Monday 25 August 2008

Smushed Bug


Thankfully I'm unharmed. The same can't be said for poor Hippolyta. I can't wait to go home...

Thursday 21 August 2008

Things I've Missed

So, thanks to my busy schedule and lack of blogging over the period of the last several months, I've managed to have a backlog of photos to share with you. Better late than never right?

NZ Pt. 2

Queenstown is breathtaking. Here's a panoramic of Lake Wakatipu. Would be lovely to have a home down there someday!

Me & my Grandparents in front of Lake Wakatipu. It was really early that morning...

I plead the 5th...

The famous gigantic fruit at Cromwell.

Aoraki/Mt. Cook (highest mountain in NZ), Lake Pukaki and little, old me.

Me, Aunty Karen & the Grandparents in front of the famous Cathedral in Chch (Christchurch...the Garden City).

Mt. Taranaki/Egmont from the sky on the way from Chch back to Auckland.

Let's be honest, it's never a proper trip back to NZ without a good ole Kiwi BBQ! I miss Kiwi food!

LA in Apr

So I popped down to LA for Claudia's B-day. Here we are, Priscilla, Me, Claudia & Darren, in the club.

Also went to hear Cat sing in the Siren's Reunion Concert. Lovely (though we missed Cat's solo)! Priscilla, Claudia, Cat, Me, Brandon, Darren & Ryan.

We went out for dinner afterwards at Zucca in Downtown LA.

DJ P-Lin on the turntables (Josh's to be specific).

And here we all are post Dim Sum. Kellie, Darren, Priscilla, Brandon, Grant, Deryck, Me, Ryan R, Cat, Ryan C, Jeanine & Claudia.

Back in the Bay

Travis (fast asleep) & Dorothy on our way back from a trip to check out the North Face outlet and catch lunch with Kev in Beserkley. Sad to see you two move away but I'm sure you'll have a blast over there in New Haven, CT!

Then Aunty Karen, Mum & Deryck came up for a visit in June. On the first night, we did dinner @ Bistro Boudin at SF's famous Fisherman's Wharf. I had garlic fries, haricot vert & crab cakes. Delish!

Being touristy meant that we did the obligatory Alcatraz tour. Here's Aunty Karen pulling on a jail cell.

My bro doing his best to be thug.

Mummy dearest sitting on the toilet in a cell. I hope they cleaned that...

Me, Mum & Deryck. Alcatraz Island circa June 2008.

Aunty Karen in front of our boat on a cloudy, cold & windy SF day. Typical Bay Area weather...

Deryck & I on the boat deck on the way to Angel Island. It started clearing up nicely (though it was still bloody cold)!

Can you tell they're sisters? [Ed. Note: Apparently I've used this caption before...oh well. Bonus points if you can name where.]

Bay2Breakers 2008. A fun run with heavy emphasis on the fun. People dress up to do crazy things and I figured it'd be fun to check it out. The Luau guys (Daniel & I) on the left, Runaway Bride peeps (Priyanshu & Alisa) on the right.

Celebrating Diana's (center) birthday! Epic. Look, there's even a balloon arch!!! How awesome!

The Euro Cup 2008 Final Replica Match ball. I can't complain about not having a soccer ball to play with anymore. Thanks!

And, after I saw this rugby ball at Sports Authority, I knew I had to have it (even though no one 'round here wants to play with me).

It's It ice cream sandwich. One of the things I love about the Bay Area! Interestingly, my love affair with these began at Camp Pupukea of all places!

My cube at work. I haven't mentioned it on here till now but I finally got a job as a Manufacturing Engineer at Access Closure. Sweetness. Apple, HI & Paris are represented proudly in the cube and since I took the picture, I added an NZ flag to the mix. [P.S. Observant eyes will see that the jacket hanging on the chair is my Foxhollow North Face one. I miss you Foxhollow!]

Last but not least, here's my Turkey pesto sandwich from Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park. Lovely way to finish off a weekend bike ride!

So, there are still a few gaps in the timeline (mainly Carie's B-day in LA) which hopefully will be filled in sometime reasonably soon. Hope you all enjoyed the pics. Take care and catch you later!

Friday 8 August 2008

Oakland Aviation Museum

So, my plane crazy Uncle happens to be in town and we decided it'd be nice to check out some of the less iconic (i.e. Alcatraz, Golden Gate, etc.) attractions. So, last weekend we headed out to the Oakland Aviation Museum. Here's a sample of what we saw. [Apologies on the light commenting...I'm kinda tired and just want to put the pics up for yawl to see]


Inside the Oakland Aviation Museum hangar. Planes galore!

Solent Mk. III flying boat. This one was used in one of the Indiana Jones films. There's one in NZ (a Mk. IV at MOTAT...Daniel, Clif & I saw it back in '03) and these comprise the only two restored ones in the world!

I like this photo immensely.

The Ladies' room. You don't see stuff like this on planes anymore (the possible exception being the new A380).

Stairwell heading upstairs.

The upstairs passenger cabin. Seating arrangement is very reminiscent of trains...those were the days.

Ray (my uncle) enjoying the comforts of the seat. I'll go out on a limb and say this isn't the seat he'd most like to be in on any plane...

Me. Seat. If only economy class seats were as comfy/roomy (sorta).

Port (left side) wing. Dunno if you can read the small placard at the base of the window but essentially it says that if you need an emergency exit, just kick in the window.

The flight deck (commonly called the cockpit).

No doubt this is the seat that Ray likes most on any plane. A true captain.

It's quite nice there as I found. One day in the not too distant future...

Standing in the bar area with the owl keeping me company.

Bill, our tour guide through the Solent.

A rather sad looking F-14 Tomcat. Top Gun never looked so bad...maybe Scientology could help spruce it up?

The engine out of the Tomcat. I wouldn't like to stand behind that thing on a runway...

A-6 Intruder. Not a plane I can say a whole lot about but one that I recognized from my day's of reading "Jane's" at Aina Haina library as a kid.

Home!

My favourite WWII plane (well, a model of one). Some day I'll see the real thing!

This one's for you Mum. The good, old "friendly skies".

Ate Hawaiian BBQ afterwards and had a chance to try the Lychee Green Tea for the first time. Me likey.

Littlestar Deep Dish pizza. Dinner w/Dorothy, Travis, Kim & Ray up in the city on Dorothy & Travis' last night up in the Bay (before starting the first leg of their move to CT).

Roasted garlic + sourdough = Yum!

That's all for now. Enjoy and go NZ Olympians!