They Got Me!

Published on Feb. 1, 2006 in New Zealand

My night is winding down at 2:30am, and sleep seems like a good idea. Looking at my arm the bastardly mosquitos must have read my post yesterday; they have basically sucked the life out of my left arm.

What I really meant to say is: I’m realizing finally that the time in this flat is reaching an end. Today I put my network equipment used to work away from the office on Tradme (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Networking-modems/
ADSL-modems/auction-46922291.htm) — Wish me luck!

I couldn’t have been more blessed with the group of flatmates I ended up living with. Honest intentions to visit Hayden and Tanya in Melbourne and go with Kate, Owen and Yan-Shih to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. And even Dylan, but I don’t know where I’ll see him. He has to be one of the most amuzing people I have ever met though; I can listen to his ramblings without boring all night long. He truly is heinious, but is truly a great guy.

Tonight I helped the girl who is moving into my room learn Excel. An odd feeling helping the person to replace me — we are housing her until I move out. So soon, then the adventure starts!!

View from front door:

Kate:

Hayden and Tui:

Hayden, Tanya and Dylan:

Highly Annoyed

Published on Jan. 31, 2006 in New Zealand

I realized something tonight, that there is something I hate. And I mean, hate. What you might ask? Mosquitos. Mozzies, as they are called here. But I don’t hate all mosquitos, just the small ones. The big ones live in a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m usually the bigger dog. Somehow I have mozzie-radar that allows me to get them without even really looking. Yay for me. It is almost like a game, a little messy, but satisfying regardless. The game is sort of like being in class with the annoying guy in the front row always asking questions and trying to pretend like he is smart; but it is obvious, especially through the teachers nonverbal (and verbal sometimes) language that they are annoyed as well. I’ve always wanted to just throw my pen at that person, but I was a back-row dweller, so not an option.

Damn tangents.

The point is, you can’t get the small ones. They are so small you can’t either hear them, and don’t always know if it is a mosquito or a piece of dust or something. While I don’t know about you, I’ll pass clapping the air randomly at all the little pieces of dust I see.

So why do I bring this up? I have all these little mosquito bites (and a few spider bites from gardening) all over me. Well, all over me where I’m not furry.

Damn mosquitos.

Thinking about productivity I now realize that I have just wasted 5 or 10 minutes from my life complaining about mosquitos, and now I’m wasting more time complaining about complaining. I told you, mosquitos are like a bloody plague! Sucking blood and productivity from ordinary people. If I ever get a work evaluation that says “sub-par productivity levels” I’m going to blame it on the small mozzies and ask to be transfered to a less humid environment.

Enough. Life here has been enjoyable as usual. My days are consumed working online, talking to Yan-Shih online, talking to my parents and friends online, writing papers online, and sometimes hanging out with my flatties. Basically, I’m making sure to get every penny out of my DSL, as overpriced as it is.

Two exciting things did happen this week, I guess. Curry went great, about 10 people showed up, and the bill was quite low. The curry was great as usual, conversation decent, and the bill was lower than normal. No complaints. After curry I went to a trendy bar/coffee place somewhere with two IT guys. Michael, Jay and myself chatted about running an efficient Customer Support center for a few hours, chatted about general IT for a few more hours, and then got kicked out of the bar/coffee place (it was closing, I wasn’t being bad. Unlike Christmas of last year in London and getting kicked out of the hostel at 7:00am or something…) Got dropped off home.

Michael owns an ISP out of Wellington and Jay was Orcon’s first employee — his cousin owns Orcon. It is one of the largest, if not the largest, ISPs in New Zealand. I spent Friday afternoon with him and the other owner chatting about IT and getting on the piss. My esteem was boosted slightly when Michael asked if I wanted to work for him running a php+billing sync project and/or as their network admin. Would have been very fun, but I would need to stay in New Zealand, and I just feel learning Mandarin and spending time with Yan-Shih are the next course in my life. Plus, the people I work with now on various projects are pretty wicked.

After drinking piss and driving around in Mercedes all afternoon and evening I came home and found a party — I guess I knew a little shindig was going to happen, and was supposed to be home at 7:00 (I came home tipsy from drinking a homebrewn whiskey at 9:30). I knew some of the people here, which was cool, and started chatting away. The highlight happened when for some reason Dylan (flatmate) was teasing me about my hat. My lucky hat. I wouldn’t wear it out on a Friday night surely, but I had been out since 12:30 in the afternoon. Well, I tossed it at him for some reason, but didn’t aim well (can you aim a cap?) and hit him in the head. Oops.

I turned around to grab a beer but saw him get up and start to walk off. Somebody asked him where he was going and he said “to take a piss. In this cap.” Scary thing is, I bet he would have. And it isn’t a mesh hat, it is like, rain proof! Which flipped around is a very, very bad thing. We tussled in the hallway and he tackled me to the floor — he’s a bit bigger than me. I apologized and all was well.

Writing to ZZZ

Published on Jan. 25, 2006 in New Zealand

I close my eyes and write in my blog in an attempt to fall back asleep. As many of you know, I have never had a problem falling asleep. I’ve slept many times in the dirt camping, in a bathtub, on concrete balcony, every train, and in fact, you name it and I’ve most likely slept in it.

Except if I’ve had coffee. My body luckily reacts to caffeine very well. Last night included. At about 12:00 I decided to have a cup of tea, pouring not a teaspoon of leaves into my cup but a lumpy tablespoon (oops). I couldn’t get to bed until almost 6am. Then my alarm went off at 9:55am for a meeting, and it was cancelled!

The last few weeks have been less than ordinary. I went to a few parties, talked to a few interesting people and did lots of work. Somehow I was the organizer for this weeks Thursday Night Curry; a group of IT Professionals from around Auckland that gather to talk shop. I have to admit that I think TNC is one of the things I look forward to most every other week. Yum.

In other news, I’m preparing to start my travels throughout NZed and up to Singapore and Taiwan. I’ve acquired a car for 25NZD/day, plus they will pay for shipping. I thought this was a good price, less than half what my parents typically paid (from what I heard), but then a fellow Curry guy said “Oh, I have a connection, could have gotten it for you cheaper, like 22 or 23 a day.” Oops, Kelvin forgot to utilize the networking he has done.

At times I’m starting to feel like a dead bet that has gained an omnipresent view of its previous residence. People are coming in hordes to check out my room to rent out — maybe five a day. Crazy! And I must say, I think renters here in NZ are so much more normal than the ones I witnessed in Portland. Any previous flatmates that read that will immediately conjure up images of people driving drunk (you could smell the alcohol on them) to the interview, and proceed to tell you that if you choose them, they will hack your TV to give you free playboy. Or people who almost got on a fight on the bus on the way over, and proceed to tell you. Or 40 year old single guys.

And with that, I think I’m ready to fade into another sleep cycle. Oh!! One last thing I should mention. I try to leave tech-things out of my normal blog, but this one was just too much fun. Currently I have a Portland phone number (503-715-0066). But, but, but, a bankrupt girl named Melissa and a resteraunt owned the line before me, so I would regularly receive calls at 5am saying “may I speak to Melissa.” I decided to put a stop to it. Tech style.

There is an open source application called Asterisk that I have been using. Many companies use it, in fact, many if not most of the IT companies represented at Curry have at least one Asterisk box. It is an enterprise class PBX, that is, phone system. It may be useful for our office, so I’ve been learning how to play with it. Setting up an IVR (press 1 for tech support, 2 for a free drink, 3 for the CEO) was inevitable. So now, when you call the line, I welcome you saying “press 1 for Kelvin otherwise hang up now.” Then the theme from jeopardy plays. After pressing one my laptop, or soon-to-be-purchased SIP phone rings. Nifty eh? And if I don’t pick up, you hear a message recorded by some girl saying “weasels have eaten ourphone system, please leave a message.” I haven’t had an early morning phone call since.

Just great.

Home Sweet Home

Published on Jan. 1, 2006 in New Zealand

I’ve had several requests to answer if I’m alive.

Are you alive?
I think so. *pinch* Yup
Good!

For those of you who want more information, read on. I beg your forgiveness as it is past 3am and I’m rather tired.

I have no joined the JAFA ranks, i.e. Just Another Fucking Aucklander. What can I say, I’m worse than a statistic. While I love the country-side, I don’t love the hick-side, and that is what Gisborne is. As you can tell by my belated entry my journey back was several months ago, so I’ll only recap a few stories.

Before coming back to Auckland I believed I had a place to stay. Upon arriving I checked my email and the place unfortunatly didn’t materialize. SadlyI dragged myself into the Surf n’ Snow (even though it snows nowhere near Auckland) and checked in. The lady (a Japanese/Somoa/something else “mix) was very kind. Rates were reasonable, and I was issued into a room with only one other guy. Another gentleman from South Africa, we talked a few minutes and since he was leaving gave me his towel — score!

The next week was quite painful. I woke up and began searching for a place to stay. My general maxim for life is to spend money on things that matter. And a studio apartment downtown that costs $200USD/week, A WEEK, is not worthwhile. Flatmates, here I come. Utilizing the power of the internet I located some 30 people who fit my criteria. Knows what the internet is, lives close to downtown, under $100USD/week. That’s about it. I would even live with a grandma if she knew about ADSL.

I located a few prospects and arranged to meet three or four houses. The first one I went to was a trek accross the downtown area, but the match was obvious. Great flatmates, amazing location. I had to wait a few days while the previous flatmate moved out, which, since I now had a place to live, was ok with me.

Moving in was a breeze, I only own 1 1/4 bags. Before even moving in I ordered a DSL modem from trademe and arranged for DSL to be connected. Until that happened I frequented Starbucks every day for five hours, at least. After a few days they were just giving me free coffee. Interestingly enough i just had to sit to make friends. Four or five people a day would start conversating with me; some inviting me to wine, others exchanging business cards.

Since then I have become quite emmersed in Kiwi culture. Certainly I have had a few highlights in the last two months.

I started playing Ultimate Frisbee again by joining a Spring League. We play every Thursday night, and as in-shape as I look, my out-of-shape body huffs and puffs while no houses fall down. Even more riveting is Thursday Night Curry. This isn’t ordinary curry, this is I.T. curry. A group of 15 - 20 IT professionals (define professional however you want) all join for good curry every other Thursday. I look forward to this Thursday every week! Then again, this also corresponds with rent day. Such a bittersweet day.

One weekend I joined what us nerd people call an Installfest. This is where several (30+) linux/IT nerds all gather and help normal folk install linux on their computers. I went intending to help people install linux, but instead just ate food and chatted with people. Consequently I have now become much closer to a great guy (Karl) who does microcontroller programming and another guy (Ben) who works at Vodafone.

My flatmates are worth mentioning as well. I don’t know if I could have picked a better group of people in Auckland. Hayden and Tanya are testimate to the old saying that “opposite attract.” Scorched into my memories will always be Tanya chanting “wwesssiiieeedddee” when I first moved in (my family lives on the West side of Auckland, where she is from). Owen and Kate are the other couple — quiet but jovial at times. Kate is the person I coordinated with to enter the flat. These lucky two are in Thailand right now. Same as Dillon, but on another adventure. Using Thailand as a segue, I have a vehicle.

A stick shift.

Those of you who know me know that I used to drive a stick shift in High School. But this ain’t High School, this ain’t no moden Honda, and this ain’t the right side of the road. That’s right ladies and gentleman: I drive an old stick on the opposite side of the road.

I’m a fast learner.

During December I visited my mom in Wellington where Richard and Ann (two of her friends) stated “he drives like he was born in NZed.” Flying to Wellington presented a new problem: fog. The plane was unable to land and had to drop us off in Palmerston North, then bus us two hours south. Besides this, my trip to Wellington was spiritual and revitalizing; I met two childhood “friends.” Johnny and Nicki allowed me to realize how my mom became friends with their family when she was our age. Smart, attractive, humorous and kind souled: any single ladies I know would mob Johnny, and any single guys I know would mob Johnny for Nicki. Ann’s kids were much quieter, but great to know none-the-less. Danial is NZed’s best youngest soccer player (or something like that). Ben quiety sits during the day but obviously is athletic. Rebecca the same. Five kids under one roof, and juxtaposing them clearly shows two different families both with a backbone of goodness.

My dad picked me up on December 23rd and drove me back to Auckland. Hour after Hour of riddles made the ride quicker. We stopped in Roterua for the night and continued the next day. For all you riddle folk:

What can go up a chimmney down, but not down a chimmney up.

This was a dumb riddle my dad told, it took me too long to get.

We arrived in Auckland and they dropped me off at my flat. I did a little work and prepared myself for the next few days: Christmas!

Actualy Christmas occured without any problems. I became much closer to Christopher, one of my fathers brothers. Quickly it became apparent how special that side of the family is. There are so many similarities, almost striking.

A slight, misjudgement, caused some problems after Christmas, but I won’t get into tha tnow. The verdict is still out.

New years was like any other. Went to a bar with a few of the flat mates, sent a txt message virtual kiss to Yan-Shih at 12:00am, and went home shortly there-after. My flatmates and I woke up with minimal hangovers (I simply didn’t have one).

And now it is the year 2006.

There are so many things for me to thank regarding the last year. I can’t wait for this new one.

So, it is getting a wee late which means bed time. More will come when more stories are created.

Until then,
Happy New Year

To Gisborne, And Back

Published on Oct. 22, 2005 in New Zealand

Gisborne = Roseburg.

For those of you reading from Oregon, and in particular Ashland, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you whom don’t know about Roseburg, let me explain.

My time in Auckland was wearing to an end “ I had managed to hi-jack an Internet connection from McDonald’s so was able to get online for free “ however who wants to work from McDonald’s? I was having an itching to go play in the ocean, so when Friday came I departed. Nigel and Tina went to Taupo and dropped me off at the bus station at 7:00am or some similar ungodly time. Problem was (and I didn’t make this apparent) “ I was up until 3am working. I also have a NZ dial-up account, so am able to sort of get online if there is a telephone around. Dial-up sucks though. There is a reason I haven’t used dial-up for like, ever.

Tina made me a wonderful breakfast/lunch/dinner care-bag. It was mainly yummy food “ reminding me of the œcare packages? one side of my family promised when I went to uni but in return I was taken off the answering machine 3 days after leaving (œthe tape crashed?) and my room was totally redone within two months.

Anyways, I ate a LOT of the most amazing smoked trout I have ever had. The flavor peaked my taste bud’s sensations. I ate almost the entire section of fish, which would turn out to be a very, very bad thing. Little did I know, the last 2 hours of this bus ride would be on the curviest roads I have ever been on. And I mean freaking curvey. The driver made sure everybody had their œtidy? bag for œanything unwanted? aka if you throw up. Which I almost did “ actually, I was teetering on the edge of yak heaven. Beautiful image I know, but I’ll make my point:

lotsafish + reallycurveyroad = (bad idea)^2

Whatever, I made the journey ok. I arrived and of course didn’t have a place to stay. Or knew of any places, hearing that œthere is a backpackers nearby.? I started talking to this girl from Germany and she jumped in a van to the hostel. My stubborn ass kept walking, but they pulled over and made me get in. Oh, and it was raining (note foreshadowing). We arrived at the Flying Nun and were hustled into a four bed room. I always try to be conscious of being œalone? with females since I know it can make many uncomfortable, so I made sure to leave the door open and try to get to know her (but more importantly for her to get to know me). I felt like crap but hunted down an internet cafe (couldn’t find any wireless) and got a little work done. Came back and went to sleep.

Said g’bye to Christine (she left a charming postcard on my bunk saying if I was ever in Europe I would have to visit) and wandered around a little. Gisborne will soon become synonymous with wandering.

I got a little work done, and then started playing cards with a group of people. Two girls from Wales, an Aussie, Frenchman and another American (from Humboldt). He looked stoned. Played a few card games, including BS, which I schooled them at. One of the Wales girls looked over and simply said œA future politician!? I sort of took it as a compliment, but never BS’d the entire game! (Winning is all about counting and cheating).

One funny part came when i was helping/teaching one of the girls how to win and showed her a trick. Most people actually try to BS in the came, but I can’t really lie, so I just cheat; that is, I put down say two sixes and one other card (a card that I won’t need for quite a few rounds) and say œtwo sixes.? If somebody BS’es, they take the cards. Well, she put down four sixes on the first round and sort of threw them down there, and had tried to sneak a 5th card in. You don’t do this trick if you are first, cause you can count the cards, duh. Anyhow, somebody BS’d, duh also, but it backfired in her face. I laughed so hard.)

Next day I ended up going surfing. Yay! Oh I had to much fun too!! It wasn’t a really good day, especially to learn, but I’ll go again I’m sure! The waves were pretty big and the ocean choppy “ not to mention I pseudo-got-caught in a rip out at Wainui and almost floated away. And I wouldn’t have made it to Taiwan (inside joke).

Oh yea, I went out one of these nights, don’t remember which one though. Another German girl, Carolina (who was dissing Message in a Bottle cause it wasn’t gory…) got turned away since she didn’t have an ID (from one of the bars). We knew the bartender at the other bar.

And that reminds me “ I met another American, Mike, who had been living there for quite some time. Mike was cool, but the guy I initially met, Nick, is freaking awesome. He is from Scotland, but I could understand him, at least until he said œhow’s your form? and I said œwhat?? and he said œhow’s your form? but I thought he said œhow’s your farm? so I said œmy farm is umm, doing just fine? and he started laughing. œNot farm, form.? He said farm. He told some great stories and has been one of the most genuine people I have met in the last few months “ plus he and his girlfriend are about as cute as it gets.

As a segue, somehow, just trust me, I ate a lot of Indian food while in Gisborne. I think they were surprised when I asked for a fork and spoon. Many good talks occurred with me and the Indian guys, including prostitution in Singapore, which as I mentioned in an earlier post, I had learned a few things about.

Another interesting instance occurred when I needed to have a conference call with the US, at 9pm PST. That is, 5am Gisborne time. And Kelvin doesn’t have an alarm clock. After trying to find one in two super markets and two petrol stations the girl at Pak N Save reminded me I could just use my cell phone. Great idea! It was out of batteries so I started charging it and fizzzle, it died. Having a temporary lapse in common sense I plugged a 120v charger into the 240v wall. Bad kelvin, no bone, err, no charged cell phone. It was functionally ok, but had so little power that I couldn’t trust at it. The only other options were a) iPod or b) laptop. I set the alarm in my iPod and all it would reproduce is a small vrrrrzzing for about 4 seconds. I turned on my laptop, learned a little perl I had meant to learn, and wrote a quick and dirty alarm-clock program.

Towards the end of the week in Gisborne I realized I was going to most likely leave. I loved the surfing atmosphere, but I also just love the city life. With family in Auckland, being close to an airport, and with more housing options (Gisborne had almost no housing available at all) “ it was a simple place. Not to mention Raglan, where most of the championships ar held, is just 1 ? or so south. The deal breaker was with the internet, which was scarce. Apparently one guy installed ALL the dsl on that section of the east coast. Job opportunity? Maybe. Frustrating? You bet. The guy at the internet cafe, Philip, and I become quite good friends. Another great person I met while out in Gisborne, I always looked forward to seeing him. While I didn’t know his name until the very end of my trip, we discussed perplexities ranging from technology to Asian woman. He is married to a girl from Japan, so gave me some interesting perspectives “ and he is Canadian (Chinese-Canadian, if that hyphenated phrase exists), so we related well. The last night I was in town he stayed 1 ? or so after the cafe closed to chat about life. Solid guy “ a shout out to Treb-Net.

The next morning I woke up and wandered to the bus “ in the rain. I got on the bus and went back to Auckland. While Gisbone has many good memories, Auckland will be a lot œeasier.?