What have you been up to...?
Archive - July 1999 - December 1999
Thursday 1st July - Went to Top of the Pops again. This time, I went with Tom. It was heaps better than last time, because of the company and the performers. Gary Barlow was the guest co-presenter. He performed his new single Stronger. Jordan Knight (ex NKOTB!!!) was also there. The strangest performance I've seen in a long time was that of "Helge and the Firefuckers". Neat name - not!
Friday 2nd July - Went to a nightclub called Lulu. Strange, with all those naked men on stage (in typical German fashion, they were called "Go-Go Fuckers". It was fun. Stayed out until 5am. Never done that before. Was light when we went out (about 11pm) and light again when we came out of the club - weird feeling.
Saturday 3rd July - Christopher Street Day (CSD) Street Party. Went with Frank (Simon's friend) and spent the whole day there, then went to try and fix Frank's computer. Joerg and Frank have the most amazing apartment.
Sunday 4th July - Went to Joerg and Frank's for breakfast. CSD Parade with about 600,000 other spectators. Took loads of photos (coming soon). Went to Tom and Marc's (Bonn) and stayed the night. Watched Madonna videos. Was the best night I've had in while. Rang Mum and wished her Happy Birthday (from the station).
Tuesday 6th July - Spent the day with Frank. Got to know him a little better. He's a really neat guy. Ordered "Microserfs" from amazon.com. This is a book supposedly about what it's like to work for Microsoft.
Thursday 8th July - Spent ages updating website.
Friday 9th July - Met with Frank. Picked up photos (coming soon). Leaving for Luxembourg at about 7pm.
Saturday 10th July - In Luxembourg City. Photos coming soon.
Sunday 11th July - Back in Germany again. Stayed over at Tom's and scanned loads of pictures for the website.
Monday 12th July - Updated website. Added Luxembourg and Cologne pages; added Tom & Marc, plus Frank to the Friends section; added pictures to Philip, Shane, and ID pages. Reorganized the photos section. Microserfs book arrived - looks interesting.
Tuesday 13th July - Updated website. Added CSD page. Updated Simon, recent photos and amazon pages. Frank popped around.
Wednesday 14th July - Going to Bonn to visit Frank.
Friday 16th July - Barbeque at Frank 3's. Was fun. Got home the next day at 2pm. Tired!!!
Saturday 17th July - Went to Lulu with Tom. Stayed out until 6am. Got to bed at 6:30. Tired!!!!!
Sunday 18th July - Went out to dinner with Joerg. Has the CSD photos with us to show him, and who did we meet, but one of the guys from the parade that I had a picture of. He was impressed when I walked up to him out of the blue and showed him a photo. Quite funny really. It was so hot today. 29C inside the apartment in the shade at 9pm! Much hotter outside!
Monday 19th July - Still 29C inside the apartment at 8:00am. Great for studying - not! Sat and passed my third MCSE exam (070-073 Windows NT Workstation 4.0). Got 933/1000. I'm now half of the way to passing my MCSE. Updated CV.
Tuesday 20th July - Added weather link and updated Brad and Aaron's email address. Another Madonna evening in Bonn. Didn't get to bed until 8am.
Wednesday 21st July - Updated CV. Went to Bonn for dinner (Chinese).
Friday 23rd July - Bought a new digital camera. It's the best thing ever. SOOO easy to update the site. Spent the rest of the day playing with it. Went to Schultz (nightclub).
Saturday 24th July - Updated the website - Simon, Brad and Aaron, Tom, Frank and the apartment pages with new photos.
Thursday 29th July - Updated the website - Frank's page with new photos
Friday 30th July - Leaving for Brussels, Belgium for the weekend with Simon.
Saturday 31st July - In Brussels. Went out for dinner and had seafood. SOOO much seafood. As an starter, I had the oysters while Simon had the snails. Then I had half a crayfish while Simon had the shrimps (huge though). Then Simon and I both had mussels. Then we had dessert. So full. Noticed frogs-legs on the menu. Maybe next time. Either that or the horse.
Sunday 1st August - Back in Cologne from Brussels. Photos have been posted here. So hot. Today, the outside temperature is 35C and inside our apartment, we've reached a new high of 32C. Went to Bonn to meet one of Frank and Tom's friends (Ariane).
Tuesday 3rd August - Still hot. The news on TV said that the temperature might reach 36C in Cologne today. Joy. Went and bought 6.5L of orange juice for Simon and loads of Dr Pepper and Coke for me. Did I say I was a summer person?
Thursday 5th August - This site had its 15,000th visitor. Thanks visitors!!!!!
Friday 6th August - Off to Berlin for the weekend with Simon and Frank.
Sunday 8th August - Back from Berlin.
Monday 9th August - Updated website. Added Berlin pics and updated Simon page.
Tuesday 10th August - Went with Tom to Stuttgart to see the Total Eclipse.
Wednesday 11th August - Total Eclipse (12:32pm) . Came back to Cologne.
Thursday 12th August - Made up my mind to cut my hair short. I'll do it sometime next week - "cut your hair short, you hippy". Talked with my agent, who said that all four of the places he sent my CV to were interested, but did not want to wait 6-8 weeks for my residency permit to come through - might have to fly back to New Zealand and apply there (before I was due to go back). Updated website. Added Stuttgart page with photos of the eclipse and updated Tom's page.
Friday 13th August - Went to Sweden (to attend a wedding).
Saturday 14th August - The Wedding.
Monday 16th August - Back in Cologne. Photos from Sweden and (Helena and Thomas') wedding have been posted here.
Tuesday 17th August - Updated website. Added photos to Simon's page.
Wednesday 19th August - Met with agent for drinkies - got offer of employment letter. Vince arrived from London for a short stay.
Thursday 20th August - Got my hair cut short. This is the shortest it has been in almost a year. I'm glad I did it. My hair was pissing me off.
Friday 21st August - Updated website with new picture of me. Went and saw Star Wars in English again.
Sunday 22nd August - Went to Bonn so that Vince could meet Tom, Frank, and Ariane.
Monday 23rd August - Vince went back to London.
Tuesday 24th August - Updated website. Added ICQ indicator. Now you can see whether I'm online or not.
Wednesday 25th August - 27th years old today. Joy. Went out to dinner to "celebrate", if one does that when you get that old.
Thursday 26th August - Went to Bonn to meet with Tom, Marc and Frank. They gave me a really neat birthday present.
Friday 27th August - Went out to dinner with Joerg and Simon and saw the movie "Cruel Intentions" again, but this time in German. I'm not complaining or anything, because I wanted to see it again, but this movie has been out on DVD for a while now, and it's only just started in Germany?
Saturday 28th August - Ordered my birthday present from Simon. We're getting a new computer (Pentium III-500 with 13.6 HD, DVD and 3DFX Voodoo3 card). Works out great because I need to be able to install and configure certain Windows NT Server components on something for my exams, and Simon (obviously) isn't keen for me to do it on the laptop (out of justified data safety concerns). He also has seen the light and wants a DVD player). We also wanted something grunty to play games on (Tiberian Sun has been released, and MS Flight Sim 2000 and Age of Empires 2 are due soon).
Tuesday 31st August - Last day of summer. We've now been here three months. Went to Bonn to see Tom. Updated website with new Apartment, Cologne, Tom and Frank pictures.
Thursday 2nd September - Got a cold. Second day of Fall and I've got a cold. Imagine what I'll be like in winter!
Friday 3rd September - Cold still with me. Met with Frank in Cologne. Went out to dinner, blowing my nose every three or so minutes (pleasant!)
Saturday 4th September - Still got my cold, but a little better. Hitting it with orange juice and Vitamin C. Got these awesome tissues with Aloe on them to combat Rudolf-syndrome (red nose). Went to a "Bierboerse", which is a beer festival with about 500 sorts of beer. Pity I don't like beer. At least they had Coca-Cola there.
Monday 6th September - Cold is completely gone. I normally only get one cold a year, so it will be good if that was it! We were told that the computer will arrive on Wednesday. So excited!
Tuesday 7th September - Went shopping with Frank (who has got most of this month off so he's probably a little bored too). Bought Simon a Flat Eric. Updated website by adding Matt page and updating David and Shane pages.
Wednesday 8th September - The monitor and speakers for the new computer arrived. Where's the actual computer? Rang UPS and we were told there wasn't enough room on the truck for all three packages, so it will come tomorrow.
Thursday 9th September - Waited home all day for the computer, which didn't arrive. Rang UPS again, and they said it was on the truck so, although it should have come today, it will definitely come tomorrow.
Friday 10th September - Waited home all day, and around 3pm, I called UPS and asked where the computer was. The lady I talked to said that the computer had been lost since the 8th and said it was bad that I had been told anything else. I'll take weeks to get a new one made and sent out again. I don't think I'll use UPS again. Losing an occasional package is OK, but one (LARGE) package out of three that were sent together to the same destination and then being kept in the dark about it so that I had to wait home three days in a row? No thanks. Won't be using UPS again. "UPS - Consider it done" - my ass.
Sunday 12th September - Finished reading "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" in German (478 pages). Went to Duesseldorf to see some a show with Frank and Joerg.
Monday 13th September - Went to The Netherlands in the Netherlands for a short break by the beach with David. Spent the day in The Hague (Den Haag). Simon's brother Tim and his friend Olly came to Cologne to stay.
Tuesday 14th September - Went to Amsterdam.
Wednesday 15th September - Spent most of the day in Amsterdam. Started "Red Mars" in German on the train back to Cologne.
Thursday 16th September - Showed Tim and Olly around Cologne.
Friday 17th September - Updated website with Netherlands pictures. Updated David's page. Going to Frank and Joergs for dinner.
Saturday 18th September - Went with Simon and Joerg to the Eurythmics concert in the Koeln Arena. Cologne is the first stop in their new world tour (The Peace Tour) in the Koeln Arena. It was great. They played lots of their old material and some of their new songs.
Friday 24th September - Tim and Olly left to explore the rest of Europe. New computer finally arrived! Joy! Went clubbing to celebrate.
Saturday 25th September - Finished a German book that I was reading called "Crazy". Went to Frank's and then to Tom's and then they all came round to our place.
Sunday 26 September - Tom and Marc came to dinner.
Monday 27th September - Frank came around for lunch.
Tuesday 28th September - Officially became editor of the Madonna Information Report, which has at least 500 subscribers worldwide. Updated website with new Cologne photos.
Wednesday 29th September - Met with Frank Neuhaus for a drink.
Saturday 2nd October - Went with Simon, Tom and Frank to Phantasialand (like a smaller version of Disneyland) for the day. It was awesome. Some of the rides were pretty unique. Figured out how to get our DVDROM drive to read DVDs from all regions, so now we can hire DVDs from German video stores (if we want).
Sunday 3rd October - Cologne Marathon on today. Public transport only partially available. Went with Simon for a huge two hour walk in the forest.
Tuesday 5th October - Went to Bonn to spend the day with Tom.
Wednesday 6th October - Got up at 6:00am and went for a one-hour walk. It was 10 C outside, but it felt like -5! I guess since I've gone so long without a winter, I'm not used to the cold. Bring on summer!!! Studied.
Thursday 7th October - Studied.
Friday 8th October - Tom came around.
Saturday 9th October - Went to Frank and Joerg's for dinner then went to a club called "Vampire".
Sunday 10th October - Went to see "Trick" at the movies.
Monday 11th October - Studied.
Tuesday 12th October - Met Frank for lunch.
Wednesday 13th October - Studied.
Thursday 14th October - Studied. Met the new Italian neighbour "Francesco" who now lives upstairs. Updated the website.
Friday 15th October - Studied. Updated the website Amazon.com section.
Saturday 16th October - Went out to dinner and then went clubbing with Simon, Tom, Marc, Frank, and Claes.
Sunday 17th October - Went out to dinner with Simon.
Wednesday 20th October - Went to Bonn to visit Tom and Marc and then went with Simon to Duesseldorf for an "office warming" party.
Friday 22nd October - Frank came to visit.
Sunday 24th October - Went to dinner at Frank and Joerg's. We had Federweisser and Zwiebelkuchen. Federweisser is a very young German wine that isn't actually wine yet. You buy it at this time of the year and it ripens in the bottle (fizzing away) over the next month. From one week to the next, the alcohol content rises and the taste changes. Zwiebelkuchen is sort of like an onion pizza that is traditionally eaten with the Federweisser. Anyway, it was very yummy. Watched part of an All Blacks game in german - it was hilarious hearing the guy try and pronounce Jonah Lomu and Umaga.
Monday 25th October - Studied.
Monday 1st November - Public Holiday in Germany.
Tuesday 2nd November - Bought a FrontPage 2000 book (in German) so that after the exams, I can read it, keep up my German, and find out how to use all the features in the newest version of FrontPage.
Thursday 4th November - Frank came around and we went shopping.
Friday 5th November - To celebrate Guy Fawkes, I played Quake 3 over our network with Andrew (our neighbour downstairs). I shot him with as many rockets as I could. :)
Saturday 6th November - Went into the city with Simon to buy some pasta for the weekend. In Germany, they don't have Sunday trading, so Saturday is when everyone goes into town. So many people that you can hardly move. Spent the rest of the day studying.
Sunday 7th November - Studied.
Monday 8th November - Studied.
Tuesday 9th November - Sat and passed my Windows NT Server in the Enterprise exam. Four down - two to go. Updated my CV.
Wednesday 10th November - Frank and Joerg came around for dinner.
Thursday 11th November - Went to Bonn to visit Frank.
Sunday 14th November - Went out to dinner with Simon. Had a tiny little leg of lamb with Saffron Sauce - yum!
Monday 15th November - Frank came to Cologne so we could go shopping in the city.
Tuesday 16th November - My copy of Windows 2000 Professional and Server arrived.
Wednesday 17th November - Went to Bonn to watch the new Madonna video with Tom and Marc.
Friday 19th November - Voted in the New Zealand elections.
Saturday 20th November - Simon's language class teacher's Christmas party.
Monday 22nd November - Woke up this morning and as I made my way outside, I noticed a strange glow. SNOW!!!! The ground was covered and it's still snowing! This was the first big snowfall since we arrived in Germany. Built a snowman. Updated website with the many snow pictures I took and updated the recent photos page. Met Frank and went into the city.
Tuesday 23rd November - Went to Langerwehe to meet Stephan (another Madonna fan) in Langerwehe and Dirk.
Wednesday 24th November - Went to Bonn to see Frank.
Thursday 25th November - Went out to dinner with Simon and Claes.
Friday 26th November - Simon's last day at work.
Saturday 27th November - Watched about 3 hours worth of TVNZ election coverage over the internet.
Sunday 28th November - Went to see The Blair Witch Project. Quite good really.
Thursday 2nd December - Went to see End of Days (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) with Simon and Frank. It was strange seeing an Arnie movie in German.
Friday 3rd December - Went to see two movies as part of the "Verzaubert" film festival. Went shopping and found Christmas presents for Warren & Dad. Still to find presents for Kevin and Mum.
Saturday 4th December - Went to see another film.
Sunday 5th December - Went to see yet another film with Frank and Joerg. Found Kevin's birthday present.
Wednesday 8th December - Went and saw the last film.
Thursday 9th December - Found Mum's birthday present. What a mission! Anyway, the Christmas shopping is almost all done. Went to Bonn to a part and stayed over.
Friday 10th December - Went out to dinner with Simon, Tom, Marc and Frank, then went clubbing.
Saturday 11th December - Frank and Joerg coming over for dinner. Updated website with Luxembourg photos.
Sunday 12th December - Cleaning and packing.
Monday 13th December - Left Frankfurt @ 11:25 for Auckland, New Zealand. The plane from Heathrow left the terminal on time, but we sat on the tarmac for three hours while British Airways determined that an engine valve problem could not be fixed. The replacement plane took another four hours, so by the time we took off for Los Angeles, we knew that we had missed out connecting flight. Read all about the "Trip from hell" by clicking here.
Tuesday 14th December - Didn't get much sleep, if any, in the hotel. Used the breakfast voucher that the airline had given us, then a group of four of us went to the airport to get some phone cards so we could call our families. Had lunch, then lounged around the hotel pool until dinner. After dinner, we went to check-in for our replacement flight, when we were told that there was no record of us being booked on that flight. We were placed on standby and told that our chances were very slim for getting on. Ten minutes before the scheduled departure, we were both accepted onto the flight. I sat next to some guy from New York who was very rude. He was also coughing the whole time. I didn't get any sleep on this leg.
Wednesday 15th December - This day was lost as we travelled over the date line.
Thursday 16th December - Arrived in Auckland @ 05:55 (24 hours late). Pity our baggage was lost when we got here. All my Christmas shopping!!! Went into Auckland City and had a look around and then met Charlotte for lunch. Felt awful walking around because I hadn't slept since Monday and I was very pale (winter in Germany!) The baggage arrived at 10:55pm that night.
Friday 17th December - Woke up with a cough, runny nose and a fever (due to the lack of sleep over the past few days). Went to the dentist, who told me I needed FOUR fillings. I supposed that isn't too bad, considering I hadn't been in over two years.
Saturday 18th December - Still sick, but I thought I was getting better. Was supposed to go to Provence with Maria, Blake, Charlotte, Liz, Darren and Simon. Maria and Blake pulled out because they had another engagement. Darren got sunburnt and couldn't come. I was sick. I had given my germs to Charlotte (not on purpose!) so the only people who wanted dinner were Simon and Liz. No wonder they decided the best thing to do was cancel. It just wasn't meant to be.
Sunday 19th December - Woke up with the worst fever yet. Also had difficulty breathing, so I phoned Simon who came over and took me to the A&E. As soon as I took the medicine I was given, I started feeling better. Went to stay with Simon overnight (he was looking after me).
Monday 20th December - Feeling a lot better, so I came back home.
Tuesday 21st December - Got Simon's Christmas presents Also got Warren's next birthday present (it pays to think ahead).
Wednesday 22nd December - Mum's last day at work (ever). She's retired now. Went to the dentist to getmy four fillings, but when I got there, the dentist told me off (for not brushing after drinking Dr Pepper) because I now needed NINE fillings. Got half of them done. Went out to dinner in the America's Cup Village. Quite nice.
Thursday 23rd December - Got the other five fillings. Fun fun fun (turned down the offer of a free injection)! That was an expensive lesson - I've already made my New Year's resolution for next year - take better care of my teeth. Went over to Devonport to see American Pie (it hasn't even started in Germany, and this was the last movie theater that was still running it in Auckland).
Friday 24th December - Went with Mum and Dad up to Omaha Beach (an hour north of Auckland). Photos coming soon...
Saturday 25th December - Had Christmas dinner (Kevin and Warren were here too) and then went down to the beach. Took some nice photos. Called Tom and wished him (and anyone he would be speaking to) a Merry Christmas. Got AWESOME presents this year - Versace, Mossimo and Bad Boy shirts, a HUGE beach towel, a cap, underwear (nice ones), chocolates (brushed my teeth straight away though!), books, measuring cups and spoons (just try and find these in Germany - it's impossible!).
Monday 27th December - Went down to Pink Beach to get some of that nice pink sand to take back to Germany.
Tuesday 28th December - Laying in the sun, but not too much (still a little red from yesterday)
Wednesday 29th December - Went down to the beach and did some sunbathing. Went back to Auckland in the evening. Updated the website.
Thursday 30th December - Spent the day with Michael Robertshaw (had lunch at Planet Hollywood) and then had dinner with Simon and Michael. Got a letter DECLINING my application for a working visa for Germany, even though I had a job offer. They let in political refugees and unskilled people from poor countries, but they won't let in someone with two degrees and much-needed IT skills. I'm pissed off. We're probably going to move to Sydney, Australia.
Friday 31 December 1999 - Barbecue at Brad and Aaron's. It was a cloudy, so we didn't see the sun set for the last time, but who cares?. We then went into the city and got on a boat to go out into the harbor to get the best view of the $10 million fireworks show around the city and harbor. New Zealand was the first industrialised country in the world to welcome in the Year 2000. It was raining though... but still managed to get some good photos (coming soon).
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