Happy birthday to me....

So today marks my 26th year in this world.  Today I did what makes me the happiest; I had a full day of hard labor.  I went to work this morning only to find that some kids had a fire in the deep-end of the bowl over the weekend.  I spent most of the day fixing all the crap they had drug around.  Around lunch, Dave arrived back from the West Coast and we started getting everything ready to start welding some coping tomorrow.  We are looking really good to start pouring some concrete early next week.  Its nice to have some templates in the ground and be able to spy out some lines.  The bowl is going to be super fun.. I can't wait until we finish a portion and have some round-wall to skate on our breaks.  

I am really looking forward to the cheesecake that Sarah has baked me for my birthday.  I love cheesecake almost as much as I love Sarah and haven't had a single slice since I have been in New Zealand.  I'm getting excited like a fat kid!!!!!

Working....

Well today We are finally going to start building the skatepark in New Brighton.  To save on costs, the council has agreed to do all the earthwork for us.  I have some pictures of the earth work they have done so far, but our internet is to slow to upload them.  At some point I will go to an internet cafe and upload heaps of pictures that I have been wanting to show people. 

I am really looking forward to starting the park.  I really hate not working.  Its one thing to be on vacation and not being doing anything; however, since we have stopped riding our bikes I have felt very stagnant.  I have been sitting in our flat until I get restless and then I go skate.  This has been my daily routine since I got back form Dave's.  I have purchased some work clothes which is nice.  I have been wearing the same shirt and pair of pants for two months.  I found a really rad Indy shirt in a thrift store that says "ALL OTHER TRUCKS SUCK"  It has quickly become my favorite shirt.  I guess it doesn't have much competition as my favorite but still.  I have three shirts and they are all pretty dear to me.  I thought about going on and on about my three shirts and what each one means to em but have ultimately decided against it.  I really don't want to bore you with my feelings about some pieces of cloth.  Granted they do make me excited every once in a while and I am glad that while I only have three shirts, they are all special to me.  So instead of going on and on about how much they make me smile, I have ended up going on and on about how I am not going to tell you how much they mean to me.  I really am sorry about that.  

You know I am in a foreign country.  I am sure you knew that but I thought I might tell you again.  Being somewhere completely different has made me do things differently.  One thing that I have been doing that has been quite strange for me is that I have been listening to heaps of old school hip hop.  Everything from the roots, de la soul, Jurassic 5, Run DMC, and shit like that.  Its been rad.  I like it.  But if you would do me a favor and not tell anyone.  It might ruin my reputation.  Its quite funny.  I came to New Zealand to ride my bike and I end up building more skateparks and listening to Hip-Hop.  You never know how things are going to turn out.  

On a side note, I am having trouble embedding pictures from Flickr into my blog.  They embed with out a problem, but the sizes are all wrong and lots of the photo gets cut off.  It really screws up the composition of the photos and to me, they end up looking like crap.  If anyone has any sort of advice on how I might be able to fix this, I would be happy to find out.  Thanks in advance..As for now you can click on any of the pictures and be redirected to the original Flickr page where they look much better..............

keep it real

Note to self......

Do not leave yourself signed into blogger and hand the computer to Sarah.....

Everything posted is right on the money and I am super thankful to have such a great girl at my side.  BUT, I am currently kicking her ass in scrabble!!!

I just wanted to say that...

I have the bestest girlfriend in the world. She makes me coffee, and loves me and runs baths for me when I have muscle soreness. Aint she the best?! Not to mention ridiculously good looking and svelte like a tiger! RAWR!

Also she is so great at Scrabble, and it blows my mind that her vocabulary surpasses mine by leaps and bounds. Damn I love Sarah. I mean, really... Could a man ask for more? I think I'm going to take her out to the movies this weekend and treat her to a delicious seafood dinner. Yeah, that sounds nice. She is superior to me in many, many ways. 

Some time off.......

On Wednesday I drove back to Christchurch early to surprise Sarah.  I took a different mountain pass to enable me to stop by Reefton skatepark.  Pretty fun park with a really fun bowl.  Not too big but the first proper roundwall I have skated in New Zealand.  The park had a decent sized street area with tons of random tranny all over the place.  I had quite a good time doing weird tricks off of random tranny.  Once again I got heaps of weird looks from the little kids at the park.  Other than that there is really nothing new going on.  I'm back in Christchurch and have a few days off before we start the park on Monday.  I am trying to do as little as possible between now and then.  I'm not sure anybody actually reads this blog anymore.  Regardless I still feel somewhat compelled to update it.  I wish I had more exciting things to tell you but I don't.  I've been skating everyday and Sarah's looking for a new job.  Thats about the extent of our lives right now.     

Now for some pictures of Dave's property where I was building boards....

working!

Been working heaps lately.... getting orders out the door and betting through a huge order.  We have several hundred more boards to make before we can start the park so we are pretty hard at it.  Daves wife Lisa has been cooking me absolutely wonderful meals three times a day.  Most of it come from their garden which is awesome.  I am really getting spoiled with the food.  just to give you an idea, we are having lobster tonight.  They like good food.  Now don't let me fool you into believing that I am living in luxury.  The house they live in is quite old.  There is one wood burning stove for heat, so at night we all sit in one small room to stay warm.  There are a couple of leaks through out the house but lucky none are in my room.  Lisa has one right above her head!.  They were going to fix the house up a bit, but are working on building a new house so they decided not to bother.  With all the age this house has it is quite cozy and charming.  I'll post some pictures later.  

while you wait, heres a pic I took on a break from work

hope everyone is doing well, i miss you all

It was nice today

I haven't been doing anything much lately.  I have no job and nothing to do really.  I have been skating a couple of times a day which has been fun.  I did go rock climbing the other day alone.  Sarah doesn't really get down on the rock gym here.  Well about an hour into climbing I ripped a piece of skin off my finger so climbing is out for a wee bit.  I really don't know why I am writing a new blog with nothing to say.  I guess I just wanted to let people know that I'm alive.  I am alive.  Just thought I would let you know.  

Dave North came over to Christchurch the other day and Dave, Cambell, and I laid out the bowl for the council to put the drain in.  Cambell is a local to Christchurch who has park building experience and is going to be on the crew for the New Brighton park.  We laid out the bowl for the city to do some of the earth work as well.  We wont start our work until the 20th of April.  Until then I am going over to Nelson Creek to help out Dave with some boards.  I'm pretty keen to be skating some vert too.  The one place I've been skating only has a five foot pocket.  It is pretty steep though which is rather fun.  5' with 5' trannies.  I get a lot of weird look skating it which is pretty funny.  No one else skates it.  Everyone is preoccupied with doing flip trips and pushing mongo!! (the mongo epidemic is alive and well in New Zealand)