Takapuna "A" Team

For those that were interested in what the Road Relay looked like from the perspective of the team. Here it is. This is just the race, and for those that are curious of the other stuff we got up to on the trip can look at my youtube account. I will be posting some stuff there in the next few days. Hope you enjoy. Go Taka!

Second Ever VLOG!

Last week I brought you my first ever vlog, this week I bring you my second ever vlog! Got such a positive response from them that I brought it back again. Keep letting me know you like it. So here is a quick sumation of my weekend. Enjoy

Christchurch Airport

As I stand here using the Internet at the Christchurch Airport, I write to you because I have so much time to kill until my flight. I am not in the greatest of moods, it has been a long weekend and all I want to do is go home, but I cant.

My flight is at 810 and it is now 540 I have been here since 145. What have I done for the last 4 hours?

Well first off I stuffed my bag into the storage locker place, and went out for a run. The run killed an hour and forty minutes of the time. Then I retrieved my bag and went and had a shower. Yes they have showers at the Airport. These happened to be at in bathroom in the International Terminal. I happened to notice them by chance. So after I took a shower until it ran out of hot water. I headed outside to have some lunch/dinner. I had brought with me peanut butter and jam sandwiches. So I made and ate three of them. Hopefully that will hold me off until I get home at 10 pm.

It has indeed been a long weekend a lot of travel, some running and no sight seeing... which I am not happy about. You get told to book a late flight on Sunday and do that before everyone else only to find out that everyone else has booked mid afternoon flights. So I am stuck here alone.

Blah Blah Blah listen to Mike bitch about shit that he canyt control, and not feel bad for him blah blah blah.

On friday I woke in Auckland and had breakfast, then caught a plane to Christchurch where I had lunch and went for a run, then the Taka club rented some vans and had a 5 hour road trip to Dunedin where I ate dinner. Today was pretty much the opposite. I woke in Dunedin and had breakfast, then drove up to Christchurch we I ran and had lunch/dinner to catch a plane to get home to Auckland. Something that I will never do again...Maybe...Three major cities in one day for three different meals.

This trip has had a lot of first... Like the shower in an Airport, runs from an Airport, and a few others that I will go into more detail in a blog later in the week. O and for those that were wondering I went to Dunedin for National Road Relays... it was good fun. The Taka boys came 6th overall. I personal ran the 3rd leg, 9k, in 30 min. Not too bad, had some slight ups and downs but nothing major.

Well my time on here is about to expire, you only get 20 min. So with that I will leave you with the quote of the week. "Taka give them the 'Bird'!"No not the MIDDLE finger.

David Jorgenson

Ok so this is a story, a true story, about how small New Zealand really is. I swear that I am not making this story up. It was aired on the radio at 9 am and I was laughing so hard that I think I tinkled my pants.

David Jorgenson is a resident of Christchurch in the South Island. David has been going out with his long time girlfriend Emma for over three years. So David has been getting a little bored in the relationship and wanted to take a chance. He had no plans on breaking it off with Emma, he just felt like being a Tool.

So the other day David was at the mall killing his lunch break when he saw a very attractive woman get out from her car a few car stalls down from him. He watched her walk into the mall and found her very very attractive. David decided that this was the chance he was going to take to spice up his life for the time being.

David reached into his glove box and took out a pen and a sticky note. On the sticky note he wrote:

"Hey I noticed you walking into the mall as I was leaving, I found you attractive and was wondering if you would meet me for coffee? I dont normally do this but I am ataken back by your beauty. Here is my cell number 021 8675309. Send me a text if your Keen! - Jason"

When the woman got back to her car she found the note stuffed under her windshield wiper. She did not know what to think, she was flattered but also creeped out at the same time. She had just ended a long relationship and was interested in trying something different. She wanted second opinions though.

When she got back to work she started showing the note around to the women in the office in which she worked. Some said that it was cute and didnt see the harm others thought it was creepy and some just didnt care. Right before she decided to send the number a text she showed it to one more person in the office. The women that worked right across from her. She asked the woman what she thought?

The woman replied "That looks like my David's hand writting!"

She quickly whipped out her phone and checked David's Cell Number and it Matched.

Yes that is right this woman was Emma and the lady who David gave the note to was the woman who her girlfriend worked across the desk from.

Needless to say David or should I call him Jason? Got his ass reemed and Emma kicked his ass to the curb!

Now talk about a small world! New Zealand is a country that is 4 million strong.(Yes I said 4 million) It seems big but when you spread that amount of people across the whole country that has 4 major cities and many regions to live, 4 million is not that big.

The moral of this story? Dont live in NZ its too small everyone is bound to know everyone

First Ever VLOG

So here is my first ever vlog.

Hope you enjoyed!

Odds n Ends

This is going to be a post of Odds n Ends. So basically whatever I feel like typing and sharing with you I am going to do that. It will provide some much needed entertainment in your life!

Rat Race 5k

So the Rat Race is a local 5k that goes on every Wednesday night at 6. It is put on by my New Zealand running club, Takapuna. It is an out and back 5k with a slight uphill to the turn around and then slight down hill to the finish. Overall it is a boring course but a quick one, so that makes it more enjoyable. I have done several workouts on the course and raced it one other time.

The last time I ran the course I travelled the course in fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds and I won in a land slide. This time I recruited some of the other top runners from the club to come and join me. I had five guys come down and apply some pressure on me for some of the race. Most of them were using the effort as a hard workout and not an all out race. The second time around the course I was much quicker, fifteen minutes and ten seconds (15:10). That is 4:53 mile pace for 3.1 miles. For more analysis of this race compared to the first race I will supply my splits. 1st 2.5k -- Yesterday 7:40 First Race 7:55 2nd 2.5k -- Yesterday 7:30 First Race 7:50

Overall I am super excited with my efforts and am looking forward to the next race. The club is heading down to Dunedin for New Zealand National Road Relay Champs on October 4th. look for posts about that trip!

Boredom

I recieved an inquiry about what I do to kill time from when I get home from work till Leo gets home from work and we go running. At first I thought well I do Jack all day, but then I was AIMing with Mango and realized what I do is much more than that. For starters let me list the things I do. These are in no specific order.

Video Chat

AIM Chat

Google Chat

Email

Facebook

Youtube

FWD's

Blogging

Run

NZRun.com

Letsrun.com

Coachwood.org

SRC Website and Blog

Veggie and Fruit Shop

Bread and Milk Shop

Play Hockey Alone in the Backyard

Listen to Music

Clean

Make Dinner

Do Dishes

ETC...

Those are just a few things I do to pass the time. So I have shared some NZ videos with you on this Blog. Now I think I am going to share with you just videos that are funny. Videos that I found while I was sitting here doing Jack All. Viewer beware Harsh Wording Do Not Let Children Watch.

This first video is Titled "Douche Off" and I found this Video on youtube.com as one of the featured videos. It is real funny and defines a Douche to a "T" Sit back and enjoy.

The next is a three part series that pokes fun at the Magician David Blaine. I will just supply you with the first part and if you want to see the rest you need to go online and find it on youtube.

And of course I have found other videos but will save those for another time. So I hope that you got your entertainment fix for the afternoon. Wasted five minutes of work time. Or just enjoyed your own little viewing session.

Weekend Adventure

Ok so after a pretty hectic weekend where should I begin? I think that I will just go in order of how the events happened.

Friday brought a nice weekend, not a cloud in the sky and the sun shining brightly at work. Got home from work and went for an hour run in the amazing weather. It was so nice I was tempted to go no shirt but later opted for a running singlet. After the run I went to the local rugby field and did some drills and striders to loosen my legs up a bit. The weather was so nice I didnt want to go home. After the run I went back to the flat quickly showered and headed out on a walk down to the super market. I bought some things to have a semi BBQ with. I got some beef patties, whole wheat rolls, cheese, pineapple, beetroot and lettuce. After the supermarket I headed home and did some brief chores. Dishes and laundry to be exact.

When leo got home from work we went for another run, this one was only a 30 minute one so it was quick and harmless. When that was done we cooked up our semi BBQ on the stove in the flat. No fire pit yet and definately didnt buy an outdoor BBQ. Afterwards we went out to get some dessert but settled on something from the supermarket. It is called a Bin Boston Bun or Sally Long Bun. The Best way I can describe it is Irish Soda Bread with Strawberry icing and coconut. Sounds like an odd combo but when mixed with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream it is delicious!

On Saturday I had to head to work again... Boring... After work I got home and we did our runs. Then we went to watch Nat play hockey. He plays on the North Harbour regional team, and they are having a 10 day long tournament in Auckland City. This is kind of a big deal because this would be the equivalent to the NHL Playoffs. Which is what they call it here in NZ, except that it is field hockey and not Ice Hockey.

The game was really good, however North Harbour did suffer defeat. They were winning 2-Nil at halftime but the second half was a different story. The opposition came out and tied the game up quickly in the second half. The game remained close the rest of the way until an untimely penalty corner was given to the other team. Penalty Corner is similar to a corner kick in Soccer. The other team scored on the penalty corner with just minutes remaining in the game. It was a tough lose and North Harbour will have to win the rest of their games in order to make sure they are a lock for next Sundays final.

After the game we headed home and went and did our full food shopping for the up coming week. That goes rather smoothly these days as we have it down to a science. However this week we needed to pick up a fe extra items because on Sunday we were attending a Pot Luck Luncheon and our directions were to bring something American. Something American you say... well Leo was the one that figured these out basically its not American, but it is something they dont do here. We settled on Candied Yams and a Bett Crocker Box Cake. So we picked up these extra items and the rest of the groceries and headed home for the night.

We baked the cake when we got home and prepared the yams for cooking tomorrow mourning before the luncheon.

After all that I decided I needed a hair cut. My longish hair was getting to warm for me at work and I chopped/shaved it all off...

Sunday we woke up and saw that it was another fantastical day out. No work, just the nice day to enjoy ahead of us. So we went for our run around 9 am and did an easy relaxed 14 mile run. When we returned we iced the cake and did the yams. We quickyl showered and headed off to the luncheon.

Some of you are probably wondering the deal with the Box Cake. Well here a box of Betty Crocker is about 5 bucks... steep I know. It comes with the powered ingredients, you add eggs and water. It also comes with a little packet of icing that is barely big enough to cover the top of the cake. Since the Box Cake is so expensive it is rarely used and home cakes are more the norm around here. So leo and I labeled the Box Cake American.

Now for the Candied yams, I emailed Gpa and Gma Maestri for some help with the ingredients. Got a reply that it was Honey, Brown Sugar, and Mallows.... no exact measurments just done by feel and with Love. So we boiled up the Yams made them soft, added them to a baking dish added the honey and brown sugar mixed that around a bit and then we added the Mallows and covered it promptly.

As soon as we added the last mallow we jumped in the car and headed for the luncheon. We arrived at the stroke of Noon and the food was ready to be eaten. We added out dish to the other ones and dug right in. There were so many different kinds of food Asian, American and of course Kiwi. Everyone loved the Candied Yams and wanted to know the recipe. Of course I tolkd them "If I tell you the recipe my Gma will kill you!" Which wasnt true but it kept her secret safe. Now however I dont know if Leo was on the other side of the room sharing the recipe you have to ask her that.

So we couldnt stay for the whole luncheon because Nat had another game that we were going to watch. I am really getting into this Hockey thing if you havent noticed. This was a must win game, a big one, no more mistakes... you could feel the pressure in the air the crowd was extra big this game as they needed all the support for Noth Harbour. At Half the opposition lead 1-nil but like stated earlier hockey is a game of two halves. North Harbour rallied with three goals in the second half for a 3-1 victory. This was very crucial for keeping their finals hopes alive. The next game is tuesday afternoon and I am undecided if I am going to attend.

After the game Leo and I headed for the fish market for our dinner. We were going to buy a whole fish and cook it up. We got a little snapper that would be big enough for the two of us. When we got home we cut up lemon and put on some spices and wrapped the fish in tin foil. We baked it for 45 minutes. We had with it a salad and some veggies and kumera (Sweet Potato). The fish was delicious and enjoyed greatly. After dinner we watched a great cinematice adventure movie... SPEED ... Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.... what a combonation. I hadnt seen that movie in years! It was great, so cheesey and predictable I loved it.... then we headed to bed because Monday Morning comes early and that means work! BOOOOOOOOOOO...