Entries Tagged 'Random thoughts' ↓

Why is it so hard to find buttons in this town? Buttons to close an opening in a garment. I went down to Goldings in the Harbour City Centre yesterday at lunchtime to find some, but they only had a very small range and I wanted some white and orange buttons of the same (or a similar) design. I left work early to go to Knit World in Cuba Street, but didn’t get there by 5pm when they closed. Sigh.

Today I went to Arthur Toye in their new location in The Grand Arcade. The woman at the counter did not make eye contact and barely lifted her head from a magazine when I asked where the buttons were “I’m sorry we don’t carry buttons.” In a fabric store. Huh? She didn’t apologise or offer an alternate location. So I left work even earlier today and made it to Knit World before they closed. They have a reasonable selection but while they had white and every other colour in a similar design, there was nothing similar in orange. And lots of the tubes of white buttons I picked up only had 1 or 2 buttons left in them. I needed 5.

However, I got some in the end, not the most ideal buttons for a knitted baby’s cardigan and very fiddly to sew on but they look good. Next time I buy wool I’m going to get the buttons at the same time.

Have been back in the Wellington office a couple of weeks now and I think I’m suffering from motivation sickness. I know your office space can impact on how you feel at work but I’m believing that there can be a physical impact itself, beyond sitting at a badly arranged chair and desk. That part of my set up is good.

I just don’t recall when working in New York that I ever had such stinging dry eyes and dog tiredness and often times feeling totally deflated. We’re getting way more sleep here than we did in New York and we’re not working stupid long hours, probably the same length days as New York. Perhaps it’s a winter thing, that our bodies and minds are in hibernation mode. Or perhaps it’s the fluorescent lights and too warm dry air from the air-conditioning. Perhaps it’s being in the office again getting interrupted and dragged into meetings and conversations, which sometimes I missed while being away, but most of the time just enjoyed doing my own stuff in my own time at least being able to recognise something achieved at the end of the day.

Hmmm, have to figure it out before my productivity slips.

OK – I’m absolutely convinced selection for Jury Service is NOT random. Just got my 4th summons today – it is 3 years since I was last summoned but in the 3 years prior to that I was summoned 3 times, so that’s 4 times in 6 years which really is ridiculous.

So I’m off to do it again in September. As you’ll see from previous ramblings on Jury Service on my blog, I don’t know why I feel it’s not right to get excused for the sake of it and why I feel reasonably ambivalent about going.

Wonder if they have wi-fi by now? Ha!

A hot topic right now is whether or not we’ve settled back in Wellington after the 4 months living in New York. It’s the question we get asked most often, a change from ‘how was the trip?’!  Being at the Xero AGM last night brought all the questions out of the woodwork as we caught up with lots of people we hadn’t seen in a while. Observations are that we have settled well.

We are definitely portraying that. It doesn’t do us or anybody any good to fight the system on this one. Obviously we didn’t want to come home and would do anything within reason to get back there – and right now that means working more hard yards, saving up again and seeing where Xero takes us. We’re not about to chuck in what we’ve worked so hard on to live there, perhaps in time that will tempt us, but right now, Xero is still a driving force in our lives. It’s no good being anti-NZ and we may well be in the privacy of our own homes or if you manage to get my guard down, but being negative to everyone about Wellington or life in NZ just belittles the lives everyone has here. I might be fairly blunt but I’m not going to do that!

Even this weather is not getting me down today. It’s winter! Plus I’m walking around under my New York umbrella – something I wouldn’t dare put up while there, but it’s not so touristy here!

Over the weekend I added a new category to my blog ‘Reviews’ – I’ve had quite a bit of interest and requests for my thoughts on the cafes we visited in New York so I thought I’d bundle them all up and take the brave step of sharing this around a bit.

Here’s a link again to the article in the New York Times that sparked our journey around New York espresso bars – we have the actual page from the New York Times and we worked our way through a fair few of them.

Perhaps I might even share some of these reviews on Twitter … have never tweeted links to my blog before because while it seems I have a bit of an online life, I’m still wary of that work/private balance. I know a few Xero customers and friends follow my personal Twitter thread as well as @Xero, and linking to my blog would open it and my Flickr account up to this audience. Not that I’ve got anything to hide, it would just be that nothing would be hidden any more. Oh well, perhaps I’m thinking there is more interest in my life than there actually is!

I know I’ve got to stop going on about the heat, and obviously it’s going to be a shock to go from 38 degrees to 7 degrees when we get back to Wellington, but there are strange things to experience when it’s hot that I hadn’t noticed before – things other than the most weird prickling sensation coming from the roots of your hair when every pore in your body is trying to get cool:

• When you first get outside from being in the air-conditioning you feel like you are walking in a warm bath if you have shorts on (yes, talking about me here) – the heat is so enveloping and so hot it feels just like water
• The floor in the apartment is almost hot, like underfloor heating has been left on high and it doesn’t cool down, not even by 4am
• The metal bars on the subway entry carousels are very hot to touch
• Liquid that comes out of pump-pots, hand soap, moisturiser and the like is warm
• Glasses and plates from the closed cupboards are warm
• Potato chips are warm
• Window glass is almost hot
• I now have a new appreciation for labels on bottles and packets that say “store below 30 degrees C” – I always used to think that was some kind of warning to not keep the item in the oven for some dope that might, but I know now that ordinary cupboards in ordinary houses can actually become like ovens in some climates!

Boy I am sick of looking at my greasy face in the mirror, pores wide open gasping for air so from that point of view, winter will be welcomed.

When I get up to pee in the night this is what I get to look at. Pretty amazing and will certainly be missed!

I don’t have much use for nail polish remover so when I needed a little bit I was very happy to find this little sachet version of some – great to have in the cupboard or travel with. Wonder if you can get such a think in New Zealand?

Cafes and espresso bars in New York (& other parts of the States we’ve been) all have these coffee stations:

They’re a bit Starbucksesque but very efficient. This one at Saturdays Surf is pretty trendy done in wood like their furniture and with their skateboards all parked up as the station is fairly close to the door.

Typically, coffee stations have:

• 3 jugs milk – full fat, half fat, skim
• Bottle with pouring nozzle – contains sugar syrup
• Honey – as an alternative source of sweet I guess
• Napkins
• Lids – for every size cup
• Cardboard cup holders – for when cup is too hot to hold (technically not necessary but are required for drinkers of black or ‘regular’ coffee (i.e. drip filter)), for every size cup
• Sugar sachets – usually white, brown & sweetener
• Stirring sticks
• Straws – for iced coffees

As we enter the milestone of less than 6 weeks until we have to leave New York and resume our lives in Wellington I’m trying to think of things I’ve missed in the vein hope that it will give me something to look forward to. There’s no way I’m going to think of things I won’t miss from here! People at home are now starting to enquire whether or not we’re looking forward to coming back and are saying they’re looking forward to seeing us. However, we’re not looking forward to going back and when we say we’re not pleased to be back, don’t take it personally!