Matts blog

Since I became yet another facebook user I can’t say I’ve updated this blog very much

Life in California has been busy, busy, busy, my parents came over at the start of August so we got to finally tell them we are married

We took a very cool roadtrip down to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon, and I can say, those trees are pretty big! We then headed down to Ventura through the ’scenic’ route over the mountains through the old oil areas south of Bakersville, which is a very interesting drive.

For my birthday I got a box full of balsa wood and some radio gear and have pretty much spent the whole time building an aircraft which is now looking very flight worthy! I also got some UK essentials - Marmite, Bluetak, Whiskey and Yorkie Bars,

New Zealands finest (or 4th finest) comedy duo are here, everyone should watch this! Its on HBO at 9PM Sundays (PST) or you can just watch them here…

First off this is not an item about my use of makeup, though it has been known in the past, but in my defence I was drunk, on a boat, with work colleages…

Why is it that american women feel that they are such expert drivers that they can quite happily cruise down the freeway at 50 mph steering the car with a knee whilst applying eye makeup with a brush with both hands and looking in the little mirror on the sun visor?? I mean cruise control is great, but seriously its NOT DESIGNED for that.

The other one is the ‘older lady’ who has a special pillow on her lap whilst driving with a small lapdog or two sitting on her knee or with its legs on the window sill looking out, apart from the fact that its got to impair visability and distract, whats going to happen to Fido in an accident, airbags inflate pretty quickly…

After putting it off for ages I finally went to the DMV last week and took my driving test, I passed the written test on Thursday morning with 1 incorrect answer out of 36 (What has knowing how long the jail sentence is for having excessive BAC got to do with driving?????) and was back at Pleasanton DMV on Friday morning for the practical. I think all in all I was in the car for 45 minutes but 35 of that was waiting for the examiner to arrive, I got 2 minors for something to do with left turns, but can’t read the comments.

So now I have a Californian License so I now have no issues buy alcohol

On a related point I’ve now had the Subaru for a few months and done about 6000 miles including a fun weekend in the snow in Yosemite, and can tell you its a great car, never felt so safe on dirt roads or snow, it drives like its on rails and will leave virtually any other car standing at the lights.

So! I’ve decided that due to time constrants imposed by the new venture here in California that I’m going to have to sell 0064.co.nz, its a shame, its got a great deal of potential as a business, but needs a lot more dedication than I can provide at the moment.

If you want to view the auction, click here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=91708069

Oh, its a nice spring day today - 28C

Well, after a couple of weeks of fighting with our ‘99 Outback and is tendancy to get rid of its coolent every 100 miles or so we decided to go shopping for a new car….

Today I picked it up - a 2007 Subaru Outback Sport Special Edition, in Urban Grey, its a little beauty, 2.5L and 175hp and a manual gearbox, its only got 12 miles on the clock, so haven’t really had chance to give it a real good go yet, but can’t wait for the drive to work tomorrow!

Right, I’m off to sort out the satilite radio, if thats not a bit of a condradiction.

We are finally in California and getting stuff sorted out, its going suprisingly well Thought I’d share this from a packet of pasta we got from the supermarket:

‘Add 4 TABLESPOONS of salt per 1lb of pasta’

4 Tablespoons???? I can’t think why heart attacks are common….

Its SO hot back in NZ compared with California, its delightful!

I’ve spent the last couple of days laying tiles in the bathroom, and they look pretty good if I do say so myself, we’ve also finally got a barbeque, a lovely 3 burner model which has been used to cook the most delicious steak and home made burgers!

I also managed to cut the lawns which hadn’t ben cut for a month, and the trusty old mower I rebuilt didn’t even blink, I’m sure its more like 30hp rather than 4hp

So yesterday was thanksgiving here in (a very) sunny california, it seems to be a time to get together with family followed by a good escuse for all the shops to have big sales, I’ve never seen so many people piling in to consumer goods shops to buy ’stuff’, and that was at 11am, the shops opened at 5am today!!!

So I just looked out of my office window and saw this:

4 big deer wondering about around my car, you don’t get that in Credit Suisse I can tell you