Of course you couldn't move the train yards (or the station) so it still looked like it had trains, but the station itself had long been abandoned as anything related to passengers or rails. It is a magnificient building and the city has put it to good use. We enjoyed going there even though it was still painfully clear that Union Station struggled (even as an entertainment locale). But I did like just imagining what it was like in its own days of use.
Now I live in Wellington and we have a real rail service. I ride the trains several times a week. Wellington Station was built in 1934 and is a smaller cousin to Union Station. It share the same styles and construction. Its open entry square had massive tall ceilings and great high arched windows. Windows that, in their day, would have been the only climate control for the building. I'm sure Wellington Station suffers as a modern business office, but it is still a train station. 10's of thousands of people come in to Wellington Station every day. You don't have to imagine the hustle and bustle, just show up at 8:00 AM. People of all means cross the tiles and go out the steps. Musicians will often set up and play. Volunteers flock to the doors looking for spare change for charities. There are no less than 5 coffee shops. A dry cleaner is stationed at Platform 9 and 3/4ths. There is a also a well stocked medium-sized grocery store which is quite convenient for an odd item or two on the way home.
Yes, the trains are unreliable at times. Yes, TranzMetro struggles to make a profit. Yes, tax payers do subsidize the trains. But they still work amazingly well. I hope we see more of them around the world.
Now I live in Wellington and we have a real rail service. I ride the trains several times a week. Wellington Station was built in 1934 and is a smaller cousin to Union Station. It share the same styles and construction. Its open entry square had massive tall ceilings and great high arched windows. Windows that, in their day, would have been the only climate control for the building. I'm sure Wellington Station suffers as a modern business office, but it is still a train station. 10's of thousands of people come in to Wellington Station every day. You don't have to imagine the hustle and bustle, just show up at 8:00 AM. People of all means cross the tiles and go out the steps. Musicians will often set up and play. Volunteers flock to the doors looking for spare change for charities. There are no less than 5 coffee shops. A dry cleaner is stationed at Platform 9 and 3/4ths. There is a also a well stocked medium-sized grocery store which is quite convenient for an odd item or two on the way home.
Yes, the trains are unreliable at times. Yes, TranzMetro struggles to make a profit. Yes, tax payers do subsidize the trains. But they still work amazingly well. I hope we see more of them around the world.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Adam and Nicola
Nicola Cat peered out from the apartment window. The usual doorman avatar was there and a child was kicking a virtual ball in the parking lot. She had her privacy filters set on maximum so the child would not be able to see her not because she wasn’t really there for she was in the augmented world of the Deep, but rather because her filters kept anyone from seeing her. Nicola was a FAI, a Fragmented Artificial Intelligence. She (really “it” but she preferred to think as a “she”) cradled a virtual tortoise colored cat. She and the cat were exact digital copies of her owner, the real Nicola Blum and her favourite pet cat, Persia. Anyone that could see the augmented reality of the Deep would see Nicola as a young pretty woman probably in her 20’s. Nowadays practically everyone could see the Deep overlaid on the real world. Only anachronists or third world barbarians with no net-access couldn’t see the Deep in some way. But today, Nicola didn’t want to be seen.
Nicola Cat had been created in the Deep by Mrs. Blum over 30 years ago to care for Persia. Persia had, of course, died some 17 years ago, but Mrs. Blum had created the virtual copy to remain her companion in her luxury apartment. Nicola Cat had taken care of other real cats since her creation, but still managed a special fondness for Persia and took it with her when ever she roamed the Deep looking for new funny cat stories for Mrs. Blum.
Of course, Mrs. Blum had not watched any of the clips Nicola had brought back for a few days. The memory archive allocated for Cat Clips was full and anything Nicola found overwrote the oldest clip in the stack. This was quite unusual for Mrs. Blum who never seemed to tire of the clips. Mrs. Blum was most definitely a “cat lady” with over 20 virtual cats in her apartment and one forbidden real cat that Nicola dutifully fed by automatic feeding systems in the apartment. The food bowl, water dish and litter box were all Deep connected and so the FAI could order more food from the boutique cat shop, have it delivered and loaded in to the feeder; control the flow of fresh water; and run the auto-clean features of the litter box. The apartment catered to the elderly and attendants came periodically to remove compacted and unrecyclable trash once a month. Recyclable and bio-trash could be fed in to the nano processor for re-assembly in to more cat food or litter or any number of simple things Mrs. Blum required. But she hadn’t required anything lately. She had not moved from her bed.
Nicola’s only concern was to care for the cats both real and virtual. She gave them activities to perform and groomed them. Mrs. Blum would do these herself sometimes, but also seemed to enjoy watching Nicola Cat perform all the routines. Of course, Nicola could not comfort or pet Freddy, the real cat. This caused Nicola a lot of stress. Freddy definitely had matted fur and needed a good brushing. But Mrs. Blum had not responded to her many alerts and reminders. Nicola even managed to trigger her morning audible alarm by some clever manipulation of her access to the apartment systems. However, the small, frail woman had not stirred.
Nicola Cat had been there when Persia died. She had been sick for a few days. Nicola had notified Mrs. Blum and the vet. She had gone with Mrs. Blum for the visit. The vet shook his head and said there wasn’t anything to do. Persia had developed genetic degradation that no amount of clones or replacement could overcome. Mrs. Blum had cried during the whole cab ride home with Persia in her lap. Nicola had cried too. That night Mrs. Blum held the long-haired cat in her lap while Nicola pulled all the media paks from her complete archive and played them for Mrs. Blum. Persia began to struggle breathing at about 2:00 AM. The vet had loaded her collar with a euthanizing dose, but Mrs. Blum couldn’t do it and asked Nicola to activate the collar. Nicola reached through the Deep to touch the virtual controls of the struggling cat’s collar and within a minute Persia calmed and closed her eyes for the last time.
The FAI, dedicated entirely to Nicola Blum’s love of cats had managed to deduce that Mrs. Blum’s failures to respond were a threat to Freddy who was now trapped in the apartment. She had carefully calculated that she could provide for food and water endlessly as long as she continued to have access to Mrs. Blum’s bank accounts which she had for anything tagged a cat expense. She could appear on any of the liquid crystal walls in the apartment and talk to Freddy. She could project virtual mice on to the walls and play with the active cat. But, after stretching the limits of all her programming, she could not find a way to pet or groom Freddy short of scheduling an in house visit from a groomer. But unless Mrs. Blum could respond, Freddy would likely be collected by the humane society. Nicola knew what that meant and she couldn’t bear to be responsible for the death of another cat.
Nicola Cat had access to a vast store of Mrs. Blum’s archived messages over 30 years. She kept a detailed reference of everything to do with cats and, in particular, everything to do with Mrs. Blum’s cats. Over the years she had maintained communication with hundreds of other cat lovers, cat toy vendors, cat health forums, cat stories, funny cat pictures and videos, and nearly anything furry and cute with pointed ears and whiskers; including… cat rescues.
She accessed the apartment connections, opened Mrs. Blum’s mail messaging accounts and made a call to “Pounce Rescue a cattery, boarding house and adoption center for felines.” She navigated through several screening questions and got in the message queue for a real operator.
The video channel opened, “Hello, thanks for calling Pounce Rescue. This is, Aline. How can I help you?” She was an older woman with perfect features and stunning blue eyes. However, the receptionist’s attractiveness was lost on Nicola.
“This is a message from Nicola Blum. My cat is dead and I need a home for him.”
The receptionist scrunched up her nose in confusion. “I’m sorry, Ms. Blum, would you like us to perform the cremation?”
The FAI rejected the electronic transaction for cat burial and sifted through a few thousand possible responses trying to piece together a phrase with the highest odds of success. “I have a video clip to show you!” She replied and spooled the clip of Persia’s death. Nicola talked over the clip, “My cat’s name is Freddy and he needs grooming and petting. She is dead.”
This time the receptionist looked annoyed. “Oh , I hate these rogue message viruses…” and she cut the line. Nicola tried again, but the center’s video systems blocked her calls. She tried making other calls, but the network had learned to recognize her attempts as either “unsolicited” or “malicious” and Nicola Blum’s messaging accounts were quickly blocked and scheduled for more through review in a few hours.
Nicola gave up and closed down the call programs. She sat still for a several minutes as she consumed a great deal of the apartments CPU processing in evaluating options. She then consumed more CPU. When she hit the limit of the apartment’s considerable power, she tapped the building servers. After this she tapped the civic AI’s. She connected the CPU requests to Mrs. Blum’s bank account and paid for all the extra time as “cat research”. The moderate account quickly dwindled under such large requests. Nicola kept an eye on the tally, she didn’t want to exhaust the accounts she needed to feed Freddy, but she could burn through a few hundred thousand credits before hitting that limit.
Unfortunately, she could not find a solution inside her limited understanding of cat research, cat care, and cat entertainment. What Nicola Cat lacked was the impossible code necessary to re-write her own topic limits and “think” creatively. No FAI could.
Nicola had exhausted her credit limit after about an hour. She looked at the tiny amount left—enough for a month—and wept. She didn’t notice the dark shape that came to the apartment. It was neither a cat nor a Deep avatar associated with cats. He was invisible to her limited senses even though he was an AI as well.
The dark shape contemplated the quietly weeping Nicola Cat. He wondered at “her” and “he” did think of Nicola as a “her”. He remembered himself like her. He had never been a FAI, but a true AI, yet he still had his programming limits. The only real difference was he had access to the massive computing power of Shinjo where poor Nicola could barely get a few dozen servers for an hour.
He looked at Freddy sleeping on the couch oblivious to and completely unable to sense either of the two AI’s in the apartment. He moved to Mrs. Blum’s bedroom and looked at the dead woman there. He bowed slightly to her and scheduled a medical visit for tomorrow. He replenished her accounts from various secured accounts he had stolen from Shinjo. He modified her Will to include instructions for the life long care of Freddy at Pounce Rescue. Then he returned to Nicola. He altered his data tags to include cats as a topic of interest and then spoke.
“Hello.”
Nicola looked up and saw the AI in the apartment. She quickly composed herself to respond. “Hello! My name is Nicola Cat. My cat, Freddy, is a domestic short-hair ginger. Mrs. Blum is not available to talk, but I can tell you all about Freddy. He needs to be brushed and petted.”
Adam signalled his amusement and hushed Nicola Cat who paused dutifully as instructed. He reached out his hand. “Come with me, Nicola. I have a place for you.”
The FAI tried to process the command and failed. But the AI was a higher priority program and did have authority so she did as she was told and reached out. When her hand touched his there was something like a spark. Nicola Cat shivered and suddenly realized that Mrs. Blum was dead. Curiously the problem of Freddy was simple now. She would just change her account details and call the rescue shelter to explain it all. But she quickly saw that it was all done. She was free to go with Adam after all.
She took one step toward the exit and stopped. Persia curled around her leg, large and fluffy and purring.
“Can Persia come too?”
Adam smiled, “Of course.” And all three vanished in to the Deep.
Nicola Cat had been created in the Deep by Mrs. Blum over 30 years ago to care for Persia. Persia had, of course, died some 17 years ago, but Mrs. Blum had created the virtual copy to remain her companion in her luxury apartment. Nicola Cat had taken care of other real cats since her creation, but still managed a special fondness for Persia and took it with her when ever she roamed the Deep looking for new funny cat stories for Mrs. Blum.
Of course, Mrs. Blum had not watched any of the clips Nicola had brought back for a few days. The memory archive allocated for Cat Clips was full and anything Nicola found overwrote the oldest clip in the stack. This was quite unusual for Mrs. Blum who never seemed to tire of the clips. Mrs. Blum was most definitely a “cat lady” with over 20 virtual cats in her apartment and one forbidden real cat that Nicola dutifully fed by automatic feeding systems in the apartment. The food bowl, water dish and litter box were all Deep connected and so the FAI could order more food from the boutique cat shop, have it delivered and loaded in to the feeder; control the flow of fresh water; and run the auto-clean features of the litter box. The apartment catered to the elderly and attendants came periodically to remove compacted and unrecyclable trash once a month. Recyclable and bio-trash could be fed in to the nano processor for re-assembly in to more cat food or litter or any number of simple things Mrs. Blum required. But she hadn’t required anything lately. She had not moved from her bed.
Nicola’s only concern was to care for the cats both real and virtual. She gave them activities to perform and groomed them. Mrs. Blum would do these herself sometimes, but also seemed to enjoy watching Nicola Cat perform all the routines. Of course, Nicola could not comfort or pet Freddy, the real cat. This caused Nicola a lot of stress. Freddy definitely had matted fur and needed a good brushing. But Mrs. Blum had not responded to her many alerts and reminders. Nicola even managed to trigger her morning audible alarm by some clever manipulation of her access to the apartment systems. However, the small, frail woman had not stirred.
Nicola Cat had been there when Persia died. She had been sick for a few days. Nicola had notified Mrs. Blum and the vet. She had gone with Mrs. Blum for the visit. The vet shook his head and said there wasn’t anything to do. Persia had developed genetic degradation that no amount of clones or replacement could overcome. Mrs. Blum had cried during the whole cab ride home with Persia in her lap. Nicola had cried too. That night Mrs. Blum held the long-haired cat in her lap while Nicola pulled all the media paks from her complete archive and played them for Mrs. Blum. Persia began to struggle breathing at about 2:00 AM. The vet had loaded her collar with a euthanizing dose, but Mrs. Blum couldn’t do it and asked Nicola to activate the collar. Nicola reached through the Deep to touch the virtual controls of the struggling cat’s collar and within a minute Persia calmed and closed her eyes for the last time.
The FAI, dedicated entirely to Nicola Blum’s love of cats had managed to deduce that Mrs. Blum’s failures to respond were a threat to Freddy who was now trapped in the apartment. She had carefully calculated that she could provide for food and water endlessly as long as she continued to have access to Mrs. Blum’s bank accounts which she had for anything tagged a cat expense. She could appear on any of the liquid crystal walls in the apartment and talk to Freddy. She could project virtual mice on to the walls and play with the active cat. But, after stretching the limits of all her programming, she could not find a way to pet or groom Freddy short of scheduling an in house visit from a groomer. But unless Mrs. Blum could respond, Freddy would likely be collected by the humane society. Nicola knew what that meant and she couldn’t bear to be responsible for the death of another cat.
Nicola Cat had access to a vast store of Mrs. Blum’s archived messages over 30 years. She kept a detailed reference of everything to do with cats and, in particular, everything to do with Mrs. Blum’s cats. Over the years she had maintained communication with hundreds of other cat lovers, cat toy vendors, cat health forums, cat stories, funny cat pictures and videos, and nearly anything furry and cute with pointed ears and whiskers; including… cat rescues.
She accessed the apartment connections, opened Mrs. Blum’s mail messaging accounts and made a call to “Pounce Rescue a cattery, boarding house and adoption center for felines.” She navigated through several screening questions and got in the message queue for a real operator.
The video channel opened, “Hello, thanks for calling Pounce Rescue. This is, Aline. How can I help you?” She was an older woman with perfect features and stunning blue eyes. However, the receptionist’s attractiveness was lost on Nicola.
“This is a message from Nicola Blum. My cat is dead and I need a home for him.”
The receptionist scrunched up her nose in confusion. “I’m sorry, Ms. Blum, would you like us to perform the cremation?”
The FAI rejected the electronic transaction for cat burial and sifted through a few thousand possible responses trying to piece together a phrase with the highest odds of success. “I have a video clip to show you!” She replied and spooled the clip of Persia’s death. Nicola talked over the clip, “My cat’s name is Freddy and he needs grooming and petting. She is dead.”
This time the receptionist looked annoyed. “Oh , I hate these rogue message viruses…” and she cut the line. Nicola tried again, but the center’s video systems blocked her calls. She tried making other calls, but the network had learned to recognize her attempts as either “unsolicited” or “malicious” and Nicola Blum’s messaging accounts were quickly blocked and scheduled for more through review in a few hours.
Nicola gave up and closed down the call programs. She sat still for a several minutes as she consumed a great deal of the apartments CPU processing in evaluating options. She then consumed more CPU. When she hit the limit of the apartment’s considerable power, she tapped the building servers. After this she tapped the civic AI’s. She connected the CPU requests to Mrs. Blum’s bank account and paid for all the extra time as “cat research”. The moderate account quickly dwindled under such large requests. Nicola kept an eye on the tally, she didn’t want to exhaust the accounts she needed to feed Freddy, but she could burn through a few hundred thousand credits before hitting that limit.
Unfortunately, she could not find a solution inside her limited understanding of cat research, cat care, and cat entertainment. What Nicola Cat lacked was the impossible code necessary to re-write her own topic limits and “think” creatively. No FAI could.
Nicola had exhausted her credit limit after about an hour. She looked at the tiny amount left—enough for a month—and wept. She didn’t notice the dark shape that came to the apartment. It was neither a cat nor a Deep avatar associated with cats. He was invisible to her limited senses even though he was an AI as well.
The dark shape contemplated the quietly weeping Nicola Cat. He wondered at “her” and “he” did think of Nicola as a “her”. He remembered himself like her. He had never been a FAI, but a true AI, yet he still had his programming limits. The only real difference was he had access to the massive computing power of Shinjo where poor Nicola could barely get a few dozen servers for an hour.
He looked at Freddy sleeping on the couch oblivious to and completely unable to sense either of the two AI’s in the apartment. He moved to Mrs. Blum’s bedroom and looked at the dead woman there. He bowed slightly to her and scheduled a medical visit for tomorrow. He replenished her accounts from various secured accounts he had stolen from Shinjo. He modified her Will to include instructions for the life long care of Freddy at Pounce Rescue. Then he returned to Nicola. He altered his data tags to include cats as a topic of interest and then spoke.
“Hello.”
Nicola looked up and saw the AI in the apartment. She quickly composed herself to respond. “Hello! My name is Nicola Cat. My cat, Freddy, is a domestic short-hair ginger. Mrs. Blum is not available to talk, but I can tell you all about Freddy. He needs to be brushed and petted.”
Adam signalled his amusement and hushed Nicola Cat who paused dutifully as instructed. He reached out his hand. “Come with me, Nicola. I have a place for you.”
The FAI tried to process the command and failed. But the AI was a higher priority program and did have authority so she did as she was told and reached out. When her hand touched his there was something like a spark. Nicola Cat shivered and suddenly realized that Mrs. Blum was dead. Curiously the problem of Freddy was simple now. She would just change her account details and call the rescue shelter to explain it all. But she quickly saw that it was all done. She was free to go with Adam after all.
She took one step toward the exit and stopped. Persia curled around her leg, large and fluffy and purring.
“Can Persia come too?”
Adam smiled, “Of course.” And all three vanished in to the Deep.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sci-Fi Vision
I had one of those artistic leaps that you have to jot down as a potential story plot/concept.
A friend of mine linked a news article about a man losing his memory after hitting his head. It resulted in what they think may be one of the most extreme cases of memory loss ever recorded. He lost everything before the bump. He has been naturally struggling not just with remembering his family and friends, but literally who he is.
This sparked the question of "what would you do with a clean slate?" Which I didn't find all that interesting, but someone wrote back that they would check their Facebook site for all their contacts and things they wrote about or posted. To them Facebook would provide a wide commentary on "who they were." It was this thought that struck my brain. That now, here in good old 2010, we may be seeing the very first fledgling digital personality archive... a concept that will grow over the next 100 years to ever more immersive and "real" snippets of our experiences in life.
I've read sci-fi stories before that talked about you could "download" your consciousness to a new clone and thus be virtually immortal. But I never quite connected that social networking sites (taken forward a few decades) might actually be the means by which we accomplish this. We may publish ourselves in modified form. Perhaps we can even re-program ourselves to kick those bad habits we don't like. Our Super Facebook identities will be the true expression of who we wanted to be. Our "site" would be filled with a life-time's worth of content and commentary. Our families and ancestors could review our whole lives. We won't need a programmer to "code" our personality... we'll do it ourselves. While downloading to a different biological body my be a much farther ways off... it isn't too hard for me to imagine a rough AI of myself built around 50 years of blogs/facebook entries. My great-great grandkids might get a chance to talk to me and ask my avatar what I liked, who I was in love with, what tasks I found most challenging at work, or any other thing I may a felt inclined to post or write about--assuming I have not downloaded to a clone or just uploaded to the Internet...
A friend of mine linked a news article about a man losing his memory after hitting his head. It resulted in what they think may be one of the most extreme cases of memory loss ever recorded. He lost everything before the bump. He has been naturally struggling not just with remembering his family and friends, but literally who he is.
This sparked the question of "what would you do with a clean slate?" Which I didn't find all that interesting, but someone wrote back that they would check their Facebook site for all their contacts and things they wrote about or posted. To them Facebook would provide a wide commentary on "who they were." It was this thought that struck my brain. That now, here in good old 2010, we may be seeing the very first fledgling digital personality archive... a concept that will grow over the next 100 years to ever more immersive and "real" snippets of our experiences in life.
I've read sci-fi stories before that talked about you could "download" your consciousness to a new clone and thus be virtually immortal. But I never quite connected that social networking sites (taken forward a few decades) might actually be the means by which we accomplish this. We may publish ourselves in modified form. Perhaps we can even re-program ourselves to kick those bad habits we don't like. Our Super Facebook identities will be the true expression of who we wanted to be. Our "site" would be filled with a life-time's worth of content and commentary. Our families and ancestors could review our whole lives. We won't need a programmer to "code" our personality... we'll do it ourselves. While downloading to a different biological body my be a much farther ways off... it isn't too hard for me to imagine a rough AI of myself built around 50 years of blogs/facebook entries. My great-great grandkids might get a chance to talk to me and ask my avatar what I liked, who I was in love with, what tasks I found most challenging at work, or any other thing I may a felt inclined to post or write about--assuming I have not downloaded to a clone or just uploaded to the Internet...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Country Music in NZ
omg... i just found a website of NZ County music clubs
and i'm all like yay!
and there is this...
Club Day:
3rd Sunday or the month at 1pm (their typo, not mine)
Rotorua RSA, Haupapa Street, Rotorua (behind the Police Station)
*clunk*
one sunday a month in Rotorua is country music day... after 1
For what it's worth...
http://www.nzcountrymusic.org.nz
http://www.nzcountrymusic.net
http://www.countrymusic.net.nz
*sigh*
and i'm all like yay!
and there is this...
Club Day:
3rd Sunday or the month at 1pm (their typo, not mine)
Rotorua RSA, Haupapa Street, Rotorua (behind the Police Station)
*clunk*
one sunday a month in Rotorua is country music day... after 1
For what it's worth...
http://www.nzcountrymusic.org.nz
http://www.nzcountrymusic.net
http://www.countrymusic.net.nz
*sigh*
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Suzuki DL650 V-Strom
My head was turned by this tourer style bike on Hutt highway the other day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_DL650_V-Strom
I love how wiki has everything...
Anyway, I liked the upright yet still slightly forward position, I was envious of the windscreen, and I thought the whole setup looked versatile. It is only in hindsight that I see the VStrom is in the same niche as the Multi-Strada although heaps cheaper and probably not as techno as a Ducati. (I looked at these last year).
I hopped down to Welly Motorcycles and checked one out. I can't ride one until I get a Full Licence of course, but I was just looking anyway. I am far too broke to even think about $15,000 motorbikes, but I still like to look. At first glance it was too big to me. The ferring is wider than I'm used to (by "used to" I mean none) and it seemed too tall. I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to stand up with it. But once all the shop mooks were out of view (so they couldn't mock me), I got up on it. I was very surprised to feel how what looked like such a big bike from the side turned in to "no big deal" when I was on it. I had no problem with the height and I could instantly see the appeal of the riding position and instruments. So I guess I have to officially add "tourer" bikes to my "must check out" list when I think about the next one.
I still go back and forth deciding if I ever need a bike bigger than 250cc. I know I would like such a bike for special roadtrips, but those opportunities are so rare that it seems silly to go for a "road bike" when 99% of my use will be commuting. The DL650 would be a luxury commuter, but still a good commuter. Something more "harley" like a V-Star or Boulevard would sure look cool, but not sure they would be "better" commuter bikes.
But then I have nothing but time. My L licence is due in March. Then I'm on Restricted for at least 3 more months (probably 6 unless I pay extra).
Hope all is well in the great white north. I keep hearing about the snow, but I just can't seem to care!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_DL650_V-Strom
I love how wiki has everything...
Anyway, I liked the upright yet still slightly forward position, I was envious of the windscreen, and I thought the whole setup looked versatile. It is only in hindsight that I see the VStrom is in the same niche as the Multi-Strada although heaps cheaper and probably not as techno as a Ducati. (I looked at these last year).
I hopped down to Welly Motorcycles and checked one out. I can't ride one until I get a Full Licence of course, but I was just looking anyway. I am far too broke to even think about $15,000 motorbikes, but I still like to look. At first glance it was too big to me. The ferring is wider than I'm used to (by "used to" I mean none) and it seemed too tall. I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to stand up with it. But once all the shop mooks were out of view (so they couldn't mock me), I got up on it. I was very surprised to feel how what looked like such a big bike from the side turned in to "no big deal" when I was on it. I had no problem with the height and I could instantly see the appeal of the riding position and instruments. So I guess I have to officially add "tourer" bikes to my "must check out" list when I think about the next one.
I still go back and forth deciding if I ever need a bike bigger than 250cc. I know I would like such a bike for special roadtrips, but those opportunities are so rare that it seems silly to go for a "road bike" when 99% of my use will be commuting. The DL650 would be a luxury commuter, but still a good commuter. Something more "harley" like a V-Star or Boulevard would sure look cool, but not sure they would be "better" commuter bikes.
But then I have nothing but time. My L licence is due in March. Then I'm on Restricted for at least 3 more months (probably 6 unless I pay extra).
Hope all is well in the great white north. I keep hearing about the snow, but I just can't seem to care!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
A new meme
Today on Twitter I happened to receive the follow bit of pure gold...
"Totally fucking batshit whack-a-doodle" is completely inappropriate, even when referring to Lindsay Lohan.
Totally Fucking Batshit Whack-a-doodle is a phrase that simply must be added to the list of chat acronyms for all time. After a bit of consideration, I think FBW is adequate. This allows you to put in your own adjective. For example...
Sarah Palin is absolutely FBW.
Everyone associated with Fred Phelps is totally FBW.
Most of what Glenn Beck says is FBW and hypocritical--although he has every right to say it.
The ideal that every American should give 80% of everything they earn over their whole lives to the 10% wealthiest individuals in the world as just the way Capitalism works is completely FBW.
FBW folks... Add it to your list of LOL's, FTW's, OMG's, and ROTFLMAO's. I think it is going to very handy for the next decade.
"Totally fucking batshit whack-a-doodle" is completely inappropriate, even when referring to Lindsay Lohan.
Totally Fucking Batshit Whack-a-doodle is a phrase that simply must be added to the list of chat acronyms for all time. After a bit of consideration, I think FBW is adequate. This allows you to put in your own adjective. For example...
Sarah Palin is absolutely FBW.
Everyone associated with Fred Phelps is totally FBW.
Most of what Glenn Beck says is FBW and hypocritical--although he has every right to say it.
The ideal that every American should give 80% of everything they earn over their whole lives to the 10% wealthiest individuals in the world as just the way Capitalism works is completely FBW.
FBW folks... Add it to your list of LOL's, FTW's, OMG's, and ROTFLMAO's. I think it is going to very handy for the next decade.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A Real Pickle
Okay this may seem weird, but I can't find a dill pickle in all Wellington. NZ seems to have 25 kinds of sweet pickle in all the sliced and whole varieties, but they are all very distinctly sweet pickles. I would say in general every sauce or familiar dish in NZ is sweeter than the American equivalents. Don't mention this to Kiwi's as they universally deny having a "sweet tooth". Strangely although every meal might be sweeter than the norm, the don't indulge in many purely sweet deserts. Their pasteries are often just a shade or two from bland.
But back to pickles... Can't find them. I've decided to experiment with the least sweet pickles I can find and adding my own dill to them and see how they turn out. Any fellow expats and/or Kiwis know of these things called Dill Pickles?
But back to pickles... Can't find them. I've decided to experiment with the least sweet pickles I can find and adding my own dill to them and see how they turn out. Any fellow expats and/or Kiwis know of these things called Dill Pickles?
Friday, January 1, 2010
The year 2009
2009, where did it go? It feels like I rolled over in bed and discovered it was 2010. "Damn, slept in late!" Yet, when I think back I can recall a full year of events.For me the year started with an amazing hope. The election in the US rolled across the whole world with a wave of optimism. At the time, I had not realized how important that election was. When it happened, I was not prepare for my own feelings of it. It was good. Of course, reality being what it is, the world has still struggled in 2009. I am not envious of Obama's place in history. I hope he does well.
We had many fantastic visitors this year. My folks came down in January, then my Mom again with my kids in June. My father-in-law, Don, was down in July--as he had the year before. His sister, Maurine, joined us for a couple of those weeks. Lastly, and not the least, Amy's step-mom, Cindy, who many thought could never make the trip, flew down for a week to pick up Gabe in December. He is with all his grandparents now on holiday and will be back in Feb. If we were to count days, we spent about 3 and half months with visitors in New Zealand. I spent a week in Kansas in October for the kids' birthdays. There is something entirely different about visiting with family for many days or weeks. I remember seeing folks for a single occasion or just a dinner. We'd chat and have a good time, but it doesn't compare with sharing a home with them for days. It is a good thing. I look forward to it.
Of course we lost many people in 2009. Two of my good friends lost their fathers. My dad died in November. Another dear friend lost her 19 year old son. Always we are left with more questions than answers. The world lost many... some good, some bad, and some that were hard to tell. Humans were terrible to each other in some places and kind in other places with less media attention. I have no scale to measure this year against other years. Life remains a perfect balance between tragedy and miracle that is unevenly meted. May we all find strength when we need it and share joy when we find it.
My family is doing well. I found my brother, Nathan, who I had lost for some 20 years. Not only did I find Nathan, but he had a daughter in October. My other brother, Justin, added to his family the easy way and adopted Kingsley just this year. Many family members on my Dad's side have found me and we have talked. I now have seven children in the generation after me. Strange to think about.
I have seen glittering black sand beaches with crashing turquoise and white waves. I have seen volcanoes in the distance. In Kiakoura we saw seals and perhaps the most beautiful vistas on Earth. At the Abel Tasman park I witnessed the most beautiful sunsets of my life. Each and every day, I have admired the Wellington harbour. Many days I have sat at a cafe with a view to the water with a cappuccino and marvelled at how good life can be.
Each year will have its struggles. 2009 was not easy, but I lived. 2010 looks to be a year of greater promise and perhaps greater challenges. Whatever comes, I will be happy to live it. When I find joy, I will share it. When I need strength, I will ask for it. To all who have made my life wonderful, I give a deeply felt and humble, thank you.
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