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MC Hammer vs Black Eyed Peas vs Reel 2 Real

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better :)

Hammer time

Hi all,

I am just here procrastinating about working on my project and was surfing the internet. I am sure everyone knows how that is? So I just realize that MC Hammer is in town (Auckland) doing some promotion for tweeter!... If anyone remembers the 80s... you hate it and you love it!... admit it, there is some weirdness going on there during that period. Anyway, if you know MC Hammer, you would know the "Hammer time!" and those pants! Enjoy...

Memories

Hi everyone,

We (Hannah and I) was sitting by the window watching the sunset, sipping our wine and talking about our fond memories in FIT. I thought it would be a neat idea to share it with all of you, remembering yesterday once more...

1) John...
Remember the first time we went to Blue Grotto to try out Hannah and your new drysuit. You got stuck to the ceiling in the cavern and Hannah went to help you and got stuck there as well. I was laughing so hard in my regulator. I insist on taking a picture of both of you stuck on the ceiling before we decide what to do to save both of you from bolting to the surface! And on another dive in Peacock Spring, right after the Blur Grotto event, your words are " I will never bolt to the surface again!" and again, you bolt to the surface when we came out of the cave... I was again, laughing so hard that I nearly lost my buoyancy as well...

2)Yaprak (Leaf)...
Remember the first time we partied together?... you were so drunk that you knock Hannah's lamp over. She was in Room B105, Southgate then. Your words "I am so sorry!"... we just feel so sorry but it was really funny!... then there was the time you had half a brownie... that was the time we decided that you should not have any more brownie again!... And as always you have to remove your SCUBA tank underwater when you dive to re-adjust the strap...

3) Patt...
Oh... how can we forget... the 3-phrase Patt... 1st phrase Patt... the Patt who say everything that ends with the word "mang!", 2nd phrase, Patt loves everybody and how much he regret not listening to our advise and 3rd phrase... Patt becomes quiet and finally he passed out!... However, we will never forget the party at Jessie Tan's place where we made a video, writing words of wisdom all of his face and put a snake on his body....

4) Jessie Tan...
The diving... the person who always puke on the boat without fail. Remember the time when you got caught by the fisherman when we did the shore dive... and the time when we Leaf was seemed to be humping you while putting the weight belt on you... and the time, Leaf, and me had to pull and push you down in order to get you to descend into the water...

5) Nori...
The travelling drunk indicator... when the reddness reach the tummy, stop giving her alcohol... she is DRUNK!... remember the time we watched Kungfu Shaolin at my place... you had a bottle of wine, stood up and fell over... again, DO NOT ignore those indications!

6) Robyn and Mark...
Those crazy margarita... so nice and yet so deadly... those nights where we all were dead drunk because of those margaritas!... Mark and his 3-men game and awesome yellow wetsuit!

7) Amy and Kenny...
Mexican night! :)... you know it, Kenny knows it, we know it!... when you are drunk, you are too cute to describe... at least we know you hate some type of cake!... Poor Kenny had to take care of her the whole night... and the last party we had at their place was legendary!

8) Cheryl...
Memories of us in Jamaica... how can we forget? The time when I was so dumb and slow that how many times do you need to tell me that "WE NEED TO GO TOGETHER TO RELEASE THESE CREATURES BACK TO THE LAGOON"

9) Rachel...
You will always be remembered in our Tequila parties.. the only person who threw up in the chip bowl...TWICE!

10) Neptune...
Those days when you were just a Padawan... you had to go into the river and push the kayak, and I was shouting " Neptune, I can see your head... I can see you ... hide yourself... " and the time we were shooting at the airport with the mirrors..."Just face this way, don't ask too many questions" and the first time we met on the Final Cut Pro editing program test... with a ruler in my hand :P...

11) Damla... (Leaf, you may have to tell her!)
Remember our good old days in Bahamas when you were the "PR manager"?... the Captain who you flirt with in order to get us on the night dive? and the night we added Vodka to Steven's wine and we were all laughing when we was hitting on you!

Ohhh..... memories... anyone else have any fond memories I forgot?

s

Great Barrier Island Habitat Mapping

Hi everyone,

Sometimes, we (Hannah and I) sat on the deck, drinking our morning coffee and wonder how is everyone doing? Well, how would we know if you guys NEVER post any blog? :P

Anyway, last week was hell week for Hannah - 4 exams, 3 lab reports and have to take care of the new puppy... and to make things even worse, I have to go out to sea for a couple of days for my project. One of the projects I am working on now is mapping of the underwater habitat of Great Barrier Island (GBI). GBI is 90km northeast of central Auckland. The surveys are done with an underwater camera (no diving) which is mounted on a tripod. The 45-foot boat is very new, very modern and comfortable.



The view around GBI is great with tons of sealife. We enchored in the middle of a fiord during the evenings to get away from the waves. The view in the fiord was even more incredible.

Now, my work really starts after the surveys. I have to put together satellite images and video surveys using ArcGIS.

It was delightful to get home after the surveys... spring is here... the vineyard are blooming, the trees are green and there are flowers everywhere...

Lets pretend its still July

Hey everybody!

Ok, so its been a long time coming, but its finally here. The day where I write a post on this thing, and the pictures of our new home. They are mostly on facebook because I got a bit excited and took too many, but I'll give you some other ones with stories on here and perhaps some panoramas ok?

Alright. so lets get started. In the beginning, which would be considered by linear time enthusiasts as July 10th or thereabouts, at approximately 5 am local time, we landed in New Zealand at the Auckland Airport. I was feeling cheesy so I took the classic out the plane picture which enables you to see nothing, but just believe me, its Auckland.


Later that day we went over to the island, and our very nice real estate agent met us at the ferry, and then she drove us all around and we looked at lots and lots of houses. Some of them were kinda scary as they were very old and rather moldy. But we saw one that we kinda liked and so we had sorta figured that we would end up living there.

Except.

I mentioned to Cathy (the real estate lady) that I loved houses that were described as having character. When we were still in states we spent long hours on trademe (New Zealand's version of ebay/craigslist) looking at houses, and I noticed that whenever the descriptions said that the house was full of character, it was usually one that I liked. At the time, I was only making conversation and had no idea what sort of ramifications this comment would result in.

Cathy laughed and then looked thoughtful for a moment.
"You know," she said, "I happen to have a house that is just full of character, and it will be available very soon..."

She shook her head and added, "But it doesn't come furnished at all like you wanted, and the current tenent isn't even out of it yet. If I show it to you, I know that you will want it though. Do you want to see it?"

Of course I said yes. And once we saw it, even though the drive up to it involved an extremely long steep hill, and even though the lady who lived there had stuff all willy-nilly so it was hard to see much else, and even though the house didn't even come with a fridge, we were in love. We told Cathy we needed to think about it, and we would get back to her the next day.

We didn't even make it an hour before we called her back and said we wanted it. We had the paperwork filled out by the end of the next day, and that weekend she told us we could move in. And this brings me to the second chapter of our story: Moving Day



The Saturday that we had chosen to move in was not an auspicious day. As a matter a fact, it was a gale. We heard it described as the storm of the century by several people. (As a side note though, I've now heard this multiple times about multiple storms, so I don't know how much weight I would put on that comment) Regardless, it was really windy. It was raining sideways. And we had to find furniture by that night.

We had scoped out all the garage sales occurring that weekend all around the island, and were planning on visiting them all to get furniture. We had also rented a truck. It was huge.


So here we are driving around the island in the middle of this horrible storm and there are several factors that made it even worse. First of all, they drive on the other side of the road here, so Sonny had to remember how to do that. Second of all, the roads on the island are very narrow and very verry twisty. Third, the defog on trucks windshield didn't work. All of these together added up to create this:


But we got it done. There are some more crazy stories from moving, mostly relating to a bed, and some to petrol, but this is getting really long, so they will have to wait. Ok, i will leave you with some views from my ocean-facing balcony. They are panoramas that I stitched together.

San Diego and Invertebrates

Hey guys,

A quick update from San Diego -- I'm all moved in to my adorable one-bedroom apartment in a beige three-story hexagonal building less than a mile from school. Photos of the apt will come, later, when I've comfortably feng shui'd my future couch. Most of the residents are grad students, or at least students, and everybody is friendly. There's a lot of bonding in the jacuzzi. Haven't talked to any other divers yet, though :D.

San Diego = gorgeous. The picture up above is of campus, which itself is kind of what FIT would like to look like once it gets to 3X its current size. The weather is just like Florida, with one major exception: NO HUMIDITY! It's pretty much perfect, since it gets nice and cool at night. California always smells piney to me, and here it's mixed in a bit with the sea.

A row of California palm trees at La Jolla Beach. Seriously, it's like living in the Bahamas, with 5-lane highways. Which reminds me: I have a car. Her name is Rosarita, and I love her.

Now, to the original point of this post: classes. More specifically, professors. Actually, one in particular. Watch this if you have a moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvhlq-KEmA

That's my Chemical Ecology prof. I kind of can't wait to start reading papers for my classes... it's Microbiology heaven.

More later. Wish you all a happy start of the school year or, to those of you across the international date line, a Prosperous and Efficient September.

<3.

Nori

The Carrier

Hello Everyone,

I feel that Sonny has more than kept everyone up to date on the events on his life so....MAYBE intoxicated and a little out of it. I will address the occurrences in my life. Last weekend I visited the Harry S. Truman.... for those that do not know, it is an aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy!!!! Pretty awesome, my brother is stationed on the HST until October. I was able to take some time off to visit him, my niece, nephew, and sister-in-law, etc. It was amazing! We saw fighter jets (f18's) land less than 30ft from us. The pics can't tell you how awesome a sight this was!! Then I traveled to Boston to lock down an apartment. I went alone, (quite a new experience), but worked out. I will be living in Brighton! Less than 30 min by metro, and even less by bus/bike to Boston University! I've started to read a book on where to dive in the Boston/Massachusetts area, though, it sucks that it won't be with any of you. I surely hope that I'll be able to find good dive buddies. You will be forever in my mind.

-John

Check your tire and spare tire regularly

Dear my comrades,

On last Friday, I went to the rock climbing gym. I found out that my car got flat tire. As I went open the trunk to get my spare tire. I found out that it's very bumpy and some of its parts were shredded off. With my grab-shit-better-than-fart principle, I decided to put that spare tire on and forced on driving. It didn't last long though. At somewhere on NASA blvd, I had to park my car.

Mike and Adams were kind enough to come by and brought fix n' flat spray in attempting to fix the original tire. Turned out it didn't work because it was the side wall that leaked. Fortunately, I had AAA membership, so they sent the mechanic to tow the car to Firestone. Next day I had Haiyun AKA ocean AKA cloud took me there to get my car fixed.

Now I still have to find a new (used) spare tire from somewhere since they no longer made it. If anyone ran across the spare tire for Mazda 626, please let me know.

Moral of the story

- Check spare tire condition regularly.

- Check the air on tire at least as often as filling the gas.

- Get AAA membership, it will save your soul.

First day of class

We finally survived the 2-day long journey to Auckland. We arrived here on July 11th, and against everything that I had planned, my class starts on July 13th, Monday!... The plane landed in Auckland airport at 6.00am local (Auckland) time, and the plan for the day was to try to look for apartments. We had already arranged a couple of viewings with estate agents. Fortunately, we did managed to catch a couple of hours of nap on the plane, so off we go!.... meeting the agent, and looking at several apartments around the region. There was a vodaphone booth in the airport, so we took the opportunity to buy a SIM card, and see if it worked on our US phone.. Viola!.. and it worked! At least we got the telecommunications matter settled. After looking around for half a day, we found something we really like and did the paperwork. Hopefully, we will hear the approval from the agent in a couple of days.

On Sunday, We took a short tour around the University which is located in the heart of the city. However, with all the greenery, and old buildings, you do not feel that you are in the middle of this metropolitan city. Next, we took the train to Tamaki campus which is located about 15 minutes away from the city campus. We wanted to take a look at that place because my first class on Monday starts there bright and early at 9am, and it end at 6pm!

Came monday, I woke up at 7am, took a shower, make sure that I smelled good and looked smart, and I am on my way to Tamaki campus for my first class. I reached the location at about 9am, and there were nobody there. I think to myself, maybe I should wait for a bit, and people would show up. It is about 9.33am I realized that no one was coming to class. I went to the admission office to find out what happened, and realized that the class was being held in the city campus. So away I went, on my way back to the city center. So for the first day of class, I missed th whole first half of the day!

The start of the rush!

Everything you see here (except the laptops) are for sale!

We started to pack a couple of days ago to get ready for our move to New Zealand. Between Hannah and I, we probably have 12 bags! There are so many more things to get rid off!.... I guess 5 years in Florida really stocks up a lot of things. There are lamps, pet's toys, lots of books, clocks, mirrors, blankets, TV, TV stand, air bed, plates, bowls, pots and pans and so many more things!.... We decided that we should have a sale...an unique bag sale. Everyone who comes to the sale pays $5. This entitles them to a Walmart bag which they can fill as many things as they want.... what a sale!...

The long journey!

It was a long journey, there were ups and downs, and emotions was running wild!... Firstly, Hannah's application took ages, then there were problems with my application, and there was a time which seemed that it was not going to happen. We talked about it, and decided that we would try to make it no matter how hard it is. It seems that the sweetest reward almost always require the most effort!

And today, finally, it is here!.. Our New Zealand student visa is here! For the past two days, we sneaked out of Melbourne, and went to pay our last visit to the caves in North Florida. Unaware that as we were diving deep in the caves, our student visa was on the way back to us. We came back home, tired and happy. And to our pleasant surprise, our student visa is here. Well, they were at Yaprak's place (we used her address as our forwarding address). Damla called us to inform the good news. Now what's left to do is to pop the champagne, sell our stuffs, pack our bags, say good-bye to good friends, and we will be on the plane to New Zealand on July 9th 2009!

Vince is my new hero!

So, I am sure everyone has seen the "Rap chop". Funny thing is it really makes me want to go out and get a slap chop!... Hannah and I are going out next week to get one for our trip to NZ, and definitely getting th sham-wow along as well!.. Here is the original infomercial.... watch it and tell me you definitely want one!

New job and moving on

Hey all just letting you know that I have accepted a position with another company that does smart home installations and planning which means I'm departing FIT. I'm am now the project manager and head of engineering for AVA Design Group, its pretty cool stuff :). Anyhow it has been a pleasure working with those of you in the ACC the past year and I will definitely keep on the blog to stay in touch.

For those still working at FIT its been a blast this summer and I wish you pleasant working experiences and don't give Jen too much trouble ;). Thank you all for making my life easy and very enjoyable as a new manager, you all are what gets me through my days there and you will be missed. So hooray for moving on.... but hey I'll still be at school for classes so I'll visit the lab to say hi haha. Anyways theres my new news and for our traveling friends stay safe guys! :)

"Rap Chop" featuring Vince (Steve Porter's Slap Chop remix)

People, blame it on the fact that there is just too much time on my hand! I came upon this video, and Hannah was saying I need to share this with everyone! Remember "Headset" Vince - the guy who was selling Sham-wow on TV? Do you know he also sells a device call "Slap Chop"? Crank up the audio and enjoy!

Iron Mountain photos

Hi gang,

I think I send everyone a link to the pictures of our wonderful adventure in Iron Mountain. However, if I miss anyone, here is the link to take a look at the photos again....

Iron Mountain trip photos

See you tomorrow evening at Robyn and Mark's house warming party....

s

Last night in Iron Mountain

Hannah's official offer from University of Auckland

Tonight is the last night in Iron Mountain. We will be leaving tomorrow for Florida at about 4am in the morning. We are happy, excited and yet there is a tint of sadness. Happy and excited that we will be back in Florida, and moving another step forward in going to New Zealand.

The last few days in Iron Mountain was fabulous. We climbed up the ski jump. International skiers come here every year to compete against each other. We also went on a 15-mile hiking and camping trip with Hannah's siblings, Grace and Dominic. It was really awesome.

I have uploaded the whole trip photos. Check it out on the picasa album (it should be updated in the previous post).

Oh yes, and Hannah finally received her written confirmation from University of Auckland. We were both really happy and relieved... now we will start the process of applying for the student visa. wish us good luck...
















Getting ready for 15-mile hike and camp

10 things you DIDN'T know about orgasm

"Cheese crumbs spread in a cage of a pair of copulating mice will distract the female, BUT not the male" Alfred Kinsey, biologist

"I toss myself regularly so that fresh ones can always be made" Roy Evans, sexologist

Enjoy :)

Glad I'm Not Insane -- Thanks Amy!

Hi all! Robust and hearty greetings from Columbus, Georgia, where I am stationed for the summer. 

Just  wanted to share with you all quick highlights of the drive back, 'cause I took pictures. It was so exciting. Not kidding. Definitely not joking. Melbourne to Columbus = 8 hours.

I hear you've had some rain in Melbourne lately, beginning with the Wall of Water on Monday. That's what it looked like going north on I-95 that day... some extensive road work and some rain -- but not too bad! 

It got worse. As in... worse. Couldn't see the car two car-lengths in front of you worse. Global warming melting all the glaciers and raining the equivalent onto Florida worse.

Ok, it wasn't THAT bad. Drove 45 MPH for an hour, then it cleared up a bit. But it was the heaviest rain I've ever driven through, on a two lane highway with extensive road work!

Some other things of note on the drive: saw a family of bunnies by the side of the road, waiting for their friend who had gotten run over to get up. 

That was sad. 

This is a little less sad: somebody had an orange accident! These fruits were strewn across both sides of the road, with workers running around looking at the mess. Apparently it takes three cop cars and a couple of white kidnapping vans (all-white, no windows) to keep cars from smushing Floridian jewels on the highway. 

I wonder if they got them all up... sort of reminds me of the time freshman year when we stopped dead on 528 back home for a half hour. The reason? A herd of cows.

Anyway, so the drive was semi exciting. More to come in the Life of Nori. I'm actually pretty proud of myself and the car for making it the whole way... :). 

Hope you all are well and doing beautiful things in beautiful places. I miss Melbourne already!

Nori

PS. It's been a ridiculously long time since I've blogged - ages - and I've been rereading some stuff. Ahhhh, the memories.... like freshman year on the infamous 5th Floor of Roberts Hall.

PPS. Speaking of beautiful places, I'm putting up pictures on Facebook of my travels earlier this year, and you should go check 'em out.  

Photos from Iron mountain

Hey gang,

Don't really take enough photos, but here are some from the iron mountain trip.... will update daily. Take a look when you have time.... :)

s

Little adventure in Huge mine

Hannah at the top of the collapsed mine...


Hi gang,

It's hard to put how beautiful Iron Mountain is in words. We were walking around everywhere yesterday and today. We were hiking in Lake Fumee yesterday, and today we decided to go explore this collapsed mine in Millie Hill. It's hard to describe how huge the place is, and the pictures are only able to show part of it...

So the adventure begins after we climbed about 250 feet down into the collapsed mine. Then we had to climb over huge boulders for a 1/4 mile, which took us a few hours to get to the other side of the huge pit. There are still some ice at the bottom as the temperature is still quite cold way down there. After that, we said "we are done with the exploring, let's head out!" and we decided to take another route out, which involves doing a bit of rock-climbing up a wall.... half way up, we decided that it is probably not a great idea, as we do not have a support rope, and if we were to fall, it would not be a pretty sight!... well, I got off the wall, and Hannah slipped while she was climbing down!... Our hearts were beating faster than a speeding train!... Holy cow!... Eventually, she managed to get down safely, and everything ended well.

Until the next adventure!














Me at the bottom of the collapsed mine...















Hannah at one of the ice/ snow at the base of the collapsed mine. Look at how small she is with reference to the ice/ snow!

Rockets launching in Sheboygan

The mountaineer rockets with their "Helios" and the highly-energized teacher!



Hey gang,

Hannah and I are in Iron Mountain, Michigan (Hannah's hometown) now visiting her parents and siblings. The last couple of times that I was here were in the Winter and all I have memories of Iron Mountain was it is cold and snow everywhere.... it was beautiful, but I am a bit tired of the snow, and taking 20 minutes to dress up every time we go out. Anyway, it is spring now, and the weather is PERFECT!.. Birds are flying and chipping everywhere, the ground and trees are bright green, and flowers blooming everywhere....

Yesterday, we went to see Grace (Hannah's younger sister) participate in the High School Rocket competition in Sheboygan (Hannah was trying to make me pronounce this properly)... Their team came in FIRST PLACE!.. Congrats to them!... The competition is interesting - seeing middle school and high school rockets launching into the air, meeting the highly-energized teacher of Grace, and a 2-hour prize giving ceremony! etc. The only disappointing part was they ended up not launching Grace's rocket because the wind was ripping all the rockets apart!...
















Hannah and her mom posing with the control panels from the old Apollo control central

First post

Hey Everyone,

I thought I'd break the ice and do the first post. Plus, the pic is a little reminder of what is to come at Robyn and Mark's housewarming party!

Welcome to Blogspot; it's pretty easy to navigate, and it'll be great for us to keep in contact when we're all on different continents. Everyone can post recent pictures, ideas, plans, memories, you name it. It also makes planning get-togethers a bit easier than 365 gmails back and forth!

See you all the 29th!

Amy