Old Musings - penned during the year 2007 A.D.

So much to say, but so little time. It feels like Spring has sprung, with a comforting Nor'wester breeze wafting through the air. I have a number of errands to run and it would be good to get out in the open air again without being burdened down by a heavy winter coat for once. This is something I got used to all too quickly while I was in North America, but I'll put it off for now. I've procrastinated too much, and this is an update constantly nagging at the back of my mind, wanting to be written. Spring will have to wait another couple of hours.

It has been a full week now since I returned from my holiday in Canada. It was good to get away from the New Zealand winter, but it was even better to catch up with friends who I hadn't seen in years. This fact that it had been a while was punctuated when they turned up to the airport with a toddler. Although the extra person wasn't unexpected (isn't email a wonderful thing), I still needed to get used to the odd sight of my 'responsible parent' friends.

From the moment at the airport, when it finally dawned on me that my second piece of luggage wasn't going to be appearing on the conveyor belt from behind that little rubber curtain, until I departed again back to Boston in a little 19 seater plane this was truly an unusual holiday - but one that was a lot of fun. Not only did I get to do some of the standard tourist activities - camping, floating down a river in an inner tube, and canoeing - but also some less standard odd-jobs - installing a dishwasher, working on a patio and even driving a diesel-electric locomotive!

 

But alas, all good things must come to an end. As soon as I touched back down on US soil things turned sour again. Yes, they let me back in despite the paperwork confusion, but at the baggage claim I found my rolling suitcase sans a wheel. Broken. Clean off. Of course. Why would the US make travelling in their country any easier than it absolutely needed to be? By the time I finally arrived at the hotel for the night, my hands were raw from dragging the case down the street. Oh well - you can't have it all your own way! 

Beware... the first wave of Boston photos!

It's late. I'm tired. But I made it. Home of Crane - Denny Crane. They have tea parties here, but not the Namby Pamby kind. If you want to go to an ivy league college, this is the place to be with both Harvard, Cambridge and MIT within a stone's throw of each other.

Boston - you can't see much of it because it's dark (so no photos), but you still get that steeped-in-history feel anyway.

The flight over was relatively non-eventful. For once all my planes were (mostly) on time and aside from screaming children left right and centre. It's amazing how much a curtain separating cabins can hide. Upon arrival into LA all passengers were asked to remain in their seats as 'officials' would be boarding to attend to some business.

As euphemisms go, this one was particularly translucent - transparent even. I doubt that anyone on the flight was surprised to see armed police officers board the plain. The only questions were for who? and of more interest why?

I had a good view of the cops as they did their duty in the cabin behind mine, but the 'perp' remained obscured. I only managed to grab a quick glance as he did his escorted walk out of the craft.

We were never told the full story officially, but I de-planed at roughly the same time as those that had obviously been sitting around him. The words 'alcohol', 'refused service', 'head-butt' and 'spitting' was enough for me to get a good mental picture of what had actually occurred.

Mental note to self: must google the term: '+Qantas +incident +spit' in the morning to see if the flight made it to infamy.

All of this was enough for me to forget my own personal red tape awaiting me. The last time I had left the home of the free, things got so confused from a last minute dash to the gate that I was still in possession of that little green departure card. Although the still let me back into the country today, they took the green card, stapled it to a photocopy of a form and handed it back without saying anything. Somewhat befuddled I glanced at it, but had trouble taking it in.

It would appear that 3 hours of sleep wasn't enough and the flight had taken a bigger toll than expected. It wasn't until I passed through security again (a ritual you start to tolerate, but never quite get used to) that I had the chance to sit down and consume the document with something approximating comprehension. It looks like the United States aren't happy with me and are threatening to slam the door in my face the next time I turn up. They have bestowed upon me a great quest - I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I had indeed left before the date stamped on that little green slip. It would seem that I can't rely on their 'innocent until proven guilty' mantra woven into their laws. Pity - it would have been nice to sit back and watch uncle Sam try to come up with evidence that I was in the country.

At the end of the day I'm not to worried about it. They accept a wide range of proofs (credit card statements, payslips etc to prove you're earning/spending money overseas), but I have a nice and clear rubber stamp in my passport with forming the word 'Vanuatu' with a corroborating date. But once again bureaucracy steps in and makes my life just that little bit more difficult. One can't just point the stamp out to the customs officer. No, that would be too easy. Instead I have to mail in my documentation to an anonymous US address. Knowing my luck, they won't send any form of acknowledgement back if or when everything is resolved. I guess I'll find out next time I find myself headed this way.

Some more photos, this time from a quick excursion up north.

Congratulations to Steffan and Kiri. Rohan now has a little sister, Sofia! She was born early this morning; apparently with a lot less drama than her big brother.

And, as usual, you can't join this family without a website or two popping up about you.

More photos! Just got back from Vanuatu this time.

Make sure you check out the photos of the turtles, volcano, boats, waterfalls,...

There's even a photo of me weaving a basket in there somewhere!

There's some great new software out there for stitching together photos. I've gone back and re-did some of the panoramas - it's amazing how much difference a couple of years makes with the software and how well some of my old photos look now. Take a peek at the new and improved panorama section.

 

PS. The great tools to re-stitch these images are autopano, smartblend, PTAssembler, and of course panotools. There are some very smart people out there (some with a bit too much time on their hands)!

Last week I also found a kitten, stranded on a fence after being chased by the neighbour's dog. I'm glad to report that she has now been returned to her owners. But of course, she couldn't leave before being the subject of some photos!