The wedding planning blues

Wedding planning is never easy, even when it seems straightforward. My girlfriend and I wanted a simple ceremony and a party for 50 people, all at the same venue, with a decent amount of food and drink for all.

Never mind that costs are horrendous ($4,500 for 4/5 orderbs PER person?!), it's amazing how picky guests can also get, especially considering they are not paying for anything. We're nearly at the "you'll eat what we tell you and drink what we have" stage.

Just slightly over a month to go ... wish us luck.

Incompetence Day

Today:

* Our curtains for the new house arrived, minus several essential pieces we paid for (Curtain Supermarket, you suck)
* Our new couch arrived, minus one piece AND the delivery people came earlier than they said AND it's not even our real couch, it's a temporary one that they've sent us because our real couch is taking too long to arrive) ... (Harvey Norman, you suck)
* Yvette had a fight with the owner of our building company because they are both incompetent and liars. They've promised us several bits that they later forgot about, including fences, soil around the property, a heat pump, a mailbox, a tv aerial and a clothesline, not to mention putting wrong light fixtures in the hallway, the wrong closet sliders, and no phone jacks in the study (hence, no internet), and that's just the tip of the iceberg. (Landmark Homes, you really, really suck)

Just needed to get that off my chest.

The grass is greener on my own side (at least, it will be)

"I can't wait to see what you put in your blog about this ..."

Truly prophetic words from my girlfriend. Over the last two weekends, we've been working on creating a garden and sowing grass around our new house. The worst part of that has been dumping and raking soil all over our property in order to sow the grass seeds (and the make the land taller to meet the top edge of the concrete and the top of the concrete base of the house).

To be perfectly honest, I've never been a do-it-yourself hands-on kind of guy when it comes to either gardening or construction. I'm a web designed and content producer, my creations are virtual, mental or verbal. Still, I gave it my best and my girlfriend did as well (probably more than I did) and our grass in on the way, at least the first batch of it. Next week: more soil, more grass, start the garden.

I think one of the major differences between New Zealand and much of the rest of the world is that a large majority of people here live or have lived most of the lives in houses, as opposed to apartments, condominiums, duplexes, etc.

I've lived most of my life in apartments and I've gotten very used to the fact that spaces are smaller and people live right next to you, on the other side of the wall. This still seems to be an undesirable development here. Most kiwis are good neighbors, but they prefer a fence and a few meters between their properties. Can't fault them for that, after all, I think most people in the world can appreciate the value of more space. However, with the increasing population in the larger cities, Auckland especially, you have to wonder if this is an attitude that will undergo major changes in the near future. Many immigrants, especially people from superpopulated cities in Asia and Europe and comfortable with apartment living and see it as their natural way of life.

Even I get a little nervous when my girfriend talks about someday owning multiple acres. But maybe that's just because I can now imagine what it would be like to put grass on a property that large.

My back hurts just thinking about it.

The Great Kiwi Beer Debate: Tui

Name: Tui
Type: East India Pale Ale
Brewery: DB Breweries (though they still claim to be made at their own, iconic Tui Brewery)
Region of origin: Mangatainoka, in Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay, just north of Wellington.
Web site: www.tui.co.nz
Notes of Interest: Tui is a great beer for the simple reason that they have the best marketing in the country. They have a fantastic sense on humour. Not only do they have a top-notch web site, they are the creators of a highly popular billboard ad campaign known to all Kiwis. The billboard simply makes a statement (that is either an exaggeration or an lie) on one side and has the tag line "Yeah, right." on the other. Often the humour is very, very local. ("Starter family home in Remuera. Just $500,000 ... Yeah, right"). In some cases, they've even gotten a little political ("War will bring peace ... Yeah, right.") Needless to say, the ads have been very controversial in some cases, even in cases you would think aren't too controversial, such as "My daughter isn't like other girls .... Yeah, right." You can make your own here. Watch a Tui TV commercial here.
The brewer says: "As the legend has it, early in 1889, entrepreneur Henry Wagstaff stopped for a cup of tea at the banks of the Mangatainoka River. He found the water made the finest cuppa he'd ever tasted and decided this would be the ideal place to build a brewery. In that same year he bought land by the river and established Tui Brewery, Mangatainoka. His dream was to supply "export quality brews to beer drinkers around the colony" and his ales quickly earned a reputation for excellence, with the cry "Make mine a Wagstaff" heard throughout the taverns in and around Pahiatua in the Wairarapa. Despite being loved by the locals Tui remained pretty much a Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay secret until the 1990s, when Massey University Students adopted Tui as their preferred drop. This led to the expansion firstly through the lower North Island, then through the rest of the country. Today Tui is popular throughout the country with those who like nothing more than to sink a few beers and the chance to take-the-piss with their mates. Doing a Uni assignment on Tui? Well, why not pass for a change with our in-depth history and marketing."
RealBeer.co.nz says: "It might be 'skunky' but it still sells"
I say: I like it. Then again, I tend to like pale ales, but Tui tastes good and is pretty light. It's a little fruity, more like a wine than your average beer. Maybe I'm partial to them because I like their ad campaigns (which might be disappearing now due to multiple complaints), but it's definitely the best NZ beer I've had so far.

The Great Kiwi Beer Debate: Export Gold

In an effort to bring all things New Zealand to a broader audience, I'm embarking on a project that is, I am certain, a foremost preoccupation to most of you, namely: how good are the New Zealand beers?

New Zealand has a wide range of beers, regionally produced. I thought we'd try a hands-on approach to determining quality and separating the wheat from the chaff, or perhaps in this case the wheat from the hops. So as I taste the various beers, I'll add an entry for each.

Our first contender was: Export Gold

Name: Export Gold
Type: Lager
Brewery: DB Breweries
Region of origin: National, Export Gold is marketed as a beer for all NZ
Web site: www.exportgold.co.nz
Notes of Interest: Export Gold is one of NZ's leading beers in terms of sales and a very active marketer. It is a big ad spender, currently airing a highly annoying TV ad about "thirst-fighters" (fire-fighters who give thirsty people Export Gold before they burn up with thirst).
The brewer says: "Export Gold is New Zealand's leading lager enjoyed by young people who get together for good times such as music or action events. Export Gold is the perfect refreshment for high-energy occasions thanks to its easy drinking flavour profile."
RealBeer.co.nz says: "It might be 'skunky' but it still sells"
I say: It's crap. It may sell really well, but it's watered down, and a little too gassy. I'm suspicious of any beer company that talks about "flavour profiles". My question is "what flavour"? Shockingly it has won multiple awards, including best lager in the New Zealand Beer Awards.

Back again, with bigger wheels

Well, after finally moving house, and taking a couple of weeks off to go back to the states, relax and keep my green card viable, things are finally settling down again to a semblance of normality, and the posts resume.

Big news for this week is that I've purchased a new car. We've moved south of Auckland to a town called Waiuku, though we're still driving in to Auckland for work. The drive is not too long time-wise, but distance-wise it's a bit of a trek. So in order to save on gas/petrol (choose your favorite term), we've purchased a diesel SUV, and I couldn't be happier to now be the proud owner of a lovely 2004 Land Rover Freelander. It's not only the first diesel I've ever owned, it's also the first car I've driven with a teptronic transmission (and it even has heated seats! ... never thought I'd ever need that when I was back in Miami). So far, it's been a pleasure to drive.

Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm allowed in NZ schools ...

...and Microsoft is no longer welcome. The Ministry of Education has declined to renew a deal for Microsoft Office and will remove the software from 25,000 Macintosh computers in schools, according to the New Zealand Herald. See story here.

I'm not sure what's more surprising, that the ministry said 'no' to Microsoft or that they are nearly exclusively using Macs.

Now, I would never criticize someone from going against Microsoft. I certainly have done that when I could and even thought about doing that when I couldn't. But when I started thinking about it, I begun to wonder whether not knowing Microsoft Office is a potential detriment to students.

An overwhelming majority of companies worldwide use Office, and most of them list knowledge of, and experience with, Office as one of the prerequisites for people interviewing for a job.

So schools should probably be offering at least some training in Office, even if they don't have it on all computer. Still, kudos for taking on the evil empire, more school boards should be thinking of this sort of issues.