Friday, April 30, 2004

Made it to Queenstown and I have some time

Current music: Music in an internet cafe

I know I said there wouldn't be any posts for a while, but I am in Queenstown and I don't have anything to do for the night so I stopped in to an internet cafe and figured I would let everyone know what is up...

Yesterday I caught a bus to Auckland and Ben met me at the bus terminal in his parents sweet soccer-mom van/car thing. He needed to check his email so we went to IEP and he plugged in his laptop to their network. We went to the guitar shop and met one of his old friends who is now drumming for the Bleeders. After that we went over to Bubba's and he took us to this incredible Thai restaurant called Thai House. Supposedly the best Thai place in NZ and I believe it. A few people met us there then we went to some bar to meet up with some tour manager dude. Hanging out with Ben made me realize how much I miss my friends back in Buffalo. It was really good to see him and hear him quote Brickey... "Hardcore is like Easter Bunny or Santa Clause, you believe in it when you are young, but when you grow up you realize it doesn't really exist."

I stayed at Bubba's for the night then caught the bus into Auckland with him this morning then got the AirBus to the the airport. After I checked in I went up and sat down at the gate and there was a girl sitting there with some newspapers beside her. I asked if they were hers and if I could have a read and she responded with an American accent. I asked where she was from and stuff and we got to talking. She was also heading down to Queenstown, but didn't really have any plans once she was here. I told her what I was doing and she said that she was looking into doing some tramps as well but she didn't really know much about what to do. I said that she was welcome to come with me if she wanted. She said, "Sure, my name is Jess!" and stuck out her hand to shake. Haha. It was pretty funny.

When we got into Queenstown she dropped her stuff off at her hostel and met me at mine since mine is more central. We got out hut passes and transport to and from the track then went grocery shopping. Right now I have all the food and she has all the tickets for huts and transport. I guess that way neither of us can lose the other...

We catch the bus up to Glenorchy for the start of the track tomorrow morning at 8. Can't wait... Here is a link to the some pictures of this tramp... http://www.tramper.co.nz/index.cfm/action/TrackGallery/trackid/52/

I will be posting my pictures when I get back... I expect some emails while I am gone since tomorrow is my birthday and all... Punks.

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Ready to go south

I have just about finished packing my gear to do some hiking. I am catching a bus at 1:45pm today to go to Auckland then Ben is picking me up there. It'll be pretty cool to see one of my friends from the States over here, even if he is a Kiwi anyway. Then I am heading down south tomorrow to Queenstown and doing the Routeburn track. Won't be any more posts for a few days, but there should be good pics when I get back next Wednesday.

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Photofriday.com

This image is for photofriday.com's competition this week... The theme is "junk". This picture is from the microwave of the really disgusting flat that I am staying in at the moment in Hamilton, NZ. Thank God this is the last night I am staying here...

It's 2:15 am and I am not tired

Current music: Space - 1 O'clock

I have been messing around with my Neuros all night and trying to fix the database that I screwed up somehow... Got the Jay-Z vs. Pavement remix thing called The Slack Album and the Jay-Z and Weezer remix called Jay-Zeezer - The Black and Blue Album. The Pavement mix is way better... I love it actually, although the Say It Ain't So mix on the Jay-Zeezer album is really cool too.

Monday, April 26, 2004

Long day of flat hunting and it's not over

This morning I went into town and walked arond for a bit and did some shopping. I got an Element shirt at SpotX and I need some new sneakers too. The ones I have are starting to hurt my feet because they are old and beat up. Old and beat up shoes are my favorite that is why I keep wearing them, but when they start to hurt that sucks...

I set up an appointment to meet this guy at his flat at 6 and then I got a txt from Camilla saying they chose the other guy because he came first... Whatever...

Kenny drove me out to some girls flat in Melville. It was in a bad neighborhood and the place smelled like cat piss... Then he drove me to that guy's place on Grey St. He wasn't there... bastard.

I came back to Blair's and booked a flight to the South Island for Friday morning then rang that guy on Grey St. I walked over there and it is a pretty nice place but him and his girlfriend are slobs. So I walked back to Blair's and picked up some greasies on the way... Gonna go watch tv for a little then go to bed. I have to get over near uni by 10 tomorrow to see another flat.

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Bed time

Got a txt back from Camilla (one of the girls in the flat). She said that Emma (one of the others) wasn't gonna be home until late tonight, so she would talk to her tomorrow and then they would decide...

If I still haven't heard by the time I get up and showered and stuff in the morning I am going to go have a look at another flat over in Melville and go walk around Uni and look for other message boards.

My right calf and ankle is killing me. I think I have done too much walking...

Saturday, April 24, 2004

Awesome flat

I just found a really rockin flat. I stopped at the one on Te Aroha Street when I was walking back from town. There are 3 girls there now and one is moving out. They are all pretty cute...too bad the cutest is the one moving out.

Anyways, it is a really nice place and only $125/week all up. Sweet deal. They have a few other people interested and they are going to make a decision tonight. Hopefully they like the American dude...

Still flat hunting

I went to a few flats today...

The first one is in a cool location, furnished, fairly cheap, but the landlady is a nutter. I am kinda scared of her.

The second one was a place with two girls. They are both really young (18) and they were kinda weird. I need somebody more laid back...and older!

The latest was way out in Dinsdale/Frankton on the other side of the tracks. Kinda a sketchy neighborhood. Supposedly there is a mum and her daughter there, but nobody was home. I was meant to be there at 3, but I was there about 2:35... I didn't really want the place anyway so instead of waiting I bolted.

I am in town now and I still have two to look at. One is real close by and I am supposed to be there at 5. The other is out south of town in Melville. I think I will go there tomorrow unless I can get a ride from Steve when I get back to his flat...

So tired of walking. My legs ache. I have walked heaps the past few days!

Holly reminded me of the Burden Brothers...now I must listen

Current music: Burden Brothers - Beautiful Night

Founds some flats to go to tomorrow. Gonna walk around and check them out. Should be pretty sweet... I hope I find some good ones. There is one that is a mum and her kid...not sure if I wanna be with a kid. The kid might be loud, I might be up at crazy hours with friends and crap...

Steve and I made a stir-fry tonight. Over cooked the meat a bit and it was like leather, but the veges and rice were good.

Time to go check out what people are up to tonight... Sucks that Simeon and Kenny took off to Whangamata for that car show. Everybody else is in Aussie. I'll ring the girls and see what is up with them.

Friday, April 23, 2004

Flat searching... day 2

Marty came up last night from Rotorua to hang out for the night and go to a show. The band, Nimbus, was quite good. This morning we went out for some breakfast at Traffic. It's a cool cafe down in Hamilton. He is on the bus back to Rotorua now.

I need to go looking for more flats. I need to find out if the Real Estate places are open today as well...

long busy prosperous day that isn't over yet

Jut got in, been gone pretty much all day. Started the flat hunt and found some decent ones I will look into further. I went skurfing with Simeon and Dryl's brother Chris out at a damed off section of the Waikato River. It was pretty sweet. Chris has an aluminium boat with a 40hp engine. I didn't know what skurfing was, but apparently it is wakeboarding with a surf board. I thought it would be super hard to get up at first and it took me 4 tries, but then I got the hang of it. Damn fun! Pics coming...

There is a punk show with some local bands in Hamilton tonight so I am heading over there with Marty. He is coming up from Rotorua because one of his flatmates is in one of the bands playing.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Flat hunt is on!

Started flat hunting this morning. I have four places in mind now. One is right on Hood St. in Hamilton. It is a block from work, but right in the middle of all the night life. Could be really loud. It is only $300/week though and it is two bedroom. That means if I could find a flatmate I would have a fully furnsihed place for $150/week! Whoa.

Other places are just over the river and are $160/week or less, but unfurnished. Still only about a 10-15 minute walk to work... I need to go make some calls and suss it out.

Simeon wants to go have a surf this afternoon. Not sure if he wants to head to Raglan or the Mount. Probably Raglan because if we were going to the Mount we should have left by now...

Time for bed

Well, I thought we were gonna go out tonight, but everybody was too tired from the graduation parties last night. I went over to Kenny's for a little while and I met his brother. When I got back to Blair's I posted a ton of pics up to my site at http://cotton.is.dreaming.org/blog.

Enjoy...

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Here is the video...

Current music: Franz Ferdinand - Auf Auchse

Here is a link to download the video that I have been getting demands for... http://cotton.is.dreaming.org/images/MVI_4954.AVI

Got the job!

I just got word from Gary (recruiter) that Endace has made me an offer and I accepted it. I am going to call my mom and then take a shower and stuff then I need to head down to town to sign the contracts. Damn, this happened fast. I will start on May 10th so I have a bit of a holiday now. Ahhh... time to relax and no longer worry about the money.

Job?!?!?!?

Current music: WBER 90.5 FM, Rochester, NY

Decided that I will take that job at Endace if they offer it. I am waiting now for the recruiter to negotiate a compensation package.

Jennie is coming! I just found out. I am pumped. Sometime in June I think...here is a picture of her for the meantime:

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Internet cafes have weird people in them

I am sitting in an internet cafe right now in Hamilton. I have my camera videoing the dude next to me because he is looking at porn and jerking off underneath his hoodie. What the hell???

I walked over to Frankton today. I couldn't remember how to get tothe Frankton market though. Ended up coming back to Hamilton. I needed a rest so I decided to pop into an internet cafe to see what email I had. Still waiting to hear from Endace and I hope to get more news about Navman later today. I want them to move along because I would rather be in Wellington, but I need to take the job that comes my way.

Anyways, this kid is watching some video right now full screen... Super distracting eh... I'll post the videos later if I can...

Almost time for bed

Blair came back this afternoon and then we went to dinner with his girl at some Indian called Sapphron. It was awesome. They were going for coffee and a movie after that, but I was tired. I stopped at McD's to use the bathroom (you know what Indian food can do to you!) then walked home.

Now I am sitting here on Blair's bed in front of his computer downloading some pictures to my Neuros. Once that is down I am off to bed! It is only 9:30, but interviews and Indian foods wear me out.

Monday, April 19, 2004

Finished my interview

So I had my interview with Endace. Real cool company. I like the people there and I like the products. I think it would be swet to work there. This damn recruiter at Neal Andrews is super pushy though. I haven't made up my mind how much I would accept the position for. I still want to go down to Christchurch and Wellington for some positions that might suit me. I want to look around. I have only been in the country for like 5 days and he is asking me if I would sign tomorrow if they offered the position. Damn, I really want to look at my other opportunities. I need to write him an email stating my intentions. He is one of those slimy recruiters who is just crazy. He needs to relax. He is causing me unwanted stress...

I think I will probably head out on the town with Blair tonight to play some pool and hopefully Simeon will come along. Anyways, gotta go write an email to my mum. It's her birthday today (here) and tomorrow (in NY). I took some awesome pictures of roses at the Hamilton Rose Gardens near Lake Rotorua yesterday that I am gonna send her (kinda like a bouquet). Here is one of them...

Night on the town in Hamilton

Went out with Simeon and Kenny then met up with Monika and Richard at Revert. Awesome that Monika is in town because she lives down in Wellington. She is just here for two days for graduation. Here are a few pictures from the night...


Richard, Kenny, and Monika


Simeon and me.

Sunday, April 18, 2004

Stupid Tim Tams

I am trying to just send a package of Tim Tams back to the States and I can't because you can't send food. You have to register it and get a number online, but I can't figure out how to do that... Ahhh..

On the other hand, I ran into Monika in the mall and Bevan in Pak'N'Sav. Pretty sweet to see those characters.

Ahhh...Hamilton

After lounging around all day and watching Chopper with Steph and grocery shopping, Simeon and his sister picked me up at we drove down to Hamilton. He dropped me at Blair's house just as Blair was pulling up on his bike. I crashed pretty early. Now it is Monday, I have some errands to run. Just finished doing some laundry and it is time to head into town...

Saturday, April 17, 2004

Staying at Bubba's in Auckland

So it has been a few days now. Bubba and I have been eating well... Lotsa Japanese and we went to breakfast at Cafe 39 yesterday with Cooper and Steph. Then we hung around the city, went out to Mt. Victoria, stopped by some friends flats, at more Japanese, played some pool. A few nights ago we went to some cafe/bar down in the city called Mezze Bar.

Simeon is meant to come pick me up today at some point to go to Hamilton, but I haven't heard from him yet.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

so many girls today

I have been walking around Auckland all morning and there are so many hot girls. Where have they been the past few days. Well, they are out of hiding today. There is some shop that has live chicks in the window wearing nothing but bras and panties sitting on a couch all sexy talking. Whoa.

I need to head downstairs to Neal Andrews and Associates right now because they have some news on Endace.

bumming around Auckland

Current music: Jimmy Eat World - Opener

Things went pretty well at Neal Andrews and Associates. I have a few job possibilites through them. Dean met me down on Queen Street last night and we got my stuff from the hostel and took a taxi to his flat in Kingsland. I stayed there for the night and then this morning took a bus back into the city. I need to find out about getting a bus down to Hamilton or if Simeon can pick me up someplace.

When I get down to Hamilton I should have better computer access and I will be able to get some pics posted. Until then keep looking at my older ones... http://cotton.is.dreaming.org/nzlife

Keep posting to http://buffalo.buzznet.com as well... all you have to do is send an email with a photo attachment to buffalo.friends@buzznet.com

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

looking for jobs

Current music: Pearl Jam

I just got a call from Neil Andrew and Associates to set up an interview in an hour. Turns out they are just one floor below me. Cool.

So I am still in Auckland

Current music: Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills

Went out to dinner last night at some pretty good Korean place with Dean (Bubba) then back to the hostel and crashed. THe jet lag caught up with me about 8pm. This morning I went to ANZ and opened a bank account. Now I am just looking around online for some jobs. Nothing major...

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

In New Zealand

Current music: Whatever is on the radio at IEP

So my flight went well. I am here in downtown Auckland right now just doing it up on the cmputer. I need to go get some breakfast! I have a meeting to go to at 10:30 am. I have seen 2 storage companies (Agilent and LSI) as I have been walking around. I will probably hit them up about jobs today or tomorrow.

There were over 200 empty seats on my flight. I was laying down over 4 seats. It ruled.

I need to get in touch with Blair and other people in Hamilton. I need to get in touch with Ben back in Buffalo. He never sent me Bubba's number.

The weather is awesome right now. About 63F and sunny as. Ok, off to get some breakfast and maybe stop by Agilent since they are in this building.

Friday, April 09, 2004

Last day of work

Here I sit at my desk for the last time. I had an exit interview and my last scrum. I found out in my exit interview that I cannot keep my 401k here because I don't have enough money in it. I guess I will be moving it to an IRA. I need to get to the bank to take care of that asap.

Got an email from my uncle this morning and he said that I can store my car at his plant. Pretty sweet! I have been trying to get a hold of my parents to let them know what is going on and I am having some trouble...

Last night I went out with Beth and Brickey for some dinner at El Canelo. Damn I love that place. Ended up back at their place until late. I am not really tired today though. Probably a bit too much adrenaline. I haven't even had any tea... Time to make some.

Thursday, April 08, 2004

Current music: Death Cab for Cutie - Army Corps of Architects

So I had my last Pizza Thursday today and I didn't die from it. Awesome. Finished up the last part of my project and now I am ready to go, but I still have to come in here tomorrow.

I have my "exit interview" in the morning and then I am going out to lunch with one of my friends here. Not sure what I will do in the afternoon. I guess I will be packing up my stuff and getting outta here. I am gonna take a bunch of stuff today. That reminds me. I have a few people I wanna go talk to today.

Damn, one more day of work

I have only one more day at work. Getting pretty excited to go... Tuesday, Jeff, Chris, and I went out to a Mexican place on Hertel. It was really good. Chris and I went down to Brickey's office and talked to him and Beth for a little then went home and crashed.

Wednesday we went out for breakkie and then Chris went back to Rochester. I went to work and that was average. Went home and chilled with Jeff and Beth a little then went to sleep.

Today...so far I have just been at work, but I am going out to dinner tonight (and maybe to play some QuickDraw) with Beth and Brickey. I need to pack up my stuff and get ready to get the hell outta here.

Really getting close.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

it seems the closer to leaving it gets, the more I have to do

Current music: ETID - In the Event Everything Should Go Terribly Wrong

Ok, so yeah. I have a lot of stuff to do and it isn't getting easier.

Chilled around Jeff's condo last night working on getting things ready to go then headed off to the bowling alley. My last Monday night Ballz Bowling... tear... Ha.

It was a good night even though I didn't win any games. Before I left the guys picked me up and crowd surfed me around. I don't care what people say about those guys because they have always been damn cool to me and when have any of my friends ever done something like that for me?

I guess it's time to live like the song says... "It doesn't get any better than this, so run like hell! So run like hell!"

Chris is here from Balitmore and I am hanging out with him and Hopper tonight. I haven't seen that dude in about 2 years. Crazy...

Monday, April 05, 2004

last week of work

Current music: Jets to Brazil - Crown of the Valley

Ok, so here is what happened this weekend. Friday night I went over to Tim's and hung out with him and Joe then we went out to the Pink. Rocked the Pink pretty hard until about 3:30am. Tim drank a bit too much then we went home. I stayed at Tim's because driving all the way back to Jeff's at that hour is too much.

Saturday Tim was supposed to work at 8am... yeah right. He didn't even wake up until 9:30 and he went to work at 10:30. I stayed there and surfed around on the internet for a little while then headed to Jeff's at about 1:30. Matt and Molly took me out for dinner to Saigon Bangkok. Now, I went there before with Jeff and Beth and we didn't like it because we had bad service and the food wasn't great. I didn't tell Matt and Molly this though because I know they like it so much. Well, that night at about 4am I was on the toilet until 5:30am. Miserably sick... After dinner I went to the Hero sponsored show at Showplace. Brickey was up to his normal antics and managed to really piss off a mom. Went out to Pano's after the show with Beth, Brickey, Frank, Ben, and Jazorblade.

Sunday I laid around a lot of the day trying to recover from the early morning hours. Tim and I made some awesome Vegan Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner then went to the Death Cab for Cutie show. I didn't even really get to enjoy the show. The people were terrible. Everybody was talking and walking around constantly instead of paying attention to the show. It was very frustrating.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Free wifi is cool

Current music: Tim on the phone

I found out that there is free WiFi at Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo. So since I don't have any internet access at Jeff's I thought I would come down here and cruise around on the internet and pick up my email. Pretty sweet deal and the speed is pretty good. Lag sucks, but DSLreports.com says 520kbps down and 128kbps up. I can deal!

Anyway, headed over to Tim's to make some dinner then DCFC show tonight...

Friday, April 02, 2004

So much to do so little time

Last night Jeff and I just hung out around his house and messed with music on the computers. He wanted a lot of my stuff and I want a lot of my stuff on my Neuros. I actually brought my laptop to work today so each time I remember I can start up a conversion. I am encoding a lot of crappier sounding mp3's to smaller oggs.

We went bowling with a few of Beth's friends real late as well. That was pretty fun. Beth's friend Julie is damn hot, but the other dude there, Neil, is a choch.

Tonight Tim and I are gonna go out and cause some problems around Buffalo. Should be a good time.

Thursday, April 01, 2004

I haven't really done work yet today

Current music: Le Tigre - Deceptacon

Last night was awesome. I took care of my apartment with my landlord. Signed all the papers and stuff then went back to Jeff's for a little. Then Jeff, Beth, and I went over to Kris and Tim's house and picked them up to go to El Canelo for my farewell dinner. It was awesome that so many people came. Tim, Kris, Jeff, Beth, Mark, Beth, Frank, Ben, Hopper, and the Pizza Kid all came. We stayed there pretty long and had a good time then went over to Beth and Mark's house to hang out and we ended up watching the Howard Stern show because Courtney Love was on. She is so messed up.

Last night was the last time I will see Kris. He is headed to Florida today for spring break. By the time he comes back I will be in Rochester.