Xmas Party time

As you know, I have a diverse bunch of friends from all walks of life….

For the work party ("White Xmas"), I pulled out the lab coat from my Bioscientist days…

OK, actually borrowed from a Biotech grad buddy of mine - ta Kerhan.

I went to Secret Santa Sunday at Howie’s new place. Here’s a pic of a few of us hanging out on the couch:

We spent time eating, chatting, eating and playing my new Nintendo Wii!!. And man it is awesome. I recommend everyone buy one (if you can find one – they’re selling out all over the place) because you’re missing out on a whole lotta fun otherwise! Check back for some pics of my Wii baby soon. Oh yeah and Secret Santa got me a remote control indoor glider plane thing! It's really, really cool - but I still need to do some fiddling to make it fly proper.

Also, my tanned and toned sis (who came up to visit me recently) would like to say a few words:

"My week in Auckland was the shiz! Not only did I hang out with my braun and buff brother but also went to Spookers (where I needed nappies afterwards) and OF COURSE saw U2. Whoop whoop! That was the bestest concert ever and our early arrival made it sooo much better. As Jono lives very close to town I did ALOT of shopping (... maybe a bit too much) and was lucky to also hangout with some mates that were up here too. Cheers bro for an awesome time up in Jafaland. Luv u heaps! "

Here's a pic of my mates Eleni and Bessy at Mission Bay after eating yummy movenpick icecream, pizza and strawberries (Which were used to leave stains on Jono’s fave beach towel… Grrrr – Ed :)

Bye Sis

I just dropped Tess off at the airport. She's been hanging with me up here the past week.
We went out for brekky on Saturday at Season Cafe in Ponsonby - my cuz works there, so he sorted us a good deal ;) - Thanks Lindz. This is my sister waiting for me to finish taking the photo so she can eat her banana hotcakes - with a side of bacon

As well as mucking around with her awesome big bro, both of us hung out with 4 middle aged Irishmen on Saturday night (with 40,000 or so others).

And cheers to you too, Bono. That was awesome!!

We turned up around 4:45 (gates opened at 5pm). We didn't quite make the first 3000 (in the next-to-the-stage-zone), but I guestimate we made the first 3500, so were near the front of everyone else - and right in the middle, so it was a sweet spot anyhow.

Last week I also had my first taste of dragonboating. Here's a pic of us admiring the boat from the safety of the dock...

Unfortunately, I never actually made it into the water because the session ran over time. Was a shame too because Howie and I were gonna be up the front (cross the line first, hehe :) Oh well something to look forward to next time - and I might even get wet!

Also, I got sent this link today:

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Make sure you watch the video at the end. It's really quite inspiring, and you might need to get out some tissues too...

U2 coming up!

Not long to go now. Sis and I will be at U2 this Saturday. Will definitely do a proper update after that. Last couple weeks have been insanely busy...

Work has been mad but is currently interrupted by a 3 day course in town. The course is basically on how to do my job - so quite handy!
Tess arrived on Friday so I've been showing her the sites the past few days. She cooked us dinner today - yum diddly scrumptious too :)

Horsing Around

This is the view from the top of a horse.

I went horse trekking in the weekend. Great fun. And that's Kate I'm sitting on (she was obviously just borrowing Jack's head strap thingee).

The ride seemed to get smoother the faster the horse was going - trotting feels like dozens of judder bars! whereas a canter is so smooth! Unless you fall off, as one of our group can attest - although she did hit a tree prior to the ground.

Fortunately, I had no unplanned dismounts.

And here is me with Kate, my trusty mount:

And speaking of horses, I saw two Japanese horses won the Melbourne Cup - Go Asia!!!

Work has been getting busy, which is a nice change. But I can't tell you what I'm working on.

Touch this week was better - we drew, 3 all. I likened it to a classic sports movie. The underdogs have staged a spirited comeback and with seconds to go, one point is needed to level the scores. With the last play of the game, the defence is broken and... they score. Only problem is, it wasn't us who scored the final point :(

Next week we are playing probably the best team in the league so will be aiming to keep the score respectable...

Down Welly

I went for a lightning trip down to Wellington earlier this week for work. Oh look, here's a photo...

For the flight down I was in business class! (and that's a first for me) I figured there must have been some kind of mixup, but it was a welcome surprise. For once I was one of those tossers sitting up the front in one of those big fat chairs with excess legroom - muwahahahahaa!!

Anyway, later on I got a text from my buddy's sister, "I hope you enjoyed business class". Took me a while to click actually, but eventually I figured it out. In her role at Air NZ she wields Upgrade power - which makes her a handy person to know indeed ;) I spoke to her the night before at her birthday dinner (her big three-zero actually) and mentioned my flight details in passing. Evidently, she remembered and somehow moved me to business class :)

While I was down there I caught up with my friend/relly Camellia, did some work stuff and also visited some of my Wellington based team-mates.

Also took a pretty pic from the plane on the flight back to AKL...

Also, touch season started yesterday. Nothing noteworthy to report on... yet

Settling in...

To my new flat in town. I'm now living in Upper Queen St - been here over a week now and it's great. Takes me 5 minutes to get to work in the morning (walking!!) and it's a real nice hangout with only 1 flatmate, Neal, who's been more than bearable so far.

In the weekend I helped out at the ACCC garage sale. I use their gym every week for Volleyball so it's certainly appropriate to provide my (valuable, and otherwise expensive ;) services. As well as selling steamed buns I also built a bonfire...

Its gonna get lit up for Guy Fawkes. It was a nice chance to work on my tan before Summer as well as push myself to the limits of extreme physical exersion. However, despite what you may be thinking, there were just a few others helping out ;)

Also, at work last week, a couple of fans dropped by at my work to say hi.

Apparently they're twins and like to do a bit of rowing in their spare time.

Canty 27 Auckland 22

Ahhh... it feels good to note that down, and there was definitely far less banter directed at me at work on Monday.

Today I recieved my work business cards - so next time you see me ask for my number... ;)

Had a great weekend. Started out with a lovely dinner at Mikano seafood restaurant on Friday for a friend of mine's birthday (he's a wonderful Telecom chap as well, although with 23 years additional experience...). On Saturday had another birthday dinner followed by a pot luck (didn't eat much at the pot luck though)

On Sunday it was pissing down with rain and I was milling around in my cuzzy, Nigel's room. He recently bought the book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki, off TradeMe. I picked it up and a few hours later had finished reading it.
It's essentially a collection of concepts that the rich are supposedly aware of that the poor aren't. In addition to his own very entertaining experiences, the author uses the allegory of his two "Dads" (Dad 2 is actually his best buddy's dad) contrasting views on financial matters. One dad constantly struggled with money and finances his entire life (eventually dying in debt) despite prestigious qualifications & well paying jobs, while the other dad made millions with little formal education. In conclusion - good read... and I think my path to wealth and prosperity is less hazy now (although I still have no idea if I'm on a path, or the correct one at that!! :)

I'm crying on the inside... :(

I was thinking about using some bereavement leave this week but have been able to hold myself together so far – yes, Canterbury lost the Ranfurly Shield on Sunday. Deepest sympathies go out to the team, families and their supporters (oh yes, that includes me…). I also hope everyone in the North Harbour team sprains their ankles (coz that’s not tooo malicious, is it?? :P)

 

Not too much to report on regarding work at the moment - I think I’ve been assigned my first proper project which I’ll be working with another Senior BA. It’s to do with services to counter threats from Vodafone (I think that a fairly common theme here!). I’ve finally settled on a routine for getting to work. From now on I’m parking in the local residential area and walking in. Only takes 10 minutes and means parking is free (Yay!!). And I also get a low-impact workout.

Also I’ve got my new (Telecom) mobile now too – 027 560 3572 – and that’s my main number now. I’ll keep my Vodafone, but won’t be carrying it around with me all the time.  

 

On Saturday I went to a 21^st which was cool. And following on from that I got an invite to another 21^st in a couple weeks which is convenient, I had nothing planned for that evening anyway J

 

T + 2

Wowee! Just finished my 2nd day at Telecom so settling in now. There's a heap to learn, but I'm certainly surrounded by a bunch of talented brains to pick at. The atmosphere around the office is a tad less formal from what I've been used to - but I can get used to it. The dress code is "tidy casual" (no one wears a tie) - I'd say jeans and shirt are probably the most common combo for guys. The lunchroom area has a big screen projector, foozball and a pool table for a bit of additional entertainment.

In terms of my job - I haven't really started doing much yet, just induction and new employee admin type stuff. I've also been making my way through Karl Wieger's online course... because Karl is THE MAN when it comes to Business and Requirements Analysis (essentially what my job is :P)

Now, on to the rest of the week!

One week off

Yes that's right I have this week off and I will be doing... pretty much nothing - well that's the plan, coz I'm sure stuff will pop up. Definitely been looking forward to it.

Last week I finished up at Genesis and I'll be starting at Telecom next week - 7 sleeps to go now!
Said "bye" to my workmates and all that. Had a great send off from work - the team took me out for drinks and dinner at the local on Thursday night. On Friday my boss scheduled a meeting to go over my leaving checklist and when I got there the whole team was there - awwww ;) Presented me with a card and vouchers to buy lots of stuff at Sylvia Park, awesome. Did another drinks and dinner on Fri with my (non-IS team) colleagues.
I also did a great job of tidying up my desk if I do say so myself.

This weekend I was playing in the 4 corners sports tournament at the ACCC. The same team (10 people) has to compete in 4 sports - touch rugby, volleyball, basketball and a pub quiz. It was an awesome event and our team came third overall. It was really close in the end and we did well on the basis of having people from all sports (our team name was "The Mix"). We also won the award for "epitomising the spirit of the competition" - yeah baby! As per usual I am very sore today, but it was all worth it and we won a dinner voucher and some chocolate for our efforts.

Also I am now living at my Aunty's (with uncle and 2 cuzzys) since moving out of my last flat. It's great for a bit of a change up, family living with home cooked meals and all that :) Also economies of scale when it comes to laundry & dishes.

Sorry for the lack of photos my camera seems to be on its death bed so a replacement is definitely on the agenda.

21 sleeps...

...until I start my new job :O

Last night we went to a nice buffet place in the Langham hotel for my cousin Nigel's birthday. Stuffed myself absolutely silly (that's all I know how to do at a buffett!! :|).A few of us chipped in and we got him a pool cue seeing he broke his last one. I actually became pretty attached to that piece of wood - it was a bit sad to see it go actually... oh well thats life. Take care of it cuz.

Cass and I are starting ice skating lessons this Wednesday. Looking forward to it! I currentlyknow how to go forwards - and not much else. So it will be good to learn how to do a few more things like skate backwards or do those feet crossing turns.

Man, there was some huge dramas last week with our other flatty. Its all finished now but not without some fairly aggresive negotiations the other night. In times like that I'm certainly glad I'm not the leaseholder. Anyway, in conclusion the other room has been vacated ...

Also, I have had a request to distribute the following message:
"Thanks Alton and Louie for dinner and the pen"

Quick Morning Message

Just to let you know I did sign that contract and will be starting at Telecom in 3 weeks time… on the 11th of September :

I’m actually at work at the moment (sent this to my site via email – cool huh?). Will write some more about recent happenings tonight...

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Love this pic of us enjoying the great outdoors. He turned 50-something today - You don't tend to worry about the details at that point anyway, right?

Oh and today, it was also my mates Howie's birthday. We went to Rainbows end and now I have that theme song stuck in my head, "Take me back to the rainbow, that rainbow kinda magic..." Aaaarggh. We had an awesome time there though. There was hardly anyone around so we pretty much just jumped onto any rides at will. Love that Fear Fall - feels like your stomach is being pushed into your head! After a bumper boats and getting wet we were friggen freezing though so headed back fairly smartly (today's weather was not exactly bright and sunny)

Back at the flat we set up a few computers for LANning (for those of you less computer literate types a LAN is a local area network - connect computers up to play games & share files). Played good old Starcraft amongst other things.

Also sent Cass home with a bunch of my clothes to alter (hem, fix etc). Cass and I have this wonderful mutually beneficial relationship. She is into clothing fashion/design, and I have clothes that need altering - so I give her clothes to alter :) By the way, thanks Cass.

And updated job news - I have in my possession a contract for a new job. All it needs is my autograph :)

Life is good, see me squash...

Well the photo was actually taken last year but still, that's me on the top "squashing" with my good mate Nick (oh and by the way, that dark patch on the ground has nothing to do with me).

Anyway back to the point. During lunch on Friday I had my first game of squash in many months - ended 2 sets all in the end. I do love how in squash you can smash the crap out of the ball and keep playing. In other sports (i.e. tennis and badminton) it'll either go out, or hit the stupid net - well that's what I find anyway.
Yesterday at touch my kneepads (bought originally for volleyball) came to good use for indoor practice (due to the crap weather). With my knees safely encased, I was in full flight mode :D - OK, so maybe I didn't always land gracefully (and fully intact) but it was good fun and I nabbed a couple tries.

Also saw the new "Pirates" film this evening. Definite thumbs up from me. And good to know there's another film coming coz the ending is just sooo not an ending!!

Rohin, our new flatty is certainly earning his place here. As well as cooking a great Sunday roast, he managed to provide our flat with an XBox 360 (has games with very pretty graphics and can play DVD movies - which we haven't really been able to do since our last flatty left!!).

This coming week the (big) company (beginning with 'T') wants me to go and examine the contract, so that's something to watch out for. I'll definitely quiz them on the interesting news I've been hearing recently.

So what does the future hold for your good friend Jono.... ?
Find out in next week's episode.

Birthday - done!

Phew, my age has now increased by 1. Now I don't have to think about it for a whole year (well 11 months at least). And that is definitely a good thing.
To the left is a shot of me modelling one of my presents. It is a pair of extremely limited edition Spiderman boxers - and like all great superheroes I am wearing my underwear as "outerwear" :)

I also recieved Twister, which is definitely one of my favourite board games. Had a great time on that with my mates for a couple hours (I think it's actually a pretty decent workout - lots of stabilising muscles).
Since then there has been some dispute between me and Vicki as to who is the true champion - I feel a "Twist-off" coming on...

As a final Birthday hoorah I went to the "Deviate" Uni dance party on Sunday morning (by going to Uni events I can maintain a firm grasp on my youth). I had an awesome time - photos coming soon (depending on what they look like :P)

In conclusion, thank you to all those people who:

• Wished me a Happy Birthday
• Gave me presents
• Intended to wish me a Happy Birthday, but forgot (...because when it comes to other people, I will often find myself in this category!!)

I think that covers everyone.

Cake

This photo is proof that I did indeed had a birthday on Friday. Had a great dinner in town with my family up here in Auckland.

After dinner, my cousins and I had a few games of pool before we tried supplementing our income at the casino.
I was stoked that both my age and birthday came up on the roulette wheel - but I would have been infinitely more stoked if I'd put money on it!

Damn Ankle :( plus Employment update

I really need to visit a physio at some point because I’ve managed to roll/twist/sprain (I know it’s one of those, all bad anyway) my ankle. Yesterday I got friend-bullied into playing netball with the work team. Knowing my ankle’s hatred of netball (I injured it 3 times last season) I taped it up real good - however during the game I managed to somehow rip the tape and fully wreck my ankle once again. Murphy always finds a way I guess...

Anyway, we won the game by 1 point so that’s something to be happy about :)

And in other news - I am about 90% of the way towards a new job with a (big) Telecommunications company (that starts with ‘T’). My (potential) boss needs to get his bosses approval (who is on leave this week). It’s a tad frustrating since I’m pretty much there, but still not at the “Yippee, I got it!!” stage yet. However, it all adds to the suspense.

Also our new flatty moved in today. He must be buggered coz he’s just totally asleep and snoring on his unmade bed. Seems like a decent guy, name is Rohin and he’s 21 (Vicki noted I am no longer the baby of the flat). Oh and speaking of age-related stuff, it’s my birthday this Friday (28th July y’know) so feel free to contribute any item(s) to my possessions.

Thank you.

Still no flatmate... !!

The guy who was supposedly going to move in this weekend seems to have vanished - both Vicki and I have tried calling him. Well, I'll take that as a "sorry I've changed my mind, don't wanna move in anymore". Can't say I'm too surprised, but it'd be preferable for him to have bothered with some form of communication. I've always thought "do unto others as you would have done unto you" - it's just a shame not everyone lives by that...

Last night some of my mates in the touch team came around last night to watch the rugger. Good times - shame Scott Hamilton didn't score - he's the new Caleb Ralph!! (I'll think he'll go far. He's definitely from the right province)

Today has very much been a lazy Sunday for me. Woke up late and played Gamecube most of the afternoon. Cass and her mate visited later on and we visited Sylvia Park. There ain't a hell of a lot to look at there at the mo (well the Super Warehouse is kinda cool I guess). Anyway, its nice and handy (only 10 minutes away). Cass shouted me a soft serve from Macca's - it tasted pretty much the same as everywhere else (still yummy though - cheers Cass :)

Well its pretty much the end of the weekend now, so work tomorrow. Good thing is on Tuesday we'll be having a nice lunch at the local (we won some vouchers at the work quiz night last week :)

It's Saturday!

And for me, that usually means SPORTS! While I'm on the subject - here's a pic of the touch team I played with at Easter. You'll easily spot me - I'm the spunk in blue shorts... but for those more visually impaired, I'm in the 2nd row, 3rd from the right :)

Anyway, I just came back from my afternoon run... Ran 3kms!! OK so maybe its not that far but I'm proud of myself for finally getting off my ass and doing it! Earlier this year I was doing 10 km runs 3 times a week (training up for the Taupo relay) but I've gone off the boiler recently with nothing to really train up for.

Last night I went into town with some workbuddies to check out the Mexican cafe in town as we've heard Salsa is big there on Friday nights. We've just started doing salsa classes (had about 10 lessons now) so wanted to check out some of the salsa night life.
Now, usually I'd wake up bright and early on Saturdays to go play volleyball but I was way too buggered this morning (alarm woke me up at 9:30 but after stopping it I just dropped straight back to sleep) - I've missed the last 2 weeks and I'm feeling a bit guilty actually. It's an awesome sport and I wanna keep improving. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of it next week. I have certainly learnt I need to keep my Friday nights a bit more manageable from now on!!

For those of you I haven't told (I've done a fair amount of advertising recently), we've been looking for a flatmate the past few weeks... and MAN, has it been a slog. We think we've got someone now - Well, they said "yes, I'll take it" but I know from experience not to believe that until their belongings start piling into the room. Anyhow he's apparently moving in today or something. We'll see I suppose :)

After a quick bite I'm off to touch practice. Our team is getting real good if I do say so myself. We have an awesome coach named Ops (he's a Polynesian touch master!) who is turning our team into one well oiled machine. I have a feeling we will be kicking some serious ass some time soon...

Finally!!

I've finally done it! Now anyone and everyone can have a little snippet of my life wherever they are - although I'm sure this is certainly more significant to the people I've actually met...

I've been meaning to set up my own website for aaages (I've owned the domain name, www.jonoking.com for over 2 years now!) but never got round to setting it up - mainly coz of the task of building the website and making it look decent.
Well I suppose it's not too big a deal, but its just one of those things where I'd always find something just a bit more urgent/important and keep putting it off. Anyway my flattie Vicki showed me her blog site and I thought to myself "Cool Bananas" (this makes a decent website and its fairly hassle free). So here we are - all you fans out there can rejoice!

I've also set up my domain name and email all proper now. So you can get to my homepage (i.e. this site) using www.jonoking.com and for email you can also use jono@jonoking.com (cool huh?? :D)