You can guess what he’s famous for…

I cleverly decided based on information in their Blog and the fact that there is only one flight from Singapore to Christchurch each day, that Emily and Adam would be arriving on the 11:50 flight from Singapore this morning. However on arrival at the airport and watching people who weren’t them coming out of the arrival gate for about an hour, I decided that they weren’t… and have since had it confirmed by Emily’s brother and Adam’s mum that they are actually arriving tomorrow. I guess that’ll learn me for trusting 2.5 month old information.

Right, I decided yesterday that I am going to try to update my blog every day, no matter how boring this will cause the output to be… I may have to start rambling about random stuff to make things interesting. The only thing I’m wondering is if I decided this yesterday, and aren’t updating until today, does that mean I’ve already broken the resolution meaning there’s no point continuing? Anyway, because I was having a bit of trouble spelling continuing (one u or 2) I clicked the spell check button and it turns out blogger doesn’t know what a blog is

As for the past week, I watched all three movies in the LOTR trilogy (extended) with Emily. One on Saturday, one on Sunday and the other one on Monday. We currently have a family of 6 staying for my friend Tim’s wedding on Saturday, who it turns out I know from back in Te Pahu (The Taylors). Last night I went to Tim’s stag bbq, which was quite relaxing and I think Tim was quite relieved by the end of it as nothing actually happened to him.

Also, we finally have some good weather! which will hopefully continue through the weekend.

Well, for the first day of my daily post extravaganza, I’d just like to say that I am feeling extremely relaxed, due to having just returned from a fantastic evening which culminated in sitting in a spa for about an hour. The weather was fantastic today, not a cloud in the sky and the Miller’s home world temperature board said it was 23° when I went home from work just before 5pm. I didn’t manage to convince anyone to have a game of petanque or giant chess outside at lunchtime though. Apparently they were booking plane tickets to South Africa or something… Anyway, after I got home and there was nobody else there, I wandered around to the Beavon’s because I knew Emily had gone there and spent some more time attacking the spyware on their computer. Then I took Emily to meet her new employers in Woolston for about 3 minutes and then we came back to the Beavon’s for tea. After that I continued my assault and I think we may have defeated the spyware, although I haven’t heard a final definitive verdict yet. Then me and Merodie went round to Rachael’s house and we played volleyball, ate waffles with ice cream and cheesecake and bananas and half a muffin (Rich ate all the other muffins before we got there and then we sat in the aforementioned spa. Paul and Judy were there too (and Rich and Rachael if that wasn’t obvious from previous comments. Now I’m back here completing my daily post obligations, which having now been completed (and slightly backdated by less than 15 minutes) will allow me to go to bed. I was tossing up whether to have it as Saturday’s post since I already posted today, but I will have more to post by then, so I didn’t.

For me, it’s technically still Saturday, because I haven’t gone to bed yet…

Another great day. Once again fantastic weather - apparently it got up to 33 degrees in Christchurch, although I wasn’t in Christchurch most of the day, I was in Waipara, attending Tim and Leah’s wedding, which was awesome. Start time was 1:30pm First they got married in the church (description somewhat abbreviated) and then we drove to the reception, which was in a marquee and listened to a number of great speeches and had a nice afternoon tea, which was good due to the lack of any form of lunch consumption on my part. After the speeches we were told that our next course of action was to hop on the steam train which had pulled up outside and travel Weka pass (and back again), which was an unexpected surprise and another opportunity to mingle, consume beverages and peruse the amazing view as it came past us. When we got back to the tent we found a helicopter waiting outside to take Tim and Leah away! which I thought was a very cool idea.

After helping a bit with the cleanup we eventually arrived back in Christchurch at about 8:45 after which we had some sandwiches for tea and then headed around to Katies for a much needed swim (did I mention the weather) By this time it was dark, but the swim was still fantastic. Then Emily, Merodie, Rachael and me went into town and played pool for a bit and then went to meet the bridesmaids and some of the other wedding guests at shooters just after 12. We hung around there till about half past one and then went to Denny’s for some wedges and oreo shakes and then headed home.

And true to my word, I am updating my blog before I go to bed. I ramble when I’m tired.

A fairly long day after the late night last night. Went to church this morning and spent most of the rest of the day cleaning, well Emily and Dave were cleaning and I mowed the lawns and weeded the garden, which was a bit of a mission, as the lawns were getting pretty long - not quite knee high, but getting there and definitely not to a grasshopper. Also inspected our new flat and wrote down everything that we don’t want to pay to fix when we move out. Went round to Dave’s for tea, and eventually came home and watched The Mexican.

One piece of awesome news for the day to end this post with…

Emily is going to flat with us!!!

Strong Nor’ Westers today. Picked up Emily from her job in Woolston after work. We had planned to have fish and chips on the beach. However, this idea somehow changed into having the banquet at Little India, which explains the title. Much delicious food, followed by almost having to be rolled out the door. Then we went to our new flat and decided rooms and thought of where we were going to put stuff, which was quite a useful exercise. The plan is to get rid of “my” lounge suite, as it isn’t really very flattish - it’s kind of more of a Grandma thing with high backs, and get something more comfortable. The only thing I forgot to do was plan network cable layouts, but I will get to that next time.

In other news, I have decided to change the photos on my blog to thumbnails (click to enlarge) to reduce the amount of time it takes to load and also the length of the front page. I’ve only converted the stuff on the front page so far, although I think I will leave the spelling thing big.

I have started the shifting process, with a couple of car loads to the new flat this evening. Also managed to sort out the power and phone. To those of you who know it, we will be keeping the same phone number. I got in just in time on the power - one more day and we would have had to pay a $50 reconnection fee, as it was about to be disconnected. I had a bit of a play this evening with scale paper rectangles of all the stuff in my room on a scale drawing of my room, trying to make it all fit, as my new room is smaller than my current one. I had moderate success and am optimistic about fitting everything in. I’ll post a photo once the move is complete. I am considering a garage sale to get rid of stuff I don’t need anymore. If anyone who reads this is interested, the list currently includes a canon bjc265 printer (no ink), a small stereo, sega master system, green commodore 64 screen, a lounge suite and various other bits and pieces (brand new laser pointers at $4 a piece too - I have approximately 20). I’m sure the list will grow if I actually do get round to having one.

Also, Happy Birthday to my brother David, who turned 14 today and is about the same size as me and probably somewhat stronger too.

Did a bit more shifting today, mainly the small stuff and my books and some other stuff (List ended due to boringness). Then I went round to Rich Bramley’s place and saw some of the photos Adam took on their trip with Chantelle, Rich and Emily. Then we had a spa, which was very relaxing and an excellent end to the evening - although, this is the actual end to my evening. Fortuitously, I happened to have my togs in the car. In other news, the unpaid leave I applied for, for my trip to Europe in July, was declined, which raises interesting questions about what I am going to do in the middle of this year. I have a reasonable idea, but probably shouldn’t discuss it here.

I just mastered juggling while kneeling on my swissball - balance and hand-eye coordination all at once. I thought I’d do my update now so I wouldn’t have to do it tonight. Am playing basketball in about an hour, and then yep, you guessed it… more shifting.

Well, obviously it isn’t actually my first post, but it is my first post from our new flat, and I only missed one post We had our fish and chips on the beach yesterday, and then came back and I carried on shifting. Then today Adam and Caleb helped us shift all the big stuff - Thanks Adam and Caleb! Unfortunately, the post isn’t on our ADSL connection yet as it hasn’t been connected yet (I think - how do you tell?). On the plus side, We have 24 days left on our paradise dialup account, so we aren’t without internet. I missed yesterdays post because my computer was here and our phone connection was at our other flat. I will post some inside photos once I have finished loading my room. Currently it and Mike’s room are mostly full with my stuff, so it could be an interesting exercise shoe-horning it all in. Like I said, I’m going to have a garage sale in a couple of weeks. (I would have it next weekend, but I will be at parachute! I’m flying up on Thursday night and will be back on Monday night, so there may be a few missing posts then - unless I get really motivated and find some netcafe thing at parachute.

I’m trying to decide what I should do now. I’m currently trying to decide between unpacking and sleeping. For some reason I am very tired…

I had a good day. Went to church this morning, and was quoted in the sermon… Not something that happens to me everyday, and I’m not quite sure the writing was up to quotable standard (you cant judge for yourself by clicking here)

After church, I couldn’t resist the urge of captain Ben’s, and picked up some chicken on rice on the way home. I had decided last night that I should build some shelves for my room, to go on top of my drawers, as my room isn’t the biggest in the world and was a little short on storage space. So I set out in my trusty Toyota and headed to the hagley kitchens bin opposite work and picked up everything that looked vaguely useful and could fit in my car. Then I went to Bunnings - my first visit, I finally see what all the fuss is about… and bought a $19.25 Jigsaw, some blades, some screws and a screwdriver bit for my drill. Then I went home grabbed a hammer, went back to the hagley kitchens bin and tore apart some pallets. Then, back home and proceeded to build myself a set of shelves for the rest of the afternoon out of 100% recycled materials (and some 100% new screws).

I am pleased with the result, although it wouldn’t win any awards. It looks a little rough, but it is solid and shouldn’t collapse under the weight of all my stuff. Ok, enough talking it up… Here’s a picture of it in place on top of drawers. You can see the doorway on the right to get a sense of scale. Note the wee lip going over the back of the drawers which will stop it from falling off. I’ve given it a few shakes, and it’s not budging!

I’ll post more photos of my room once it’s cleaned up and those shelves are full, currently there is kind of a mound of stuff on the floor, which gets shifted regularly to allow safe passage to my bed or desk.

After I finished it I gave in and went to the fish and chip shop again - like I said, it’s way too close. (It was about 20 to 8 when I finished the shelves and cleaning up, and the kitchen isn’t unpacked yet, so I don’t feel too bad about it)

That’s enough for today…

Lost a game of chess to Mark Rhodes at lunchtime in an epic battle, with a huge crowd of spectators at the end. He never quite made that fatal mistake… More takeaways for tea, Chinese this time, shouted by Emily’s amazing brother Shaun. The kitchen is unpacked now though, so no excuse for not cooking tomorrow. I may even volunteer. In other news, I own Baz’s blog.

Got this from Mark just now, and just had to post it… Anyone that has ever had to deal with spyware will relate.

Not much happened today. A reasonably productive day at work, recycled a pile of cardboard and engine oil from our old flat at the dump, cooked tea and had an Navs oversight team meeting which had yummy frozen chocolate covered banana slices and watermelon and after match mints. Looking forward to going to bed now. At some point in the future I will start thinking of interesting things to talk about when it’s a slow news day… but that day is not this day.

I’m flying up to Hamilton for Parachute tomorrow, have to be at the airport at 5:30 after work. Cleaned out the garage at the old flat with Dave and shifted Megan’s bed to his place on the roof of my car. Typed up minutes of oversight meeting and bought and sold numerous blogshares. Still have to pack, but am scheduling that for lunchtime tomorrow (amongst other things).

Well, home again. Going to parachute tomorrow. A smooth flight up, although it seemed to go on forever. I think the combination of it being a direct flight (no Wellington stop), having already read the January edition of the Air NZ magazine and having no other reading material made the flight seem to go on forever.

Thanks to Adam for dropping me off at the airport. I almost started worrying that I wasn’t going to get home from work in time when Mark and Greig’s 5 minute each chess game turned into an epic cliffhanger.

If you’re wondering what the title is talking about, that is where my family’s house is, in the larger area that is Te Pahu. Typing Kaniwhaniwha into google does yield a respectable 143 results.

Couple of things I forgot to mention… Firstly, I had a bit of time to kill at the airport and had a pie at the cafe for the price of a gourmet meal - crazy. While sitting in the cafe I went to pull out my boarding pass, and found something unexpected in my pocket - twas my trusty leatherman clone pocket knife… Which I was going to put in my pack, but accidentally dropped into my pocket. Oh well, no security checks on the smaller planes, so it made it safely to Hamilton (as did the rest of the passengers, because I didn’t attempt to hijack them.)