Hey Helen

On Sunday, I did Round the Bays and guess who was there? OK, not really a big deal since she's always there, but I did get a photo of our almighty leader as I wandered past.


Also, just tonight I was walking back home after parking my car. I noticed a lot of activity on the side of the road - obviously some type of film set. So, I asked one of the wardens what was happening and it turns out they were filming an ad for my beloved Nintendo Wii!!! Oh how exciting!

Anyway, I got a photo...
If you've seen any of the ads you'll know there's a couple of Japanese dudes in black suits who pop around to random peoples' houses and say, "Wii would like to play!".
Well, that's them! Along with the cute Wii Nintendo car.


For reference purposes:

The Regatta (plus League)

On Saturday the Dragonboating season culminated with the St Patties day regatta down at the Viaduct.
This also doubled as our first full boat training! - What our team may have been lacking in commitment, speed and technique, we did make up for in steak and sausages on the BBQ :)

We had 5 races all up and qualified for the Novice "Bowl" final which was a pretty decent achievement actually (one up from the plain old standard Novice final) - because despite being a tad slower than the other crews, we did at least manage to always stay on course and not crash into other boats!

Unfortunately I don't have clearer photos, but that's me (3rd row from the front) sitting behind the blue bandanna...

And just after crossing the line...

After the last race I had to rapidly shoot off to get to our end of season touch team gathering. During the presentations, I won the "Up and Coming Player Award" - this consisted of a pair of lovely new 'L' plates - now proudly displayed on my car!

After the presentations, we headed off to catch the Warriors' first game of the season. And it was a great game - with the Warriors hopefully giving us a glimpse of what more is to come this season. The new fullback had a pearler.

Having now been to Blues' games and a Warriors game, I have come to the conclusion that the Warriors have more talent ;)

Home, sweet home

I was down in Christchurch over last weekend for work, but it doubled as a handy trip back home. Caught up with my folks and ate a souvlaki in town with my mate Mark. By the way, give me a yell if you know where to get a souvlaki in Auckland - I'd be grateful indeed!
And a souvlaki is not a kebab - a souvlaki has chunky meat & salad in a big, fat pita bread cone - yum!

I went to the Christchurch lantern festival with my folks (minus my sister) which was a good chance to see lanterns as well as bump into dozens of people I know!


Played midnight basketball with Tess on the driveway (like we always do) - can't remember who won.
And on Sunday all the family came round for Granddad's 79th birthday. He timed his birthday so well. It was great I could be there for it.

Now back in Auckland, I've also noticed the weather starting to take a bit of a turn recently. Ah well, crappy weather plus early darkness means I should have more time to get some other things done - I won't feel like I have to be outside doing stuff all the time :)

Also, we played our final touch game of the season last week - finished 3rd in the league. A great season all round and I've learnt a heap.

What I like about the Blues...

This was one of the few highlights from Friday's game - I managed to score a free ticket from some workmates so can't complain too much... it just felt like it was missing something though - Scott Hamilton, that's who! :)
Speaking of rugby, I did absolutely crap in my Virtual Rugby picks this week (and if any of you have signed up, my username is SuperJonBoy)

Last Thursday we had a big departmental team building day.
During the afternoon we got into groups, chucked on some sexy overalls and got the creative juices flowing (that's me on the right :)

And a few minutes later - *Ta daaaa* our masterpiece is complete!

My main contributions were painting most of the Earth's ocean plus the pretty tricolour rainbow.
The theme was "We build Telecom" and it just so happened I got to take home a crowbar, which was very cool. I got a few funny looks while walking home back up Queen Street, but it's not like anyone was gonna mess with me - well, more specifically, the crowbar ;)

I also played a game of golf last week with my ex-flatmate/ good buddy Nick. I played like dung in general but it was good fun and I slowly got better as the day wore on. You get more exercise (i.e. walk further) when you're crap anyway. Must be hard for Tiger Woods to stay in shape walking in such straight lines to the pin all the time.

I'm off to Christchurch from Friday till next Tuesday. It's for work but I will certainly use it as a chance to see all the whanau once more. Also turns out this Sunday is Grandad's 79th birthday - what timing!