Guess where I was this weekend? The photo is a clue. My friends are starting to read my blog and are asking for more frequent updates and more photos. I hope to accommodate their desires.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Guess?
Guess where I was this weekend? The photo is a clue. My friends are starting to read my blog and are asking for more frequent updates and more photos. I hope to accommodate their desires.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Lost to Bottom's Up 7-6
My kayak polo team lost again last night to Bottom's Up 7-6. Both my team and Bottom's Up were in a lower division last year. I am also our swim captain now because I ended up out of my boat. I don't know what it is. My paddle roll is solid and I am developing a nice hand roll. Being up side down, I panic and pull my spray deck too early. I believe this panic happens to me a lot and in other areas than kayaking. If I could overcome this tendency, hmmh. Or it could be that we went to the bar Chats before the game for quiz night and the beer didn't improve my performance.
Bottom's Up played a 4-out pressure defense. We have some absurdly strong paddlers on our team, which allows us to handle the pressure. We are patient on offense and spread out well in transition. We are sloppy passers and don't cover on defense quickly enough. The game was tied one-one after the first period. They jumped on us for 4 goals in the second and we were able to out score then 5-2 in the final. I feel that we are on the verge of putting it all together.
Bottom's Up played a 4-out pressure defense. We have some absurdly strong paddlers on our team, which allows us to handle the pressure. We are patient on offense and spread out well in transition. We are sloppy passers and don't cover on defense quickly enough. The game was tied one-one after the first period. They jumped on us for 4 goals in the second and we were able to out score then 5-2 in the final. I feel that we are on the verge of putting it all together.
Good Friends Lost
And when parting was no pleasure,I've drunk another measure,
To the good friends that we treasure,
For they always are on our mind.
Ramblin Rover
The most pleasant surprise of my trip has been reconnecting with my friend Matt who moved away from Massachusetts in 6th grade. I return to Acton in three weeks for a break from the Kiwi winter. Maybe I will be able to find a photo of us when we were younger.
Matt lives in New Zealand and has become a very successful DJ (Recloose) who has started a band. They released a video Mana's Bounce which I've seen on the late night video show on channel 4.
The weekend I visited him, I was worried that we would have changed a lot and not get along. My fears were unfounded and I had a blast. I am following him to Melbourne and Sydney this weekend as he spins records at clubs there.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Edoras
This weekend I went to my second Lord of the Rings location. My officemate, Bhalchandra, a graduate student, Ramona, and I went to Edoras the capital of the horse riders' country Rohan. We are on top of the hill that figure prominently in the second movie. The camera started to oscillate in the wind and was falling over when the shot was taken. Edoras is really called Mt Sunday and it is a two hour drive from Christchurch. You have to ford a river to get to the mountain. It's like a pile of dirt compared to the other mountains in the area.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Lost to the 7 Drawves 5-1
I am playing for the top university side in the Christchurch Canoe Polo city league. I am surprised that I am playing as well as I am. I started my last year in Seattle and played with the Boston club while I was home working in Waltham. I am the oldest player on the team and we have 4 or 5 really strong whitewater paddlers. The team we played last night, the 7 Drawves, were older and more fit. They had one huge player that obliterated our defense on a couple of plays. They beat us in transition and we lost on our shooting. I will have to start playing more goalie. We play at the largest indoor water park in New Zealand (QEII). I will post a couple of photos on-line because I haven't seen a kayak polo pitch like this in the US. There's also a wave pool, spa, and water slides. One has to pay extra money to ride the wate slides. I wonder if you can take a kayak down one.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Evolutionarily Stable Niche Discontinuities
I read a couple of papers today about evolutionarily stable niche discontinuities and noticed that when you Google evolutionarily stable niche discontinuities not much is returned. I am trying to have this blog be the top Google hit for evolutionarily stable niche discontinuities. I might persue this topic in my research.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
The Fastest Indian
This is a photo of the actual "World's Fastest Indian." No sign of Sir Anthony Hopkins. New Zealanders probably design the best motorcycles in the world but more on that later.
Akaroa
Hello and happy Mother's Day. I don't think that I have the hang of blogging yet. The time between posts is a little long and the content a little scarce. Well, . . .
I think that it hailed a half-an-hour ago. It's cold and dark this month but it make sense for the obvious reason that I am in the southern hemisphere. The south island feels a lot like Canada besides the seasons and stars being different. I never figured it out but I think that Orion and the moon are up-side-down.
Today I went to the town of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. I wanted to take a harbor cruise but it was raining hard and I decided to remain dry. I went to the museum. I learned that the peninsula was a volcano six million years ago which explains its unusual shape. The Canterbury plains where Christchurch is located is flatter than Iowa. I went to another museum in Okains Bay. That one was very nice and I recommend it. It's not in "Lonely Planet" so I got off the book. At first I was the only visitor and had tea with the proprietor. He questioned me about why New Zealand needs to import a math professor and we lamented the lack of industry in the country. I think that New Zealand economy is based on three things right now: Sheep, Peter Jackson, and houses. Where do the Kiwi's get the money to support the housing market they have? I was in Twizel over Easter weekend and the median house price was 250k. There is nothing in Twizel except a dam and how many people are needed to operate a dam?
I bought another travel guide "New Zealand for Free" by Linda Duncan. Avoid it. I believe she only printed the telephone numbers for chambers of commerce. I had better luck with a walking guide from the local library. I finished its first walk on Saturday. The photos turned out well and I will post some someday.
By the way, why is the word "blogging" not in Bloggers dictionary?
I think that it hailed a half-an-hour ago. It's cold and dark this month but it make sense for the obvious reason that I am in the southern hemisphere. The south island feels a lot like Canada besides the seasons and stars being different. I never figured it out but I think that Orion and the moon are up-side-down.
Today I went to the town of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. I wanted to take a harbor cruise but it was raining hard and I decided to remain dry. I went to the museum. I learned that the peninsula was a volcano six million years ago which explains its unusual shape. The Canterbury plains where Christchurch is located is flatter than Iowa. I went to another museum in Okains Bay. That one was very nice and I recommend it. It's not in "Lonely Planet" so I got off the book. At first I was the only visitor and had tea with the proprietor. He questioned me about why New Zealand needs to import a math professor and we lamented the lack of industry in the country. I think that New Zealand economy is based on three things right now: Sheep, Peter Jackson, and houses. Where do the Kiwi's get the money to support the housing market they have? I was in Twizel over Easter weekend and the median house price was 250k. There is nothing in Twizel except a dam and how many people are needed to operate a dam?
I bought another travel guide "New Zealand for Free" by Linda Duncan. Avoid it. I believe she only printed the telephone numbers for chambers of commerce. I had better luck with a walking guide from the local library. I finished its first walk on Saturday. The photos turned out well and I will post some someday.
By the way, why is the word "blogging" not in Bloggers dictionary?
Best Photo So Far
While I am posting photos, here is the best one so far. It's me, Gene, and Tanja on the top of Mt Aickens in Arthur's Pass. I stupidly carried my umbrella to the top.
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