Porter Adventures

New Diggs

2010-05-31T01:45:00.000-07:00

We have moved...please visit us at the new Porter Adventures site.

Whangaparaoa (pronounced Fongaporowa)

2010-05-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

This is the area we will be moving to shortly. We have a move date of the 22nd of May and are excited to get there. We will let you know more details as we get them. The actual town we will be in is called Tindalls Bay, but it's on the Whangaparaoa peninsula. About 30 minutes NE of Auckland. Pictures of the house when we get there are coming. Look forward to that post!

Is this English?

2010-04-22T13:17:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it just cracks me up. Mike and I have been trying really really hard to fit in (wink), but we just can't get our heads wrapped around a few words. I think I have already told you about how it is common for words to be shortened here.

Cell Phone= Celly
Puzzles=Puzzies
Breakfast= Breaky (I have always wanted to use this in my DD site, but I can't get over if I am spelling it correctly. Is it Breaky? Or brekky, breki...I don't know, but when I get it figured out I am sure I will work it into a post sometime.)

Then there are terms like dub dub dub. That's for spelling out a website. http://www.picklejuice.com/ would be dub dub dub picklejuice. Or how about "hard stop". I first heard this at work when I was taking someone's email address. renata@medaware (hard stop) com. It seems that a hard stop is the word for "dot".

Or how about words that end in "wn" like known or grown. The correct way to pronounce that would be to make it end with the "when" sound. So it would be growhen or knowhen. "If I had knowhen you were coming, I would have made tea."

And then two words that just make me flat out giggle inappropriately. (usually because one is used in an interview) Invision is not a word here. It's invisage. "How did you invisage your role with us?" And then Mike gave me this one. "Have a squiz over this and get back to me." Ok, so...seriously...I don't want nothin to do with someone elses "squiz" at work. A "squiz" is a quick look. Uh huh, sure it is....

The words Mike and I are struggling with (you notice I said Mike and I, the kids have picked it right up) are Yes and No. We unfortunately are dead give away Americans with these two words. Let me see if I can't break this down for you.

Yes: It's more of a Yeeez, like an American YEEEE HAW minus the HAW and a Z(zed) at the end. And then there are the different ways to use the word Yeez (yes). If you are in a convo and agreeing, the word would have hard stop (not to be confused with a dot) but still with a z. However, if they are skeptical of what you are saying they will drag it out...yeeeeeeeeezzz and the zzzz's kind of trail off.

No: I have never in my life heard of a two letter word that has as many syllables as the word No in the Kiwi language. Now I will say they do have the short "naw" (no) for casual convo. For example, "Did you catch the game last night, bro?" "Naw (no) mate, had to meet the missus." Which that's probably a bad example because I don't think the Kiwi ever miss a game.

The "no" that I am more speaking about is one that sounds like they mashed No and Ew (like ew gross) together...for a kind of Noeeww. Now what makes the word more interesting is the octives go up and down throughout the word. So it's more like NoOoOoOeeeewwww. (Seriously, stay with me.) And depending on how emphatic you are in your use of the word "no" depends on how many up and down octives you hit and how long the word it drawn out.

"Did you see what Mary had on yesterday?" "OH, I KnoOoOoOoOeeeww" (know)

Now this does seem to carry over into any other word with an "O" sound where you can show how emphatic you are. Like HelloOoOoeewwww (Hello). So, if I were to correctly say my sentence above it would be..

"OoOheeww, I KnoOoOoOoOeeeww" (Oh, I know)

I don't know (KnoOew) if you get the full gist of this since you are reading it. Maybe I should have inserted a vlog post, that would have been easier. I would have had to have had (say that 4 times) my friend Heather do it for me because I would have failed miserably. But we are learning and trying. I don't think I will ever use the word invisage or squiz or learnt or spelt...but I am trying on the Yes and No really hard.

Trying to Move....

2010-04-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hello All....The Porter's are looking to move. Our owners are letting us out of our lease early in order to find a place that is more affordable. As you know money has been tight and we have things we would love to get done this year. The first being getting our residency here in NZ. That will open doors for both Mike and I and also for the kids. Namely, Kelsey will be able to get a school loan here and we won't have to pay the out of country fees for schooling. Then you know...I would like the niceties of life like a dryer and a microwave. I don't think that is asking for much.

Finding a new home has been just horrible. We have tried to stay near Auckland but any place that we would even think of moving into really isn't going to save us money. So, I we have put in an application for a home farther north. Even with the extra public transportation fares we will be saving almost $1K a month. You can't argue with that. Here is the link to the area we wish to move to. It's beautiful, still on beaches and really has much more of a beach town feel than St. Heliers. Reminds me a lot of where I grew up. A lot. On top of the pricing issues the agents here don't make it easy on you to find a home. Most of them don't return phone calls, if they do they want you to drive by the house first (like I have time to go out to a place not once, but twice and like I am likely to make a decision based on the outside...PUlease), then if you do drive by you can't get them back on the phone to make an appointment to go IN the house. Then if you are one of the lucky ones to actually get an appointment...they are either always late or don't show up at all. It's mind boggling and very frustrating. I realise that there isn't much money to be made in the rental business...but then....get out of it if you don't want to offer proper customer service. Eh...just my point of view. I will let you all know if our application is approved or if we have to start the rat race all over again. (Lord help me)

MedAware is starting off pretty good. We have had a few orders with very little...and I mean very little....marketing. Mike is almost finished with my flyers and we will get those printed. My goal is when we do move that I am going to start hitting the doctors offices to put these out and then possibly start using Facebook as my other marketing tool. I am both nervous and excited. I know this is going to do very well here. We are getting ready to add some running/biking vests and I am working on some additional rubber bracelets. I am also in talks to have someone make pump gear for me as well.

Mike has been coming up with some cool shirts for his Cryptolicous site. He has already made some sales and is excited to be creating images on his fascination with Big Foot, the Moth Man and any of that other stuff.

And just in case you thought I was reigning in the crazy....I will offer you some info on something new I have been doing. (don't worry...I am still out there) I was chatting with a cousin of mine a few weeks back about how we are working to save money. Like baking our own bread...and I was telling her that the biggest portion of my grocery budget still goes to laundry and soaps. We all have skin issues so I have to buy the non-perfume dye free stuff. Well, just like in the US you have to pay more to have less ingredients. She told me about how she had made her own laundry detergent and starting to use vinegar for softener. Ok...stay with me here....so I haven't been able to do the laundry detergent yet because I need to buy in bulk since the ingredients are not readily available here in NZ. BUT I have been using white vinegar for over a month now. I am amazed. Simply amazed at how well it works. Let me answer two questions that I know popped right into your head. One, YES IT WORKS...AND HOW. Two, no your clothes do not smell like vinegar. There is no smell at all, just nice and clean. I was also surprised to realize two other things by switching to vinegar. I have less lint on my clothes and it lifts stains. Ever since I figured out that it lifts stains, when I do Marty's clothes I add a little extra in the washing cycle and it works miracles. I was paying upwads of $8 for a 1litre bottle of Huggy sensitive softener. I would use about a bottle and half each week. I bought a 5 litre bottle of white vinegar for $12. So, I am saving about $5.80/litre. About $20 per month. Not a lot...but it does ad up. And now I don't have to buy stain remover either. You can find the recipes for liquid and dry detergent and a couple of laundry softeners here. The recipes come from the Duggar Family who have a show in the US. (side note...I don't use the food recipes to save money. They are mainly processed foods.)

It's been crazy

2010-03-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is Porter,

I know we haven't been posting and we will make more of an effort to do so. So, without further ado... My post.

We have had some crazy things going on. Getting our medical jewelry (jewellery in Kiwilandia) business up and running. This has taken a huge amount of time and effort. I am an idiot when it comes to all things coding, but I think I figured most of it out, with some of the more crazy and obsecure problems being corrected by my brother-in-law Brian, or Brain, either is representative of this guy. If you want to see the site, it's here!

I am still teaching. One class is in their final productions and will be done sometime in June. I have a new class that just started. Currently I have both programmers and artists in the same class. Basically, "This is the business and lifestyle you are signing up for" section of the course. No one has run screaming, so that's a good sign. You can see the current students work here.

The team that my son was on for the soap box derby made it to the semi-finals, but were unable to make it to the final test. They did a great job, and now I am a nice lobster red.

We will post some pictures of this soon.

As I said, we will make more of an effort on this site, The Diabetic Duo site and I will also be updating my Portergraphic site more often. This is the plan, but as I am well aware, sometimes life has other plans. We will enveador to achieve this goal, how's that?

2010-02-20T15:40:00.001-08:00

School finally started for the kids. It's been two weeks and they are settling in well. Kelsey has been playing volleyball for her school and her club. Club ball has been really intense. They are training for an international tournament right now. Kelsey won't be participating in that because of her school team commitments, but she is happy to be playing non the less. I think I have said it before, but most of the club players are older (some older than me) and they are just fricken amazing and fun to watch. Below are some practice pictures I took. They aren't great because the lighting was horrible. But...here they are. (Kelsey is in the pink shorts and Kelsey's college , high school, coach is in the maroon shirt)

Marty made the Soap Box Derby team at his school. The past few weeks they have built their derby are now in the midst of testing it. The boys were able to take two test runs yesterday and I have several pictures. They will be doing time trials starting next week. Then when they have it all done and the driver is decided, they will paint the car. I think the race is at the end of March.

Last weekend we went to Maraetai Beach to visit friends from Mike's work. Heather and Tony invited us out to have a lovely dinner. Tony made a beautiful meal of lamb, kumara, nz potato, pumpkin and he finished it off with a chocolate mousse. YUMMY! That was the first time I was able to eat lamb and it was delicious. The area is beautiful. It's nice a quiet town surrounded by beach. Heather takes a ferry into the city for work every day.

Tony has all kinds of radio equipment in the kitchen. They also have this old radio and phone. Beneath the phone, you can see a good picture of Tony and Heather.

These were taken from their back patio. The third picture you can see Waiheke Island. That island is on our "to see list".

We have been fortunate to visit friends from work that live all over the Auckland area. Last night we had dinner with another work mate of Mikes. Marty and his wife Bronwyn came over for Enchiladas, rice and smashed salad. Mike did a great job on the Enchiladas. I messed up the rice, I am struggling with rice here. I am just going to have to stick with my Uncle Bens, no matter the cost. It was a fun evening and we learned about a new stout that I actually liked. An Australian beer called Cascade Stout. It has a good chocolate flavour and was most likely the reason why had to go up a notch on my belt this morning. This afternoon we are going to a cookout. I will have pictures for the next PA post.

Lastly, I would like to introduce you to my niece Rianna Pellino and her band Vedette. They are a band in Virginia Beach, VA. They do covers from Journey, Chaka Khan, Sam Cooke and Pink...just to name a few. I will have to pass you over to my Diabetic Duo page, because I can't load music on here. So, click this link and you can hear them do "Lights" by Journey.

Is Summer Over Already? (not quite)

2010-01-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

But I am sure the kids feel like that's the case. Their summer vacation ends next Tuesday. School starts the following Wednesday and I am sure Mike and I will be doing a jig. Well, part of me will. I am happy they are starting school again, not so happy for the return of school routines. Kelsey will be entering her last year of college (high school for you Americans). I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. In New Zealand you can graduate after year 12 (11th grade) if you plan on going to tertiary school. As most of you know, Kelsey wants to be a pastry chef...so that's the direction she will be heading. Marty is going into year 6 (5th grade). I am hoping that he has a good year. I wasn't impressed at all with his level of work last year. However, both of us liked his teacher and he HAD already completed that year in the States so I let it go. Hopefully this year will be more challenging...hopefully. We haven't tried on uniforms yet. I am sure Kelsey's are fine, but Marty's might be another story. He has grown about an inch over the summer. I think waist wise, his shorts will fit. However, he might look like he is wearing running shorts. Oh well, I am sure he won't be the only kid wearing too short shorts. (hopefully)

The kids have managed to stay really busy this summer. As a family we haven't done much other than doing some day hikes, playing games and watching movies. Marty has been going to summer camp for the last 3 weeks. He has done a lot and is always excited to tell me his adventures at the end of the day. He has gone on a fishing boat, sailing, BMXing, Tree Top adventures (that up high, "yeah I trust you" stuff), and a lot of swimming, ping pong and dodge ball. He has been busy, so he has been happy. Marty is a lot like Mike...if he ain't busy, he ain't happy. Kelsey has been hanging out with her friends. She has spent a lot of time at the beach and actually has a tan. (I know, right? Who knew vampire white chicks could tan?) She's done quite a few sleep overs, gone to the mall, baked...just stuff. She also got sick for the first time since she was around 6. It lasted all of 3 days, but was funny as all get out. Her tongue and uvula swolled up. (that was for you Texans) She went with her friends to a sleepover where they camped out. Allergies took over and she paid the price. Wish I had thought to take a picture. Tonight there is a going away party for one of her friends. They are having to move back to the US. After the party everyone well be coming back here for a sleepover. I can't tell you how overjoyed Mike is. He got all kinds of giddy and his hippity hop clapping dance.

I know you have been wondering how my "garden" is doing. ....not so hot. The herbs are doing great and are used constantly. I have one cucumber. ONE. It's still growing though. I have one Tomato. ONE. It's still green. I have one pepper. ONE. It hasn't grown a bit. My corn though, it's growing big time. Hopefully it produces! (notice a "hope" them to today's post?)

We took a shot at making our own pizza this past week. It was fun. We kind of screwed up in putting the ingredients together and ended up having to make a double batch. It worked out though. What wasn't eaten that night was gone by the end of breakfast the next day.

Some fun shots of Mike and Marty playing "card wars". That's what Marty calls it. He has been practicing a lot ever since he has seen Mike's office mates doing it at work. He was completely impressed by Mark Lee's ability to throw a card so hard that it rips in half. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see Mike's card in front of Marty's elbow. Hence Marty's "OMG" face as he is trying to throw one back. And throw one back he did...he nailed Mike in the nose!

As most of you know I also write a blog about the kids Diabetes, The DiabeticDuo. I have also taken on a project called Diabetes 365. This is a group on Flickr where diabetics take a picture a day to represent their lives with Diabetes. I don't know if I will be able to keep it up for an entire year, but I am going to give it a shot. I think between both Mike and myself, we can get it done. You can go to the D365 site to see all of the pictures or you can go to the DiabeticDuo blog. I am also posting them on the DiabeticDuo facebook page as well. So, you have options if you would like to see a picture a day from the Porter's.

Mike went back to work last week. (Long Holiday break) He is happy to be back. I am sure he was bored to tears here at home. And definitely over playing scrabble and canasta. Lastly, I am still looking for work. I have a couple of options in front of me finally, so I hope to have good news within the next two weeks. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!!

My "Garden"

2010-01-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you can quite call it a garden, but it's my attempt to grow veges with no yard. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce (on it's second round and I am ashamed to say I didn't quite pick the first round quick enough), chives, rosemary, basil, limes, and corn. My corn is pitiful. I was kind of in a rush on planting and dropped two of the plants on their stalks. Thus crushing them. Oh well....4 stalks should make enough for one meal, right??

We are on our last week of vacation. I think Mike is ready to go back to work. He has been working is booty off on a e-commerce site for me. Hopefully we will be ready to launch next week. The kids are in full summer swing. Kelsey has been out and about daily. If she isn't at the beach, she is at the mall or someones house. Marty has been getting together quite a bit with a friend from school. He also starts summer camp next week.

Most of you who read this blog are from the States and are having one hell of winter. I know you probably don't want to hear about how we are growing vegetables, walking on the beach and enjoying the bright blue sky in New Zealand.......(hehehehee)

2009 What a Year

2009-12-29T10:07:00.001-08:00

2009 has been an interesting, frustrating and amazing year for us. As with most people, this year has been a struggle. A lot of lay-offs in the states, the housing market went in the toilet and well, it was just plain hard at times. However, we also had some positive things happen for us. Not only just for 2009, but for the years to come. We moved to a beautiful part of the world, Mike started a new journey in his career, we made some new friends and reconnected to some old ones. I think all in all it's been a good year. Play along as we list some high (or low) points of the year and show some pictures. (I promise it gets better after April!!!)

January: We embarked on 2009 thinking THIS was going to be our year. This would be the year we would pay off all our debts (we were close too), this would be the year for much happiness and joy. I am never making a prediction again.

February: Marty was diagnosed with Diabetes and Mike was laid off from Microsoft. To be fair, we knew the lay-off was coming. We actually knew for several months. After going through a few, you can see the handwriting on the wall when most around you don't.

March: Marty had his tonsils and adenoids removed. In hopes that sleep apnea was the cause of his seizures. They have tremendously dropped and as a matter of fact the last known seizure was in July right after we first came to NZ. I posted this picture on Facebook. It's not the best because it's from my phone, but out of all the pics on Facebook this one got the most comments.

The tag line on Facebook read "Marty's tonsils...looks like meatballs."

April: I was laid off from Microsoft. Mike started talking about two job opportunities. One in New Zealand and one in China. China would have been a good move for Mike, but it quickly got the nay nay from me. To be perfectly honest, I didn't believe New Zealand was going to happen and stayed in denial until that day in May that he ran upstairs and told me they were in the pay negotiating phase. Then the panic attacks came in waves.

May: Mike signed contracts with Media Design School and the running about to get all of the paperwork filled out began. That was a lot of work, not hard just a lot of paperwork. I decided to start a blog about our move, but thought it best to hold off on starting it until we were actually approved to move.

June: We put the house up for sale (still hasn't sold) and made a mad dash back home to Texas to visit with family. We brought all of the NZ books we had bought with us to show everyone where we were going and about the country. That was also the last month I saw my babies Cooper and Daisy. I am sure they are much happier being spoiled by my Mom, but I sure do miss them.

July: We got the approval to move to New Zealand. WOOOHOOO!! We had a going away party, the movers came and we were on a plane in under two weeks.

August: We moved into our house, the kids started school and they went to their first endo appointment. We also finally had internet. Almost a month of me stealing wireless from a local McDonald's!!!

September: Started The DiabeticDuo and became involved with Diabetes Youth Auckland.

October: We finally celebrated Kelsey's birthday, Mike went on his first business trip to Wellington and my Mom came to visit us. We also learned how to understand the all too common "yeah no" conversations the Kiwi like to have.

November: Celebrated a very subdued Thanksgiving and took a road trip to the Glow Worm Caves.

December: Experienced our first warm Christmas.

We also traveled to quite a few locations around Auckland. We visited Muriwai, Auckland Domain, Motat, Kelly Tarltons, Glow Worm Caves, Piahia, and the Harbour.

While I am still not going to make any predictions, I will say that we are looking forward to 2010. I know we will continue to make new friends, visit more beautiful places and face more challenges. We are ready to take 2010 on and know it offers us hope and excitement. Happy New Year Everyone!

2009-12-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Holiday and a Merry Christmas. I am sitting at the kitchen table on a cool night drinking tea and listening to the sounds of Christmas....the kids next door have been screaming and fighting for about 30 minutes. Oh the joys of Christmas. We had a wonderful and quiet Christmas this year. I am happy we were even able to have one. There for a while I really didn't think the kids were going to get more than a stocking. But MDS came through and hired me again for about two weeks to do some odd jobs. Thanks to them, we were able to give our kids some smiles this holiday. As you can guess we have quite a few pictures to show you.

The first set of pictures are from the MDS gift exchange. Everyone drew names out of a hat again and then exchanged fun gifts for under $10.

The Marketing and Academic Directors decided to dress like elves while handing out the gifts. It was an amazing site seeing them both in tights. WOOT.

Liz, the CEO, decided she would take the wrapping paper from her gift and dress David in what Mike called "the kilt of shame". The party was a lot of fun and they even gave me a couple boxes of scorched almonds. Amazingly wonderful chocolate covered almonds. One box was almost gone before we got home.

A couple of days before Christmas we went back downtown to do a harbour tour and walk around. The harbour area is pretty cool. The third picture below is where the NZ Americas Cup team house their boats.

As we walked around the city we came across this restaurant. The name got Mike and I giggling...but the sign in the window just sent us into fits.

Then off to Sky City to get a closer look at the tower. They don't do a whole lot of decorating for the Holidays here in New Zealand. Well, not like in the US....but this area was beautiful. We sat and ate a Christmas lunch. It was the first time I had Christmas Pudding. It was Yum.

The second picture is of some kind of volcano awareness thing that two guys were acting out on Queen Street. If you click on the picture you can see the guy in the protection suit (looks like he is wrapped in aluminum foil) and then the hand of a guy who is popping out of the top of the volcano. He is supposed to be lava (one would assume). We couldn't hear what he was saying in the bull horn, but we stood and watched anyhow.

In the third picture above, you can get some sense of how high the bridge is in the background. When we took the harbour cruise we went under that bridge and was able to watch people bungee jumping. In the first picture you can see the pod that they jump from. The second and third picture you can see the guy taking his leap of faith. Mike missed the water touch, but the jumpers head went into the water. He was yelling "WOOOOOOHOOOOO" all the way down. See, that term is not only used by southerners who are missing teeth. It is a commonly used term all over the world for "Hell Yeah, this is fun!!".

During the harbour tour we went by the Naval Base. See the third picture? That's the entire Naval Fleet for New Zealand.

Christmas gifts!! The kids took both grandparents money and spent it at the mall before the big day. Marty spent all of his money in one place. He bought a gadget that makes all kinds of cool sound effects while he plays his electric guitar. Kelsey went to several stores and bought herself some much needed summer clothes and a cow mug. (Nanny thinks the mug is ugly and teases her about it!!) The kids got movies in their stockings. The Land of the Lost, much funnier than I expected. It did not B(uh)low as I thought it would. Kelsey got Interview with a Vampire. Good Lord that was a horrible movie, but she loved it. They both were given quite a few art gifts, iTunes cards (that are NZ..which means we have to open a new account), and odds and ends. Mike got glue. WOOT.

Both Mike and I will be back next week with our "Year in Review" post.

Glow Worms, Paihia, MDS, and Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we all loaded up in the Disco and drove 3 hours north to the Kawiti Glow Worm Caves. The caves are a must see, much cooler than what you would see on the Discovery Channel. There was a great story about how the caves were found and who owns the property now. Short version? A woman had enough of her husband and ran away. Must have been pretty desperate too to be hanging out in a dark cave!!! I was surprised by how small the worms were. I don't know what I was expecting, but they are very very small pin lights on the cave walls. When they are grouped together, they look like stars in the sky from very far away. Something we learned, glow worm poo glows too. Bet you didn't know that! They wouldn't let us take pictures inside of the cave, but we still have quite a few from the area. Below you will find some cool rock formations outside of the entrance.

A meeting house, the entrance to the caves and the exit.

The rest of the pictures are on the backside of the cave. We had about a 15 minute "tramp" through the area to get back to the car park.

I don't know what Mom is telling that tree, but it better listen.

From there we drove to the town of Paihia. I really loved it there. We only stopped in to visit and have Lunch/Dinner, but I would love to go back to take advantage of the many activities. I want to snorkel with dolphins and go kayaking. To be perfectly honest, we were only up in that area because I wasn't paying attention when we left the house. We had decided that we were going to go south to another Glow Worm cave that was only an hour out. I completely spaced, but we decided to continue on since I didn't realize it until we were over half way there.

Last weekend we attended the holiday party for Mike's work. MDS treated us to a beautiful evening of food, drink (way too much as some have seen on facebook), company and presents. I truly enjoyed myself and Mike's co-workers were so nice to me. I was told I was missed often, hopefully I can go back soon. I was a space case again and forgot the camera, so I don't have pictures to post. I would like to share with you what his company did for presents. Each employee drew another employees name out of a hat. Then they were presented with a post card where we got to choose what type of donation to a village in need we would like to offer in the other persons name. We were given a dollar amount and could make any choices up to that dollar amount. I don't remember everything that was on the list but there were things like chickens, two weeks of water for a family of 5, and condoms. I just thought that was very generous of the school and makes so much better use of their money than buying gifts for their employees.

Our Thanksgiving was quiet this year. Just the 5 of us. Mike had work and Marty had school, so we celebrated on Sunday versus Thursday. I chose a ham over turkey. My oven is so small in this house and you can only cook one thing at a time. We still don't have a microwave, so I went with what I could work around. We kept up with our tradition and made it a movie weekend. We watched all of the Harry Potter movies. We started on Friday night and ended on Sunday. We did get out on Saturday for a bit to tramp around a local park and marine area. It still amazes me how many neat areas there are that we keep finding in our own neighborhood. At dinner we did give thanks for being together, being healthy, and having the opportunity to live a beautiful part of the world. (gosh my table is pitiful)

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We will update again soon!

Wellington Trip

2009-11-16T01:09:00.000-08:00

Porter here,

Recently I was offered the opportunity to go to AnimFX, a games and visual effects conference held in Wellington. Media Design School was kind enough to afford me this excellent opportunity to meet and greet some of the most creative people in New Zealand, as well as some awesome guest speakers.

I left Auckland around 8:00pm on a Wednesday, because the very next day at 9:00am, I had a Game Industry Master Class. Basically, this class was all about the business of games, contact gathering and management and what the latest trends in games that publishers are interested in. I really enjoyed the classes and the speakers had quite a bit of information to give. The speakers were:

Joseph Olin (President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences), Jim Simmons (Producer at Sidhe), Sean Kauppinen (CEO of International Digital Entertainment Agency)and Christian Svennson (Corporate Officer and Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development). I felt a little outclassed, just being a 3D Tutor and not something like Mike Porter (Creative Director in Charge of Education, Digital Creativity and Conflict Resolution Mentor to the Stars) Oh well...

The flight out of Auckland went off without a hitch, however the blustery conditions in Wellington made the landing a little more hairy than I would have liked. Nothing like the sideways landing I had in Amsterdam, but not as smooth as I would have wished.

MDS was extremely kind in booking me at a very nice place called the Museum Hotel. I was told I was sharing a room with another tutor and the first thing that came to my mind was "I Love Luci" and twin beds side by side in a small room. What I was shocked to find, was a wonderful apartment with my own "wing". Later I realized (realised to my Kiwi friends) that the room was to serve a double purpose. More on that later.

Below left is the Museum Hotel and the two pictures on the right are the conference room and a portion of the lobby. The picture in the middle is where I spent my entire Friday morning writing furiously, trying to get every bit of knowledge that the guys were very gracious to part with.

Thursday night, I found out the real reason we had an apartment and not a regular hotel room. Paul Millett had invited several guests up for beer and conversation. We had a pretty good turn out where I met Jeff Okun is a visual effects supervisor and has worked on movies such as "The Last Samurai" and "Blood Diamond". Jeff is also Chair of the Visual Effects Society Awards Committe and is on the board of directors for the Gnomon School of Visual Arts. A heavy hitter for sure. Has to be a jerk right? Wrong, awesome guy and we had a great conversation about space, sci-fi and why our brains try to help us, even to the point where it will hide stuff from us that we need to see. I also met three very nice people from Massive Software, the guys and gals that had a hand in the visual effects of Lord of the Rings, whose adaptive AI crowd software was used for the massive (get it?) battles in Middle Earth. These guys were nice enough to send me a demo, which I have yet to download, but will do so soon. I am horrible with names and several of the other people escaped my grab for business cards. I am sorry if I left you out!

Jos Ruffell was the host for the event (Above left). He is one of the guys from Sidhe Interactive and was kind enough to facilitate a great guest speaker for MDS. More about that speaker later in the post. This was on Friday and the event moved from the Museum Hotel to Te Papa. This was a wonderful venue to have the keynote speeches. The picture above middle is a Māori group that started the ceremony with song and speeches and the finale was a lady with a booming voice telling us to follow along to a song in Māori. She was awesome! You can see her in the middle picture on the far right, back row. After the speech, the Keynote speakers pressed noses with the Māori group, which is a traditional greeting.

After this, the keynote began. I have to say, my three favorite speakers are pictured below. Richard Taylor on the left, is the man in charge at Weta Workshops. Click the link, you will be glad you did. In the middle is Jeffery Okun, introduced above and last but not least is John Stevenson. His keynote was so powerful that I pestered him to no end to come speak to the students at MDS. He did and they were moved. He was a co-director on Kung-Fu Panda, but also worked on Dark Crystal and Labyrinth as well as many more productions, cartoons and movies. He is unabashedly not politically correct, but is also extremely focused and passionate about being the best you can be and giving 110% to everything you do. Thanks Jos for hooking this up and thank you John for being one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting.

After these keynotes, there were several others that had to do with games, however the guys giving the keynotes were also the guys that I spent an entire day with, the previous day, so I spent some time looking around Te Papa and taking pictures. This is a small sample. The cool this here is there is a "holograph" playing on a glass panel. This allows you to see the actors projected on the model of the boat in the middle. It was almost a "Help me Obiwan, you are my only hope" moment. It was a very cool effect.

The left and right side pictures were from inside the Museum Hotel lobby and the middle picture is on the way to the Sidhe party on the docks. I would like to show more pictures but it appears I have used up my limit or something. Weird. Anyway, it was a wonderful trip, I met many cool people and I am still trying to write all my emails for all the contacts I made. Whoever painted that Willy Nelson, nailed it! The larger picture is even more amazing.

Wellington Harbour, Te Papa and a beautiful church up on a hill. Wellington was a very cool place to visit and I hope to make it back there during Christmas holiday.

Huge thanks to Mario Wynands, Jos Ruffell and all the awesome people that put AnimFX together. I hope to see you all next year!

Armageddon, Tramping, Nanny and Mike's Work

2009-11-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone. I know I have been slacking on the posts, thanks for being patient. We haven't been out to do a whole lost the last couple of weeks, but I do have some pictures for you. Two weeks ago we went to Armageddon which is NZ version of Comicon. It was my first time to one of these things. It was cool to see all of the new video games coming out and the people all dressed up. We sat and listened to Seth Green give a little talk about his new show coming out Titan Maximum. Marty waited patiently for about 15 minutes with his hand in the air for his turn to talk to Seth. He wanted to do his impersonation of Chris from The Family Guy and ask him a question. However, he didn't inform the mic guy and he took off after Marty asked his question. He was so disappointed he didn't get to do his impersonation. He was stoked though to have been able to talk to him. Seth called him "Boy in Hat". The third picture is Marty with an actor who has a movie coming out this year. Have no idea what it's called, but hey maybe it will be a big hit.

We went on mini hike that same weekend. It's called tramping here, my stand in joke is that every time I say "I went tramping" I feel like I should be in heels and a short skirt. (dang, that would be a sight...something I should use to threaten my kids with I think. You act up I will dress like this in front of your friends!!! KEEP IT UP!) We found a park and walking area that is along the cliffs right in our own neighborhood. When we walked down the cliff side there were several people fishing right off the rocks.

If you look closely at the first picture there is a bird in the bottle brushes. The first few times I saw this bird it was always in the same area. The very first time I felt bad because I thought someone had lost their pet parrot. The next few times I thought the bird was really smart to stick around thinking that maybe it's owner would find it. What a ding bat. I have no idea what this bird is, but it's beautiful....and obviously not a pet.

The second picture is Marty rolling down a hill. It's not a good picture because the hill was really big and steep. He was yelling the whole way down as we laughed and tried to get him to not be so loud. Let's just say all of the lovely quiet families who are trying to teach their kids cricket stopped to look at the loud Americans.

My mom came in this past weekend. Nanny will be here until the end of December. She came bearing gifts...Spices, Transformers 2, and Tampons. Yes, I said tampons. Let's just say the tampons here are meant for the...fragile and dainty. Kelsey was beyond stoked to have her Kotex. Weird how things you would never imagine doing so, make you happy.

Mom has actually done pretty well with the time change. She was able to stay up until 10 last night, which is pretty good within the first week. We have plans to get out and sight see over the warmer months...whenever they decide to arrive.

Lastly, here are some pictures from Mike's work. The first two are from his classroom and the rest are of his co-workers during the Halloween gathering. Not too many people dressed up, but at least they gathered...until the beer was gone.

Riding the train

2009-10-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Renata is taking another break from updating so I thought I would talk a bit more what we have been up to. Recently, Renata began doing some contract work for Media Design School where I work. She has quite a bit of a background in a wide variety of subjects and professions and that comes in handy when there are administrative and organizational things that need to be taken care of, but no full time staff member to take care of them.

Anyway, there are three different ways we can get to work. Driving and parking (about 12 bucks a day), taking the bus (cheaper for me, because I am a teacher now, but about $4.30 each way for Renata) or the train (about $2.30 each way). No brainer, we go to Glen Innes, which is pronounced Glen Inn Ehs, instead of how I was murdering it before, which was, Glen EYEns. Everyone raises their eyebrows at my hillbilly twang, but is too nice to correct me.

Below you can see the station at Glen Innes on the left. In the middle and on the right are Britomart Station. The flying saucers on the ceiling are actually skylights with a chrome spheres to help diffuse the light. The cool thing is that one of those skylights is actually a fountain on the street above. Very cool design.

The Kiwi habit of queueing up is completely forgotten in a station. Elsewhere, people are polite and wait stoically for hours on end, just to make sure they haven't jumped in line. In the train station, chaos ensues. Actually, it's not that bad, but after the pleasantries of queueing, it seems like madness that someone would step in front of you as you enter the train.

That blue sign in the middle below, seems logical. No silly stuff when in an indoor train station. Except for that guy with the guitar, what the heck is Busking. I am assuming that means don't beg in the train station whilst playing a guitar. Either that, or you are not allowed to be King of the Bus.

Instead of walking up Queen Street from Britomart, we decided to walk up High Street. Yes, you can see it there, with the Hemp Store just in the background. I think it's Hemp as in clothing, rope and fibre rather than the medicinal variety. Further down the street I found an old friend from the '80s. "Warriors, come out to play!" Actually, I constantly hear people talking about the good old shows like the A-Team, Airwolf and Knight Rider. People here watch quite a bit of American TV.

Closer in to work, I was surprised to find a bit of Texas in a location that is the least like Texas than anywhere else I have ever been. As I turned away from the Paris Texas store, I was treated with the shopping area below these three images.

Once we got to work, it was a pretty standard day. About 10am every morning, the fire department comes roaring up Queen St. This time, I think the Burger King left the fries in too long. Nothing usually comes from the incident, they come check stuff out and then they leave.

Oh, see that guy there in the middle. What the heck is he thinking. I wouldn't say that to his face, cause he is about 8 feet tall and could kick my butt. He is standing at an ATM machine. Usually there is a camera, to record who is taking money out, just in case it's a bad guy. The poor person who has to go through these tapes is going to have a sea of plaid in the screen and nothing else.

It was an interesting day, so let us all reflect!

Kelseys Birthday Party

2009-10-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know her Birthday was in August....but we just now were able to scrape enough scratch together to make Mexican food. Seriously, how bad is it when you are saving money to make the most basic food items on the face of the planet? Kelsey had about 12 people over last Friday and quite a few of them had never had tacos before. Everyone was a bit timid at first. Making one single taco...a little beans and rice....and staring at the queso like it was alien ooze. However, they very quickly went up for seconds and thirds. You will notice that in all of the eating pictures the kids are crammed into the kitchen. I am a mean Mom. Those kids are MESSY and I am glad I restricted them too. You should of seen it after cake!

As per usual at the Porter home....rock band, dance dance and twister. Twister took everyone a while to get into...there's Marty all alone...."aw come on, someone play!" There were quite a few pictures of them laughing very dramatically like teenagers, but they were all blurry. I guess the camera doesn't do dramatic.

Below is Kelsey's first try at doing a special cake. She did a cow, of course. She really did a great job. She got a bit heavy handed doing the cow print on the sides...but it turned out very nice and tasty! (side note: I am sure Mike is having his own cow right now because I inserted a vertical picture above....yeeesh...artists.)

All of that black icing left it's mark on everyone.

I know what you are thinking. If it didn't have flowers on it, it would look just like a blow up.....it's a hammer. (there's a joke in there somewhere.)

For some reason the glasses and earrings reminded the family of Nanny. Have no idea what they are talking about.

The kids decorated themselves with glo-sticks and then went off to the beach for a couple of hours. Mike and I sat and watched the celebrity roast of Larry the Cable Guy. (or Dan)

When the kids came back they tried their hand at twister in the dark with the glo-sticks. Pretty cool.

It was a great night and the kids had a good time. A lot of laughter and it was wonderful to see Kelsey smiling a lot. It was a treat for Mike and I to see her so happy.

Kelly Tarlton's

2009-10-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

We went to Kelly Tarlton's this weekend. Kelly's is the first underground aquarium. It's small and expensive, but what it offers is pretty cool. It's also a great thing to do on a rainy Sunday.

The first couple of pictures are supposed to be from camps in the Antarctic.

From there we went rode in a Snow Cat to go through the penguine area. We were lucky that our ride was during feeding time. It gave me a good perspective on acutally how big the King Penguines are.

If you look really close to the center picture, you will see a baby chick in the back. It's huge, but it blends in with the rocks. They have it behind a wavy glass to keep it seperated from the adults.

This is the start of the under water tunnel. You ride a walking conveyor belt (like at the big airports) while sharks and fish swim all around and above you. This was really neat and dark for pictures, but Mike did a good job. We rode this thing two and half times around. I was making sure we got our money's worth!

If you look a the first picture, Mike took this through some rocks. You can see the tunnel in the back of the picture. The third one is of a shark egg. That was cool, you could see the shark moving around inside.

Now those are big "crayfish". Marty sitting next to them gives you an idea.

A parana and a very pregnant seahorse.

It was a fun day for the Porter's. This weekend is supposed to be nice, so we are going to get out and do a day hike. Haven't decided where, but you will find out next week.

Yeah, No, Yeah.........No

2009-10-01T10:31:00.001-07:00

Wait, What?

I was at the store with a co-worker (I can say that even though I am on a short contract, right?). She was trying to buy a certian type of bag to use as a goody bag for her kids birthday party. We found something close but not exactly what she wanted. So, she asks the worker on the floor for help.

Yeah I like these bags, but I want ones that have a draw string. Do you have those?

Yeah Yeah, there they are right there.

Yeah, No I mean ones LIKE that but with a draw string.

Uhm

Yeah Yeah, can you check the back to see if you have them.

Yeah No, we don't have any in the back.

Oh, so this is it?

Yeah, No, Yeah...........No

And that was it. They both completely understood each other and I am standing there wondering what the hell the answer was. Did she have any or not?????

Mike and I have been going into work together for the past two weeks. We have been having our own giggle sessions about terms here and how people talk.

"I reckon". I really thought the first few times I heard this people were making fun of me. It didn't even cross my mind that people from the other side of the world would use a term that is used in the deep south.

Another thing we noticed is that people's terms are more of a reflection of attitude. For example, they will say "give it a go" for "give it a try" or "how you goin?" instead of "how you doin?"

The funniest story Mike told me from work was the day he was caught in his own confusion. Three co-workers were discussing a problem they were having and each would offer up a point or solution. Every time that happened the other two would do a "MMMMM" in acknowledgement. Not the "MMMMM" that tastes good but "mmmmm" I am deep in thought. He said at one point, there was a battle of "MMMMS". The first person would said MMMMM (I'm deep in thought), the second person said MMMMMM (I'm questioning that you know what you are talking about) and the third person gave the final MMMMM( come on mates let's get back to work). And that was it. He was left standing there wondering what the hell happened. Did they solve the problem or not??

Motat and what's that?

2009-09-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Kia ora, this is Mike. Renata is taking a break so I thought I would jump in with a bit of a story and some pictures in her place.

Marty and I just went to Motat today, which is the Auckland Museum of Transportation. This is a museum, or series of museums that has lots of very important vehicles from New Zealand's history. Marty seemed to have a good time, but I had a blast. The very first thing we did was to ride a tram from the main museum area to the location that had planes and trains.

The interior of the tram alone was pretty amazing. The restoration on this thing was great. This was just one of several of these trams that they have running between the museums.

Next we went to the Aviation portion of the museum. This was really cool. The hanger they were being shown in was jam packed with all sorts of aircraft. They even had a seaplane and a bomber.

After that we went out to the area where they had an old steam locomotive pulling passenger cars. Marty was offered a ride in the cab and declined. I wanted to ride up there, but there was barely room for the engineer and fireman as it was.

After that, Marty and I got a private tour of the workshops where they maintain and repair all the locomotives and rail cars. This was very cool. The man that took us though was very knowledgable and was quite young, but you could tell he was into the trains. I told him I previously worked at Microsoft working on the MS Train Sim 2 before we were laid off and he said that quite a few Kiwi's build 3d trains for MSTS1. I thought that was extremely cool.

I took almost 300 pictures, so I will just post 3 more of the cooler ones.

We have lots more pictures from there, but I wanted to also talk about the other thing I saw this week.

It appears something very important happened in Auckland last week. As you can see from the crowd gathering, it is an momentous event. Is it a visiting government official?

Nope, it was a parade to kick off the erotic expo. The parade was called "Boobs on Bikes"

No, not that guy, and to be fair, it wasn't really "Boobs on Bikes". It was more like, some topless women on various motorized vehicles and some transvestites and shirtless guys, just so everyone is accounted for.

These are the safe pictures that I could post. There were others not fit for man, woman or child. I am not a prude, but when a woman looks like she is smuggling two professional wrestlers in her bra, it's just not attractive. The woman I am talking about was riding on a tank and I believe it was out of concern for the weight the vehicle would have had to carry.

The funniest part of the whole parade was actually before it even started. There was this massive crowd waiting for boobs on bikes and this guy comes hauling butt down the street on a kids scooter. Everyone started whistling and yelling "OH BABY!" I am not sure he knew why he was being cat called. I am not sure I know why grown men ride little kids scooters here.

Hopefully no one will find the content offensive and will take this in the spirit of the post. When in New Zealand, live like a local or go back home.

E noho rā

The Kiwi's Love Their Sweets

2009-09-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

The Porter family have certainly noticed how much the Kiwi love their sweets. In our little town of St. Heliers there are 5 bakeries. And that is just counting what I have seen. If you are walking down the waterfront after school is let out, you will see many kids eating pastries and ice cream. My kids are VERY jealous....all the time. They know eating a huge pastry before dinner isn't going to fly. The kids and I kind of go through this "Huh, I wonder" laundry list every time we see a kid in uniform in hog heaven over a double scoop ice cream cone. "Maybe they don't eat dinner here. Maybe they eat dinner at like 10pm. Maybe they can afford to eat all the sweets due to the constant running, biking, swimming....whatever they are doing."

I picked up a few extra, and very much needed, bucks this weekend working at a store called Martha's Backyard. It's a store that carries US products. It's nothing fancy, but they can't keep stock on the floor. The owner goes to the US and shops almost every month. She brings back containers of what she can find great deals on and what special requests she can fill. A lot of what they sell are American packaged foods like Skippy Peanut Butter, Bisquick, Hidden Valley Ranch, Doritos...things that we expats are jonesing for. Then there is the candy. It is amazing how much candy is sold. It's also funny watching people who have been here in New Zealand for a while get all kinds of excited when they see Twizzlers or a Milky Way. Things they have forgotten about or haven't seen in a very long while. I watched one lady get so excited over Zingers I had to laugh out loud. Sandy, the owner, even has a Twinkie club. I personally don't get that one. Twinkies are nasty. My personal list with Sandy: Franks Hot Sauce, Ranch Dressing, and Grits. Yep, Grits. Kelsey is getting tired of eggs for breakfast.

All Things Equal??

2009-09-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yeesh....this weekend was kind of a pain. We finally had TV programming installed only to learn that not all HD is created equal. So, remember on one of my earlier posts about Mike bringing his gigantic TV to New Zealand?? Yeah, it's the biggest standard black and white TV on the face of the planet. It has something to do with wave ratio or line ratio, who knows. I kind of start to fade when Mike starts talking geek. Anyhow, they make a converter but it's expensive. I guess it's cheaper than a TV, so we will eventually break down and buy it. In the end, we were all happy to have the TV back. Black and White or not.

Then there is the Disco, my car. The battery died at a most inopportune time. I have to tell you how irritated I was Saturday night having to get a jump from our new neighbors to go pick up Marty. Then in my haste I forgot to look up the address in my little map book thing before I left...under the good light....where I had reading glasses readily available. I was sitting in my car half laughing half crying because I couldn't find Lindale Ave on the map. I couldn't find New Zealand on the map. Dim light from a bad battery and no glasses just made for a jumbled mess in my tiny little book. I finally stumbled across a street I recognized and found my way to Marty. Then like a ding bat, I turned off the engine. AAAAAAARRRRRG....if I could have kicked my own ass, I would have. Then the interpretation chain began: me to Marty, Marty to his friend from Thailand (who speaks broken New Zealand English), the friend to his Dad (who speaks no English). The father finally understood what we were saying when his son said, "Dad, electricity BZZZ BZZZZ" as he gestured with his two hands like he was shocking someone or giving them a purple nurple. Mike was able to fix the battery with my kitchen scrubby...I asked if it would work on the TV. He didn't even crack a smile.

Monday was much better. The kids had their first appointment with the new Endocrinologist. The visit went really well. They were very organized and helpful. We were in and out within the hour and they spent a decent amount of time telling me about all of the government assistance that is available to us. It seems that we can get assistance monthly to help pay for the kids meds as long as they are in school. They also help to pay for the kids, up to age 15, to do activities during the year. So, if I wanted to send Marty to a diabetic camp I can submit to the government and they will pay the camp directly. I thought that was very cool. I did have some fears that they were going to be hard to deal with and push us to make changes, but when the kids A1C's came back...they realized we were doing pretty good.

Well, I still haven't found work. I did however pick up a two week contract to do some administrative work at Mike's school. I am supposed to have a phone interview with the Cricket Association of Auckland. Hopefully that will happen this week.

Until next time...everyone have a great week.

Auckland Domain

2009-09-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

In an effort to find things that cost little to no money, we went to the Auckland Museum this Sunday. It's a storyline of a lot of the Pacific communities and all of their wares. Then there is a lengthier history of the Maori items.

The one thing I found to be cool was that a lot of the items were not behind glass or out of reach. For obvious reasons we told the kids not to touch, but I have to admit that I did reach out and touch one of the earlier boats. Amazing.

From there we went to Wintergarden where they had a lot of the native plants and flowers. Kelsey is taking a photography class in school and wanted to do bright colors, so this worked very well for her. She took a lot of pictures to put together her first story board.

The grounds are massive and there are a lot of families having picnics, playing rugby or Frisbee. There are couples walking and lounging by fountains and statues.

Below are pictures.

The first picture has tattooing tools to the left. Kind of hard to see unless you open the picture.

The second picture is jade, really large and thick pieces.

The picture with the Maori is blurry...dang it! The pictures below are of different types of Maori buildings. The second one is like the meeting place that you saw in Whale Rider. The inside walls are covered in carvings. Sorry...we didn't get a picture of that.

The second picture is of a bannana tree.

The first statue is of Truth, Strength and Integrity.

There's a boy in that tree somewhere.

Rugby/Government Health /West Coast Pictures

2009-08-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Rugby

This past Saturday we watched a Rugby match at Kelsey's school. Mike's bosses son, Max, plays for the school. I have to say, it's very exciting and absolutely BRUTAL. LOVE IT!! That is Max kicking for extra point after a score. The high point, Glendowie College won. The low point, Max dislocated his knee. Mike said the knee cap looked like it was on the side of his leg. YEEEOW!!

Medical Program

I thought I would tell everyone my experience with the doctors and the health program here so far. Every quarter the government does new registration of patients. The deadline for fourth quarter was last Friday. The enrollment was very easy and I only needed to provide proof of our Visa's. The GP doctor visits are about $45 for the kids and $49 for us. Meds will cost $10-$20. Don't know though if that is per med or for 3 months at a time.

The kids have also been enrolled to see their Endocinologist. That program works very differently. You have to be referred, which the school nurse did for me. Most of the time though that recommendation is done through your GP, just like in the US. Here is a quote on how the office visits work from the diabetes nurse.

Clinic visits are scheduled on a 3 monthly cycle. At these visits the children will be reviewed by a medical officer (and have the opportunity to meet with a Diabetes Nurse Educator and Dietitian if required) and will be issued with a "certified exempt" 3 month prescription for all supplies (i.e all supplies can be picked up for the entire 3 month period) inclusive of insulin and other monitoring based equipment. The cost of the script will amount to NZ$3 per item (or equivalent of approx NZ$20).

That seems all well and good. I have no idea how the process is if you actually have issues, I hope I don't ever have to test that out. I will say I am little disappointed that the program the kids have been on (well Kelsey has been on for years) has just been released here. The doctors don't have the software to download the kids blood sugar numbers. They still write everything down. And I am sure it's an overhaul management thing...putting the entire country of diabetic children on the computer...However, I am not fighting the kids on writing everything down. Been there, done that, aint doin it no more. I downloaded the software to my computer and now I just need to find the adapter for the kids monitors. Hopefully that won't be a fight with the doctor. Surely he will lose and end up going through the Porter education system, minus the push ups for arguing. Well, we will see how much he argues.

Both doctors offices were awesome at customer service. Many call backs to ask me questions, to make sure they had my information correctly, make sure I was comfortable with what has been explained. Very Very Cool.

The West Coast
We went to Muriwai Beach which is the West Coast of Auckland this past weekend. We had a wonderful visit with the people who sold us the Disco. The scenery is very rocky, a lot of waves and surfers. The beach is black from the volcanoes. It's a very quiet and serene place, unlike the east coast where there is shopping, pubs, outdoor cafes. I think we will be going back this weekend to ride horses on the beach for Kelsey's birthday. She is turning the big 16!!!

These are Gannets nesting, cooing, wooing each other.

The second picture is a cave in the rocks. The left side kind of whited out with the sun...

The New House

2009-08-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hello....it's Wednesday almost noon and I thought I would upload pictures of the house before I went to Kelsey's school and bought her PE Uni. Yeah, she needs one too apparently.

I went around snapping pictures of the house, but keep in mind that it's EMPTY.

This is the kitchen and yes I know it's a mess. I did clean it yesterday for the grand entry of the new kitchen table. For those of you who haven't read my facey page, I broke the table before I even got to sit at it. I wasn't patient in waiting for Mike to get home and the table is solid wood and heavy. Marty wasn't quite strong enough to hold up his end...and we cracked a leg. We kind of "fixed" it and I am at it right now. It's on my list to call and get a new table leg.....along with a new book on how to gain patience.

These are pictures on the oustide of the kitchen area. We don't actually have a yard (and yes, Mike is happy). It's more of a courtyard type of thing. There are flowering plants everywhere, so I can not wait until Spring is finally here. The camelia's have been beautiful and the roses are starting to grow new shoots, so it's close.

Off of the kitchen is a pretty big living room. It has a balcony off of it which is also off of the master bedroom. Right now the living room is the warmest room with the fireplace, so you will notice the blow up mattresses. Did I mention that our furniture might come next week? I mean I love my kids, but when you have no privacy because there is no where to sit except on your blow up bed or the toilet....After about 5 it gets pretty chilly because it's damp (and there's no furniture to warm the place up), so we tend to all huddle in one spot. Wonder how long it will take for that book to come in? PS-Aren't those curtains just the bomb??!

Master Bedroom and off of the balcony.

Did you notice the matching curtains to the living room? Dang, I am SO lucky to have circa 1960's yellow flowered HUGE curtains in my bedroom. Come on, I know you are jealous.

Lastly, are the driveway pictures. One going down where you can see my Disco at the end and one heading up. Then I saved the best picture for last....my laundry room. Well, it's actually just a bedroom. But on the days it rains, I have to have somewhere to hang our stuff.....

Maybe I should have put a rush on that book.

Actually the house is beautiful and has plenty of room. And the best part is that it's a very very short walk to the water and pubs.

Coming Up: Will we get our furniture next week and my experiences with the health care system so far.

New Zealand Schools/Movies

2009-08-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

The kids are finally back in school. Today, Monday, is the start of their first full week. Last week they went only 3 days. Since they are only a few weeks out from being done with the third quarter, Kelsey was unable to get into culinary classes. She ended up taking a "gimme an A" class, Life Skills. Let's see, they watched The Ring and Step Brothers. Really? She said that math and science is pretty close to what they were doing half way through the year last year. That's a good sign. From what I can tell there is limited social pressure. In her words, "The girls and boys stay away from each other...it's like 4th grade when you think boys have cooties." Mike and I did a jig....hehehe.....The kids date, but at school they pretty much stay away from each other. Kelsey was invited to a birthday party on Friday night. It was a costume party which seems to be common. Kelsey just put on all of her funky volleyball shorts and put up her hair. The kids thought she was some New Zealand singer so she went with it.

Marty's school is laid back as well. When I went in to speak to the class about diabetes, they all said in unison "Good Morning Mrs. Porter." Funny....just like in the movies. He said the same as Kelsey that they are pretty much doing what he was doing half way through the year. They play a lot of sport in grade school. He just missed basketball where they went on to win the championship. (they compete with the other schools like you would see in our High Schools and some Junior Highs) On his first day they had tryouts for cross country. If he was in the top 8 of his grade he would go on to the next meet. He got 7th, but went to get a drink instead of taking his place on the bench. Needless to say, he lost his spot. He said it was fine, he just wanted to see if he could do it.

The administration at both schools have been wonderful. They were very easy to get along with and accommodating. I will tell you the one thing that is super strange....kids don't wear shoes. The primary kids, a lot of them go barefoot all day. And if you see the college kids (high school) outside doing PE...they are all barefoot. The bare feet doesn't only apply to schools either...I have seen them in the banks and grocery stores. And while it's mostly kids, there are adults too.

The best part for us as parents so far??? UNIFORMS!!!! No stomping today, but boy howdy last week was rough with Kelsey. She hates the whole stockings and Frankenstein shoes. Oh and the little to no make-up and no jewelry. LOOOOOVVVVEEE IT!!!!!!!

Marty has his regular uniform and then his PE uniform. On Wednesday's they get to wear their PE uni all day. He has his socks pulled down....they go to his knees and they have red stripes at the top. (kind of like old school NBA socks)

The Movie Fiasco
Last night we had a bit of an eye opener. Since it was Sunday, we did what we normally do and eat a large meal around lunch time. Watched some Ghost Hunters on the computer and then headed off to watch the much anticipated movie District 9. In the US your kids can see any movie rated R and under as long as the parents are with. Not here. If the movie is rated PG 13 or PG 16 that is the age you have to be and older to get in, even if you have birth certificates in hand to prove you are the parents. DANG!!! I would understand if it was a movie full of sex and senseless killing....but this one has foul language and some blowin up. The kids were NOT happy. And the buying of ice cream didn't smooth things over either. I guess the good thing is we will watch more movies at home. The only problem with that is having to wait for them to come out. The kids better hope Transformers 3 is rated just PG....or Momma is leaving them home.

Coming Up: Pictures of the house and what we have to do to get our belongings.

Next round of pictures.

2009-08-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of the Fort pictures in Devonport.

The rest of these are just random pictures we have taken over the last couple of weeks.

Coming up next: Our new home, schools and more observations.

Picture Catch Up

2009-08-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. Today's post will mainly be pictures with a bit of commentary. I am not feeling very creative today and I have a bird threatening my laundry. (I will explain later)

The first set of pictures are from St. Heliers. The first place we went after the airport and where we eventually ended up settling in for a home. This is a quiet town with a beautiful beach and shops.

These are of our temporary apartment. We spent most of our two weeks driving around the area becoming familiar, looking for a home and swimming. The kids also cooked a few nights.

This is Devonport. This is the first place we went and visited. I really wanted to find a home here because it's absolutely gorgeous. Mike would have to take a ferry ride over to work or sit in traffic over the bridge. I am thinking though that this might be a great place for my B&B.

From there we went to the fort that was built to protect Auckland during both World Wars. It was absolutely beautiful. The kids loved going through all of the tunnels and walking around.

Ok, well, I can only post a few pictures of the fort. I guess I have met my quota. I will post more tomorrow.

First Week in Auckland

2009-08-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. Thank you for being patient with me on posting. Due to the fact that I am still using McDonald's wi-fi, this post will be short and lacking of pictures. We have taken quite a few, but the connection is slow....

A lot has happened this week.

When we first landed Mike's boss met us at the airport and took us to his favorite coffee house/pub (depending on time of day) for a cup of coffee. We were so happy to be off that plane and the first place we went was on the beach. St. Heliers is the name of the area. From there he took us to our apartment for the next two weeks. Very nice by apartment standards. We stayed up as late as we could manage and still woke up at 4am the next morning. I would say though by Thursday everyone was on schedule.

Mike went to work on Tuesday and the kids and I spent the week looking at houses and touring the area. I got use to the driving pretty quickly. I still have moments of panic, but all in all it was much easier to pick up than I expected. Also, getting around is really easy. The road signs here are great, so getting lost is almost impossible. Now, that's in the Auckland area....I have no idea what it's like once we venture out. We climbed a volcano (I forgot the camera) and swam A LOT while Mike was a work.

In looking at houses I have found that we are going to have to get a fridge and washer. Most people don't use a dryer, they hang their clothes out. I know, it's like...the 70's or something. I will do my best, but I would imagine that I will also be buying a dryer to go with that washing machine. We finally found something on Saturday. It's back in St. Heliers the first town we went to. It's a walk to the beach and shops....beautiful home and patio area. There are 5 bedrooms so for those of you who wish to visit, come on we have the space. I think the biggest selling point was the pool table. Mike and the kids have high standards when it comes to home selection. They saw that and it was over.

The biggest difference here so far as the every day life goes is the food. Most people shop for just a few days. Food doesn't have preservatives and what not, so it spoils very quickly. It's wonderful and Mike and I have already lost some weight. (well that and the fact that New Zealanders think it's funny to put the bathrooms at the top of land masses......so the trudging I am sure has had something to do with it.) Almost every town has a fruit market, butcher and fish monger. There are grocery stores which I found out the hard way are in the malls. Weird. Over all the food is amazing. Our biggest struggle has been the measurements for the kids insulin. Assuming that they even put serving sizes on the packaging, it's all in metric. I have been displaying my prowess in metric math by dumping out the entire container of whatever and measuring it in cups and dividing it by servings. The kids are amazed or ashamed, one of the two.

The other big difference I have noticed right off the bat is the amount of exercise everyone gets. I have to say that the Northwest is probably the most active area in the US (yes even more so than Va. Beach), but New Zealand puts it to shame. Everyone is out running, biking, rollerblading, walking, hiking, sailing, surfing...it's just a way of life. And when I say everyone, it's everyone. Not just people between the ages of 18 and 28. Mike and I discussed how we feel like the "fat Americans", but I am sure we will get over it soon. I think it's just more that the people here take the time to enjoy their lives. For example, Mike's school locks the doors at 9pm during the week and 5:30 on Fridays. There is no going in on the weekend to catch up, or staying late. When you leave, you leave.

The winter here is very mild. It's much like the Seattle summers, well except for the last week or so. (Can't believe the heat in the Northwest!!) We are wearing long sleeved shirts and sometimes a jacket with the wind. But it's been absolutely beautiful. The beaches are clean and the water is clear. I can't wait until I can go swimming.

The biggest sight seeing we did this week is on Sunday we went to Devonport. It's a seaside town across the bay from Auckland. We toured the town and went through the fort. Very cool and beautiful. And they put the toilets at the top....

Once we get moved in to the new house, I will have internet and will be able to keep up with the blog better. I will most likely just do a posting of pictures, so you can catch up. If anyone has any questions or things they would like for me to write about, please feel free to let me know.

Moving Day

2009-07-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

The movers came on Monday and it was a very long day of sitting and watching them do the things I normally do. We spent the day before separating everything from what's going, to what is staying, to what is being donated, to items that have been bought by friends. I had signs all over the place. I know those guys thought I was nuts. I had big ones that said things like "Bed frame and table only in this room" to little yellow sticky's that said "NO". The one pictured has two "no's"...it was to protect the liquor in the cabinet. The two guys got here just before 9am and left roughly around 8pm. They did a great job.

We got the very bad news today that they container weighed approximately 1,000 lbs more than we expected. We added quite a few items after the estimate, but I think it more had to do with the 50 sheets of paper they wrapped around every item. SERIOUSLY, I stood there and watched them wrap a pot lid with three huge pieces of brown wrapping paper. They wrapped the couches, the bikes....they wrapped everything. I guess if it's going to be on the container for a while it's best that everything is over wrapped, but dang. So, sadly we had to greatly reduce the insurance. Now just Mike's precious larger than life TV and his computers are covered. Everyone please take a second to pray for my pot lids, Marty's guitars, Kelsey's cows, and the 360. "Oh Lord, please be kind to the seas the days my family's 360 is on the water. Oh what would they do if they couldn't play Bioshock, Guitar Hero, or World at War?"

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent time with a few more friends saying goodbye. It was nice to catch up to those last few people.

Tomorrow will be a day of cleaning, dropping off Verizon "stuff", crying as I transfer way too much money to the movers, and a last dinner with the first people we met in our little neighborhood. Then on Friday, we are GONE, GONE, GONE!!!! Assuming all goes well at the airport. (If Marty doesn't start talking about guns or the full suitcase of diabetic supplies isn't mistaken for something other than what it is....)

My next post should be from Auckland, New Zealand. Thank you everyone for reading my blog so far.

Stay Tuned: Pictures of our temporary housing and surrounding area upon our arrival in New Zealand.

A Round of Goodbyes

2009-07-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

It was a fun weekend at the Porter's. We had a great time with those of you who could come by and say goodbye. We realize that we made the decision to have a party at the last minute. Those of you who couldn't join us, we missed you.

There was plenty of laughter and story telling. Funny how so many of us have crossed paths many times through the years....whether we knew it or not. The game industry is a small one and can be a harsh one to boot, but we have made some of the best friends anyone could ask for.

There were lots of kids and dogs. Jenny's dogs made me laugh all night. Those basset hounds are the coolest. The kids were fun too until I found the amazing amounts of empty soda cans and dirty food plates all over the basement. Side Note: The next morning, last minute packing day before the movers came, Mike about blew a vein in his forehead when he found his computers covered in arterial soda spillage spray from a dropped can.

We ended the evening with a lot of Rock Band. It was a trip seeing everyone crowd onto the couches so they could get their turn to sing or drum. I wish I had taken a picture of Matoko crumpin on the papasan chair....those of you who were there, you know what I mean. Also, see the picture of Arnold standing on my couch? He was threatening to do a stage dive. Sadly, only his daughter stood to catch him (she's also in the picture).

Mike, the kids and I had a wondeful time. Thank all of you so much for celebrating with us. If we had known all it took was for us to leave the country to get all of these great people together, we would have done it sooner. Wink Wink.

And to those of you who we have lunch plans with this week...we can't wait.

Coming Up Next: Moving Day (DUHN, DUHN, DUHN...if I could embed audio I would)

Porters are Packing

2009-07-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

We received a phone call two days ago that we met the requirements to move to New Zealand. Due to the fact that Mike's new employer is in dire need of him to arrive soon and GET TO WORK, we are moving quickly. The movers are coming on Monday July 20th and we are on a plane to Auckland July 24th.

It's been a long and tiresome process. From getting passports, complete medical physicals (having to lose weight QUICKLY because I didn't meet the weight minimums), having criminal background checks done and filling out what seems like endless reams of paperwork. Over all, I wouldn't say the process was difficult just...long....and daunting when you have little guidance on if you are doing everything correctly. The Consulate office in LA was very helpful though when I got over my fear of "am I asking too many silly questions?" or "they must think I am nuts".

We have sold almost everything in the house that isn't going with us. We had a couple of garage sales and plenty of friends in need of household items. I have spent yesterday and today going through old files, pictures, ornaments, and random items (do I REALLY need this....thing??) Having to purge and let go of so much has been kind of wonderful. Don't think the kids or Mike agree....but I love it. I am ready to let go of the old and make room for items that represent the new. Maybe a snorkel, pictures of my kids at the beach, or my kids new school uniforms.....