Published!!!
Most people do not have the will/desire to carry around a 4 pound camera on a bicycle trip.
The thirty+ tandem teams from our recent trip to New Zealand were invited to upload a dozen photos each (or was it two dozen?) to make a collective photo album. A local artist was then given the task of selecting the best photos (and cropping/finishing them) for inclusion in said album. I have not counted, but I believe 20 of my photos made the final cut.
In case that first link did not work, here's a link to the Santana Website.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Beware the Ides of April…
I am told I have picked up a few new readers, so I feel obligated to write something. I usually tell people that one can tell how busy I am at work by how frequent the posts appear. So, in case the reader had not noticed: I am still busy at work.
Also, there is not much going on that has been worthy of writing.
Some updates:
Yes, that last post was an April Fools joke.
No, the New Zealand thing was not a joke. Okay, the part about the sheep was a joke…I tried shearing a sheep in New Zealand, and did not have much affinity for it. The sheep kept flinching, which made me flinch, which resulted in a very poorly sheared sheep. I would require several years of training to make a living raising sheep.
But we really are considering a move to New Zealand. I will be writing the CAOP in June (they do not “take tests” in Kiwi), which requires a trip to Auckland (or London, or any city in Australia). To prepare for said exam, I have spent the last couple of weeks studying British therapeutics. Surprisingly, most of the book has been a review. (Surprising mostly because I do not remember ever opening a textbook whilst in pharmacy school.) I am waiting on a few more books which are being shipped from the far corners of the earth.
“Why New Zealand?” You ask...The copyrighted text below was borrowed from this book. Mr. Publisher: Please appreciate the free plug I have given your book…or at least send me a warning letter before suing me.
I am told I have picked up a few new readers, so I feel obligated to write something. I usually tell people that one can tell how busy I am at work by how frequent the posts appear. So, in case the reader had not noticed: I am still busy at work.
Also, there is not much going on that has been worthy of writing.
Some updates:
Yes, that last post was an April Fools joke.
No, the New Zealand thing was not a joke. Okay, the part about the sheep was a joke…I tried shearing a sheep in New Zealand, and did not have much affinity for it. The sheep kept flinching, which made me flinch, which resulted in a very poorly sheared sheep. I would require several years of training to make a living raising sheep.
But we really are considering a move to New Zealand. I will be writing the CAOP in June (they do not “take tests” in Kiwi), which requires a trip to Auckland (or London, or any city in Australia). To prepare for said exam, I have spent the last couple of weeks studying British therapeutics. Surprisingly, most of the book has been a review. (Surprising mostly because I do not remember ever opening a textbook whilst in pharmacy school.) I am waiting on a few more books which are being shipped from the far corners of the earth.
“Why New Zealand?” You ask...The copyrighted text below was borrowed from this book. Mr. Publisher: Please appreciate the free plug I have given your book…or at least send me a warning letter before suing me.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Dear friends,
It is with some sadness that I tender my resignation, effective immediately. After much inner probing, I have decided to accept a position with the American Panascope Corporation, and will soon begin overseeing development/production of a new generation of surgical tools.
I shall miss our building, and all of its inhabitants. I would miss the florescent lights, but I understand my new company has a pretty decent set.
With the time I have spent at Prescription Solutions, I leave here knowing that I can get the job...but can I do the job?
It is with some sadness that I tender my resignation, effective immediately. After much inner probing, I have decided to accept a position with the American Panascope Corporation, and will soon begin overseeing development/production of a new generation of surgical tools.
I shall miss our building, and all of its inhabitants. I would miss the florescent lights, but I understand my new company has a pretty decent set.
With the time I have spent at Prescription Solutions, I leave here knowing that I can get the job...but can I do the job?
Monday, March 23, 2009
The worst day tandeming...
1) Planned weekend ride down to San Diego a few days too early (when the forecast called for 80 degrees of sunshine).
2) Issued traffic citation for running a stop sign in San Clemente. Yes, I was riding a bicycle, and I got a ticket. I hear it's a $205 fine. (I shouldn't complain that much, as I probably ran 30 stop signs before that one).
3) Had to stop at every stop sign for the remaining 60 miles to San Diego.
4) Developed excruciating pain in knees.
5) Too cold for giant tortoises to come out of their barn.
5) Next day: Horrible wind on the return ride; 10 miles in the rain. Ran over glass; big hole in tire. Had to change tube in the rain. [Having had enough of Amtrak (see numerous other posts), and because the Coaster does not run on Sundays, we decided to ride halfway home (to Oceanside), then catch Metrolink.]
6) Call from work during otherwise uneventful train ride to Santa Ana. In case you are wondering, a tandem fits fabulously on a Metrolink train. Your only potential obstacle might be navigating the bike through the station(s)...this is not a problem in either Oceanside or Santa Ana.
7) Sidewall blowout in Santa Ana; no more tubes. Stoker hopped on bus home; I got bored and kept walking...for 5 miles until stoker reappeared with the car.
On the bright side, we rode pretty close to 150 miles over 2 days, which might be a record for us. Ran into Grant (sans stoker) from New Zealand at the edge of Camp Pendleton...and then Grant bought us breakfast. Thanks Grant! [To clarify, Grant is from Carlsbad, not New Zealand. We just happened to meet him last month in New Zealand. The photo below is from the historical archive--I believe that's a blurry Bill McCready off to the right.]
1) Planned weekend ride down to San Diego a few days too early (when the forecast called for 80 degrees of sunshine).
2) Issued traffic citation for running a stop sign in San Clemente. Yes, I was riding a bicycle, and I got a ticket. I hear it's a $205 fine. (I shouldn't complain that much, as I probably ran 30 stop signs before that one).
3) Had to stop at every stop sign for the remaining 60 miles to San Diego.
4) Developed excruciating pain in knees.
5) Too cold for giant tortoises to come out of their barn.
5) Next day: Horrible wind on the return ride; 10 miles in the rain. Ran over glass; big hole in tire. Had to change tube in the rain. [Having had enough of Amtrak (see numerous other posts), and because the Coaster does not run on Sundays, we decided to ride halfway home (to Oceanside), then catch Metrolink.]
6) Call from work during otherwise uneventful train ride to Santa Ana. In case you are wondering, a tandem fits fabulously on a Metrolink train. Your only potential obstacle might be navigating the bike through the station(s)...this is not a problem in either Oceanside or Santa Ana.
7) Sidewall blowout in Santa Ana; no more tubes. Stoker hopped on bus home; I got bored and kept walking...for 5 miles until stoker reappeared with the car.
On the bright side, we rode pretty close to 150 miles over 2 days, which might be a record for us. Ran into Grant (sans stoker) from New Zealand at the edge of Camp Pendleton...and then Grant bought us breakfast. Thanks Grant! [To clarify, Grant is from Carlsbad, not New Zealand. We just happened to meet him last month in New Zealand. The photo below is from the historical archive--I believe that's a blurry Bill McCready off to the right.]
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A brief review of what I can remember of New Zealand:
(I put together a little album that's supposed to go along with this, but the pictures got a little scrambled, I'll try to fix it tomorrow.)
1) We arrived a day early (for the pre-pre tour), spending an extra night in Wanaka.
2) We took a solo ride around a nearby lake (49k) to try things out. I stopped to take pictures of some sheep.
3) For the first full day of the pre-tour, the group rode from Wanaka over the Crown Range ("The highest paved road in New Zealand" turned out to not be entirely true--some of it is not paved). After the impossibly long descent, we stopped to watch some of the braver members of the group bunjee jump; then on to Queenstown for a couple of days. Summer luging atop some mountain above Queenstown preceded dinner atop the same mountain.
4) 29 mile ride to Glenorchy where we went jet boating, hiked, then road in a 4wd bus through Lord of the Rings territory. It started raining while I tried to shear a sheep. There was an optional ride back along the same route, but it was raining so we all opted for the bus (bikes in a Budget truck). This 29 mile ride seemed more difficult than the previous day's climb.
5) Ride from Queenstown to Arrowtown and back. Then we boarded a 737 to Christchurch for the official start of the tour. We were picked up at the airport by Antarctic exploration vehicles which drove us to dinner at the "South Pole"--the hopping off point for most Antarctic research. Weirdest meal I've ever eaten. We had two courses in a room with a penguin tank (the penguins were not out), then got up and moved to another room where the lights would cycle on and off every few minutes (the other half of the group did this in reverse).
6) Biked around the crater in Christchurch. Took a ferry across the harbor (rather than biking all the way around), and got rained on for the first time. (My wife's notes say we had our 3rd flat tire on this ride). Took guided walking tour of Christchurch in the rain. Christchurch is beautiful even in the rain: very green, and flowers all around. Had dinner at St. Germaine with ChiChi and stoker. 5 courses + 2 bottles of wine in an expensive French restaurant came out to around $50 US per person. I began enjoying the strength of the almighty dollar.
7) Left Christchurch by train. The optional 100 mile ride (leaving from Arthur's Pass) was canceled due to inclement weather. We weren't planning on doing it anyway, but it turned out to be all downhill. I would have regretted not riding had it not been pouring rain. We stayed on the train until the end (forgotten the name of the town), watched the rain come down in sheets all through lunch at Speight's Ale House, then rode 30 (mostly dry) miles to our beach front hotel at Punakaiki. Tired of walking, we checked in and walked the half km to the pancake rocks/blowhole (which was not blowing at low tide). Beautiful sunset over the water followed by dinner which included Bill's "wine buffet".
8) If memory serves today was a wet ride from Punakaiki to a small airport up the coast where we caught a chartered airplane (with propellers) to Picton (or thereabouts). Wine tasting via bus on the way from the airport to Picton.
9) Bicycling through wine country today. I sort of believed the locals when we were told we would have a tail wind for the whole day; when Bill said it I knew it could not be true. Ended up with a headwind most of the day. Took a 2 km detour into Havelock, the green lipped muscle capital of the world. Too early for muscles, we just had coffee (also, muscles are scary). Lunch at Allan Scott Vineyard; surprisingly, no wine served with lunch.
10) Planned non-riding day. We chose the kayaking option (hiking and/or ocean cruise were the other choices). Flew out of Picton on chartered plane to Rotorua (North Island) after dinner at hotel.
11) Opted for the long ride--around whatever lake Rotorua is on, then up to the Buried Village for lunch. The ride back to Rotorua included a near single track dirt path up and then down through redwoods.
12) Raining again. All but 7 bikes skipped the ride to Tauranga and took the bus. Stopped at Rainbow Springs National Park, which is about the only place you can see a Kiwi (bird). Next stopped for a nature walk (in the rain) with New Zealand's own Kiwi Dundee; saw some glow worms, which are less impressive than they sound. Bus ride ended at Puka Park Resort (on the Bay of Plenty). Staying in Puka Park is like living in a tree house.
13) Biking around the Bay of Plenty. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a farm around here. We opted for the long ride yet again, which included only 2 ferry rides (as seen in the video at the beginning of the thread). This was perhaps 60 miles of the most fabulous cycling we have ever done...and the sun even came out for a while.
14) We opted to take the bike apart instead of going for an early morning ride. Long bus ride to Auckland; walked around Auckland for an hour and a half before dinner at the Sky Tower. Late flight out of Auckland got us home before we left.
All in all, a very different trip than what you would expect if you've done European trips with Santana. There was not much biking between hotels, few cute little towns along the way, and pretty much nothing flat. The roads are not the friendliest for tires (I lost track of how many flats we suffered), but the drivers are relatively pleasant (not Europe pleasant, but better than the US). The weather was less than ideal, though not horrible. I would call this trip a once in a lifetime experience, but my stoker says we can move there...
(I put together a little album that's supposed to go along with this, but the pictures got a little scrambled, I'll try to fix it tomorrow.)
1) We arrived a day early (for the pre-pre tour), spending an extra night in Wanaka.
2) We took a solo ride around a nearby lake (49k) to try things out. I stopped to take pictures of some sheep.
3) For the first full day of the pre-tour, the group rode from Wanaka over the Crown Range ("The highest paved road in New Zealand" turned out to not be entirely true--some of it is not paved). After the impossibly long descent, we stopped to watch some of the braver members of the group bunjee jump; then on to Queenstown for a couple of days. Summer luging atop some mountain above Queenstown preceded dinner atop the same mountain.
4) 29 mile ride to Glenorchy where we went jet boating, hiked, then road in a 4wd bus through Lord of the Rings territory. It started raining while I tried to shear a sheep. There was an optional ride back along the same route, but it was raining so we all opted for the bus (bikes in a Budget truck). This 29 mile ride seemed more difficult than the previous day's climb.
5) Ride from Queenstown to Arrowtown and back. Then we boarded a 737 to Christchurch for the official start of the tour. We were picked up at the airport by Antarctic exploration vehicles which drove us to dinner at the "South Pole"--the hopping off point for most Antarctic research. Weirdest meal I've ever eaten. We had two courses in a room with a penguin tank (the penguins were not out), then got up and moved to another room where the lights would cycle on and off every few minutes (the other half of the group did this in reverse).
6) Biked around the crater in Christchurch. Took a ferry across the harbor (rather than biking all the way around), and got rained on for the first time. (My wife's notes say we had our 3rd flat tire on this ride). Took guided walking tour of Christchurch in the rain. Christchurch is beautiful even in the rain: very green, and flowers all around. Had dinner at St. Germaine with ChiChi and stoker. 5 courses + 2 bottles of wine in an expensive French restaurant came out to around $50 US per person. I began enjoying the strength of the almighty dollar.
7) Left Christchurch by train. The optional 100 mile ride (leaving from Arthur's Pass) was canceled due to inclement weather. We weren't planning on doing it anyway, but it turned out to be all downhill. I would have regretted not riding had it not been pouring rain. We stayed on the train until the end (forgotten the name of the town), watched the rain come down in sheets all through lunch at Speight's Ale House, then rode 30 (mostly dry) miles to our beach front hotel at Punakaiki. Tired of walking, we checked in and walked the half km to the pancake rocks/blowhole (which was not blowing at low tide). Beautiful sunset over the water followed by dinner which included Bill's "wine buffet".
8) If memory serves today was a wet ride from Punakaiki to a small airport up the coast where we caught a chartered airplane (with propellers) to Picton (or thereabouts). Wine tasting via bus on the way from the airport to Picton.
9) Bicycling through wine country today. I sort of believed the locals when we were told we would have a tail wind for the whole day; when Bill said it I knew it could not be true. Ended up with a headwind most of the day. Took a 2 km detour into Havelock, the green lipped muscle capital of the world. Too early for muscles, we just had coffee (also, muscles are scary). Lunch at Allan Scott Vineyard; surprisingly, no wine served with lunch.
10) Planned non-riding day. We chose the kayaking option (hiking and/or ocean cruise were the other choices). Flew out of Picton on chartered plane to Rotorua (North Island) after dinner at hotel.
11) Opted for the long ride--around whatever lake Rotorua is on, then up to the Buried Village for lunch. The ride back to Rotorua included a near single track dirt path up and then down through redwoods.
12) Raining again. All but 7 bikes skipped the ride to Tauranga and took the bus. Stopped at Rainbow Springs National Park, which is about the only place you can see a Kiwi (bird). Next stopped for a nature walk (in the rain) with New Zealand's own Kiwi Dundee; saw some glow worms, which are less impressive than they sound. Bus ride ended at Puka Park Resort (on the Bay of Plenty). Staying in Puka Park is like living in a tree house.
13) Biking around the Bay of Plenty. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a farm around here. We opted for the long ride yet again, which included only 2 ferry rides (as seen in the video at the beginning of the thread). This was perhaps 60 miles of the most fabulous cycling we have ever done...and the sun even came out for a while.
14) We opted to take the bike apart instead of going for an early morning ride. Long bus ride to Auckland; walked around Auckland for an hour and a half before dinner at the Sky Tower. Late flight out of Auckland got us home before we left.
All in all, a very different trip than what you would expect if you've done European trips with Santana. There was not much biking between hotels, few cute little towns along the way, and pretty much nothing flat. The roads are not the friendliest for tires (I lost track of how many flats we suffered), but the drivers are relatively pleasant (not Europe pleasant, but better than the US). The weather was less than ideal, though not horrible. I would call this trip a once in a lifetime experience, but my stoker says we can move there...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Things to do when you're bored
Make a slide show of Bill McCready removing eleven tightly packed tandems (+ 11 tandem teams and a dozen other amused ferry riders) off the less than sizable Whitianga Ferry. Keep watching, and you can see another six or seven more go on back across the Bay of Plenty. Keep watching even longer, and it repeats a few times until the song ends.
[In retrospect, I probably should have ended the song when I ran out of photos.]
Make a slide show of Bill McCready removing eleven tightly packed tandems (+ 11 tandem teams and a dozen other amused ferry riders) off the less than sizable Whitianga Ferry. Keep watching, and you can see another six or seven more go on back across the Bay of Plenty. Keep watching even longer, and it repeats a few times until the song ends.
[In retrospect, I probably should have ended the song when I ran out of photos.]
So I'm not the only one calling them kiwi bucks.
``People are very worried about the global recession, about the meltdown we're seeing in emerging markets,'' said Danica Hampton, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand Ltd. in Wellington. ``People are bailing out of growth-sensitive currencies like the kiwi in favor of safe-haven currencies,'' she said, using the New Zealand's dollar's nickname.
Okay, maybe I'm the only one calling them kiwi bucks, but if you just call the New Zealand dollar "kiwi", someone might get confused.
``People are very worried about the global recession, about the meltdown we're seeing in emerging markets,'' said Danica Hampton, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand Ltd. in Wellington. ``People are bailing out of growth-sensitive currencies like the kiwi in favor of safe-haven currencies,'' she said, using the New Zealand's dollar's nickname.
Okay, maybe I'm the only one calling them kiwi bucks, but if you just call the New Zealand dollar "kiwi", someone might get confused.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
775 New Zealand photos shot with the new Pentax. They can be viewed by clicking here. The pictures are pretty much in chronological order (NZ is the oldest, then NZ2 then NZ3). Nico shot a few more with the other camera which she might be posting somewhere.
Many of them did not come out well, and it is unlikely that I'll have much time to edit them in the near future. If you see a picture you like, and you are interested in a high resolution version (I have jpegs in the 10 MB range and RAW in the 12 to 14 MB range), shoot me an email with the image number (or post your request in the comments field). If you have already given me an email address, and I said I would send something to you, I am certain that I will do that eventually; but it might be faster if you requested again as above.
PS: I think I took 200 pictures of Picton. Can you blame me?
Many of them did not come out well, and it is unlikely that I'll have much time to edit them in the near future. If you see a picture you like, and you are interested in a high resolution version (I have jpegs in the 10 MB range and RAW in the 12 to 14 MB range), shoot me an email with the image number (or post your request in the comments field). If you have already given me an email address, and I said I would send something to you, I am certain that I will do that eventually; but it might be faster if you requested again as above.
PS: I think I took 200 pictures of Picton. Can you blame me?
You'll dig it the most.
But you know what the funniest thing about New Zealand is? It's the little differences.
Examples?
In New Zealand, everything has a light switch. (If you're in a hotel, the light switch is probably labeled...to let you know what it does.) But here's the kicker: to turn something off, you push the switch down.
In New Zealand, environmentalists, such as this man, boast about having killed over 50,000 possums.
But you know what the funniest thing about New Zealand is? It's the little differences.
Examples?
In New Zealand, everything has a light switch. (If you're in a hotel, the light switch is probably labeled...to let you know what it does.) But here's the kicker: to turn something off, you push the switch down.
In New Zealand, environmentalists, such as this man, boast about having killed over 50,000 possums.
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