Texas
Friday April 12, 2024
It did feel like I was completely crazy for doing this so soon after returning to Canada, but less than a week after landing, I was back in the skies, on my way to Houston TX to chase the last total solar eclipse North America would get for 20 years. The trip started badly. I was supposed to catch the Dufferin night bus at 3.15am, which is when it was scheduled, but instead it drove past the bus stop at 3.07am, right in front of me, as I was running like a madman down Dupont Street. I ended up having to take a taxi to Yorkdale Mall to meet Carmen who would take me the rest of the way to Pearson.
The weather was beautiful as we landed in Houston. It was gloriously hot and sunny, and all the greenery of the oak trees was already in full force. We met up with Nancy after getting the rental car and then went for a walk around a local park. Then we got a late lunch, with massive Texan style portions, and then walked around Houston downtown. It felt really abandoned and almost unsafe as there were a lot of homeless people walking around and hardly any residents or office workers. We left soon after to have some classic Texan barbeque with Nancy’s son and daughter-in-law.
On our next day, we were up early to go to Chinatown and Little Saigon. Houston has a huge Vietnamese population, and it was surprising to me that it was an option for languages when trying to pay for parking. We stocked up on lunches for the next couple of days and then headed off to The Blind Goat.
It’s no surprise that I’m an avid watcher of MasterChef and one of my favourite seasons is the third season, aired in 2012. This season told the story of how Christine Ha, a Vietnamese woman from Houston, overcame the odds to win the competition even though she was blind. And finally, I had an excuse to come to Houston and try the food at her restaurant, The Blind Goat. As we entered, I noticed Chef Christine at the bar doing some work, and when I inquired with the waitress, she very kindly offered to bring her to meet us. We exchanged some pleasantries and she asked where we were from and why we were in town, and then Nancy blurted out something incredibly rude which I won’t repeat here, which really pissed me off, and soured the entire meeting. Despite all this, Chef Christine smiled and left us to enjoy our food, which I’ll write a blog piece about soon. We spent the rest of the day at Memorial Park, and then went for AYCE at a Hibachi grill.
We left for Austin early the next day, cautiously checking all weather forecasts and predictions for Monday. We arrived at McKinney State Park and spent a few hours walking around there before heading to the Capitol building where I met up with Ashley and Brian while the rest of the group split to do their own thing. I got her to sign The Poster, and then we went for ramen and bingsu.
On Monday morning, we were up at 7am to get breakfast in the hotel lobby. The forecast was looking dire for Austin but there was some hope to the north, closer to Dallas. I made the call to drive 2.5 hours north in the hopes we’d find some gaps in the clouds, and we ended up in Waxahachie. After walking for an hour and then having lunch, we decided to stay put. There were plenty of other eclipse watchers in the park by the creek, and the clouds were patchy enough that we would be able to get glimpses of the eclipse during the whole event.
What eventuated exceeded my expectations. The partial eclipse was as exciting as it’s ever been, with the moon becoming visible around 12.22pm. The dark portion grew in size over the next hour or so, and finally at 1.39pm, the last sliver of sunlight disappeared behind the moon and the area plunged into darkness as if it was night. The horizon had eerie red and yellow hues like dusk, the streetlights had switched on and more remarkably, the sun’s corona was in full view to the naked eye. Venus was visible too. This is a sight I’ll never forget. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been for early civilisations who had no idea what was happening. It looked like a dark hole had opened up in the sky, with a brilliant outer glow that screamed into the darkness. Baily’s Beads were visible too. It was incredibly emotional for me, months of planning and stressing over the weather had culminated in a huge success for today. I honestly could not believe that this had paid off. People were cheering and clapping at this phenomenal sight. Totality lasted for just over four minutes, and as the “diamond ring” flashed by, the area returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened, the shadows on the ground reappearing in full strength.
We began the drive back to Houston, stopping for ice cream along the way. We hit a thunderstorm briefly and by the time we got back, it was time for dinner. We got some seafood before retiring for the night. The bad weather continued onto Tuesday, but we spent most of it at Houston Space Center anyway. It was pretty amazing to see the Saturn V rockets up close, and really appreciate their size and detail. I impulse bought a miniblock model of the solar system as my souvenir for this trip.
All in all, this trip has been a huge success. All three things I had set out to do had been accomplished, despite all odds and logistical hurdles along the way. I’m exhausted. It’s time to properly have a break from travelling. I’ve been very lucky to catch two magnificent astronomical events in the last two weeks, and now, I’ve got a couple of years before the next total solar eclipse - in Spain!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:22pm on Friday April 12, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 
The Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
Monday December 21, 2020
I've seen many amazing astronomical phenomena in my lifetime. I remember watching the transit of Venus on the west shore of Manhattan Island in 2012 with the New York Amateur Astronomy Society. I saw Comet McNaught from Mt Roskill in Auckland, January 2007. There was one morning in 2016 I got up at 5am to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the sky at once. I've seen total and partial lunar eclipses and partial solar eclipses. This year's biggest event is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and naturally, today it's overcast and miserable, so there's absolutely no chance of seeing these two magnificent gas giants at their closest in the sky. I did capture this photo from a few days ago, so not all is lost.
The crescent moon with Jupiter and Saturn to the right, in the glow of twilight.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:53pm on Monday December 21, 2020 :: 0 comments ::
Puno and Lake Titicaca
Wednesday August 28, 2019
I began to feel a little short of breath on the bus and had a minor headache as we were coming into Puno. The elevation is 3800m above sea level, and this makes Lake Titicaca the highest lake in the world. It was definitely more noticeable at the Mirador el Condor lookout point above the city; even a small flight of stairs made me feel so tired and dizzy. You could say the view was...breathtaking.
We were driven to a boat ramp where our Airbnb owner, Carlos, met us with his boat. He took us around the Uros Floating Islands, showing us how people have adapted to life on top of the water. The islands are constructed of reeds and are surprisingly sturdy. There’s lots of really cool reed statues around, almost like each island has its own guardian.
We settled in for dinner and then some stargazing, but most of us were cold and tired so we went to bed early. I had troubles sleeping because of the altitude sickness, but I felt better in the morning than I did the night before. I was up to see the sunrise and then back on the boat towards the bus terminal to go to Cusco.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:58am on Wednesday August 28, 2019 :: 0 comments ::
Chaos
Monday November 14, 2016
It's been a strange week.
Last Wednesday, we watched the US elect Donald Trump into presidency, a move that stunned the whole office - the whole nation - into disbelief and horror. I'm not one to spout my opinions on politics on my blog, but I will say that I hope the minorities and vulnerable people he has consistently attacked throughout his campaign will find peace among such a tumultuous time, especially with reports of Trump supporters actively harassing such people.
On Thursday, things were much better for me as I jetsetted to Sydney for a holiday, that just happened to include capturing the Australian regional Pokemon, Kangaskhan. After landing on Thursday afternoon, I walked from my hotel in Hyde Park to Chinatown and Darling Harbour to grab a feed, and it was barely 200m down Liverpool Road that Kangaskhan appeared - and caught successfully! Over the course of the four days I was in Australia, I captured another eleven more, so I can trade them off when that feature is ever introduced.
On Friday, Mat and I covered all the major landmarks. We wandered through Hyde Park, past St Mary's Cathedral to the Royal Botanical Gardens and Mrs Macquarie's Chair, where there were some stunning views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We continued through the gardens to the Opera House, where we sat in the Pokemon Gym at Opera House for a good 10 minutes. Continuing down past the Rocks, we watched a traditional Aborigine dance being performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art for their 25th anniversary, then headed to the Bridge Climb office and decided $300 was way too much for what it was. We ended up walking the length of the bridge, stopping at one of the concrete pillars for some great views of the city. We had a quick look around Luna Park, then trained back to the CBD and did some shopping before going up the Sydney Tower. We ended the day at Criniti's at Darling Harbour, and rested at the hotel for a little bit before heading back to the Opera House, where they had lit up the sails with some beautiful red poppies in a light show, in commemoration of Armistice Day.
After some overnight rain and thunderstorms, the weather had cooled down quite dramatically. We visited the Chinese Garden of Friendship in the morning, and wandered through Paddy's Market and Chinatown. The clouds had disappeared bringing through some intense sunshine, to the tune of 30C, so we bundled some towels and headed out to Bondi Beach. It wasn't as packed as I thought it would be, but it was still incredibly busy. The water was amazingly refreshing and loads of fun with the waves breaking on the shore. We headed back to town and I met up with Joel, who took me for dinner at Mekong, then dessert at Koi, and drinks at the Palace Hotel.
Sunday was pretty relaxed, just finishing off our shopping at various spots around the city. I found a piano at the Queen Victoria Building near the Town Hall, and played Let It Go from Disney's Frozen, and the Pokemon theme song, both of which had drawn a sizeable crowd of passers-by to the piano area. Despite ruining the last note in Let It Go, I was pretty happy with how I played, and was beaming from ear to ear as I left, happy that I had at least brought a smile to some people that day. Unfortunately Mat never took a picture or video for me, so I have no proof. I went back to get a picture of the piano there, and someone was playing the most amazing classical tunes on there...but no one was applauding! Poor guy.
I met up with Chris and Sharon, and they took me for dinner at Ms G's in King's Cross, and a quick tipple at the Glenmore Hotel's rooftop bar before heading home. As I was settling down to bed for the night, Geonet started buzzing frantically, with a 7.5 earthquake hitting the South Island near Kaikoura. Facebook started filling up with worried posts from my Wellington friends, all exclaiming how intense the shaking was. Hundreds of aftershocks followed in varying magnitudes, dozens over 5 and 6. I'm lucky to have missed it - I would have been hysterical. There were tsunami warnings and damage to some of the buildings in CBD, but my friends seem to have escaped injury, and for that I'm thankful.
I arrived back in Wellington today, and was relieved to see my apartment had escaped damage too, save for a few bottles and trinkets that had fallen over. I'm still experiencing aftershocks and am unsure how the night will fare, especially as strong wind and rain buffets the city. Of course, the inclement weather has also meant we missed out on seeing the greatest supermoon in almost 70 odd years. Classic Wellington.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:18am on Monday November 14, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
Melbourne Bound
Thursday February 11, 2016
I have been insanely busy lately. My current project is six weeks long, and we are currently in week five. Fortunately for me, I'm at Auckland airport, waiting for a plane to Melbourne while the team back in Wellington are pushing towards the final deadline. Still, I did a few nights of overtime last week to get through my huge list of tasks so it was not without my own sweat and tears.
People have been visiting. I caught up with Melburnians Ants, Jo, Ben and Jill when they were here for a wedding. My parents came and visited too, and we enjoyed much delicious food. It was dad's birthday (almost) while they were down so I took them to Matterhorn and Floriditas.
A couple of weeks ago, I was up at 5.30am to see all five classical planets in the sky at the same time. Looking out to the glow of sunrise out east was Mercury, then looking in an arc high in the sky, Venus in its dawn brilliance, Saturn, Mars, the waning quarter moon and finally Jupiter. It was a sight to see. Absolutely stunning. I've never seen all five at once like that before, and I think it speaks volumes of the kind of wonderful city I live in that I was able to walk out onto my balcony and see all of this so clearly.
Last weekend was Waitangi Day and Chinese New Year, which I spent with my parents, my sister and two nephews. I think it's important to observe tradition; it is custom to be with family on Chinese New Year's Eve for a reunion dinner. The next day, my parents were off to Malaysia with 4kgs of cherries, 2kgs of plums, a loaf of bread, wine, chocolates, smoked salmon, crackers....
So the reason I'm in Melbourne is that I am fulfilling an old dream that has been in planning for the past decade: see a Final Fantasy orchestral concert. It's going to be mega. All the nostalgia, emotion, memories and melodies. I will hopefully be stuffing my face full of delicious food too. Looking forward to it!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:48am on Thursday February 11, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
Nous Sommes Avec Vous
Tuesday November 17, 2015
What tragic news to hear on Saturday afternoon after badminton. Several coordinated terrorist attacks hit Paris, killing 129 people and wounding more than 400. In the midst of France's darkest hour, it is comforting to see the outpouring of sympathy and solidarity: the hashtag #PortesOuvertes from Parisians to offer shelter to tourists or displaced people who didn't have accommodation for the night; the stories of people who took bullets to save others at the cost of their own lives; the red, white and blue lights on landmarks around the world.
People express condolences in different ways. Some pray. Some light candles and lay flowers. Some sing songs. Some will change their profile picture on Facebook to one with a Tricolore overlay. And that's okay. As long as you can truthfully say with purpose and intent that you stand with the French people, then people are entitled to reflect and remember in a way that has integrity for them. At the same time, we should also think about other devastating attacks that have amounted to a huge loss in human life and continue to remember those in constant struggle, in places like Syria, Iran and Iraq. May we be forgiven for not always knowing about these events, because any loss of human life like this is tragic.
I was out last night at Owhiro Bay for the Leonids meteor shower. I saw an opportunity as the clouds cleared late yesterday afternoon, so I made a call to commit and recruited my trusty crew. The moon was 19% illuminated and definitely affecting the visibility of the night sky, but the brightest Leonids shone through. None of them were as spectacular as the Orionid we saw a month ago, but all in all, I would have seen around seven meteors. As the weather warms up, hopefully we can make these trips more frequent.
We had our PikPok Developers Conference for the year and I spoke on two topics: development for the new Apple TV, and ray tracing, a subject I hadn't touched since 2007 back at the University of Auckland's COMPSCI372 course. I also ran the second PikPok Programming Puzzle-o-rama with much success, and on the same day, rushed down to the council to watch the All Blacks victory parade. I've been to karaoke twice in the past few weeks, had yum cha, had all you can eat chicken wings from Tequila Joe's and watched the fireworks display at the waterfront.
The social calendar is filling up fast for the rest of the year!
Posted by Jeremy at 9:35am on Tuesday November 17, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
More Overtime
Monday October 19, 2015
We thought we'd heard the last of it, but we were required to do submit another build within 24 hours - totally not stressful at all - on Thursday. We got bounced twice before the damn thing went through processing late on Saturday, and then today we received the good news that we were all good to go.
My weekend was pretty quiet. I got to have the WOAP burger from Grill Meats Beer a second time on Friday, then had regular badminton on Saturday, and went into work for a couple of hours with Mana. We went out to Lyall Bay's shopping area to grab some gloves for the gym and hiking shoes for the Routeburn that I'm doing this Labour weekend, and we met up again for a play called Bubblelands at the BATS theatre. A friend of mine, Ben, has been touring around the North Island, starring in this play as a crayfish who meets a blue cod in the aquarium of a Chinese restaurant. Good stuff! We had dinner at Cha and dessert at Strawberry Fare.
I was up early and off to watch the second half of the NZ vs France rugby quarterfinals with Will and Alanna at their place. I was too nervous to front up for the first half, but once I saw the score at half time, I was quite relieved and happy to enjoy the remainder of the match. The weather for Sunday was clear, but very windy; I tried to get a crew out to watch the Orionids meteor shower at Owhiro Bay but alas no one was keen. Today, however, I managed to get Mana, Loic and Dana along for an hour. Despite the wind and brightness of the moon, our patience was rewarded with a brilliant streak of light heading southwards across the sky - magnificent!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:43am on Monday October 19, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
Geminids
Monday December 15, 2014
Yesterday was truly a glorious summer's day. I gathered Mana, Will and Phil up for some KFC down by Oriental Parade and then took them around various beaches - "I didn't realise Wellington had beaches" and "I've never left town" were some of the exclamations I heard while driving. I was so impressed by the weather that I convinced them to stay up late and accompany me to Owhiro Bay so that we could catch a glimpse of the Geminids Meteor Shower which peaked in intensity last night.
Insufficiently equipped with our hoodies and a picnic blanket, we set up right by the carpark heading to Red Rocks on the stony beach and within minutes of lying down, a magnificent trail of light and smoke streaked across the sky majestically. Over the next hour, we saw several more meteors streaming across the skies, each as exciting as the last, but it was the cold that stopped us from staying too long. We said goodbye to the other crazy people who had joined us and headed home, satisfied with the amazing astronomical display we'd just seen.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:31am on Monday December 15, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
The Past Month
Sunday April 14, 2013
...has been absolutely manic. Following on from February's packed schedule, I had events on each weekend in March. After our failed comet viewing attempts at Makara, we decided we'd keep going back for the fantastic night sky and the shooting stars. As winter settles in, the sunsets become earlier and the skies become cloudier still, so we're taking each opportunity as it comes, and we've never been disappointed.
Well maybe that one time when Chloe and I saw all the shooting stars and Mitchell missed like, seven of them. Zing!
Apart from our frequent trips out to the west coast, I've been at Tom and Astrid's pirate-themed engagement and housewarming celebration, as well as Dale and Bec's engagement party. I went bowling at Bowlarama for Jono and Karlyn's farewell, checked out Pete and Bronwyn's new house, saw some dragonboating and did some Shufflin' and Gangnam Style at Luba's D-themed birthday party.
I spent Easter up in Auckland, catching up with the old KCC gang and getting some good old milk tea from Momo's with Sam and Jo, who have now relocated to Melbourne. I played Dominion, 7 Wonders, Citadels and Dixit. I spent a day at Auckland Zoo with my nephew, checking out all that has changed since I was last there 15 years ago. There was curry and steak and seafood... and more steak, and more seafood. Easter was full of great people and delicious food.
The following weekend, we made our way down to the South Island for Matt and Clare's wedding at Peel Forest. Having never been to the South Island before (gasp!), we went for an epic road trip that spanned 1,500km over three days.
First leg of our journey was Wellington to Picton on the 2.30am Bluebridge Ferry. We secured a private cabin for ourselves so we could get some sleep for the long drive ahead. We were expected to land at Picton at 6.30am but they lost power to the main engine and that delayed us until 8am - a blessing in disguise as we managed to get that little bit extra sleep.
We hit Picton just as the sun began to rise over the islands of Queen Charlotte Sound and started the drive to Nelson. The sounds were misty from the early morning, and the water totally still and glass-like. We picked up some breakfast at Havelock - a bacon and egg pie for me - and reached sunny Nelson around 10am. We continued on to Murchison where we had lunch, then crossed over to the east coast via Lewis Pass. The scenery through Lewis Pass is so diverse, with forests, rivers, mountains, snow and barren desert all visible in the space of a two hour drive. We had a quick squizz around Hanmer Springs (not enough time to relax at the pools unfortunately) and made our way to Christchurch for dinner. With sunset rapidly approaching, we picked up the pace and headed out to Peel Forest.
Peel Forest is in the middle of nowhere. It was only on Friday morning that we realised that our accommodation was called "Peel Forest Ecolodge". It was so "eco". No flushing toilets (ugh compost), wasp infestation in the main room, five minute walk through moderate bush from the carpark and cold bunk beds. Even the beds on the ferry were better. I mean, it would have been fine if we were there for a camping trip but we weren't - we were there for a wedding and we needed modern amenities. We arrived around 11pm, after many difficulties finding the place, and passed out.
We were up around 8am and headed out to Lake Tekapo, only 90 minutes drive away. The day was overcast and the usually azure lake reflected the greys of the sky. We stopped by the iconic Church of the Good Shepherd and admired the grandeur of the Southern Alps in the distance, with its sprinkling of snow clearly visible. We hurried back to Peel Forest for the wedding.
The church was tiny, fitting maybe 80 people at full capacity, but nevertheless the ceremony was lovely; both the bride and groom tearing up at various points in the service. The reception was in a marquee at Peel Forest Lodge, where we had quite possibly the best rare steak ever. Juicy, succulent and tasty - everything that meat should be. After hitting the dance floor (yet more Shufflin' and Gangnam Stylin'), we adjourned to the lodge in anticipation of another long drive the next day. I could not help but admire the crystal clear skies from the Ecolodge (we were in the middle of nowhere, afterall) and spent about 30 minutes staring up at the heavens. The Milky Way was quite visible, as were many familiar southern hemisphere constellations. And in a moment of pure magic, there was a shooting star across the sky!
We were grateful for the extra hour of sleep from Daylight Savings, and we left the Ecolodge for Christchurch. We let Google navigate us to Cathedral Square, but the effects of the devastating earthquake have rendered many of the city center's roads off-limits. We parked near the closed Rydges hotel and wandered around a bit, looking at all the grim sites of rubble and destruction. We followed the Avon River down to the new shipping container mall, which had a nice vibrant atmosphere and was bustling with buskers and filled with Sunday morning coffee aromas. We had a quick brunch in Upper Riccarton before taking State Highway 1 to Kaikoura.
Kaikoura's awesome. The peninsula boasts some fantastic views of the mountains to the west and Pacific Ocean to the east, and right down by the coast, one can enjoy some delectable seafood from the world famous Original Kaikoura Seafood Barbeque shack. I had a seafood chowder and whitebait fritter, but people on other tables had splashed out for some grilled crayfish. Yum! A few minutes driving north, we stopped at Ohau Point to take a look at the adorable seal pups swimming upstream under State Highway 1 towards the local waterfall, before continuing the journey to Blenheim and Picton to take the return ferry.
We arrived in Picton with plenty of time to spare and had some takeaways before boarding the ferry. The boat ride to Wellington was as smooth as the trip over, and in three hours we were back on the North Island.
Whew!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:22pm on Sunday April 14, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
Return to Makara
Monday March 11, 2013
It feels like summer\'s definitely on its last legs. While today is cold from the southerlies and dull, grey and overcast like only a Monday could be, yesterday was magnificently warm and sunny.
I took a chance. Yesterday was the southern hemisphere\'s last chance at seeing Comet Panstarrs in the sky. I knew it would be very low in the horizon and we still might not be able to see it through the twilight brilliance, but I recruited a crew and we bundled a picnic dinner in my car and headed back to Makara.
We went up Opau Bay Road to check out the wind turbine farm first. The area boasts some fantastic westward views of the South Island and the vast sea beyond. If you head out on the Short Turbine Walk, you\'ll walk past a lone turbine standing guard over the ridge between Opau Bay and Makara Beach. From here, you can look back at the turbine farm and get a sense of their majesty; a true representation of how technology and nature can be harmonious. There\'s not much else to do at that side and the gates close at 6pm during summer, so we headed off. One day we might return when it\'s really windy to see what it\'s like...
Down at Makara, there were plenty of other beachgoers taking advantage of the great weather. We unloaded our food and began our walk on the track to embattlements. We arrived with good time, and after dinner, Jordan guarded base camp and read his book while Mitchell, Chloe and I went for a quick explore around the hill. We found a lot of sheep poop.
Sunset was at 7.50pm yesterday, and in amongst the self-photographs, we watched as the sun dipped behind the mountains of the South Island. The glow of dusk began to illuminate the hills around us, but this soon gave way as the first star of the night, Sirius, became visible. Looking to the west, the horizon was still too bright to see any signs of Panstarrs. By now, several more stars were appearing in the night sky - Orion and Taurus in the north with Jupiter, the Southern Cross out to the east above the aura of Wellington\'s light pollution, and the dim fuzziness of the Milky Way becoming more prominent as time passed.
And then came...our first shooting star of the night!
Oh the magic of shooting stars.
We saw another two during our time there. It would have been around 9.30pm when we decided to call it a night and we began the drive back to Wellington. Much to Jordan\'s bemusement, a wild possum appeared in the middle of the road and I stopped the car so he could try and photograph it. It looked him timidly, and then scurried off along the ditch by the road. He tried to follow it, but it eventually clambered up the hill to safety, away from the intrusive paparazzi lens.
What a nice way to spend a Sunday.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:34am on Monday March 11, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
March Misadventures
Wednesday March 6, 2013
A year older, a year wiser?
The days are shortening and the southerlies are definitely more noticeable. Summer has paved the way for autumn, though we may still see some more of that warm sunshine that we were blessed with this year.
Comet Pan-STARRS has been supposedly visible in southern hemisphere skies for the past week or so. Always in search for an adventure, I recruited Mitchell, Chloe and Hayden (while he was down here) and we went out to Owhiro Bay to see if we could spot the comet. No such luck, as we presume the southwestern hills around Red Rocks were in the way. We headed out to Titahi Bay, but still no luck. Today, we drove to Makara but there were still hills in the way; we decided we weren\'t going to leave without a quick exploration of the area, so we followed the track to Opau Bay and the wind turbine farm for about 15 minutes, putting us just over the western ridge of Makara beach and giving us splendid views of the Tasman Sea. As night fell, we gazed aimlessly at the stars, watching the brilliance of Jupiter in the north and seeing the Milky Way arching overhead. Then, in a moment of sheer magic, we caught two shooting stars streaking across the northern sky!
But no comet. Oh well.
Last weekend was pretty busy for me. Mark\'s last day with us was on Friday, and we had a \"final\" game of Battlestar Galactica. With Rob\'s horrendous dice rolling putting the humans dangerously low on population count, it looked like Team Cylon - Mark and myself, and Mitchell, kinda - might have clinched victory, but some sweet blind jumping from Jordan netted a destination 3 card which put them on the home stretch. Not about to be outdone, I shot Rob in the face and caused Tim to die in the same turn, but sadly that wasn\'t enough to pull morale down to 0. It all rested on a final dice roll, and Team Human took away the victory with a strong 8 roll. Epic!
After our regular Saturday morning badminton, I met Damon, Joe, Chloe and Mitchell for some hot drinks at Milk Crate, and we relocated to Caffe L\'affare for brunch. Afterwards, the group minus Damon visited Jos and Ian at Garage Project headquarters, before heading home to find Smudge - with little success. We trekked over to Central Park to play on the swings and flying fox, but there was some kid\'s birthday party going on and it felt awkward just shoving them off the playground, so we went our separate ways. I met up with Damon, Joe and Mitchell again for dinner at Oriental Thai, and we joined Alan and Aaron at their place by Chaffers Docks, right where Homegrown was on. Rocking times!
We had an \"autumnal celebration\" barbeque at the Treehouse, full of fantastic meats everywhere - my kilogram of roast pork that I had purchased from Yan\'s was very popular. There were sausages and skewers and steaks to be had, and for dessert, Charlotte\'s scheming resulted in a deliciously moist and rich chocolate cake with fancy sparkly candles, decorated as if it was someone\'s birthday celebration.
It\'s going to be a busy month, with both my work and social calendars full of events and deadlines to meet. Looking forward to time off over Easter, then the South Island trip early next month!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:33am on Wednesday March 6, 2013 :: 0 comments ::
Train to DC
Wednesday June 6, 2012
Man, even the train has free wifi.
Yesterday we started the day at the Museum of Natural History near Central Park, only a few blocks from the hotel. The place is massive, with four floors taking me a total of three and a half hours to explore. There's plenty of exhibits on space, geology, extinct animals, cultures of the world and dinosaurs.
I did a huge candy run. So much candy. I'd say I have around five kilograms of the stuff and it was tough carting all of it to the train station this morning. Sadly I won't be eating all of it... It's mostly gifts for friends and family.
But the best part of my day was being able to witness, firsthand, the historical Transit of Venus, which will not happen for another 115 years. My luck with viewing astronomical events has never been good, and with rain and clouds forecasted for the day, it looked like it was going to be rather iffy at stages. But shortly after 6pm, the clouds parted for a brief glimpse into the heavens and the several telescopes that had been set up at the Pier 1 Cafe on Manhattan's west all caught the intense black spot nestled on the sun's rim. My thanks again to the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York for organising this event and I am totally stoked to be out of stormy Wellington for this!
The Amtrak train is cool. In the two hours I've been on the train, we've been from Penn Station in NYC to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and now in Delaware, with Maryland and finally DC to go.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:08pm on Wednesday June 6, 2012 :: 2 comments ::
Weekend
Monday May 21, 2012
Spent Saturday walking around the piers of San Francisco, from the ferry building to Fort Mason. Seen most of it before but we took a detour to Coit Tower and saw some amazing views of the city. Continued to Fort Mason, visiting Musee Mecanique and Fisherman's Wharf along the way and was surprised to find a wine tasting festival by the chocolate factory there. We returned to Pier 39 for the seals and some shopping, and of course, some delicious seafood for dinner. Not completely satisfied, we headed back to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert.
I met Tobias for lunch today. We took a walk around to the Haight to catch the tail end of the Bay to Breakers race, a crazy costumed 12km run from one side of the city to another. Think the Wellington Sevens except bigger, crazier and running instead of rugby. We settled at the Dolores Park to catch the annular solar eclipse. Armed with four pairs of sunglasses, we observed the day darkening as the moon obscured the sun to a magnificent crescent. Awesome stuff! There will be a lunar eclipse in two weeks and the transit of Venus too!
Posted by Jeremy at 5:17am on Monday May 21, 2012 :: 2 comments ::