Stephen's Den

Shortly before I left Texas I had one last swan-song, something that would be quite difficult for me to do in New Zealand. Shoot a gun, many guns in fact. I drove up to the local shooting range in my rental car, opened the shop door and stepped into a foreign world. At first glance, it looked just like a “mom & pop” bait shop: the sort of place you would visit if you were about to go for a little stint of fishing off the New Zealand coast. Except, instead of bait & tackle, there was ammunition, instead of fishing rods, there were semi-automatic rifles. Disembodied animal heads nailed to the walls made up the traditional Texas décor. The door closed behind me and I turned to find (to my great bemusement) a target made up of Osama Bin Laden with a semi-automatic rifle in his hands. I certainly was in Texas.

Continue reading Target Practice

Well, you all know by now that I fell in love quite some time ago: to hybrid car technology, of course. In particular, I fell in love with a specific model: the Toyota Prius. I loved how small it was, I loved the way it could run (briefly) without any petrol at all and I loved the possibilities it promised for the future.

I diligently saved up a whole year to buy mine, so when I unexpectedly found myself in Texas I saw no reason why I shouldn’t continue my plan and just buy one there, so I did. This worked brilliantly and I have been more than overjoyed with the outcome. In every way, this car has exceeded my expectations. Still, all good things must come to an end, so about a month before I was due to leave the country I started trying to sell my car.

Continue reading Exercise in Frustration

I know I haven’t written much lately, but that is all about to change. I have been collecting a lot of material for you to read, should the mood strike you and it’s just a matter of me sitting still long enough to get it all done.

Firstly, I think I should expound a little on this notion of “pie”. Now, pie, as I was most aghast to discover, is not a universal concept. In America, there is no pie, at least not in the sense that members of the commonwealth think of “pie”.

In America, if you order a pie at a restaurant, you’re likely to get a fruit pie, such as apple pie, or blueberry pie, perhaps pumpkin pie if it’s thanksgiving, or maybe even pecan pie (pronounced “pee-kahn”) if you’re fortunate enough to be in the South.

Continue reading I like pie

This post is a special post for me because today (5th December 2007) marks the 10 year anniversary of when we first touched down on New Zealand soil. I don’t remember many birthdays (I barely remember my own) but that day, the 5th of December 1997 is indelibly etched into my memory. We touched down in Auckland International Airport after a 13 hour stopover in Hong Kong and an even longer flight half way around the world. We were dead tired and I had jet lag for something like a week.

But still, we had made it. For us New Zealand represented an adventure and the promise of good things to come. We arrived with nothing but the clothes on our backs and started rebuilding our lives from that point. For me, it was a wonderful growing experience. Fresh out of high school I was ready for the University environment and I flourished. Susan took a little longer to settle but came into her own of course, Scot assimilated better than any of us, almost instantaneously he taking on his own unique kiwi accent.
So now, ten years on from that day that seems so very long ago, it is my opportunity to look back and reflect on the past decade of life here in New Zealand. I think I can truly say that I have become a New Zealander now. I have never felt such a sense of nationalism and pride for my country as I have felt for New Zealand over these last 10 years. New Zealand has held firm to leftist principles, it has openly denounced the overt acts of aggression by the US, it has instituted social and economic reforms many years before many other countries dared to even conceive of them. We have a long way to go, but I have every faith in the character of the New Zealand people. It also just so happens that today, by some fluke, I received confirmation that I now have New Zealand security clearance. I won’t say what level or anything, but it’s a pretty big deal to me, I can assure you.

As the eldest child, I was constantly worried of overshadowing my younger siblings, setting the bar to high as it were. I was very culturally and academically active in high school and so set a pretty high bar. Was my shadow too large or deep?

Some time ago I rather ruefully noted that my sister surpassed me academically. She studied far harder and far longer than I would have dared and as a result is now a doctor for whom I have so much respect and admiration for.

This post and its title, however, pertain specifically to my younger brother: Scot. On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to drive down to Hamilton to visit with my parents and see Scot’s high school prize giving. It didn’t take long to determine who the star of the show was.

Continue reading Boundless Potential

I awoke at 7am on Saturday to the sound of my phone’s alarm. It was precisely two weeks and a day since I touched down in Auckland. I rolled over on the couch. I was sleeping on Sarah’s couch since my tenure at the Quest Hotel in Auckland had expired the previous day. I forced myself up and dressed, turned on the computer and drew up the list of places to view today. I had to find a place, and find one soon.

It’s not that finding an apartment in the city is particularly difficult at the moment, just that I have very particular requirements. I reviewed them as I worked: car park, semi furnished (white-wear only), city centre, under $300/week. This had been my goal, though I’d progressively widened the net as I worked. I was willing to take any place within a long walk of the city and I decided, after much consternation, that I would take a fully furnished place and just leave my New Zealand belongings in storage if I had to.

Continue reading New Home

Hi all, this is just a brief update to let everyone know how I am doing, because I know many people have asked.

The flight from Dallas to Los Angeles was only remarkable in that, although the TSA managed to prevent me from boarding the plane with a weapon of mass destruction cleverly disguised as my toothpaste, they failed to catch the fact that I had a box cutter in my jacket pocket.

This caused some stir among the TSA staff in Los Angeles, I can assure you. No cavity searches for me, though.

I did get a chance to see the fires over California, which was quite a chilling sight indeed.

The 13 hour flight to New Zealand was uneventful. I was sandwiched between two old ladies and miraculously slept most of the way. I woke up on Friday, having skipped Tuesday due to time zones.

To my joy I had very little jet lag. To my horror I discovered that my rental car was a manual and so I bunny-hopped half-way down the motorway till I swapped with Sarah and she drove for me. Once I had an automatic car I drove down to visit my parents (yes, the same day I arrived in the country). The next week, on Tuesday, I was back to work.

I have since been living in a hotel, working during the day and trying to find a place to live at night. So far I have been unsuccessful and my time here at the hotel ends on Friday, so I will be sleeping on Sarah’s couch for a while till I am able to find a place to live.

I promise to write more once I am settled.

At first, when my colleague Tricia told me that one of her favourite things to do was to “tailgate”, I imagined that she would probably get on rather well with my good friend Doug, who (in his early 20’s) was known for his proclivity for attaching himself to the preceding car’s bumper. It turns out that “tailgating” has a very different, slightly safer connotation in the US than it does in New Zealand.

I was fortunate enough to join Tricia and a few of her friends from her university Southern Methodist University (SMU), to watch a football game. Part of the whole college football experience is the pre-game socialising, of which, tailgating is an important part. The image here is of me, wearing SMU colours (red & blue) and an SMU cap, proudly performing the “pony-up” hand-sign. Hopefully, all this “pony” business will make sense in time.

Continue reading Tailgating

I am sorry life’s been rather hectic lately and I haven’t had a chance to make any updates. I know that many of you are asking the question “when are you coming home?”

Well, I finally have my itinerary. I will be arriving in New Zealand at 7:30am on Friday 26th October. Don’t worry about picking me up at the airport, my empliyer will (had better) be arranging a rental car.

I look forward to seeing y’all all in the land of the long white cloud! The image on the right is a screenshot of my itinerary. Click it for flight numbers and times.

Quite out of the blue, my friend and ex-colleague Kelley contacted me via a comment on my blog to invite me down to visit her in Austin. Kelley, you see, immigrated to New Zealand some years ago with her partner Danny. I met her there about three years ago in her capacity as a software architect and consultant, but her original vocation was geology. It’s quite fascinating, really. For quite some time, Kelley worked for the oil companies in Texas, figuring out where the oil is. She soon got fed up with that business and so swapped to software but not before working with George W Bush for some time: a man she describes as “a spoilt little brat” and a few other things besides.

Continue reading Weird Austin