Wow things really change fast sometimes. Especially when you’re on one side of the planet, people you care about are on the other side, and the shit decides this would be the best time to hit the fan.
So without elaborating too much, I abruptly changed my plans on the 12th of June by moving back […]

It’s been a while since I’ve recapped the big stuff in my life, so here’s what went down in 2007.
At the risk of seeming like a complete nerd, I thought I’d share five goals I set in August 2006 before leaving Arizona to complete my last year at The University of Auckland. I’ll share what […]

Tonight I was checking out all the nightlife venues in Downtown Cincinnati, and I had a pretty cool thought as I was watching a fat chick run across the street and into a bar: Cincy’s nightlife ain’t so bad, or at least not nearly as bad as I had been thinking over the past few […]

“Taking the piss” while “out on the piss” isn’t always the best idea.

Among the many joys of having a centrally located flat in Auckland’s CBD, besides waking up to marching bands and political protests on Saturdays, is that every holiday season there’s a giant pedophile Santa outside my window beckoning the young and innocent children of Auckland with his dodgy moving finger.
Although I’m not one to shy away from […]

Okay, let’s all put on our ad executive hats for a minute.
As I was walking down the street in Parnell, Auckland the other day, I saw this ad for the Air New Zealand Fashion Week in the distance. As I got closer, my first thought was, of course, “Damn, she’s hot!” I then saw what the […]

So I’m just browsing the Web, minding my own business, and then I happen to check the feed of my friends’ status updates on Facebook. I see some rather distressing updates like “… is in disbelief” and “… is predicting national depression.” Obviously something really bad is happening, and because all the doom and gloom […]

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the New Zealand Police get mocked for not carrying guns on their person and keeping them in the boot (American translation: trunk) of their cars. Well, a recent hostage crisis in Auckland might poor some cold water on that image, especially with visuals such as:

But don’t […]

Part of the process of being a long-term international student in New Zealand is jumping through regulatory hoops like health exams, confirming you have enough money in your bank account, etc. Because I’m studying in the country longer than 2 years, it was required for me to have a criminal background check performed by the […]

This is a really great example of how Kiwis take a slightly different approach to the world. Sure, everyone makes fun of Bush and Brad Pitt’s women, but to do it so openly on the billboard of a major television company? I can only imagine the uproar that would happen in the States if a […]

If you know me, you should be aware that I’m into technology hard out. When talking with people, I normally try to limit the conversation to how the technology will actually help them and others. And I certainly want to keep my blogging about tech to an absolute minimum, because God knows there is plenty […]

Just as my stars are starting to align for the future, I got some bad news this week. My good friend Ellie unfortunately has to move back to Singapore on extremely short notice. What a bummer. I met Ellie back in 2004 when we lived in O’Rorke. I didn’t really hang with her much then, […]

ATTENTION ALL ASIAN RESTAURATEURS: You’re Missing A Huge Opportunity!

So I was having dinner with my friend Priscilla at a Japanese restaurant last night, and realised that Asian restaurants are missing out on a huge opportunity. As with almost any non-Asians, both of us had pretty much no idea what all of the options were on […]

Last Tuesday at the Auckland International Airport an X-ray machine identified a “suspect package” at the NZ Post’s international mail centre. And what was done about it? Exactly what any reasonable person would do - the package was put in storage until the following morning, and then the bomb squad was called in.
As reported by […]

Okay, for for the none of you that read my blog on a regular basis, you’d know that back in November of 2007 I wrote my first blog post in over 2 years recapping the previous couple years of my life. In the post I promised a series of 9 following posts to give a […]

Everything I’ve written in the previous five posts should bring you up to date on what’s happened since April 2004. Before I dive into my future plans, I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned and how these will probably shape my future thinking.
WARNING: MAJOR SAP ALERT!!!
More than anything else, this time has showed me […]

During my time in Phoenix, I�ve been able to take some pretty cool trips. First was when my friends Sean and Tim, and my brother Rob came out to visit over New Years ‘06 and we all went up to Las Vegas. And yeah, the place lives up to its reputation. I also went out […]

After returning to New Zealand in January 2005 things were pretty cool for a while, but after a few months something started to feel not quite right. The warts of New Zealand were starting to show and the place just didn’t have the same spark I felt in ‘04. Whether is was the sometimes striking […]

One of the coolest people I met in Auckland was my very good friend Kai (rhymes with “sky”) who was also one of my O’Rorke podmates a.k.a. neighbors. Anyone who’s ever met her can totally appreciate her coolness, but for the unlucky ones who haven’t, the best way to describe her is to borrow a […]

Honestly, I can’t remember too many of the details from April 2004 until finishing my first year at The University of Auckland in November of 2004. In a broad sense, I mostly think most about the friends I met in Auckland including Albo, Camilla, Graham, Jack, Jesse, Jo, Kai, Lara, Lucy, Matt, Onur, Rook, Sam, […]

I like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded person, but recently after interacting with a great number of people here in Auckland that represent a very wide range of global cultures, I’ve been thinking that I could only live someplace in the world that generally has a culture pretty close to mine. I […]

I just got back from a 3am cycle through the streets of Auckland and while I was out there were a few things that caught my attention. To my surprise and intrigue, I saw a work crew raking leaves in a small grassy area adjacent to O’Rorke Hall (my dorm.) As I continued south on […]

I’m sitting in my room and it’s very quiet here in the hall. The reason is that it’s the Easter break and everyone jetted out of the hostel late last week. I actually went up to a little town north of Auckland named Kerikeri where I spent two nights at my friend Jesse’s farm, but […]

I must say that signage is severely lacking here in New Zealand. Everywhere I go, I have no idea where I am. Street signs are terrible. At most intersections, even major ones, you only see one street sign for the street that you’re turning onto. If you are lucky enough to see a sign for […]

It’s been a little while since I last wrote but a lot of stuff has been happening and I haven’t really had time to sit down, think, and let it all sink in. Now that I have, I’m quite happy with my decision to come here to New Zealand even though not everything is a […]

I thought i would share an email with you that I recently wrote to my friend Andrew in New Zealand:
Hi Andrew
How are things going with the Oman promotion? In the off chance it does happen, I decided that it wouldn’t be a smart thing for me to participate in. I have a lot of paperwork […]

ok i decided to keep this journal because i’m going to be moving to the other side of the planet and i want to document this experience so i can better understand myself and mainly so i can share my experiences with the people in my life, many of whom I will be leaving in […]