Moved in!

Well, I'm all moved in to the new flat! I have the place to myself til I leave for my trip. I'm mostly unpacked...photo album to the right. But haven't hung anything on the walls, am still waiting for the fridge to be delivered and not liking how small the kitchen is. Other than that, I love the place!

Reverse, reverse, reverse

I had a great time learning how to 4WD yesterday. My department does a course that teaches you the maximum limits that the vehicles are capable of. It was fun, stressful and exhausting. I knew the toughest part for me was going to be reversing through a curvy lane that was staked out. I had to reverse, reverse, reverse, cause I struggled with it more than anyone. I kept overcompensating and ran over numerous stakes. How I can be so terrible at reversing, yet great at parallel parking and backing up a boat trailer, is beyond me! The funnest part was going through lots of rough holes that they would continue digging out making them deeper so that you would lose traction of 1 or even 2 wheels. After mastering going forward through the rough bit, then you had to reverse through it. I decided I prefer the Toyota Hilux for the rough bit, but it sucks for reversing cause it has small mirrors, the Holden Rodeo had the nice large mirrors that made it easier to reverse with. Then we learned how to go up a steep hill and how to do an emergency back down if you started to slip. Then up the hill, turn around and back down. Then reverse up the hill, turn around and reverse back down. Then onto a side slope, forward, then reverse again. So far all these things had been staked out, so you had to follow the course exactly...did I mention how many stakes I reversed over??!!! We had to do each of these things until you could do it perfectly. After all that we had to drive around the hills and test our new skills. Why I volunteered to go first and in the truck that I hate the mirrors on is beyond me! I ended up going along a path that was over grown with gorse bushes and was scratching the truck. After sometime, my instructor finally tells me it's only going to get worse, what should I do now? Bugger! Now I have to reverse along this overgrown path with the bushes scraping the sides of the truck making that horrific high pitched noise of fingernails on a chalkboard. After much over-compensating and having to pull forward to re-align over and over again...during which the scraping noise is horrible and now making me anxious, we finally get back to the path where we came up the hill, which is much of a drop off! I managed to do it...scarily! Cynthia in the back seat says "Kristin that didn't feel too good back here!" I said "It didn't feel good up here either!" And asked the instructor if I could have done it any better and he said no, I did good. Phew! Time to get the hell out and let someone else have a go! Cynthia didn't ride along on the next test, which was a good thing, cause Doug had to reverse it over that same "cliff" I had just drove down. And when he did so, the front end dropped down into the gorse bushes off the path and I kinda let out a scream! F?#%! I thought I had it stressful! Last was Cynthia's turn, she had to maneuvere around a boggy area. Finally, a refresher on how to use the radios to call for help and how to change a tire. Then back to the department to scrub the trucks clean! I was exhausted, and happy to know that more than likely I'll never need to use most of those things I learned today because you wouldn't normally be in those situations!

I don't like vertebrates

Well, my fish have a swim bladder infection and it looks like my experiment is going belly up...literally! I haven't given up on it yet, but I lost 17 fish in a week. It'll only get worse I'm sure, so I'll probably be pulling the plug on it this week. I won't have enough time to repeat before I leave for Australia and I want to make sure I get all the tanks and equipment disinfected before using any of it again. I'm a bit depressed about it cause it's a lot of wasted work, but I keep thinking "I'm going to Australia!" and I have lots of other things to focus on and get accomplished. Maybe I can get 2 of my thesis/dissertation chapters written in the mean time.

But I've been doing a few things to balance out the stress. I went to a wonderful acoustic concert in a beautiful church on Friday night. Kiwi pop singers and the main one, Boh Runga, was fantastic! Saturday was the Spring Food Festival to get folks out for Internat'l Climate Change day. We learned some seasonal cooking with asparagus, got lots of free plants & a free eco light bulb, listened to live music, etc. Then went to Jen's for dinner...we made venison, garlic mashed potoatoes, cali, brocli & aspargus with a sauce we just learned how to make at the festival. Yesterday was yard work - I fixed a terrace that washed out from all the rain during the winter, moved some plants, ripped some out, weeded and Anson weeded, trimmed & mowed so it's not embarrassing to show someone around anymore. Then met some labmates at the pub to play darts...first time since I've moved to NZ! I've missed it! Today is Labour Day but I'm at work...lots to do before my holiday!

Update

Exciting News: I'm going to Australia for Christmas! Flying into Brisbane on the 15th, Rebbeca will pick me up and we'll do some traveling before spending the holidays with her parents! I'm sooooo excited! I had to book my flight back to Dunedin on New Year's Eve to get a good deal, so I'll be back here for the New Year. I started reading Down Under by Bill Bryson...borrowed it from the Aussie that I just got done housesitting for while she was away getting married in India.

I posted a couple photo albums. Anya left a while ago but I'm just getting around to posting photos.

I've been busy getting rust fixed on my truck. This country and it's damn requirements for vehicle "fitness" are crazy and frustrating! I've spent $300 on what needed immediate attention. I still need to have a color matched and paint it myself. Then I'll have about $400 worth of rust to remove from under the body! I really dislike living in such a humid environment...sweat doesn't evaporate, mold all over the house and now all this damn rust!

Lots of work lately! I've been teaching labs (which are over for the semester), doing some grading for extra money, I'm giving a 3-min talk on Friday competing for money, went fishing for dogfish (a type of shark) last week, trying to finish up another paper from my master's research, and most importantly, I've got my last experiment up and running and it hasn't been easy...leaking tank, running a cart into the tank and shattering one end (I cried hard over that one). I'm using eel-scented water to see if my parasite species can sense if it's next host is present or not. I'm also using perch water as a non-host predator. European perch are gorgeous!

Lambs - It must be spring!

Spring is in the air

Had lunch by the leith under the cherry blossoms...


with Rachel and Sabine :)

Welcome Home

I went out for dinner with some friends the day after I got back. We went to the espanlade at the beach. It was a warm spring evening. Heaps of surfers were out even though there was no surf!


What a beautiful sky!


It is good to be home :)

Eating my way around America

I had a grand time on my trip home! A whirlwind couple of days in San Fran and Sac, seeing family, getting in my first Mexican meal and enjoying the 100F temperatures! Then off to Knoxville for ASP, networking, giving a talk and hanging out with Emily, Devon and Katherine...oh such fun times! I was pleasantly happy to be in America amongst Americans, where I can be as loud as I please and not stand out...ok, maybe I still stood out, but it was totally acceptable to be loud. My talk went well and I had lots of questions and interest. Then on to Minnesota...by this point I had taken 8 flights in a week and was so ready to be home! I flew into Humphrey and my mom was waiting for me at Lindberg without her cell phone (it was in the wash machine...oops!) and it took me an hour to get to her...thankfully she stayed put and was sittting there waiting for me! Couple days with my mom, then I headed up north to see both dad's and Chad's family. Colder than it should have been for August...as you will see in the photos, we were often wrapped in towels on the lake trying to stay warm! Then back to my mom's for a week and half. Went to the State Fair (YUM), had another Mexican night, bbq at Tammy's, but mostly just hung out at my mom's. I'm happy to say I ate all the foods I've been missing...turkey (sandwiches and a drumstick at the fair), Mexican food (4 times :), pizza, brats, hotdog, breakfast sausge, my brother's sausage gravy and biscuits, blueberries (only available in NZ when in season), doritos, and a steak actually cooked to order (rather than well done no matter how you order it). My last day was spent at my aunt's in San Fran, just hanging out in the garden and relaxing! Check out the photo albums...

Shakin' my world

So the other night I'm laying in bed just on the verge of falling asleep with the tv on and I think "the cat is really purring" then "how can the cat be moving the bed that much?" then "hmmm my clothes hanging to dry are moving" then "omg! it's a major earthquake!" and I hop out of bed and run down the hall yelling to Michel. She also was just falling asleep and thought somebody was standing there shaking her bed. So there we are standing in her bedroom doorway, clinging to each other. It seemed to last forever...even Michel, being from Cali, said it was the longest quake she's experienced. Previous ones I've felt were over by the time I figured out they were happening, and only shook side to side. This one went in all directions, back and forth and side to side. It made us dizzy so we had a hard time telling when it was over. The whole time I was thinking about how our house is on re-claimed land. It was a 7.8 about 200 miles away. I guess there were 2 more throughout the night, but we went back to bed. Thankfully we didn't get swept away in our sleep as they issued a tsunami warning!

Home sweet Home

Well, I guess I've been avoiding writing a new posting. This last month has been a difficult one. Grandma H was in and out of the hospital and then in a hospice so that they could try to manage her pain (fluid retention due to kidney failure) and make her comfortable if possible. She passed on 23 June. It's been sad, but I am thankful that she is no longer in pain. I just wish I could have been home or at least be home for the reunion and memorial service. Those couple of weeks were not very productive for me. Last week I started to get into the swing of work and this week I can say I've finally been productive again. The pressure of what needs to be done before leaving in Aug for the conference and my visit home is overwhelming! I'll be working most weekends until I leave for the good ol' US of A! Looking forward to being on American soil again...

Snow and 4WD

We had our first snow down to sea level this week! So I had snow at my house for the first time...of course it was gone by the afternoon. The city pretty much shut down. I drove into Uni anyway, but I don't live in the hills. I hear there were lots of idiots trying to drive down the hills in their cars and sliding all over the place and into parked cars...no salt trucks here and it rains, then snows, then rains again. I had to come in for the class-portion of my 4WD course. For the practical, they put you in all these situations and you have to drive out of them...it should be lots of fun. I've only used 4WD for snow, so I'm excited for this! This course is a requirement for me to take a Department vehicle off road to my field sites next summer.

Other than that, my life is boring. Data entry, data analysis, the gym, procrastination...over and over again. I did have a dinner party last weekend, where we made a few of the dishes from an Indian cooking class a bunch of us took, and then we watched the Simpsons movie. Tonight I get my hair cut (which is red now...I'm tired of having gray hair) and then dinner and a play - Don Juan in Soho. I'm way excited!

American and Proud

Ha! So I was just called a stereotypical American because I wouldn't be coerced in coffee date after only exchanging a few lines with this guy on an online dating service. To him, I should be totally comfortable with meeting him when I don't really know much about him just because he's a PhD student at the university as well. Like academics aren't just as much freaks as anyone else out there! Then he made some reference about maybe I'd rather date someone who isn't educated or that sort...ok, now who is the stuck up one here? I'm glad I didn't end up wasting a coffee date on this dude. And am proud to be a stereotypical American in this instance!!

Who spread the myth?

I just read this hilarious article on what it's like indoors during a New Zealand winter. Click here for the article. I've been wearing thermals everyday for 2 weeks now and scarves are certainly in fashion here because you NEED them!

Celebrate good times!

I had a fabulous birthday last week! I slept in, went to the osteopath for a back adjustment and arrived at the office to banners and streamers and presents and brownies from my friends. :) Rebecca and I went shopping and I bought this merino wool/possum sweater I've been eyeing for a while. And I got a long-sleeve merino shirt and swimming goggles (I've started going to the pool for laps and aqua jogging). Then we went for a walk to the gardens. I got more presents and managed to goof off until dinner time. 15 of us went out for Mexican...it's not even comparable to real Mexican, nor American Mexican, but it was good. So was the Patron...yum! I had an excellent time! Once I get the photos from Anne, I'll put a few up.

Friday night we hosted a farewell potluck for Johan. Many of my lab members came and I made a new recipe for fish pie...it was delicious! I dropped Johan off at the bus station yesterday. I hope he has a safe journey home! So now we are back to 3 for the next month until Anya from Russia arrives...hopefully mid-June, if she gets her visa sorted. She will be an intern in our lab for 3 months.

Well, it's Sunday...I should do some work and then hopefully go for a jog if the weather holds. I'm going to roast my first leg of lamb tonight...

Meeting the neighbor

Last night there was such a horrendous pounding on the door that I wasn't even sure it was the door. I open the door and there's this strange woman standing off to the side smoking a cigarette. Our exchange goes like this...
Me: "Hello?"
Psyco woman: "Can you keep your comments to yourself?"
Me: "Excuse me?"
Psyco: "Do you think I can't hear you? Keep your comments to yourself!"
Me: "What?!"
Psyco: "Do you speak English or do you only speak American?"
Me: (jaw hanging open)
Psyco: "Fuck off!"
Me: (slamming the door shut as Psyco walks away)
So I guess that was my neighbor, who I've never even seen, let alone met, in the year and a half that I've lived here. She obviously thought I was Deanna with the American comment. Why would we talk about some stranger we've never seen? We hear people knocking on her door every day all day...drug traffic, I'm sure. Even if she could hear us talking from inside our house, we haven't talked about her. Must be the voices in her head...lol! Regardless, it's a bit scary to have a stranger show up at your door and bitch you out for something you haven't a clue about. Deanna says she does this kind of thing about once a year. Hopefully, I can get away with not seeing the woman for another year and a half!

Back to back

I know I promised pictures of my fabulous trip, but I have none.  I was laid up on Deanna's couch in back pain while everyone else was off kayaking.  I woke up hurting the day we left and then after a 10 hr drive I was in severe pain the next day.  Good thing I brought a good book as I read that over the 2 days.  Matt came over the first night and made dinner and brought a movie.  The second night I was feeling a bit better and Dee and I went out for a beer and then to Matt's for dinner.  We took 2 days to drive back and stopped at a hot springs.  It was a proper Japanese bath house and rock pools.  I even got a massage so my back was feeling pretty darn good by the end of the trip!  Oooo and I finally got to try out my new tent!  I love it!  Not too sure how 2 people will fit...it'll be cozy!

Where's the bunny?

So now is the last chance to look at all those photo albums I've got posted. All but the very most recent one will be deleted sometime next month. Kodak has changed it's policy and now requires me to purchase something from their online store in order for them to keep my albums online. I refuse and sure don't have the time to recreate all of them on Facebook. So I've decided to just let them go. I'm a little sad, but oh well.

I went to a hockey game this weekend! Oh it was so much fun. New Zealand Ice Blacks kicked some Turkey butt! I want to go to another one today...it's an International tournament. But I've got loads of things to be doing and work to get done. Tomorrow we leave for a camping and kayaking trip to the Abel Tasman! I should have new pics for you next week!

The best news is that I'll be home in August for a visit! Woo Hoo! I'm so excited. I'll be heading to a conference in Knoxville and then I'll be home around Aug 17- Sep 3...I haven't booked my US domestic flights yet. Warm MN summer! I can't wait!

Albatross videos from the fishing trip

The mollymawks, they run across the water when taking off or to get to the fish scraps thrown overboard by the fisherman.

This is a short one of a Royal albatross flying by the boat...oh so exciting!

They can ski on the water before landing...they do this to get closer to the boat and fish.

And watch 'em go wild for a fish that's thrown overboard...

End of summer...sigh

Yikes, I haven't been on here in a while.  The last part of February was full of bbq's, beaches, roadtripping and fishing.  And lots and lots and lots of fish dissections.  I posted a new album.  I went to Tunnel Beach a few weeks ago.  It's this beach where a tunnel has been carved out of the cliff to get down to the beach.  Had a great picnic there enjoying the view of the southern ocean.  Then I went to Queenstown to meet up with my cousin Gina and her husband Joe.  They had been traveling in Australia and spent a few days in NZ.  Anson and Rebecca went along for the trip.  We stopped at a couple wineries on the way up...Black Ridge (one of my favs...mmmm 2001 Riesling) and Gibbston Valley which also has a cheese factory, where we got some cheese, bread and an olive/feta/sundried tomato mix for lunch.  We also stopped that the first bungee jump ever and watched a couple of crazy folks jump over the river.  Then on to Qtwn, where we had dinner with Gina and Joe.  I was soo happy to be around some chatty people!  The next morning Rebecca, Anson and I went for a short hike by the lake and then headed back to Dunners and the rain.  We stopped at one winery, Wooing Tree where I bought their Beetle Juice Pinot Noir.

The fishing trip the following weekend was great!  Same fisherman, but his jet boat motor blew so we had to take out his catamaran and drive that all the way up the coast to fish around Karitane.  We caught barracuda, trumpeter, blue cod and I caught a red cod.  I took lots of bird videos and photos again...we had 3 Royal albatross around that day!  Since we were on the catamaran and had a long trip back, Alan cooked us up some fish (luxury boat with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a full kitchen).  I got to drive and even help jib!  As we got back to the harbor there was a sailing race on and the 2 leaders were just rounding the pin as we entered the mouth of the harbor so we got to sail along side them.

Else I've been crazy busy with dissecting fish in the lab and teaching...I decided to be a demonstrator (TA) this semester.  I'm doing a small amount for a couple of courses and then a regular dem for a 1st yr course of 1750 students!  The labs are close to 100 students.  I'm one of a team of demonstrators!

Oh and we had a lab social and went ten-pin bowling (I'm learning that there are many kinds of bowling).  I sucked!  But we all had a good time.  We are having a bit of an Indian Summer this week.  And I'm helping with fieldtrips the next couple of days so I'll be mucking around with students outside!  Yay!

Parallel Universe

So I must be living in a parallel universe where people are allowed to destroy a city without any consequences. I was on my way to meet up with some friends to go to dinner and a movie last night. A couple of blocks before reaching my department, I had to stop in the middle of the street as a mob of 100s of toga-clad students just came running across the street in-front of traffic. I sat there mildly amused watching them pass while I missed a couple green lights. I get to the street my office is on and the road is closed so I can only go straight. I end up in the cross fire of an egg-throwing war between a couple groups. Haha, my truck is getting pelted with eggs as a couple are taking refuge from fire behind my truck. Then one of them opened up my back door and as I start swearing another came running by, hears me swearing and shuts it. I turn the corner and get to the next stop light and across from me another group is trying to rock a city bus back and forth at a stop light...like they're really going to tip it. And further up the street I see another 100 or so run across the town center octagon. I tell my friends that it's not safe to walk to the movie so we decide to meet at my house and get pizza. I headed home to wash the truck...which I figured out tonight that I didn't get it all cause there is egg in-between my door seals...my door was "egged" shut!

Thankfully, all I got was eggs. Students were throwing vomit and feces out their windows at other students and onto cars. Other cars were smashed up, store windows broken and garbage bins upheaved. Click here for the news story and photos. Only 3 people arrested!!! No one will be expelled...they want to act like this doesn't ever happen here, but it does every year...it just was a bit worse than normal. Any other civilized city in the world would not allow this shit! But this town just cleans up the damn mess! I am flabbergasted that the students can run over this town, be aggressive and destructive in such shear force of numbers that other residents can't even go to a damn movie cause it isn't safe! It's disgusting!

Getting my sanity back...maybe

The field course was fun. And very relaxed. The students choose very low-identification projects and thus didn't need much assistance in the lab...mostly just designing their projects and driving the different pairs to their study sites and I checked out the equipment. We were practically fighting over the chance to drop off or pick up a group of students. So I read a lot, went on some walks, went birding a couple times. After working so much for the last couple of months I didn't bother bringing any work with me so read a lot! I can't say enough about the phenomenal food we had while there...homemade soups, desserts galore, scones, lasagna, chicken, steak and mushroom pie...oh my! I've posted an album.

I've decided that I will absolutely not work on weekends for the rest of February (the last of summer). So for the first weekend, I went hog-wild at the farmer's market and then I tried out the physio pool on Saturday with a friend. It's 95F! It felt great on a cool day. I went to a barbie (bbq) at Rachel's on Sat night. Sunday I went to tunnel beach, this beach were some rich dude had a tunnel blown/carved out of the rock/cliff down to this tiny beach. A bunch of us went out for Mexican last night. Oh how I miss it! There's one place to go in this city and it's expensive. I had a plate of nachos with beef for $25! And that's without guacamole! Then we tried to go to "He's just not that in to you" but it was sold out! Crap. That was disappointing but we'll try again next Tuesday night (cheap night).

Not much else happening in my life but fish dissections, fish dissections, fish, dissections.

A day off!

So yesterday was my first day off since the beginning of Dec.  Now I didn't work all day every day for that couple of months...there were some days where I just came in to feed my fish and walked back out the door.  The last week was like hell.  I had a 2-day workshop, was training someone on helping dissect fish, field work, ended my experiment, euthanized fish and revised my first manuscript!  So my first paper on my Master's research will be published in the Journal of Parasitology.  It feels great to have that done.  One more to go from my Master's work...

Ahhh, but yesterday was fabulous.  I didn't do much of anything.  Slept in (until Wayne came knocking on the door for his mail, damn him!), then watched a movie in bed, took a nap, did some gardening and watched some tv.  All in all it was the best day I've had in a very long time.  If the wind hadn't been so horrendous, I would have also headed to the beach, but getting hit by sand hurts.  Oh, and yesterday was my quitting-smoking anniversary...6 YEARS!!  I can hardly believe it!  And in the last couple of months I've had more cravings than I've had in the last couple of years!  It must be the stress.  

I'm off to go pack for a week-long field course that I'm helping out with and we leave tomorrow.  We head to a camp in the Catlins, an area of native forest and beautiful rugged coastline with great beaches.  Too bad the forecast isn't great so those beaches won't be as enjoyed as they could be.  4 professors, 3 demonstrators (same thing as a teaching assistant...that's what I'll be doing), 2 cooks and 30 students.  They have lectures for a day and a half and then have to do their own projects...so basically I help them with equipment and experimental design and critical thinking...I'm so looking forward to it!

working working working

So I've gotten to the point where I'm working so much that I'm not being very productive.  But deadlines and live animals do not wait!  I have one week to finish revising my paper that was accepted for publication.  I have my fish to take care of daily...this is a constant stress as I worry my fish will all be belly up before the end of my experiment.  And I will be helping with a field ecology course in the Catlins the first week on Feb.  During which I will leaving my fish in the hands of a couple of labmates...scary!  Robert has promised me we can drive everyday to find cell phone reception so I can check in on my fishes.   After so many weeks, the chances of a disease hitting my tanks increases...a constant worry!  I can't wait until it is over!  Then maybe I can take some weekends off this summer!

Kitty kitty kitty

So here's the kitty living under our house.

I think she's been there for a couple of months.  She is extremely skittish and would run on any encounter with a human.  I started feeding her earlier this week.   She warmed up to me quickly!  I came home early yesterday to meet the guy putting a new window in.  I scared her when I walked into the garden but then she realized who I was and came back to watch me.  I went and got her some food and she let me pet her (I didn't see any fleas) and even let me pick her up!  She laid by the back door when I was in the house.  Her hair has been cut with a scissors in the past so she's obviously belonged to someone in the past...I'm guessing a student let her go at the end of the school year in Nov.  Anson says he'll more than likely be allergic since it's a long-haired cat.  I'm going to try to find it a home else I guess I could try to keep it as an outside cat but I think it will need a warmer place to sleep in the winter.  Maybe I can come up with some sort of outdoor cat box.  I don't know.

My officemates

Rebecca, Anson, me and Robert on our new couch

Tagging fish

Common bully in anaesthetic

Fish in my home-made fish-holding device

Now I'm injecting a tag...which is soft when I inject it but then hardens into a plastic-like line of color.  The color and location of the tag determines the fish number.

Then they get a day to recover and I infect them with my parasite.