Auckland Pics

Auckland

Well, I touched down in Auckland yesterday morning.  Predictably, I'm sick.  Five flights in a week will do that to you.  So, I'm trying to hunker down and nurse this cold but I also have some errands to run before I can get out of here.  And I want to get out of here.  I'm anxious to hurl myself out of the city and into the countryside.  To that end, I put a down payment on a little camper van yesterday.  I should have it in my hands shortly.  Then I'll stock it up with a little gear, buy a road map and go!

Some ideas about where to go and what to do are starting to congeal.  North Island first, then South Island.  Surf as much as possible.  Go hiking, plan some backpack trips.  Fish.

As surfing goes, I'll be in Piha in a couple days, the closest surf spot to Auckland.  When I get there, I should be able to find a shop where I can buy a board and figure out where else to surf after that.  Interestingly enough, right down on the main drag here in Auckland, there is a Billabong shop, a Quicksilver store, and a Rip Curl store.  These are the biggest surf companies in the world, and yet not one of them is selling even a single surfboard in one of those shops.  They are basically high-end clothing stores.

And for backpacking & hiking (or "tramping" as they call it here in NZ), I'm starting to figure out where the trails (or "tracks") are.  Found a pretty good outdoor shop in Auckland today, so I'll pick up a few needed items tomorrow, including a trail guide.

Sorry about the dry report.  This cold has got me down.  Stay posted...

Ireland, Oliver

Finally made it to Ireland to see Oliver.  We hung out in Malahide mostly - he showed me all his favorite playgrounds and where to get the best pepperoni pizza, which is his favorite.  The kid can put down 4 or 5 decently-sized slices - it's pretty impressive.  We had movie night every night.  I also got to meet his teacher and see his classroom (which was incredibly nice since the kids were actually on break this week and the teacher came in on her day off).  Oliver seems to be finding a groove at school and his teacher seems to understand and have a good way of dealing with his energy.

Oliver and I took the train into Dublin a few times (about a 30 minute ride) and painted the town red - had lunch and dropped in on a few museums and parks.  Highlight was the Natural History Museum (also known to the locals as the "Dead Animal Museum" because - you guessed it, it's full of dead animals).  Good place for kids and, despite the lack of upkeep on some of the taxonomy, it's actually a pretty impressive collection of dead animals from all over the world.

Oh, got to spend about half a day in the US Embassy waiting to not have Oliver's passport renewed - that was pretty cool.  Oliver really enjoyed the white linoleum floors, the buzz of the fluorescent lighting and the "please be quiet" library atmosphere.  It was a lesson for him in the elegance and efficiency of federal bureaucracy.  Anyway, aside from that, the trip was a joy.

Bottom line is that Oliver and I were both really happy to see each other and spend some time together, even if it was brief.  All told, I spent 2.5 days traveling and 3.5 days on the ground with Oliver, but it was definitely worth it.  Tomorrow night, I'll be headed to the opposite corner of the globe, so I'm glad I made this trip first.

Accidentally in Chicago for a day

Not accidentally like my friend Amirali, who was too drunk to get on the right plane (flew from SanFran to Denver instead of LAX...woops - although you can't fault him as much as the airline crew that let him on the wrong plane without a boarding pass - especially since he looks like a terrorist).

No, my plane out of LAX was late because the autopilot wasn't working (lazy pilots - I drive my car without cruise control all the time) so I missed my connection to Dublin.  Ended up in Chicago for a night and a day.  Bummed about losing time with Oliver and missing trick-or-treating, but made the most of it.  Airline put me in a decent hotel and picked up my meals, but I have no baggage (hopefully it turns up in Dublin when I do).  Took a train into downtown, checked out Millennium Park.  Definitely a beautiful city - good mix of old and new architecture, and clean.  And lots of hot girls!  Go Chicago!  Also, not sure if this is common, but saw 3 different people from my train hours later while I was wandering around the city.  Could this place be that small??

Life in a Box

Packed up everything I own over the weekend and stuffed it into a 10x10 storage unit on Sepulveda.  Strange sight, seeing all your stuff crammed into a little dark room.  There it is - just waiting for you to come back.  Go have fun, I'll be here waiting.  Don't forget to pay the bill so they don't auction me off on bad cable TV...  And there's your life, in a box.  Well, in a lot of little boxes piled up inside a big box, which is really just a couple of flimsy walls separating your stuff from somebody else's.

Ahh, but you can see through this.  That's not your life, Eric.  It's just your stuff.  Life is so much MORE than that.   Well, yeah, kinda...  How's the saying go?  "The things you own..."

OK, set this up

We'll see if I use it.