Nobody Walks in LA

Three years ago, it seemed kind of silly to get into a car and drive for a half hour (or longer) to go on a walk. [Note for those you do not speak Kiwi: A "walk" is what you would probably call a "hike"; except if it lasts longer than a day, then Kiwis call it a "tramp".] But since we're Kiwis now, we drive all over the country just to go walking; also, Jancie's favourite spot is getting a little boring.

And so we set off for the White Pine Bush Scenic Reserve, once again with Jason and family...and some friends of Jason and family. Asks friend of Jason: "Did you do much walking in the States?" I wasn't sure how to answer that question. Nico and I walked quite a bit: to dinner, around Chicago (or anywhere we were visiting, for that matter). Does city walking count? How long of a conversation do I want to have about walking while walking? So I told him I was from Los Angeles, then sort of described the scene from LA Story where Steve Martin gets in his car and drives next door to Marilu Henner's house. Anyway, I did not take many pictures on the walk, because Jancie would not get in her little piggyback carrier thing and insisted on walking most of the way (1.6 km). Here is a photo I have titled: "Jancie in the Forest".

In other news, Nico, Jancie, and I competed in our very first tandem race. Nico and I have been in plenty of organized tandem rides...and some of them have gotten a little competitive. But we were unprepared for an actual race. Some of the faster teams brought track wheels (with discs) for the time trial stages. We brought Jancie in a trailer. We were over an hour behind the winners in one of the road stages. We sat out the "Two across" stage which teamed up the fastest and slowest teams (and so on) because there was an odd number of bicycles. Here's some footage of the leaders.

NZ Tandem Tour #3

Some of you may remember that Nico and I used to take these really expensive tandem bicycle tours. Sadly, since moving to New Zealand, airfare (let alone the tours) are well beyond what we can afford. Fortunately, the tour organisers seemed to know we are broke, and have been bringing the tour to us every two years.

One would think I would have a lot of fantastic pictures of biking around Rotorua, the Coromandel, and Waiheke Island...but most of the photos I took were of Jancie, who spent the week finally deciding that walking is the best way to get around.

Although Nico and I were never superb cyclists, we tend to have a definite age advantage over the average tandem rider (or at least the average tandem rider on a Santana vacation), but pulling Jancie around has more than negated our age advantage. We were not quite the slowest bike going uphill; but we were definitely at the back of the pack on the flats and downhills.


FYI: All the pictures in this post were taken on Waiheke Island, which is about a 40 minute ferry ride from Auckland. The Santana Tour does not include Waiheke, and we had been meaning to tandem it for at least three years. The island is far more populated than I would have guessed and a bit hilly, but still pretty tandem friendly. The main attraction has to be the 18 wineries (more if you count those without tasting rooms, though there are also some pretty nice looking beaches scattered about. Anyway, our 3 year NZ anniversary just passed. I am happy that we are still able to find new places to visit.

Deco III

Alternate title: When You're Big in Japan 

The Laskos ended up getting sick just in time for our third Art Deco Weekend in Napier...which kept us at home for most of the weekend. Fortunately, Jancie was feeling well enough to put in an appearance at the Gatsby Picnic today, where she proved to be extremely popular.

So anybody who's anybody brings a gazebo to the Gatsby Picnic. I was trying to remember what I would have called a gazebo prior to moving to New Zealand, but I cannot. A tent, maybe? Nicole had big plans for our gazebo this year, but it ended up looking pretty bare (we'll blame it on  our poorly timed illnesses). People who take the picnic seriously have gazebos that look like this one.

We did have a cool location next to the Tom Parker Fountain. However, we found ourselves unprotected when Adolf Hitler showed up.

And then something really weird happened. Swimming in this fountain is remarkably popular. I cannot really say why, as it's not like it ever gets uncomfortably hot in Napier. So then I start wondering: Does the city council keep this fountain extra clean since they must know that the public uses it like a swimming pool? Then I start thinking: This is New Zealand; Jancie's favourite playground has a zip line.

So I think there are about three or four people who still read this blog, and the three or four people happen to not be on facebook. So let me offer my sincerest apologies to the three or four people who have patiently been waiting nearly six months for an update. First let me offer an excuse: Jancie took over my office, which forced me to move the desktop computer downstairs...it's a long walk. And call me old fashioned, but I find it uncomfortable to blog from a tablet.

And now an update: Some of you have been wondering what country we're living in these days. We are still in New Zealand. We spent last winter (summer in the northern hemisphere) in the US, but now we are back in New Zealand. I had to quit my job to get three months off, but ended up getting rehired 9with a promotion) when we returned. And another excuse: We've kind of fallen into a routine...not necessarily a boring routine, but a routine that doesn't lend itself to particularly blogging. I remember when I was ten I started keeping a journal. All my entries were like: "Went to school. Went over to my friend's house. Had dinner." I'd say my life has gotten a little less dull, but not enough to write a book about.

Anyway, I'll try to start posting weekly updates, and I'll try to make them interesting. The cruise ship is the most recent photo from the Pentax. It was taken from Bluff Hill, when the largest cruise ship to ever visit Napier was on its way out. A remarkably large crowd (for Napier) showed up to watch. And this must be what Janice looked like at the end of November.

Cousins

It is rare that anyone argues with me when I hand out pharmaceutical advice; I'm guessing this is because 1) Most people do not have any background knowledge of drugs and 2) If I don't know something, I'll look it up [Read: I am never rarely wrong]. But the one useful thing I learned while working on my first degree (in a genetics class) causes so much discussion (often heated), that I have been wondering if I should just keep it to myself. [Actually, I learned two useful things during undergrad, but the other one rarely comes up in conversation since I'm no longer in college.]
Everybody has an opinion about the definition of a second cousin. I suppose the area is a little gray because the term "cousin" is used so loosely (especially in New Zealand, where everyone is a "cous"). And I also suppose this shouldn't really bother me...but I like I said: 4 years of college, and this was the only useful thing I learned. So anyway, here's a cousin chart I found on the web. Genealogy.com has some relatively easy to follow info if you would like to do a little more reading.

On that subject, we ran into a whole bunch of long lost cousins while in the United States. [If anyone wants his/her likeness removed, you should of thought of that before looking at the camera*]. For the first time ever on takealotofdrugs.com: Jancie's second cousin!!! Born 2 weeks ahead of Jancie and 8200 miles away (as the crow flies). Also pictured: My first cousins (or my first cousin and his wife, in case anyone is pickier about this cousin thing than me).

Browsing through my photos, I have very few pictures of all of Jancie's other cousins (first, first once removed, second, second once removed...that might be it). Maybe Nico would like to add on some pictures of the non-Lasko side. If only she knew how to upload pictures to a blog...Here's one more of Jancie's first cousin once removed, and a rare sighting of his girlfriend. Sorry the picture is blurry, Steven. Come on out to NZ and we can do better. *That was a joke. Just shoot me a note if there are any objections. PS: Nobody reads my blog.

So it's still raining. Which means instead of gardening, I have time for another entry. I thought I would post something about "Places we have not been before". I suppose "we" should mean Nico and I...if we include Jancie, then that's just about everywhere. Anyway, here we are in Alaska. Okay, I lied...that's the San Diego Zoo.






We only made it as far north as Victoria. (I had been to Victoria as a teenager, but remarkably Nicole had not.) Here is a picture from the Butchart Gardens. It defies all earthly descriptions...and I think I should be trying for something like this in our backyard.

If I am not mistaken, Canada is the fifth country where I have run into Captain Cook. Unfortunately, my Captain Cook photos did not come out very well. Instead, here are Nicole and Jancie standing next to the statue, but the picture is of the Government House.

My mother's favourite thing to do on any vacation was to have afternoon tea at an expensive hotel. I'm actually not sure if the expensive hotel part was a requirement, but when you're in Victoria, the place to go is the Empress.

And I'm pretty sure it was less expensive 25 years ago than it is now, or I have no doubt that my parents would not have taken the kids. Speaking of which, I would not recommend attempting tea at the Empress with an eight month old.

Canada has taken too long. More on where else we haven't been later.

No posts since July; and even then I had not yet finished writing up our (then recent) trip to Sydney. It's raining today, and I don't start work for another month...so maybe I will be able to catch up. Biggest problem: Where does one start when trying to condense a three month holiday (and 800 pictures) into a few paragraphs? How about: Things to do in Red Bluff? If you had bothered to click that link, you would see that Red Bluff's motto is "A Great Place to Live". Having never lived there, I shall refrain from commenting...but if you are just visiting, there is not a whole lot to do. And it's really, really hot all the time. [Note, anything within an hour drive of Red Bluff will be considered as a thing to do in Red Bluff for the purposes of this post.]

1) Abbey of New Clairvaux--So there are these monks...and they make wine. It's not great wine, but it's wine, and it's not expensive. In addition to making wine, they are also (re)building an 800 year old monastery from stones that William Randolph Hearst brought to California from Spain.

2) Sierra Nevada Brewery--A fantastic tour; it's free, and they let you stick your hands in the hops. Warning: Most Sierra Nevada beers are very high in alcohol, and they make you taste like 10 of them...and they pour each one in a different glass so they can pour them really quickly to make room for the next tour.


3) Try to take a portrait of Jancie. Jancie does not like cameras...and I am not a very good photographer. Here is my best effort.

Note: I have since decided that my favourite Jancie photo was taken outside the Bahai'i Temple (which is nowhere near Red Bluff).

BART, BART

Since I seem to have a very long commute for the near future, I thought I would figure out how to blog on the phone. Don't expect a lot of pictures. And sorry for the typos: I don't see a spell check option.

So we've been Stateside for about 5 weeks. The first month was spent in a tiny studio in Sunset Beach. If you can't afford Newport (and we couldn't), Sunset is not a bad place to be.

I bought a really cheap car...which has become a more expensive car over the last few weeks, but it's running pretty well now.

I worked a little bit at a long term care pharmacy in the OC, and a couple of days at a very busy independant in LA. Long term care is kind of dull. Next door to said busy pharmacy was a kosher falafel restaurant. The things you won't see in New Zealand. Other independant pharmacy highlights: I counselled a star from a popular nineties sitcom...except I didn't know who he was until he had left and one of the other pharmacists pointed him out.

So now we're in San Francisco. The temp agency promised more work up here, and we almost have a free place to stay in Berkeley. The hospital is due to be torn down; the pharmacy is by far the smallest I've ever worked in, and some of the outpatient clinics look like something from a horror movie. But it's been a good experience. If nothing else, it has reminded me why I stopped working in hospitals...and to a lesser extent, why we moved to New Zealand.

A couple of more notes: BART has gone down hill in the last 5 years. I can't believe this many people are on the train at midnight.

Laughing at the sunrise like he's been up all night In case you missed it, the family and I are spending the Summer in the States. Yes, the whole Summer. We're trying to Avoid winter this year...yes, it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere right now (at least it is in New Zealand, other countries might start winter at some other time). So far, this has not felt like a vacation. We've been here one week, and fortunately have found a place to live (it's tiny, but it's across the street from the beach); a car (it's old, and not terribly attractive, and I'm hoping it will last the Summer); and a job (for me, Nicole gets to baby sit--sadly, there is not currently a huge demand for pharmacists). I'm starting work on Monday, so it will probably feel even less like a vacation after that. Here are a couple photos of the sun going down across the street.

The Blue Mountains