Been a While
Saturday May 28, 2016
Things have been insanely busy, as usual. Where do I even start? So much as happened since the last blog post.
Doomsday Clicker has been performing well, and we managed to hit all our deadlines - but not without some troubles along the way. The v1.3 Android release saw a torrent of negative reviews reporting the game would not boot properly, and since we were lined up for featuring, it was of utmost priority to fix the issues. The Game Sync implementation wasn't as robust as we had initially tested, and pretty much my fault, so we scrambled to build stability around all those systems. Thankfully, things came together in the end, and we secured our featuring on Google Play and the iTunes store. I've had a lot of feedback from friends who have enjoyed the game - especially the amazing and catchy soundtrack.
In honour of its successes, the PikPok 19th birthday party was completely Doomsday Clicker themed, with an amazing volcano cake with Monkey and the Red Button on the top, and three cocktails and two shots bearing the names of some of the doomsdays you can cause in the game. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was good to see heaps of people there. There was arm wrestling - we even managed to convince Mario and Tyrone to go head to head. There was dancing and shenanigans but all in all, I think lots of people had a good time.
There was an exciting thunderstorm a few days ago, lightning illuminating the night sky just after midnight, with some heavy rain accompanying the storm. I would have counted 30 flashes of light in the five minutes I was watching, some strikes being very close to the city itself. Wellington's geography means it doesn't get many thunderstorms, so it's always such a delight to see them - as long as you're indoors and warm.
Mat was down last weekend for some 30th birthday parties. We met up with Tim for his at Spruce Goose, and afterwards Mat went for board games with that crew while I went to Phil and Will's for their flatwarming. They had moved into their new place over Anzac weekend - I helped them shift a lot of their bulky furniture and drove the truck for them. Mana and Vix rocked up with some ingredients for making mulled wine, and what a fun time that was! I didn't realise it was so simple - create your syrup first with a little bit of wine, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, orange peel, lemon peel, and any other spices or fruit you want to throw in. When the syrup is the right consistency, pour the rest of the wine in and let it warm without boiling, or the alcohol will evaporate. Easy!
Strawberry Fare's last day is tomorrow. It is truly the end of an era. They have decided to close their doors while the owners look to focusing more on their other restaurants. The past couple of weeks have seen hundreds of loyal fans trying to get the last desserts, myself and Mat included. They weren't taking any bookings, so I decided that I would try going at 11am on Sunday morning to secure my final Devil's Dream Cake. Sure enough, no one was stupid enough to have dessert for breakfast except for Mat and myself, so we enjoyed our final meal at Strawberry Fare forever. You could say that it was...a bittersweet experience.
At the start of the month, I was in Auckland for Mel and Jarrod's wedding - number four of seven this year. The weather was stunning and the location was picturesque. I was on parking warden duty, so had to be there early, but with my swanky haircut and sharp suit, I was exuding confidence and style as I greeted the guests and directed them down the driveway. The wedding was really nice, given they had only a month to plan it. Everything fell into place and it ran smoothly. The next day was Mother's Day, so we went out for yum cha to Sun World in Newmarket, and then back to my sister's to see my two nephews. They're growing up so fast, especially the little one. He's not as moody as he was the last time I saw him, so it's good to see him being more sociable and having more fun. So cute!
There's been karaoke, Andrew's 30th at Five Boroughs, NZIF shows - Eli Matthewson of Jono and Ben fame, and Taking off the Bird Suit - we had hotpot, Ghibli movie nights, Iron Giant at the Embassy, Formal Friday at work, Dianne's birthday and Vix and Tessa's flatwarming. There's been plenty of Louis Sergeant desserts, lunch at the Crab Shack and a massive seven-tiered rainbow cake for Keir's farewell. I need to remember to blog more often or I'll forget all these memories.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:16pm on Saturday May 28, 2016 :: 0 comments :: 
The End of an Era
Wednesday July 15, 2015
The weekend turned out to be busier than usual; we had a big party at Mexico to celebrate the "end" of our project - though we haven't officially finished, we decided it was a good way to get the team together for some sangria, margaritas and fried chicken. We ended up at Goldings for a bit, then to Pineapples for the rest of the night.
On Saturday, there was badminton in the morning, and then I met Jono and Karlyn and others at Strawberry Fare. I tried their black doris plum pie - the only item on the menu I hadn't tried before. It was a warm, hearty pie on a cold winter's day, without being too sickly sweet or overly rich. Yum! We had walked by the waterfront to the TSB Arena and had a squizz at the bookfair, but I was tired so I went home and napped for a bit. That evening, I was at Joe's house playing board games and party games like Quiplash over Steam. I had music on Sunday at Central, then went for yum cha at Big Thumb, then back home for a quick nap before heading to Beth's new place out in Newtown.
The big news in the gaming industry at the moment is the tragic passing of Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata. One of his best quotes is "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer". You can see in his work the passion he had for creating entertainment. He was a huge contributor to the industry and he will be sorely missed.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:26am on Wednesday July 15, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
Winter
Wednesday July 8, 2015
Winter is definitely here, with a sharp cold front hitting the country and plummeting the temperatures to 3.1C. Thanks to the wind chill, it currently feels like -4C. It was hailing a few moments ago, but now it seems to have quietened down, however the forecast remains grim for tomorrow and Friday. There is a small chance we could get some snow flurries in the CBD like in 2011, so hopefully that eventuates.
It's been ludicrously busy recently, with my project expected to submit a gold master candidate this Friday. I've felt like freaking out a couple of times because I've simply been overwhelmed by several things happening at once. Sometimes it's difficult to juggle the needs of people as well as the programming tasks assigned to me, but I think that my ability to stay calm and rational (or at least appear calm and rational) has improved over the years. I think the project is in an okay position, and we'll make our deadline, but it wasn't easy getting here.
Last month, there were a few birthday celebrations. We went to Gasworks in Miramar for Phil's birthday, where Mana and I had all you can eat ribs. Dale had his birthday at Matterhorn on Cuba St (which I've written a food blog entry about) and James had his birthday at his new place on Tory St. Lizzie had her birthday with some drinks at Goldings and karaoke at KZone, naturally. Rob had an "old man brunch" out in Elements at Lyall Bay last weekend, and it was so glorious and sunny that I was in shorts, in the middle of winter. I've been sightseeing with the guys too. We've been to the Brooklyn wind turbine, the Miramar gun emplacements at night, and the Wainuiomata Coast during the day. I tried the Flaming Dragon pizza from Hell Pizza, watched four workmates do a 1kg burrito challenge, had a massive pork hock from Grill Meats Beer and got some Moustache cookies delivered from Auckland. I also caught the Venus Jupiter conjunction, though not at their closest. It's amazing seeing the planets come together like that, two of the most prominent night sky features in clear view.
Last weekend was busy too. We went to Mishmosh to try out their food and see if it would be a worthy destination for Wellington on a Plate (not bad, would recommend!), then went to Fringe bar and sang Hakuna Matata at the public karaoke. On Saturday I went to two flatwarmings and watched the Hurricanes/Highlanders game. This weekend is going to be busy too, with the end of project celebration, a lunch at Strawberry Fare, and music at Central.
Phew.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:24am on Wednesday July 8, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
The Moment When You Get Internet at a New Place
Sunday May 31, 2015
Blogging has been quiet since my move because I've been lacking a proper Internet connection. Unlike several of my friends who have been waiting for fibre to be installed in their building, this failure of connectivity was completely my own fault. I bought two modems off TradeMe, unfortunately neither of them supported PPPoE/VC-MUX which was required by my ISP for their service. ANYWAY, now that I have a working modem, I can sell the other two off on TradeMe; it's still cheaper than buying a new modem. And most importantly, I'm back on the net.
The past two weeks have been pretty busy. The move went as well as it could have. We had arranged for the Salvation Army to swing by and pick up our beds, cabinets, shelves and what not. They only did weekday visits, so I had to move my bed down from the first floor on Thursday night, which meant I was on an airbed kindly loaned from Vincent for two nights. However, on Friday morning, they called us to say that the torrential rain and subsequent flooding of Wellington's northern suburbs meant they were unable to make it. Instead, we had to hire a van and drive all of that to the store in Newtown. Thankfully, the weather had cleared by Saturday, so moving was not a problem. Thanks to Phil, Will and Vincent for their help!
Since moving into my new place, I've had a solid worship session on the piano at Central Baptist, karaoke, dinner at Dragons for Wei's birthday, steamboat at Campbell and Linda's and also managed to catch the Eurovision song contest. We said goodbye to Charles and Pete on Friday with some drinks at Fork and Brewer with the programmers, then karaoke at New Kor with all the artists - so good to see so many people out having a great time. Yesterday was weekly badminton in the morning, gym in the afternoon, and drinks for Charlie and Donnie's birthdays at Goldings, Hashi's and Southern Cross. I really enjoy how the long weekend just seems to populate itself with events and social gatherings.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:43am on Sunday May 31, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
Fooding, So Hard Right Now
Sunday August 17, 2014
Wellington on a Plate 2014 has begun!
I've organised a team of foodies for the 17 days of this amazing food festival celebrating the region's finest produce and beverages. I've got a meal planned for every day, some times two in one day! We were at the Bangalore Polo Club at lunchtime on Friday, and Le Canard on Friday evening, and Duke Carvell's today for their amazing Double Down burger.
Yesterday I went out to Kilbirnie to look at the zephyrometer that had been struck by lightning, and spent some time at the sauna for my back. I picked up some pandan mooncakes (yay!) before heading home and meeting Dale, Jordan, Rob, Jill, Nic, Ian and Joe in town for some drinks. What was supposed to be a pretty low-key event turned into some pretty exhilarating shenanigans - we tried to get tables at Plum, then Hummingbird and Monsoon Poon as a random Wellington on a Plate venture, but all three places were jam-packed so we ended up having pizzas at One Red Dog, then dessert at Strawberry Fare (I tried their newest addition to the menu - a caramel, chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake!) and finally some more drinks at the Library. Such a great night out with friends - truly blessed to have such an awesome group of people to hang out with!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:10am on Sunday August 17, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Moving On Up
Monday July 14, 2014
I guess it's official. I'm moving house - 20 metres across the driveway of the apartment complex I'm in. I couldn't find a replacement flatmate for Matt so I decided it's probably time to find a different place to live. This place is slightly cheaper, my room is larger, I still get a carpark and because I'm essentially in the same location, it's still a 15 minute walk to work.
The past few weeks have been socially busy. We celebrated the Fourth of July at Goldings, where Jill kept asking people if they wanted to ride the mechanical horse at Dakota. We played Cards Against Humanity and Mario Kart and had KFC at Ants and Jo's on the following Sunday (it was actually an excuse for Jill to come over and play with the cat.) and we had some delicious steaks at Portlander on Wednesday.
We played Bubble Soccer at Shed 1, Queens Wharf last Saturday. Thankfully my leg had healed up enough for me to have a good run around for twenty minutes in a gigantic insulated bubble, barging into others while trying to kick a small yellow ball around the court. My team of yellow bubbles - Thomas, Sarah, Beau, Simon and Jimmy - played against the team of blue bubbles - Will, Josh, Andy, Dwayne, Neil and Vigz - for three 10 minute thirds, and we came out victorious with four goals to two. Afterwards, we enjoyed some food and beer at Mac's Brewery where Sarah, Thomas and I shared a gigantic antipasto platter of breads, dips, cheese and cured meats.
I was at Cami's house in the afternoon playing the Firefly board game with Tim and Juliann. The whole ordeal took five hours but it was a pretty fun game and would have been more enjoyable had I known what I was doing. I kinda got into a cycle of doing missions, just slowly building up my strength without knowing how strong I needed to be to go for the final goals, when Tim and Cami raced for the finish, leaving me far, far behind. Would try it again... possibly! It is a very heavy time investment.
Come Sunday however, my body would just not move. Every muscle was aching from the Bubble Soccer and I was having a bad time. Thankfully, I felt much better after heading to the sauna in the afternoon, and I'm pretty much back to normal now.
This morning, we gathered at work early for the finals of the World Cup, with Germany playing Argentina. More importantly however, were the scones, croissants and pancakes stationed conveniently around the office for us to enjoy while watching the soccer. And watch we did, there was much cheering as Mario Gotze struck a brilliant ball into the back of the Argentinian net in extra time, sealing the Germans as the Football World Cup 2014 Champions. Exciting times!
Posted by Jeremy at 11:01am on Monday July 14, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Barfing Rainbows
Saturday April 27, 2013
It's finally here.
Early last year, after finishing Extinction Squad, we began development of Robot Unicorn Attack 2. I did a few bits and pieces on our store tech before jetting off to the US for a month holiday. Upon my return, I had found out that I'd been put onto Rise of the Guardians Dash n Drop instead, and there I stayed for five months. It wasn't until the start of this year that I was put back on RUA2 to take over as lead programmer while Thomas shifted onto another project. The past four months have been challenging but I know the team, myself included, are extremely proud to have the game finally out on the App Store. We've hit #1 on the Canadian store, #2 in the US, #3 in Finland and #4 in the New Zealand and Poland stores, and have had several glowing reviews and Apple features to boost our rankings and downloads.
I saw Iron Man 3 last Wednesday. I felt it was better than Iron Man 2 (which I saw for the first time the previous day), but it was pretty much still the same old cheesy action movie. Nevertheless, it was fun and enjoyable, and there was a good Avengers tie-in at the end of the credits, so make sure you sit and wait for that. Congratulations to my friends at Weta who worked on the movie!
Following that, we convened at CGR Merchant & Co for a few drinks to count down the time until RUA2's release at midnight on the New Zealand store, and then to Hadley's house since all the bars closed at midnight for ANZAC day. I had a big day ahead so I didn't stay too long after midnight.
Though Thursday began quite overcast and showery at times, the sunlight slowly broke through and produced some great summery weather. We were out at Eastbourne for an explore around Pencarrow Lighthouse and Lake Kohangapiripiri. The trail is about 8km one way, so the trek there and back took us the whole afternoon. There are some magnificent views of the Wellington region and the South Island from Pencarrow Head, and the deep blue seas reflecting the brilliance of the skies above only made the scenery better. There are numerous goats and sheep around the hills as well, and because the area is so exposed from the south, the winds were excitingly blustery. A day well spent, but I was so tired from the exercise that I was asleep by 9.30pm.
Work will continue being busy for the next month or so, and then I'll be off to Malaysia for two weeks for my cousin's wedding. Woohoo!
Posted by Jeremy at 11:38am on Saturday April 27, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
Opaque
Friday May 25, 2012
Thursday was pretty relaxed. We took a look around the piers south of the Ferry Building. Not really that much to see; there were some monuments and a good view of the Bay Bridge, but the main feature of that area is the AT&T Stadium, home of the San Francisco Giants.
In the afternoon I pretty much just bummed around town since my feet were sore and I was feeling lazy. I eventually went back to the motel where Allison picked us up to go to a restaurant called Opaque.
Opaque is dining in the dark. The restaurant is underground and pitch black. You cannot see what you are eating (but you do order from a menu before hand so you at least know what most of the food items are). The serving staff are blind but they're awesome and chatty and really fun. The experience is surreal. When you take away your ability to see (and take photos) you must feel what your food is; you appreciate the textures of various foods - crispy pears, creamy aioli with a hint of wasabi, gorgeously thick chunks of beef tenderloin - and of course, the incredible flavours that tantalise your senses of smell and taste.
It's like nothing I've ever done before but the food was absolutely delicious and would highly recommend Opaque to anyone visiting San Francisco.
Allison took us to a club called Ruby Skye after dinner and we had a few drinks before hitting the dance floor briefly. It was fun but not really my scene. I was also reasonably intoxicated after three drinks of Southern Comfort and Sprite (works better with L&P actually).
Last full day in San Fran!
Posted by Jeremy at 4:04pm on Friday May 25, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Counting Down
Wednesday May 2, 2012
So the project I've been working on for the past four months or so is finally in submission and we're just waiting for Apple to review it. Once that's done, it'll be out on the AppStore and you awesome people who actually read my blog will be the first to know about it. You get more points if you actually download it too. I can provide hugs and/or personalised thank you messages with the download if you so wish.
It hit me in the shower last night that my trip to the US is really close. I am really excited. Excited about the chance to travel and get away for a while. Really excited about the food. Reminiscing about all the delicious things I ate in San Francisco last year - especially that Key Lime and Mango Cheesecake, oh my goodness it was soooo good. Excited about friends I'll be catching up with and friends who I haven't met in person before. It's going to be amazing.
In short since my last update:
- saw the Avengers movie (it was awesome)
- finished the game Limbo
- still playing weekly badminton (two new recruits this Saturday!)
- average weekly alcohol consumption has increased (hopefully tolerance too)
- helped to ship a project I didn't work on (I actually just pushed buttons on a webpage) - this is now out on the App Store as DreamWorks Dragons: TapDragonDrop!
- sang "My Heart Will Go On" at karaoke on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking, and scored 100% for it
- decoded a secret message that said two of my good friends are engaged (most convoluted way ever - but still better than updating your Facebook status) - congratulations to you both!
- started watching Adventure Time, Invader Zim and Samurai Pizza Cats
The days are quite short now and the cold has definitely set in. Winter is here :(
Posted by Jeremy at 7:51am on Wednesday May 2, 2012 :: 2 comments ::
Vodka Gummi Bears
Saturday June 11, 2011
I decided to terminate the Great Vodka Gummi Bear experiment today, 25 days after it began. As I commented in my last post, they haven't really grown that much in the last two weeks or so; I estimate that most of the growth occurred in the first week actually.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the final result:
On the left, a yellow gummi bear showing the original size, and on the center and right, two of the vodka gummi bears from the original five in the experiment.
Verdict: There's no longer a gummi bear flavour present, it's pretty much vodka. Quite a sharp taste, and texture is more like hard jelly than chewy gummi. It's good but couldn't eat too many in one sitting (would probably get drunk).
Posted by Jeremy at 8:49am on Saturday June 11, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Half Year Check-In
Tuesday May 31, 2011
We're at the stage of the year where it's dark when I leave my house for work, and it's dark when I leave work for home. Thankfully, the days have been sunny and cheerful (kinda) but the nights are bitterly chilly since there's been no cloud over the day. Technically, it isn't even winter yet so the worst has yet to come.
I wrote a JSON Parser in C++. I should have probably paid more attention during the lecture on finite state machines, but thanks to these diagrams, JSON parsing is as easy as pushing and popping various states onto a state stack and then registering what you expect the next state to be. JSON parsing is much easier than XML and the language itself is lightweight and readable, so it's ideal for web applications where size of data should be minimised so it can be quickly transferred over the Internets.
My vodka gummi bear experiment continues to grow. It's been two weeks since I put them in there and I don't think they're growing much more. I brought one to work last week and it mysteriously vanished during my lunch break, only for me to return home and find out that it had actually melted and resolidified at home. Either the molecular structure of the gummi bear becomes unstable due to the alcohol replacing certain vital structural compounds, or my office is just too damn hot. The wonders of Science!
Also I'm on Facebook. I won't be abandoning this blog though.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:20am on Tuesday May 31, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
Back Home
Tuesday May 17, 2011
My bottle of Malibu cost NZ$39.50 at Auckland International Airport, compared with US$19.00 at SFO. I think there's a restriction on all carry-on luggage stating no liquids over 100mL can be taken about outbound US planes, so I was advised (quite rudely, actually) by the guy at SFO DFS not to buy it. Oh well... :(
Anyway, I'm back home in Wellington, enjoying the 50km/h winds, using my EFTPOS card, driving on the left side of the road and looking right then left when crossing the road. I just need to sort out my sleeping habits and it'll be like I never left the country.
Work tomorrow.
Photos from Easter and San Francisco are now available.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:09am on Tuesday May 17, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day Fifteen: Working from Home
Saturday May 14, 2011
The offices are in the process of being renovated so we were told to work from home. We took the opportunity to return to the pancake house opposite the apartments since they're absolutely packed on the weekends. Still, even on a Friday morning, the place was almost to capacity - we were wondering if there was some kind of public holiday that we were missing. I ordered a Hawaiian waffle - a large waffle covered in pineapple, banana, shaved coconut and sugar, topped with a mountain of whipped cream. SUGAR RUSH~!
We did actually do work though (I did at least). We went in for a rather intense meeting - there was a lot to learn and take in and plenty to think about in terms of the architecture of the game.
I went to get a root beer float from A&W and took it home where I slipped in a bit of Jack Daniels. So good.
Big day tomorrow!
Posted by Jeremy at 1:10am on Saturday May 14, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day Thirteen
Thursday May 12, 2011
Second to last day at work. The offices are being renovated on Friday so we'll be working from the apartments. We have a meeting with the OpenFeint guys so we'll go to that but otherwise today is really the second to last day.
I've developed a liking to Malibu and Coke. I might get a bottle at duty free....
Posted by Jeremy at 6:05am on Thursday May 12, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day Twelve
Wednesday May 11, 2011
Jimmy and I went trekking to BevMo's at lunch, a huge alcohol store. I needed my final ingredient for gummi bears in vodka - vodka. So I bought a bottle of Swedish mango vodka for dirt cheap and I'll begin my grand experiment when I'm back in New Zealand. I'll keep you updated.
We went for dinner at this Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurant. I ordered the "Special Chicken" and it was cold steamed chicken, which was unusual but not terrible. What made the meal bad was the Hong Kong milk tea - I had forgotten how terrible that was.
Not long to go :(
Posted by Jeremy at 5:59am on Wednesday May 11, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
Day Nine
Sunday May 8, 2011
We hit town again, this time going from the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building down by the Embarcadero to Pier 33, where the Alcatraz tours depart. Stepping into the Ferry Building felt like stepping into the Annual Food Show at the Caketin - specialty food stores offering some free samples and bustling with people. It was great, but not really for me - it's not like I'm actually cooking while I'm over here!
The Alcatraz tours had sold out for today so we bought tickets for tomorrow and continued our trek. We made our way further around, returning to Pier 39 where I bought $10 worth of taffy <3 and we got some better photos of the sea lions (since last time it was dusk). Further on, I got some seafood chowder in a bread bowl for lunch and we continued around to see these old ships that had been restored at Hyde Pier.
From the ships, we walked to the famous section of Lombard Street which has been named the crookedest street in the world. Then from there, we walked all the way down to the Presidio area to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an amazing sight, though the tips of the supporting structures were shrouded in fog (or fawg, as the Americans say). We also visited the Palace of Fine Arts, which has an amazing building decorated with columns and a huge dome with statues of muses adorning the outer rim.
Tired from all the walking, we bussed back to Powell Street. We saw a whole bunch of yellow go-karts that you can hire for touring the city, but they had balloons attached to them and people in Mario-themed costumes driving them - it was Mario Kart IRL!
We took the BART to 16th Street Mission to meet Tobias at the Monk's Kettle - also a favourite of Mike's. It was great to catch up with him and hear how he's settled in to San Francisco and how his new job is going. We spent some time at Amnesia around the corner before he left - Jimmy and I stayed a while listening to the live bands playing there, drinking soju (HAHAHAHA) and beer before heading home.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:53am on Sunday May 8, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day Eight: End of the Week
Saturday May 7, 2011
I can't believe it's been one week already. I feel like I've gotten so much out of this trip than the previous times I've been to America. In 1996 I was 10 years old, and it was basically YAY DISNEYLAND. In 2001 I was with my stingy high school friends, and it was more of a stop-over than anything - we did go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, which was awesome, though. This time, I'm an adult so I can do what I want, eat and drink what I want, go where I want, and I've got a good job so I can afford to pay for everything I want to do.
So today is Friday, Friday and it quietly marks what was a relatively busy week. I've been writing heaps of documentation, trying to plan out the project and create a blueprint of how various systems are going to fall together architecturally. At 5pm, we left work (the company we work for have a private meeting and we're not allowed in) and hung out at the local Mexican place, Hola!, where I proceeded to get drunk off my face again, after only one $4 margarita. In the space of 90 minutes, I went from sober to drunk to hungover. Oh, and because it was Happy Hour at Hola!, we got free food. YAY!
So I'm taking it easy tonight, just recovering from my one drink. We've got an early start tomorrow to do some more sightseeing.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:54am on Saturday May 7, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day Seven: Cinco de Mayo
Friday May 6, 2011
So Americans are quite fond of Cinco de Mayo it seems, as much as New Zealanders are fond of St Patrick's Day. The Mexican restaurants around were buzzing with business and certainly the hotel and the caterers at work were in festive mood, with the hotel having a fiesta buffet and the caterers serving some delicious Mexican food - guacamole, tortillas, tacos, nachos, refried beans, red rice, and the best salsa I've ever had. Oh, and for dessert, there were fresh strawberries and fresh pineapple, and flan, which is basically vanilla bean custard. So gooood.
We wanted to try and catch the hotel's festivities but by the time we got back from work, they'd started to pack up, much to our disappointment. So instead, I thought I'd try a margarita royale to celebrate.
It almost killed me.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Posted by Jeremy at 5:59am on Friday May 6, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
Day Six
Thursday May 5, 2011
Work continues. Not much to say about that, the project is going well at the moment. We are working. Really. Today's lunch was vienna chicken schnitzel, spinach lasagne, roasted sweet potato, and asparagus salad.
Today is Pool Night for Jimmy, so we went to the Burlingame Steelhead Brewery for some drinks and some pool. I had a raspberry cider and a pear cider - both fantastic and flavoursome, although very easy to drink. Fortunately for me, my superior mathematics skills shone through my inebriety with some tricky angle and ricochet shots on the pool table, with Tony and I winning against Mike and Jimmy 2 - 1, and Jimmy and I winning against Mike and Tony 2 - 1 again.
I just got back from dinner at this Thai place down the road. I was thinking of going to Taco Bell tonight, but since tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I reckon I'll have my fair share of Mexican food yet.
Posted by Jeremy at 6:57am on Thursday May 5, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Day One
Saturday April 30, 2011
We took a look around the area we're staying and we visited the supermarket and the local Walgreens. Oh man, the confectionary aisle is full of magic like the Haribo gummi bears (I still have yet to find a kilogram bag of those) and peanut butter M&Ms and other delicious things that are hard to find in New Zealand. You've got such a huge brand selection here in the US, it can be a bit overwhelming.
For lunch, we went to the pancake house (not IHOP) across the road. I loved the food. I had two pancakes with grilled bacon and two "over-easy" eggs (I hadn't heard that expression before). Jimmy ordered this gigantic vegetarian omelette that he struggled to finish, so I ended up taking one of his pancakes too. Omg it's soooo goood.
We took a Caltrain to Burlingame and successfully located the offices where we will be working (the real purpose of this trip) and met with some of the people there, just as they were heading out for Happy Hour at this Brazilian steak restaurant a few minutes away, so we joined them for that. As my lead programmer had warned us, the drinks here are much, much stronger than what we are served in New Zealand, so that means I had to be careful and pace myself to prevent becoming completely hammered off my face.
We didn't stay for too long because the four of us were a bit tired from the long day, so we ended up back at the restaurant by the apartments, just chilling and drinking. I got some spicy chicken wings which were actually decently spicy (the food here is really impressing me) and it wasn't until midnight that I passed out on my bed.
Whoohoo! Day two, here I come.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:30pm on Saturday April 30, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
Tongariro Crossing
Monday February 28, 2011
One of my friends, Beth, works for the National Library and since they merged with the Department of Internal Affairs, they decided to organise a trip to do the Tongariro Crossing. On Friday night, five of us crammed into my little car and made our way north to National Park via a stop at the Mediterranean Food Warehouse in Paraparaumu for a pizza dinner. We eventually arrived around 11.30pm and I promptly facebedded.
Saturday morning started at the unearthly hour of 5.30am, which I didn't know existed. As we got to the mountain, first light began to break and the clouds reflected a magnificent golden hue that illuminated the path ahead of us.
The walk was easy to begin with, but we were greeted with a tough uphill, then a plateau, then another uphill that brought us to the peak of the track - the Red Crater. All this while we were shrouded in cloud and a chilly alpine gust made conditions uncomfortable but tolerable. Visibility was poor so there was not much sight-seeing but we did see the Blue Lake. It would have been just around noon when we arrived at the Ketetahi Hut. With Beth and Julie lagging behind, we decided to have lunch and take a nap. It was another 90 minutes to the carpark and that was it - the Tongariro Crossing conquered in 6 hours.
I'd met a girl called Claire from DIA on the bus over, and she introduced me to her friends Matt, Mike and Rose who Jono, Holly and I were walking most of the track with. I was glad to find out that Mike also worked in the private sector - quite a minority both on this trip and in Wellington. We all hit it off immediately and after the tramp, we celebrated with plenty of vodka, gin and cider while chillaxing in the spa pool. As the night went on, the joviality turned to rapturous song that only alcohol could fuel. We were so good, we started getting requests from the other visitors at the lodge! ¬.¬
Sunday was a nice easy drive back to Wellington, via the giant Ohakune carrot, the Taihape gumboot, the Otaki factory outlets and a quick ice cream at Pauatahanui.
Awesome weekend was awesome.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:58am on Monday February 28, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Alcohol
Friday September 10, 2010
Alcohol is weird. I've heard it tends to amplify whatever emotions you're feeling, which might be true to some effect and certainly I've noticed this. But what I find weird is that my overall mood depends on the crowd I'm with. Last night, I was feeling pretty snarky (this could also be attributed to the stupid girls at the table next to us who were dressed like Lady Gaga clones and sounded like vuvuzelas at higher, screechier frequencies) and everything seemed to annoy me. If I had gone out for drinks with my workmates, I think I would have been a lot more jovial and social.
Anyway, it's been pretty busy for me. In among the Starcraft II achievement gathering I've been doing, I've also been writing tools for the impending Black and White release sometime next week, as well as working hard on PikPok's latest game for the iPad. It should be done soon, so uh..watch this space! ¯\(º_o)/¯
Last weekend was all about the Japanese. Friday night was the first Friday of the month, so it is customary we hang around with the other iPhone developers of Wellington at Hashigo Zake. Sunday was the Japanese Cultural Festival, which amused me greatly because I recognised so many elements just from watching Anime. There were mandalas, mochi, taiko drumming, tea ceremony demonstrations, lots of food and lots of people. Photos in the gallery whenever I can be bothered.
On Monday, being the first Monday of the month, Monsoon Poon have a deal where they serve unlimited plates of Firecracker Chicken (at least, until they run out. They ran out of 40kg of chicken in under two hours) as well as naan bread, white rice and a beer. Firecracker Chicken is a delicious dish of crispy, juicy chicken smothered with a tantalising spicy sauce. So good!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:28pm on Friday September 10, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
Sun Stupid
Sunday December 6, 2009
It was Sunni and Ashton's birthday thing at the Kilbirnie Bowls club yesterday. Gloriously hot summer's day (rare for Wellington) but not without the strong gusts of wind that still persisted today. In any case, the sun was so enjoyable that I forgot about sunscreen and now I'm sporting some rather red arms and a pink forehead. Sigh.
Last week on Friday, we had the end-of-year homegroup get-together at Strawberry Fare (third time in November for me) and on Saturday, we had a Wine and Cheese night at the Treehouse, which was far less civilised than what it sounded like. I guess it doesn't matter what you call it, you know it's a recipe for mayhem when you have several 20-somethings and alcohol. Nevertheless, I had fun playing six-player 500. I was hopeful for Mafia but it didn't eventuate, unfortunately.
The Youth Band played last Sunday and it went pretty well. Still a bit more fine tuning in various places but always good to hear a different sound in church. Following that, Beth, Maxine and I went up to Kapiti Coast for a walk about since it was such a fine day. We had lunch at this Driftwood place, then a stroll along the beach, ice cream at Pukerua Bay and a quick tour of the sea shore fauna. We found these weird purple blob things that look exactly like poison orbs.
Edit: After an enquiry with the Department of Conservation, I've discovered that these are the sea anemone Actinia tenebrosa, or red sea anemone, which retract their tentacles when the tide is low. Fascinating stuff!
Posted by Jeremy at 9:20am on Sunday December 6, 2009 :: 3 comments ::