a terrible thing happened the other day. i was coming out of my office and my four year old son hid behind a door to surprise me. i hadn’t expected it and when i turned the corner he gave me a pretty good start. he got a big kick out of it and was further encouraged by his mother laughing along.

it turned out to be terrible because now he is trying to scare everyone, all the time. its impossible to so much as walk around the apartment without him darting behind every door jam and corner to then jump out and yell.

never mind the sun tzu training i have given him on the art of surprise, never mind the only person he ‘scares’ any more is his two year old sister, who i can tell you is really just acting surprised to humor him along…

i’ve wanted to hold a season pass lift ticket since i was twelve years old. twenty eight years later, one more dream realized.

i’m torn between admiration and wtf after receiving this honest response after submitting a ‘contact us’ web form:

your message has been sent. i hope you get a response.

i can’t go in to details because its a sensitive cultural issue in new zealand, but on monday i spent the day on an archaeological site witnessing the unearthing a maori burial site.

the maori feel very close to their departed brethren and nothing made that more clear than hearing one of the local iwi representatives say ‘it would be terrible if one of their [referring to their departed brethren] enemies found out they were here.

if she had listened to me a few weeks ago, hillary could have avoided this latest embarrassment. the ‘say anything to get elected’ campaign strategy has now completely crossed the line and keith olbermann does a pretty good job summarizing my thoughts on the issue. although i think the segment could have been twice as long if he had enumerated all of her sins during this primary season…

i’m sure the teacher’s reaction at the central baptist kindie house where ethan goes to school is much different than ours when they hear his rendition of ‘my god is so big’

my god is so big, so strong and so mighty
he can do nothing for you
my god is so big, so strong and so mighty
he can do nothing for you
the rivers are his, the mountains are his
the skies are his handiwork too
my god is so big, so strong and so mighty
he can do nothing for you

black beans magically appeared in stock on our local grocers shelf here in wanganui.

it may not sound like a big deal to you, but its made everyone in my household very happy.

hill•a•ried ¦hil-uh-reed¦

verb (hill•a•ries, hil•a•rying)
to remain committed to something long after it is capable of working successfully : the captian hillaried at the helm even as the boat sunk under water.

over the weekend i took my third tramp over the tongariro crossing. each trip has thrilled me in its own unique way. more pictures coming soon.

if the style of cyndi lauper and flashdance appeals to you, you’d be in paradise walking around wanganui…

its hard to tell that everyone in new zealand has a cell phone. new zealanders aren’t yelling in to them walking down the street, texting while driving or backing up the queue at your favorite retailer discussing something with someone that has nothing to do with the transaction at hand.

there has to have been a genetic mutation that took place in the united states preventing its citizens from developing a similar common sense.

i would like to ride a bicycle across the united states before it becomes the only means by which to traverse the country.