Tag Archive for 'jboss'

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pan handling

today was the karori nature sanctuary’s annual street appeal and the jboss was out begging accepting contributions.

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jboss’ review of the day:

My two hour stint on the bucket brigade was pretty successful. It’s hard to say how much I collected as the bucket is sealed. I did have several people drop in $5 and one dropped in a $10, but the majority put in $1 and $2 coins. The hat with the bird on it was a good attention getter. Antony said I looked like dork, which I’m sure I did, but hey, I can be a dork if the cause is right. The two hour session was an interesting people experiment. My general assessment is that women donate more often than men. Women in Paris Hilton oversized sunglasses never donate (and often speed up to pass you by) and men in suits never donate (they were always on their cell phones). I will do it again next year.

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[ed. since this post we've been back for a tramp at the karori sanctuary and it really is fantastic. hard to believe you are just a few minutes from the cbd given the abundance of wildlife and density of the forest. unfortunately i forget my camera. looking forward to going back. highlights of the trip was encountering a pair of kaka birds (not joking - that's their name) eating lunch and a large flock of tuis chowing down in a fruit tree.]

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how we missed the picture of the previously thought extinct moa

no doubt that the jboss’ photographic skills are better than mine when it comes to composition and post-production. but i think it is safe to say that i may have the upper hand in the action shot category.

the movie speaks for itself.

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artsy fartsy

for the last 3 weeks the new zealand international arts festival has been in full swing here in wellington. held every 2 years it features a wide range of theater, music, dance and visual arts. i think most every local theater, stage and auditorium is booked up for the festival.

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so far we have made it to 2 events – black watch and glow. the ukulele orchestra of great britain was also on our short list but sold out too quick for us. some of my work colleagues who went said it was great.

black watch was a play about the a scottish regiment – the black watch – and their experiences serving in and returning from iraq. very well done, although i think they could have trimmed it by 30 minutes and nothing would have been lost. i’m starting to pick up a trend – but it doesn’t seem that the scots are real happy about getting pulled in to the iraq war. as they described it 250+ years of proud service and tradition was trashed in a few short years in iraq.

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glow is definitely a love it or hate it kinda thing. when i read the teaser i thought i might try and schedule a trip to visit to dentist to conflict with the show. “glow is a fluid and perfectly synchronized relationship between organic being and video world, an intense and concise experience.” oh boy.

turns out i really enjoyed it. reminded me a bit of “tron” for you 80′s geeks.

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the show is a 30 minute performance with a single dancer on a small stage that is illuminated from above. the audience looks down onto the stage from seating above. so far nothing special. the magic is that the illumination is generated in real time based on the position and movement of the dancer. an infrared camera mounted about detects that dancers position and feeds it into a specially designed computer that controls the lighting.

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still sounds wacky. easier to see for yourself.

one of the smallest and lowest tech items that both me and the jboss enjoyed was the placement of speakers at a few major crosswalks with short stories being read aloud. seldom else do you bummed when the light turns and you can cross.

life on a south pacific island

the biggest surprise for me about our move to nz has been how much i enjoy living on the coast and spending time at the shore.

i’ve never been a big ocean person before despite living over 20 years in boston. and i still have no interest in going to the beach to lie down on a blanket and get a tan – but most of the nz coastline is too rugged for that anyway and is great to walk along. the rock and tides make it a new experience every time. and something that i can’t explain is that if i didn’t know better i would swear that that water was fresh and not saltwater. previously i always felt sticky and gritty as soon as i got out of the water – but not here.

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just a few blocks from our house is island bay with the local fishing fleet. island bay is one of the oldest settlements in wellington and founded by italian fishermen. unfortunately there’s not much evidence of the italian culture left in town (i’m trying my part to reverse this with my italian scooter). you can see in the 2 photos below the island bay shoreline is a mix of clear and rocky areas. during the warm weekends there is always a group of local kids swimming and having a great time in the surf.

gromit has become quite the ocean dog – scrambling over the rocks and wading through the surf. his favourite activity is fetching the tennis ball that we throw just a few feet into the surf. what amazing me is how he immediately knew how to time waves and that if he waited the ball would come to him. in the gromit-has-his-long-list-of-issues camp, after we’ve had our fun at the beach and everyone is quite wet, gromit totally cowers in fear of getting rinsed off with the hose. running in the ocean, timing the crashing waves, scrambling over rocks – no problem. a bit of water from a garden hose – no way.

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a bit to the west is siren rocks – a very popular place for snorking and kayacking. we take our beach chairs and hang out whenever the weather is good. gromit is on high alert when i’m out snorking.

notice the

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the map below shows island bay. near the top of the bay you can see the fishing fleet and counter-clockwise around the bend the pier and then the first rocky bit of our shore. further down where the shoreline bends to the left is siren rocks. the island right off shore is taputeranga. it is the small island visible some of our shoreline photos and movies.

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the hills in the distance of many of our photos is another part of the lower north island – on the right in the map below.

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i’ve added some mini-movies of our times at the shore on the media page.

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fetch

island bay surf

high tide

distorsione di velocità, scooter piacevole

after an almost 3 month wait my scooter finally arrived.

this should make getting around the city a whole lot easier.

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just kidding. that’s jackie’s scooter. my scooter is below.

49cc’s of italian charm.

portofino green with carmel saddle leather.

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i’ve been scootering into the city most days, dropping my commute down to 12 fun minutes. plus i get to use the bus lanes and scooter parking in the city is free.

i filled up after my first 100 kms. 4.1 litres (a bit more than a gallon), or almost 60 mpg.

2 weekends ago the weather was great so the jboss and me spent a day out on the scooter. breakfast at “the bach” along the beach, then into the city for the afternoon, and finally around the peninsula.

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i love my new scooter but i think the jboss went a bit too far to show her loyalty.

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super bowl monday

with us 18 hours ahead of boston, super bowl sunday is actually on monday. that means it will be up to the jboss to root for patriots whilst i’m off making money for the man.

espn international is part of our cable package and carries the occasional baseball or american football game. we were able to see the 2 pats playoff games, but no surprise the super bowl is only available on one of the sky sports package channels.

on the day it was below zero in green bay we were spending the afternoon at the ocean.

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the hats make us dorks look even dorkier, but if you look at the graphic below you’ll see that one country is nestled neatly under the cozy comfort of the ozone hole.

you gotta do what you gotta do.

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meri kirihimete

merry christmas and happy holidays to all,

antony, jackie & gromit

toasting jackie’s birthday

today is jackie’s birthday. happy birthday to the jboss

in the most-creative-birthday-card category we have a clear winner.

heidi, debby, glenn, jim, and barb have added their entry into the now international images-with-toast competition.

well done.

this is where we live

yesterday and this morning jackie and i went for a walk with gromit down to the beach.

a quick few blocks and we’re there.


(click any for larger image)

the coastline reminds me of portland – wild and rocky in places, calm beaches in others.

gromit was a bit skeptical about the whole ocean thing but then all of sudden decided he liked it. today he went for two swims.


(“I’m not so sure about this” / “ok – i like it”)

(the local fishing fleet / i guess even dogs can get caught with their eyes closed during a photo)

( digging to china spain / waiting for breakfast from the bakery)

this is from a month back but one of my favourite views is looking down on the city and harbour from the botanical gardens. on jackie’s first day here i made sure to take her there for the view. there are a few images that continue to strike me. this is one of them.

each time i experience them i say to myself “this is where we live!”

parole hearing

yesterday marked gromit’s 30th day in quarantine – and after a final check by the maf vet he was cleared to go.

one more big milestone. we’re all together again.

2 weeks until final milestone – container arrival.

(let’s go!)

after we arrived home gromit gave the place a thorough inspection and declared that it would do. an hour after arriving he was asleep on the bed.

(surveying the new neighborhood)