So sorry but my human is so busy with our “moving overseas” thing that she hardly has any time to help me do blog stuff and I’m finding it really hard to keep up with visiting my friends at the moment – so please forgive me if I don’t manage to comment much in the next few weeks!

I’ve got lots of things I wanted to post about from ages ago which have been sitting in a queue but I keep having so many new adventures that I’ve had to tell you about those first and so my catch-up list keeps getting longer and longer!

But now that we are leaving NZ, my human thinks we should quickly tell you about all these things before we leave – as I’m sure I will have even more adventures to post about after we move to Australia! So I hope you won’t mind me bombarding you with posts about “old stuff” for the next week or so (whenever my human can get time away from all the packing and “moving overseas” stuff!)

OK – so I wanted to tell you about a lovely walk I did on St Heliers Bay beach back in July. My human, Hsin-Yi, says that we are very lucky because Auckland is a “harbour city” right next to the sea and so there are many “inner-city beaches” that we can get to in 10mins with the car machine, to enjoy.

Enjoying the sunshine on Tamaki Drive

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In fact, there is a beautiful long road called Tamaki Drive which follows the side of the sea and there is a row of “waterfront suburbs” along this road which all have beautiful beaches.

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Tamaki Drive

Lots of humans like to walk, jog or cycle along Tamaki Drive and it’s REALLY busy on Sunday mornings!

 (Hsin-Yi says: I think this is one of the most beautiful city drives in the world, with the sparkling blue sea dotted with yachts on one side, and on the other side – the pohutukawa trees (aka. the ”NZ Christmas Rose”) with their bright red blossoms fringing the road and the sleeping volcano, Rangitoto Island, looming on the horizon…

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Rangitoto Island

You can get lovely views of Waitemata Harbour, from anywhere along Tamaki Drive and also beautiful views back to the ‘City of Sails’ with the Sky Tower dominating the skyline…

 

Our favourite, of course, is Mission Bay where there is a beautiful fountain and park and lots of people sit at the cafes out on the street and it feels like you are on holiday all the time!

(Mission Bay has more young humans living there and is more “trendy and happening”, with lots of bars, restaurants, cafes and an art-deco cinema)

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Mmm - my special treat!

I love the beach at Mission Bay and often meet my friends there (check out my post: “A Walk with Chobe & Breakfast at Mission Bay“)

- and sometimes, after our walk, my humans will take me to the ice-cream shop to get me a special treat!

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But all the other beaches along Tamaki Drive are also really beautiful. Kohimarama is smaller & narrower and lots of people who live in the waterfront suburbs like to walk their dogs there but we don’t go as often ‘coz Hsin-Yi doesn’t like the way some of the other dogs (or their irresponsible owners!) behave and she says lots of uncontrolled, aroused dogs in a small space is just asking for trouble…

We learnt this the hard way because when I was younger, she used to take me to a dog park called Madills Farm where lots of humans like to stand around and gossip and just let the dogs play around them, instead of walking them…and while I was playing nicely with a Border Collie pup, a Husky-Shepherd-cross suddenly arrived at the park and ran up to me and tore a strip out of my shoulder! And his owner wasn’t even sorry – he just laughed and said proudly, “Look at that! Going for the biggest dog in the park!”

I was bleeding very badly and my humans had to rush me to the vet for stitches. I still have the scar – ouch! That was one of the ‘bad experiences’ which started me getting grumpy with strange dogs…and Hsin-Yi has had to work very hard with clicker training and “re-conditioning” to get me friendly with strange dogs again.

So now, Hsin-Yi avoids taking me any place where people  just want to gossip and be lazy and hope their dogs will exercise themselves - unless the dogs all know each other really well and (more importantly!), the owners are all sensible and responsible and have good control over their dogs – because even best friends can have an argument sometimes or accidentally hurt each other during play and of course, us doggies argue with our teeth! And if you have a pack of dogs together all highly aroused, then what started as a little argument can quickly turn into a nasty dog fight!

So the best thing is to always keep moving when out walking – this is much more natural for us doggies anyway and we get to see & smell more things and the exercise is better for our health and our humans’ health! Even if people want to socialise with a group of friends, they should keep moving because a group of dogs walking together is usually a happy, peaceful pack.

Oops! Sorry for that long story! Anyway, back to the beaches: after Kohimarama is St Heliers Bay beach which is bigger and quieter, so we like it better. St Heliers Bay also has some nice cafes and shops but it has more older humans (who are not working anymore) living there and feels a bit different to Mission Bay.

Me at St Heliers Bay beach

When we arrived that day, it was very exciting because some killer whales had just been passing by that morning, hunting sting rays for food in the sea, and now there were hundreds of birds coming to check out the “leftovers’!

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A lot of the half-eaten sting rays had washed up onto the beach…

They smelled deliciously fishy but actually tasted quite leathery and not very nice at all!

So I left them alone and contined my nice walk along the beach…

…until I found a stick!

Oh! But then a black spaniel came out of nowhere and tried to steal the stick from me!

But I won – ha! ha!

We had a nice play together, though, because Hsin-Yi is always very strict about teaching me to share my toys with other doggies. Then some more doggies arrived to join the fun!

Hmm...if you lost a lot of weight, you might look like my friends, Cookie & Cinnamon!

The sun was setting as we started walking back to the car machine but there was time for just one more picture!

I didn’t know then but that was actually the last time I could enjoy the beaches on Tamaki Drive!

See, usually dogs are only allowed on the “inner-city beaches” in the winter months (from Easter until end October) and even then only before 10am or after 4pm…so in winter, my humans usually take me to Mission Bay and the other Tamaki Drive beaches a lot for my daily walks.

But this year, just shortly after this lovely walk in July, a terrible thing happened! Five dogs died from eating something poisonous on the beaches and there were also some dead dolphins washed up on the beach, so they shut all the beaches along the Waitemata Harbour coastline and told all humans not to swim in the sea, until they could find out what it was.

Very sad – they have been shut ever since and now it has passed October which means we doggies can no longer go on the beaches anymore…so I have missed my chance this year and since we’re leaving NZ now, I will never get to go again!

They are still not sure what the poison was but they think it was “tetradotoxin” which was in some sea slugs washed up on the beach that the doggies (and other animals) ate…

The good news, though, is that it is still OK to go to the beaches on the West Coast ‘coz they are next to a different water. I love these beaches too, like Bethells Beach (Te Henga) which was my first ever beach when I was 3 months old, and dogs are allowed on them all year round but they are about 1 hrs drive from Auckland centre. Still, my humans have promised to try and take me there for a last walk before we leave NZ - if they manage to finish the packing in time!

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* For more information about Auckland’s beaches, check out the Auckland City Council website: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/outdoors/default.asp

* For more information about the West Coast beaches, check out the Waitakere City Council website: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/cnlser/pbr/prkgrnsp/index.asp

You’d be soooo wrong!

Have you ever had a run-in with a sting ray? If so, you know how agonizing the pain can be — and if not, I hope you won’t have that experience any time soon!

On my birthday, of all days, I had my first (and hopefully last!) sting from a sting ray.

Really, they should call it something other than a “sting”, which suggests a little discomfort, like you would get from a bee or a jelly fish.

A sting from a sting ray (as I found out) is far more excruciating than that!

But interestingly, the experience gave me a chance to really apply my lessons from yoga.

Yoga? And a sting ray? Click below to see how they are related!

Click here for a short video about my experience — and the surprising ways I dealt with the pain. Hint — it’s not what you think!

A próxima geração do Chevrolet Corvette seguirá uma tendência bastante forte nos Estados Unidos, a chamada linha “retrô-móvel”. São veículos com visual inspirado em antigos modelos. Como exemplos, há o Ford Mustang, o Dodge Challenger e, recentemente, o pony-car Camaro, também da Chevrolet. O Corvette C7, previsto para 2012, terá estilo “derivado” do Sting Ray, lançado na terra do Tio Sam em 1963.

Considerado um dos mais belos Corvettes da história, o Sting Ray é, na verdade, a segunda geração do modelo. Ele deve inspirar a linha C7 do superesportivo, adotando a janela traseira bipartida (Split Window Coupé) que marcou aquela geração. Ela durou apenas um ano no mercado americano, curiosamente.

O novo modelo, porém, não será inteiramente inspirado no Sting Ray. Ele adotará soluções de outras gerações e contará com novidades próprias e equipamentos modernos, como a câmera para visão traseira e o sistema que detecta objetos em ângulos mortos.

Vale lembrar que o modelo, que chega ao mercado americano provavelmente em 2012, também já tem duas definições: não terá a ver com o Stingray Concept visto no filme Transformers 2, mas adotará o tão especulado motor central dianteiro.

Ao que tudo indica, será um excelente reforço à gama de esportivos da Chevrolet.

GALERIA

A recent report on a possible creature deemed the “Muck Monster” in West Palm Beach has been discredited by bad editing.

There was a big hoopla over the following video.  Officials had trouble identifying something swimming in the water so, like any other reasonable human, they deemed it a monster.

I’m going to assume this was a weak attempt at getting some national coverage for the Palm Beaches.  Perhaps they wanted to spark an interest in their parks and get an influx of tourism.  If that indeed was the plan, they should’ve done some better editing.  That’s clearly an eagle ray jumping out of the water at the end of the video.  Also, Spotted Eagle rays have been known to swim along the surface with merely their snout sticking out of the water.

Long story short….

Lame.

The ultimate midlife crisis machine. Uploaded by gminsidenews.com.

Back in 1953, about half of all vehicles sold in America were made by General Motors. GM had just about everything for the American driver – except a sports car. Designer Harley Earl fixed that. Using mostly parts from Chevy sedans, he created a concept car for the 1953 New York Auto Show.

What he created was like nothing people had ever seen before: The Corvette.

As great as the early Corvette was, it took the introduction of the Thunderbird by Ford to make GM serious about keeping a sports car in its lineup. The car got more power, more marketing support, and more attention. In 1963, the Sting Ray design was introduced. And Corvette became a Great American Thing.

Uploaded by collectordreamer.com.

The automotive world has honored Corvette on many occasions. It’s been Motor Trend’s Car of the Year twice. It’s been on Car and Driver’s 10 Best List fifteen times. And a Corvette has been the pace car at the Indy 500 ten times. And here’s the kind of in-depth trivia you expect from this blog – 1985 was the last year a CB radio was offered as an option on the Corvette. Can you imagine buying a Corvette, but demanding that it have a CB radio?

barbie sunglasses!

Josh has been at school since before noon and he’s still not home yet because of an SGA meeting and while I’m super proud of him for making SGA and finding time for sports and to study, it’s still lonely without him. However, my family video conferenced with me while my brother opened his presents and I got to sing happy birthday with them and talk for awhile and that was wonderful.

Rachel and I went to the beach today and saw a bunch of other S.O’s. We’re both skittish about the fish ( which happen to love her ) so we had a lot of fun screaming and running away from them. Not to mention there was a plastic bag that I happened to think was a sting ray. Definitely ran the other way from that too. We saw the giant black circle of fish again today. It was even bigger than before and fish were jumping out of it. I tried to get a picture but by the time I got my camera they were too far off shore.

Tomorrow the S.O’s have a pool day but I’m not sure about it yet. Our cleaning lady is supposed to come tomorrow and I have to be here to let her in so it  might not work. There’s always another week.

Miss you guys and happy birthday again Alex!

Hermes Birking Handbag, togo leather, gold hardware :

about $5000

Quilted Chanel handbag :

Sting Ray clutch from Japan :

Fendi Spy handbag :

Hervé Leger :

When I visit
my sister
next month, I will
think of you
still pretending 

your banana
seat bicycle
with string-ray
handle bars

is a horse.

Drat….it looked nice and clear on the phone…  Well…it is this or nothing….

I filled in for another sitter today and this was in the garage of one of her clients. It is a Corvette Sting Ray…probably a 1962-1963….GORGEOUS in person!!!!

My car is packed and ready to roll back to Richmond. Three bikes, two massive boxes-filled with my whole wardrobe and other crap, a set of golf clubs, a tent, sleeping bag, two backpacks, and still room for more! And I will still manage to fill the car my parents are bringing up on Tuesday. Goodness- where did all this stuff come from?!

I watched the sun set over top of a mountain in Pandapas park tonight. It was a beautiful surprise. I rode my original Schwinn Sting-ray to a local hill top, turned around and there was the most beautiful sky I have ever seen. Pink clouds streaked the sky and blue cloud-free sky laid above me. It faded quickly so I headed out quickly. I wish I had stayed to watch the stars appear one by one above me.

Wednesday may be my last exam ever. I fear college may not be right for me. Time will tell.

Tonight I rest, listening to Hand-me-down-tune by the Avett Brothers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFofMqFem8Q

They may not be the most beautiful or most advanced band ever but they make music that I can feel.

Today I missed my workout but I made up for it with two scoops of ice cream Both give the same temporary results, just different future result.

“Have I mentioned that I am the preeminent Proust scholar in America?”-Little Miss Sunshine. I love that quote. It shows you that no matter what ’status’ a person is, or whatever ‘level’ they are, we are all the same. We are all humans trying to figure life out. I am an entry level international competitor for triathlon and even if I was used to winning world championships or could not win my age group in local races the story would be no different. We are all human. We are subject to the same experiences, love, hate, sadness, happiness, and struggle. Its a ride, and I’m not ready for it to end so I’ll just continue on the crazy ups and downs and unexpected switchbacks because a flat, straight roller coaster wouldn’t be much fun.

I fell asleep to “It’s a Wonderful Life” last night. I wonder if I’ll find a girl like Mary. I hope so. “I’m shakin the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world! Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum….then i’m coming back here and go to college and see what they know…”

First semester I bought myself a Big Wheel. Yes, I bought one of those tricycles that kids ride. I enjoyed the year riding it to and from class, around the drillfield, and sometimes just cruising for chicks. Chicks dig the big wheel. That thing was a chick magnet.

With the weight limit at sixty pounds, it lasted me at 140 a good long time. It recently became too unstable to ride, so I left it unlocked. That I know of, there were four attempts to steal it: one with fire, one with brains, and two with force. All failed. Then, yesterday somebody walked by, saw it was unlocked, and got a Big Wheel for no effort at all. I wonder how those failures of criminals would feel if they knew that.

The campus respected the Big Wheel. Well for the most part. People enjoyed seeing me ride by on a big wheel with my pink and black checkered sunglasses and a Greek fisherman’s cap. I enjoyed it too. I’m glad people accepted it. I guess many people enjoyed the mysteriousness of seeing a big wheel locked up around campus and rarely seeing the actual rider. Some enjoyed it the way I did. It made me feel young and innocent I guess. I fit on it too, and it fit me.

It’s mother’s day today. I wish my mom the absolute best of mother’s days. She’s the best mom. I wish I could have been with her. I’ll admit it, I have the coolest mom ever. No she doesn’t know how to text. No she does not have a facebook profile. No she would not approve if I threw a house party. That’s not what makes a mom cool. My mom doesn’t have to try. She knows exactly what to say and when I actually listen to her recommendations, it turns out she was right. And when I don’t listen, the result is still the same: she was right.

You know, there was no book on how to be a parent. There was no class. There is no way to get experience. There is no practicing. There are no second chances, and kids aren’t too good at forgiving and forgetting the mistakes of their parents. And yet somehow, my mom managed to do a sweet job. She did it right. And yeah she may have messed up sometimes (but the accusations against her were much more plentiful), but the mistakes were few and far apart.

I respect anyone who is willing to throw themselves into a challenge that they have no way of preparing themselves for. My mom and my dad are the best. I cannot imagine tolerating me, my brother, and my sister (especially my sister [girls, ugh]) every day for the past two decades. And not only that, they had to fund us, feed us, house us, and teach us how to stand tall on our own.

However, I am not yet ready to stand tall on my own. I don’t believe anyone ever is.

Sting rays are flat, diamond-shaped fish having long ship like tails armed with poisonous stingers.  Sting rays live  in warm, shallow coastal waters and often lie of the bottom buried in the sand with only their eyes and breathing holes showing.

When swimming, the sting ray looks much like a bat flapping through the water.  The sting ray’s  stinger is really a sharp, bony spine near the base of its tail.  Many bathers have stepped sting ray whips its long tail about and the sharp spine is driven into the victim’s flesh, inflicting a painful wound.

The spine is barbed to that a victim cannot easily yank it loose after being stabbed.  Sting rays love on a diet of crabs, lobsters and other creatures of the bottom of the sea.  They crush their prey with their powerful grinder teeth.  Another name for the sting ray is “stingaree.”

Photo courtesy:  dicksandy

Salmon Shark-/ Lamna Ditropis – This outfitter targets Alaska

I caught this big guy his morning!

He weighed about 25 pounds…Isn’t he gorgeous?!?

I’ll keep the hippie shite to a minimum, but the wallet above is made from sting ray (hewhoooa duuude!!). I write this only because I stumbled upon some watches at the Giant Robot store that were actually so complex, to read time you need a manual. After the fact, I also discovered they were in the sting ray biz (almost took a shizen looking at the price tag). Kinda ridiculous. Maybe I don’t get out enough, maybe go fuck yourself.

Getting mugged has never been so costly – Rocksoft

Calz1.