Geeks

In case you haven't noticed, I don't post as much when I'm in the states. Just a bit more of a mellow life here.

The airport house is geek central these days. It's me, Adam and Zach... all hardcore geeks. Well, we got a movie projector and hooked up the Wii and a computer to it. We have no TV. We have movies on demand over the internet (with netflix). Any TV stuff we download. The Wii is the kicker though. I've never played it on a TV... and now I never can. Once you play bowling in life size, a tv sceen just ain't gonna cut it. Lately we've been playing lots of golf and guitar hero. Hahahahaha... it's insane.

Me and Zach got our car running too. He did the majority of the crap over the winter and I fixed the alternator and belts a few days ago. It's nice to be mobile again. Of course the furthest I really go is a couple miles to the grocery store, but hey... sometimes you NEED some ice cream right?

Got the "phantom" ultralight all nice and cleaned up too (yeah, it's called a phantom). It's nice to be able to just go fly whenever I like... hell, I live at an airport right?!

Well that's all that's going on around here for the moment.
See ya

More NZ

Couple more for ya...

Only a geek would shoot this ;)


This is one of my friends from Dunedin James. He flies hang gliders too. His cast says "I did this rollerskating", which is true.



This is the mountain I get to fly in Queenstown as seen from the airport. Yes, we are that close to big jets.


Sometimes you need to stop and... pick the apples?
Mmmmmm

NZ pics

Ok, here's some NZ ones.
One day we went up to fly the Remarkables Mountain (yup, that's it's name), but it was shall we say, a tad too strong. Peak winds were over 100kph (just over 60mph).

That last one's Gerardo "jacket flying". Open your jacket and jump and it actually pushes you back a bit.

Good times

Delinquent

I'm over my jetlag and the weather sucks, so I have no excuse to not be putting up some pictures.

Kinda funny what comes to roost when you're away for a while....
I left my helmet on my motorcycle tank and forgot to close the visor. A bird found it perfectly suited to being a nest. Hahaha


A mouse found his way into Lance's computer.
Woops.

Ahhh, grasshopper

Wow, wisdom on ... youtube?
... wait much better version...
Music and Life

Hrm... looks like the guy's got a lot out there... have to kill some time and read it I guess.
Allen Watts

Jetlag subsiding

Now I'm at the level of college student... up all night, sleep all day ;)
This would be opposed to the horrid "sleeping twice a day" jetlag you initially get to deal with.

Settling back in. It's cold and windy here, but it's spring so it's on the upslope to warmer days instead of fall.

Good times
Jim

back

jetlag... sleep.. see you

Layover

At Aukland.. short layover.
Queenstown was kinda cool... my plane was delayed so I got to watch my mates at work. We flight right next to the airport. I've not seen it from the ground... let alone from the seat of an airplane. hahahahaha

Ah well... onto the international flight in a few. 12 hours later and a little layover in LAX and it's the moster flight... the one from LA is always the worst cuz you're flying with jetlag... uhg. It'll all be over soon enough.

Jim

Tick Tock

Ah, the long wait... before the long wait.
A couple hours till my flight. I have a few things to do before I go (post office/etc) but it's before 9, so nothing's open. I just wait. And wait.

Jim

Addict

I'm such a freakin junkie.

Today is what we call "stable air". There's not much movement in the air. If it were kayaking, it would be a glassy lake. Most pilots don't even bother to fly on days like this. It's a good bit of effort to get up the hill... after the gondola, it's a 10-15min hike up with a 40lb pack. No worries on days where you're going to spend an hour or so in the air. Today would be a few minutes glide... straight from the top to the bottom. We call them "sledrides" cuz it's like snow sledding.

So, ok... it's not worth it... just hang around the house... maybe take a walk in the park... mellow day right? Uh.... no. Fraid not. What can I say? I can't help myself ;)
What's worse... you think I could just boat around the sky all nice and peaceful like. No. I burn up my altitude quickly with aerobatics (makes you sink about 4 times as fast).

Fortunately, I'm ok with my addiction.
Jim

It's over

But what a wonderful summer it's been.

I leave tomorrow.
It's the last day of Easter here... sunny and warm (70s). Easter is like Labor day for Kiwis. It marks the end of Summer. One last Hura before settling in for winter. My flatmates are busy at work (lots of tourists to fly today). It'll be quiet till the evening. The soaring (staying up in the air) in late season is quite low since the air has few updrafts in it... so I'm hanging around at home cleaning for the move (my flatties are moving to an other place tomorrow too).

It's like a mellow Sunday after a party.

I'm in denial about the hours and hours (and hours) of traveling I'll be doing tomorrow. I like it this way... "I'm not done yet!" hahaahaha. Got some wacky plans for tonight. I've still got 5 cents of fun left ;)

tick tock
Jim

Toothpaste

So I'm over at a friend's house. It's a slow day, so I figure I'll watch a movie. Only catch is that the DVD's pretty scratched up. I pop it in and it eventually plays. I have to skip over some garbled stuff, but it gets going. Naturally, once it gets a good way through the movie... yeah, it dumps.

No worries... toothpaste to the rescue :)
See, toothpaste is a mild abrasive. You can polish up a CD pretty good with it. Not all, but most stuff. Well, it worked like a charm.

Jim

Dunedin

(Duh-Nee-den)

I woke up the other day to my phone ringing... this is odd because I stopped working last week so there's no real reason for someone to be phoning me, esp early. "Jim? It' Hagen, I hear you have a glider for me... I reckin it's on today, you should get down here".

Hrm... phone up the wind station on Coronet Peak... crap weather here. Ok... off to Dunedin it is. Really, what's a four hour drive when there's flying to be done? Chucked a few things in a bag and see ya. I quite fancied a bit of time hanging out with John, Lisa, Hagen and the DFC (Dunedin Flying Crew)... always a good time. And it has been. Crusey and mellow.

Spent the day down at "the pool", soaking in the hot tub and playing in the wave pool. Yeah, the local pool has a wave pool... and a water slide (and no small slide... like there's three different enclosed ways to go down). When we get done with the pool, we get a text from John... "Come over to Sandy Mount, it's on. I've got your gear". Sandy Mount is one of the local flying sites. Spent the rest of the day flying Sandy. Bliss.

Jim

Acrofest

Just back from Acrofest.
It's a fun little competition... mainly paragliders, but me and a couple other guys flew some hanggliders too... mostly my flatmate Gerardo.

Here's some news coverage...
TV3
Jim

Coming to the end of it

Wow... two weeks left... to the day. Yikes! (I leave March 26th)
Summer just flew on by.

It's been an absolute blast, but damn... it's getting cold here now! No-thank-you. I won't be happy to leave Queenstown, but I will be happy to leave the cold.

Fortunately, I have good friends and good times ahead. It's flat as hell, but Maryland is fun too. I'm excited to see all my US friends.

On the docket here before I go... last day of work is tomorrow... then I just do whatever I like. I head directly to Acrofest (no coincidence that it's the day after my last day of work). After Acrofest, I'm heading to Dunedin to hang around with John and Lisa (the guys I worked for for the last two years) and hopefully get some coastal flying in. Then back to Queenstown for the "Warbirds over Wanaka" airshow. After that, I hop a plane and jump the pond.

I think I'm going to head back to MD and get some things sorted. I like dropping in on FL, but I got schedule issues this time... I'd rather not run around with my head cut off. It'll be a nice couple weeks of recovery from jetlag followed by a trip to Phoenix for a hang gliding competition.

Anyway, that's the plan for now.
Who knows what will actually happen ;)
Jim

Mt Ida

Ida... like Idaho
Me, Tom and John took a trip out to Mt Ida for the weekend. Meet up with a bunch of friends from all over the place. Mainly sat around and watched the wind blow. Bit too strong to be flying hang gliders. Oh well... such is March. Good times anyway.

Pics!

Ok, so I finally got around to putting up some pics!
Me, Gera and John did a little hike up the Remarkables Mountain Range (yes, that's it's real name). We drove up most of the way, but it's still a bit of a hike up to the peak (1/2hour?).

Um... the remarks ain't small ;)
I think the top is 6,000ft high?

Me and Ulf hiked Ben Lomond the other day (3hour hike)... I'll get to those a bit later though.
Enjoy.
Jim

A smile

Oh the mighty power of a smile.
I was reminded of this today. If you want to change your outlook and the world you interact with, just smile. It's crazy powerful.

So I was in Fresh Choice (local supermarket), standing in line picking up a little stuff for dinner. Now normally, I'll chat a little with the checkout people. I figure, they're bored as hell and generally seem to welcome a break from the monotony. Mostly I try to get them to talk about their day... good, bad, otherwise. People just feel better when they get the chance to tell someone about silly things like that.

I wasn't feeling like talking though (loooong day) and I only had two things (not much time for chit chat there), but... hrm... what to do. So I just smiled. Bigger than your average polite smile... not huge, but definitely a bit on the goofy smile side. Man what a difference. The check out lady dropped out of highway hypnosis for a bit and lit right up... started to smile. Bingo :)

As I walked back to my car, I noticed (again) how good it felt to brighten up someone's day. But that wasn't it... It was that all it took was a smile.

Still working on it

Still gotta get around to posting those pics. Sorry.
Been busy. Not busy flying, busy with other stuff... "normal" type stuff.

Finally got over to see Ian today!
There are just few nicer people in the world. I'm so happy I finally got a chance to pop over there. Even went to the gym with him and Rob (works for Ian). Yup... imagine me with a bunch of muscle-heads weight training. Think of hanging out with Terry Schutts... eventually you start weight training without even realizing it ;) I'll sleep good tonight.

Now where did I put those photos?
Jim

Busy with other stuff ;)

Sorry.. been busy doing stuff.
Got a bunch of pics, should have time to put them up today (looks potentially windy).
Might have to go visit Ian first.
Jim