Challenge

On Saturday my brother didn't finish the Kepler, although he did start. This is significant because he was one of the last 2 who had managed 18 consecutive years since the race began. He had surgery on a knee back in September, and it wasn't well enough mended to allow him to get very far. I was impressed at him turning back - in some of those previous 18 years he's finished the run on some pretty shabby body parts, so it must've been really bad! One look at the course profile is enough for me to think he was insane even contemplating it. Never mind - in his words, he's still world famous in Te Anau! Three of the "originals" started last year, but one dropped out partway through. It means there's now only one guy to have completed 19 in a row, and 3 of them (according to Alan, even though the article says 2)who have completed 18 - 2 guys who didn't run/complete last year did manage to finish this Saturday.

His 2 children also ran, both doing really well for their first outing on the Challenge.

Difficult people

Last week I went on a brilliant course - highly recommended - it is my understanding that gradually all our middle managers will do it. Part of it was learning how to deal with "difficult people". One of the tasks was was examining each of the "types" and thinking about an example of a time when I was that "difficult person" getting under someone else's skin - really helpful stuff. It was a great day for collegiality, too, as 4 of us did it together.

That was followed up by a visit to the Wine Science department of the University - an outing for Chemistry teachers. I had a good chance to chat with the lead scientist, and to explore some options for the future.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

WOW!!!!
That was pretty much the effect of the U2 concert. I was still buzzing pretty much all week. It was fantastic - so many many highlights. I loved the screens and the effects. The music, of course. Bono & t'Edge. The kite - oh that was special. (now on sale on Trademe)


The special ways they catered for the NZ crowd - Bono coming out with the Warriors flag stitched to his jacket (at their home stadium) the kowhaiwhai patterns on the screens, the NZ references in songs, the flag, Tana Umaga and Helen Clark. It was all just amazing. A huge mix of emotions and the excitement was definately firing on all cylinders!

I was rapt with our seats, and the fact that though it had been raining heavily, we managed to set off in the dry (thanks Graham for the parking), and although it rained again later, we were under the shelter of the west stand by then. It probably took about 40 mins to walk back to the car, wheras I read that some people waited for up to an hour and a half for buses back to the central city.

Set list here - yes, of course they played One Tree Hill - well documented now. This clip is about 6mins long:


138 photos here (not mine - some lucky guy who seems to follow the band around the world!)

Here's what other people thought of the Friday night:
Steve - who started the night with a backstage tour courtesy of Jan - such excited texts!!! He has a great photo of the kowhaiwhai during One Tree Hill
Rachel
Paul - who stayed at the same hotel as the band
Russell Baillie (NZ Herald)
and Russell again like me, still buzzing several days later.

The following night I could hear the concert from my place - sometimes well enough to sing along! Some different songs, and they saved One Tree Hill for the final encore. I could clearly see the moon, too from my place, and by the time they played the song it would certainly have been over the hill.

Secret Friend/

/Secret Santa/Angels & Mortals/Psychotic supporter

Whatever you know it as, we're doing it at work this week. My secret friend is spoiling me rotten. I think I've almost worked out who it is, but I could still be surprised. Today I received a new coffee mug. Not just any old mug, but a heat activated All Blacks one. Now before you start worrying what gets revealed when it gets hot I'll put you out of your misery and tell you that it develops a very nice bright silver fern. When it cools again the fern goes back to grey. This is particularly good, as last week someone broke my previous mug, and left it, in pieces, on the bench, without so much as an apology. I received that mug as a gift on January 26th 1991, and while it was never my favourite, it was memorable for a number of reasons. Fie to the nasty unconfessed mug-breaker.

I've been enjoying spoiling my friend-ee. Today he may have received (courier-willing) some freshly roasted and ground-ready-for-plunger coffee.

Meanwhile, our erstwhile captain is elected rugby player of the year by his peers. You can't be player of the year AND a cheat. Not when it's friend AND foe that are voting.

"To ensure against bias and prejudice, players are not eligible to vote for a player in their own national squad. They must vote for players from another country."

So take that, you whinging Northerners.

oh.. and in case you were wondering? One more sleep!

Which reminds me. Today we had a special keepsake section in the Herald. By the time I got to work it had vanished - all I wanted to see was a photo of a friend, from Herald coverage of a U2 visit years ago - looking, according to his wife, much younger. Smirk. I sent a very pointy email to all-staff suggesting the selfish baggage might like to go and buy their own keepsake instead of stealing the one that belonged to all of us, but no, it didn't reappear. Grrr. (I bet it was the same person as the mug-breaker - surely we can't have 2 scumbags on staff?)

2

more sleeps!!!!!!!!!

5 more sleeps.......

I'm keeping an eye on the set-list each night in Oz, and there's only very small variation. Wonder if they'll do "One Tree Hill" here in Auckland - specially since it's lost it's tree since they were last here.

Sculpted

Last weekend there was a sculpture exhibition on the north shore. In spite of having been quite ill during the week before, I decided that an outing was in order, and so along I went. It was fab, and I was caught being arty-farty.






The being ill thing caught up on me though - by the time we'd been right round, I felt totally shattered and it took all the rest of the weekend and till about Tuesday to recover!

One of the sculptures particularly caught my eye - a pair of tui, in bronze. I didn't realise at the time that it was by Paul Dibble, who created the Southern Stand NZ Memorial in London, also opened last weekend. I didn't get up to watch the dedication "live", but did enjoy the edited highlights on tv the following morning.

Sweet sweet scent

I can't remember the last time my Gardenia flowered. I've had it about 7 or 8 years, and it did well in the first 2 or 3, but for the last few it gets to a certain point in spring, when all the leaves turn yellow and drop off, along with the buds. This year I hunted down some advice on the internet, and the result was I fed it with Epsom salts a few times once the yellowing was evident. It worked! Right now it has 22 blooms out, with more than twice that still to come. The best bit is the amaaaaaaazing scent. It's just heavenly.

Still alive

yeah...
Dearie me - that month and a bit went fast!
Condensed version - traded in my car for another newer one, went away for a weekend in the holidays, which was jolly nice too, had a cold and am brewing another one, dammit, we got a new principal, I appointed my replacement (assisant HOD) though he won't start till next year - meanwhile we feel very shortstaffed at the top end of my faculty, yet to appoint the other half of my replacement (in charge of chemistry), had a friend to stay for a week on her return from 17 months in England, and I'm sure there's been more than that, but it's kept me busy!!

Thanks for the emails wondering about my continued existence.
Hugs to Rose who's lost a daughter in that time.

no show without punch...

I had a great day on Friday, celebrating my graduation with a Graduate Diploma in Education Technology, at last. It was an early start due to the extremely inconvenient hours kept by the academic dress hire place - why on earth they think normal people with jobs would be able to get there before 3pm each day beats me. Still, we picked up the gear, including trying to get a trencher that was small enough to stay on, with the assistant insisting the one I ended up with was fine (it wasn't - it fell off twice).

The ceremony itself wasn't as pompous and ceremonial as my last Grad, but then that's not a huge surprise. I ended up rather enjoying it. Lunch was at a favourite cafe that used to be a Friday night regular, till they stopped opening in the evenings. It's been ages since we were there, so it was really gratifying that the owner still remembers us.

Stopped off at Mission Bay on the way home to attempt some photos, here's a couple of decent ones that Lynda took:

Although I'm now on holiday, I'm still not sleeping well - hopefully that'll sort itself in the next couple of weeks. On the other hand, when I wake at 5.30am, or whatever revolting time it was this morning, I get to hear the dawn chorus, and smell all the yummy spring morning smells, so that's nice!

Pittosporum

I'm just loving the early evenings at the moment. It could be because I've been home before dark every night this week, or because it's not been raining, or that spring really feels like it's in the air at last, but mostly, I think, because of the sweetness in the air, contributed largely by the flowering pittosporum trees lining my boundary at this time of year.

ISS & Atlantis

I've just been outside for the best viewing of the International Space Station being chased through the skies by the shuttle Atlantis! Both were really bright, and although I got out there a bit early, and was beginning to wonder if I'd missed them, once they popped up on my horizon I was in no doubt. So bright tonight (the lower the magnitude number, the brighter they appear), and way up high in the sky, not grovelling along the horizon, like last night, when they vanished behind the trees.
Such an amazing contrast - moving past Jupiter and through the claws of Scorpius. It still blows my mind how it's possible.



Very rewarding today - I've just started astronomy with my extension class, and we were in the computer pod doing some research. I'd talked last week about going out shuttle/ISS spotting, and issued them with a star chart and viewing times. I've created a whole bunch of astro-geeks - they've all been out shuttlegazing over the weekend, and were comparing notes on how bright they were and how cool and how amazing.

Counting down

to 2 events
Graduation, this Friday. I haven't been to a grad ceremony since my Teachers' College graduation, so it'll be interesting to see how things have or haven't changed since then. Yay for a contract that recognises significant events, and allows for a day off to celebrate. It's funny how quickly I've forgotten all the stress and agony of getting assignments and projects finished. And no, that doesn't mean I'm ready to take something new on.

68 days till U2 - sadly the contract doesn't allow for a day off for that!

Arrr!

A Very Satisfying Weekend, where, unlike the last two, I didn't spend it all on work. In fact, I even got out in the sun, which was an excellent change!

Yesterday I spent a bit of time in the garden, mowing the lawn and clipping back the unruly climbing roses - managing of course to get my hands full of thorns. All because I wouldn't walk 10m to the garage for my gloves. How silly! I noted that several of my fairy circle of lights round the edge of the garden are all mud-splattered, which demonstrates how much and how hard it's rained. (and I'd forgotten that till just now, again, so I still haven't cleaned them)

This morning I spent over 2 hours on the phone with Mum, which meant the battery in the cordless was completely flat in the end. She's so cheesy - I don't know how long since I've phoned her (over a month) and she still went "hi Larraine" when she picked it up. She just knew! And she assured me she doesn't do that every time the phone goes! Later I went to the Home Show, which was mostly full of stuff for people who own (large) homes, but still had some entertainment value for the likes of me. Like the guy who demonstrated the amazing (synthetic) chamois cloths that soak up ALL that liquid. And the other guys who sold can openers. They don't sound that exciting (or interesting) but they sure amused us! My friend bought the coolest multitool,
while I thought this lighter was just what I needed for all those candles (and bunsen burners)


Meanwhile, This coming Tuesday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. See here and here. These things are always more fun when a bunch of people get into it, and I'm pleased that I know enough people who will join in the zaniness and have a laugh on the day. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up, but I'm sure a couple of my classes will keep me "ho ho ho-ing" and "ahoy me hearty-ing" for at least, oh, 10 minutes. It's all good clean fun.

Cars are not anthropomorphic,

yet they seem to be so competitive, and not in the Michael Schumaker sense. My friend and I have similar models of car, only hers is a couple of years newer, and the flashier sport version. Over the last year or so, they've both been competing for attention, and there's been a seemingly endless catalogue of trouble. Her radiator cooked her engine, so mine felt it had to go out in sympathy. My alternator belt had a hissy fit, her car came back with a cam belt replacement. My automatic transmission died, causing a nasty hit in the wallet, and then today her car stopped dead. We hope the AA man is right, that it's a problem with the ignition rather than the transmission, as that sounds less expensive, but tomorrow will tell. Is it any wonder that in the next batch of holidays I'll be glad that I have time to go car hunting!

Marking time

I'm pretty whacked at the mo - we've had exams, and that's theoretically a time when you have a bit of time for a breather, but no - I haven't found that to be the case at all in the last couple of weeks. There have been so many administration/management/discipline things I've had to do that my own marking hasn't had a look-in, so I've spent the whole weekend on it. In fact, I've been in to work, as it's the only time I get "my" office to myself. The rest of the time it's like Grand Central Station, as it's less office and more technician prep room. Anyway, it's light and bright and I've been able to spread all the papers out and make really good progress. It's a terribly tedious way to spend time, though, and very isolationalist. And it really really doesn't give me much to write about!

I had to take a couple of books back to the library without having a chance to read them this week. I'd reached the "renewal" limit, and if I kept them any longer I was going to get fined. So disappointing. I'll keep an eye out for them another time. And that's about as exciting as it gets, this week.

Well, since I wrote that earlier, I've found myself reading the same sentence answer over and over for about 5 minutes, and decided it's definately time to stop. I'm so glad we only do one set of mock exams these days instead of the two we used to do!

Enz of an Era - x2

Priceless music video

Well worth waiting patiently for it to download:)

The band is OK Go.

Walkies

This is the map of the walk I plan to do! Today was very nice. The body clock woke me at weekday time, annoyingly, but at least it meant I got the washing done before heading out to watch the under 69kg rugby team from my school play in the Final for their grade against my old school. Twas very pleasant (our team lost :( ) except for one particularly yobbo father who began abusing the ref. Doesn't matter which team he belonged to, he only embarrassed himself, with his poor example of unsportsmanship. Dearie me, but I found myself telling him so, too. Oof!

This was all followed by a veery pleasant lunch and walk to the edge of the reserve. The clouds looked very menacing, so we decided to investigate another time. A very wise choice as it turned out - got home in the knickers of time!

Am I mad???

Barking! Why? This week I've accepted the Head of Faculty position. Scary but exciting is how I see it. 2 years ago it was all too much, but I feel like enough has changed now for it to be within my capabilities. The decision didn't come lightly - and was certainly assisted by some quite consistent encouragement from the ex-HOF: that I had more than enough of what was required to take it on. His confidence in my strengths, in spite of being well versed in my weaknesses, meant a lot. It also made me realise that what I really didn't want was to have to train yet another boss - I wanted it myself. And (so far at least) it's a comfortable fit, rather than a burden.

Meanwhile, yesterday we farewelled our principal. He's off to be somebody big and important in Wellington, and hopefully to iron out some of the wrinkles that still exist in our qualifications system. I'll always remember him as the man who had enough vision (and more confidence!!!) to create a better (promotion) position for me, because he felt that I was underselling myself in the original job I'd applied for. I still had to compete for it, but I was up for the challenge then, as I guess I'm up for it again now! He has been a "change agent" in our school, and some people have loved him and others have left. I'm sorry to see him go.