It only gets worse doesn't it?

When I thought things couldn't be worse, I got a call from Midas today telling me that it wasn't just the wheel bearing that was shagged but it had stuffed the hub as well, so there goes another $125 to add to the bill! wow a stunning $540 to repair a stupid noise that I thought may have been a stone in the brakes. Oh well shit happens, life goes on!. Other than that today went alright, got to do a job that I had quoted (valve vent a hot water cylinder) which I completed in less time that quoted for which is amazing, usually something goes wrong and we loose money. The rest of the day was spent working with Dave trying to solve a problem at Dress Mart Hornby and then off to La Porchetta to find a mysterious leak which just got more and more mysterious as I looked (lets leave that one for Sherlock to work out, or Dave whoever comes along first). Well enough of my ramblings I am going to have some mango chicken curry and relax for a while. Ohh and as a final note my booties and new jacket have been shipped from the USA today so hopefully see it sometime soon, see below for pics (mmmn toasty!!!!)

One of those days

Today started off well, good intentions of getting lots of work done. Well in saying that I did get lots done (quoting wise anyway), however it just all seemed worthless and pointless when one of the clients I quoted for rang up and said 'is there any reason your quote is twice the price as a competitor?' Turns out I was pricing against a housing company who screw the price down so much its not even worth trying to compete. So after that I pretty much felt like giving up! and to add the that I had taken my car in to get looked at because it was making a funny noise, turns out that it needs a new front wheel bearing and tie rod (whatever a tie rod is) so there goes another $415 HOLY SHIT!!! I guess the rest of the night was better. we watched the final of Lost season 3 which left us on the edge of the seat begging for more, but no...there is now a 6 month wait until the next season BASTARDS!!!

Ryde Falls

Last night we decided to have a go at a short day trip close to Christchurch, and managed to find one that looked good just out of Oxford. So today I went and visited Bivouac Outdoor and bought a new Macpac Amp Light 20L day pack (which I have to say is brilliant for a little over $140), packed some lunch and waited for Emma to get back from What Now. We set off a little later than I really wanted to but still made it to View Hill carpark (at the start or end of the Wharfdale track) just after 2pm, we had a bite to eat and got walking. Saw a few trampers coming out and also some XC bikers. The track was pretty easy going and meandered through native beach forest to Ryde Falls. The fall were pretty nice, not huge but very picturesque as they were three tiered levels with large pools at the base of each and it was sooo cold. We took some pics and turned around making pretty good time (they recommended 30mins for the first section which we happily did in about 8 mins). We got back to the car about 4:30 and headed to Daves house to look at his lake in progress, have some dinner and then head home to relax. Its now 10:30pm, I was sitting here listening to Emma snore when I saw Narla (our cat) go mental and start chasing something, which turned out to be a massive mouse! after about 15min of chasing it around the room we finally got it and put it in the bush on the roadside. Anyway after that little bit of excitement I am off to bed.

Radio Ha Ha

Another boring day in the office, however this was outweighed by the fantastic show we say last night at the court theater (Christchurch Art Centre). The show was well done, an improvised show done in 1930 radio show style with themes that the audience picks for them. And I think that tomorrow is the last night so you have probably missed out unless you have tickets. Oh well off to bed as its rather late now!

Pet Hate

Now although I find the below clip rather funny I still hate the apple crapintosh! Although they claim that its so user friendly it is really not that helpful, and actually rather annoying...sure it looks all flash with its magnification bar thing at the bottom (but its not hard to get something like 'objectdock' if you want that look on pc and it works better than the mac one!) anyway this is basically just a little bitch cause mac think they are so fucking special! but really they are inferior, how the hell do you upgrade the bloody things? PC is easy, take the cover off and throw a few extra drives in, maybe a tv tuner card, or something...I guess you can with a mac but you are going to have external drives hanging all over the show which is a bloody annoying especially if space is short, anyway Enjoy!!!

Sleep in

Today I think I must have been enjoying my dream or something as I managed to sleep through 2 alarms and finally wake up an hour after I was supposed to (about the time I usually leave), so after managing to get ready including making lunch in just 12mins I headed to work. Today was pretty good, a couple of hours in the office quoting, then off to replace the hot water cylinder I diagnosed as critically fucked on Sunday, then run around town for Dave picking up plans and parts then back to the workshop to do more quoting. Picked up my photos today as well, had to get the Black Birch Stream tramp ones redone as the last were crappy res pics and came out looking like complete shit. Tonight was pretty boring, shopping night at push-and-shove, stopped in at McD's on the way home for some stale and cold chips accompanied with melted strawberry thickshake, so poached eggs on toast was pretty good actually in comparison. And to finish off here is a joke I heard on the radio today (The Rock). "What did sushi A say to sushi B?" "Wasa-B", haha, pretty lame but also clever and funny at the same time. Well night everyone of you sad people reading this...

DVD Sickness

As the title suggests I think its time Emma and I have to admit we have a problem when it comes to DVD's. We have traced the problem back to Australia at the beginning of the year when we found the bargain bins at places like Virgin Music Store, I say this as tonight we took a trip to the Warehouse and came home with 7 DVDs and a box set. We pretty much just filled the second DVD tower (a total of 140) which is pretty sick, and that isn't including our 100's of DivX movies. Anyway that all I really have to say tonight....so until next time go buy some movies and come join out therapy group :o)

Highly Recommended

I have to say today was the best sleep in I have had in a long time, it was about 10:45 before I finally got up. Today was just another boring day spent at home waiting for the phone to ring, so I just did more cleaning, washing (finally washed the van after a few months - we are supposed to wash it every week). Got one callout for the whole week which was a leaking hot water cylinder, the ass was about to fall out of the thing so the poor bastard is in for a new cylinder. Other than that my day was uneventful, except for tea (hence the highly recommended title) which is pictured below, mainly for others to have a go as it was sooo tasty! Basically fettuccine, chicken pieces, fresh spinach, a pesto of your choice, pine nuts finally topped with Parmesan. If you have a go, enjoy!

House bitch

Today was one of those days you just dont want to get out of bed. I knew I had to go to a call out for Robbies Belfast, so after about 4 alarms this morning I got up (and soon after they called to say the cleaners had fixed the problem) which was a good thing to hear, and up until now '9pm' the phone has only rung twice, one who just wanted work done in the week and another guy who nearly had a coronary when I told him the call out fee. Other than that all I have done is sit on the computer and try to get dads house plans done and cleaning the house which was a bloody sty (mainly cause one 'person' has no concept of cleaning, so much in fact he still gets his mother to iron his clothes!). Tonight was like most others when we couldn't be bothered cooking so it was souvlaki, and while waiting 50min to get it made we went to the video shop and ended up buying 5 DVD's between us (Austin Powers, Bridget Jones Diary, Casino Royale, Fire Down Below and The Negotiator). Now i'm bored so guess I will keep writing on here while Emma and Lou watch dancing with the stars repeat. Got a great email from mum, here is one of my fav pics from it since I am training to be a plumber. Oh and have a look at this, it looks CGI. Its really amazing!! definitely something we want to try ourselves.

T.G.I.F

Well another week over and today was nothing special really, work began with a trip to the local scout den to fix some plumbing (only to have it canceled when I arrived), so off to a rest home to shut some poor old ducky's hot water off as she is notorious for leaving the hot tap on and draining the hot water cylinder! Then just the typical blocked kitchen sink because some silly tart tried to feed an entire green grocers store down the waste disposer, quotes and other small jobs here and there. After work it was Indian for tea at the mall and off the The Warehouse for some DVD shopping (got Johnny English, Flight of the Navigator - CLASSIC MOVIE!!!, and some doco about climbing Mt Everest that looked quite good). Then off home, drew some house plans for the old man so he can get consent to put in a new shitter and off to bed. Boring ay? But thats what you get when you are on call for work, it blows!

Not quite what I thought...

Well today is pretty shit, got sent to some job where their pump isnt working, and to cut a long story short I got covered in STINKING water from the pipework...mmmn yummy! so I came home for a shower at lunch and jumped on here. Opened up Winamp and started listening, some random song came on "Twee Vaders" so I thought I would YouTube it and see what came up, and of course there was a video. However its a kid singing about how he has 'two fathers' obviusly two gay men adopted him as a baby...RANDOM! but still quite funky song. So here you go, have a look!

The Path Less Travelled

Well I have just completed my first ever tramp with the Christchurch Tramping Club, and what a fantastic weekend it was! we began by meeting up at 7am on Saturday, pile the packs in the car and off to Mesopotamia Station it was, we arrived quite late (around the 11am mark), geared up and began walking. Within the first few minutes of walking we had we boots and freezing feet. The tramp was up Black Birch Stream and only took about 3-4 hours before we reached a large clearing and put up tents for the night. Since it was only just past 3pm a few of us decided to climb to the top of a mountain just behind the campsite (only a 700m vertical climb) but with an awesome shingle scree to run on the way down (which was a first, but honestly sooooo much fun!!!). I spent the night in my bivvy bag instead of one of the tents which was fine, except for the fact I punctured my sleeping mat and froze...there was ice on the outside of my sleeping bag! Anyway the next day started with frozen boots, porridge and a lot up jumping up and down to keep warm, but once under way we warmed up quick with a climb to nearly 1800 meters where we stopped and enjoyed the views, we continued on to Black Peak at over 2000 meters above sea level with plenty of snow to plow through. The day finished up back at the cars at just before 5pm (I think it was about 7hrs of incredibly hard slog with a laden pack). However this had to be one of the best weekends away in a long time, and a big thanks to Jim for allowing me on the trip, and also a big thanks to all the people from the CTC for being so inviting and friendly! Cheers guys!

Happy 60th Dave

Thursday (yesterday) and Friday were pretty good, the boss shouted our company and partners to Kaikoura for Thursday and Friday night to celebrate his 60th...Friday was interesting trying to find things to entertain ourselves with, there isn't really much to do in Kaikoura unless you want to pay a lot for tourist attractions like whale watching. So we just looked around the shops, seal colony, South Bay etc. Dinner was fantastic, and everyone got pretty merry except for me as I had to drive back to Christchurch for a tramp early Saturday morning. So finally left the now "piss up" at about 10pm finally arriving back in Christchurch just after midnight. Packed my gear for the tramp and hauled myself into bed at a stunning 1:30am.

Typical day at the office

Today was one of those uneventful days, started off with a trip to town to look at someone elses F#%K up, fix some leaking pipe in a roof and head back to the office to stare endlessly into a set of plans wondering how to get the pipe from A to B. So as soon as 5pm came it was good buy! I hate being stuck in the office now, except from when I'm sent to try and fix some dickheads watermain cause he shoved the garden spade through it while trying to bury his ex-wife or unblocking a toilet because people cant understand that an entire roll of toilet paper will not flush!

Anyway, enough with my work, congratulations to Emma (my better half) for getting a full time job working in a TV Production Company. So I made sure she bought me dinner to celebrate lol, which was only souvlaki from Costas but damn they are good...highly recommended as they put lots and lots of meat in, and some tasty sauce. Other than that nothing else to bore people with. Until tomorrow...

Relax time

Well since I was supposed to be returning from Cedar Flat today (however ending up coming home yesterday), I still had the day off so what a good chance to relax, do some washing, give those aching shoulders some time to return to normal and play Xbox with Emma! Far better than working if I do say so. So nothing really to report today, other than I have spent way too much time on this thing instead of doing assignments that REALLY need doing...oh well tomorrow is always another day.

First tramp done!

Just completed our first tramp ever, it was to Cedar Flat just out of Hokitika, New Zealand. Although it was raining quite a bit on Saturday we continued on with the tramp, and after leaving later than we should of found that the rivers were higher than normal, forcing us to use the flood route which entailed a high climb and very steep slippery descents into smaller rivers which we bolder hopped to get across (where possible, otherwise it was wet feet). Due to having to do the flood route we found it got dark before even making it to the hut so were forced to camp on the side of the track. The next day (Sunday) was a brilliant day without any rain, so we decided to head home, however getting to take the normal route across the river bed today as the rives had gone down overnight. So it was brilliant views all around the valley, one tramp we are looking forward to doing again (and this time hopefully going to make it to the hut, and natural hot pools).