News 2004

January 6, 2004

We are having a good new year. The weather has been very warm, except for today, that is. Raspberries are in season. Walks on the beach after dinner are nice. The days are quite long right now. I don't think about the fact that they are actually getting shorter. Saturn is close and Scott has had the telescope out to look at it. The latest round of job applications have been sent so now we wait to see if anyone is interested. We aren't getting our hopes up. Our families are happy that we will be home this year. We aren't thrilled about going home without work, but that is how it goes, I guess. It is exciting to think or returning even though we will miss New Zealand. Dunedin is a great city and it would be a nice place to raise Graham. I guess if things don't work out in the US we can always come back.

January 19, 2004

Not much going on here. Scott hurt his leg so we haven't been out biking. Maybe this weekend we'll get out. He is starting to work on his software again and that makes him happy. I started working again. Brendan is back from Canada so maybe I'll get something done now.

January 26, 2004

At karate class last week, my teacher, Daniel, asked if we had found our camera. I told him we hadn't. He said that he knew someone in charge of lost and found at the police and he would check with her. On Sunday he said that they did indeed have the camera. We picked it up today. Graham has been pestering me all day to take pictures. He thinks that it is his camera. I let him take a few. Here is one of the pictures from the old camera

January 27, 2004

Graham has gone to kindy. The house is quiet. I have a few hours to myself. Maybe I'll actually get some work done. ;-)

February 6, 2004

Lori made it safe and sound yesterday. Too bad her luggage didn't...

February 8, 2004

Luggage arrived last night. Took them long enough. Everything seems fine and the cashew stuff made it through customs even though we didn't think it would. I keep telling Lori that those sorts of things can be purchased here and she didn't need to bring it. ;-)

February 19, 2004

We spent last weekend in Glenorchy. We were thinking of head to Catlins this weekend, but the weather looks to be crappy so we will probably just stay home.

Nothing on the docket today. I guess we'll just hang out and maybe take a trip to the beach. It is sunny, but windy. Typical Dunedin.

March 8, 2004

We had a not so nice February as far as the weather goes. It rained almost every weekend. We didn't get out to do much and neither did Lori. She went home last week. Her luggage made it eventually, too, I think. She said she had a good time and we enjoyed her visit.

I have been playing around with Gallery and I am thinking about moving all of our photos to it. It will take me a while to get there but the end result will be worth it. All photos will be searchable and I'll be able to add descriptions for everything without having to make individual pages in the current photo album. I think the current one will stick around, but who knows. I could change my mind and rearrange the entire site. The photo gallery can be found here, but there isn't much there yet.

We bought a new suit for Scott the other day. We are being optimistic about interviews. We know that he is on the short list for 2 schools and think that he might be for 2 more. We still wait anxiously for news of interviews. Hopefully they realize that if they call too early they won't get a hold of him. I wish that he had given them our home number too. Oh well...

March 14, 2004

Well I have survived another birthday. I actually had a nice day. Some friends came over for morning tea and brought a "Kiwi" cake for me. The card they gave me plays a song when opened. Graham had a good time with that. Scott took me out for dinner and a movie.

Today Scott is out hiking on the peninsula with Hans. Graham and I are supposed to go pick them up at 5. It looked like it was raining out there earlier, but look like they might actually have some blue sky now. It is cloudy at the house. Maybe it will clear up here too eventually.

March 22, 2004

Summer officially ended yesterday. It certainly doesn't look like it today, tomorrow will be a different story. The time changed yesterday too. NZ is off from daylight savings. It is dark at 7:30. Graham got up at the normal time which meant that he was up at 6:30 instead of 7:30. sigh... Hopefully he'll get straightened out in a couple of days.

Scott decided that he needed a new toy. Well, actually two. We got a new graphics card for the desktop and a DVD burner. He burned his first DVD yesterday. A data DVD, not a movie. He hooked up the camera and started pulling the video from his sisters's wedding. He is going to start editing at some point. Then he'll burn a movie DVD and we'll see what we end up with. My project is to video tape karate and burn a DVD so I will have something when we leave. I don't know how long it will be before I start taking classes again and it would be nice to have something so I can keep practicing. We'll see if I ever get it done, though.

June 9, 2004

I have sat down to update these pages numerous times since my last update and just never finished. It is June. We'll be back in the US in a month. We leave New Zealand on July 4th. Still no job for Scott. A couple of schools have asked if he is still interested, but we haven't heard back from them. Oh well. Maybe they will still call. We are trying to get everything sold. A few things are gone, but not enough. The car will be the hardest, I think. Beyond that there isn't much going on here.

June 29, 2004

I just want it over. We have been packing and moving stuff and selling stuff and I am tired of it. Of course now I get to start cleaning stuff. The people are coming tomorrow to pick up the boxes that we are shipping back. We found a company that would do it at a reasonable rate. Of course it will be more then the quote since we are sending more boxes now. We do a test pack tonight to see what the suitcases will feel like and finalize what we will be shipping. The garage sale went OK. We got rid of some stuff, but still have more to go. At this point we will just donate what is left I think. We still haven't decided what to do with the car. We have a couple of days to figure that one out.

Scott has been busy all week with a conference at the university. It is over today. He has another talk to prepare but hopefully he can put that off for a few days while we finish stuff up here. He has an interview in Corpus Christi the week after we get back. We'll see how that goes.

July 4, 2004

A very long day spent in airports. We are back in the US. Many good friends saw us off at the airport in Dunedin. It was nice of all of them to be there. We really enjoyed our time in New Zealand and will miss it very much.

We had to pack three times to get it down to 6 bags. We threw stuff away every time. We also left a big mess for Sui-Ling to deal with. She is a treasure. We left the car with Kathryn. She is going to sell it for us. Hopefully that won't take too long.

July 7, 2004

We got our air freight today. What a mess. It came on a Quantas flight to LA where it was supposed to go on an American Airlines flight to SLC. When we checked the flight information given to us it looked like it was going to Santiago Chile (SCL instead of SLC). When I managed to get a hold of American they said they couldn't help us, talk to Quantas. I finally found a number for Quantas in LA and gave them a call. They said that American had refused our boxes and Quantas had put it on a truck to SLC (not Chile, yippy) and to call the trucking company the next day. The trucking company gave me another phone number for another company. Call after 4 since the stuff won't be there until then. A very helpful gentleman at that phone number told me what I needed to do. Today we drove down to SLC after we decided that the boxes would fit in the back of the truck and we didn't need Tom's trailer. We picked up our invoice at the freight company and took it to customs at the airport. Customs asked a few question, we signed a form and they stamped the invoice. We went back to the freight company. The very helpful gentleman loaded the boxes on the truck and we were on our way. We kept the bikes, the toys and the dvds and took the rest to the storage unit. Scott has the bikes put together. We might be able to take a short ride tomorrow.

Graham is enjoying his time at his grandparents. There is a little boy that lives just down the road that he likes to play with. There were 2 boxes waiting for Graham. He had a good time opening them. The first was from Grandma Carol and Grandpa Art. It was full of toys and clothes. The other package was from Lori. It was full of toys and his favorite cd. He has had a good time playing with all of his new toys. His old toys have finally arrived (well most of them) He hasn't done much with them at this point. Too many new ones to play with.

July 29, 2004

We have been here almost a month now. I don't think that we have done anything except eat. Well that isn't true. We took a road trip last week to see Scott's family. We drove to Española and spent a few days with Scott's mom and stepdad. Then we went to Albuquerque to visit University of New Mexico and stay with Scott's aunt. Then we drove to Denver to see his sisters. It was a short trip, but they were happy to see us, I think.

We took I-25 from Albuquerque to Denver. We stopped in Raton (where Scott grew up) to say hi to a few people and get some lunch. Scott wanted lunch at the Dairy Queen. After lunch the car wouldn't start. We call AAA and the verdict was the starter wasn't working. Since we have a manual, we popped the clutch and drove to Denver. I called Karen when we got closer and they found a place that could fix the car. It was ready the next day and we drove back to Utah.

Scott has accepted a job at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. We are still waiting for the paperwork but we believe that everything is a done deal. I am not thrilled with south Texas, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. There are nice beaches there and the water should be warm. I am sure that we will adjust. Scott will be going down mid August after he gets back from SIGGRAPH. I don't know when Graham and I will go.

Graham met another cousin the other night. Well actually a second cousin. We went to my uncle's for a dip in the pool and dinner. Bridger is just a month older the Graham. They had a great time playing in the pool, jumping on the trampoline, and just running around. We'll have to go back for another visit.

August 8, 2004

Scott is off to SIGGRAPH. His flight left at 6AM on Friday. We got up at about 3:30AM. Not much fun. We managed to wake up Graham so we took him with us. He slept in the car. Graham and I went back to sleep when we got back.

August 17, 2004

Scott is in Corpus Christi. He will have an apartment today and he has started work. I guess that he will just do lots of work until we get there. Not sure when that will be.

August 18, 2004

Well hopefully Scott will have an apartment today. There were problems with the carpet yesterday so new will be installed today. He can move in tonight. I'll keep my fingers crossed. He went looking at houses yesterday and found something that he really liked. From what I have seen off the web page he sent me, I will really like it too. It is a little more then we wanted to spend and we are trying to figure out right now if we can afford it. If we can, we might be building a new house there.

Scott on Corpus Christi:

I like Corpus Christi. Seems to have everything we need and not too large. Better eats and same stores as Columbus, but seems less traffic. I haven't been in big rush hour stuff yet though. Doesn't seem hotter than Utah, but a bit more sticky. The mornings seem much more sticky and slightly warmer. No mountains, but beach. Can see the sun rise and set easily. I suspect bad sky viewing, but haven't checked yet.

Graham has been a busy boy lately. He went to the dentist and he has had his hair cut. He has also been up to the shop with grandpa to play in the sawdust. He is having a good time. He is registered for preschool. He will only get to go for a few weeks though. We'll have to find a new one when we get to Texas.

September 29, 2004

We have bought a house! It is a 4 bedroom ranch. Not a very big yard, but those are hard to find. The only bad thing is that it isn't finished yet. Actually that isn't bad. We'll get to pick the paint, cabinets, tile, light fixtures, etc.

October 2, 2004

Graham and I are back from Texas. We had a very good visit with Scott. We ran around and picked stuff out for the house.

October 16, 2004

Today we had a party for Mom and Dad's anniversary. It went very well. The whole family was there and I think that we got some nice pictures. It was very good to see everyone. I wish that we got to see them more often.

October 19, 2004

Graham and I are back in Texas. It is hot and humid. They are predicting record breaking temperatures this week. Maybe we should have stayed in Utah another week.

The house is coming along nicely. Most of the cabinets are in and it is about half bricked. They think that the brick will be finished this week and the painting will be done.

October 24, 2004

We took Graham to the beach today. He has been asking all week. He wanted to go to the beach by Daddy's office so that is where we went. Before heading that direction we stopped by the house. I can't seem to keep away from the place. There was someone there painting the walls. I have been a little nervous about the paint I chose. I usually have off-white walls. I picked out a brown paint. I have been into earth tones lately. I wasn't too sure about the paint color I chose. It looked very dark to me. Scott said that he would have gone with something lighter. Since he wouldn't help pick out the paint, I didn't think that he had any right to complain. It didn't look bad, just dark. After the beach we went back to look again. It didn't look so bad then. I think that it will grow on me. I am waiting to see how it goes with the floor tile which they should start on this week.

I have been writing a cover letter. One of my least favorite things to do. Then why do it? The Division of Nearshore Research has finally posted their new position. I have most everything ready now except for a list of references which I don't need until they ask for them. I'll apply for it tomorrow. Maybe I will get a job. That would be really nice, especially with all of the money I have been spending lately.

We bought a fridge and a washer and dryer yesterday. More money then I should have spent. We were kind of limited on the fridge since it needed to be cabinet depth and stainless steel (actually it is something that looks like stainless but doesn't fingerprint as bad. We got 10% off so that isn't bad.

October 28, 2004

The house is coming along for the most part. The brick is done except for a very little bit around the front door. The majority of the painting is done on the inside of the house. They will come back and finish that later. They are supposed to start putting in the tile today. Since Scott has the car today I won't be able to check if they really have started that. Maybe we will go by tonight. We have found some problems with the builtin bookshelves in the living room. We don't know what they will do about those just yet. Hopefully they will let us know soon.

Last night we watched the lunar eclipse. It was really cool. We were able to see the total eclipse here. Graham enjoyed looking at the moon.

October 30, 2004

We have a new site design. I am still getting the wrinkles out so don't expect everything to work. Hopefully all of the pages will be done soon.

November 3, 2004

I am disappointed with my fellow Americans, but not really surprised. I just hope that we survive 4 more years. I hate to think what shape the country will be in if things continue like they have been. If I hear the words "moral values" one more time, I think I might be sick. Some people have a strange definition of moral.

November 4, 2004

Scott has gone to Tuscan. He'll be back on Sunday. Graham and I will just do the usual hanging out at the apartment. I really need to find a park.

The house is coming along. We still don't think that we will close next Friday, but who knows. Most likely we will close early the following week. They don't think that the granite will be in in time for the 12th. We may have to find a new fridge. There seems to be something wrong with the one we ordered. I need to check with Sears again to see if they have figured anything out.

November 8, 2004

Scott is back and had a decent trip. I might actually be doing some work for OSU. I still haven't heard anything about a position here. Looks like we will close sometime next week, most likely the 19th. Just so long as we close before Thanksgiving, I'll be OK. Not much work don't on the house lately. They are at the point where the counter tops have to go in before they can do anything else. They are scheduled to be installed on Friday.

November 9, 2004

Here is the house. Not a very good picture. They are working on the driveway today.

November 13, 2004

Lots of work done on the house the last few days. The counter tops are in and the plumber has installed the toilets, faucets, etc. He has to redo many of the faucets because he had the wrong ones. The kitchen sink was correct as was the tub in the master bath. Everything else was wrong. Oh well. I guess they will get it straightened out on Monday. I think that they were installing the air conditioner today. Now the big concern is getting the electricity hooked up in time. The builders should have done that but didn't for some unknown reason. The gas needs to be hooked up too, but they are much quicker about that. It would be a shame if we couldn't close because there isn't any electricity in the house. There was an electric guy in the subdivision this morning but he said that our house wasn't on his list. Seems weird to have someone there working but not doing all of the house in the area at the same time. I don't think that they are very efficient.

November 17, 2004

Work continues slowly on the house. They have put in the carpet and were installing the appliances today. The tiling isn't finished. We are still missing light fixtures. They didn't order the shower head for the master bath. I don't think the air conditioner is installed either. At least the part that goes outside isn't there. There is painting still to be done. No sod. No fence. Of course there still aren't any utilities and it could take 3 weeks to get them turned on. The builder says that we will close on Monday. Well maybe, but we need 4 days after the house is complete to get the financing finalized (which is kind of annoying) so I see no way of us closing on Monday or anytime next week because the house isn't finished. I guess we will just be homeless for a while. I got a mailbox today so we will at least still get our mail.

November 19, 2004

We have electricity!! The tiling will be done today. The missing light fixtures are found. The air conditioner was installed yesterday. So we need the gas hooked up (something we are assured won't take anytime at all) and the touch up painting done. There is a very slim possibility that we will close next week. I am not counting on it though. I need to make phone calls and rearrange deliveries of fridges and mattresses.

November 23, 2004

We own a house. It isn't finished, but we own it.

November 24, 2004

Gas was hooked up today which is very good. No cold showers for us this weekend. The fridge, washer, and dryer were delivered and installed. The mattress were delivered. I have reserved a U-Haul for Friday so we can move out of the apartment.

November 25, 2004

Today is our 16th anniversary. I think the house counts as a present. We had a small turkey breast and mashed potatoes for lunch and of course a pumpkin pie. That is as festive as we can manage right now.

November 26, 2004

We have moved into the house. It looks pretty empty. We have a futon and a small table and a computer desk. Oh and a mattress in two of the bedrooms. That is it. A couple of weeks and we will have our stuff from Utah.

We got out of the apartment just fine. I don't know how much of our deposit we will get back. When I was cleaning one of the blinds broke. They charged $15 for that so they can't be very good blinds. It took an hour at U-Haul to get the truck. I can't believe how slow they were and they screwed up our ticket on top of that. It took 30 minutes to get that straightened out after we dropped off the truck. I won't use them again. So now we are in our mostly empty house. No TV. I hope Scott lasts the weekend. I couldn't get cable because they haven't run any cables into our neighborhood and they said that it would be after the holidays before they did. I can't wait that long for an Internet connection. We went with DSL and satelite TV. We had to get a phone because of the DSL. The phone and TV will be hooked up on Monday. The DSL will be working by the end of next week.

I ordered blinds this morning. Hopefully they will be installed by next weekend. Maybe they will get the fence put in before that so we have a little bit of privacy.

November 27, 2004

We have ants. Great. The neighbors say that they are infested too. I guess that is to be expected. I am sure that we will get them all wiped out eventually.

November 28, 2004

We stopped by one of the nurseries and looked at trees. Not sure what we are going to do with that. I think that we will put in some palm trees in the front and maybe get some citrus trees.

We finally got the counter tops cleaned off in the kitchen. I still have bags to unpack. Maybe tomorrow. We have ants in our bed.

December 15, 2004

Lots going on here. The movers came last week with our stuff from Utah. We now have boxes everywhere. Even with all that we have put away, we still have boxes everywhere. It was funny to see what we ended up with. No plates and glass. No garden hoses. We gave that stuff away. We have lots of books and baseball cards, though. The moving company priced us at 6000lbs. We were around 9500lbs. We tried to tell them it was heavy, but they didn't believe us. We only had to pay for the 6000lbs so we can't complain. The bikes have been here for over a week and we still haven't been for a ride. That is bad. They are working on our fence. They put in the posts yesterday and are putting the rest of it up now. I don't know if they will get it finished tonight since it is starting to get dark. We had a security system put in too. I managed to get the wireless connection work on my computer. The DSL modem that we have actually handles wireless so we didn't need the router that we bought. That is how it always goes for us. Scott is done with school more or less. He gave his finals last week. I think that he is working on some grant proposals. We leave for New Mexico on Saturday. We will see Scott's parents and one of his sisters and his aunt in Albuquerue. After a short visit, we will head back here. We want to have Christmas in the new house. We are driving back our truck. Hopefully we'll be able to get it in the garage.