after all the bad press i’ve been giving mt ruapehu, today it was brilliant.

i may have cried the other day about how the mountain weather has been treating me, but its been even less kind to the forecasters (but give them huge credit for owning up to being “dead wrong” 85% of the time on five day forecasts):

due to weather conditions on the mountain, i have only been able to use my mt. ruapehu season pass twice. this represents the best of the ‘good day’ i had:

the latest installment of fear every shadow appears to be criminal searches. it cautions:

do you really know who people are? …we associate with them and even invite them in our homes. do they have a criminal background? are your children safe with them?

i would suggest that this site doesn’t really know who people are either. granted it knows my brother has a criminal record. but it doesn’t know he attempted to hide his identity from police by giving them my personal details instead of his own. they list my birthdate in place of his. had they also listed my name along with his offenses, its possible my neighbors might have stopped inviting me in to their homes or letting me play with their children and i would never have known why.

ok, so maybe this isn’t so bad after all.

i don’t imagine the distribution of simple to gifted people in new zealand is that much different than in the united states, but somehow that stereotypical class of government worker at the dmv, or burger flipper at the corner fast food restaurant doesn’t seem to exist here.

i wonder if people in these types of positions in new zealand are just less belligerent than their counterparts in the states or if there is some even more heinous jobs they have been shunted off to that i am spared interaction with.

when we got to ninety days left in new zealand i couldn’t believe how fast the year had past.

at sixty days i got sad about leaving and started feeling reminiscent about everything.

now at thirty days, i feel like ted stevens waiting to show up and serve his jail time.

oh, pardon me, i think i’m ahead of myself. ted stevens has only been indicted so far, he won’t know what i feel like for a few more months…