All things Domestic, Large and small.

Life can be interesting and mundane at the same time. 

For example, a failing dishwasher is quite mundane.  Ours has been dying a slow death for the past year.  We have just recently decided to ask our lease holder to fix it up.  No worries, just a lot of scheduling and communication.  A detail, but it keeps you busy.

Next the gas fireplace has a tendency to blow out.  This would be even more mundane in the US where the fireplace is purely ornamental.  But in NZ that sucker is life giving heat for the whole house.  It warms up alright, but then it will try to idle, but instead it blows out.  So you have to go hit the restart button when ever you feel cold rather than having it maintain a reasonable temp.  Also a scheduling detail.

On the more interesting front, I have had to do a lot of financial manipulation and legal processing.  Painful, delicate, and stressful.  But I think the bank is finally satisfied.  We still have issues to resolve, but we have solved at least 2/3rds of our financial debts.  Of course this was necessary to support child support legal obligations and that's the lawyer part.  Having shunted all resources to only paying child support can only pay part of it.  The reality is my income has not increased in 8 years and has dramatically reduced in the last year.  Time to re-calculate.

But on the upside, the kids are coming to visit in June with my mother.  This was one of the main goals for me in this move was not only to visit, but be able to bring them here to see it.  We've had far more visitors than I've expected which has been wonderful.  I really hope that Chandler and Sabrina love the experience.  I am pretty sure they will.

While we are heading in to winter here, most days are still pretty nice.  In the last week we've had more rain, but no chills.  It is, if anything, a bit muggy.  New Zealand was designed to be damp.  Every plant seems to double as a sponge.  Green covers everything in the shape of moss, lichen, algae, and things in between.  A few trees shed their leaves, but you would hardly notice.  Green is still everywhere you look and flower continue to bloom.  Days are noticably short now.  It is near dark when I walk home from the train.  But the walk is no less beautiful.

We'll see the kids in June and then we'll see Poppop and Aunt Mo in July.  Don wants to stay through the first week in August to be here for Gabe's birthday.  Along about July the Winter Festivals start with fireworks and fairs.  I almost feel like putting up Christmas lights.  So lots of things to do.  Hopefully all goes smoothly for me and for you!

 

Alyssa's Bakery

I think I will dedicate this blog to my bakery.  You see, ever since I moved to Wellington, I have developed an affection for cappuccino.  While there are perhaps 8 places for me to buy coffee in a 1 block radius from my office, there is only one true bakery.  There are many places to buy pies, scones, buns, and pastries, but only one “we bake in the stove in the back” bakery.

 

While the name of the place is Alyssa’s Bakery, the shop gal that manages the counter is named, Tam.  The owner is a very tall bald man.  I am relatively sure his name is not Alyssa.  The shop is on the south side of Courtney Place.

 

Tam greets me every morning with a loud, “Good Morning, Curtis! Coffee?” I often do not get a chance to even agree before she’s at the machine making my cappuccino with extra chocolate and two sugars.  Tam chatters on about random events.  We talk about the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, or parliament, the weather, or the exchange rate.  I have been going to the same shop for a year and while I’m sure that her friendliness is all part of her customer service ethic, I appreciate it none the less.  It makes me feel like I live just down the street.  I feel a bit more contented knowing that I have a real bakery and not a Kwik-E-mart—that I can joke with the shop girl and look forward to an apple pie.

 

The shop offers cakes and scones.  They have about 6 kinds of pastry.   Custard twists, biscuits, and sandwiches fill the glass counters.  Finally, there are the pies.  Oh the pies! Mince, steak, mushroom, chicken, veggie, and my favourite—bacon egg pie.  All created in the back kitchen.  I find these all delicious, but each of them is still somewhat strange to a Nebraska boy.  Yet something is familiar about the bakery.  I know it is more than the food—more than the service that keeps me coming back.  Maybe it does remind me of dusty old Nebraska some how or maybe it reminds me of how I want home to be. 

Billboard in Wellington

I had to get a picture of this... I'm not exactly sure what this ad is trying to say.  But if it's suggesting the gal in the ad is using the product in that location... Colour me, Intrigued.

The Waterloo Gala

A couple of weekends back we attended a school fund raiser that I didn’t get a chance to really write about yet.  But as I look back on it, I see more and more that this was just too blog worthy not to catch up on.

 

It was billed as the “Waterloo Gala” (pronounced GAL-ah and *not* GAY-lah.)  Everyone thought gay-la was incredibly funny when I said it.  They advertised for it about month in advance and needless to say all the kids were super excited about it.

 

The actual event had all the things I expected.  There were fun games, lots and lots of lollies (candy), bake sales, plant sales and art booths.  They had 4 or 5 different kinds of raffles.  The most hilarious being the “Pony Plop” where a pony is penned in a small field of grass that has been laid out with a numeric grid… and can you guess? They sell the numbers on the grid and where ever the pony does his business the holder of that number gets a prize.  If that image was not funny enough, then image a small crowd gasping in anticipation when the pony lifted his tail and then the groan of disappointment when it turns out to be “only a pee.”  We unfortunately didn’t win.

 

What was really blog-worthy though was the stuff I did not expect.  Like the “Bottle Lottery” which was rather like a cake walk only you won booze.  This is right on the school grounds remember.  You should have seen the hoots and hollers when the adults won booze.  The Bottle Lottery sold out in less than an hour.

 

Next on the booze tour was the full on beer tent.  Yes, you read that right.  In the middle of the school yard was the adult beer tent with 4 different bottled beers and a wide selection of RTD’s (Ready To Drink beverages).  RTD’s are like cans of bourbon and coke, rum and coke, vodka and juice, etc.  All of them pre-made, 12 oz size, and *significantly* stronger than beer.  The beer tent managed to keep selling throughout the event (from about 6 PM to 9 PM).  Thankfully we only live 2 short walking blocks from the school.

 

Last we have my favourite… the water balloon catapult.  At first glance you may ask how this could possibly compare with the schoolyard beer tent, but imagine this… The catapult has about 90’ range.  The target is a non-descript box located about 90’ away from the catapult.  The target is not marked and in the middle of the event—neatly bisecting the attraction side from the beer tent side.  Now picture about half a dozen partially drunk parents wandering in to the field of fire whilst their kids take aim.  Peg the drunken parent at 30 yards with the water balloon catapult might be the single biggest untapped fund raiser event in the world.

 

All told the event raised $30,000.  How much did your school raise last event?

 

Gabe had a great time.  I'm fairly sure he ate his body weight in candy.  He also swung a sledge hammer on an old beater car a few times.  He ran around like crazy.  Amy and I enjoyed the beer tent and successfully avoided the catapult hazard.  Our friend Lisa ran the Plant Sale which turned out to be not nearly as popular as the Bottle Lottery.  We got a great deal on plants near the end of the event.  Who needs a beerfest? Show me the way to the next school Gala!

Watchmen

I won't write a long review--I'm sure you can find plenty from better critics.  But here's my quick thoughts.

It is a good movie.  You have to work (a little) to keep up with it and ponder the themes.  I'll give you a bit of a head start just so you can think about it a little before you go see it.  The movie is set in 1985 in a version of history where the USA won the Vietnam War and Nixon was catapulted to popularity--elected to 3 terms.  But the world is now more corrupt, more on edge.  The Cold War is escalating, the Soviet Block is not crumbling.  If you're over 30, then much of this may sound bizarre and intriguing.  But if you're 20 ish then you might ask what all the fuss is about.  The story definitely has a target age of relevance

The notion that this is a superhero movie is actually not much of a factor to the story.  The Watchmen are just easier to pick out from other characters, but they contain all the same flaws (or worse) of the world they live in.

I liked this movie because it was interesting to consider all these 'what if" possibilities.  The story asks some really hard questions and I found myself left wondering what my answers really would be.  Any movie that keeps me thinking is good in my book.

BUT... this is not a happy movie.  It is NOT a kid movie in any fashion.  This is a nudge or two beyond simple violence and sex which it has plenty of.  It may be particularly hard for women to watch.  I don't mean that in a sexist "women can't hack it" way, but the movie's themes are quite sexist.  The story's treatment of women is harsh.  In my opinion this is over done, but there is no denying that the movie makes its point. 

In the end (no spoilers), the movie leaves only questions.  In true comic book style the story ends, but is not quite resolved.  This movie will probably occupy your thoughts for a while.  It might spark some heated spousal discussion.  It is designed to provoke by forcing to light ugly situations and how one might deal with them.  The only answers are gray. 

 

 

A good picture this morning

I got this shot this morning on the walk in to work.  It came out super well.  Of course I don't have to be much of a photographer to get pictures of sights like this.  I was just in the right place at the right time.

I have more shots of this ship in my Harbor Ships photo album.

Cheers!

 

A good picture this morning

I got this shot this morning on the walk in to work.  It came out super well.  Of course I don't have to be much of a photographer to get pictures of sights like this.  I was just in the right place at the right time.

I have more shots of this ship in my Harbor Ships photo album.

Cheers!