Our first "foreign" holiday today - Guy Fawkes Day. From what I can tell thus far, it's a week of burning stuff and blowing stuff up - so we're down with that! We don't get the day off, but I'm looking forward to checking out a firework display tonight.
Here's the official scoop:
Guy Fawkes Day actually originated in England after the failed 'Gunpowder Plot' of 1605.
Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, was raised in York and converted to Catholicism after his mother married a Catholic.
After fighting with Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers, Fawkes travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. However he was unsuccessful.
In the early 1600s, Fawkes was part of a plan to assassinate King James I in order to restore a Catholic monarch to the English throne.
Fawkes' expertise with gunpowder made him a key component to the plot, which took around 18 months of planning. But Fawkes was arrested at midnight on November 4, 1605, just hours before the assassination attempt.
He was captured beneath the House of Lords, and 36 barrels of gunpowder were found stacked in the cellar directly below where the King would have sat during the opening of parliament the following day. Fawkes was tortured before he eventually confessed. He jumped to his death from the scaffold of where he was to be hanged, just before his execution. Fawkes' effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire with a fireworks display to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Pug-a-thon 2014
We had a great day at the Pug walk on Milford Beach with my pal Liz and her pug Newton and his Basset Hound friend Harry Potter.
Monday, September 1, 2014
The view from the new desk..
Office desk shuffle over the weekend. This is my new view of one of our many internal courtyards. Will be awesome when spring arrives and the trees are filled with leaves.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Q!: What Do Ice Cream and Respiratory Humidifiers Have In Common?
A: They both have O'Briens on their payroll...
Joe started his new job this week with New Zealand Natural Ice Cream and loves it (for reasons other than the obvious!). He's so happy to be back to work after a hiatus preparing for the move. He's also making plans to start a business involving his passion for RC helicopters. I'm sure he can make it work!
My job at FPH absolutely ROCKS! Still some process-related oddity that I'm trying to adjust to, but the people I work with are every bit as groovy as my Terumo BCT family. Overall I declare this career move to be worthy of two thumbs up!
Joe started his new job this week with New Zealand Natural Ice Cream and loves it (for reasons other than the obvious!). He's so happy to be back to work after a hiatus preparing for the move. He's also making plans to start a business involving his passion for RC helicopters. I'm sure he can make it work!
My job at FPH absolutely ROCKS! Still some process-related oddity that I'm trying to adjust to, but the people I work with are every bit as groovy as my Terumo BCT family. Overall I declare this career move to be worthy of two thumbs up!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
New Zealand - Men's Skinny Jeans Capital of the World
I'm totally serious! I easily estimate that 85% of the men in my office (and now my son) wear skinny jeans, skinny dress pants, etc. on a daily basis. About 40% go with the saggy-ass look, the rest apparently like their junk a bit more confined.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Almost the best weekend EVER!!!!!
I shopped my arse off yesterday to get the stuff we need for a functional house. Found the fridge, dining table, and the as-of-yet undelivered washer/dryer and computer desk on TradeMe (kiwi version of Craigslist). Most everything else from amazing sales - $40 spa towels for $9.99 - 50% off the $500 microwave!!!! And Joe got a TV that meets his standards, so he's quite happy for now. We watched The Lego Movie last night and everything is awesome!
The ONLY thing that kept this weekend from surpassing all others is the fact that one of our circuit breakers is broken, so we have no heat or electric in the bedrooms. We don't really know how to re-program the HRV system to only heat the living room, which is where we slept on air mattresses last night. Also, I apparently don't know how to keep a fire going for more than an hour.
Apparently our rental company doesn't work on weekends, but I'm sure we'll get the electric issue fixed on Monday and the few other minor things we've noticed.
All-in-all, we are very pleased with our new adobe and hope everything works out so we're here for a while.
The ONLY thing that kept this weekend from surpassing all others is the fact that one of our circuit breakers is broken, so we have no heat or electric in the bedrooms. We don't really know how to re-program the HRV system to only heat the living room, which is where we slept on air mattresses last night. Also, I apparently don't know how to keep a fire going for more than an hour.
Apparently our rental company doesn't work on weekends, but I'm sure we'll get the electric issue fixed on Monday and the few other minor things we've noticed.
All-in-all, we are very pleased with our new adobe and hope everything works out so we're here for a while.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Moving day
Moving to our rental house today after much drama. Sooooo looking forward to unpacking and putting these suitcases away until our trip back to Colorado next year (or some cool weekend trips in NZ).
Our furniture currently consists of 2 air mattresses and 2 jumbo bean bag chairs. Hopefully our shipping container will get through customs without a hitch so we'll have our real furniture by this time next month.
Our furniture currently consists of 2 air mattresses and 2 jumbo bean bag chairs. Hopefully our shipping container will get through customs without a hitch so we'll have our real furniture by this time next month.
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