News 2002

February 19, 2002

It has taken me over a month to get all of
this going. Oh well. Here is what has been going on the last month.

We arrived in New Zealand on January 12,
2002. It was a rainy, dreary, cold day. There were more of those to come.
We have been here over a month now and are settling in quite well.

Finding a place to live ended up being a
bigger challenge then we thought that it would be. We had a place lined up
for two weeks and were getting worried that we would have to stay there longer.
We looked at a lot of places. The ones we liked weren't available when we
got back to lease them. I finally found a two bedroom townhouse that was furnished.
It was quite nice if interestingly decorated. It is located on top of a hill
but we are in a flat spot so we don't have a view. That is okay. We really
don't want to be sitting home looking at the view all of the time. It isn't
as close to the university as we would have liked, but it is still in walking
distance. This way we get a lot more exercise. It isn't near the beach, but
I have decided that the weather being what it is here, we probably won't be
hanging out much at the beach anyway. It is in walking distance too. Of course
it is always up hill to get back home.

We bought a mountain bike for Scott not too
long after we got here so he would have something for commuting and he is
interested in doing some mountain bilking. There are lots of places around
here to go mountain biking. There are even some trails in the parks that are close by. Scott has already crash. He was going to help a coworker paint and was redirected to a road he wasn't familiar with and going to fast and I don't
know what else. He is tore up in a couple of places. The bike seems fine apart
from a wheel that needs to be trued and some cosmetic things. A new helmet
is in order since he hit his head.

Scott has been busy figuring out how things
work at the university. Classes start next week so he has been preparing for
that in addition to working on his research. His paper got accepted to that
conference in Europe (I can't remember that name of it) so he will be going
there in June. I don't think that Graham and I are going to go with him. He
will also be going to San Antonio for SIGGRAPH. Suba's course was accepted
and he is giving a presentation in that. He has also submitted two papers,
but we won't know if they were accepted for at least another month. Getting
into SIGGRAPH isn't easy so we aren't expecting that he will get accepted.

Graham and I managed to get to play group
this week. They meet on Tuesday mornings. It is just down the hill from where
we live (everything is down the hill from where we live just about). He enjoyed
all of the toys, but ignored the other kids pretty much. I think that is normal
for someone his age.

We finally got a DSL connection going, but
we only get 400MB of data a month. I am rapidly eating through that and it
has only been a few days. I need to start being careful what I do. I must
say that ISPs and high speed connections are definitely weird here.

The bikes are on their way. Thanks to Marcus
and Gwen for shipping them to us.

February 20, 2002

The bikes are in Auckland. I hope we don't have to wait
too long for them to get to Dunedin.

Happy birthday, Mom!

February 21, 2002

When we got up this morning the sky was blue
and they said 18 degrees. Since the sun was out we had to go out and do something.
Graham and I decided to take a picnic lunch down to the Botanical Gardens.
We picked up Scott and Sui-Ling at the university. While the sun was definitely
out, it really wasn't very warm. There was a strong wind and that kept it
cool. We still enjoyed a nice walk in the gardens and lunch. After lunch we
went to the play area. Last time we were there Graham just loved the slide.
Today it didn't interest him very much. Next time maybe it will. He mostly
just ran around and played with the mulch.

The bikes are on their way to Christchurch.
The web site isn't working so we can't tell if they have made it yet or when
they will get to Dunedin. At this point it doesn't look very likely that we
will have them for the weekend. Maybe it will rain so we won't feel too bad
about that.

The university is going to help cover costs
for Scott's trip to Switzerland for the conference where his paper was accepted.
He is going in June. It is possible that he might also get some money to help
with the trip to SIGGRAPH. That is definitely good news.

February 22, 2002

The bikes are in Christchurch. Danzas called
and needs more money and paperwork. They are supposed to send Scott the paperwork
and we are waiting for that. Another weekend without biking. It will be winter
before we get them at this rate.

Graham has a fever. He went to play group
on Tuesday so that would be about right. Get around other kids. Get sick.

February 23, 2002

We sold our house!!

February 25, 2002

Today is the first day of school Scott has
has lectures on Monday from 9am-11am and on Tuesday/Thursday from 9am-10am.
He teaches both classes with Geoff. I am not sure when he actually does the
lectures. He is just attending now to see how Geoff does things. Graham and
I went down to campus to have lunch with Scott. It was nice and sunny when
we left the house. It was windy during lunch. It was overcast on the walk
home. The weather is very changeable here. They say that they can have all
4 seasons in one day. I am not exactly sure what that would be like.

March 1, 2002

The bikes are still in Christchurch. We have
the paper work to take to customs to get them cleared. We will do that Monday.
It sounds like once Danzas gets the paperwork from customs (which we will
fax to them on Monday), they will expedite shipping the bikes to Dunedin.
Scott thinks that we will have them on Wednesday. I am not so optimistic.
The problem was that when shipping airport to airport it is always Auckland
for New Zealand. To get it to Dunedin we needed to do airport to door. The
office in Cincinnati just screwed up. We have to pay a little bit more money
but the bikes should be delivered to the house. We won't have to go to the
airport to get them. At least we think that will be the case.

We went to a house warming party today for
one of Scott's coworkers. The place was very nice. Graham played with the
other kids there and had a good time. The main dish was haggis. Scott tried
some. I had a little taste. I guess it wasn't all that bad, but I don't know
that I could actually sit down and eat a bowl full of it. One of the women
at the party described pretty much how we have felt about the weather. "Summer
in Dunedin is disappointing". She also said that winters were nice. I
guess we have that to look forward to.

March 7, 2002

We have bikes!

March 9, 2002

We got up this morning and were going to
go for a ride. Scott put the bikes together last night. He got on to see if
things were adjusted he realized that the hood on the right hand side was
broken. That means no shifting and no brakes. That is bad. We took it down
to the bike shop. They will let us know on Monday what they can do with it.
This is a real bummer.

March 10, 2002

It is cold and rainy and we spent a day at
home.

March 11, 2002

Today I went to a yoga class. Scott came
home for lunch and watched Graham in the afternoon for me. It was nice. I
think that I will continue to go. I will have to switch to Tuesday though
since they are going to stop offering the afternoon class on Mondays.

March 13, 2002

Today is my birthday. Scott took the day
off so we could go do something. We were having a hard time thinking up something
to do that we could get to on foot. The forecast said that we were going to
have a beautiful warm sunny day. The weathermen here lie. Actually I think
that the country is so small with so little land mass that it is really hard
for them to know what the weather is going to do and they can really only
forecast a few hours in advance. It was overcast and rainy all day long. Yesterday
was absolutely beautiful. Warm, sunny, blue sky. When Scott got home from
work he said that he didn't realize that it was such a nice day and he should
have come home early. Anyway, we were considering taking the Taieri Gorge
Railway, but decided to go for a bike ride. It was raining before we could
leave the house. We had to go to campus to send a fax so we decided to do
at least that and then decide what we wanted to do. At
campus we grabbed some lunch. When we went to leave it was raining so we waited
a little bit. We finally decided that it was warm and the rain was not constant
and we could head for the peninsula. If the weather got bad we could turn
around. The ride was lovely. The weather cooperated for the most part. We
had to turn around before we got to Portobello since the mist came in. It
was right at the spot where I would have been able to see the ocean. Scott
got to see it, but he was a head of me. Scott was riding the road bike and
pulling Graham. I was on the mountain bike. Riding a mountain bike on the
road sucks. Scott said that we was worried about the hills and the tandem
based on riding the mountain bike. He feels much better now that he did so
good on the road bike. We should be okay. I am a little concerned about stopping,
but we will take care of that when the time comes. We went down the hill a
lot quicker then we went up. We tried a new route home since it seemed more
direct then going back the familiar way. It worked out okay for the most part.
We had a couple of very steep climbs that I think we could have avoided. I
had to stop and catch my breath at one point and then couldn't get started
again and had to find a less steep spot on the road. We also had to cross
highway 1 which wasn't easy. For the most part it worked out okay. At one
point I thought that I was going to have to walk the bike home I was so tired,
but riding isn't any harder then pushing the bike. All in all, I was quite
pleased with how well I did since I hadn't ridden since November and I was
worried about the hills. It was raining quite hard by the time we got home.
Graham was warm and dry in the Burley. He did really good. He wasn't happy
about having to wear his helmet. He wears it just fine outside of the Burley,
but doesn't like it so much inside. He is just a little bit too short still
and the support straps hit him too high and push his helmet forward. I think
that that is the problem. It couldn't have been too bad since he did take
a nap.

Here are the pictures
that Scott took while we were out.

After we got home and dry we decided to go
out for dinner. We walk about 20 minutes in the rain to get to our current
favorite restaurant in town. I had a very nice green salad and Scott had pumpkin
soup. The three of us then shared a pizza (shrimp, bacon, tomato, and mushroom).
It was very good. Then we had warm chocolate cake with mocca sauce and warm
gingerbread with chocolate sauce. I wanted the gingerbread but Scott did too
so I got the chocolate cake. We ended up sharing. The chocolate cake was good,
but the gingerbread was wonderful. Yum.

March 17, 2002

We went for another bike ride today. We should
have gone yesterday but convinced ourselves that it was too cold and it might
rain. It did eventually rain, but long after we would have been home. We did
the same route that we did on Wednesday. This time we could see the ocean
when we got to the top of the hill. It was blue and beautiful. We also made
it to Portobello. We had lunch there. We didn't go out to the end of the peninsula.
I guess we will save that for the tandem if we ever get it back. I got the
camera ready to go and then forgot to bring it so we don't have any pictures
to contrast the two rides. It was a little cool but the weather was nice besides
that. I am still a little nervous about taking the tandem down the hill, but
I think that we will be okay.

Last night we had tacos for dinner. There
are kits in the grocery store and it just sounded good. They are Old El Paso
brand so I figured that they would be okay. I had all of the ingredients required
except meat although I wasn't sure what the carrot was for. So I bought the
kit and a half a kilo of mince. The carrot goes in with the meat. We like
carrots so I figured that that wouldn't be a problem. I browned and drained
the meat and added the carrots and seasonings. Scott asked how it was. I said
it was okay but tasted a little sweet. Maybe that was the carrots. As we ate,
it was obvious that it was sweet and more so then just carrots would make
it. This is what I found on the ingredients list for the seasoning: salt,
sugar, maize flour, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili pepper, cumin,
oregano, citric acid, free flow agent (341). Now I am assuming that the ingredients
are listed in quantity order like the are in the US. There is more sugar in
the mix then chili powered. No wonder. We have noticed that lots of things
here tend to be sweet. Oh well. I just thought that something that said Old
El Paso would be okay. I guess that Old El Paso made in Australia should have
been my first indication that it wasn't. I'll have to doctor up the leftovers.
We did managed to bring some "real" chili powder with us. I just
keep forgetting that we have it since it is in the freezer.

We got an extra hour today. We didn't realize
that they do day light savings here. We just switched back to "normal"
time. I guess we aren't as far ahead as we used to be. When the US "springs
forward" we will be even closer still.

March 20, 2002

Rumor from the bike shop is that the tandem
will be ready on Friday. They can repair the part for $160 instead of replacing
it for $900. That is good news. Now keep your fingers crossed for good weather
this weekend.

March 23, 2002

Rumor was kind of right. The bike was done
on Friday, but not when Scott stopped by to to get it. So we went back this
morning and picked it up. Then we went to Pak'N Save to get some food for
lunch and headed out to the peninsula. We took Highcliff Road like we did
on the previous rides. We were blessed with wonderful weather. I think that
it was one of the warmest days that we have had since we came to New Zealand.
We made it up all of the hills and stopped at the top for a photo op and to
give Graham something to snack on, since it was close to lunch time for him.
Then we headed down the hill to Portobello. I managed to not freak out on
the descents. I stayed very small and still on the back of the tandem. Scott
did a good job getting us down the hill. We can pick up a lot of speed very
quickly. We didn't stop and eat in Portobello like we did last time, but continued
out to the end of peninsula. We finally got to see some new territory. We
stopped at the albatross colony at Taiaroa Head. The colony is on a cliff
over looking the ocean and you really have to go by boat to see much. We did
see one albatross flying around. Since we saw tons of albatross in the Falklands
and Antarctica, they weren't that big of deal for us. We had lunch there and
enjoyed looking at the ocean. Since I was pretty tired and still had a long
way to go to get home, I vetoed a side trip to look for penguins. Next time
we'll do that. You actually need to go out in the evening to see many of them
anyway. The ride back along the bay is pretty nice and mostly flat. When we
got past Portobello we ended up with a head wind. We weren't too happy about
that. By that time my legs were hurting and I just want to get home and off
the bike. Of course there is always that last hill to climb. We managed to
get up all of the hills and were glad to get home and off the bike. We ended
up doing about 42 miles. That isn't too bad for my third ride of the season.
I promised Graham that when we got home he could go outside and play in the
dirt. He did a good job in the Burley, but he gets tired of it some times.
I sat out on the patio and enjoyed the weather while he ran around and got
dirty. All in all it ended up being a good day for everyone. Check out the
photos
that Scott took along the way.

There seem to be a lot of nice walking tracks
along the peninsula. We need to get out and do some tramping!

March 29, 2002

It is a holiday here. Scott gets off Monday
and Tuesday too. We had talked about going some place, but didn't think that
we would be able to find a place to stay. Easter is the last big holiday before
winter it seems. We wanted to bike, but following an absolutely gorgeous morning,
we had a cold, rainy afternoon. My laundry will never dry. We did get the
flats on the Burley fixed, the bikes cleaned, the garage cleaned up and some
weeds pulled. Graham had fun getting into everything. He managed to get a
lot of scratches too. They must be from the rose bushes. Hopefully we will
be able to get out for a ride one day this holiday. The weather forecasts
don't look to promising, though.

March 31, 2002

Happy Easter! We have enjoyed a quiet day
at home. We should have enjoyed a nice day on the bike, but we let the forecasted
rain keep us at home (that and the temperature). It hasn't rained yet. I think
that the clothes that I hung out to dry on Friday might actually be dry too.
They have been rained on several times in the last two days. Nothing wrong
with staying at home. Scott made calzones for lunch. They were a little strange.
The pepperoni was very hot and more like a salami. What I thought was ricotta
wasn't. I must have picked up the wrong container. It tasted more like sour
cream. The tomatoes and cheese were good though. Graham didn't seem to mind
that they were a little strange. He got up early again this morning and seemed
to be refusing a nap, but has managed to go to sleep. Scott and I are going
to play a game of something while he takes his nap. I don't know what we will
play, but there are only two options, Settlers of Catan or Aussie
Rails. Either is fine by me. I should go clean the table so we can play.

April 3, 2002

Well we have had a taste of winter here.
Monday and Tuesday were cold and rainy. We had to turn on a heater in the
house. Today was much nicer, though and Graham and I went to campus for lunch.
It is nice to get out and walk.

April 4, 2002

A package from home. Yippee. We like those.
This one had a nice quilt in it and some clothes. The quilt will come in handy.

April 6, 2002

Today was a good family day. We had a family
snuggle in bed in the morning. It was very nice. Once Scott decided that he
had enough sleep, we went for a bike ride. It wasn't too hilly and was very
pleasant. Pictures are here.
When we got home Graham got to play out in the dirt. He decided that the dirt
needed to be on the patio
and did his best to move it two handfuls at a time. Scott made pizza for dinner.
It was really tasty. Graham would eat what we had given him and then push
his plate to me. This indicates that he wants more. If my plate looked too
empty, then he would push his plate to Scott to be filled up. Pizza is a favorite
of everyone it seems.

April 10, 2002

We had to change our DSL usage from the 400MB
to the 600MB month. Then we got a bonus. They are doing away with the 600MB
plan and replacing it with a 1000MB plan for the same price. We should be
able to live comfortably with that. Our next bill might be expensive, but
we should level off after that. I won't feel like I have to limit everything
I do on the web now.

April 11, 2002

Graham and I got in lots of walking today.
We walked to have lunch with Scott. The after lunch the three of us walked
to the aviary to see the parrots. When we got home we went for a walk with
Jenny and Wil the neighbors. Since Graham only slept on the way back from
the university (about 45 minutes) he was really tired when bed time finally
rolled around. So was I, for that matter.

April 12, 2002

Today started out quite quiet and ordinary.
Graham and I walked to the bakery and got a quiche for dinner and some soup.
Scott wanted a lemon tart, but there were gone by the time we got there. After
Graham's nap, we went out to pull some weeds and play in the dirt. Scott called
while we were still outside and said that he was on his way home and would
be taking the new route that he tried the day before. Sometime later between
5 and 5:30 the doorbell rang. It was Scott all tore up with some guy. He had
crashed and the guy found him and brought him home. Tami, not realizing that
Scott didn't know what happened, didn't ask the guy that dropped him off enough
questions. I wish I had. We headed to the accident clinic. They sent Scott
to the emergency room. Graham and I stayed until midnight answering the same
questions over and over again for Scott. He had a mild concussion and some
bruised ribs. His memory wasn't returning like they hoped, so they kept him
over night. Sigh...

April 13, 2002

We went shopping with Sui-Ling and Alex this
morning. We had planned this before Scott's crash. After shopping we stopped
at the hospital and Scott was able to come home with us. We stopped by the
grocery store on the way. Since the weather was so nice, Sui-Ling had been
thinking about going for a drive. Scott said that we should still go since
he didn't want to sit around the house all day. We went home and had lunch
and let Scott and Graham take a short nap. Sui-Ling and Alex returned around
2:30 to see the bike and pick us up. We decided to go to Moeraki and see the
boulders. We dropped off the bike
at the shop on the way. It was a beautiful drive. New Zealand is definitely
lovely. We stopped at a cheese factory and bought some cheese curd. Scott
really likes that stuff. The boulders were really cool. I forgot the camera
so I don't have any pictures. I am sure that we will go back. On the way home
we went along the route that we thought Scott was biking when he crashed.
We had an idea where he went down from the data on his heart rate monitor.
It was getting dark so we didn't get out and look. Scott wants to go back
and check it out again. We stopped at Zucchini Brothers and picked up some
pasta and pizza and had dinner at our place. It was really good as usual.

April 14, 2002

Sui-Ling stopped by again today for a short
drive and some shopping. We went to were we think Scott crashed and we think
we found were it happened. The road is narrow there and there is a little
bit of a bank on the left hand side. Scott would have just started going down
hill and picking up speed. Scott found a spot that look like someone had run
into recently. He still doesn't know what happened and probably won't ever
remember, but I think that he feels a little bit better knowing where it happened.
I know that he wants to know why, but he will just have to settle for where.
A little further down the road he would have been down the hill and into the
river. We drove around a little more then after that. We went to the start
of the Pineapple Track which is supposed to be nice and then we drove Three
Mile Road to see if we could ride the tandem on it. I still haven't decided
if it will work. It depends mostly on traffic. We did some more shopping and
got a couple things for the house then we got some lunch and went home. We
spent a quiet afternoon at home. In the evening we filed our taxes (something
that we were going to do on Friday). Tomorrow will probably just be a quiet
day at home. Scott isn't going to work and let Geoff know that he will probably
have to teach for him on Tuesday.

April 18, 2002

Scott went to work this morning. He is doing
much better. He said that the headaches seem to be going away too. That is
very good news. He might be home a little early to help with Graham.

April 22, 2002

Looks like we might be in for a normal week.
Scott is back in his regular work schedule. He is doing very well. His ribs
still bother him, but everything else seems to be okay.

May 6, 2002

Mary told me this morning how pathetic I
was because the web pages had been updated for weeks. I have no excuse except
maybe nothing going on. We have gone a a couple of nice walks through Ross
Creek. Graham and I usually stay down town all afternoon and then walk home
with Scott. It adds 30-60 minutes to the walk home depending on what tracks
we take there. We have tasted a little bit of winter and had some really pleasant
autumn days. Today is very nice. Tomorrow it will probably snow. Actually,
I don't know that we will actually see any snow here. We took a nice drive
last night with Sui-Ling and Alex. They had come over the night before and
had pizza with us. Scott made the pizza and everyone enjoyed it. Alex
had a great time playing with Graham and asked his mom if he could come
play with Graham again. She called up and invited us to go for a drive with
her. We were only going to go look for the fish store in Port Chalmers, but
ended up going out to the end of the peninsula. We walked out on this old
man-made jetty thing. There were some seals at the end of it. It was cold,
though, and getting dark so we didn't stay long. Alex is pretty cute. He always
calls Scott, Scott King. Never just Scott, but Scott King. When Scott wrecked
on the bike he asked his mom, "Why does Scott King always crash his bike?".
We might be going to Queenstown in a couple of weeks with Sui-Ling. That should
be fun. She will let us know soon if she is going to be able to go. We might
be going to a rugby game on Saturday. Scott is working out the details about
that. We are also invited to a birthday party on Saturday, but we don't know
if we will be able to make it yet. We are planning
a trip to Australia. With all of the traveling that Scott is doing in the
next couple of months, I hope that he will have enough energy to go. Europe/US
in June, US in July, and possibly the US in August for his sister's wedding.
Sounds like lots of frequent flyer miles to me. We bought a dehumidifier over
the weekend. I think that will help the house out a lot. It at least gets
the condensation off from the windows. It should help make the house feel
warmer too. So like I said, nothing going on here, but if all of our plans
work out, I should have something of more interest to report later on.

May 9, 2002

Today we went shopping. Graham and Scott
bought me a Mother's Day present. I got running shoes. It wasn't a hint. I
wanted them. I am going to try running since I am not getting in enough biking
and I don't really have anyway to exercise in the house. Hopefully it will
work out. We also went to see a movie. Graham did a good job. I thought that
he would sleep, but he didn't. We saw Ice Age. We enjoyed it. The theater
was pretty empty. I don't know that I would take him when the theater was
full. The matinee seemed to work out pretty good.

May 10, 2002

Went for my first run. Well it is more of
a jog/walk thing. It went well.

May 12, 2002

It is Mother's Day. I let Scott sleep in.
He wasn't too happy about that when he realized what day it was. It didn't
matter to me since I was awake anyway. He cooked dinner and made one of the
best loaves of bread he has ever made. It was really good. I went for my second
run. My legs hurt really bad. Maybe I am over doing it. Father's Day isn't
until September here. Since Scott will be gone in June anyway we will probably
celebrate it then.

May 14, 2002

I went for another run. Legs didn't bother
me so much. That is good!

May 18, 2002

I spent the day on the couch sick. Scott
spent the day taking care of Graham. He needed to go to work, but had to stay
home. I appreciated it. Hopefully he will get caught up on his work.

May 19, 2002

We went to Brendan's house for his tank party.
He got a new water tank and was going to have people over to help him get
it moved and set up. He got it done before with the help of his neighbors
but he still had the party. They have a nice house out by Port Chalmers. It
has a very nice view is isn't too far away from a couple of beaches. I ate
too much and my stomach didn't appreciate it.

May 26, 2002

Just got back from a weekend in Queenstown.
Pictures are here.
It was very nice. Sui-Ling was going to visit friends and offered to take
us with her. We left in the afternoon on Thursday, May 23. It is about a 4
hour drive. The weather wasn't the greatest and the forecast was for more
of the same all weekend. We had a nice place lined up to stay in over the
weekend. Sui-Ling was staying at her friends. We had a place close to downtown
that didn't involve too much up and down. We got into town in around 6:30
or 7 and after getting check in, we went out for dinner. We made plans to
met up with Sui-Ling and Alex in the afternoon to go to Arrowtown. The next
morning (Friday) we woke up to snow on the mountain tops. It was very beautiful.
We went out to see the lake and downtown and get some breakfast. It was quite
chilly and we bought beanies for our heads since we hadn't managed to bring
any. We grabbed some lunch in the mall (we were going to have Mexican, but
it wasn't open until evening) and then went back to the hotel room to meet
Sui-Ling and Alex. The day turned out very beautiful. It was cool, but mostly
sunny and we didn't get rained on. On the way back from Arrowtown we drove
part way up to one of the ski resorts. The views were spectacular. We stopped
at Shotover where they do jetboating. It looked like lots of fun but we decided
that it would be more fun in warmer weather. That evening we met Hans for
dinner. He had taken the bus and was biking to Glenorchy(?) then following
day. He would return to Queenstown on Monday and take the bus back to Dunedin
on Tuesday. At least I think that was the plan. Dinner was very nice. Scott
had a glass of kiwifruit wine. It was very sweet. The plan for Saturday was
to meet for breakfast and then see how the day turned out. We ended up having
breakfast at McCafe (yes, that is Mc as in McDonalds). The hot chocolate was
good and so was the conversation. The day didn't seem so cold, but it was
certainly wetter. Hans left on the bike after breakfast and we decided to
take the steam ship across the lake to the farm for tea and animal watching.
The only catch there was the steam ship wasn't running. It was time for it
yearly maintenance. We went on a launch instead. Had we gone the day before
we would have been on the steam ship. We picked up James, the son of one of
Sui-Ling's friends. He is just a little younger the Alex. They certainly had
a good time together. The farm was nice. Graham enjoyed feeding the animals.
Mom and Dad enjoyed tea. We had scones, some cinnamon bread and piklets(?),
which are basically pancakes with jam and cream on top. After tea we watched
the dog work the sheep and then saw a demonstration of sheep shearing. The
weather was getting wetter and windier. Once back on the other side of the
lake we went up the gondola with Mae, James' mother. No one was up for the
luge since it was so cold outside. Michael and Vanessa (husband and daughter
of Mae) joined us a little bit later. We watched a movie about some of the
attractions in New Zealand and then had buffet dinner. It was pretty good
and we over ate as usual. Graham was so tired he fell asleep in the restaurant.
He didn't get many good naps over the weekend. He hardly stirred when we got
back to the hotel room even having his nappy changed and being stuffed in
him pajamas. This morning we headed back to Dunedin. We stopped at Michael's
and Mae's for tea. They have a very nice house right on a lake. Scott and
I took a walk down by the lake. Graham made a killing there. He got clothes
and toys. He held on to his new train almost the entire ride home. Our last
stops were at the bungy bridge (Scott wasn't interested) and one of the local
wineries. We bought a few bottles and got some cheese. We drove home a different
route then the drive out. This one looked like we would be able to ride the
bike on it. Not too much traffic and not terribly hilly. We took a rode that
Sui-Ling hadn't been on before that went to Mosgiel through Middlemarch. Since
the train stops in Middlemarch we though that it would be good to see the
roads there. The road ended up being closed just outside of Middlemarch. We
had been on it for about 55 minutes and were only about 70 kilometers from
Dunedin. The road didn't look bad to us, but there was a storm moving in and
we didn't want to risk it. Scott said that they read in the paper that they closed it just 10 minutes or so after we turned down it. It was just bad luck
for us. There was on other road that looked like it would save us some time
so we tried that. It worked out fine. We eventually made it to Highway 1 and
back to Dunedin. The house was freezing when we got home and the better heater
decided to not work. We ordered some takeaway and Sui-Ling went to pick it
up and after dropping it off took Alex home for bed. Scott finally got cold
enough that he fixed the heater. Tired boy went right to sleep. Mom and Dad
weren't far behind.

May 27, 2002

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground.
Music class was canceled. Graham has a runny nose. We aren't going very far
today.

May 28, 2002

The decision has been made we are going to
Australia in August and stay on one of the Whitsunday Islands.

May 29, 2002

Everyone went downtown together today. I
had to go get on the scale and Scott and Graham went to the bank to pay for
his conference next month. We then had lunch, went to a jazz piano concert,
and hung out at the lab for a while. We were going to see the Star Wars movie
but decided to go home instead so I could go to yoga. On the way we did a
little shopping. Everyone got slippers and we found some water shoes for Scott.
Nothing for me and Graham. We might have to order some from the states and
have Scott pick them up there on one of his many trips. We bought Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone. I just thought that it would be cool to have
the movie for the correct name. Hopefully it isn't region encoded and we will
be able to watch it in the US. If not I guess we will just get the US version.
Scott took it to the lab so we can watch it the next time we are there. We
also bought some music and a birthday present for Graham. I am still contemplating
if we should have a party for him.

June 25, 2002

Yes I am behind on the web page again. I'll
just put what has been going on in this entry instead of trying to remember
what happened on what day. I have updated Graham's page with correct dates
on as much of it as I could remember. Hopefully I won't repeat too much stuff
here.

We did see Star Wars. It was pretty cheesy,
but I didn't really except anything different.

The trip to Australia is paid for. Woo Hoo,
I can't wait!

Scott left for a conference in Geneva on
the 16th. He had a good time there and is currently in Columbus doing some
motion capture for SIGGRAPH, I think. He'll be going to SIGGRAPH in July.
Graham and I miss him a lot. Graham keeps asking "where Daddy".
He doesn't understand my explanations, but I don't really expect him to. We
celebrated Graham's birthday the night before Scott left. More on that is
on Graham's page. Graham and I have been sick most of the time that Scott
has been gone. I have the cold that won't go away. Graham has had a cold and
currently has an ear infection. More on the ears on Graham's web page. So
basically we have been stuck in the house most of the time with just each
other to keep us company. We are getting tired of that. Good thing that Scott
will be home on Sunday.

So now you know that the web page hasn't
been updated because there isn't anything going on. I'll still try to do better!
;-)

June 26, 2002

We went shopping with Sui-Ling today. She
was shopping for the duck (goodies you can purchase in the graphics lab).
She rang and asked if we wanted to go shopping. It was nice being able to
buy whatever I wanted since I wouldn't have to carry it home. I forgot a couple
of things of course. After shopping and dropping off the groceries, we went
to the lab and had lunch with her. I guess that the lab has been very quiet
lately. It is between semesters. She was glad for the company and we were
glad to get out of the house. When Graham started getting really cranky she
took us home.

June 28, 2002

We went to the bakery this morning with Sui-Ling.
We got a lemon tart for Scott. He really likes those. We also got some meatballs
and soup. I really like the soup.

June 30, 2002

Scott got home today. It looked like he was
going to miss his flight out of LA since he left Denver an hour late, but
he made it. The flight got to Auckland 40 minutes early so he was able to
switch to the earlier flight to Dunedin. That was good for him since it was
a direct flight. He got in at 9am instead of 11:30. Sui-Ling and Alex took
us to the airport. It was good to see Scott. Graham wasn't too sure at first,
but eventually went to him. Alexi one of the students in the graphics lab
came in on the same flight and he rode back to Dunedin with us. It was a rainy
cold morning and we joked about how it was just like the last time he flew
into Dunedin. When we got home Scott unpacked his bag. He brought clothes
for Graham and a new toy train. The train was a big hit. I got a scarf and
some really good chocolate. Hopefully I won't eat it all in one sitting. Oh,
I also got some water shoes for our trip to Australia. We managed to find
some here for Scott and Graham, but none for me. Scott was pretty much useless
the rest of the day. He either slept
or played on his new laptop. I have my computer back. I don't have to share
anymore. We had to share the connection to the Internet, though. Something
will have to be done about that really soon.

July 1, 2002

It is cold and rainy here today. Scott didn't
even go to work. He made a trip to the store for some milk and later in the
day he ran downtown to get a hub so we wouldn't have to fight over the Internet
connection. I was going to take Graham to music class, but just didn't want
to drag him out into the weather since he is still getting over his ear infection.
We just spent the day at home.

Scott got e-mail from Geoff. Apparently his
mechanic has found us a car.

July 2, 2002

I found out this morning that there wasn't
any music class yesterday because it is school break. There isn't any next
week either. Good thing we didn't walk down in the rain yesterday. Scott managed
to get to work today. Scott got a hold of the mechanic and he is bringing
the car buy tomorrow night for us to look at.

July 3, 2002

The car seems pretty nice. We are going to
get it. He will drop it off tomorrow. We need to get a check for him.

July 4, 2002

The guy dropped the car
off and we gave him the check. The registration should come in the mail next
week. I arranged for insurance. We can actually go some place this weekend
if we want.

Sui-Ling and Alex came by for dinner. We
had our 4th of July celebration. We ate way too much. We had hamburgers, potato
salad, and apple crisp. We drank the root beer that Scott brought from the
US. Sui-Ling brought chicken wings and ribs, ice cream and chocolate cake
with whipped cream and blue berries and strawberries on it. The berries made
up a star and stripes. It was really cute. We were so full we couldn't eat
any of it. We are going to have it for lunch in the lab tomorrow.

July 5, 2002

The cake for lunch was really tasty. I signed
up for AA which is like AAA in the US. We are going for a drive tomorrow afternoon.
Sui-Ling and Alex are coming along. They are going to ride with us for a change.

July 6, 2002

Today
we went for a drive. We wanted to get out and see how the car was. Sui-Ling
and Alex came with us. We took Highway 1 south. We really didn't know where
we were going, we were just going. First stop was Waihola. There was a nice
lake there. Alex had a disposable camera and he was taking pictures. The kids
had a good time playing in the playground. Graham kept going down the slide.
Sui-Ling and Scott looked at the map and found someplace for us to go. They
were looking for a cheese factory. Sui-Ling thought that it was near Balclutha.
It turned out that the one Sui-Ling was thinking of is closer to Invercargill.
There is a cheese factory in the area in Stirling, but it isn't open to the
public. We decided to go to Nugget Point where there is supposed to be a fur
seal colony. We took a nice walk out to see the nuggets and a light house.
Then we went to the beach where there might be seals. We didn't see any seals,
but we did get to see a couple penguins come out of the ocean and up the hill.
We think that they were Little Blues. So we have added another penguin breed
to our list. We stopped in Balclutha on the way home to grab something to
eat. It was nice a day.

July 7, 2002

We took a drive
today out to the peninsula. There are lots of place there that we want
to see, but we just didn't have any easy way to get to them. First we went
to Boulder Beach. We walked down a very rough road and then on to a nature
preserve and then to the beach. The beach is covered with big rocks in many
place which is where the name comes from I guess. This is a place to look
for Yellow Eyed penguins. It looks like a good spot since it probably doesn't
attract many people. When it gets warmer we are going to go back and see if
we can spot some penguins. They come in around dusk.

We drove down the road a little bit further
and went to Sandfly Bay. This was a lovely area with lots of beach. It is
also for watching penguins and actually has a hide you can wait in. One of
the signs also said that there could be sea lions in the area. I would expect
to see more people here then at Boulder Beach watching for penguins. There
are lots of sand dunes here and they sled on them. There was some kids there
doing that. We sat on some boulders on the beach and had a snack then we walked
down to the other end of the beach to see where the hide was. Just after leaving
the boulders, I spotted a sea lion. We watched it and it watched us and then
it swum off. We had to go down a very steep sand dune to get to the beach.
I was worried about getting back up it with Graham since he wasn't in the
backpack. We didn't have a problem, though. We headed home after that since
it was getting late.

We figure out some of the things that we
need to put in the car with us. Number one, take the backpack whether we think
we will use it or not. We did okay without it and probably wouldn't have used
it if we had it,but it would have been nice to have that option. We also need
towels and more water then we had. Snacks for Graham are a must. I need to
figure out what travels best.

July 8, 2002

Scott called around 3:40 saying that he was
on his way home so I could go for a run. About 4:20 he wasn't home and I started
to worry. He turned on not too long after that. He was missing a crank. It
had fallen off and he didn't have any tools with him to fix it. He was riding
the mountain bike and the panniers were on the road bike. He pushed the bike
home. At least there wasn't any blood involved. I got my run, but my legs
sure hurt. It has been at least 3 weeks since I have been out.

August 9, 2002

It has been a slow month. Scott went to SIGGRAPH
and Graham and I did what we usually do which isn't much. The weather hasn't
been too bad. I expected that it would be wetter here, but we haven't had
that much rain. It gets cold some days and some days are nice. If the house
were warmer, the weather here would be great. There have been many times we
could have biked. We haven't, but we could have. The hills tend to stop me
and I shouldn't let them. I did bike down to campus one day with Graham. I
wanted to see if I could pull him up the hill by myself. I couldn't. I had
to walk up the steep part. I also had to walk about half way home because
one of the pedals fell off and I didn't have any tools to get it put back
on. Silly me. With some consistent riding, I should be able to get up the
hill with Graham. I just need to get out and ride and I haven't been doing
that.

We are playing on a coed indoor soccer team.
We have 4 games and played the first one last week and have the second on
tonight. I feel pretty stupid out there. I haven't played soccer before. Last
week we didn't score any goals. That should change this week. There has to
be at least one woman play at all times. There are only 3 and last week only
two were there. We played a lot. I think that all three will be here tonight.
The last game we won't be able to make because we will be in Australia. Oh
well. Scott will miss next week because he will be in Denver.

We haven't been out in the car much. One
weekend we drove to Christchurch.
It was a nice drive, but a long weekend in the car. The kids didn't get to
get out and run enough. They had a good time playing with their trains at
the hotel, though. Alex and Graham shared a room and they woke up at about
5am. I grabbed Graham and put him in our room. I didn't want to be up at 5.
Sui-Ling said that she found Alex in the room reading and she got him to go
back to sleep too. That was good! We went out on the peninsula
last weekend and saw some of the sights. Scott had to stop and look at
all of the birds. There are lots of black swans on some of the inlets. We
saw a little bird flit by that looked like it was teal in color. We don't
know what it was. Don't know if we will get out this weekend. The weather
is supposed to turn bad tonight (they said that yesterday too, so I don't
know if I believe them) and Scott has to get his lecture prepared and get
ready for his next trip. I'll be glad when he is done traveling and I bet
he will too.

August 22, 2002

Scott has been to Denver and back for Karen's
wedding. He said that everything went well and it was nice to see his family.
Graham and I were glad to have him back home. The last two days have been
very lovely. Warm and sunny. We went for a walk on the Pineapple Track. Tomorrow
we leave for Australia. I am looking forward to that.

September 1, 2002

We returned home from Australia yesterday.
We had a great trip. You can read about it here
(eventually). The weather wasn't too bad when we returned to Dunedin, but
we did have to put on long pants and sweat shirts. Today has been dreary and
gray. Scott says that the weather is depressing. I certainly miss the sun.
I think that it will show up in Dunedin eventually. Things are starting to
bloom so spring must be on its way.

Today is Father's Day in New Zealand. Scott
celebrated by napping until almost noon after having pancakes for breakfast.
We spent a lazy afternoon. We watched The Fellowship of the Ring while
Graham was napping (we bought a DVD play before we left on holiday). Since
no one could figure out what to have for dinner, we walked to the Indian restaurant
and had a nice meal. Milk shakes are next. Today is the last day of vacation
and the food binge stops tomorrow.

September 4, 2002

We had a beautiful day today. It was probably
in the 20s. Graham and I went to campus to have lunch with Scott. We need
more warm days like today.

September 11, 2002

It is supposed to be cold today so Graham
and I decided to stay in. It was a sunny morning, but now it has clouded over.
I guess I should keep an eye on my wash that is outside. It might rain on
it. We might get snow tonight too.

October 7, 2002

Not much going on in the last month. We have
had some nice days, some cold days, some sunny days and even some snow. Sounds
like spring to me. Many things are blooming. Scott and I have been trying
to get the flower beds presentable. We bought a hoe and that helped a lot.
I still need to go out and do my 15 minutes for the day. We have done a little
bit of hiking, but not much biking. Graham and I still have music class on
Mondays and play group on Tuesdays. I am on the play group committee now.
That should be interesting. Yoga on Wednesdays for me. Scott just goes to
work every day. This is the last week of the semester. Scott is done teaching
until the end of February. What a break. Hopefully we will have lots of good
weather so we can get out and bike and hike. Lori will be here in less then
a month. I hope that she will be able to carry her suitcases. I have asked
her to bring a lot of stuff. We switched to Daylight Savings yesterday. That
means that we should be able to start taking a walk after dinner again. That
will be good. That is about it for us. November will be more exciting!

October 12, 2002

Did some shopping this morning. We bought
more track for Graham's trains. We had to check things out while he was napping.
I put some up to save for Christmas, but we let him have some new track and
a bridge. He has had a great time playing with them. In the afternoon we went
out for a ride and a walk with Sui-Ling and Alex. The weather was strange.
The sun would shine, then it would rain, then the sun would be out again.
It was very windy which would explain the change in the weather. We picked
up Indian food for dinner and really enjoyed that. Then Scott made banana
muffins. Graham was so tired that he couldn't hardly stay awake but refused
to close his eyes until they left.

November 20, 2002

I have tons of pictures to process. We just
got back from 5 days in the car. We took an overnight cruise on Doubtful
Sound in the Fiordlands. We saw one of the glaciers. We saw the pancake
rocks. We did a lot of driving and saw more of this beautiful country. More
information after I get all of the pictures processed.

December 23, 2002

I think that we are finally ready for Christmas.
The last present showed up today. Scott's telescope. We had it shipped from
Christchurch. We couldn't have driven there for $15. Unfortunately, it is
pretty cloudy today so I don't think that he will get to use it tonight. He
might even have to wait for Christmas. We have pretty much spent a small fortune
on Graham. Well maybe not that much, but he will have a good Christmas. He
still doesn't have a concept of Christmas or Santa and that is okay. We don't
have a tree and there won't be any stockings, but there will be enough presents
to go around. Some of the international students are coming over for lunch.
That way they won't have to sit in the lab. Hopefully lunch won't be a complete
disaster. The raspberry mousse should be good. So I am rambling. I guess I
should stop.

December 26, 2002

We have had a wonderful Christmas
and a quiet Boxing Day. We are getting ready for our bike trip tomorrow. I
need to finish packing up Graham's clothes and figure out what toys to take.
We still need to clean and lube the chains on the bike. We leave tomorrow
morning on the train. We'll bike for 4 days and then take the train back to
Dunedin. I predict sore butts.