(no subject)
Yes, I'm still around and kicking! I've been distracted with the usual things lately, mostly just life and reading!
I picked up a new phone on Thursday and it's exciting for me. I usually do the financially prudent thing and take over Carol's old phones, but we wanted to move me from a prepaid to a cheap plan connected to our home phone on a different carrier. And I really wanted some of those cool cricket and other animal ringtones! I've been secretly jealous of people who had birds and crickets as ringtones. :S
I got a Motorola Defy Mini, not locked into a contract and it's only $19NZ per month for 60 minutes talk time/unlimited "Fair Use" texts/500mb of data per month. If it seems like it's to much I can change over to a $6 or $12 plan and drop off some of the options. I downloaded a free animal ringtones app from the Google Play shop with 59 different critters and the ability to easily connect a critter sound with a contact :)
I've also downloaded a cool high def live wallpaper. These are my first paid apps & I happily paid for 3 options and a full customisation option called Forest HD. I like the options and have it set to run with real time. It's a forest, stream and field set and I wanted the option to play with it and set different things so paid for the customisation options. I figure I like the nature and forest look (yay! deer, fireflies and butterflies!) and it would be good to have something like this for a virtual de-stressing forest walk at work.
I've also downloaded a couple free games to play if I get stuck somewhere without a book or my writing materials.
Speaking of which, I'm hoping to get back into my writing this week. We've moved into our new building and have started settling in. The view is great, even if the fact that we're more limited in where to eat and I'm further from places like Whitcoulls and Look Sharp, 2 stores I spend a bit of time in because they have just about everything I need regularly. They are still in walking distance, just takes more of my lunch hour. I've got some picts to post! We're much higher than we were in our old building--23rd floor instead of 14th. We're also closer to the water which is nice.
The tallest building is the view of the Skytower, our old building is next to it but out of picture. Yes, that is a small(ish) church down there.
More of the city with the church in it. In the distance are the Waitakere ranges, I live out that way:
View of part of the harbour, including the Harbour Bridge which many people commute over to/from the CBD where we are.
Another view of the harbour & Harbour Bridge:
This one was taken the same day as the rest, this is the view nearest where I face (the others are to my back), other than a boring view of some buildings in front of me. There are some small islands poking out between the buildings.
Since we moved in with a new team we have to fill in some info and they took a pict of us. We got to choose a couple questions out of what they had. Here are my answers to the personal questions I choose, for those of you who are interested in learning a little more about me.
What is the best travel destination/experience you've ever had? Other than the 2 trips back to the US to visit family, I'd have to say my 8 months studying in Nepal. I went to a small, private liberal arts university for a few years that had overseas study as a mandatory part of it's curriculum. I went to Nepal with other students in 1992-1993. We spent a few months in Kathmandu living with families & finishing our studies, then lived in separate villages for a few months. For my last couple of months I stayed in Kathmandu and volunteered at an environmental organisation that had the dual task of educating tourists about how to minimise their impact on the environment (particularly when trekking) and the Nepalese on how to better use and care for their limited resources.
What song/s would be included on the soundtrack to your life? Quite a few and quite varied! Some of the top ones would be:
I Run for Life by Melissa Etheridge--my inspiration every year for doing Relay for Life
Out On the Sun by The Eastern (NZ band out of Christchurch)--I relate to this song
For You by SamRB (NZ musician who busks on Queen St)--how I feel about my wife
Running to Stand Still by U2 & Lost and Found by 5AM--both seem like the story of much of my life
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
I picked up a new phone on Thursday and it's exciting for me. I usually do the financially prudent thing and take over Carol's old phones, but we wanted to move me from a prepaid to a cheap plan connected to our home phone on a different carrier. And I really wanted some of those cool cricket and other animal ringtones! I've been secretly jealous of people who had birds and crickets as ringtones. :S
I got a Motorola Defy Mini, not locked into a contract and it's only $19NZ per month for 60 minutes talk time/unlimited "Fair Use" texts/500mb of data per month. If it seems like it's to much I can change over to a $6 or $12 plan and drop off some of the options. I downloaded a free animal ringtones app from the Google Play shop with 59 different critters and the ability to easily connect a critter sound with a contact :)
I've also downloaded a cool high def live wallpaper. These are my first paid apps & I happily paid for 3 options and a full customisation option called Forest HD. I like the options and have it set to run with real time. It's a forest, stream and field set and I wanted the option to play with it and set different things so paid for the customisation options. I figure I like the nature and forest look (yay! deer, fireflies and butterflies!) and it would be good to have something like this for a virtual de-stressing forest walk at work.
I've also downloaded a couple free games to play if I get stuck somewhere without a book or my writing materials.
Speaking of which, I'm hoping to get back into my writing this week. We've moved into our new building and have started settling in. The view is great, even if the fact that we're more limited in where to eat and I'm further from places like Whitcoulls and Look Sharp, 2 stores I spend a bit of time in because they have just about everything I need regularly. They are still in walking distance, just takes more of my lunch hour. I've got some picts to post! We're much higher than we were in our old building--23rd floor instead of 14th. We're also closer to the water which is nice.
The tallest building is the view of the Skytower, our old building is next to it but out of picture. Yes, that is a small(ish) church down there.
More of the city with the church in it. In the distance are the Waitakere ranges, I live out that way:
View of part of the harbour, including the Harbour Bridge which many people commute over to/from the CBD where we are.
Another view of the harbour & Harbour Bridge:
This one was taken the same day as the rest, this is the view nearest where I face (the others are to my back), other than a boring view of some buildings in front of me. There are some small islands poking out between the buildings.
Since we moved in with a new team we have to fill in some info and they took a pict of us. We got to choose a couple questions out of what they had. Here are my answers to the personal questions I choose, for those of you who are interested in learning a little more about me.
What is the best travel destination/experience you've ever had? Other than the 2 trips back to the US to visit family, I'd have to say my 8 months studying in Nepal. I went to a small, private liberal arts university for a few years that had overseas study as a mandatory part of it's curriculum. I went to Nepal with other students in 1992-1993. We spent a few months in Kathmandu living with families & finishing our studies, then lived in separate villages for a few months. For my last couple of months I stayed in Kathmandu and volunteered at an environmental organisation that had the dual task of educating tourists about how to minimise their impact on the environment (particularly when trekking) and the Nepalese on how to better use and care for their limited resources.
What song/s would be included on the soundtrack to your life? Quite a few and quite varied! Some of the top ones would be:
I Run for Life by Melissa Etheridge--my inspiration every year for doing Relay for Life
Out On the Sun by The Eastern (NZ band out of Christchurch)--I relate to this song
For You by SamRB (NZ musician who busks on Queen St)--how I feel about my wife
Running to Stand Still by U2 & Lost and Found by 5AM--both seem like the story of much of my life
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.