Ok ok ok. So sometimes I do feel (often even)… rather left behind by so many of my ridiculously over achieving friends in my engineering class.

Still.. a piece of work that I wrote for the Ministry of Economic Development here in NZ to help run their call centre (well, service centre moving to business centre?!?) racked up 1 million calls logged into it (and going).

So we had cake.

And it was delicious.

Hopefully get some better pictures soon – but the first of the ducklings went wandering about the garden..

About two will survive (So Steve tells me)

From a poem I found as a bookmark in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

Hope you like it.

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit –
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
it seems to a faint and faltering man.
Often the stuggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victors’ cup;
And he learned too late, when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems afar.
Stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit.
It’s when things seems worst that you mustn’t quit.

That said, knowing when to get out is pretty important too I reckon ;)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbf34JXCLfI]

and finally… it’s a tiny bit American.. and possibly a little too sweet.. but still.. all good.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao]

Firstly – the obligatory picture of the Japanese Maple trees in flower along Hagley Park.

Off to Fox Peak for the weekend – with Nick and Heidi and Ruth and Neil. Maaike unfortunately having a little too much work to get done :(

The conditions were.. marginal.. at best.

The hut was lovely – though as it was all powered by diesel it was a little smelly to begin with.

In fact, being honest, I can’t stand the smell of diesel ever since I went on a “sailing” trip with Declan Flood and Co back after finishing university. We hired a boat sailing out of Split in Croatia – and it was in their hottest heatwave in a century. With no wind.

We had a beautifully re-conditioned boat, unfortunately the refitters put the diesel in backwards – or something – and it leaked. So I spent 10 days at about 42 degrees in a boat that stank of diesel. While it was a lovely trip.. I still cant stand the smell. Some pictures from croatia – many moons ago

Anyways… the hut was lovely.. and there’s a postcard at somepoint for the first person who can tell me what is in the picture on the right is.

So, finally, had some .. interesting .. runs with Ruth – while the others were off ski-touring (trying to find snow). The video is Ruth showing how to get on a rope tow..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8WpxKAENXk]

Finally.. we honestly did end up on this grass… and you can see how far above the car-park we are. Spring conditions. Perfect.

Sunday was lazy – played 500 and headed back to ChCh early ish.. all in all a good weekend.. but perhaps the end of the snow for this year.