Well.......

Guess I should have tried on my conference trousers before I left home......just going to have to suck it all in over the next few days! 

Last night was registration and drinkies at the Te Papa museum, which was fun, got to catch up with a few people, reminded myself that my ability to remember names is getting even worse, drunk more than a few glasses of wine (still feeling those this morning). Then went out to dinner with Mireille and a few others which was really fun. 

This morning it all starts, meeting up with a crowd to walk on over there, so hoping to grab a cup of tea on the way....they do nice tea here, and don't look at you like you're mad when you want milk in it......:0)

Arrived!

Finally arrived this morning after the 9.5hr flight to Auckland and then the short hop down to Wellington (1hr), got in around 10am. The hostel i'm staying at wasn't ready so we all went out for a short walk and some lunch before we could check in. Met up with two friends from Louisiana here for the meeting and a fun get together was had. 

We're about to head out to dinner too, I'm just about keeling over, so it'll be a short, quiet one.I knew if I didn't post now I would probably not manage it later. The hostel is nice, clean, friendly (the YHA Wellington City), I have a small private double room (shared bathroom) and the two students have a twin room downstairs. Been on the Skype with Stian already and plans are afoot for our New Zealand tour - woo hoo! 

The Te Papa museum - our reception tomorrow night is in there, so i'l try and go early and explore a little. Some fish and chips and a beer......mmmmmm.........good 'ole british food......:0)

And in keeping with British fish and chip tradition, a seagull waiting for leftovers......

I'm off.....

Heading out to Wellington, New Zealand this afternoon - wow that came up fast! Better get packing! 

Update

My check went in today, I have been paid; I opened a Hawaiian bank account, no I do not need another bank account, but now at least I have a landing pad before my pay goes out to my real bank account; I finished up my Antarctic physical paperwork, all sent away; I came out of the dentist and did not want to cry, this is a first in a few years; I finally got the Purchase Order through to buy a printer cartridge for my printer from the University store (this has been a week in coming, yet the bookstore is just there!); I had a haircut, pedicure and drinks and dinner with Jenny and Doug. 

In short, I had a MUCH better day. In fact I had a GREAT day....:0)

Oh....and Grant.....Doug tested out the nappies, they're man approved......

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! 

I'm being driven insane.....

And why is it the University only ever drives me insane when I'm about to go away, or there is a holiday looming (or in the case of now, both) and so need it to deal with things now?

My ever frustrating paycheck. The paycheck they can't possibly direct debit into my "world's largest bank" bank account, but no, they have to post my check to Chicago for someone to deposit it. Read the following with the knowledge that tomorrow is Thanksgiving (so everything is closed) and I leave for New Zealand on friday. 

I was supposed to have been paid on the 15th. I have still not been paid. I asked yesterday (after the 7 day waiting period) if my check had indeed been posted on the 14th (as the 15th was a Sat) as it was supposed to have been. I was told today (such is their willingness to look at this things urgently) after being passed to three different people - yes, I was then asked if I wanted to cancel my check. (purple is me)

"So how long would it take to get a new check if I cancelled it - can I be hand given a check by friday?" 

"I don't know" 

"Who could I ask who would know"

"I don't know" 

"Is there anyway to find out? I would really like a new check by friday, and if it means I have to cancel my check today then I need to act on that and get it done" 

"I could call someone down in the office that deals with checks" 

"Yes please" 

"Okay, so i'm going to call someone and cancel your check and see when they can get you a new check."

"No, please do not cancel my check - please find out if you can get me a new check by friday. If you can then I do want that check cancelled, otherwise I might as well wait and see if it turns up in my bank, as I won't be able to deposit it until I got back from New Zealand anyway" 

"okay"

ten minutes later.......

"So I asked about canceling your check and they said you cannot cancel the check, your bank has to call them to cancel the check"

"My bank has to cancel a check it doesn't know it was receiving? A check that was addressed to me?"

"yes, it seems like it would be normal for you to cancel your check, but they said your bank has to do it?"

"are you sure?"

"no"

"Okay. How long would it take for me to get a new check, if my bank were to call and cancel it"

"They can't tell you, it would depend on how long it would take your bank to call and cancel the check"

"From the time the University was called up and cancelled how long would it take?"

"I don't know"

"I really need to know this, I need to get paid before I go to New Zealand on friday"

"I know, I just don't really understand this stuff"

THIS IS FROM MY PAYROLL OFFICER!!!!!!!!!!!

......this has been my week so far (this is just an example of a whole handful of frustrations with UH over the last two days)...........NEA, that chocolate has really come in handy......

Positively spacious!

Welcome to Grodnick! I finally measured my tiny house the other day, and it comes to a positively spacious 323 sq ft! Actually much larger than I had thought, having the separate kitchen is a definite bonus here and a decent size (not to mention new!) bathroom. Remembering that I moved here from a 2 bedroom house with garden (and from that an even larger 2 bedroom apartment!) it is still a small space for me, but one I am really loving. Yes I would like a separate bedroom, yes I would like a spare bedroom, i'd even love a kitchen I could actually turn a circle in, but I am really enjoying finding ways to make this small space work for me, not to mention the $$'s i'm saving over most places here (though remembering i'm paying almost what I paid for the 2 bedroom house on the cape!).

So I thought i'd take you on a tour, now that i've actually been here for a long stint and have things pretty well set up.

So - the view from my front door (by the futon) -

My desk/TV area. Computer, printer and the TV which is actually a monitor, so doubles up when I need extra desktop space. I recently bought a bracket to hang my TV/monitor on the wall, which has cleared up a bunch of space, and it tilts, so it doesn't matter that it's high, I can still see the screen.
The view from my backdoor (by the bed) -

The bathroom (I can't squeeze in there enough to take a good photo of the shower unfortunately). So this recently got redone, and although it is super nice, I actually lost a lot of storage space when they redid it, so i'm hoping to find some suitable shelves for the wall. I used to keep all my bedlinen in here as well as all my towels and laundry soap and the usual toilet items. Now there is no room for the towels (if only they had made the drawers deeper!) or my linens, so they have moved to my closet.
View into my kitchen, so nice for a studio to have a separate kitchen!

View the other direction. Counter space is so small that I often use the cooker top as an extra surface, which is nice that it's a ceramic top! The cooker is slim so I still get the cupboards and things on the ceiling and wall.

The wall opposite in the kitchen - my "pantry" well organised and in canisters (left over from the cape where mice were an issue, and now good for ants and cockroaches!), the black bins are my recycling, all my gardening things are in here too on the floor tucked in the corner.

The best thing for a small kitchen - get things up on the wall!

My princess bed.....:0) Yes, the mosquitos are still biting......The bed is unfortunately on a box spring, so doesn't have much "under" room, but I do have two underbed boxes which have "present" supplies in and some pictures that won't fit on the walls here.

My large closet. This houses basically everything except my larger luggage which I have in plastic boxes under the house. So all my camping gear is in there, all my cruise gear, my clothes, my crafting supplies, my laundry and probably a few other things. It needs some major reorganization otherwise I would have taken a photo inside. I love this closet, and am so lucky to have such a large one in such a small space, otherwise I would be pretty sunk for storage...

And my way of disguising my clutter.....put it behind the chair....:0) This is part of my yarn stash, just the stuff I am using now for my many crochet projects.....

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Penny pinching....

Today I took all my loose coins (in my piggy bank, from my desk at work and out of the car) down to the Coinstar machine (I don't have a bank account on the island, so couldn't change them in a bank) and made two big scores. 

First I had way more than I thought - having done some internet research I discovered that you can use Coinstar machines and get vouchers for things like Amazon and iTunes and not get charged for it counting your pennies. So i'd decided I would come away with probably a $20 amazon voucher, threw my money in there. I had $88 worth of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters - woo hoo! So I paid the fee and ended up with $81 in cash - not the way I was going to go, but at this point $81 cash was more appealing than $88 on Amazon. Way to go desk drawer.

The second big discovery was Star Market - my god, how had I not walked in one before. It's a supermarket, but had way more choice than the local Safeway. They actually had a British section. I loved it, didn't buy much as I go away next friday, but enjoyed wandering - a good selection of organic foods too, average prices for Hawaii, but just having the choice is good. 

So I bought myself a few goodies (tofu, curry sauce, chocolate....the basics) and headed for a drive through the wet weather. Even down on Waikiki was wet, plenty of tourists wandering around in $1 clear plastic ponchos. It stopped raining about an hour ago, not sure if it's a lull or that was that. 

A wet Waikiki...

Sandbagging the university, which does lie on a low spot....

Flood Warning...

I find it pretty amazing that the one time it's not raining we're put on Flood Alert......:0)

On a more serious note, the rains are coming, some big storms set for tonight and tomorrow, they're thinking as large as the major floods of 2006. I haven't experienced it yet, but have been told it's not unusual for Manoa valley to loose power during such storms (we're up high enough flooding is not an issue for our house), so i'm pulling out the camping stove when I get home tonight! 

Happy Weekend everyone! 

Gimme 5

Just came across an interesting article about recycling Brita water filters and that led me through to the Gimme 5 program. Many food packages are made out of #5 plastic that is not recycled in most states - here in Hawaii we only recycle #1 and #2, and depressingly little else......though at least curbside is coming soon! Common $5's include yoghurt and humus tubs and medicine bottles. 

The Gimme 5 program is putting recycle bins in Whole Foods and also has a mail in program for #5 plastics to send them off to be recycled. Apparently they've done the numbers, and even with people sending things in it's still better than #5 going in the ground. 

So check them out and see if a bin appears in your neighborhood! 

Congrats!

Congratulations to Jenny and Doug who have made it to mid-way pregnancy, and just found out they're having a girl! All we need is for cousin Elen to have a girl too and it'll be three for three! 

Parcels

One thing I enjoy as much as receiving parcels is wrapping up parcels! And it is that time of year! Here is a pile waiting for just a few more additions before I take them down to the post office. The post office has such annoying hours here it's worth waiting and taking them all in one! 

And, i'm finally feeling better! Though maybe my cold travelled through the ether to NEA and family - get well soon guys! 

Cold-Ease......

Shower Soothers - yes they're a gimmick, but the couple of hours of uncongested-ness they give me in the morning are worth it

Emergen-C and Gatorade (powder) make great popsicles for rehydration and nutrients when it's hot

TigerBalm - Not just for sore muscles, a little on the back of the neck works great at clearing the head, and an all natural alternative

I'm sure i'll think of more.........

Tuna Casserole

An "at home day" today, i'm feeling less congested, but decided not to go on the hike. I got into cleaning up the house and didn't want to stop. I did lots of useful house things, so that was definitely good, and my house is now way more organised than it's been in weeks. I cleared out clutter, took the recycling to the recycle center, finished up a few more christmas craft projects, started to repair the swingseat, packaged up a ton of things i've been meaning to send to people, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the bathroom, sorted my quarter collections, made my 3rd attempt at lye soap, made bread and made tuna casserole (I can hear Stian going 'yuck' all the way from Antarctica....:0).

Tuna casserole is one of my favorite low cost, low prep, good nutrient meals that I love when i'm feeling coldy or if it's cold outside. I've been eating this version of it that works out to be less than $5 (would be less in any other state!) and lasts for 4 or 5 meals -

2 cups of whole wheat pasta

1 can of cream of celery soup

1 can of corn

2 cans of tuna

1/2 cup of frozen peas, broccoli or other vegetables (frozen or fresh)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

tsp butter

Boil up pasta, put tuna, corn and vegetables in casserole dish, preheat oven to 450F, mix in hot pasta, mix in can of celery soup, fill soup can with water and add that in. Mix together well and put in oven for 15 minutes. Mix melted butter into breadcrumbs, sprinkle on top of casserole and put in oven for a further 15 minutes. Take out and serve.

Call for Quarters....

Since I moved over the Atlantic 5 years ago (5 years.....wow, time flies!) I've been collecting the state quarters for a few people and pulled them out today to add in my latest finds. I realised that i'm missing some of the earlier quarters, so I am posting to see if anyone out there has any of the older ones lying around in jars, piggy banks or jeans pockets that they'd be willing to part with.

Does anyone out there have -

Tennessee
Ohio
Louisiana
Maine
Utah

I'm also missing some of the ones from this year, but figure they will turn up in the next few months - Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska.

Thanks for checking those nooks and crannies!

Well......

Yup, I have a cold. Alison upstairs has one too, she looks way worse, so i'm dreading it getting like that. At least today has been mellow, did pull myself out of bed and go to pottery this morning, that was really nice, then a trip to Whole Foods to get some comfort food on the way home. 

Tomorrow I want to go hiking with Jenny and the Geology Club (yes I know i'm not a geologist), so i'm hoping it keeps moving over. Not feeling too bad, just tired and stuffed up. 

When you live in temps of over 75F for most of the year, shouldn't it be called a "hot"?

Happy Weekend!

I finished up teaching! Woo hoo! So glad about it, feeling more up today, though my house is in total disarray, so think I know what i need to do this weekend. This space is too small to clutter!

So here is the reason I didn't walk in this morning! And no, it's not unusual!

Happy Weekend!

Running low.....

Starting to feel run down today. there's a cold going around and to be honest i'm just totally overwhelmed with stuff this week. Teaching has been fun, but I can't wait until tomorrow is done and i'm off the hook for anymore. It's just taking up so much of my time not only getting the lectures ready, but also thinking about getting them ready. I'm also trying to do too many things at work as usual, trying to get a bunch of TEM work done both for a publication and also to talk about in New Zealand. I also have some student training to do next week and I really need to get cracking at a proposal soon too, starting to worry me i'm going to run out of time. I think i've also been drinking too much coffee this week, which although gets me going in the moment, makes me feel like crap after a while. 

I'm starting to feel job stressed again too, I have just 14 months of funding left, which means either - 

a) I need to write a bunch of proposals and soon, and (much harder) I need to get them funded

b) I need to find another job, which means I have to start applying for jobs again

Sucks, feel like i'm just getting settled and already I have to think about moving on. 

On the good side, I'm really enjoying pottery, it's proving to be a real stress reliever. Here are some of my creations drying. 

The elephant in the room.....

I set my graduate students a reading assignment for monday, we then spent 2 hrs talking over the 3 papers I had set. All were about corals declining - one was on deep water corals and the effects of ocean acidification, one was on shallow water corals and how fisheries were causing the major decline in reefs and the other was a policy paper that suggested tackling all the problems at once and stop messing around with the small stuff. None of these papers really tackled the big issue, all skirted around the root and only talked about the damage that root was doing. But my students totally got it (which I was impressed by!) and we had a long and exhaustive conversation that several after told me they really enjoyed. And it's relevant to not just coral reefs either, it's relevant to everything around us. 

The main threat to humanity is humanity itself - Population

Yet no-one wants to talk about population control, except China that is. And I applaud their efforts, only they forgot to deal with a very large cultural problem first - inequality of the sexes - that is now coming back to bite them. No country wants to tell people how many children they should have, but it's a fact we have to deal with if we want our children to continue to live on this planet in the future. Increasing population is the root of overfishing, is the root of ocean acidification and is the root of impending energy crisis - it is something we need to deal with now.

I personally don't think anyone has a right to tell anyone how many children they should or shouldn't have, but I think governments globally need to do more about helping our population make informed choices. Is having "17 kids and Counting" really good for our future on this planet? Is having another child because you like children or because you want both sexes in your family going to cut it in the world to come?

Quoting Barak Obama "The truth is we can't solve climate change because I changed light bulbs in my house. It's going to be because of something collective". 

I wonder if he is going to address that elephant by name or keep hiding it in the corner......

The blue explained......

Having come home today with yet another streak of blue on my face, I had to do some investigating into this mystery. It appears it's blue histology dye that is getting on my fingers as i'm washing slides. At somepoint i'm smearing it across my forehead, and then with repeated washing of my hands, eliminating all culprits. Interesting. 

"Why did the bacteria cross to the other side of the microscope?"

"To get to the other slide!"

...well, it made me laugh......:0)

Goals - week 8

Well, it's hard to think i've actually been here long enough to say "week 8" to anything, that has to be a record (with of course a week out in the 'Hole in there). And another 2.5 weeks to go to before I head to NZ (gulp, 2.5wks!). 

So I think this is the point where I stop blogging on my goals, except for the odd rant and rave here and there I'm sure. I think I've proved to myself that I can indeed eat better, relax more doing social things and most of all, exercise more. Though i've never met all of my goals at once, i've done enough of a smattering of all of them, that I'm happy where I'm at. I still need to keep on doing all these things, but I think they've now become habit enough that i'm happy they'll continue without too much effort. Especially the taking lunch into work the majority of the time, I can't tell you how much happier I am doing that, both in health and wealth. 

I do feel much fitter than when I started this, nowhere near where I want to be, but i'm on the right track, it's now become habit walking into work a few times a week, going swimming on a weekend, going for a run occasionally and taking a class, which is what I wanted out of setting myself these goals. If I fall off the wagon badly, i'll be up blogging about it again to get myself back on track.....

Packed Lunches - 4

Walk to work - 1

Swimming - 1

Exercise - Aerobics class, and 2 mile run

Social - Pottery - and loving it! 

Soda - a few......need to find a new iced tea jar....I broke mine!