January 31, 2006 22:11

Wow. Busy.

Friday night went well. The birthday dinner was very tasty and it was good to catch up with bunches of people. When I got home I called Patrick to see if there was a poker game and he said it all looked good for a 3:30am start. So I got back into the game of Civ that I had started earlier in the day. Unfortunately, the poker game got cancelled, so I went to bed around 3:30am, having played lots of Civ.

I spent pretty much all of Saturday playing Civ and watching games from the fourth round of the FA Cup. Yep, that was pretty much it. I did pop up to the Local for an hour or so, but it just wasn't doing it for me (as a sober person).

Sunday's activities were more Civ and more football and some chores (bills, laundry). Liverpool beat Portsmouth 2-1 and got into the next round. I went up to the Local to get some dinner and that was about it.

Monday was a busy work day, but I was also able to fit in a grocery trip and also (shock! horror!) to the gym next door to my apartment to sign up for membership. Yep, I am now a card-carrying gym member (although I don't actually have a card). Dinner was salmon and steamed veggies, and the evening's entertainment was Law and Order, 24, CSI: Miami.

Today I started working and was able to watch two episodes of Charmed before showering. Then it was more work, off to a meeting, back home, off to the gym for a 20 minute break-in workout, then back home to do more work, then dinner (spaghetti bolognese sans spaghetti - very tasty, and leftovers for later in the week), then more work and billing (submitted first invoice for the new contract) and, well, there you have it.

This week promises continue being busy and next week is going to be pretty much non-stop as people from Australia and New Zealand come into town and many meetings will be had. Busy busy busy.

I think there was more that I was going to write about, but it seems to have all been lost in everything else.

January 27, 2006 10:38

This has been a busy week. I have a bit of a break this morning, but I do need to do some preparation for this afternoon. Most of the week has been involved in requirements definition and requirements capturing sessions. When I've not been on client sites, I've been at home writing up the captured requirements or drawing up system architecture diagrams. It's kept me pretty busy, even into the evenings.

So aside from work type stuff, I really haven't done much else. I did play poker for about an hour last night; I lost $21. I could have been ahead, but I got out of a pot that seemed to be getting too rich, even though I did have the best hand. Oh well, so it goes. I may play the late game tonight; it will depend on the early part of the evening.

The football was disappointing last weekend. Liverpool played the stronger game, but a dodgy free kick was given to Man U in the last minute of regular time, from which they scored and hence won the game, 1-0. Fucking Manc bastards. Seattle beat Carolina to win the NFC Championship, which was good, and they now go on to face Pittsburgh in the Superbowl in Detroit in a week. I think I'm going to pull for Seattle. No real reason, just because. On Sunday, Liverpool faces Portsmouth in the FA Cup 4th round. I'm not sure whether I'll watch from home (I believe it's on Fox Soccer Channel), or head to the Brewhouse.

I don't really have much else going on right now. I've got plans for tonight (birthday dinner for a couple of friends), after which I might do poker, and I'm picking up Lauren and Matt from the airport tomorrow night, but that's about all that's in the wind. I might try to see a movie. I should really see Underworld before see Underworld: Evolution. Liza called me to say that Mirrormask is on somewhere this week; that's something I should follow up with, since I missed it the first time it was here.

Heh, that's weird. I was just listening to a band called Kanda, and they had a song with the word "cocaine" in the title, and I've switched over to Japanther, and I see that the next song also has "cocaine" in the title. How odd.

It's a lovely looking day outside - a lovely blue sky over City Hall East, and sunlight puring onto my deck. But I bet that it's cold out there. A quick look on weather.com tells me that it's 43F (6C) but feels like 37F (3C). That's icky.

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January 21, 2006 10:36

A grey Saturday morning. And what better way to spend a grey Saturday morning than to lie in bed reading. (Hrm, well, I can possibly think of one or two, but they weren't options so given the circumstances, this was the best way). I read the latest issue of PC Magazine and then finished reading Will in the World. And now, at about ten-thirty, I have pulled myself out of bed and am contemplating cooking up some eggs.

Yesterday I had five hours of meetings and then returned home to continue writing requirements documentation. I think it was very productive. I met with Lauren for an early dinner at Eclipse di Sol. Lauren had tuna, I had sole; it was all very tasty. After returning home, I spent the evening at home, sorting and filing and storing my 2005 paperwork, organizing my tax information, watching Comedy Central and Blackadder: Back and Forth. I was in bed around midnight, and that was it.

I don't have any plans for this weekend, except for the football game tomorrow morning. I'll probably watch one of the division championship games in the American football as well. I had comtemplated going photographing today, but the grey day doesn't bode well. I'll probably end up shaving my head, sweeping my apartment, doing laundry, and reading. I might play some Civ as well. A movie might also find its way onto my agenda later in the day.

January 18, 2006 23:17

I have been neglecting you all, and for that I apologise most profusely. It has been over a week since my last posting and my reasons for not posting are fairly self-centered - I've been busy keeping myself entertained. Of course, this means my usual vices: beer, food, and football. Oh, and work.

The weather has been cold and we've had a good bit of rain. I don't like the cold. And I'm not really all that fond of rain. But I guess that's what happens in January here in Atlanta. Granted, overall, it has been a pretty mild January; 70F (18C) last Thursday afternoon isn't typical.

But highlights, I guess that's what you're after. It's obviously not insight, so I'm thinking it's highlights. So let's see. Liverpool beat Spurs on Saturday, 1-0. I caught up with my partners in crime from the week before (and Tiffany is still hot), and it was also Greg's birthday. Tim came up and watched the game, and I also spent some time chatting with the other Arsenal fan, Rod. (Actually, there are a number of Gunners fans at the Brewhouse.)

In town late last week was Gregg, the biggest All Black fan that I know. And he's an American, but his girlfriend is a New Zealander. They recently moved to Colorado, but Gregg was in town for work. I also met some interesting new people at the bar over the Thursday through Sunday night weekend. Some I expect I will see again; others I don't. No matter. I also played some poker, and came out down after a couple of buy-ins. Sunday night I watched the two hour season premier of the new season of 24 with Brandy. Afterwards we popped up to the Local and caught up with Liza and Amy. And the other Localites.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr day. So I spent the day reading documents in preparation for my first day on my new project. So I guess I was actually working, but I was doing it from the comfort of my own home, and I was able to catch my favourite afternoon vice. You should know what I'm talking about by now. I had salmon for dinner and got an early night after watching the two-hour second part of the 24 premier.

On Tuesday I spent the day in meetings to kick off my new project. It was a good day. Afterwards I had dinner with Tim and Kris at the new Japanese restaurant that opened up down the road. It was pretty good. They have a very wide menu, including habachi grill, sushi, and meals. I'll definitely be eating there again. I then came home and wrote up my notes from the day's meetings.

Finally, today is Wednesday, and I spent the bulk of it writing up requirements documentation from the meetings I was in yesterday. I also had to run some chores, like paying myself, and sending contracts, and picking up mail, and picking groceries. Dinner was salmon again. It was good. I didn't go up to trivia. But I was weak in other ways. Namely chocolate. This does not help my need to lose 25 pounds. This is one of those difficult challenges: I need to stop drinking to help my skin (I still haven't learned anything about getting on the biologics treatment), and stopping drinking should help my weight somewhat. But most of my social circumstances are based around alcohol. And I bought a whole lot of chocolate back from New Zealand. So I'm going to try to avoid drinking, get kind of down, and eat chocolate. Oh dear - the inner woman in me is coming out. Suppress! Suppress!!!!

Tomorrow I shall be working again from home again and then having differ with Jennifer M. On Friday I'll be back in meetings. I might try for a movie on Friday night to avoid the lure of the demon booze. No plans yet for Saturday, but Sunday is the Manchester United vs Liverpool match at 11am at the Brewhouse. Yep, that's my life right now.

I promise I'll write again soon.

January 10, 2006 09:37

It's been about a week since my last entry. I'm currently on-site in Charlotte, but I've pretty much done everything that has been requested of me; just a few loose ends to tie up. I'm slated to be here through tomorrow, and then it's back to Atlanta. My new project kicks off next week, on Tuesday, as Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr Day.

I don't really have too much excitement to write about for the past week. After three days in Charlotte, I came home, went to the Local and then played poker from about 2am until about 6am. We had a power cut part way through the game, so we ended up playing poker by candle-light. I came out about the same as what I bought it, maybe a bit up.

On Saturday afternoon I checked the Luton Town vs Liverpool FA Cup score and saw that we were down 3-2. Seeing that there was still 30 minutes to play, I threw myself in the shower and raced over to the Brewhouse where I caught the last few minutes, including Alonso's goal from 60 metres out, which made the score 5-3 to Liverpool. Whew. Also over the course of the game I met Tiffany and ended up going to Alley Katz in Underground Atlanta with her and Pete to play some pool. We all ended up drinking a bit much and the evening ended kind of abruptly.

Sunday was a slow day and I eventually made the trip back to Charlotte for my final three days here. This week I've been staying at the Hilton Westpark. They've been doing renovations and the place is looking rather good. Thanks to my accumulation of Hilton points and nights, I'm now at the Diamond level, which means I get to stay on the Executive floor and have access to the Concierge Lounge, which is all very fancy and nice. The bedroom and bathroom are very nicely equipped, and the bed is just so comfortable that getting out of bed in the morning seems like a bad idea.

I'll be heading back to Atlanta on Wednesday night, and will probably go to the Local soon after. On Thursday I will be busy working through my final billing and sorting out miscellaneous bits and pieces in preparation for my new gig. I'll also probably be working on getting all the right information together for my accountant to do my taxes. On Thursday night I'll be meeting John to work through a couple of legal things for my company. Friday will be more of the same and I'll likely end up at the Local (just for a change). Football on Saturday morning (Liverpool vs Spurs, 10am), and then I think I want to see a movie. I'm going to try to keep it fairly low-key this weekend, since I want to be in top shape for the full day project kick-off on Tuesday.

At least, that's the plan. And we know how plans typically work out for me. I'll let you know how it goes.

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January 03, 2006 21:39

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a successful end to 2005, and I wish you all a splendid 2006. My own year-end celebrations went very well, but more of that later.

But first, some final stories of 2005. Last Tuesday I spent relaxing, reading and playing Civ, and then went to the beach with Bianca and some friends of hers, including Dr Brandon. The beach was a little too chilly for swimming, but a couple of people braved the chilliness. Then we went to Devonport for fish and chips and ice cream. After that, four of us went back to Bianca's parents' place and played 500. Then Bianca delivered me home.

I spoke of the expenditure of Wednesday previously, and on Thursday I sat in the sun reading for an hour or so before the weather turned sourish and my sister turned up to say goodbye. I went over to Bianca's parents' place for lunch and catch ups and meeting of new people. Afterwards, my mum picked me up so I could finish shopping and packing and then it was off to the airport.

The flight went well, although the entertainment system wasn't working properly. The flight crew ran out of the lamb dinner before they got to me. But on the positive side, I had a couple of adult beverages and got some sleep. I had a window seat, but wasn't able to see much, because my window was right on the wing. Heh, so it goes. Got to LA and joined the US Citizend & Permanent Residents line. Ten minutes later I was through immigration, baggage collection, and customs. Sweet! I made my way to Delta, checked in, and got some lunch. A mere six hours later, Lauren picked me up from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and not much later than that, she dropped me at my apartment. A shower was had (and it felt great) and then I wandered up to the Local.

Friday was a slow day as I unpacked and collected mail and didn't really do much else. Friday night was another visit to The Local.

Saturday was also slow and the evening kicked off around 8pm with a visit to the Local. Lauren and Matt joined me aroudn 10pm, and soon after we had a cab and were off to Brandon and Gilli's for an awesome New Years Eve party. Loads of fun, lots of people, lots of conversation, lots of drinks. Much fun. And a cute girl in a red dress. I think Jolie delivered me home around 4:30 or 5ish. I think.

New Years Day I stopped by John and Holly's for lunch, then went to see King Kong, and then went to Liza's for a dinner party. Unfortunately, Liza's animals triggered my dodgy immune system (ie allergies) so I had to leave after eating. What else could I do? I dropped the car home and went up to the Local.

I was up at an almost reasonable hour on Monday to catch the start of the Bolton vs Liverpool game and to clean up in expectation of visitors to watch the Outback Bowl (college football) game between University of Iowa and University of Florida. My place was the neutral venue for John and Amy (Iowa) and Ben (Florida). It was a game marred by very bad officiating and could have gone either way, but because of the poor calls, Florida won. The soccer was a draw, 2-2. I spent the evening in, ripping CDs and watching TV, and went to bed for the earliest in days.

I had a sleep that was rife with dreams. Many many dreams. And when I awoke I was pretty exhausted from the dreams. And probably because I had been operating pretty much on NZ time rather than Atlanta time since my return. in any case, today was my earliest day to rise and I spent the day tidying, finishing my laundry, paying bills, backing up my system, ripping the CDs I had bought in NZ, and packing for Charlotte. And then it was time to head to Charlotte. The traffic was awful, but I got here eventually.

December 29, 2005 02:16

I've had a wonderful day today. Of course, this will be posted well after today (Wednesday), but that's okay. The only thing that could have made this day better would have been to have gotten laid. (oooh - an R-rated comment in Damon's journal).

Anyway, today I went into town, bought some CDs, met up with Martin, had lunch and a couple of pints, bought (a lot) more CDs, went to the Occi, drank beer, was joined by Carolyn, switched to whiskey, paid my $200+ tab, went to Whisky Bar,

And there things got interesting. Whisky #1: Glenfiddich 21yr Havanna Reserve. ($35 a shot and you can't get it in the US - that whole Havanna thing being a problem). #2: 1966 Bunnahabhain - NZ$75. Thank you very much. #3: Lagavulin Distillers Reserve - NZ$35. #4: Oban 14 yr. I think I bought somethng else, but by that stage it probably didn't really matter.

Carolyn left fairly early into the Whisky bar - she had to work in the morning. But we did meet some people. There are even photos (that might make it to the web page). I can't remember any of their names. But no matter, I needed to go home and Martin needed to take one of the chicks home.

Now I sleep. This will get uploaded after the time that it is labelled with, but who cares.

Oh god - I have a flight in less than 18 hours.

December 27, 2005 10:45

Tuesday morning. Time for a brief recap of the past couple of days. Christmas Day went pretty well; everyone was pleased with what they got, so I must have done something right. First we had a big breakfast (sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, fruit, etc), then did the presents thing, and then family photos thing. After everyone left I spent some time reading. Later in the afternoon, my mum and I went over to my uncle's place and caught up with his family, which also meant I had even more food (lots of lamb...). After we left there, my mum dropped me at Brent's place and I spent the evening there, drinking (beer, to bourbon, to methode champenois - rarely a good mix) and chatting and watching TV.

On Monday Brent dropped me home and I spent much of the day watching cricket - the start of the second Australia vs South Africa test match. Around 3pm, my brother Jason and I headed down to the Pass and Pint, a pub, and we spent several hours there, talking and drinking. We got home in time to watch the last half hour or so of the cricket. Barry dropped Jase back to his mother's place, and I watched a highlights program of the Ashes cricket series from earlier in the year. Yes, I am making sure I get a good fix of cricket while I can :-). I was practically falling asleep by 10:30 so I headed off to bed part way through the fourth test.

When I went to bed I set the alarm for 4am so I could get up and watch the Liverpool vs Newcastle game. Unfortunately I forgot to actually turn the alarm on. Fortunately, I awoke at 4:15, so I went out to the lounge, threw on Sky Sports 3, and saw that Liverpool were already 1-0 up. Liverpool totally dominated throughout the game, and although the final score was only 2-0, it could have easily been much greater: there were something like 20 shots at goal, of which 10 were on target (but stopped by the goalie). After the game I went back to bed...

Which brings us to now. The plan for today is to make a few catch-up phone calls and then head out for dinner and such with Bianca tonight. I might try to get some souvenir shopping in at some point today. Tomorrow I will be catching with Martin, but I still need to sort out the logistics for that. We'll probably meet up somewhere in town. And then Thursday I will probably try to catch a couple more people before heading out to the airport to begin the long trip back to Atlanta,

December 25, 2005 00:28

It's 11:40pm on Christmas Eve and I'm watching Chris Rock standup comedy. Sure, I've seen this show before, but it is fucking funny. He was so much funnier before he started getting involved in family-acceptable movies and TV. Tellin' it like it is. Was. Whatever.

Anyway, the point is: it is 11:44pm on Saturday night and I'm back home at my mum's place. I rang my best friend who lives on this side of town to see what he was up to, and well, his girlfriend answered and they were just getting into bed. Hrm. I thought briefly about calling up CJ or someone else in town, but then I remembered it cost me $40 to get home last night, and I didn't want to have to pay that just to get into town. Granted, that was NZ$40, but still, I don't have that much in my wallet right now. And, for the record, that's about US$27, for a trip of about 12 miles. Which, now that I think about it, isn't too much different from Atlanta, but NZers don't get paid 45% more than USers, so it still is a rip.

So yeah, the trip so far: Tuesday was recovery. Wednesday was work trip to Masterton to pay for the entire trip. Thursday I went in to Takapuna to have lunch with one of my best friends, Brent, and his girlfriend (wife, just not married yet) Belinda. We went to GPK, which is a gourmet pizza place. Hrm, look at the initials; they might be on to something there. Anyways, the pizza was pretty good, but it wasn't Baroanda or Fritte. After that I went back to my mum's for family dinner.

Actually family dinner was really good. It was family and very close family friends who I hadn't seen in about eight years. It was really good.

[Chris Rock just finished. That was really fucking funny.]

After dinner (and three quarters of one litre bottle of Jack Daniel's), my dad dropped me in town to meet up with Brent and Anthony. We did the rounds of clubs of ill repute, saw plenty of naked women, and generally had a good time.

Friday I relaxed around my mum's place, watched TV and played Civ. Around 2:15pm my sister stopped by and took me into the city. I had to sit with my niece Charli while Celise went to buy some Christmas presents - not a problem, since Charli was asleep the whole time - in exchange for her giving me a lift to Galbraith's, a really good brewpub. I spent about eight hours at Galbraith's, but was very pleased to be able to catch up with: Karin, Simon and Kelly, Mike, Carolyn, Martin, Damian, Philby, Zeal, Paul M. I also spoke to Marcus, who was in Tauranga and who will hopefully be in town next week before I return to the US. I was pleased with who came out, but I eventually got to the point of beer saturation; eight hours of drinking beer can do that to a person. So it was time to go home.

Today I played more Civ, installed software for my camera on my laptop, played with my niece and nephew, and generally didn't do a lot. The way a proper holiday should be. Then I went over to my sister's place and had beers with her (in all but legal terms) husband (Roscoe) and his best friend (Matto). A lot of fun. We had tacos for dinner and Celise dropped me back to my mum's around 10pm, whereupon I watched The Royal Variety Performance. Those of you who know what that is can mock me, but I douby many of my readers do, so that should be okay. But I was forced to have a drink, especially since my best chance of an escape was already on his way to bed.

Hey wow. Simon's video has just come on. Yes, my friend Simon, who I was drinking with last night, has a band and I'm currenly watching his video on Juice, the New Zealand music channel. It's a pretty good song. His band is Ziko.

Merry Christmas everyone. If you're not Christian and are offended by that, then Happy Holidays. As for me, I'm an atheist: Christmas is all about presents and has been for the past 100 years - Christmas lost Jesus a long time ago.

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December 22, 2005 08:04

I've now been safely in New Zealand for 50-odd hours. The flight from LA was uneventful, which is probably for the best. I watched a couple of movies: The World's Fastest Indian and Wedding Crashers. Both were very enjoyable. The former was about a New Zealander in the 1960s who had modified a 1920's Indian motorcycle and took it to Utah and broke the world land speed record. The latter was a pretty funny buddy movie. I didn't get much sleep, because cattle-class is not good for sleep. Immigration and customs were a breeze, if slow; and I collected all of my bags and that was it. My cellphone didn't register on the local Vodafone network, so I ended up using a payphone to let my mum know where I was.

I spent Tuesday recovering. I had a shower and breakfast when I got back to my mum's. I checked my email and called Cingular to sort out my international roaming (and that was fixed up very quickly and painlessly - a positive customer service experience). I then settled down in front of the TV to see what was available. I eventually settled on watching day four of the Australia vs South Africa cricket test at the WACA in Perth. After that had finished, I played some Civ. I did doze a little during the day, but I decided that I wanted to stay up as late as possiblet to try to force myself into a NZ cycle. I also had to keep in mind that I had an early start on Wednesday to go to Masterton to complete the work aspects of the trip. But prior to all of that, I had visitors: my dad, my ex-step-mother, my half-brother, my half-sister. And some assorted people associated with aforementioned family members. It was good catching up. I ended up hitting the sack at 10pm.

I was awake at 5am on Wednesday (equivalent of 11am Tuesday EST). I got up around 6:15am, had a shower, breakfast, and my sister turned up with kids in tow and they took me out to the airport. The flight to Wellington was uneventuful; the landing was typically Wellington - bouncing around on the wind, speeding up and slowing down, and the slamming on of the brakes when the plane hit the ground to make sure we came to a stop on the short runway rather than overshoot into the harbour. Heheh. Then I picked up my rental car and drove the 100km (~60 miles) up to Masterton for my meeting. I slipped very easily back into left-side driving. My meeting went well and next year's commitments are in place. I headed back to Wellington at 4pm, dropped off the car, then got myself a pie (mince and cheese) and a beer (Speight's Old Dark). Another quick flight back to Auckland, where I was picked up by my dad and half-sister, who dropped me back at my mum's place. I was in bed and asleep by 10:30pm.

I awoke early again today (Thursday) but was able to get back to sleep again for a little longer. I got up a bit after 7am (1pm EST) which is a much better sort of time. I'm still a little tired, but then again, I'm usually tired in the morning. Today I'll probably catch a bus into Takapuna later this morning and try to catch up with a friend or two for lunch.

It hasn't been very summery, but I guess it is fairly typical Auckland early summer. It's been very showery, with rain every day, but some blue spots. Today's forecast is for scattered showers, a high of 23C (~73F); currently it is 16C (~61C) with scattered cloud. So it's probably better than Atlanta, but I still feel cold.

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