Cherry Reflection

The weekend before last our cherry tree was in full bloom. The tree is massive and we were lucky enough to see it while it was sunny. I grabbed my camera and shot quite a few images. Cherry blossoms are so delicate that trying to convey that is sometimes difficult. As I was shooting I walked around the yard noticing all the other flowers that were in bloom. Our new yard has lots to show us. Spring here is awesome.

The below picture is a reflection of the tree in our dining room window.


Tank Stabilized

I finally got my new tank all set up and my fish moved in. Way back at Christmas my family got me a new 30 gallon tank setup. It has been sitting in my bedroom until very recently.

Right after Christmas I got a stand, but it took until March for me to get around to setting it up. Then, while assembling the stand I had a few issues and had to wait for replacement parts. It took a couple weeks but I got them, and the tank stand got assembled.

Sometime soon after I got the supplies I needed. New gravel, new decorations, and a new gravel siphon.

Then we had to figure out where to put it. The wall we chose had out furnace thermostat on it, so we waited for the appointment with the electrician, and got him to move it. That was last week.

Monday night I got the tank centred on the wall, cleaned the gravel, set up the filter, and the heater, and plugged it all in. I definitely need more decorations, but what I have is a good start. I let everything settle for 24 hours, then, last night I moved two of my six fish in. These were my test subjects. Since they made it through the night, I moved the rest of my fish in this morning.

Once everything has stabilized I can start thinking about more fish. I am thinking maybe more guppies, or maybe a few neon tetra’s. A small school of fish would look pretty cool. A Molly might be a good fit as well. I read somewhere that a Dwarf Gourami might be a good fit.

One thing I am really looking forward too is the crayfish. A coworker has a bunch of them that have been breeding in his tank. He has offered any amount to anyone who wants them since he has too many. Apparently they look something like this.

Checkout Advance

Last weekend I did some grocery shopping at Thrifty’s. I got to the checkout and the people in front of me had filled the belt. No big deal, I just waited while the clerk rang through their items.

I got a good chuckle out of the customer’s reaction though. The clerk rang things through, and created a big space in front of the scanner. A single onion was left behind which was blocking the beam, and not allowing the belt to advance.

The lady in front of me was trying to be helpful and create some space for my items. If I were in that situation I would lift the onion and let the belt advance. This lady had another idea. She moved every single item of hers forward. Not just once either, twice.

I was tempted to say something, but I didn’t want to ruin the humour.

Actually Calling

What a strange night last night. As Sox and I were falling asleep, our cat Aphro decided she needed to puke all over the floor. Twice actually.

Later, I heard Sprout calling, and as I jumped out of bed, I saw it was 4:50am. I went in to his room to see what was wrong. He asked me to put his pants back on him. For some reason he no longer had his PJ pants on.

While technically not last night, when I got home for work I found that Yoshi had puked all over his chair. Just an odd set of things to have happen in less than 24 hours.

Extra Experience

I was out playing poker with some friends late last night. There were five of us there. Two of them were definitely much better players than I, another I would peg at better than I, and the last guy I don’t think had played much.

I came home with an extra $1.20 after playing until 1:20 am. I was down to less than $5 when it was the final two. The guy I was playing against was the much better player, and I was figuring I would end up going home down $20.

I doubled up a couple times, and came out pretty happy.

I had a few good hands, and made a few good plays.

One play though I fluked out entirely. We were playing heads up, and I ended up with an Ace high flush. Pretty good hand for heads up. I never noticed what I had until after I had folded. My opponent had a full house. If I had seen the flush I would have pushed and I would have been busted. Good thing I was so tired 😉

It was fun though. I am going to start reading a bit about poker and strategy. I borrowed a book from a co-worker and will start there. I honestly have no strategy and really go with my gut instinct. So far this has treated me alright, but I want to do better. I want to learn (or learn to figure out) the strength of a hand, and the percentage chance of hitting with the hand. I know a big part of this is experience, but I will start with the book.

Sick Appetite

My poor daughter has been sick this week. She is constantly tired, eats well, drinks well, is in pretty happy spirits, but is unfortunately battling diarrhea.

The other morning I got a little experience in this. Beet was eating her breakfast and pooped. It takes a lot to disgust me, but this had done it. The smell was overwhelming and I could feel myself starting to gag. I took her upstairs to clean her up, and quickly discovered the blowout (my shirt sleeve was wet).

I managed to get her clean and into a new diaper and clothes (and only used small mountain of wipes). Unfortunately for me though I had lost my appetite. First time that had happened too.

Opportunity Shopping

The morning of Feb 19 was a relaxing one. I had the morning off as Sox had the kids with her at the library. I took the opportunity to do some shopping downtown. The downtown plaza was really nice to stroll through, and had lots of shops to browse.

I stopped in at Shadz again for another coffee (long black all the way), and I also tried their smoky bacon stack. This was an english muffin topped with a hash brown, roasted squash, cheese, and bacon, all drizzled with one of the best smoky barbecue sauces I’ve ever had. This snack was to die for.

In the afternoon the lot of us headed to the Spa pool for a swim. It was a nice relaxing time. Their warmest pool was almost too warm for me, but the rest of the pools were darn right cold in comparison. Beet had a great time splashing like always, but her brother stuck to the waterfall pool that felt almost ice cold.

That night for dinner we had home made pizza. The main one was ham and pineapple which all the kids devoured (the adults had a couple pieces too). The other pizza was delicious, but decidedly different. Take lots of caramalized onions, add on some fresh ripe pear, then top with a delicious brie, and bake.

We definitely enjoyed the cuisine while we were there.

Feb 20 was a very rainy day. We looked for something inside for the kids to do, and found a kindergym. It certainly wasn’t the cleanest feeling place in the world, but Sprout had a fun time chasing after his older cousin. He also followed his cousin into a ball pit where a ball fight was going on. It was so cute to see the two of them hiding behind a large pillow while older kids were tossing balls their way. The two of them were looking at each other and laughing their heads off. Occasionally they would toss a ball in the direction of the older boys, then duck down again. Neither of them seemed to mind when they got beaned by a ball or two.

During Beet’s afternoon nap Sox and I headed back downtown for some more shopping. I picked up a really nice long sleeve shirt. We also stopped in at Shadz where I had my final long black at that establishment.

Our trip was drawing to an end and this was getting a little sad.

Unusual Shooting

I have been a little lax about getting my last few New Zealand posts up, but I am determined to finish them.

Way back on Feb 18 I started the day by going for a walk with Beet. We wandered around the waterfront in Napier stopping at a cafe. There I had a scrumptious bacon and brie muffin. Actually it was bacon, with melted brie, on an amazing corn meal muffin, and alongside I had a long black.

After catching up with everyone we decided to head over to Waipatiki beach again, with a stop along the way at Tangoio Falls. I wanted to get some pictures of the falls, and everyone indulged me in that.

At the parking lot for the falls, we hiked in the 20 minutes and discovered the falls. Quite pretty, but not spectacular. Some other people were there, but they were just packing up. Sox seemed quite tense to me, and after asking her, she relayed to me that the people had a gun sitting on the rock. As they left, one of the women asked the rest of their party “Who has the gun”. That was an unusual experience to say the least.

The family left me behind to take pictures with the promise that I would meet up with them at Waipatiki Beach.

After spending a lot of time shooting the falls, and getting quite wet by standing in the water, I called the shoot finished. I shot a few pictures along the way back to the car too.

I made the short drive over to Waipatiki and rejoined the group on the beach. I strolled around there taking a few shots as wells. The water was way more rough this day than the precvious day. I had wanted to go in, but the waves seemed quite unpredictable. I was also feeling a little under the weather as I though I was coming down with a cold.

There is no denying that New Zealand is a beautiful country.

Total Choice

Last night I got out for a great poker game. There was 7 of us in total, and at least two of them were better players than I (not that I am that good at all). The buy-in was a max of $20, and at the end of the night I cashed out with $21.60? All that work for a buck 60. Yikes.

I played alright for the first part of the night, but I started to tire, and my concentration waned. I was down to approx $12 from $20 after playing a few hands I knew I should have folded. My mind was saying fold, but my hands weren’t doing it. I really wasn’t paying attention and my play showed it.

When I did start concentrating, I think my playing picked up. I started winning a few pots, and I started floding at the right times. I stopped chasing things, and hoping the other player was bluffing.

My favorite hand of the night was me getting dealt a JQ. Me and one other saw the flop which was a 8-9-10. Sweet. The other person bet $2 which I called immediately. The turn card was another 10, without hesitation I went all in. The other guy seemed shocked by my play.

He quickly stood up, counted my chips, counted his own, and started thinking out loud. At this point I knew I had made the right move. I was making him think long and hard, and he was a good player. I heard him think out loud my possible hands, and one of the things he wondered about was if I had flopped a better straight than he did. That scared me for a split second until I realized that he couldn’t have flopped a bigger straight than me, and if we had the same cards, we would split the pot. I relaxed and watched him sweat. This was a $16 hand, and our buy in was $20. Wrong choice and you are out.

He made the right choice and folded, which was too bad for me. Exciting though.

The rest of the night I kept clawing back some chips hoping to hit a good hand to play. I am finding that patience is really hard. I want to have fun, and to me playing a hand is more fun than watching. I also want to win money, so I need to work on the patience.

This might turn into a regular game, and I am looking forward to the next one already.