I'm having a blast, but a bit behind on updates (I'm practicing my understatements)
Happy new years to all! I was home again for Christmas and had a blast visiting everyone there. My first weekend back to summer in New Zealand led me to climb Mount Taranaki on one of the few days a year when it isn't attracting horrible weather like a magnet.
I am still working on getting photos uploaded from a few adventures over the past winter here...
Wishing you all the best!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Where have I been?
I was in the states for May, etc, etc, etc. I'm now doing an alpine climbing course and here is a photo from last weekend. Eventually I'll get some more stuff up soon... promise.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Another weekend tramping
Some (all of 4) photos up from this past weekend tramping in the northwestern Tararuas.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Go Summer, Go!
Summer is holding on with it's fingernails - I hope it doesn't loose grip too soon. (Picture from Sommes Island in Wellington Harbour)
Monday, March 12, 2007
More Photos
Being too lazy to write narratives, I thought I'd post some photos of things I've been shooting lately.
I've finally uploaded pictures from my trip to Arthur's Pass in February
I've also just had some of these pictures published. A circus show called "Gravity & Other Myths" that was playing on the waterfront over the past couple weeks.
This past week there has been a wedding and a portrait shoot for a band called "The Constituents", a music festival this weekend to shoot, and another portrait shoot for "Twinset" next week. I'm stoked to have all this photography work; it's been a blast and thankfully it makes me also appreciate my day job.
I've finally uploaded pictures from my trip to Arthur's Pass in February
I've also just had some of these pictures published. A circus show called "Gravity & Other Myths" that was playing on the waterfront over the past couple weeks.
This past week there has been a wedding and a portrait shoot for a band called "The Constituents", a music festival this weekend to shoot, and another portrait shoot for "Twinset" next week. I'm stoked to have all this photography work; it's been a blast and thankfully it makes me also appreciate my day job.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Birthday Bonfire
I've also loaded some photos from Aneke's birthday bonfire out on Makara beach. (outside Wellington)
Deep Bay Sunset
I've got my new laptop, yeah! And with it, here come some photos from the queue and those from my trip of the last two weeks with my Dad & Jane to both the South Island and Stewart Island here in New Zealand.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Dead Laptop :-(
My laptop died a few weeks ago which has caused a rapid halt to my photo uploading, but fear not my oh-so-flash new MacBook Pro will be here in a week!
As it turns out, it arrives with my parents as well ;-) My Dad and Jane are coming for a visit and I'm quivering in my boots I'm so excited. See my folks, take a two week holiday to the South Island & Steward Island, AND get a new laptop - what more could a large child like myself want?
I have actually been reasonably busy since my last post. I hiked most of the Queen Charolette Track, had a work weekend, a weekend off, then spent a 4 day weekend in Author's Pass (where we hiked high enough to make snow angels in our shorts), and this last weekend shot a wedding and went to X-Air (a blatant rip off of the X-Games, but damn fun).
I've managed to get a couple break dancing photos loaded up from X-Air and I'll leave these here until I get around to sorting the rest of my photos of late.
As it turns out, it arrives with my parents as well ;-) My Dad and Jane are coming for a visit and I'm quivering in my boots I'm so excited. See my folks, take a two week holiday to the South Island & Steward Island, AND get a new laptop - what more could a large child like myself want?
I have actually been reasonably busy since my last post. I hiked most of the Queen Charolette Track, had a work weekend, a weekend off, then spent a 4 day weekend in Author's Pass (where we hiked high enough to make snow angels in our shorts), and this last weekend shot a wedding and went to X-Air (a blatant rip off of the X-Games, but damn fun).
I've managed to get a couple break dancing photos loaded up from X-Air and I'll leave these here until I get around to sorting the rest of my photos of late.
Monday, January 08, 2007
I do love these outdoors!
After working straight through Christmas and New Years only taking Christmas Day and the 2nd off I broke away for a tramp (that's Kiwi for a hike) in the Tararuas, a mountain range just north of Wellington.
Despite "the worst summer in recorded history" according to the front page last week - we had some pretty damn fine weather. Of course the 120 KPH / 70 MPH winds on top of Jumbo peak was my favorite for the excitement ;-)
Click here to see all the photos - (The other folks are Tom, Aneke, and Jules)
Despite "the worst summer in recorded history" according to the front page last week - we had some pretty damn fine weather. Of course the 120 KPH / 70 MPH winds on top of Jumbo peak was my favorite for the excitement ;-)
Click here to see all the photos - (The other folks are Tom, Aneke, and Jules)
Christmas Day Fun
Went to a party that lasted until 3 - nothing like playing with a bunch of expats all day from a house with a view!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
A photo follow-up...
For you folks that don't check out my flickr site, here are some photos from the past month:
A local ska band called the Offbeats (go Kate!):
The lagoon bridge on the Wellington waterfront, a play around with HDR images:
A nearby church's columns by night:
And of course, my flatmate Janet attempting to put an entire bag of marshmallows in her mouth at one time ;-)
Plenty of data centre pictures to come in the future - I'm sure they'll REALLY thrill.
A local ska band called the Offbeats (go Kate!):
The lagoon bridge on the Wellington waterfront, a play around with HDR images:
A nearby church's columns by night:
And of course, my flatmate Janet attempting to put an entire bag of marshmallows in her mouth at one time ;-)
Plenty of data centre pictures to come in the future - I'm sure they'll REALLY thrill.
Happy Christmas!
Another month has blown by. I’ve managed to bury my head in the sand that’s called work as I prepare to execute the move of our data centre into the new facility over new years. I’ve found myself at numerous Christmas parties talking to exciting people with nothing in my head but stats on cooling, power consumption, and racing thoughts of cabling organization structures. To say the least, I haven’t exactly been slaughtering people with my gift for gab ;-)
I have enjoyed losing myself in work – despite the fact that I recognize it as unhealthy, at least in the long term. Otherwise I’ve photographed my flatmate Janet’s Christmas party, gotten out to neighborhood fairs, photographed some music, etc.
It’s half nine on Christmas Eve and I’m snuggled in on my couch looking through our flat window over the lights of the city. I’ve got a great glass of Pinot Noir and Eryka Badu on the stereo, just finished a fantastic day including a big run, great brunch, a birthday party, a movie, and dinner with a friend. I’ve managed to ignore the fact that it’s Christmas until about 30 minutes ago.
I’ve never spent Christmas Eve alone, nor awoken on Christmas in an empty house. It sounds a bit pathetic and I must admit that I intensely miss my family at the moment, but I can’t say that I dislike it. I’m relishing the sense of independent, mid-adulthood. As I am not only fully empowered to do whatever whenever, I am as free of attachment as I believe personally possible. Earlier in life I would always have been with my family, and later in life I expect to have a family of my own. Yet, these are the years of self appointed destiny and I find it critical to step back and truly appreciate it, as it is doubtless ephemeral and will in short time only be the substance of stories with which I attempt to regale grandchildren.
I will wake up to presents though! I’ve got a package from my “mum” as these kiwis say, and my flatmates after deceiving me with stories of “we’re not exchanging gifts this year” left many a treat on the kitchen counter. I’ll spend the morning with some English friends (Sal and Paul) to kick off our fabulous “Orphan’s Christmas” with a collection of expats from around the world throwing a BBQ and getting up to what is sure to go down in the history books as proper shenanigans ;-)
Merry Christmas everyone! (And happy birthday pops!)
I have enjoyed losing myself in work – despite the fact that I recognize it as unhealthy, at least in the long term. Otherwise I’ve photographed my flatmate Janet’s Christmas party, gotten out to neighborhood fairs, photographed some music, etc.
It’s half nine on Christmas Eve and I’m snuggled in on my couch looking through our flat window over the lights of the city. I’ve got a great glass of Pinot Noir and Eryka Badu on the stereo, just finished a fantastic day including a big run, great brunch, a birthday party, a movie, and dinner with a friend. I’ve managed to ignore the fact that it’s Christmas until about 30 minutes ago.
I’ve never spent Christmas Eve alone, nor awoken on Christmas in an empty house. It sounds a bit pathetic and I must admit that I intensely miss my family at the moment, but I can’t say that I dislike it. I’m relishing the sense of independent, mid-adulthood. As I am not only fully empowered to do whatever whenever, I am as free of attachment as I believe personally possible. Earlier in life I would always have been with my family, and later in life I expect to have a family of my own. Yet, these are the years of self appointed destiny and I find it critical to step back and truly appreciate it, as it is doubtless ephemeral and will in short time only be the substance of stories with which I attempt to regale grandchildren.
I will wake up to presents though! I’ve got a package from my “mum” as these kiwis say, and my flatmates after deceiving me with stories of “we’re not exchanging gifts this year” left many a treat on the kitchen counter. I’ll spend the morning with some English friends (Sal and Paul) to kick off our fabulous “Orphan’s Christmas” with a collection of expats from around the world throwing a BBQ and getting up to what is sure to go down in the history books as proper shenanigans ;-)
Merry Christmas everyone! (And happy birthday pops!)
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Nearly uneventful
In an effort to keep up my "forced journaling" (BTW that's the primary reason I keep this blog) I thought I would do an update.
I finished shooting the Jazz Festival the weekend before last, overall it was a lot of hard work, but a great time. I've bolstered my portfolio, made some industry contacts, and seen some pretty amazing music (there was also a frightening large chunk of rubbish though).
During my day job I have been swallowed with the design of our new data centre and the planning of moving hundreds of servers into this facility over two months from our two Wellington offices. Despite myself, I am really enjoying the work. We're building one of the 10 largest facilities in Wellington and I'm getting some fantastic experience that seldom comes up. 34 Kilometers of data cabling, 7 thousand liters of air/second through our process coolers, and now we're having to swing things onto the floor from a helicopter because they won't fit in the lift are are about 600 Kilos too heavy to carry. ;-) All in all we are spending nearly a million dollars on room that is not that big, and only holds computers (just lots of them with highly redundant cooling, power, etc. etc.) I am truly "geeking-out".
Otherwise, indoor soccer, touch rugby, and rock climbing are keeping me busy as spring looks like it might FINALLY arrive. We've actually had 3 or 4 days of sunshine - the fact that this stands out is indicative of how atrocious the weather has been for the past few months.
BTW, Here's a picture I took this Sunday when the weather turned "amazing":
I think the larger version gives the day some justice.
And I think I've actually managed to max out my flickr account until the end of the calendar month - until which time their won't be anything new.
Walking to the supermarket this morning I had a bit of a realization. As I walk everywhere, all the time, it takes me sometime to get places, big surprise I know. (E.g. my French class is about a 30 minute walk from my house) This forces me to do two things: 1) Give myself time to get places, or more importantly just give myself time and 2) Not rush around too much - as it's pretty much impossible to "walk in a rush" without realizing what a nutter you're being. Back in the States I used to book my days assuming no travel time so that I was always behind, and I double booked, and I spent most of my waking hours on a smart phone simultaneously talking and emailing. Little did I know how little it gained me and how much it cost me - so for showing me that - cheers New Zealand.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I've invited some friends to a French restaurant for nice meal. No one is American, the French girl confirming the booking on the phone asked "What is this Thanks-Giving you speak of?" and I'm afraid my mates are expecting some type of song and dance. Soon they'll learn it's mostly about just getting together and enjoying each others company... of course glutenous consumption never hurts. ;-)
This Thanksgiving I do have something in particular to be thankful for - in addition to wonderful people, fabulous luck, and an amazing family in my life - I'm going to have a nephew come April (Colin just found out what the next Guinn is going to be today - on his birthday! Happy Birthday, Bro!)
Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving (whether it's a holiday where you are or not), your mate - Trey.
I finished shooting the Jazz Festival the weekend before last, overall it was a lot of hard work, but a great time. I've bolstered my portfolio, made some industry contacts, and seen some pretty amazing music (there was also a frightening large chunk of rubbish though).
During my day job I have been swallowed with the design of our new data centre and the planning of moving hundreds of servers into this facility over two months from our two Wellington offices. Despite myself, I am really enjoying the work. We're building one of the 10 largest facilities in Wellington and I'm getting some fantastic experience that seldom comes up. 34 Kilometers of data cabling, 7 thousand liters of air/second through our process coolers, and now we're having to swing things onto the floor from a helicopter because they won't fit in the lift are are about 600 Kilos too heavy to carry. ;-) All in all we are spending nearly a million dollars on room that is not that big, and only holds computers (just lots of them with highly redundant cooling, power, etc. etc.) I am truly "geeking-out".
Otherwise, indoor soccer, touch rugby, and rock climbing are keeping me busy as spring looks like it might FINALLY arrive. We've actually had 3 or 4 days of sunshine - the fact that this stands out is indicative of how atrocious the weather has been for the past few months.
BTW, Here's a picture I took this Sunday when the weather turned "amazing":
I think the larger version gives the day some justice.
And I think I've actually managed to max out my flickr account until the end of the calendar month - until which time their won't be anything new.
Walking to the supermarket this morning I had a bit of a realization. As I walk everywhere, all the time, it takes me sometime to get places, big surprise I know. (E.g. my French class is about a 30 minute walk from my house) This forces me to do two things: 1) Give myself time to get places, or more importantly just give myself time and 2) Not rush around too much - as it's pretty much impossible to "walk in a rush" without realizing what a nutter you're being. Back in the States I used to book my days assuming no travel time so that I was always behind, and I double booked, and I spent most of my waking hours on a smart phone simultaneously talking and emailing. Little did I know how little it gained me and how much it cost me - so for showing me that - cheers New Zealand.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I've invited some friends to a French restaurant for nice meal. No one is American, the French girl confirming the booking on the phone asked "What is this Thanks-Giving you speak of?" and I'm afraid my mates are expecting some type of song and dance. Soon they'll learn it's mostly about just getting together and enjoying each others company... of course glutenous consumption never hurts. ;-)
This Thanksgiving I do have something in particular to be thankful for - in addition to wonderful people, fabulous luck, and an amazing family in my life - I'm going to have a nephew come April (Colin just found out what the next Guinn is going to be today - on his birthday! Happy Birthday, Bro!)
Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving (whether it's a holiday where you are or not), your mate - Trey.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Damn, another month!
It's been a month since I've written so here's a very quick update:
My last post created some fantastic discussion which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I must say I am personally most interested in what set of circumstances morally justifies one nation invading another.
To this I love some of the points in "The Fog of War", a documentary discussing eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara. If you haven't seen it, it's time for a visit to the video store. Beautifully made and great discussion. It came out before Iraq and we (the U.S) have broken some of these "rules".
In particular (this rule is expanded in the special features), I think this rule is quite applicable:
"We are the most powerful nation in the world — economically, politically, and militarily — and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii."
So is the "War on Terror" a defense of our land, given that Sept. 11 happened in the US? Even if the answer is yes to that and I find that more than a small stretch. How could Iraq be justified through the same logic? In my view it definitely isn't - nonetheless it was a brilliant campaign strategy for the republicans to symbolically link the two. Albeit reprehensibly misleading.
I wanted to chat with the girl from Iraq about the discussion from my last post, yet she was definitely not interested. At the very least I can appreciate the fact that she is probably sick and tired of being objectified.
Other than that: I've gotten certified as an Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional - which I was stoked for my employer to pay for! Yeah Intergen.
And I've landed the job as the official photographer for the 10th Annual Wellington International Jazz Festival. It's been a hell of a lot of work - and continues to be. But it's a blast, there are some fantastic bands (as well as some real shockers), and a great opportunity to meet tons of people in the creative community.
Here are some sample shots from the last 4 days (6 more to go!):
Lisa Tomlins & Twinset of Wellington:
Twinset of Wellington:
Trio Boeren-deJoode-Vatcher of the Netherlands:
Alda Rezende of Brazil:
The Eggs, a bloody fantastic funk band from Wellington:
Even had some quite artsy light shows, like Robin Fox out of Australia:
My last post created some fantastic discussion which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I must say I am personally most interested in what set of circumstances morally justifies one nation invading another.
To this I love some of the points in "The Fog of War", a documentary discussing eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara. If you haven't seen it, it's time for a visit to the video store. Beautifully made and great discussion. It came out before Iraq and we (the U.S) have broken some of these "rules".
In particular (this rule is expanded in the special features), I think this rule is quite applicable:
"We are the most powerful nation in the world — economically, politically, and militarily — and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii."
So is the "War on Terror" a defense of our land, given that Sept. 11 happened in the US? Even if the answer is yes to that and I find that more than a small stretch. How could Iraq be justified through the same logic? In my view it definitely isn't - nonetheless it was a brilliant campaign strategy for the republicans to symbolically link the two. Albeit reprehensibly misleading.
I wanted to chat with the girl from Iraq about the discussion from my last post, yet she was definitely not interested. At the very least I can appreciate the fact that she is probably sick and tired of being objectified.
Other than that: I've gotten certified as an Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional - which I was stoked for my employer to pay for! Yeah Intergen.
And I've landed the job as the official photographer for the 10th Annual Wellington International Jazz Festival. It's been a hell of a lot of work - and continues to be. But it's a blast, there are some fantastic bands (as well as some real shockers), and a great opportunity to meet tons of people in the creative community.
Here are some sample shots from the last 4 days (6 more to go!):
Lisa Tomlins & Twinset of Wellington:
Twinset of Wellington:
Trio Boeren-deJoode-Vatcher of the Netherlands:
Alda Rezende of Brazil:
The Eggs, a bloody fantastic funk band from Wellington:
Even had some quite artsy light shows, like Robin Fox out of Australia:
Monday, October 16, 2006
American, even Texan sized guilt
En route to my French class tonight I swung by the New World Metro to grab a panini. A lovely girl in her early twenties helped me with a big smile. Being the talkative guy that I am I asked her about her accent because I couldn't place it. (English was a second language, but it was excellent). She bantered back with "guess". I started thinking, looking to the ceiling... then she interjected with "Iraqi".
Now I've met a number of Iraqis here that came over during the war with Iran. They are always quick make some distinction I can't even remember now that lets me know they were part of a group that left ages ago. So I ask this girl, when did you leave Iraq?
She smiles, "About 2 years".
"How do you like it?"
"I love it here, great country."
"I really like it here as well."
"Oh yeah, where are you from?"
...hummm.
"I'm from the US... err Texas"
Then the gut shot - "I guess were not supposed to get along?" she tries to keep the smile friendly.
She tells me "I've lived through too many wars", "It's hell when you don't know if you will live through the day", "I got into Jordan during the start of the war, and then came here... I'm one of the lucky ones."
I pathetically retort "I didn't vote for *him*". The guilt has contorted my face. She tells me not to worry about it, "I'm over it" she tells me.
How can anyone be "over it"? How does someone young and beautiful stay young and beautiful when they deal with what she has?
So much of the pain she has dealt with is the result of my country, particularly my state's most famous... err infamous export. damn. I think to myself, "maybe I should invite her for a coffee?" Yeah, that'll do, I'll by you a coffee to assuage my guilt for my country destroying your country, home, and probably causing the death of your family members...
So I tell her she has all of my respect and I take my panini and walk back into my ridiculously comfortable lifestyle that has never been threatened or needed me to fight for it.
Independent of who I vote for, I am still responsible for what America does. It has a government "for the people, *by* the people". And I believe the last few years will leave a stain on all Americans' conscience when history begins to judge... as it has begun to do already.
Now I've met a number of Iraqis here that came over during the war with Iran. They are always quick make some distinction I can't even remember now that lets me know they were part of a group that left ages ago. So I ask this girl, when did you leave Iraq?
She smiles, "About 2 years".
"How do you like it?"
"I love it here, great country."
"I really like it here as well."
"Oh yeah, where are you from?"
...hummm.
"I'm from the US... err Texas"
Then the gut shot - "I guess were not supposed to get along?" she tries to keep the smile friendly.
She tells me "I've lived through too many wars", "It's hell when you don't know if you will live through the day", "I got into Jordan during the start of the war, and then came here... I'm one of the lucky ones."
I pathetically retort "I didn't vote for *him*". The guilt has contorted my face. She tells me not to worry about it, "I'm over it" she tells me.
How can anyone be "over it"? How does someone young and beautiful stay young and beautiful when they deal with what she has?
So much of the pain she has dealt with is the result of my country, particularly my state's most famous... err infamous export. damn. I think to myself, "maybe I should invite her for a coffee?" Yeah, that'll do, I'll by you a coffee to assuage my guilt for my country destroying your country, home, and probably causing the death of your family members...
So I tell her she has all of my respect and I take my panini and walk back into my ridiculously comfortable lifestyle that has never been threatened or needed me to fight for it.
Independent of who I vote for, I am still responsible for what America does. It has a government "for the people, *by* the people". And I believe the last few years will leave a stain on all Americans' conscience when history begins to judge... as it has begun to do already.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
